AP: Supreme Court Set To Decide On Access To Abortion Pill
The Supreme Court is facing a self-imposed Friday night deadline to decide whether women’s access to a widely used abortion pill will stay unchanged or be restricted while a legal challenge to its Food and Drug Administration approval goes on. The justices are weighing arguments that allowing restrictions contained in lower-court rulings to take effect would severely disrupt the availability of the drug, mifepristone, which is used in the most common abortion method in the United States. (Sherman, 4/21)

WSET: No Way To 'Sugarcoat' Dangers Of Abortion Pill Restrictions, Says AMA President 
A decision on the future of the abortion pill mifepristone is expected Friday unless the United States Supreme Court orders a second extension for a ruling. ... The president of the American Medical Association spoke with 7News Health and Wellness Reporter Victoria Sanchez via Zoom on Thursday. (Sanchez, 4/21)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Will They Or Won’t They (Block The Abortion Pill)? 
Supreme Court justices could act at any moment on access to the abortion pill mifepristone. Beyond reproductive health, their ruling could carry significant implications for states’ rights and FDA independence and integrity. For now, though, observers are unsure what the court will do — or what exactly prompted justices to again delay their decision this week. (4/20)

More on abortion pills —

AP: Oregon Secures 3-Year Supply Of Abortion-Inducing Medication 
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said Thursday she has directed the state to obtain a supply of the most commonly used abortion medication in the U.S. amid fears that a court ruling could restrict access to it. The Democratic governor said regardless of the court’s decision about mifepristone’s availability, patients in Oregon will have access to it for years. (4/21)

The Washington Post: What Is Misoprostol, The Abortion Pill Used With Mifepristone?
As the Supreme Court weighs the future of mifepristone, a key abortion drug used for terminating early pregnancies, the threat of restricting its use has also put the spotlight on a second medication, misoprostol. It is used in conjunction with mifepristone in the United States to terminate pregnancies and should remain widely available, for now, no matter how the court rules on mifepristone. Here’s what to know about misoprostol, and whether its use as an abortion drug may be at risk. (Masih, 4/20)

NBC News: European Group That Mails Abortion Pills To Americans Says Requests Have Surged
A group in Europe that prescribes abortion pills to people in the U.S. online said it has seen a surge in requests since a federal judge in Texas issued a decision imperiling future access to mifepristone. "We have seen an enormous ... increase in requests since the ruling in Texas," said Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, a Dutch physician who runs the service called Aid Access. "People are extremely anxious." (Da Silva, 4/20)

Abortion news from Montana and Wyoming —

Montana Free Press: Montana Says It Will Curb Medicaid Use For Abortions
A new state health department rule will add red-tape for Montanans seeking to use their Medicaid benefits to cover abortions, a long-debated policy the state’s Republican administration has said is a proper and legal restriction on state funds. The proposed rule to tighten reporting standards and require pre-authorization for coverage was first introduced near the end of December. Abortion rights advocates, medical providers and Medicaid recipients have protested the change, arguing that the state’s current policy for covering medically necessary abortions helps maintain health care access for low-income Montanans. (Silvers, 4/19)

AP: Wyoming Abortion Clinic Opens Despite Arson, Legal Obstacles
Wyoming’s first full-service abortion clinic in years defiantly opened Thursday nearly one year after an arson attack ravaged it and despite looming laws that could shut it down with some of the toughest abortion restrictions in the U.S. The clinic in a small stucco building on a busy street in Wyoming’s second-biggest city of Casper is less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from Interstate 25, where the occasional anti-abortion billboard stands against the open, sparsely populated landscape. (Gruver, /20)

Also —

The CT Mirror: About 50 Babies Have Been Relinquished Under CT Safe Haven Law
In the more than 20 years since the inception of a state law that allows new parents to leave newborns they can’t care for at emergency rooms without fear of criminal charges, 52 babies have been relinquished at Connecticut hospitals across the state. Connecticut’s SAFE Havens Act was enacted in 2001. Every state in the country has a version of this law, and Texas passed the first one in 1999. The laws aim to prevent cases of infant abandonment in which babies are left in trash cans or outside. (Monk, 4/20)

Politico: Lost On Abortion Politics, Republicans Struggle For A Solution
The GOP is so divided over abortion politics that even top Mitch McConnell allies — who could succeed him as Senate leader — have opposing ideas on how to approach it. Minority Whip John Thune sees a 15-week national abortion ban as something Republicans can defend amidst Democratic attacks. Another possible GOP leader, John Cornyn of Texas, doesn’t see a need for Congress to weigh in on abortion policy in a post-Roe world. And GOP No. 3 John Barrasso said simply that “states ought to make the decision.” (Everett, 4/20)

The Washington Post: Abortion Divides 2024 Candidates And Confounds Many Within The GOP
When Republican donors arrived at the Four Seasons in Nashville last weekend, they were handed a polling memo written by former Trump aide Kellyanne Conway with a startling statistic: Eighty percent of voters disagreed with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson last year overturning Roe v. Wade. Among Republican strategists and candidates looking to the 2024 presidential primary, abortion has become the trickiest political issue and a divisive one internally for the party, according to GOP officials, campaign strategists, donors and others involved. (Dawsey, Itkowitz, Kitchener and Reston, 4/20)

