First Edition: Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024

KFF Health News: Marylanders To Vote On Expansive ‘Right To Reproductive Freedom’
Voters in 10 states will consider whether or not to protect or expand abortion rights in November. That includes battleground states such as Arizona and Nevada and such Republican strongholds as South Dakota and Missouri. In Maryland, where abortion is legal, a proposed amendment is much broader than many abortion-related ballot questions in other states. Called the Right to Reproductive Freedom amendment, it would enshrine in the state constitution a right “to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one’s own pregnancy.” (Varney, 10/23)

KFF Health News: Can You Rely On Your Mammogram To Identify Heart Disease Risk?
When people check in for their annual mammogram these days, some may face a surprising question: In addition to reviewing the mammogram for breast cancer, would the patient like the radiologist to examine the images for heart disease risk? That’s what happened recently when a colleague visited Washington Radiology, a practice with more than a dozen locations in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. (Andrews, 10/23)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute' 
This week on the KFF Health News Minute: Health care companies and the federal government are teaming up to fund hospitals in rural areas, and Florida’s surgeon general is offering misleading guidance about this year’s covid shots. (10/22)

The New York Times: Abortions Have Increased, Even For Women In States With Rigid Bans, Study Says 
In nearly every state that has banned abortion, the number of women receiving abortions increased between 2020 and the end of 2023, according to the most comprehensive account of all abortions by state since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. In the 13 states that enacted near-total abortion bans, the number of women receiving abortions increased in all but three, according to the study. Some women traveled to clinics in states where abortions were legal. Others ordered abortion pills from U.S. doctors online, after doctors in other states started writing prescriptions under shield laws that protect them when they provide mail-order pills to patients in states with bans. (Miller and Sanger-Katz, 10/22)

Missouri Independent: Missouri AG In Abortion Pill Lawsuit Argues Fewer Teen Pregnancies Hurt State Financially 
Missouri’s attorney general has renewed a push to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone, arguing in a lawsuit filed this month that its availability hurt the state by decreasing teenage pregnancy. The revised lawsuit was filed by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, alongside GOP attorneys general in Kansas and Idaho. It asks a judge in Texas to order the Federal Drug Administration to reinstate restrictions on mifepristone, one of two medications prescribed to induce chemical abortions. (Spoerre, 10/22)

The 19th: Missouri Voters Could Undo Their State’s Abortion Ban. Making Abortion Accessible Is A Different Story.
Nicole was driving when she heard on the radio that Roe v. Wade had fallen, and that soon abortion would be almost completely illegal in her home state of Missouri. She thought first of her children, two teenagers who she feared might someday need reproductive health care, including abortion. She worried far less about herself. She was in her late 30s, and she was done having children. She had an intrauterine device, one of the most effective forms of birth control. The odds of an abortion ban affecting her directly seemed slim. Then six weeks later, Nicole took a pregnancy test. It came back positive. (Luthra, 10/22)

Axios: Harris On Abortion Rights: "I Don't Think We Should Be Making Concessions"
Vice President Harris suggested during an interview with NBC News on Tuesday that she would not offer "concessions" on protecting access to abortion if she's elected. Harris has made protecting access to reproductive rights a central tenet of her bid for the White House — and her campaign continues to see the issue of abortion as one of its strongest issues in the final stretch. (Doherty, 10/22)

The Hill: Harris Says Gender-Affirming Care Decisions Should Be Left To Doctors And Patients
Vice President Harris on Tuesday said decisions on gender-affirming care should be left to doctors and their patients in an interview with NBC News. The vice president said “we should follow the law” when NBC’s Hallie Jackson pressed her on whether she believes in access to gender-affirming care. ... “I believe that people, as the law states, even on this issue about federal law, that that is a decision that doctors will make in terms of what is medically necessary. I’m not going to put myself in a position of a doctor,” Harris said. (Gangitano, 10/22)

Stat: Look To Lame Duck Congress For Health Policy Changes After Election 
When Congress returns on Nov. 12 after the elections, lawmakers will have just over a month to fund the government. That deadline pressure creates an opportunity to potentially enact health care legislation. Regardless of what happens this year, next year will be huge for health care policy, in part because lawmakers need to address major expiring policies. (Wilkerson, 10/23)

NPR: Election Stress Crosses The Political Divide, New Report Finds
Every year the American Psychological Association takes a look at the leading causes of stress in the U.S., and publishes an annual report. This year the report shows all the usual suspects like money, health and family are still wearing people down, but one issue is dominating – politics. Seven out of 10 adults say the future of the nation is a significant source of stress in their lives and the issue crosses party lines: 80% of Republicans rated it a top stressor, so did 79% of Democrats and 73% of Independents. (Riddle, 10/22)

