Politico: Supreme Court Could Not Identify Who Shared Draft Abortion Opinion 
An investigation by the Supreme Court has been unable to determine who disclosed to POLITICO last year a draft opinion overturning the federal constitutional right to abortion, the court said in a statement Thursday. The internal probe zeroed in on 82 employees who had access to electronic or hard copies of the draft majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, but “was unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence,” the high court said. ... The court’s statement Thursday emphasized the thoroughness of the probe and said former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff was retained to review Curley’s work. Chertoff, a widely-respected former federal appeals court judge before joining President George W. Bush’s Cabinet, said there was little else the court could do to solve the mystery. (Gerstein, 1/19)

Politico: Read The Supreme Court's Report On Its Abortion Opinion Investigation 
Here's the 23-page report on the Supreme Court's investigation into who shared the draft opinion that struck down Roe v. Wade. (1/19)

More details from the investigation —

The New York Times: Supreme Court Says It Hasn’t Found Who Leaked Opinion Overturning Roe
In a 20-page report, the court’s marshal, Gail A. Curley, who oversaw the inquiry, said that investigators had conducted 126 formal interviews of 97 employees, all of whom had denied being the source of the leak. But several employees acknowledged that they had told their spouses or partners about the draft opinion and the vote count in violation of the court’s confidentiality rules, the report said. ... Investigators determined that in addition to the nine justices, 82 law clerks and permanent employees of the court had access to electronic or hard copies of the draft opinion, the report said. (Savage and Liptak, 1/19)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court Dobbs Leak: Probe Finds No Hack, Can't Identify Leaker
“No one confessed to publicly disclosing the document and none of the available forensic and other evidence provided a basis for identifying any individual as the source of the document,” the 20-page report said, adding that the leak probably came from within. “While investigators and the Court’s IT experts cannot absolutely rule out a hack, the evidence to date reveals no suggestion of improper outside access,” the report said. (Barnes and Marimow, 1/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Hasn’t Identified Who Leaked Draft Of Opinion Overruling Roe V. Wade
The report didn’t indicate whether the justices themselves were interviewed. A court spokeswoman didn’t respond to questions on the investigation. ... Some found the report deficient. “The court needs to immediately explain if this investigation included interviews of the justices or not,” said Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, a left-leaning advocacy group. “The idea that the justices themselves may have been excluded from the inquiry undermines the credibility of the whole undertaking.” (Bravin, 1/19)

The Hill: Five Takeaways From The Supreme Court’s Leak Investigation 
Investigators also attempted to track who printed the draft opinion, but they were only able to discover “very few” instances. ... “The pandemic and resulting expansion of the ability to work from home, as well as gaps in the Court’s security policies, created an environment where it was too easy to remove sensitive information from the building and the Court’s IT networks, increasing the risk of both deliberate and accidental disclosures of Court-sensitive information,” the report states. Two employees without electronic access to the draft accessed printed copies, according to the report. Thirty-four people with electronic access said they printed out copies, and four others were unsure. (Schonfeld, 1/19)

Also —

The Hill: Trump Calls For Jailing Journalists Who Broke Supreme Court’s Draft Abortion Decision
Former President Trump is calling for the jailing of the journalists who published a leaked draft opinion showing the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. Last spring, Politico reporters Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward published a blockbuster report on a draft opinion penned by Justice Samuel Alito that would overturn the landmark abortion ruling. (Mastrangelo, 1/19)

CNBC: What The Debt Ceiling Could Mean For Social Security, Medicare
The clock is ticking for the U.S. to avoid a default on its debt, and some are sounding the alarm about potential disruptions to Social Security and Medicare. On Thursday, Jan. 19, the U.S. outstanding debt hit its statutory limit. The debt limit or debt ceiling is the total amount of money the U.S. can borrow to meet its legal obligations including Social Security and Medicare benefits, as well as military salaries, tax refunds, interest on the national debt and other payments. (Konish, 1/19)