The Christian Science Monitor: Politics Of Abortion: Can Republicans Avoid Going Off A Cliff?
The Republican Party won a victory in overturning Roe v. Wade, but it may have put itself in a more precarious position politically. Candidates are navigating a new landscape – often silently or awkwardly. (Feldmann and Hinckley, 4/20)

The Guardian: Trump Considers Federal Abortion Ban A Vote-Loser And Is Unlikely To Support One
Donald Trump considers a federal abortion ban a losing proposal for Republicans as the party prepares to enter the first presidential election since the supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade – and is unlikely to support such a policy, according to people close to him. The former president has told allies in recent days that his gut feeling remains leaving the matter of reproductive rights to the states – following the court’s reasoning in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization that ended 50 years of federal abortion protections. (Lowell and Gambino, 4/20)

The Hill: Leading Anti-Abortion Group Calls Trump’s Position Unacceptable
A leading anti-abortion group on Thursday called it “morally indefensible” of former President Trump to say the issue should be decided at the state level and warned it would not support a GOP presidential candidate who did not back at least a 15-week abortion ban. SBA Pro-Life America, an influential conservative organization, pushed back after the Trump campaign told The Washington Post that the former president “believes that the Supreme Court, led by the three Justices which he supported, got it right when they ruled this is an issue that should be decided at the State level.” (Samuels, 4/20)

The Hill: Pence: ‘I Fully Support Efforts To Take The Abortion Pill Off The Market’ 
Former Vice President Mike Pence says he “fully” supports efforts to take mifepristone, one of two drugs used for medication abortions, off the market. “The reality is that 20 years ago, the [Food and Drug Administration] exceeded its authority in approving the abortion pill,” Pence said Wednesday in an interview with Fox 11 Los Angeles during a visit to the Nixon Presidential Library. “And at the end of the day, I fully support efforts to take the abortion pill off the market.” (Shapero, 4/20)

Also —

Forbes: State Abortion Bans May Affect Where Americans Attend College, Poll Finds—Even Republicans
Nearly three-quarters of college students say state reproductive rights laws affect their decision of staying enrolled at their school, a new study from the Lumina Foundation and Gallup finds, marking the latest consequence of state abortion bans. (4/20)

Stat: Key Senators Pivot On Bipartisan Insulin Cost Proposal 
Amid a scramble to assemble a health care policy package in the Senate, a pair of key senators have significantly changed a proposal to cap insulin costs. The new legislation by Senate Diabetes Caucus co-chairs Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) would cap insured patients’ insulin costs at $35 per month for at least one insulin of each type and dosage form, and require pharmacy benefit managers to pass through rebates they collect from insulin manufacturers to the insurance plans that employ them. (Cohrs, 4/21)

CNBC: Senate Bill Proposes Insulin Price Cap For Diabetes Patients
Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which became law last year, capped the price of insulin at $35 a month for seniors on Medicare. But efforts to include people with private insurance died in Congress last year due to Republican opposition. (Kimball, 4/21)

On the GOP's debt-limit proposal —

Vox: Why The House GOP’s Debt-Ceiling Plan Includes Medicaid Work Requirements 
The House Republican majority has released its demands for major government spending cuts in exchange for increasing the federal debt limit. And they include a familiar target for conservatives: Medicaid. It’s a gambit that may be more than a decade out of a date and could pose a political risk to the party. For years, Republicans have believed that Medicaid, which primarily serves low-income Americans, is less politically potent than Medicare or Social Security, two of the other core features of the US social safety net, and therefore a safer target for proposed cuts. There may be some truth to that notion — but Medicaid is plenty popular on its own terms. (Scott, 4/19)

Reuters: Factbox: What's In Republican McCarthy's Debt-Limit Spending Cut Package? 
Childless adults up to 56 who get health insurance through Medicaid, which covers low-income people, would have to work at least 80 hours a month or participate in job training or community service. Likewise, childless adults up to 56 years old who receive food assistance through the SNAP program would lose benefits after three months if they could not prove they were working at least 20 hours a week or participating in a job training program. Those work requirements currently apply to those up to 50 years old. (4/20)

The Hill: Cheat Sheet: What’s In Republicans’ Sweeping 320-Page Debt Limit Proposal 
A portion of the bill also outlines work requirements for Medicaid, though it does not include changes to Social Security and Medicare. The Medicaid changes include requiring recipients who do not have dependents and are not disabled to work, look for employment or be involved in so-called “community engagement” of some kind for at least 80 hours a month. (Folley, 4/20)

Politico: House Republicans Pass Bill Restricting Transgender Athletes From Women’s Sports 
House Republicans approved their measure to restrict transgender students from playing on women’s sports teams on a 219-203 vote Thursday morning. ... The bill has no chance of becoming law as it is likely to stall in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and President Joe Biden has already announced that he would veto the bill if it were to reach his desk. (Quilantan, 4/20)

More on transgender health care —

CNN: North Dakota Governor Signs Gender-Affirming Care Ban For Minors
North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed a bill Wednesday banning gender-affirming care for most minors with the possibility of a felony for health care professionals who provide it. House Bill 1254 prohibits health care providers from performing a variety of gender-affirming care and procedures on those under the age of 18. Mike Nowatzki, communications director for the governor, confirmed the bill’s signature in an email Thursday. (Watson and Forrest, 4/20)

