First Edition: Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025

KFF Health News: Voters Backed Abortion Rights But State Judges Have Final Say
In November, Montana voters safeguarded the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. They also elected a new chief justice to the Montana Supreme Court who was endorsed by anti-abortion advocates. That seeming contradiction is slated to come to a head this year. People on polar sides of the abortion debate are preparing to fight over how far the protection for abortion extends, and the final say will likely come from the seven-person state Supreme Court. (Sable-Smith and Houghton, 1/14)

KFF Health News: Beyond Hard Hats: Mental Struggles Become The Deadliest Construction Industry Danger
Frank Wampol had a dark realization when he came across some alarming data a few years ago: Over 5,000 male construction workers die from suicide annually — five times the number who die from work-related injuries, according to several studies. That’s considerably more than the suicide rate for men in the general population. “To say this is a crisis would be an understatement,” said Wampol, vice president of safety and health at BL Harbert International, a construction company based in Birmingham with over 10,000 employees. (Ridderbusch, 1/14)

Modern Healthcare: ACA Exchange Final Rule For 2026 Strengthens Broker Oversight
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is strengthening oversight of health insurance exchange brokers under a final rule issued Monday. The Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2026 makes it easier for CMS to suspend agents and brokers who market exchange plans. The agency drafted this policy after KFF Health News reported last April that some brokers were switching consumers into different plans without their permission. (Early, 1/13)

ABC News: Some Health Care Facilities Remain Closed Amid California Wildfires
Health care centers and medical facilities remain closed as the devastating California wildfires spread. At least 24 people are believed to be dead and more than a dozen others remain unaccounted for as of Monday morning. Additionally, 105,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and another 87,000 are under evacuation warnings. Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest health care systems in California, said most of its facilities remain open and operational but seven remain closed. (Kekatos, 1/13)

Politico: Climate Damage Hits LA Firefighters’ Lungs
Firefighters are risking not just their lives but also their health to beat back the unprecedented blazes engulfing the Los Angeles region — in yet another example of the spreading havoc from climate change. Urban wildfires release a host of chemicals into the air — from copper to lead — and protective gear falls woefully short, writes Ariel Wittenberg. The situation underscores just how unprepared cities are for the changing nature of wildfires as humans continue to encroach on nature and as a warming planet dries out vegetation, turning it into dangerous kindling. (Skibell, 1/13)

Bloomberg: Lilly Asks Biden Administration To Pause Drug-Price Negotiations
Eli Lilly & Co. said it and other drugmakers will ask the Trump administration to pause drug-price negotiations, even as Biden-appointed officials prepare a new list of medicines that should be targeted. “They need to fix it” before negotiating down the price of more drugs, Lilly Chief Executive Officer Dave Ricks said on the sidelines of the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, referring to the Inflation Reduction Act. (Muller, Koons and Wingrove, 1/13)

The Hill: Patient Groups Call On Trump Administration To Let Medicare Cover Obesity Drugs
A coalition of obesity-related patient advocacy groups is calling on the incoming Trump administration to finalize a proposal that would allow Medicare to cover obesity medications. Led by the Obesity Care Advocacy Network (OCAN), more than 70 organizations said in a statement that addressing, treating and managing obesity is key to making America healthier. The groups pointed to a study that found if nothing is done, 213 million Americans will be overweight or obese by 2050. (Weixel, 1/13)

Modern Healthcare: 3 Biden Healthcare Regulations Trump Will Have To Finalize
When President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next Monday, his administration faces key decisions on healthcare policies President Joe Biden left uncompleted. Regulations governing Medicare, remote prescribing of controlled substances, and billing disputes between health insurers and providers top the list of proposed rules the Trump administration will have to retain, modify or eliminate. To be sure, the Biden administration could opt to rush out final rules in his last days, but they are more likely to fall to the new team. (Early, 1/13)

Stat: Former Trump HHS Aide Likely To Lead CMS Innovation Center
Former Trump administration health policy aide Abe Sutton is incoming President Trump’s likely pick to lead the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, two sources familiar with the plans told STAT. (Zhang, 1/13) 