KHN: As US Bumps Against Debt Ceiling, Medicare Becomes A Bargaining Chip
While repealing the Affordable Care Act seems to have fallen off congressional Republicans’ to-do list for 2023, plans to cut Medicare and Medicaid are back. The GOP wants Democrats to agree to cut spending on both programs in exchange for a vote to prevent the government from defaulting on its debts. Meanwhile, the nation’s health care workers — from nurses to doctors to pharmacists — are feeling the strain of caring not just for the rising number of insured patients seeking care, but also more seriously ill patients who are difficult and sometimes even violent. (1/19)

More Medicare news —

Fierce Healthcare: CMS Data: Medicare Advantage Tops 30M
Enrollment in Medicare Advantage (MA) has topped 30 million, according to new data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. This represents coverage across 776 contracts, according to the data, as of Jan. 1 payments, which reflect enrollments accepted through Dec. 2. Enrollment in standalone prescription drug plans was also about 22.7 million, bringing total enrollment across all types of private Medicare plans to nearly 50.3 million. (Minemyer, 1/17)

Healthcare Finance News: CMS Releases Three Initiatives To Grow Medicare ACO Participation 
To advance its goal of having 100% of people in traditional Medicare in an accountable care relationship in seven years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has announced three initiatives in the Medicare Shared Savings Program and the ACO REACH and Kidney Care Choices models. More than 700,000 healthcare providers and organizations will participate in at least one of the three initiatives this year, CMS said. These programs are expected to grow and provide care to more than 13.2 million people with Medicare. (Morse, 1/18)

Bloomberg Law: Doctors In Congress Look For Permanent Fix To Medicare Pay Woes
The doctors in the House want to revamp how Medicare pays physicians, potentially giving health-care providers a boost in pay in coming years. Lawmakers with medical backgrounds say the time is right and they’re in key positions this Congress to end what’s become an annual frustration of averting billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare pay to doctors and hospitals. The annual cuts to the public health insurance program for the elderly and disabled are a side effect of the current pay structure and rules Congress set up to curb federal spending. But, those efforts will face headwinds by some Republicans more focused on cutting spending. (1/19)

Bloomberg Law: South Carolina Hospital Blocked From Collecting Medicare Pay
The US Health and Human Services Department properly denied a South Carolina health-care facility’s Medicare reimbursement for 1997 because the facility didn’t provide HHS with information supporting the payment request. (1/18)

King5.Com: Insurance Squabble Leaves Thousands Of Seniors In Limbo
At 74 years old, Jo Ford keeps herself in good shape by line dancing every week at the Stilly Senior Center in Arlington, but she worries what shape her health insurance is in right now. "I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under us," she said. Ford has been a client at The Everett Clinic for nearly 50 years. Last month, she received a letter from her insurer, Regence BlueShield, stating the clinic decided to leave the Regence provider network because of a dispute over rising costs and payments. (Wilkinson, 1/17)

Stat: FDA Rejects Lilly’s Bid For Accelerated Approval For Alzheimer’s Drug
Eli Lilly said Thursday that U.S. regulators had rejected its application seeking accelerated approval for donanemab, a treatment for people with early stage Alzheimer’s disease. Despite the setback, Lilly said that the planned readout from an ongoing, Phase 3 study of donanemab remains on track for the middle of the year, and if positive, will form the basis of an application for full approval “shortly thereafter.” (Feuerstein, 1/19)

The Washington Post: FDA Declines To Give Accelerated Approval To Eli Lilly’s Alzheimer’s Drug, Firm Says 
Eli Lilly said it received a “complete response letter” from the FDA — a notice that outlines the agency’s reasons for declining to approve the drug application in its current form. Lilly officials said the agency wants to see safety data on at least 100 patients in clinical trials who have taken the drug continuously for at least 12 months. (McGinley, 1/19)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Seeks More Data On Lilly’s Alzheimer’s Drug Candidate 
Lilly said it would work with the FDA to evaluate the fastest pathway to get the drug to market. The company is running a late-stage study testing donanemab in more subjects, with results expected during the second quarter. The FDA indicated it would likely need data from this larger study to make a decision, Lilly said. (Loftus, 1/19)