Kansas City Star: Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly Vetoes String Of Anti-Trans Legislation
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed four bills Thursday that would have regulated the lives of transgender Kansans, dictating what spaces they are welcome in and the health care they can access. The Democratic governor brought her veto count for the year to 10 in a resounding rejection of a string of legislation that has represented an aggressive effort by the GOP-controlled Legislature to limit the rights of transgender Kansans. (Bernard, 4/20)

Reuters: Tennessee Is Sued Over Ban On Healthcare For Transgender Youth
Advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to strike down a new Tennessee law that bans doctors from providing gender-affirming medical treatment such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery to transgender minors. The American Civil Liberties Union and LGBTQ group Lambda Legal in a lawsuit filed in Nashville, Tennessee federal court say the law, which takes effect July 1, unlawfully discriminates against transgender people based on their sex. (Wiessner, 4/20)

WUSF 89.7: As Bills Advance That Distress Transgender Community, One Teen Flees For A Better Life
Florida lawmakers voted on Wednesday to further limit access to gender-affirming care, while state education officials expanded restrictions on gender identity instruction in schools. It’s the latest in a string of efforts some families of transgender youth say are forcing them to flee the state. One family recently made the painful choice to live more than 1,000 miles apart to protect their child’s well-being. “It’s just unbelievable how far the state has fallen,” said Josie, 16, of St. Johns County. We’re not using her family’s last name to protect their privacy. (Colombini, 4/20)

KFF Health News: Tension Builds In Transgender Policy Debate In Montana
On April 13, Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr was sitting in the basement of Montana’s Capitol building reflecting on her time as one of the state’s first two openly transgender legislators. She wondered whether she needed to display more anger over anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, or whether she should focus on promoting more of what she called “transgender joy.” “The thing that keeps me up at night is, am I doing a good job for my community?” Zephyr said. (Larson, 4/21)

MPR News: This Family Moved To Minnesota To Access Gender-Affirming Care. More Might Soon
Living in Minnesota has made a positive difference for Wes Samuelson and his 11-year-old child Liz. The two moved to Duluth from Wyoming in 2020 after they could not get access to gender-affirming care. “I was going to be worried if we stayed in Wyoming much longer,” Samuelson, who is transgender, said on a recent weeknight as he made dinner in his Duluth home for Liz and his partner, Beram Compo, who is also trans. “I am living a normal life and that feels nice.” (Moini, 4/21)

Also —

The New York Times: How A Campaign Against Transgender Rights Mobilized Conservatives
Defeated on same-sex marriage, the religious right went searching for an issue that would re-energize supporters and donors. The campaign that followed has stunned political leaders across the spectrum. (Nagourney and Peters, 4/16)

USA Today: As States Cut Medicaid, Some Fear They'll Mistakenly End Coverage For Millions Of Eligible People
Advocates warn states that accelerating this unwinding will make mistakes in what promises to be the largest bureaucratic lift in government health insurance coverage since the Affordable Care Act launched state Medicaid expansions a decade ago. The federal government estimates 8.2 million are no longer eligible, but 6.8 million could lose coverage even though they still qualify. (Alltucker, 4/19)

KARK: Arkansas Department Of Human Services: Medicaid Coverage To Be Restored To Recipients Disenrolled In Error
An error has caused some Arkansas Medicaid recipients to be disenrolled from coverage, according to a statement from the Arkansas Department of Human Services. Gavin Lesnick, Chief of the DHS Office of Communications and Community Engagement said the DHS is working to redetermine eligibility for beneficiaries whose coverage was extended due to the COVID-19 federal Public Health Emergency. (Kushmaul, 4/20)

Modern Healthcare: States Fighting Scammers As Medicaid Redeterminations Resume
Fraudsters are seizing on the Medicaid redeterminations process to trick one of the most vulnerable populations into paying to keep their health benefits. States paused the process of removing ineligible people from their Medicaid rolls in exchange for increased federal funds during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading Medicaid enrollment to swell to a record 97 million beneficiaries, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Congress authorized states to begin removing people from Medicaid in April and gave states 14 months to complete the process. (Tepper, 4/20)

Axios: Medicaid Redetermination Leaves Pacific Islanders Vulnerable
Thousands of Pacific Islanders who went years without promised Medicaid coverage before Congress made amends during the pandemic could lose those benefits this spring in the first wave of eligibility redeterminations. States are culling their Medicaid rolls with the end of the COVID-19 emergency, removing guarantees of continuous coverage that reduced health inequities in ways obvious and not-so-obvious. (Dreher, 4/21)

Reuters: Hospital Operators' Outlook In Focus On Medicaid Concerns 
U.S. hospital operators are expected to report strong revenue for the first quarter, while investors will also focus on results for cues on the impact to future earnings following an end to COVID-related insurance protection. Beginning April 1, states were allowed to begin the process of re-determining if people qualify for Medicaid, the government-backed health insurance plans for low-income people, which was previously not allowed during the pandemic. (Mandowara, 4/20)

