First Edition: Sept. 19, 2023
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KFF Health News:
With Its Two Doctors Planning To Retire, An Alabama Town Patches Together Health Care Options
Charity Hodge had mixed feelings when she spotted a Facebook post announcing that her longtime primary care doctor was ready to retire after decades of serving their rural community. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, no!’” Hodge recalled while sitting in an exam room on a July afternoon, waiting to see the physician, Terry Vester. “Well, I’m happy for the retirement part, but that’s my favorite doctor, so I’m crying on the inside.” (Zionts, 9/19)
KFF Health News:
Save Billions Or Stick With Humira? Drug Brokers Steer Americans To The Costly Choice
Tennessee last year spent $48 million on a single drug, Humira — about $62,000 for each of the 775 patients who were covered by its employee health insurance program and receiving the treatment. So when nine Humira knockoffs, known as biosimilars, hit the market for as little as $995 a month, the opportunity for savings appeared ample and immediate. But it isn’t here yet. Makers of biosimilars must still work within a health care system in which basic economics rarely seems to hold sway. (Allen, 9/19)
KFF Health News:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Injects Presidential Politics Into The Covid Vaccine Debate
As Americans consider whether to take advice from federal health officials and get an updated covid vaccine, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is drumming the message that ignited his national political career: Ignore what the federal government tells you about covid-19. Last week — as polling showed him running a distant second to Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination — DeSantis convened a virtual roundtable featuring a panel of covid vaccine skeptics. Their mission: to swat away the FDA’s findings that the new shots are safe and effective for those 6 months and older. (Galewitz and Chang, 9/18)
Politico:
Virginia Rep. Jennifer Wexton Will Not Seek Reelection, Citing New Diagnosis
Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) announced on Monday that she will not seek reelection after receiving an updated, more serious diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy. Wexton revealed in April that she’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, saying at the time that she hoped to continue serving “for many years to come.” But she sought additional testing after she had not been making the progress “to manage my symptoms that I had hoped,” Wexton, 55, said in a statement, leading to the new diagnosis of PSP, which she called “a kind of Parkinson’s on steroids.” The two conditions are often confused when first diagnosing a patient because they have similar symptoms. (Frazier, 9/18)
Stat:
Rep. Adam Smith On His Mental Health Struggles, And The Country's
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) knew when he hit rock bottom. “I woke up one morning in early April of 2016 and seriously considered the possibility that I might never be able to get out of bed,” he opens his recent memoir, “Lost and Broken,” which details the six years in which “crippling anxiety” and chronic pain dominated his life even as he bounced back and forth from the Capitol to northern Seattle, the district he has represented for nearly three decades. (Owermohle, 9/19)
Modern Healthcare:
CMS Simplifies Medicare Savings Programs' Enrollment
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wants to make it easier for millions of older adults and people with disabilities to attain Medicare coverage. The agency issued a final rule Monday that aims to streamline the enrollment and renewal process for Medicare Savings Programs by reducing administrative burdens on states and eligible individuals. (Berryman, 9/18)
Modern Healthcare:
2024 Medicare Physician Fees Should Not Be Cut, Providers Say
Providers want the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reconsider cutting physician pay and avoid financial repercussions that could force them to scale back care. Comments healthcare industry groups wrote in response to the Medicare physician fee schedule proposed rule for 2024, which CMS issued in July, object to the agency's plan to reduce doctor pay 1.25% next year. (Berryman, 9/18)
WUSF Public Media:
Experts Discuss Medicare Drug Price Negotiations And Their Impact On Floridians
Florida has more people on Medicare than any other state except one. Almost one in four people who call Florida home rely on the federal government health insurance plan. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare will now be able to bargain over prices for the first 10 drugs covered by the plan. Those drugs include Entresto for heart failure, Enbrel for arthritis, Eliquis and Xarelto to help prevent blood clots, and Jardiance, Januvia, and Farxiga for Type 2 diabetes. (Pinos, 9/18)