In other news about Alzheimer's disease —

National Institute On Aging: Could A Viral Illness Increase Chances Of Developing Alzheimer’s Or Other Neurodegenerative Disease? 
Some viral illnesses may increase a person’s chances of later developing Alzheimer’s disease or another neurodegenerative disorder. Though a causal link cannot be confirmed, an NIH study in which researchers mined the medical records of hundreds of thousands of people in Finland and the United Kingdom found significant associations. ... The strongest risk association was between viral encephalitis — an inflammation of the brain caused by a virus — and Alzheimer’s disease. (1/19)

Scientific American: An Old TB Vaccine Might Help Stave Off Diabetes, Cancer Alzheimer's, And More
Beyond protecting against various infections, researchers are starting to find that the BCG vaccine can also modulate the risk of other diseases in which the immune system goes awry, including type 1 diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. Claims about such broad-ranging effects have been controversial but have grown less so in recent years. Open questions still linger, however, as to which patient groups, and for which conditions, the nonspecific effects of BCG might produce a meaningful clinical benefit. (Callier, 1/19)

NBC News: 3 Unanswered Questions About The Newly Approved Alzheimer's Drug Leqembi
A newly approved Alzheimer's drug will be available to patients in the coming days, according to its maker, the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai. The drug, called Leqembi, was shown in clinical trials to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in people with mild cognitive impairment or early-stage illness. It is not a cure. (Lovelace Jr., 1/18)

AP: New USDA Rule Boosts "Organic" Food Oversight, Targets Fraud
The Agriculture Department on Thursday issued new requirements for foods labeled organic, a move aimed at cracking down on fraud and boosting oversight. The rule strengthens enforcement of the USDA’s strict definitions of organic, which must rely on “natural substances and physical, mechanical or biologically based farming methods to the fullest extent possible.” (1/19)

CNN: USDA Toughens Up Regulation Of Organic Products For First Time Since 1990 
The rule standardizes training and operations requirements for organic businesses and personnel and will mean more on-site inspections. The rule also requires certification for organic imports and businesses will need to provide certification showing key parts of their supply chain are organic. The rule goes into effect on March 20 and those impacted will have a year to comply with the changes. (Hassan, 1/19)

The Washington Post: USDA's Strengthening Organic Enforcement Rule Aims To Stamp Out Fraud 
Tom Chapman, chief executive of the Organic Trade Association, said the updates represent “the single largest revision to the organic standards since they were published in 1990.” They should go a long way toward boosting confidence in the “organic” label, Chapman said, noting that the move “raises the bar to prevent bad actors at any point in the supply chain.” Chapman’s business association, which represents nearly 10,000 growers in the United States, has been pushing for stricter guidelines for years, motivated in part by a series of stories in The Washington Post in 2017 revealing that fraudulent “organic” foods were a widespread problem in the food industry. (Reiley, 1/19)

In related news —

The Star Tribune: Charges: 2 Minnesota Men Cheated Buyers Out Of $46M By Selling Grains Falsely Labeled As Organic
A second Minnesota man has been charged with being part of a plot to defraud grain purchasers out of more than $46 million by selling grains falsely labeled as organic. Cottonwood County farmers James C. Wolf, 65, and Adam C. Olson, 45, are both charged in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis with three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy in connection with the scheme that ran from 2014 to 2021, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Friday. (Walsh, 1/17)