Fast Company: What Gig Workers Need To Know About Pandemic-Era Medicaid Expiring
As many as 15 million people could lose their health insurance now that the U.S. is unwinding pandemic-era rules that required continuous Medicaid coverage. For gig workers who are impacted by the change, it’s vital that they’re ready to reaffirm eligibility, says Noah Lang, CEO of Stride Health, a benefits platform that helps independent workers sign up for health insurance plans. (Bursztynsky, 4/21)

In other Medicaid news from Texas —

The Texas Tribune: House Moves To Expand Postpartum Medicaid
The Texas House advanced a bill Thursday that would allow low-income moms to stay on Medicaid for a full year after childbirth. The bill was preliminarily approved with bipartisan support in a 125-11 vote. All of the votes against the bill were from Republicans. It is expected to pass the House in a final vote on Friday. (Klibanoff, 4/20)

NBC News: Over-The-Counter Narcan To Cost Less Than $50 For A Two-Pack, Company Says
When Narcan finally becomes available over the counter later this year, the price may put the lifesaving antidote out of reach for many people, experts say. Emergent BioSolutions said Thursday that it plans to price the opioid overdose reversal medication at less than $50 for two doses. (Lovelace Jr., 4/20)

The Washington Post: Experts Slam Plan To Sell Overdose Antidote Narcan At About $50 A Kit
But advocates have long worried that the price of Narcan — a 4-milligram spray version of the liquid drug naloxone that comes two to a kit — might be a barrier for those who need it the most. “It’s still too expensive for pretty much everyone I’ve ever provided it to — mainly teens and people experiencing homelessness,” said Chelsea Shover, a professor of epidemiology at UCLA. “That price point is probably fine for many businesses or organizations who want or have to have a Narcan kit or two publicly available.” (Ovalle, 4/20)

More on the opioid crisis —

KCRA: California Lawmakers Strike A Deal To Hear Fentanyl Bills
Democratic and Republican California lawmakers in the Assembly struck a deal on Thursday to hold a special hearing on a handful of fentanyl-related bills after Republicans threatened to force a floor vote on the legislation. The effort comes after the chairman of the Assembly Public Safety Committee announced he would not hear any more fentanyl-related bills until a special hearing he hoped to have in June on the issue. (Zavala, 4/20)

KFF Health News: The Biden Administration Vowed To Be A Leading Voice On Opioid Settlements But Has Gone Quiet
Early in President Joe Biden’s tenure, his administration promised to play a key role in ensuring opioid settlement funds went toward tackling the nation’s addiction crisis. During the 2020 campaign, Biden had laid out a plan to appoint an “opioid crisis accountability coordinator” to support states in their lawsuits against companies accused of sparking the overdose epidemic. The following year, the White House convened a meeting about the soon-to-be finalized settlements, noted that the money could support drug policy priorities, and helped create a model law that states could adopt in anticipation of receiving funds. (Pattani, 4/21)

The New York Times: The Fight Over A Drug That Is Great For Horses But Horrific For Humans 
Drug dealers are mixing xylazine, an animal tranquilizer relied on by veterinarians, into fentanyl, with deadly results. But controlling it is tricky. (Hoffman, 4/20)

CIDRAP: A Third Of US Households Used Government-Supplied At-Home COVID Tests 
A Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report study published today finds that one third of US households used free at-home COVID-19 diagnostic tests from the COVIDTests.gov program and suggests that, without the kits, one in four adults who used a test would likely otherwise have gone untested. A team led by Emory University researchers analyzed data from a national probability survey to estimate awareness, acceptability, and use of the COVIDTests.gov program in April and May 2022. The White House launched the program in January 2022 to enable all US households to order free, at-home rapid antigen tests delivered through the US Postal Service. (Van Beusekom, 4/20)

More on the spread of covid —

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID Outbreak Hits Large Bay Area Hospital, Prompting New Mask Rule
Physicians and staff at one of the Bay Area's largest hospitals are required to mask up again following a sizable COVID-19 outbreak. Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center has reinstated a temporary mask mandate after more than a dozen hospital workers and patients at the medical center tested positive for the coronavirus this week, officials confirmed. (Vaziri, 4/20)

Los Angeles Times: New COVID Coronavirus Subvariant Arcturus Is Now In L.A.
Los Angeles County has identified its first cases of an emerging Omicron coronavirus subvariant dubbed Arcturus, a strain global health authorities are watching closely as it has been linked to an upswing in cases in India. Officially designated XBB.1.16, the subvariant also has attracted attention after anecdotal reports linking it to what has been a rare COVID-19 symptom: pink eye. (Lin II and Money, 4/20)

Stat: The NIH Poured $1 Billion Into Long Covid Research, With Little To Show For It
The federal government has burned through more than $1 billion to study long Covid, an effort to help the millions of Americans who experience brain fog, fatigue, and other symptoms after recovering from a coronavirus infection. There’s basically nothing to show for it. (Cohrs and Ladyzhets, 4/20)

On the vaccine rollout —

CIDRAP: US Racial Minorities Less Likely To Get COVID Vaccine After Bad Healthcare Experiences
US racial minorities who reported having worse healthcare experiences than those of other races were less likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-led study published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Van Beusekom, 4/20)