AP:
Planned Parenthood Resumes Offering Abortions In Wisconsin After More Than A Year
Planned Parenthood resumed offering abortion services in Wisconsin on Monday after halting them for more than a year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Providers across the state stopped offering abortions following the June 2022 decision, fearing enforcement of an 1849 state law that appears to ban the procedure but had previously been nullified by the 1973 Roe ruling. A judge ruled last month that the 144-year-old law doesn’t apply to medical abortions. (Venhuizen, 9/18)
News Service of Florida:
Lawmaker's Proposal Seeks To Prevent Criminal Charges For Women Over Abortions
Pointing to recent comments made by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book on Friday filed a bill aimed at preventing women from being charged with crimes after obtaining abortions. A law signed by DeSantis in April would prohibit abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The law says "any person who willfully performs or actively participates in a termination of pregnancy" in violation of the law would face felony charges. (9/18)
AP:
Indiana’s Attorney General Faces Misconduct Complaint Over Remarks About Abortion Doctor
A complaint filed Monday alleges that Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita violated professional conduct rules in statements he made about a doctor who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim last year. The Indiana Supreme Court’s disciplinary commission references an interview Rokita gave in July 2022 about Dr. Caitlin Bernard on a Fox News show, The Indianapolis Star reported. (9/18)
Stat:
Transgender Sports Debate: Physicians Say Bans Are Health Issue
Almost half of U.S. states have banned or restricted trans youths’ access to gender-affirming puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery — and many of the same states are also targeting trans youths’ participation in sports. Twenty-three states ban trans youths from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity, with some laws focusing on students from kindergarten through 12th grade and others including, or exclusively applying to, students at the collegiate level. The bans may have consequences for the health of trans youth, according to a new perspective by a group of pediatric sports medicine physicians and health services researchers published in JAMA Pediatrics. (Gaffney, 9/19)
CBS News:
New COVID Variant BA.2.86 Spotted In 10 States, Though Highly Mutated Strain Remains Rare
People across at least 10 states have now been infected by BA.2.86, a highly mutated variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 that authorities have been closely tracking. According to data tallied from the global virus database GISAID, labs have reported finding BA.2.86 in samples from Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Estimates suggest BA.2.86 still remains a small fraction of new COVID-19 cases nationwide. (Tin, 9/18)
CIDRAP:
CDC Notes US COVID-19 Hospital Cases Up Slightly
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today noted that COVID-19 hospitalizations are up 8.7% and deaths up 4.5% in the most recent reporting week, though numbers are still quite low. Roughly 18,900 Americans were hospitalized for the virus in the first week of September, the CDC said, a number not seen since mid-March. Parts of Montana, Texas, Alabama, and Florida have seen significant increases in virus activity, but the CDC notes that fewer jurisdictions are reporting data in regular intervals. (Soucheray, 9/15)
News Service of Florida:
Number Of COVID Cases In Florida Shows A Decrease After Weeks Of Gradually Rising
Reported numbers of new COVID-19 cases in Florida decreased during the past two weeks after steadily increasing this summer, according to Florida Department of Health data released Friday. (9/18)
Reuters:
Pfizer Forecasts 24% COVID Vaccination Rate In US This Year
Pfizer expects 24% of the U.S. population, or about 82 million people, to receive COVID-19 shots this year, CFO David Denton said at a conference on Monday, reiterating the vaccine maker's estimates from earlier this year. (9/18)
CIDRAP:
Study: Original Pfizer COVID Vaccine 33% Effective Against Emergency, Urgent Care In Young Kids