Fierce Healthcare: Healthcare Ranked Lowest For Employee Satisfaction, Survey Finds
Healthcare ranked last for employee satisfaction compared to 27 other industries, according to the 2023 Healthcare Experience Trends Report from Qualtrics. The survey of 3,000 healthcare employees across 27 countries paints a grim picture, reporting that only half of healthcare employees believe they are paid fairly, 38% report they are at risk of burnout and 39% are considering leaving their organizations. Qualtrics also surveyed 9,000 consumers, finding that hospitals ranked among the lowest across industries for satisfaction. (Burky, 1/19)

More on health care staffing —

The Boston Globe: New Legislation Would Boost Nurse-To-Patient Ratios In Mass
As hospitals continue to struggle with overcrowding and understaffing, Massachusetts nurses are making a new push to limit the number of patients that can be assigned to a registered nurse at one time — a measure that advocates say would increase patient safety and lure more nurses back to the workforce. (Bartlett, 1/19)

KHN: Luring Out-Of-State Professionals Is Just The First Step In Solving Montana’s Health Worker Shortage 
Jenna Eisenhart spent nearly six years as a licensed therapist in Colorado before deciding to move to a place with a greater need for her services. She researched rural states facing a shortage of behavioral health providers and accepted a job as a lead clinical primary therapist at Shodair Children’s Hospital in Helena, Montana, in January 2018. But she couldn’t start her new job right away because state officials denied her application for a license to practice in Montana on the grounds that her master’s degree program required only 48 credits to complete instead of 60. (Larson, 1/20)

In other health care industry updates —

Axios: Study Finds Hospitals Are Still Not Posting Prices
Only 19% of hospitals fully comply with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rule that requires facilities to post estimated costs for items and services, an analysis published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine has found. The U.S. continues to spend more on health care than other countries for less value, and federal efforts to bring transparency to pricing have so far yielded little. (Dreher, 1/19)

AP: Mississippi Board Approves Operation Of Burn Center At UMMC 
The University of Mississippi Medical Center has received permission to provide care for burn patients, months after another hospital closed the only other burn center in the state. The governing board for the state’s eight public universities met Thursday and approved the medical center’s request to operate a burn center on UMMC’s main campus in Jackson. (1/19)

Fierce Healthcare: UnitedHealthcare launches behavioral health coaching program for commercial plans
UnitedHealthcare is rolling out a new virtual behavioral health coaching program backed by Optum. The offering is available as of Jan. 1 for 5 million fully insured members, and self-insured employers can also purchase the program as an employer benefit. Through the program, adults with symptoms of mild depression, stress and anxiety can access support for their mental health needs through virtual modules as well as one-on-one video conferences, phone calls or messaging with coaches. (Minemyer, 1/19)

NPR: Therapy By Chatbot? The Promise And Challenges In Using AI For Mental Health
Advances in artificial intelligence — such as Chat GPT — are increasingly being looked to as a way to help screen for, or support, people who dealing with isolation, or mild depression or anxiety. Human emotions are tracked, analyzed and responded to, using machine learning that tries to monitor a patient's mood, or mimic a human therapist's interactions with a patient. (Noguchi, 1/19)

The Boston Globe: Massachusetts Detects Troubling New Strain Of Gonorrhea 
Massachusetts health officials have detected a strain of gonorrhea, never before seen in the United States, that shows signs of resistance to every recommended treatment for the disease. The bacteria were found in two Massachusetts residents, both of whom were cured with standard treatment. (Freyer, 1/19)

CBS News: U.S. Investigating First Cases Of "Concerning" New Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea Strain 
Investigators are now working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to test other samples collected from gonorrhea cases in the state. Massachusetts is also conducting contact tracing to find out if the drug-resistant strain has spread to others. "The discovery of this strain of gonorrhea is a serious public health concern which DPH, the CDC, and other health departments have been vigilant about detecting," Margret Cooke, head of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, said Thursday in a statement. (Tin, 1/19)

