First Edition: Sept. 8, 2022

KHN: Patient Satisfaction Surveys Earn A Zero On Tracking Whether Hospitals Deliver Culturally Competent Care 
Each day, thousands of patients get a call or letter after being discharged from U.S. hospitals. How did their stay go? How clean and quiet was the room? How often did nurses and doctors treat them with courtesy and respect? The questions focus on what might be termed the standard customer satisfaction aspects of a medical stay, as hospitals increasingly view patients as consumers who can take their business elsewhere. But other crucial questions are absent from these ubiquitous surveys, whose results influence how much hospitals get paid by insurers: They do not poll patients on whether they’ve experienced discrimination during their treatment, a common complaint of diverse patient populations. Likewise, they fail to ask diverse groups of patients whether they’ve received culturally competent care. And some researchers say that’s a major oversight. (Bichell, 9/8)

KHN: At 988 Call Centers, Crisis Counselors Offer Empathy — And Juggle Limited Resources 
On a Friday evening at a call center in southeastern Pennsylvania, Michael Colluccio stirred his hot tea, put on his headset, and started up his computer. The screen showed calls coming in to the suicide prevention lifeline from around the state. Colluccio, 38, said he knows what it’s like to be on the other end of one of those calls. “So, I had a suicide attempt when I was about 10, 11 years old,” Colluccio said. “And we do get callers who are about that age, or quite young, and they are going through similar stressors.” (Sholtis, 9/8)

The New York Times: Texas Judge’s Ruling Puts Free Preventive Care In Jeopardy 
A federal judge in Texas ruled Wednesday that the Affordable Care Act’s process for determining what kinds of preventive care must be fully covered by private health insurance is unconstitutional, ramping up yet another legal battle over the 12-year-old law. The ruling, by Judge Reed O’Connor of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, could jeopardize millions of Americans’ access to preventive services, including cancer screenings, alcohol abuse counseling and drugs that prevent H.I.V. infection. It does not take effect immediately, however, and legal experts said the Biden administration would almost certainly appeal. (Stolberg, 9/7)

AP: Judge Rules Against Required Coverage Of HIV Prevention Drug 
The ruling was handed down by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, whose courtroom in Fort Worth is a favored venue for conservative opponents of the federal health care law that’s also known as “Obamacare.” He ruled in 2018 that the entire law is invalid but was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. ... O’Connor also ruled that a federal task force that recommends coverage of preventive treatments, which is made up of volunteer members, violates the appointment clause of the U.S. Constitution. (Weber, 9/7)

Reuters: Texas Judge Deems Obamacare HIV Prevention Drug Mandate Unlawful
The legal challenge argued that the free pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, requirement, as well as free coverage requirements for contraceptives and the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, requires business owners to pay for services that "encourage homosexual behavior, prostitution, sexual promiscuity and intravenous drug use" despite their religious beliefs. (Pierson, 9/7)

The Hill: Biden Administration ‘Reviewing’ Texas Judge’s Decision On HIV Drug Coverage
The Biden administration announced Wednesday night it was reviewing a Texas judge’s ruling that declared a part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requiring that health care employers provide HIV preventive drugs unconstitutional. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted the administration was reviewing the decision because the ACA “has been the law of the land for over 10 years.” (Dress, 9/7)

Stat: In Reversal, FDA Advisers Vote To Support Approval Of Amylyx's Drug For ALS
At the end of an unusual and dramatic meeting on Wednesday, an independent panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended the approval of a new drug to treat people with ALS developed by Amylyx Pharmaceuticals. (Feuerstein, 9/7)

The Boston Globe: In A Surprise, FDA Committee Recommends ALS Drug By Cambridge Company, Reversing Previous Vote
The unexpected reversal, which was partly due to pleas from patients and their families and partly due to additional data presented by Amylyx, bodes well for the company. But it is only a recommendation. FDA regulators have the final say in authorizing or rejecting the drug by the end of the month. (Cross, 9/7)