The New York Times: FDA Names A New Chief Of Medical Devices 
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced that Dr. Michelle Tarver, an agency veteran, will be the new director of the medical device division. Dr. Tarver will face a slate of pressing tasks, that include addressing calls to strengthen standards to protect the public from issues like racial bias in artificial intelligence software and hastily authorized and faulty cardiac devices, like external defibrillators. (Jewett, 10/22)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Global Medical Technology Firm Shifts Some Of Its California Manufacturing To Mexico
CareFusion, a San Diego company that produces health care tools and technology, is relocating its San Diego manufacturing operations to Tijuana, in addition to conducting some layoffs. Together, the two moves will impact about 180 local jobs. The Sorrento Valley-based company is a subsidiary of New Jersey’s medical technology giant BD, or Becton Dickinson and Company. BD acquired CareFusion in 2014 for $12.2 billion. (Rocha, 10/22)

The Boston Globe: Mass Offers Financial Rewards For Quick Wheelchair Fixes
Wheelchair users are applauding new state regulations that address painfully long wait times for wheelchair repairs but worry the initiatives don’t go far enough to ensure people will no longer be immobilized for weeks or months as they await urgent fixes. “The people who are doing the repairs do need to put more effort into this service,” said Rich Levasseur, a wheelchair user from Tewksbury who spoke at a virtual public hearing Monday about the new regulations. “People can’t be without a repair for months at a time. It’s cruel and inhumane.” (Laughlin, 10/22)

AP: Deadly E. Coli Outbreak Linked To McDonald’s Quarter Pounders Sickens 49 People In 10 States
E. coli food poisoning linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states, including one person who died and 10 who were hospitalized, federal health officials said Tuesday. The death was reported in an older person in Colorado, and one child has been hospitalized with severe kidney complications, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Infections were reported between Sept. 27 and Oct. 11, in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Colorado has the most cases, 26, followed by Nebraska with nine. (Aleccia, 10/22)

NBC Chicago: Read McDonald’s Full Statement On Multistate E. Coli Outbreak 
"The initial findings from the investigation indicate that a subset of illnesses may be linked to slivered onions used in the Quarter Pounder and sourced by a single supplier that serves three distribution centers," the company said. (10/22)

NBC News: Loss Of Sense Of Smell Linked To Changes In Breathing Patterns, Research Suggests
Not having — or losing — your sense of smell may be linked to changes in breathing that could lead to depression, social isolation or other mental and physical health problems, a new study suggests. It's more evidence of how important this often neglected olfactory sense is. A new analysis of breathing data from 52 volunteers over a 24-hour period revealed that people with a normal sense of smell had little spikes, or “sniffs,” during each breath that were not seen in those with no sense of smell, according to the report published in Nature Communications on Tuesday. (Carroll, 10/22)

CIDRAP: Young Children More Likely To Be Hospitalized For COVID-19 Than Older Kids, Study Shows 
Today a Kaiser Permanente Northern California study of children during the COVID-19 pandemic finds children too young to be vaccinated had the highest hospitalization rate, while adolescents had the highest rate of intensive care unit (ICU) admission. The findings are published in Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses. (Soucheray, 10/22)

Reuters: US FDA Approves Pfizer's RSV Vaccine For Adults At Increased Risk Of The Disease 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved Pfizer's RSV vaccine for the prevention of lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV in adults aged 18 to 59 at increased risk of the disease. In June, the U.S. CDC narrowed its recommendation for the use of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines in older adults this year and held off on recommending their use for adults under age 60. (10/22)

Reuters: Roche CEO Says More People Have Mpox In Europe Than Has Been Reported
The CEO of Roche said he has been informed that more cases of mpox infection have occurred in Europe than previously reported and that the Swiss group could quickly offer 10 times more test kits than are currently in demand. "It seems like there are more mpox cases already in Europe, maybe not all of them are in the media yet," CEO Thomas Schinecker said on a call after the drugs and diagnostics company reported quarterly sales on Wednesday. (Burger, 10/23)

CIDRAP: Germany Reports First Mpox Case From New Clade
The Robert Koch Institute in Germany says the country has its first case of mpox cause by a new, more virulent variant causing a massive outbreak in Africa. The case-patient recently traveled abroad, but few other details were given by the institute. (Soucheray, 10/22)

Modern Healthcare: How The No Surprises Act Arbitration Strains Physician Groups
Providers are often waiting months for insurers to pay out-of-network bills, leading to strapped finances and a pile up of complaints and lawsuits. Physician groups have filed hundreds of complaints with the federal government and sued insurers to collect overdue payments stemming from the dispute resolution process established by the No Surprises Act of 2022. In just one example, an orthopedic physician practice in New Jersey recently sued Cigna, alleging the insurer has not paid a $42,000 dispute settlement in the 30-day period required by the law. (Kacik, 10/22)