The Hill: Public Health Experts, Scientists Warn Senators On Confirming RFK Jr
A new coalition of more than 700 public health professionals, scientists and activists signed an open letter to oppose Senate confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, saying his “fringe” views and inexperience would put the country at serious risk from severe infectious diseases. The letter from the coalition called “Defend Public Health” said Kennedy’s “unfounded, fringe beliefs could significantly undermine public health practices across the country and around the world.” (Weixel, 1/13)

NPR: RFK Jr.'s Views On Vaccines And Abortion Rights Complicate Confirmation
As confirmation hearings begin for President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet, his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services is facing pushback from members of both parties. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. began his foray into politics as a Democrat — launching his own bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination before leaving the party and, later, throwing his support behind Trump. (McCammon, 1/14)

The New York Times: RFK Jr.’s MAHA Movement Obscures America’s Unhealthy Past
“We will make Americans healthy again,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has declared. A political action committee that has promoted Mr. Kennedy, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick for health and human services secretary, says his movement is “igniting a health revolution in America.” But the word “again” presumes a time in the country’s past when Americans were in better health. Was there ever really a time when America was healthier? (Kolata, 1/13)

Stat: Will Alcohol Join MAHA's List Of Top Health Threats?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his allies in the “Make America Healthy Again” movement have no shortage of targets — products, policies, foods and drinks that they see as worsening the nation’s health. Alcohol seems to have so far avoided their outrage. (Cueto, 1/14)

Becker's Hospital Review: Iowa Hospital Halts Open-Heart Surgeries
MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa, has indefinitely paused its open-heart surgery program. In a Jan. 13 statement to Becker's, a spokesperson for the Des Moines, Iowa-based health system attributed the decision to changing demographics, difficulty recruiting physicians to the region and financial pressures. Additionally, MercyOne Siouxland is downgrading its trauma center designation from a level 2 to a level 3. The health system said recent changes from the American College of Surgeons have made maintaining its level 2 status "unstustainable" at the Siouxland hospital. (Carbajal, 1/13)

Concord Monitor: Study: Ambulance Transport In NH Can Cost Anywhere From $414 To $2,317
An independent study of ambulance trips in New Hampshire says that each call costs between $414 and $2,317, not including mileage, depending on level of care and where they take place. (Brooks, 1/13)

The CT Mirror: Prospect Medical Bankruptcy: CT Officials Vow Hospitals Won’t Close
State officials offered assurances to residents and employees Monday that three Connecticut hospitals owned by Prospect Medical Holdings would remain open and operating, despite their parent company filing for bankruptcy late Saturday night. The California-based hospital operator, which also owns facilities in California, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, filed for chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Northern Texas. (Golvala, 1/13)

Modern Healthcare: Providence's Recover And Renew Plan Brings In $1B In Improvements
Providence has seen about $1 billion in operational improvements from its restructuring and cost-cutting initiative since its launch, Chief Financial Officer Greg Hoffman told attendees at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference Monday. ... The plan includes reducing the system's use of contract workers and patients' length of stay, along with organizational restructuring, growing value-based care platforms and increasing provider partnerships. (1/13)

Modern Healthcare: How Healthcare Hiring Shaped Up In 2024
Healthcare continues to add jobs but the industry's gains in 2024 did not outpace 2023's performance — except when it involved jobs within hospitals. The industry added 681,300 jobs in 2024, compared with 688,400 a year earlier. While the number of jobs in other major areas of the sector saw smaller increases year-over-year, employment gains in hospitals rose 3.8% in 2024, up slightly from 3.7% in 2023. (Broderick, 1/13)

Axios: Incentives Aim To Lure RNs To Nursing Home Jobs
The Biden administration unveiled a tuition repayment program to incentivize nurses to work in nursing homes or state agencies that monitor them as it wraps up its final days in office. President Biden's marquee policy to improve nursing home care — a national staffing requirement for skilled nursing facilities — is likely to be rolled back by the incoming Republican trifecta. (Goldman, 1/13)

Modern Healthcare: Alignment Health Names Dawn Maroney As President
Medicare Advantage insurance company Alignment Health elevated Dawn Maroney to the role of company president on Monday. In her new role, Maroney will oversee Alignment's daily operations, focus on improving members' experience with the health plan, and work with providers, the company said in a news release. (Tepper, 1/13)