The CDC reports two more deaths from mpox —

CIDRAP: Global Mpox Cases Rise Slightly, With More Deaths Reported
In its latest situation report on mpox today, the World Health Organization (WHO) said cases since its last update on Jan 5 have risen 1%, and, of 11 countries reporting increases, the largest was in Mexico. ... Meanwhile, other health groups also posted mpox updates. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday reported 46 more cases over the past week, along with 2 more deaths, raising the nation's total to 30,026 cases, 23 of them fatal. (Schnirring, 1/19)

In related news —

Axios: The Struggle To Contain The Global Threat Of Superbugs
Antibiotic-resistant superbugs are killing more people each year than HIV and malaria, but progress against them worldwide has largely stalled in the wake of the pandemic. As COVID-19 made crystal clear, disease doesn't recognize borders, and one country's problem can quickly become a global threat. (Reed, 1/19)

The New York Times: How Bad Is It To Share Lip Products? 
In the flurry of eye-catching details pouring in from Prince Harry’s new memoir, “Spare,” some readers have fixed their attention on one topic: the sharing of lip gloss. According to the book, when Meghan asked Kate, the Princess of Wales, if she could borrow some lip gloss, Kate was taken aback but reluctantly agreed. ... Although respiratory viruses can linger on objects, there’s not a huge risk of transmitting the flu or Covid-19 from sharing something like lip gloss, although transmission is still possible, said Dr. Tina Bhutani, a dermatologist at the University of California, San Francisco. (Blum, 1/12)

AP: March For Life Returns To DC With New Post-Roe V. Wade Focus 
One year ago, the annual March for Life protest against legal abortion took place in Washington amid a mood of undisguised triumph. With a fresh conservative majority on the Supreme Court, thousands of marchers braved bitterly cold weather to celebrate the seemingly inevitable fall of Roe v. Wade. Now, with the constitutional right to abortion no longer the rule of the land, the March for Life returns Friday with a new focus. Instead of concentrating their attention on the Supreme Court, the marchers plan to target the building directly across the street: the U.S. Capitol. (Khalil, 1/20)

Axios: March For Life: Anti-Abortion Activists Split On Movement's Next Steps
As anti-abortion activists gather in Washington, D.C., on Friday to celebrate the overturning of Roe v. Wade — a singular cause that united abortion opponents for decades — some factions are split on the movement's next steps. (Gonzalez, 1/20)

Roll Call: As Roe Anniversary Approaches, Republicans Debate Next Moves
Political messaging and state legislative activity related to abortion are ramping up in the lead-up to two milestones for abortion rights activists and opponents — the annual March for Life, scheduled for Friday, and the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision on Jan. 22. (Raman and Altimari, 1/19)

In abortion news from Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, and Maryland —

Reuters: Indiana Top Court Appears Skeptical Of Challenge To Abortion Ban 
Indiana's highest court appeared skeptical the state's constitution protects a right to abortion during arguments Thursday in a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood challenging the state's recent abortion ban, but it was not clear whether it would overturn a lower court's order preventing enforcement of the ban while the case proceeds. (Pierson, 1/19)

AP: Minnesota House Backs Abortion Rights After HHS Chief Visits
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra visited Minnesota on Thursday on a Midwest trip to affirm the Biden administration’s commitment to abortion rights despite the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Becerra went to a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in St. Paul, then appeared with Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic legislative leaders at a news conference a few hours before the Minnesota House passed a fast-tracked bill to codify abortion rights into state statues by a vote of 69-65. (Karnowski, 1/20)

St. Louis Public Radio: Religious Leaders Sue To Overturn Missouri's Ban On Abortion
Two national nonprofits have filed a lawsuit against Missouri officials in an attempt to overturn the state’s abortion ban. The National Women’s Law Center and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed suit Thursday in St. Louis Circuit Court on behalf of 13 faith leaders in Missouri. (Fentem, 1/19)