A new study in JAMA estimates that the original single-strain Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine conferred 33% protection against COVID-19 emergency department (ED) and urgent care (UC) visits for children younger than 5 years during Omicron variant predominance. Researchers from Kaiser Permanente and Pfizer conducted a test-negative case-control study among 24,261 patients aged 6 months to 4 years diagnosed as having an acute respiratory infection (ACI) and tested for SARS-CoV-2 at Kaiser Permanente Southern California from July 2022 to May 2023. Of all children, 48% were seen in the ED, 29% visited the UC, and 23% were outpatients. (Van Beusekom, 9/18)
CIDRAP:
COVID Vaccination After Long COVID May Be Linked To Better Outcomes
A new observational study from Canadian researchers reveals that COVID vaccination after long COVID was tied to fewer symptoms, increased well-being, and less inflammation. The study, based on participants in Montreal, is published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. Long COVID, or post-COVID condition (PCC), is a major emerging public health issue, as 10% to 30% of COVID-19 patients who are not hospitalized, and 50% to 70% hospitalized patients, experience an array of symptoms lasting more than 12 weeks after acute infection. (Soucheray, 9/18)
USA Today:
No, CDC Data Doesn't Show 99% Of Reported COVID-19 Deaths Were From Other Causes
Claim: “The CDC has just quietly admitted that over 99% of reported ‘Covid deaths' were faked in order to scare the public into taking the experimental Covid jab,” the post reads. “... According to the CDC's Covid dashboard, just 1.7% of the 324 'Covid deaths' registered in the week ending August 19 had Covid as the primary cause of death." ... False:
The post misrepresents the data on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. The source actually said that COVID-19 deaths accounted for just 1.7% of all deaths from all causes in the U.S. that week. It has since been updated to 1.6%. (Trela, 9/18)
The Baltimore Sun:
Kaiser Permanente Employees In Maryland, Mid-Atlantic Region Vote To Authorize A Strike
The possibility of a historic health care worker strike inched closer to reality Monday after the union representing Kaiser Permanente employees in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., announced their members had voted last week to authorize a work stoppage to protest unfair labor practices if a labor agreement isn’t reached by Sept. 30. The vote, which concluded on Saturday, follows strike authorization votes by nearly 65,000 Kaiser employees in California, Colorado, Oregon and Southwest Washington in the past two weeks, the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions said in a news release. (Roberts, 9/18)
Stat:
Patients, Doctors Press FTC To Beef Up Hospital Merger Scrutiny
Comments to antitrust regulators lay bare Americans’ anger and disillusionment over consolidation’s effects on all sectors of the economy, but especially health care. A 24-year-old wrote that after his hometown hospital in Indiana merged with a bigger group, his mom, who worked there, found it harder to provide good care amid staff cuts and reduced support. An internal medicine doctor in Wisconsin said after his hospital merged, colleagues were fired, drug shortages got worse, and prices skyrocketed. (Bannow, 9/18)
The Washington Post:
Former Dentist Gets Probation After Procedure Left Child Brain Damaged
When she saw her daughter for the first time after a 2016 dental procedure, Courissa Clark said she couldn’t understand why her 4-year-old, Nevaeh Hall, was unresponsive. Earlier that day, Nevaeh had seizures while receiving dental work, according to court documents. Instead of seeking emergency medical services, the dentist, Bethaniel Jefferson, gave the child more sedatives to try to calm her down, documents allege. (Melnick, 9/19)
Modern Healthcare:
Joint Commission Adding Environmental Sustainability Certificate
Beginning Jan. 1, the voluntary program will certify hospitals that prioritize environmental sustainability as a strategic goal and allocate resources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The initiative comes as the Joint Commission overhauls its accreditation standards to alleviate administrative burdens on healthcare organizations while making space for new strategic priorities. (Hartnett, 9/18)
CBS News:
Study Finds Errors With ADHD Meds In Kids Has Increased Last Two Decades
A new study in the Journal of Pediatrics finds errors involving ADHD medications in kids have risen sharply over the past two decades. Researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio studied national poison data from 2000 through 2021 and found that errors involving ADHD medications increased by almost 300% in people under 20 during that period. Two-thirds of the cases occurred in kids ages 6 to 12. The most common error was accidentally taking or being given mediation twice, followed by taking someone else's medication or taking the wrong medication. (Marshall, 9/18)