The New York Times: British Man Died Of Rare Blood Syndrome Linked To AstraZeneca’s Vaccine 
A 32-year-old psychologist in Britain developed blood clots and died 10 days after he took his first dose of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine, a report released by a London coroner on Wednesday found, in a highly rare case of a fatal reaction to the vaccine. The inquest, which was requested by Charlotte Wright, the widow of Dr. Stephen Wright, found that he died on Jan. 26, 2021, as a result of “unintended consequences of vaccination.” Ms. Wright is suing AstraZeneca. (Levenson, 4/20)

Reuters: WHO Launches MRNA Vaccine Hub In Cape Town 
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday officially launched its mRNA vaccine technology hub in Cape Town, a facility established during the COVID-19 pandemic to help poorer countries struggling to gain access to life-saving medication. (Roelf, 4/20)

In other pandemic news —

AP: Racial Gap In US Stroke Deaths Widened During Pandemic 
The longstanding racial gap in U.S. stroke death rates widened dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, government researchers said Thursday. Stroke death rates increased for both Black and white adults in 2020 and 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. But the difference between the two groups grew about 22%, compared with the five years before the pandemic. (Stobbe, 4/20)

CNBC: DOJ Charges Doctors, Others In Covid Health-Care Fraud Schemes
Eighteen people, some of them doctors, were criminally charged with Covid-19 health-care fraud schemes that netted hundreds of millions of dollars from false billings and theft from federally funded programs, the Department of Justice said Thursday. The charges, which span nine federal judicial districts, comprise the largest coordinated law enforcement action in the U.S. targeting fraud schemes that “exploit the Covid pandemic,” the DOJ said in a press release. (Constantino, 4/20)

The Hill: Americans Bought Almost 60 Million Guns During The Pandemic
One-fifth of U.S. households purchased guns during the pandemic, a national arming that exposed more than 15 million Americans to firearms in the home for the first time, academic studies show. Americans purchased nearly 60 million guns between 2020 and 2022, according to an analysis by The Trace, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that tracks gun violence. Yearly gun sales are running at roughly twice the level of 15 or 20 years ago. (de Visé, 4/21)

The Hill: Harris On Mass Shootings: It’s ‘Pitiful’ That Congress Can’t ‘Stand Up To The NRA’
Vice President Harris slammed Congress on Thursday for lacking “the courage to stand up” to the National Rifle Association (NRA) and pass gun safety laws in the wake of several recent mass shootings. “I just think it is pitiful that the people in the United States Congress do not have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby, stand up to the NRA, and say, “Look, I support Second Amendment, but we need reasonable gun safety laws,’” Harris said during an appearance on “The Jennifer Hudson Show.” (Shapero, 4/20)

The Colorado Sun: Colorado Ban On Assault Weapons Fails
A bill that would have banned the sale or transfer of so-called assault weapons in Colorado narrowly failed in a Democratic-majority state House committee early Thursday, even after the sponsor of the measure proposed a much narrower prohibition on devices that make semi-automatic weapons fire at a rate similar to automatic firearms. (Wenzler and Paul, 4/20)

AL.com: Rep. Phillip Ensler Plans Package Of Gun Bills Aimed At Mental Health Resources, Violence Prevention
Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, said Thursday he plans to introduce a package of laws that would create community violence prevention resources and add some restrictions for gun owners with mental health concerns. (Swetlik, 4/20)

WLWT Cincinnati: Kentucky Gov. Beshear Donates Blood To Help Victims Of Gun Violence
Beshear hosted a blood drive this week for state lawmakers at the capitol. The governor said the latest violence in Louisville inspired him to host the event. Five people were killed in last week's mass shooting at Old National Bank. (4/20)

Also —

The New York Times: At Sandy Hook, Crime-Scene Investigators Saw The Unimaginable 
After 9/11, Sam DiPasquale was embedded with the Navy in Iraq, as part of the FBI's largely unadvertised C.E.X.C. (Combined Explosives Exploitation Cell), deployed to suicide bombings to collect DNA for its database of bomb makers. He had picked limbs from trees. Defused homemade explosives. But the worst thing he’d ever seen was the inside of an elementary school in Connecticut. (Kirk, 4/20)

Bloomberg: Youth Suicide Attempts By Poisoning With Over-The-Counter Drugs Surge In US
Rates of suspected suicide attempts by poisoning among US children and teenagers surged 30% from pre-pandemic levels, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Peng, 4/20)

Bloomberg: TikTok’s Algorithm Keeps Pushing Suicide To Vulnerable Teens
TikTok’s algorithm doesn’t know Chase Nasca is dead. More than a year after Nasca killed himself at age 16, his account remains active. Scroll through his For You feed, and you see an endless stream of clips about unrequited love, hopelessness, pain and what many posts glorify as the ultimate escape: suicide. (Carville, 4/20)

If you are in need of help —

Dial 9-8-8 for 24/7 support from the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It's free and confidential.