The Washington Post: Md. Gov. Wes Moore Takes Office, Unwinds His Predecessor's Actions 
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed an executive order releasing $69 million for Democratic priorities that former governor Larry Hogan (R) had held back as part of a flurry of changes he said ushered in a new era after eight years of divided government. The order freed up money for training new abortion providers, addressing climate change, standing up the state’s recreational cannabis industry and launching a paid family leave program that lawmakers approved last year. (Wiggins, 1/19)

On Planned Parenthood —

AP: FBI Offers Reward In Vandalism At Tennessee Pregnancy Clinic
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for vandalism at a women’s health clinic in Nashville. The fire occurred at the Hope Clinic for Women on June 30. An incendiary device was thrown through the clinic’s front window and the building’s exterior was spray painted, the FBI’s Memphis field office said in a statement. The device did not ignite, but the FBI has labeled it as an arson investigation. (1/20)

In related news —

Reuters: Rite Aid To Dispense Abortion Pill In A Limited Number Of Stores
Rite Aid Corp plans to dispense abortion medication in a limited number of its pharmacies and will serve customers either in person or through mail delivery, the U.S. drugstore chain said on Thursday. The company aims to dispense the pill, mifepristone, in compliance with federal and state laws. (1/19)

Carolina Public Press and The Daily Yonder: The True Impact Of WNC’s Maternal Desert On Rural Women
In Western North Carolina, many of the region’s 153,000 childbearing-aged women often must travel long distances for prenatal care and delivery at the area’s eight hospitals. This often means pregnant people, especially those from rural WNC counties, have to drive hours to access health care. (Harris and Melotte, 1/20)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: New Georgia House Speaker: No Medicaid Expansion To All Poor For Now
Newly elected Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns will not take up the issue of full Medicaid expansion for all the state’s poor adults anytime soon, he told reporters in a press event Thursday. In Georgia, Medicaid covers poor children as well as some older and disabled adults. Unlike most states, Georgia does not cover all poor adults. Partly as a result, Georgia ranks third worst in the nation for its rate of people without health insurance. (Hart, 1/20)

Wyoming Public Radio: Wyoming House Committee Advances Medicaid Expansion Bill 
A legislative committee advanced a bill to expand Medicaid in Wyoming, paving the way for a familiar fight on the House floor. Medicaid expansion is an option that was eventually thrown to the states after the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Expansion brings in federal dollars and closes what’s known as "the Medicaid gap" — a liminal space some Wyomingites find themselves in between making too much for traditional Medicaid but making too little to afford their own. (Victor, 1/19)

Mississippi Today: Poll: 80% Of Mississippi Favors Medicaid Expansion  
A wide majority of Mississippians across partisan and demographic lines supports expanding Medicaid to provide health coverage for the working poor, according to a newly released Mississippi Today/Siena College poll. The poll showed 80% of respondents — including 70% of Republicans — either strongly agree or somewhat agree the state should “accept federal funds to expand Medicaid.” (Pender, 1/18)

On loss of Medicaid coverage —

Topeka Capital-Journal: Up To 125,000 Kansans Will Get Kicked Off Medicaid This Year. Here's Who Wants It To Happen Faster
As Medicaid administrators in Kansas are finalizing a plan to kick upward of 125,000 people off their government health insurance, at least one Republican lawmakers wants it to happen faster. During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal law blocked states from ending Medicaid benefits for people who were no longer eligible. Now, the federal government is giving states 12 months to restart eligibility checks as federal funding winds downs, said Sarah Fertig, the state Medicaid director at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. (Tidd, 1/18)

Tampa Bay Times: Medicaid Coverage To End Soon For Nearly 1 Million In Florida
About 900,000 Floridians, if not more, could lose medical coverage through the state’s Medicaid program beginning April 1, as the pandemic federal public health emergency comes to a close, state officials said. (O'Donnell, Ellenbogen and Mower, 1/19)

