First Edition: Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024

KFF Health News: In Chronic Pain, This Teenager ‘Could Barely Do Anything.’ Insurer Wouldn’t Cover Surgery
When Preston Nafz was 12, he asked his dad for permission to play lacrosse. “First practice, he came back, he said, ‘Dad, I love it,’” recalled his father, Lothar Nafz, of Hoover, Alabama. “He lives for lacrosse.” But years of youth sports took a toll on Preston’s body. By the time the teenager limped off the field during a lacrosse tournament last year, the pain in his left hip had become so intense that he had trouble with simple activities, such as getting out of a car or turning over in bed. Months of physical therapy and anti-inflammatory drugs didn’t help. (Sausser, 9/25)

KFF Health News: Deadly High Blood Pressure During Pregnancy Is On The Rise
Sara McGinnis was pregnant with her second child and something felt off. Her body was swollen. She was tired and dizzy. Her husband, Bradley McGinnis, said she had told her doctor and nurses about her symptoms and even went to the emergency room when they worsened. But, Bradley said, what his wife was told in response was, “‘It’s summertime and you’re pregnant.’ That haunts me.” (Houghton, 9/25)

KFF Health News: California Governor Signs Law Banning Medical Debt From Credit Reports
Californians with medical debt will no longer have to worry about unpaid medical bills showing up on their credit reports under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, adding the nation’s most populous state to a growing effort to protect consumers squeezed by unaffordable medical bills. (Castle Work, 9/24)

KFF Health News: Watch: What You Reveal, You Heal — Meeting The Makers Of ‘Silence In Sikeston’
KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony sat down with WORLD executive producer Chris Hastings to discuss the origins of the “Silence in Sikeston” project, which explores the impact of a 1942 lynching and a 2020 police killing in the same rural Missouri community. (Anthony, 9/25)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
This week on the KFF Health News Minute: Botox could help people with a painful health condition that prevents them from burping, and shooting survivors can face a scarcity of mental health providers as they try to recover from trauma. (9/24)

AP: Judge Lets Over 8,000 Catholic Employers Deny Worker Protections For Abortion And Fertility Care
A federal judge is allowing more than 8,000 Catholic employers nationwide to reject government regulations that protect workers seeking abortions and fertility care. In a sharply worded order, U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor, of Bismarck, North Dakota, granted a preliminary injunction Monday, ruling that the Catholic Benefits Association and the Diocese of Bismarck were likely to succeed in proving that a final rule adopted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in April violated their freedom of religion. The regulations are meant to enforce the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. (Dura and Karnowski, 9/24)

The Hill: Senate Democrats Take Final Crack At Abortion Bill Ahead Of November
Senate Republicans blocked Democrats from advancing a resolution aimed at ensuring access to emergency health care, including for abortions, as Democrats keep their messaging centered on reproductive rights ahead of November. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) attempted to pass the resolution, which was introduced last week, via unanimous consent. ... Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) blocked the request and argued that the Democratic claim is incorrect and doctors across the country, despite the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, are able to perform emergency care no matter the situation. (Weaver, 9/24)

AP: Senate Chairman Demands Answers From Emergency Rooms That Denied Care To Pregnant Patients
Hospitals are facing questions about why they denied care to pregnant patients and whether state abortion bans have influenced how they treat those patients. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, sent inquiries to nine hospitals ahead of a hearing Tuesday looking at whether abortion bans have prevented or delayed pregnant women from getting help during their miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies or other medical emergencies. (Seitz, 9/24)

CBS News: Florida Fires Back In Abortion Information Dispute
Attorneys for the state late Monday urged a Leon County circuit judge to reject a political committee's request for a temporary injunction to block the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration from disseminating disputed information about a proposed constitutional amendment on abortion rights. The proposed amendment, Amendment 4, is on the ballot in the Nov. 5 election. It would enshrine abortion rights in the Constitution. (Cone, 9/24)