The New York Times:
Does Ozempic Stop Working Over Time? Why Weight Loss Can Plateau
People taking the drug and similar medications will hit an inevitable, and necessary, plateau. Here’s why. (Blum, 9/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
Bankrupt Drugmaker Mallinckrodt Considers Sale Of Opioid Business
Pharmaceutical manufacturer Mallinckrodt, one of America’s largest producers of prescription opioids, is in talks with its major investors about selling some or all of the company’s business units, potentially leading to its exit from the opioid business, according to people familiar with the discussions. (Saeedy, 9/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco Drug Overdose Death Numbers Are Rising Again
The numbers underscore how San Francisco officials continue to struggle to address the devastation of fentanyl on the city’s streets — a crisis that Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax called “distressing.” The last figures indicate people are dying from fentanyl overdoses at a rate of nearly three people a day. Colfax and and other health leaders on Monday announced a renewed push to urge people struggling with addiction to seek treatment. (Ho and Leonard, 9/18)
The New York Times:
Fentanyl Found Near Nap Mats At Day Care Where Boy Died, Police Say
A kilogram of fentanyl was found near mats that children used for napping at a Bronx day care site where one toddler died and three other children were hospitalized last week, the police said on Monday night. Chief Joseph Kenny, the Police Department’s chief of detectives, explained just how close to the children the potent narcotic was: “It was laid underneath a mat where the children had been sleeping earlier,” he said at a news conference, where he joined Mayor Eric Adams and other city officials. (Kilgannon and Shanahan, 9/18)
The Washington Post:
Sober Homes Promised Help And Shelter. Some Delivered Fraud, Officials Say.
In August, the New Mexico attorney general unveiled a campaign warning unsheltered people from “being lured” into traveling across state lines “to illegitimate recovery facilities.” The Blackfeet Nation in Montana in July declared a state of emergency aimed at helping displaced members, while one of the state’s senators, Jon Tester (D), demanded an investigation from the federal agency that oversees Medicaid services. (Ovalle, 9/18)
The Washington Post:
How One Company Profited While Delaying Narcan’s Drugstore Debut
Five years after public health officials first asked for it, Narcan finally hit store shelves this month — a potentially pivotal moment in the fight to counter the country’s stubbornly high death toll from heroin, fentanyl and pain pills. Now, anyone can buy the opioid overdose reversal drug without a prescription. But it almost didn’t happen. Narcan’s maker, Emergent BioSolutions, for years refused to allow its blockbuster drug to be sold over the counter (known as OTC), frustrating health experts and workers on the epidemic’s front lines who saw making Narcan and other naloxone-based medicines easier to buy as a way to save lives. (Frankel, 9/18)
AP:
Another Option Emerges To Expand North Carolina Gambling, But Most Democrats Say They Won't Back It
The prospects of enacting soon an overdue North Carolina budget, permitting more state-sanctioned gambling and implementing Medicaid expansion stayed uncertain Monday as Republicans suggested dividing the topics between two bills. But most Democratic colleagues sound unwilling to provide the necessary votes. Action for passing a two-year state government spending plan idled last week when House Republicans said they didn’t have enough votes to pass the budget on their own if it contained language that would authorize four additional casinos and legalize video gambling machines statewide. (Robertson, 9/18)
The New York Times:
Phil Mickelson Says Gambling Addiction ‘Isn’t Any Fun At All’
Phil Mickelson, the golf great whose issues with gambling have made headlines throughout the years, took to social media on Monday to share details about his addiction, and to offer a warning to potential bettors ahead of this year’s N.F.L. season. As the 2023-24 football season kicked off in earnest, Mickelson posted on X to say that he would not be gambling on any games. “I crossed the line of moderation and into addiction which isn’t any fun at all,” said Mickelson, who has won six major golf tournaments. (Lindner, 9/18)
The Washington Post:
Judge Blocks California Law Meant To Increase Online Safety For Kids
A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked an online child protection law in California and said it probably violates the Constitution. Under the law, known as the California Age-Appropriate Design Code, digital platforms would have to vet their products before public release to see whether those offerings could harm kids and teens. The law also requires platforms to enable stronger data privacy protections by default for younger users. (Lima, 9/18)