Denver 7: Medicaid Residents Look For New Homes As Assisted Living Facilities Switch Gears
Late last year, Kim Muniz received some bad news regarding her brother’s assisted living facility and began scrambling to find him a new place to live. Her brother, Mike, has been living at Northglenn Heights, an assisted living facility north of Denver. Medicaid benefits are paying for his stay, but a letter in November stated that the complex would no longer accept Medicaid residents. All current Medicaid residents would have to move out by March 17. (Wang and Vaccarelli, 1/19)

Also —

McKnights Senior Living: Medicaid Federal Poverty Standards Updated
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Thursday released updated federal poverty level standards applied to eligibility criteria for Medicaid. For 2023, the poverty guideline in all states except Alaska and Hawaii is $14,580 for a one-person family/household and $19,720 for a two-person family/household. (Bowers, 1/19)

The Hill: More Than 1,300 Nursing Homes Had COVID Infection Rates Of At Least 75 Percent In 2020: HHS 
More than 1,300 nursing homes in the U.S., most of them for-profit facilities, experienced extremely high COVID-19 infection rates in 2020, according to a new report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services. For the OIG’s study, the agency took Medicare claims data to find nursing homes with beneficiaries who tested positive for COVID-19. The study looked at 15,086 nursing homes across the country. (Choi, 1/19)

More on the spread of covid —

CIDRAP: First-Wave COVID Patients Had Much Higher Risk Of Death For 18 Months
In the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, infected UK patients had a significantly elevated risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) for at least 18 months, suggests a study of nearly 160,000 people published today in Cardiovascular Research. (Van Beusekom, 1/19)

CIDRAP: Lack Of Vaccination, Severe Illness Tied To Higher Risk Of Long COVID
A US military study suggests that people who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 and those with moderate or severe infections are at significantly higher risk for persistent symptoms for 1 to 6 months. In the observational study, published yesterday in JAMA Network Open, a team led by researchers from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Maryland estimated the risk of long COVID and greater healthcare use among 1,832 infected adults enrolled at a military treatment facility. (Van Beusekom, 1/19)

NPR: How Are Rapid COVID Tests Holding Up As The Pandemic Enters Its Fourth Year 
As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its fourth year, a negative result on a little plastic at-home test feels a bit less comforting than it once did. Still, you dutifully swab your nostrils before dinner parties, wait 15 minutes for the all-clear and then text the host "negative!" before leaving your KN95 mask at home. (Lupkin, 1/19)

In global covid news —

CNN: Japan Considers Downgrading Covid-19 To Same Level As Seasonal Flu
Japan will consider downgrading Covid-19 to the same category as seasonal influenza this spring, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Friday. Kishida said he had instructed Health Ministry officials to discuss the move and his administration would also review rules on face masks and other pandemic measures. (Jozuka, Ogura, Bae and Magramo, 1/20)

On the "tripledemic" —

NBC News: Flu, RSV And Covid May Have Peaked. But The Threat Isn't Over.
Emergency room visits related to three of the most disruptive viruses — the flu, respiratory syncytial virus and Covid — are falling nationwide. (Edwards, 1/19)

Minnesota Public Radio: MN Health Officials ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ We've Seen The Worst Of Flu
Minnesota health officials are not seeing signs of more flu cases at a time when we usually get sick. The preliminary data from the weekly Influenza and Respiratory Illness Activity Report looking at Jan. 8-14 shows a decline in new hospitalizations for both influenza and the respiratory virus RSV. Outbreaks of respiratory disease in schools have also remained fairly flat for the past few weeks. (Wiley, 1/19)

AP: US Settlement Signals Protections For Addiction Medicine
A former Tennessee correctional officer will receive $160,000 in back pay and damages after he was forced to resign for taking Suboxone to treat his opioid use disorder, if a judge approves a landmark consent decree filed in federal court in Nashville on Wednesday. It is the first time the U.S. Department of Justice has used the Americans with Disabilities Act to settle a claim that an employee was discriminated against for taking a prescribed medication to treat drug addiction, according to the Department. (Loller, 1/19)