MedPage Today: How Nurses, Doctors Rank In Gallup's Poll Of Most Trusted Professions
Nurses once again earned the top spot as the most trusted profession in America, with pharmacists and physicians ranking fourth and fifth on Gallup's annual Most Honest and Ethical Professions Poll. Of those surveyed, 76% rated nurses as having "high" or "very high" ethical standards. Grade-school teachers ranked second, with 61% of respondents saying they have high or very high ethical standards, followed by military officers (59%), pharmacists (57%), and physicians (53%). (Firth, 1/13)

Stat: Truveta Joins Drugmakers To Launch Massive Genomic Database
Health data company Truveta said Monday it’s partnering with health systems and drugmakers to launch the Truveta Genome Project, a database of genetic data that is expected to accelerate personalized medicine and help discover new drugs. Truveta plans to use leftover biospecimens from patients — after they consent — receiving routine health care at participating health systems to create the database. (Trang, 1/13)

Modern Healthcare: General Catalyst, Amazon Web Services Form Partnership
Venture capital firm General Catalyst and Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of the big tech company, are joining forces to develop artificial intelligence applications in healthcare. As part of the collaboration, General Catalyst said it has selected AWS as its cloud vendor of choice. The two companies will co-develop and deploy AI solutions with General Catalyst’s portfolio companies and its health system partners. (Perna, 1/13)

Bloomberg: Nvidia Unveils Tie-Ups With Illumina, Mayo Clinic In AI Health Push
Nvidia Corp. announced tie-ups with Illumina Inc., the Mayo Clinic and other health-care organizations as part of its push to encourage the adoption of artificial intelligence by that industry. Illumina, a gene sequencing company, will adopt Nvidia’s generative AI platform for chemistry and biology, the world’s largest chipmaker said Monday in a statement. The Mayo Clinic is deploying Nvidia’s latest hardware and some of its software to improve digital pathology, the company said. (King, 1/13)

Modern Healthcare: Digital Health Investments, Funding Fell In 2024: Rock Health
Investments into digital health companies fell in 2024, according to new data from venture capital and research firm Rock Health. Digital health venture capital funding dropped from $10.8 billion in 2023 to $10.1 billion in 2024 marking the third straight year with a decline, according to Rock Health's report, which published Monday. There were 497 funding deals across digital health in 2024, which was a slight decline from the 503 deals signed in 2023. (Turner, 1/13)

Modern Healthcare: Qventus Lands $105M In Funding From KKR, Bessemer, HonorHealth
Qventus is receiving $105 million in a Series D funding round as the interest in healthcare artificial intelligence reaches a fever pitch. The round was led by global investment firm KKR and venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners. Health systems Northwestern Medicine, HonorHealth and Allina Health also participated. (Perna, 1/13)

Bloomberg: Pharma’s Big Meeting In US Draws Protests Over Healthcare Costs
The pharmaceutical industry’s biggest investment conference drew protesters in San Francisco Monday with signs reading “delay, deny, depose,” words prosecutors said were written on shell casings found at the scene of a health insurance executive’s killing last month. Across the street from the entrance of the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco where the JPMorgan Healthcare conference was being held, some two dozen protesters chanted “health care is a human right” and said drugmakers share blame with insurers for high costs and lack of access to care. (Kresge, 1/14)

Axios: J&J Strikes $14.6 Billion Deal For Intra-Cellular Therapies
Johnson & Johnson on Monday said that it's agreed to acquire CNS biotech Intra-Cellular Therapies for $14.6 billion in cash, or $132 per share. This would be the largest biotech merger since 2023, nearly tripling the size of last year's record-holder (Vertex/Alpine Immune). (Primack, 1/13)