NPR: Kamala Harris Says She Supports Ending The Filibuster For Abortion Rights
Vice President Harris says she would support eliminating the filibuster in the U.S. Senate in order to bring back federal protections for a woman's right to an abortion as they existed under Roe v. Wade. Harris outlined her position during an interview Monday with Wisconsin Public Radio, saying that when it comes to the issue of abortion, she believes the Senate should do away with the filibuster rule that requires a 60-vote threshold for most legislation to pass. (Breslow, 9/24)

HuffPost: GOP Senate Candidate Bernie Moreno Asks Why Women ‘Past 50’ Are Worried About Abortion
Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno in Ohio questioned last week why older women care so much about abortion rights, saying it was a “little crazy” that some voters cited reproductive rights as their prime issue heading into the November election. ... “It’s a little crazy, by the way, but ― especially for women that are like past 50. I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you,’” he said. (Visser, 9/23)

Bloomberg: Ozempic’s High Price Risks Lives, Sanders Says In Hearing With Novo Nordisk CEO
Novo Nordisk A/S Chief Executive Officer Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen found himself struggling to defend the price of blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy in a congressional hearing Tuesday where Senator Bernie Sanders accused the drugmaker of prioritizing profits over American lives. In a contentious back-and-forth with the Novo CEO at the outset of the hearing, the Vermont senator pressed Jorgensen on his indirect answers and refusal to respond to his questions. (Muller, Kresge, and Griffin, 9/24)

Reuters: US Senator Sanders Says Middlemen Won't Punish Novo If It Cuts Weight-Loss Drug Prices 
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday he had commitments from the nation's top pharmacy benefit managers that they would expand coverage of Novo Nordisk's popular diabetes and weight-loss medicines if the company lowered the list prices. (Aboulenein and Wingrove, 9/24)

USA Today: Novo Nordisk CEO Explains Levemir Discontinuation
The top of executive of Novo Nordisk told a Senate panel Tuesday it was a "difficult choice" to discontinue the long-acting insulin Levemir but he had to do so because of market forces. The Danish drugmaker previously announced it would stop sales of Levemir vials by the end of December. Novo Nordisk's decision has been criticized by some patients with Type 1 diabetes who prefer Levemir over other long-acting "basal" insulins such as Sanofi's Lantus and Novo Nordisk's Tresiba. (Alltucker, 9/25)

Stat: Baltimore Says Biogen 'Bribed' PBMs To Favor Its Pricey MS Drug Over Generics
In the latest slap at a pharmaceutical company by a local government, the city of Baltimore has filed a lawsuit accusing Biogen of striking an “unlawful” scheme with the largest pharmacy benefit managers to block generic competition of a best-selling multiple sclerosis treatment. (Silverman, 9/24)

Reuters: CrowdStrike Exec Apologizes Before US Congress For Software Glitch Behind July Global Outage
A senior executive at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike apologized at an appearance before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Tuesday for a faulty software update that caused a global IT outage in July. The July 19 incident led to worldwide flight cancellations and impacted industries around the globe including banks, health care, media companies and hotel chains. (Shepardson, 9/24)

Modern Healthcare: 77% Of IT Healthcare Employees Want New Jobs: Survey
Health systems’ information technology employees are feeling the effects of industry volatility and unsatisfied with their prospects for advancement, according to a recent survey. Bloomforce, a company providing staffing support and recruiting services to healthcare providers, surveyed nearly 300 IT professionals regarding the state of their careers. The respondents — most of whom worked at large health systems — ranged in experience from entry-level application analysts to managers. (Perna, 9/24)

The Hill: CDC Widens Mpox Vaccine Recommendations
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health advisory recommending that select travelers to countries where a certain strain of mpox is endemic should be fully vaccinated prior to going. While the agency has already been advising vaccination for those travelling to countries where clade I mpox is endemic, the CDC’s guidance this issued week specifically advises that people who “anticipate certain sexual exposures” while in those countries should be fully vaccinated with two doses of the Jynneos smallpox vaccine. (Choi, 9/24)