In other health and wellness news —

The Washington Post: Weed Doesn't Have An Impact On Creativity, New Study Shows 
New research suggests that cannabis may not be a gateway drug to creativity after all. “Almost everyone thinks that cannabis makes them more creative. And it seems like that assumption is not supported by the data,” said Christopher Barnes, professor of organizational behavior at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business and an author of the study. (Sima, 4/20)

Fox News: Love That ‘New Car Smell’? Study Says There Are Cancer-Causing Chemicals To Consider
There's just nothing like that "new car smell," many people believe. There is a health angle to consider, though. A recent study by the Beijing Institute of Technology and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, found that the cabin of a new vehicle contained 20 common "volatile organic compounds" (VOCs), which could potentially contain cancer-causing agents. (Rudy, 4/20)

The Washington Post: EPA Proposes To Ban Most Uses Of Methylene Chloride, A Toxic Solvent
The Biden administration is proposing a widespread ban on a toxic chemical used in paint strippers that has been linked to dozens of accidental deaths, the first of several long-awaited moves planned for this year to bolster the country’s chemical-safety rules. The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday its plan would ban methylene chloride for all consumer use and most industrial and commercial uses. EPA officials say that would go much further than past efforts, though it falls short of a total ban some health groups have called for in the past. (Puko, 4/20)

USA Today: Soda, Lemonade Linked To Premature Death In People With Diabetes
Americans may want to think twice about reaching for that cool glass of lemonade this summer after a study published this week found sugary drinks may be linked to an increased risk of heart disease and death in certain people. (Rodriguez, 4/21)

Stat: Herpes Patients Mobilize To Demand Government Action 
A medical student spoke emotionally about grappling with a diagnosis his classes told him little about. A young queer man took one test, got a different result on the next, and is now saving up the money needed for the most advanced diagnostics, which insurers rarely cover. A young woman tested positive, got little guidance from her doctor and found information on government sites that she interpreted as pushing abstinence. (Mast, 4/21)

Roll Call: Ageism, Stigma Hinders Response To Senior Alcohol Use Disorder 
Older adults are increasingly drinking excessively and dying of alcohol-related deaths, and the problem has been compounded by ageism, stigma, a lack of interest from policymakers and health care providers and few age-appropriate treatment options, experts say. (Hellmann, 4/20)

USA Today: Why Does Hair Turn Gray? Research Points To Stem Cells Getting Stuck
It has happened to tons of people: strands of hair that were once brown, black, or other shades now appear gray. Why does that happen? Hair color is determined by melanocyte stem cells that multiply inside hair follicles, previous research has shown. These stem cells get signals to mature and make proteins that produce hair color. (Martin, 4/20)

The Washington Post: U.S. News Delays Law And Med School Rankings Amid Data Questions 
U.S. News & World Report, already under scrutiny for the way it ranks some college programs, is delaying the release of its influential annual list of top law schools and medical schools as it answers “an unprecedented number of inquiries” from schools about the data. The news outlet did not give a new publication date, but said the lists would not be released until work to address the questions has been completed. “We take our role as a journalism enterprise very seriously and are working as quickly as possible to produce the best information available for students,” the company said in a statement. (Svrluga, 4/20)

In hospital news —

Los Angeles Times: Beverly Hospital In Montebello Files For Bankruptcy
Beverly Hospital filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, a step that hospital officials said was needed to avoid the closure of the Montebello facility. Hospital officials said their goal is to find a buyer to keep the hospital open and maintain crucial services for residents in Montebello and nearby communities, including El Monte, Whittier and East Los Angeles. They laid the blame for their financial plight on surging costs that they said had outpaced government reimbursements to care for low-income patients. (Alpert Reyes, 4/20)

The Washington Post: Va. Nonprofit Sues For Irvo Otieno Hospital Records In Death Probe 
A nonprofit designated by law in Virginia to advocate for the mentally ill has launched an investigation into the death of Irvo Otieno at the hands of law enforcement officers and other state workers last month — but the inquiry is being stonewalled by the private hospital where police first took him, the nonprofit alleged in a lawsuit filed in federal court this week. Otieno, a 28-year-old Black man, was in handcuffs and leg restraints when Henrico County sheriff’s deputies and workers at Virginia’s Central State Hospital piled on him for 11 minutes, leading to his death by suffocation on March 6, according to surveillance video and the medical examiner. (Rizzo, 4/20)

Stat: HCA, Louisiana Hospital System Sue FTC Over Review Of Hospital Deal
HCA Healthcare and LCMC Health each sued the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice on Wednesday, saying antitrust enforcers at the federal agencies are illegally trying to halt their recently closed hospital deal — and threatening the hospital systems with millions of dollars in penalties. (Herman, 4/20)

Modern Healthcare: HCA Healthcare Adds AI Voice Dictation From Nuance Competitor Augmedix
Hospital giant HCA Healthcare is deploying artificial intelligence-enabled medical dictation software in a partnership with healthcare tech company Augmedix, the two organizations said Thursday. The Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare will add dictation software for its acute care clinicians. The AI solution will convert clinician-patient conversations into medical notes that physicians and nurses can review before they’re transferred in real time to the electronic health record system. (Tepper, 4/20)