Bloomberg: Bayer To Scale Back Pharmaceutical M&A Amid Push To Pay Down Debt
Bayer AG plans to push pause on some of its pharmaceutical dealmaking, focusing instead on reducing the high debt load the company still faces after its $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto. The company won’t seek pharma and biotech deals toward the top end of a target range of €1 billion to €5 billion ($1 billion to $5 billion), head of pharmaceuticals Stefan Oelrich said in an interview on Monday on the sidelines of the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. That marks a reversal of comments he made at the same meeting a year ago. Bayer now has built the drug pipeline it needs to grow in the next five to seven years, he said. (Kresge and Wind, 1/13)

CNBC: Eli Lilly CEO Expects New Weight Loss Pill To Be Approved Next Year
Eli Lilly expects its experimental weight loss pill will get approved as soon as early next year, CEO David Ricks told Bloomberg TV on Monday. The company is set to release key late-stage trial data on the drug, orforglipron, by the middle of this year. (Pramuk, 1/13)

AP: Elon Musk Says A Third Patient Got A Neuralink Brain Implant. The Work Is Part Of A Booming Field
Elon Musk said a third person has received an implant from his brain-computer interface company Neuralink, one of many groups working to connect the nervous system to machines. “We’ve got ... three humans with Neuralinks and all are working well,” he said during a wide-ranging interview at a Las Vegas event streamed on his social media platform X. ... Musk also said Neuralink hopes to implant the experimental devices in 20 to 30 more people this year. (Ungar, 1/13)

Chicago Tribune: Illinois Approves 4 New Health Conditions For Medical Marijuana
For the first time since 2019, Illinois regulators have approved new medical conditions to qualify for medical cannabis, all centered around women’s health. Endometriosis, ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids and female orgasmic disorder were approved by the Illinois Department of Public Health, at the recommendation of the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board. (McCoppin, 1/13)

Missouri Independent: Missouri Bill Renews Push To Ban Shackling Of Pregnant People In City, County Jails
Seven years ago, Missouri banned the shackling of pregnant people in state prisons. State Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Republican from Arnold, is hoping to expand the law this year to include city and county jails. “Now we have seven years of data that this is a fairly small number of inmates and it is not onerous for [the Department of Corrections] to comply with the law,” Coleman said. “We’re able to help keep women who are incarcerated safer.” (Spoerre, 1/13)

Stat: How This Court Ruling Helps Nursing Home Residents With Disabilities
Over the last 30 years, one of the biggest shifts in health policy for Americans with disabilities has been an emphasis on helping people live and receive care in their communities, rather than in institutional settings, such as psychiatric hospitals and intermediate care facilities. A New Year’s Eve ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is expected to accelerate this shift and usher nursing home residents under the community care umbrella. (Broderick, 1/14)

The Guardian: Democratic States Train Non-Doctors On Providing Abortions To Expand US Access
Democratic states across the country are embarking on a pioneering effort to increase access to abortion by teaching people who are not doctors to offer and perform the procedure. In Washington state, a first-of-its-kind pilot program called the Pharmacist Abortion Access Project announced this week that it trained 10 pharmacists to prescribe abortion pills; so far, they have prescribed abortions to 43 people. (Sherman, 1/13)

Politico: Among New York Democrats, A Broader Embrace Of Involuntary Hospitalization
New York Democrats from the left-leaning to the centrist are finding common cause in the involuntary commitment of mentally ill people living on the streets and subway — a practice spurned by progressives just two years ago. New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander called Monday for an expansion of involuntary removal as part of his detailed plan to end street homelessness. (Ngo, 1/13)

The Washington Post: Dementia Cases In U.S. To Double By 2060, New Study Says
New cases of dementia will double by 2060, when 1 million U.S. adults are projected to develop the memory-robbing condition each year, according to a sobering new study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine. The new analysis shows that the risk a person faces over their lifetime is higher than some previous estimates: After age 55, 4 in 10 adults are likely to develop some form of dementia. That’s in part because the new analysis is based on decades of close follow-up, including regular cognitive assessments, of a racially diverse group of people — a quarter of whom were Black and face an increased risk of dementia. (Johnson, 1/13)

CBS News: Pennsylvania High School Student Positive For Tuberculosis Returns To Class Without Doctor's Clearance, Superintendent Says
The Charleroi Area School District superintendent is notifying the families of high school students after a teen recovering from tuberculosis returned to class on Monday without clearance from doctors, the district said. ... The student was "diagnosed with tuberculosis a couple of weeks ago," the superintendent said. However, they returned to the school building Monday morning without clearance from a doctor. (Lang and Hoffman, 1/13)