The Washington Post: FDA Advisers Recommend Approval Of Controversial ALS Drug 
The FDA, which usually follows the recommendation of its outside advisers but is not required to, is expected to decide whether to approve the drug by Sept. 29. The improved fortunes of the medicine came despite criticism from FDA staff as recently as last week about the treatment’s effectiveness, the conduct of its clinical trial and the researchers’ interpretation of the data. But the medicine is considered safe, and the agency has been under intense pressure from ALS patients and physicians who say the treatment holds promise for a fatal disease that typically causes rapid deterioration and death. (McGinley, 9/7)

Reuters: Michigan's 90-Year-Old Abortion Ban Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules 
A 1931 Michigan law banning abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest violates the state's constitution, a state court judge ruled on Wednesday, barring any prosecutors from enforcing it. Judge Elizabeth Gleicher of the Michigan Court of Claims found that Michigan's constitution guarantees a right to bodily autonomy including abortion. The ruling is a victory for providers including a Planned Parenthood affiliate, which had sued to block the law. (Pierson and Singh, 9/7)

NPR: A 1931 Law Criminalizing Abortion In Michigan Is Unconstitutional, A Judge Rules
Michigan Court of Claims Judge Elizabeth Gleicher ruled the Michigan Constitution's due process clause is expansive enough to cover reproductive rights. "The Michigan Constitution protects the right of all pregnant people to make autonomous health decisions," she wrote, and later: "Exercising the right to bodily integrity means exercising the right to determine when in her life a woman will be best prepared physically, emotionally and financially to be a mother." (Pluta, 9/7)

AP: Judge Who Voided Minnesota Abortion Limits Blocks Appeal Bid 
A Minnesota judge who struck down key restrictions on abortion in the state has rejected a bid by a county prosecutor who hopes to appeal the ruling. Ramsey County District Judge Thomas Gilligan ruled Tuesday night that Traverse County Attorney Matthew Franzese is not entitled to intervene in the case. Franzese had hoped to pursue an appeal after Attorney General Keith Ellison declined to challenge Gilligan’s previous ruling that Minnesota’s restrictions were unconstitutional. (Karnowski, 9/7)

Columbus Dispatch: Abortion In Ohio: Judge's Hearing Set For Thursday On 6-Week Ban
Those challenging Ohio's six-week abortion ban say a Hamilton County judge could rule as soon as Thursday on whether the law should remain in effect. Ohio's abortion clinics filed a new lawsuit in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court last week to block Ohio's current abortion restrictions, which have been in place since the day the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Ohio law bans doctors from performing abortions after cardiac activity is detected, which can be as soon as six weeks into pregnancy. (Balmert, 9/7)

AP: Abortion Floor Debate Splits South Carolina Republicans 
The South Carolina Senate’s three Republican women all said Wednesday that they could not support an abortion ban that did not include exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. Two different attempts to get the exceptions back into the bill failed later in the day. Senators adjourned Wednesday evening without a final vote. (Collins, 9/7)

AP: Nashville: No License Plate Readers In Imposing Abortion Ban
Law enforcement in Nashville will be prohibited from using license plate readers to enforce Tennessee’s anti-abortion laws, city council members decided. The move comes after Tennessee, which is politically controlled by Republicans, enacted one of the strictest abortion bans in the U.S. last month. Under the law, almost all abortions are outlawed and doctors who violate the statute risk felony convictions. (Kruesi, 9/7)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Abortion Laws Led To 3-Day Delay For Woman's Treatment
Kristina Cruickshank knew she had lost her unborn baby. In her 15th week of pregnancy, a large fluid-filled sac surrounded the fetus, most prominently around the head and neck. Massive cysts, some filled with blood, covered her enlarged ovaries in a “spoke wheel pattern,” according to her medical records. Additional fluid had filled parts of her abdomen. (Gill, 9/7)