Bloomberg: Gig Work May Be The Answer To US Hospitals Nurse Shortage
“Everyone realizes that we’re on the precipice of a major cliff,” said Greg Till, chief people officer at the Renton, Washington-based Providence health system, which operates 51 hospitals and 1,000 clinics in the western US. “There’s no way that we’re going to be able to build a workforce that’s large enough to take care of the population.” (Coleman-Lochner, 4/20)

In insurance news —

Military.Com: Defense Department Sticking With TriWest To Run Tricare West Region
The Department of Defense has upheld its $65.1 billion decision to award the next generation contract to manage Tricare's West Region to TriWest, a ruling that will affect more than a million patients in the DoD health system. The company that currently has the contract for that segment of the Tricare system and lost out to TriWest, Health Net Federal Services, had filed a protest to stop the deal. (Kime, 4/20)

New Hampshire Bulletin: NH Hospital Association Report Targets Anthem For $300 Million In Unpaid Claims, Delays
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the state’s largest insurance company, owes the state’s hospitals nearly $300 million in unpaid claims, according to a report released Wednesday by the New Hampshire Hospital Association. It said Anthem has not followed through on promises made in 2021 to improve its handling of claims. (Timmins, 4/20)

Modern Healthcare: Express Scripts To Increase Pay For Independent Rural Pharmacies
Express Scripts will increase reimbursement for independent rural pharmacies, whose ranks have continued to dwindle over the past decade. Express Scripts, the pharmacy benefit manager of insurer Cigna, plans to pay rural pharmacies that aren’t affiliated with a drug wholesaler more, as well as increase outcome-based reimbursement, such as metrics related to drug adherence. (Kacik, 4/20)

The 19th: Texas Newborn Taken From Parents Is Returned By Child Protective Services
A Dallas-area newborn [was] returned to her parents on Thursday, 23 days after she was taken by Child Protective Services in a case that drew national media attention and sparked conversations about the disproportionate impact of the child welfare system on Black families and the long history of medical bias against Black midwives. CPS took Mila Jackson from her home on March 28 after her parents chose to work with their licensed midwife to treat a common infant condition rather than following a directive from their pediatrician to take her to the hospital. (Norwood, 4/20)

In other health care news from across the U.S. —

AP: Wisconsin GOP Lawmakers Working On Medical Pot Legalization
After years of opposition to any form of marijuana legalization in Wisconsin, Republican lawmakers are now working privately to build support for a medical cannabis program that could win bipartisan backing and be enacted into law later this year, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told The Associated Press on Thursday. (Bauer, 4/20)

The Washington Post: Youngkin Names Southwest Virginia OB/GYN As Health Commissioner
Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Thursday named a longtime obstetrician and gynecologist from Southwest Virginia as the state’s next health commissioner, signaling the public health agency will prioritize caring for women and children and tackling the opioid crisis as the state exits the coronavirus pandemic. (Portnoy, 4/20)

North Carolina Health News: Slate Of Bills Seeks To Improve Black Maternal Health Outcomes
For the third legislative session in a row, Democratic lawmakers are pushing a series of state bills to address maternal health, especially Black maternal health disparities. Legislators and advocates held a news conference on Wednesday to urge the state Senate to put more funding toward the issue when it crafts its budget in the next few weeks. (Fernandez and Hoban, 4/21)

The Colorado Sun: Mental Health Care Demand Has Grown Urgent Since Marshall Fire
The destruction of the Marshall Fire triggered an outpouring of generosity. The more than $43 million raised by the Community Foundation Boulder County since the December 2021 wildfire likely set a record for local disaster philanthropy in the county. Much of the philanthropic money is helping homeowners rebuild physically the houses that were razed by flames. But some of the money was dedicated to helping survivors recover mentally, too, from the trauma of the fire amid compounding crises. Despite the benefits the funding has brought, the many months since the fire have revealed the significant mental health needs of the community and the resource limitations in addressing them. (Cleveland, 4/19)

Side Effects Public Media: AEDs Could Save Lives — But Stocking Them In Schools Isn’t Easy
Jake West grew up in La Porte, Indiana, not far from Lake Michigan. His mother, Julie West, said he was always friendly to others. “He was just kind and he brought other people in,” West said. “He was a type of kid that if someone wasn't included, he was going to make sure that child was included. That’s just how he was, from the time he was little. ”As an athlete, he passed all of his physicals and he didn’t show signs of underlying heart problems. He was a healthy kid — until one day, he wasn’t. (Gabriel, 4/19)

The New York Times: How A Missed Tummy Tuck In Mexico Led To A Deadly Kidnapping
Within minutes of riding into Mexico in a rented white minivan last month, Latavia McGee knew that she was lost. She and three of her closest friends — close enough that she called them brothers — had driven from South Carolina to Matamoros in the state of Tamaulipas so that she could get a tummy tuck procedure. It was a journey she had made once before, as part of a wave of American women seeking cosmetic surgery across the border. But this time, she was running late, had no phone service and had veered off course, Ms. McGee recalled in a recent interview. She was struggling to remember where the clinic was supposed to be. (Fortin, 4/17)