NPR: Biden Pledges Mpox Aid In A Sweeping Farewell Speech To The UN
President Biden on Tuesday announced new aid to try to stem the mpox epidemic in a valedictory address to the United Nations where he expressed optimism in the face of wars and other global challenges. Biden said the United States would give African countries $500 million to help prevent and respond to mpox and will donate 1 million doses of mpox vaccine. “Now we call on our partners to match our pledge and make this a billion-dollar commitment to the people of Africa,” Biden said in his speech. (Khalid, 9/24)

Reuters: Bavarian Nordic Gets $63 Million US Government Order For Small Pox, Mpox Vaccine
Bavarian Nordic has received an order worth $63 million from the U.S. government to produce additional bulk product and the final freeze-dried doses of its mpox and smallpox vaccine, Jynneos, it said on Tuesday. As per the contract, the Danish biotech company will manufacture 1 million freeze-dried vaccines to be delivered by 2026, it said. (9/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Extends Free COVID Vaccine Program As Feds End Theirs
After the federal government ended its program for free COVID vaccines for uninsured Americans last month, California has extended its own version that will cover the cost of COVID vaccination for uninsured Californians through the end of the year. The federal Bridge Access Program, which was established in 2023 and was supposed to last until December 2024, ended in August after running out of funding — leaving millions of uninsured Americans facing out-of-pocket costs of up to $200 per shot, just as the updated 2024-25 COVID vaccine was getting rolled out. (Ho, 9/24)

AP: Ex-NYC COVID Adviser Is Fired After Video Reveals He Attended Parties During Pandemic 
A former New York City official who helped coordinate the city’s response to the pandemic was fired from his private-sector job after a recording showed him talking about attending a sex party and other private gatherings when the city was urging people to practice social distancing. Dr. Jay Varma was terminated from his position as executive vice president and chief medical officer at SIGA Technologies, the New York-based pharmaceutical company disclosed in a filing Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. (Marcelo, 9/24)

CIDRAP: Study Sheds New Light On Severe COVID's Long-Term Brain Impacts 
More than a year after COVID-19 hospitalization, many patients have worse cognitive function than those who weren't hospitalized, a symptom that comes with reduced brain volume and brain injury markers on blood tests, according to a new study, the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom. (Schnirring, 9/24)

CBS News: Bird Flu Outbreak Impacts Dairy Farms In California's Central Valley
A bird flu outbreak is impacting California's dairy production. In the Central Valley, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) says 34 total dairy farms have had bird flu, otherwise known as H5-N1, infections in their dairy herds, and that number will go up. Dairy farmers like those at Dutra Farms in Manteca are working to keep the bird flu out. This farm has been affected by the outbreak. (Reynoso, 9/24)

Modern Healthcare: How The Federal Rate Cut Could Affect Healthcare Investments
The Federal Reserve's decision to slash its benchmark interest rate could stoke more capital spending among hospitals and health systems, but some providers are waiting to see what happens next before taking action. The Fed cut the benchmark rate by 0.5 percentage points at its Sept. 18 meeting, marking the central bank's first rate cut since early 2020. The move cuts the federal funds rate, the interest rate banks charge each other for short-term borrowing, and influences consumer and business borrowing and investments. (Hudson, 9/24))

Reuters: US FDA Approves IntraBio's Drug For Rare Genetic Disease
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved IntraBio's drug for a rare and fatal genetic disorder, the health regulator said on Tuesday, just days after the agency cleared the first treatment for the disease. Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC) is a rare genetic disorder that affects the nervous system and other organs, causing physical and mental disabilities such as speech issues, difficulties with swallowing and coordination, clumsiness and others over time. (9/24)

Stat: Amgen Reports Success For Eczema And Myasthenia Gravis Treatments
Amgen on Tuesday reported that a pair of antibody drugs it is developing as treatments for immune-mediated diseases succeeded in late-stage trials, but the therapies did not clearly beat existing competitors on the market. (Wosen and DeAngelis, 9/24)