ABC News: Maryland's Drug Affordability Board Is A Step Closer To Setting Prescription Caps
A Maryland drug affordability board can move forward with a plan to cap how much the state and local governments pay for certain high-cost prescription drugs after it was given the green light by a state House Committee. The Maryland Prescription Drug Affordability Board -- which drafted the Upper Payment Limit Action Plan -- presented before the Legislative Policy Committee on Tuesday morning, saying caps will help increase affordability and increase access. (Kekatos, 10/22)

The Colorado Sun: Coloradans Can Now Compare Hospital Prices For Specific Procedures
If you have a medical procedure on the horizon in Colorado, there’s a new way to shop around for the best price. Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday announced a new website — ColoradoHospitalPrices.com — where people can look up various procedures performed at a hospital and see a list of prices based on insurance carrier. (Ingold, 10/23)

Modern Healthcare: Clear Aims To Speed Up Prior Authorizations Amid Privacy Concerns
Clear, the digital identity verification company best known for helping travelers speed through airports, has set its sights on healthcare as the next market for its facial recognition technology. The company is working with a handful of hospitals and plans to pitch insurers to use the technology to expedite claim approvals and prior authorizations. It will have to get past skeptics' concerns about the data privacy of its program, which requires users to take a live photo that is matched against government-issued identification stored by the user on Clear's platform. (DeSilva, 10/22)

Stat: Fines For HIPAA Violations Max Out At $2 Million. That Could Change
Linda Barbour thought she was more interested in the Change Healthcare cyberattack than most. Having worked as a medical director for several large health insurance companies and having suffered through the Change fiasco herself as a rehab doctor with a private practice in Kansas City, she figured that if her data had been exposed in that February breach, she would have been notified by now. (Trang, 10/23)

Stat: Study On Physicians' Race Affecting Black Babies' Health Challenged
New research calls into question the high-profile conclusion of the first major study to show that the race of physicians influences health outcomes. In August of 2020, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science made headlines with its finding that Black infants were half as likely to survive to their first birthday when they were cared for by white doctors instead of Black ones. (McFarling, 10/23)

Reuters: Insurer Centene Sues US Over Downgrade In Medicare 'Star' Rating
Health insurance company Centene accused U.S. regulators of unfairly downgrading the star ratings for its government-funded Medicare plans in a lawsuit on Tuesday. The company alleged in its complaint, filed in St. Louis, Missouri, federal court, that the lower ratings would cause it to lose customers and up to $73 million in gross revenue, which could be used to reduce premiums and increase benefits for its members. (Pierson, 10/22)

Crain's New York Business: CarePoint Health, Hudson Regional Hospital Move Forward On Merger
CarePoint Health in Jersey City is advancing a planned merger with other hospitals in a bid to save its struggling finances, despite a legal battle that almost severed its lifeline, according to reports. CarePoint Health’s board of trustees greenlit its planned affiliation with Hudson Regional Hospital in a meeting last week, according to a report published in Becker’s Hospital Review on Monday. (D'Ambrosio, 10/22)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada’s First Stand-Alone Children’s Hospital Coming To Las Vegas
Nevada’s first stand-alone children’s hospital is coming to the Las Vegas Valley. Intermountain Health unveiled the site of its future stand-alone children’s hospital on Wednesday at UNLV’s Harry Reid Research and Technology Park in the southwest valley, according to a news release. (Lane, 10/22)

Modern Healthcare: UT Southwestern To Pay $900K For Alleged Hiring Discrimination
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center will pay $900,000 and make more than 100 job offers to settle Labor Department allegations that the health system discriminated against Black applicants. A routine compliance evaluation of UT Southwestern, a federal contractor, found the Dallas-based system's hiring practices allegedly discriminated against 6,123 Black applicants between August 2016 and August 2018, potentially violating Equal Employment Opportunity laws, the Labor Department said Monday. (DeSilva, 10/22)

Modern Healthcare: Providence, Compassus Form Home Care Joint Venture
Home care provider Compassus will take over management of Providence’s home-based care services through a joint venture the two companies announced Tuesday. Under the arrangement, Brentwood, Texas-based Compassus would manage and jointly own Providence’s home health, hospice, community-based palliative care and private duty nursing services under the name Providence at Home with Compassus, the companies said in a news release. (Eastabrook, 10/22)

