Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Texas Children's Hospital Will Create Nation's First ‘Detransition Clinic’
The Washington Post: Texas ‘Detransition Clinic’ To Offer Surgery, Counseling, Fertility Treatment
The nation’s first “De-Transition Clinic” will provide a multidisciplinary array of medical treatment, including surgery, fertility counseling, psychotherapy and speech pathology to patients who have received gender transition care before the age of 21, according to a previously unreleased settlement agreement with the Texas state attorney general’s office. (Hennessy-Fiske, 6/2)
Los Angeles Times: More Middle-Class Californians Cancel Health Coverage
Facing higher premiums and the loss of federal subsidies, 374,000 people with health insurance from the state marketplace known as Covered California canceled their coverage in the first three months of the year, according to government statistics. The cancellations amount to 19% of those who had renewed their policies on the state marketplace during open enrollment, state officials said. Those cancellations are higher than in the past three years when they ranged from 13% to 15% of those who renewed. (Petersen, 6/2)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Doctors Billed Medicare Millions For Unproven Chelation Therapy
It started with a curious set of healthcare data and a question that pointed to Georgia. Why were so many seniors in one corner of the state undergoing chelation, an IV therapy approved by the Food and Drug Administration strictly for the treatment of heavy metal poisoning? (Robbins, 6/1)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: How Georgia’s Weak Oversight Helped Questionable Therapies Thrive
Dr. Charles Adams built his Tennessee practice by telling patients a controversial IV therapy he provides was good for everything from headaches to heart disease. So when that state’s medical board threatened to crack down, he found a work-around. He moved his practice 15 miles down the road to Georgia. In Ringgold, where he occupies two spaces in a repurposed shopping mall, he has been free to treat patients as he sees fit, without interference from state regulators. (Robbins, Teegardin and Quinton, 6/1)
NBC News: Doctor In Failed Tennessee Execution Says He Didn’t Want Prisoner To Suffer
Tennessee’s failure to execute a man by lethal injection last month after no one could locate a suitable vein led to a rare unmasking: Not only was a practicing physician identified as a participant in the death chamber, but witnesses say he played a direct role in botching the execution. (Ortiz and Brooks, 6/1)
Global health news —
AP: FIFA Launches Women's Health And Performance Project
FIFA launched a women’s health and performance project on Monday to fill the void of of information and research into the specific needs of female athletes as women’s soccer continues to grow. The initiative, a series of online modules, provides peer-reviewed research, data and knowledge on 13 topics that impact female athletes, from pregnancy and fertility to recovery and nutrition. (Peterson, 6/1)
AP: Therapy Donkeys Help Patients At A Paris-Area Psychiatric Hospital
Therapy donkeys are helping patients with mental health conditions recover in a psychiatric hospital unit outside Paris that’s unique to France. ... The couple behind the program say more scientific evaluation is needed of animal therapy, which is practiced around the world. They would like it to be formally recognized by the psychiatric community as a complementary form of care, citing their experience with patients and caregivers. (Corbet, 6/1)