Politico: ‘They’re Getting Killed Among Women’: Skeptical Female Voters Stand In Way Of GOP Senate 
Republicans this election cycle thought they had finally achieved a breakthrough with suburban women after years of losing support. Now, as the primary season has all but ended, the GOP is back where it once was: Appealing directly to skeptical female voters, the women whose support will make or break the party’s drive to retake the Senate majority. A sure sign: One after the other, Republican nominees in top Senate battlegrounds have softened, backpedaled and sought to clarify their abortion positions after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Another is that male candidates have begun putting their wives in front of the camera to speak directly to voters in new television ads. (Allison, 9/6)

The Wall Street Journal: A Key To Long Covid Is Virus Lingering In The Body, Scientists Say 
The virus that causes Covid-19 can remain in some people’s bodies for a long time.  A growing number of scientists think that lingering virus is a root cause of long Covid. New research has found the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the blood of long Covid patients up to a year after infection but not in people who have fully recovered from Covid. Virus has also been found in tissues including the brain, lungs, and lining of the gut, according to scientists and studies. (Reddy, 9/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: Anxiety And Depression May Raise Odds Of Long COVID
Psychological stressors may play a greater role than physical ailments in a patient’s likelihood of experiencing symptoms of long COVID after a coronavirus infection, according to a study published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry. (Vaziri and Buchmann, 9/7)

Reuters: Long COVID's Link To Suicide: Scientists Warn Of Hidden Crisis 
Scott Taylor never got to move on from COVID-19.The 56-year-old, who caught the disease in spring 2020, still had not recovered about 18 months later when he killed himself at his home near Dallas, having lost his health, memory and money. "No one cares. No one wants to take the time to listen," Taylor wrote in a final text to a friend, speaking of the plight of millions of sufferers of long COVID, a disabling condition that can last for months and years after the initial infection. (Steenhuysen and Rigby, 9/8)

Los Angeles Times: New Research Initiative Will Focus On Root Causes Of Long COVID
The Long COVID Research Initiative will try to determine if SARS-CoV-2 is still present in those with long-haul symptoms and, if so, how it might be contributing to their ailments. (Money, 9/7)

Politico: Doctors Are Taking It On Themselves To Figure Out Long Covid 
Dozens of health care practitioners from across the country signed onto a recent Zoom call to talk about pain. Specifically, how much pain their patients with long Covid were in, what kind, and what — if anything — they could do about it. Members of the group, an ad-hoc collaboration of providers at more than 40 long Covid clinics, have met for more than a year but are still grappling with the same kinds of questions they did at the beginning: how to treat a new, complex and debilitating condition affecting millions of Americans. (Mahr and Messerly, 9/7)

Politico: New York Lifts Mask Mandate For Public Transit, Correctional Facilities, Shelters 
New Yorkers are no longer required, but still encouraged, to wear masks on subway trains, correctional facilities, detention centers and homeless shelters, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday. (Young, 9/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: Doctors Who Give False COVID Information Could Face Discipline With New Bill
AB2098 by Assemblymember Evan Low, D-San Jose, specifically calls out COVID-19 and would amend the definition of unprofessional conduct to prohibit doctors from giving patients “false or misleading information” about the coronavirus — including its risks, prevention and treatment — and about the “development, safety and effectiveness” of COVID vaccines. (Asimov, 9/7)

AP: GOP Gives Thumbs Down To Biden's $47B Emergency Request
President Joe Biden’s request for more than $47 billion in emergency funding to help Ukraine and tackle COVID-19, monkeypox and natural disasters is encountering deep skepticism from Senate Republicans, signaling a showdown ahead. The early resistance on the size and scope of the spending request points to the fraught negotiations to come as Congress labors to pass a stopgap spending bill that would keep the federal government running past Oct. 1 or risk a federal shutdown. (Freking and Mascaro, 9/7)