Los Angeles Times: More Patients Sue Cedars-Sinai Over Alleged Misconduct By OB-GYN
Twenty-five more women have filed suit against a former Cedars-Sinai Medical Center obstetrician-gynecologist and the facilities where he worked, accusing Dr. Barry J. Brock of sexual abuse and medical misconduct. The lawsuit, filed late Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges “a generations-long history of covering up Brock’s serial sexual exploitation and abuse of female patients” at Cedars-Sinai, where Brock practiced medicine from the early 1980s until the recent termination of his hospital privileges. (Purtill and Alpert Reyes, 10/22)

North Carolina Health News: Doctor’s Lawsuit Tests Constitutionality Of How NC Regulates Health Care Facilities 
Jay Singleton, owner of an ophthalmology practice in New Bern, has spent the past four years challenging a state law that caps the kinds of medical services offered in a region. Now, the Singleton Vision Center proprietor is at the center of a case that has the potential to upend how the health care and hospital industries have done business in North Carolina for decades. (Blythe, 10/23)

Reuters: Walmart To Deliver US Prescription Medications In As Soon As 30 Minutes
U.S. retailer Walmart on Tuesday said it will start delivering prescription medicines and medication refills along with groceries and other items as a single order within 30 minutes, upping the ante in its delivery competition against Amazon Inc. Walmart's move comes a couple of weeks after Amazon announced plans to open pharmacies offering same-day delivery options across 20 new U.S. cities in 2025. It is also an extension of Walmart's previous efforts to mail prescription medications which typically took at least five to seven business days. (10/22)

Stat: Novo Asks FDA To Bar Compounders From Making Semaglutide Copies
Novo Nordisk has asked the Food and Drug Administration to bar compounding pharmacies from making copies of its blockbuster weight loss drug semaglutide, arguing that the medication is too complex for the pharmacies to safely make. (Chen, 10/22)

AP: Hospitals' IV Fluid Shortage May Impact Surgeries For Weeks
Surgery schedules around the country may be washed out for several more weeks while a crucial IV and sterile fluids factory remains shut down for hurricane-related damage. People often plan non-emergency surgeries in the fall and early-winter months when their insurance coverage will pick up more of the bill, but they may have to wait while health systems preserve supplies for emergencies. (Murphy, 10/22)

CBS News: Needle Exchange Program Resumes In Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh's needle exchange program is running again after the city suspended it last year after collection problems. Many of the homeless encampments have become dens of open-air drug sales and drug use. But while it's shutting down a camp on Grant Street for that reason, the city continues to provide syringes to those who live in others but rejects criticism it's aiding and abetting the drug problems there. (Sheehan, 10/22)

Stateline: More States Ban PFAS, Or ‘Forever Chemicals,’ In More Products
Legislative momentum against PFAS has surged this year, as at least 11 states enacted laws to restrict the use of “forever chemicals” in everyday consumer products or professional firefighting foam. The legislation includes bans on PFAS in apparel, cleaning products, cookware, and cosmetic and menstrual products. Meanwhile, lawmakers in some states also passed measures that require industries to pay for testing or cleanup. (Chatlani, 10/22)

AP: An Alabama Judge Appoints A Mediator In A Long-Running Medical Marijuana Dispute
A judge on Tuesday appointed a mediator in the long-running dispute over who gets licenses to grow and sell medical marijuana in Alabama. Montgomery Circuit Judge James Anderson named retired Circuit Judge Eugene Reese to act as mediator in the case. Anderson wrote that he believed the use of mediation “is appropriate in this case and could result in the speedy and just resolution of the dispute.” (Chandler, 10/22)

The Texas Tribune: Medical Marijuana Companies Are Losing Patients To Delta-8
Jack Stinnett got life-changing news in 2020 when he learned the lump that appeared on the side of his neck was tongue and mouth cancer. He and his wife Karen quickly enrolled him at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where he underwent five and a half rounds of chemotherapy and 33 treatments of radiation. During this time, Stinnett, a Marble Falls resident, went from a reasonably healthy 60-year-old who rode his bicycle more than 60 miles daily to losing more than 100 pounds after losing his appetite and sense of taste. Then, Stinnett qualified for a medical marijuana prescription for the nerve pain he received from the cancer treatments and found the relief he needed. (Simpson, 10/23)

Reuters: Breaking The Grass Ceiling: Pot Firms Rethink Strategy As Young Women Lead Cannabis Use 
Young women are consuming more pot than men for the first time in a historic shift in the $30 billion U.S. cannabis industry, prompting companies to revamp products and step up investments. Top cannabis retailers told Reuters they've started refocusing shelf space toward products that have proved popular with women, including edibles, tinctures, topicals, and beverages, in the hopes that any resulting rise in costs will pay off in the longer term. (Roy and Bose, 10/22)