Axios San Francisco:
California Announces New $16.3M Youth Suicide Prevention Campaign
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced $16.3 million in new grants last week to community-led youth suicide prevention projects amid a nationwide surge in reported teen mental health issues. The funding is part of a new media and outreach campaign launched by CDPH that aims to support youth disproportionately impacted by suicide, such as Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ populations. (Chen, 9/18)
The Washington Post:
Nearly Half Of Adults With Hypertension Are Unaware They Have It, WHO Says
An estimated one in three adults worldwide live with hypertension but most people with the risky cardiovascular condition are not adequately treated, according to a new report by the World Health Organization. A 2020 study published in The Lancet found high blood pressure is “the single most important risk factor for early death,” the WHO report says. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, leads to an estimated 10 million deaths every year, but almost half of adults with high blood pressure don’t know they have it. (Amenabar, 9/19)
CNN:
Proper Treatment For Hypertension Could Avert 76 Million Deaths Globally By 2050, WHO Says
The dangerous effects of high blood pressure are highlighted in a new report by the World Health Organization that identifies the condition as one of the world’s leading risk factors for death and disability. Published Tuesday, WHO’s first report on the global impact of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, offers recommendations on ways to combat the “silent killer.” (Musa, 9/19)
The Washington Post:
Obesity As A Factor In Cardiac Deaths Tripled Over 20 Years
The number of U.S. adults who died of heart disease and whose death record cited obesity as a contributing factor was three times greater in 2020 than in 1999, according to research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. (Searing, 9/18)
NBC News:
Morning Workouts May Be Better For Weight Loss, Study Finds
Is morning the best time of day to exercise? Research published Tuesday in the journal Obesity finds that early morning activity — between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. — could help with weight loss. “My cautious suggestion from this study is that if we choose to exercise in the early morning, before we eat, we can potentially lose more weight compared to exercise at other times of the day,” said lead researcher Tongyu Ma, a research assistant professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. (Sullivan, 9/19)
Harvest Public Media:
More Midwest States Are Offering Universal Free Lunch To Students — While Others Consider It
Students are back in the classroom — and school breakfast and lunch are now free in several states. Michigan, Minnesota and Colorado are among six states implementing universal free lunch this year, while several other Midwestern states are taking more gradual steps to expand food access to students. It’s a shift that’s occurring across the country, after students, parents and school districts became accustomed to free school meals during the COVID pandemic. (Medlin, 9/18)
The Conversation:
Screen Time Is Contributing To Chronic Sleep Deprivation In Tweens And Teens – A Pediatric Sleep Expert Explains
With the start of a new school year comes the inevitable battle to get kids back into a healthy bedtime routine. In many cases, this likely means resetting boundaries on screen use, especially late in the evenings. But imposing and enforcing those rules can be easier said than done. A growing body of research is finding strong links between sleep, mental health and screen time in teens and tweens — the term for pre-adolescent children around the ages of 10 to 12. Amid an unprecedented mental health crisis in which some 42% of adolescents in the U.S. are suffering from mental health issues, teens are also getting too little sleep. (Chen, 9/19)
CNN:
Male Loneliness Epidemic: How Fathers Face A Friendship Deficit
Several years ago, another dad reached out to me after reading my work about being a stay-at-home dad. He was married, had two toddlers and was not coping well. He couldn’t find another person to talk to outside his family. He didn’t say it, because most of us men won’t, but fatherhood was taking a toll on his mental health and self-worth. He felt alone — but not because he didn’t have a good relationship with his significant other. He told me it was because he didn’t have friends. (Carpenter, 9/18)