Axios: AI's Latest Trick: Repurposing Old Drugs For Rare Disease
A new artificial intelligence tool could supercharge efforts to find new uses for old drugs, particularly rare diseases without a Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment. The Harvard Medical School researchers behind the tool, called TxGNN, write today in Nature Medicine that it can identify candidates for 17,000 conditions — the largest number of diseases that any single AI model can handle to date. (Reed, 9/25)

The Baltimore Sun: Former Md. Psychiatric Hospital Director's License Suspended
The former clinical director of Maryland’s main state-run mental hospital had his license to practice medicine suspended earlier this month by the Maryland State Board of Physicians. According to a consent order from the Maryland State Board of Physicians, Dr. Scott Moran, the former clinical director of Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, a state-run, maximum-security psychiatric hospital, had his license suspended for a minimum of one year after he harassed Department of Health employees and was “diagnosed with a medical condition which impacted his ability to practice medicine safely.” (Gaskill, 9/24)

Reuters: Swiss Police Make Arrests After Suicide Capsule Is Used For First Time
Swiss police have arrested several people after a controversial futuristic-looking capsule designed to allow its occupant to commit suicide was used for the first time, authorities said on Tuesday. Police in the northern canton of Schaffhausen bordering Germany said the so-called "Sarco" capsule had been deployed in a wood in the municipality of Merishausen on Monday. A spokesperson for the group behind the capsule, The Last Resort, said the deceased was a 64-year-old American woman who had been suffering from a severely compromised immune system. (9/24)

NBC News: Brett Favre Parkinson's Diagnosis Renews Questions About Football And Brain Disease
Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre’s announcement that he has Parkinson’s disease is bringing renewed attention to the potential links between collision sports and a risk of brain disease. Favre revealed his diagnosis on Tuesday while testifying before Congress about his alleged misuse of taxpayer money. The hearing focused on a welfare scandal in Mississippi, but the subject of Favre’s health arose because he discussed losing an investment in a company that he believed was making a “breakthrough concussion drug.” (Bendix and Richardson, 9/24)

Minnesota Public Radio: MSP Airport To Build Its First-Ever Sensory Rooms To Reduce Travel Stress
The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is building sensory rooms for both terminals. They are slated to be completed in 2027 and 2028. The Metropolitan Airports Commission is partnering with Minnesota-based nonprofit Fraser to design the rooms. They will include features like dimmable lighting, a variety of seating types and sensory-friendly furnishings. (9/24)

Chicago Tribune: New Center For Organ Donors Is First Of Its Kind In Illinois
Tucked away behind unassuming double doors on the fifth floor of Rush University Medical Center sits a new, very different type of medical unit. It’s a unit for patients who will save lives, even though they themselves have no hope of survival. The Gift of Hope Organ Donor Care Center at Rush is the first of its kind in Illinois. (Schencker, 9/25)

Missouri Independent: Missouri’s Coldwater Creek To Get Radioactive Waste Signs
Federal officials plan to post warning signs along a contaminated suburban St. Louis creek where generations of children were exposed to radioactive material. Coldwater Creek, which winds between homes and parks in St. Louis County for 14 miles before meeting the Missouri River, is plagued with nuclear waste left over from World War II. For decades, families had no idea the danger it posed to the children who played along its banks and swam in its waters. More than six years ago, a federal study found residents who live near the creek or regularly came in contact with its waters faced a higher risk of certain cancers. (Kite, 9/24)

AP: EPA Data Make It Hard To Know The Extent Of The Contamination From Last Year's Ohio Derailment
The way the Environmental Protection Agency has reported its test results since a Norfolk Southern train derailed and officials released and burned chemicals that spewed a toxic cloud over East Palestine, Ohio, makes it hard for residents to know the full extent of contamination and potential risks to their health. Data analyzed by The Associated Press show the EPA doesn’t provide a specific measurement for chemicals that fall below a reporting limit, making it harder to know how much is there. (Funk, 9/24)

The Texas Tribune: Appeals Court Says Texas State Fair Can Ban Guns
A newly created state appeals court denied Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton request to temporarily block the State Fair of Texas’ policy banning all firearms from its fairgrounds as the event is set to start Friday. (Salinas II, 9/24)