Bloomberg: Monkeypox: Senate Health Committee Sets Schedule For Hearings On Response
Heads of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Health and Human Services Department’s preparedness office are slated to testify Sept. 14 at 10 a.m., according to a statement from the office of Senator Patty Murray of Washington state, who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Bloomberg reported last month that the hearing was planned for mid-September. (Muller, 9/7)

CNBC: U.S. Monkeypox Outbreak Is Slowing As Vaccines Become More Accessible, Health Officials Say
The U.S. monkeypox outbreak is slowing as vaccines have become more available and there’s broader public awareness about what actions individuals can take to lower their risk of infection, according to White House health officials. (Kimball, 9/7)

AP: Monkeypox Cases Dropping, But Racial Disparities Growing 
The White House said Wednesday it’s optimistic about a decline in monkeypox cases and an uptick in vaccinations against the infectious virus, despite worsening racial disparities in reported cases. Promising to ramp up vaccination offerings at LGBTQ Pride festivals around the country in the coming weeks, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the deputy coordinator of the White House national monkeypox response, said more than 460,000 doses have been given. An end to the virus’ spread, however, is not in sight. (Seitz, 9/8)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Monkeypox Vaccine Efforts During Atlanta Black Pride Successful
As monkeypox vaccine supply begins to outpace demand, many have received first doses, signaling a step in the right direction to health officials after over a dozen vaccine events were held in the metro area through Labor Day. Monkeypox has disproportionately affected Black men who have sex with men, with this population accounting for 78 percent of cases in Georgia, according to DPH, as of August 31. Local health officials have worked to ensure that vaccines are readily available to the communities impacted the most. (Thomas, 9/7)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth, Walmart In Medicare Advantage Deal
UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Optum's data and analytics tools will guide Walmart Health clinicians to provide value-based care for Medicare beneficiaries, according to the companies. The initiative will begin in January at 15 Walmart Health locations in Florida and Georgia before expanding elsewhere, and the partners project it eventually will serve hundreds of thousands of patients. The companies also will market a co-branded Medicare Advantage plan in Georgia and Walmart Health Virtual Care will be in-network for some UnitedHealthcare commercial members in January. (Berryman, 9/7)

Reuters: Walmart, UnitedHealth To Offer Preventive Healthcare Program For Seniors 
Walmart and healthcare giant UnitedHealth Group are planning to team up to provide preventive care for people aged 65 and up, and virtual healthcare services for all age groups, the companies said on Wednesday. (McLymore, 9/7)

Stat: A New Report Brings Telehealth Fraud Risk Into Focus
Washington’s attempts to permanently lock in telehealth coverage have been hobbled by a fear that virtual care could drive up Medicare fraud and spending. But a new watchdog report offers early evidence that only a small portion of providers are billing for virtual care in a potentially fraudulent way, suggesting that targeted interventions could crack down on abuse. (Ravindranath, 9/8)

CBS News: Expert Alarmed By Mental Health App Cerebral's Speedy Sessions And Prescriber Qualifications
More users of Cerebral, one of the largest online mental health care providers, are reporting they have problems with Cerebral's quality of care. In June, CBS News reported on how some users were concerned about how the startup was treating people for conditions such as depression and ADHD. (Werner Wernera and Kegu, 9/7)

The Boston Globe: Hospitals Scale Back Spending As Multimillion Dollar Losses Mount
Facing multimillion dollar operating losses in the most recent quarter, several midsized and small Massachusetts hospitals and systems have begun intense efforts to scale back spending, as they grapple with the aftermath of COVID. (Bartlett, 9/7)

Montana Free Press: Study Finds Montana Underpays Medicaid Providers By Tens Of Millions
For Dave Eaton, hiring enough staff to help developmentally disabled clients in Livingston with day-to-day tasks is a constant, brutal cycle. Out of every 10 people who come to work at Counterpoint Inc., the small nonprofit he leads, Eaton estimates three leave within a year. Eaton, the organization’s longtime executive director, attributes the high turnover to one key factor: finding people who want to work a tough job for less than $16 an hour isn’t easy. (Silvers, 9/7)