NPR: Teen With Life-Threatening Depression Finally Found Hope. Then Insurance Cut Her Off
Rose had already attempted suicide at least half a dozen times before the teenager's parents found an appropriate residential care facility for her, three states and more than 500 miles away. Rose, then 15, had been in and out of the emergency department at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She had tried two residential programs and one partial hospitalization program in two separate states. But nothing had eased her suicidal urges. Finally, she was getting a treatment that was helping at Rogers Behavioral Health in Oconomowoc, Wis., a small town 35 minutes west of Milwaukee. But a little over two months into her stay, just as Rose was starting to feel better, the family's health insurance – Medical Mutual of Ohio – declined to cover any further treatment. (Chatterjee, 4/17)

The Washington Post: With Body Dysmorphia, Young Men Are Risking Their Health To Bulk Muscles 
Fueled by the rise of social media and a lucrative, unregulated supplements industry, more boys and young men today are bulking up to the point of risking their overall health. A measured amount of weight training can be positive and healthy, but it’s neither when body image turns into an obsession or exercise becomes excessive. “Though its generally underrecognized, boys have body ideals just like girls do,” says Jason Nagata, a pediatrician at the University of California at San Francisco who specializes in adolescent eating disorders. “The idealized masculine body type is big and muscular, and because of that, many boys are trying to get bigger and more muscular.” (McMahan, 4/14)

The New York Times: CoolSculpting Promised To Zap Fat. For Some, It Brought Disfigurement
More than a dozen years ago, a medical device hit the market with a tantalizing promise: It could freeze away stubborn pockets of fat quickly, painlessly and without surgery. The device, called CoolSculpting, was entering an already-crowded beauty industry selling flatter stomachs and tauter jaw lines, but it had an advantage: a vaunted scientific pedigree. The research behind its development came from a lab at Harvard Medical School’s primary teaching hospital, a detail noted routinely in news features and talk show segments. (Kode, 4/16)

The Atlantic: Nutrition Research Forgot About Dads
When it comes to their influence on kids’ eating habits, dads are far less studied than moms. But they may leave just as big a mark. (Sole-Smith, 4/18)

Fox News: 'Super Seaweed' On The Way For Health And Medicine? Israeli Scientists Say We Can 'Learn From Nature' 
Scientists say they've found a way to turn seaweed into "super seaweed" by increasing its health and medicinal value, according to a report from SWNS. The researchers are hoping the "boosted" seaweed can be used in "the superfood, drug and cosmetic industries of the future," the British news service said. (Mackey, 4/18)

The Wall Street Journal: A Former ER Doctor Finds New Ways To Use Her Medical Skills In Retirement 
As an emergency-room physician, Paula Glosserman didn’t have time for much else for many years. “I loved my job and never doubted that I made the right decision,” she says. Even so, she grew weary of working overnight, weekend and holiday shifts. ... Now Dr. Glosserman, who is 69 and lives in Los Angeles, is busier than ever, removing tattoos, working as a summer-camp doctor and coaching medical-school students. (Halpert, 4/17)

The New York Times: What Is The Plastic In Our Bodies Doing To Us? 
There is plastic in our bodies; it’s in our lungs and in our bowels and in the blood that pulses through us. We can’t see it, and we can’t feel it, but it is there. It is there in the water we drink and the food we eat, and even in the air that we breathe. (Mark O'Connell, 4/20)

Los Angeles Times: Would A Nationwide Abortion Ban Be Consitutional? 
The Supreme Court has given itself until midnight Friday to make an “emergency” decision on access to mifepristone, a drug used in half of all U.S. abortions. Whatever the outcome, it’s just a preliminary round in the battle over U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling earlier this month to block FDA approval of the drug. (Aaron Tang, 4/20)

Miami Herald: Eradicated Diseases Are Reappearing Across The Region
From measles outbreaks to reported cases of polio, dangerous diseases thought long gone are making a comeback in Latin America and the Caribbean. How is this possible in a region once declared measles- and polio-free? (Garry Conille, 4/20)

Dallas Morning News: Raise State Rates For Home Caregivers
Before founding Outreach Health in 1975, my father was a nursing home administrator. He saw firsthand that so many residents could be better served in their homes and communities than in institutional facilities. (John David Ball, 4/21)

The New York Times: Medical Assistance In Dying Should Include The Mentally Ill 
I am a Canadian, where eligible adults have had the legal right to request medical assistance in dying (MAID) since June 2016. Acceptance of MAID has been spreading, and it is now legal in almost a dozen countries and 10 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. (Clancy Martin, 4/21)

Also —

Stat: Why Hospital Residents Should Unionize 
As a third-year neurology resident at Mass General Brigham, I started my career at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now Covid numbers may be down, but hospitals continue to overflow. On a 28-hour shift, I cared for more than 40 patients, 11 of whom were newly admitted to the hospital overnight. Stretched too thin, I skimmed through the patients’ medical charts and did a quick physical exam to make sure each person was stable. (Minali Nigam, 4/21)

Stat: Why I Want A Pause On Unionization Of Medical Residents 
Medicine is a calling. But far too often, trainees — residents and fellows — at hospitals don’t receive the support necessary to deliver the best clinical care. In response, many trainees are calling for unions, including at Mass General Brigham, where I’m currently a third-year orthopedic surgery resident. But while many consider unionizing to be a “yes” or “no” proposition, at this moment, I suggest a third option: a pause. (David N. Bernstein, 4/21)