CIDRAP: US Respiratory Disease Markers Remain High For Flu, COVID, RSV
Respiratory virus activity across the nation remains high, with COVID-19 levels rising across much of the country, flu indicators still elevated, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity very high in many regions, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest illness updates. For the most recent flu reporting week, some markers remained stable or decreased, which the CDC said could reflect changes in health-seeking behaviors over the holidays rather than that the seasonal peak has passed. (Schnirring, 1/13)

The New York Times: Even Adults May Soon Be Vulnerable To ‘Childhood’ Diseases
There were more than 32,000 cases of whooping cough in 2024, the highest tally in a decade. In California alone, the disease struck 2,000 people between January and October last year. More than 60 infants younger than 4 months were hospitalized in the state. One died. ... If immunizations continue to fall over the next few years — because of rising distrust, or more restrictive federal policies — preventable infectious diseases will resurface in all age groups, experts say. (Mandavilli, 1/13)

CBS News: U.S. Egg Industry Sees Record Chicken Deaths From Bird Flu Outbreak
More than 20 million egg-laying chickens in the U.S. died last quarter because of bird flu, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows, marking the worst toll inflicted on America's egg supply since the outbreak began. The record number of chicken deaths, which includes those birds culled when infection is discovered in a flock, come as figures show egg prices have soared to the highest they have been in years, driven in large part by the virus. (Tin, 1/13)

CIDRAP: Captive Deer In Texas Show Evidence Of Widespread COVID Exposure
Today in Emerging Infectious Diseases, researchers from Texas A&M University published evidence of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XBB.1.41.1 antibodies in captive whitetail deer and found more mutations than expected compared to the same virus in humans. SARS-CoV-2 has been found repeatedly in whitetail deer, and the animal may serve as a reservoir for the virus across North America, the authors said. (Soucheray, 1/13)

CIDRAP: USDA Notes Several Food Safety Lapses Tied To Boar's Head Listeria Outbreak
Today the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service published its investigation findings into the Boar's Head deli meat Listeria monocytogenes outbreak, noting multiple food safety lapses at a Boar's Head facility in Jarratt, Virginia. The outbreak occurred last summer and fall and sickened at least 61 people from 19 states. Sixty of the 61 patients were hospitalized, and 10 died. Liverwurst processed at the Jarratt plant was identified as the source of the outbreak. (Soucheray, 1/13)

AP: 153 Winners Of Nobel And World Food Prizes Seek New Ways To Grow Food To Meet Surging Global Need
More than 150 recipients of the Nobel and World Food prizes released an open letter Tuesday calling for a dramatic increase in research and a commitment to new food distribution efforts with a goal of producing more crops and avoiding a global hunger crisis in coming decades. The letter notes that an estimated 700 million people now are “food insecure and desperately poor” but that without a “moonshot” effort to grow more and different kinds of food, far more people will be in dire need of food because of climate change and population growth. (McFetridge, 1/14)

CIDRAP: Fixed-Dose Tablet Shows Promise Against Intestinal Worms
A randomized controlled trial has found that a single, mango-flavored tablet combining two of the most widely used treatments for neglected tropical diseases could help control an intestinal worm infection that affects an estimated 1.5 billion people a year, researchers reported late last week in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The trial, conducted in school-aged children in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Mozambique, found that a fixed-dose combination (FDC) of ivermectin and albendazole was more effective in treating Trichuris trichiura (whipworm) and other worms that cause soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections than albendazole alone, with a similar safety profile. (Dall, 1/13)

CIDRAP: Chinese Researchers Describe Novel Tickborne Virus
Chinese scientists say they have identified a potentially novel tickborne virus among patients at a hospital in northeastern China. In a letter published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, a team led by researchers with Mudanjiang Forestry Central Hospital and the State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity say the virus was identified through metatranscriptomic sequencing of serum samples obtained from 252 patients with fever and recent tick bites from May through July 2023. (Dall, 1/13)