Bay Area News Group: Backup Generators Failed At San Jose Hospital During Blackouts
On one of the hottest days in the city’s recorded history and with energy officials anticipating possible blackouts, backup generators failed at a major Santa Clara County hospital in San Jose on Tuesday night, leaving parts of the facility entirely without power for around four hours. (Greschler, 9/7)

Politico: Groups Sue Florida Over Medicaid Ban On Gender-Affirming Care
A coalition of transgender rights groups sued Florida over new regulations that block the state’s Medicaid program from covering the costs associated with gender-affirming care. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday morning in Tallahassee federal court, argues the ban, which Florida’s chief Medicaid regulator finalized last month, violates the federal equal protection clause and prevents an estimated 9,000 transgender state Medicaid enrollees from receiving critical gender-affirming care. (Sarkissian, 9/7)

AP: CDC: West Virginia Sees Decline In Drug Overdose Deaths
Overdose deaths in West Virginia declined during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, health officials said. From March 2021 to March 2022, West Virginia saw 1,485 overdose deaths, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was a decrease of 3.6% from the 1,541 deaths for the year ending in March 2021. (9/8)

Detroit Free Press: Rainbow Fentanyl May Lure Young People, DEA Warns
In Michigan and across the country, drug dealers are selling fentanyl that looks like candy in an attempt to lure young people and get them hooked on the powerful synthetic opioid, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. “Rainbow fentanyl — fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes — is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram warned in a prepared statement. (Kovanis, 9/7)

Stat: Fentanyl Test Strips Could Help Save Lives. In Many States, They’re Still Illegal
Nothing has made the nation’s addiction epidemic more deadly than fentanyl’s infiltration of the drug supply. Yet in more than a dozen states, tools used to detect the ultra-potent synthetic opioid are still classified as drug paraphernalia — making it a crime to possess or distribute them. (Facher, 9/8)

Stat: Juul Settlement Won’t Overhaul The E-Cig Landscape, Experts Warn
On Tuesday, a group of more than 30 attorneys general announced they had reached a “landmark” $438.5 million settlement with the e-cigarette maker Juul over its alleged marketing toward children. But the settlement doesn’t have nearly the scope or the import of earlier efforts to rein in tobacco companies’ marketing, experts told STAT. (Florko, 9/8)

USA Today: Western Diet, Sedentary Lifestyle Likely Factors In Global Rise In Cancer For Adults 50 And Under
Cancer is on the rise among adults under the age of 50, new research suggests. Early onset cases of cancers of the breast, colon, esophagus, kidney, liver, and pancreas are among those that have risen worldwide since about 1990, according to a study by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology. (Snider, 9/7)

Press Association: Sweeteners Aspartame, Sucralose, Ace K Linked To Heart Disease In Study
Academics have identified a possible link between artificial sweeteners and heart disease in a new study. Researchers said that food additives "should not be considered a healthy and safe alternative to sugar". (Pickover, 9/7)

The New York Times: Food Insecurity For Families With Children Reached Two-Decade Low In 2021 
Food insecurity for households with children declined to its lowest rate in two decades last year, the Agriculture Department said on Wednesday, as government assistance programs continued to blunt the effect of the coronavirus on the economy. The department’s findings were in line with data last year showing that vast expansions of government aid helped reduce hunger. But experts warned that picture was almost certain to change as pandemic-era programs expire and inflation remains high. (Qiu, 9/7)

NPR: Forehead Thermometers Could Be Less Likely To Detect Fevers In Black Patients
The chances of a forehead thermometer detecting fevers in Black patients were 26% lower than oral thermometers. Though the differences were small, the researchers noted that fevers could slip under the radar if the number is below commonly used thresholds. (Archie, 9/8)