AP: Virginia House Panel Votes Down 'Magic Mushrooms' Bill
Virginia House Republicans have voted down a bill that would have allowed doctors to prescribe psilocybin, or “magic mushrooms,” for treatment of a small set of mental health conditions. A GOP-led House Courts of Justice subcommittee voted 5-2 Wednesday to defeat the legislation in a way that leaves open the possibility of revisiting it later, TV station WRIC reported. (1/19)

AP: Oregon's Drug Decriminalization Gets Poor Marks On Audit 
Oregon’s first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization has had a rocky start, but Secretary of State Shemia Fagan said Thursday in releasing an audit of the program that it’s too early to call it a failure. Decriminalization of personal-use amounts of drugs, approved by voters in 2020 under Ballot Measure 110, was supposed to channel hundreds of millions of dollars of marijuana tax revenues into drug treatment and harm reduction programs. But that hasn’t yet translated into an improved care network for a state with the second-highest rate of substance use disorder in the nation and ranked 50th for access to treatment. (Selsky, 1/19)

Wyoming Public Radio: State Could Soon Have A “Plan Of Safe Care” For Newborns Born Into A Situation Where There Is Addiction Or Drug Misuse 
A bill that would develop a ”plan of safe care” for newborns that are born into a situation where there is addiction or drug misuse has passed its first reading in the Wyoming State Senate. The Senate Labor, Health, and Social Services Committee voted unanimously in its favor before it reached the floor. (Kudelska, 1/19)

The Littleton Independent: Methamphetamine Contamination Found In Third Public Library In Colorado
The Bemis Public Library in Littleton closed Wednesday after test results indicated there was methamphetamine contamination in several bathrooms. A city statement, released after business hours on Wednesday, did not say how long the library will be closed. (Joss, 1/18)

AP: Chemicals For Possible Fentanyl Production Seized In Arizona
U.S. agents in southern Arizona said Thursday they seized up to 440 pounds (about 200 kilograms) of what they suspect is a precursor chemical often used to manufacture the dangerous drug fentanyl, a chilling sign that producers may be moving to manufacture the deadly synthetic opioid on American soil. (Snow, 1/20)

News Service of Florida: A Federal Judge Rejects The State’s Request To Evaluate Kids In Transgender Medicaid Fight
A federal judge has rejected a request by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to conduct “mental examinations” on a pair of 12-year-olds who are plaintiffs in a challenge to a state rule prohibiting Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care. (Kam, 1/19)

AP: Mississippi House OKs Ban On Minors' Gender-Confirming Care
The Republican-controlled Mississippi House voted Thursday to ban gender-confirming care for minors, joining about a dozen other conservative states in trying to restrict health care access for young transgender people. Republican Rep. Nick Bain said in response to Democrats’ questions during a debate that he knows no examples of such surgeries being done on people younger than 18 in Mississippi. (Wagster Pettus, 1/20)

The 19th: Anti-LGBTQ+ Rhetoric And State Laws Are Hurting Youth Mental Health, Poll Shows
LGBTQ+ youth say that state proposals restricting their rights in schools, sports and doctor’s offices are negatively affecting their mental health, leaving them angry, sad and stressed, according to a new online poll released Thursday by Morning Consult and the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ youth crisis organization. (Rummler, 1/19)

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

Connecticut Public: CT Aid In Dying Bill Gets Push From Grieving Family Members
Advocates of the proposed Aid in Dying bill made an emotional plea to state legislators in Hartford on Wednesday to approve the legislation, introduced 15 times in Connecticut since 1994. (Srinivasan, 1/19)

WMFE: As VA Benefits Expand, Florida's Female Veterans Are Urged To Apply 
About 160,000 of Florida's more than 1.5 million veterans are women -- that's the second most among U.S. states. And many of them may not be seeking the benefits they have earned. Now there's a statewide push to get more women to utilize those benefits. (Byrnes, 1/19)

The Washington Post: Ala. Landfill Has Burned For Nearly 2 Months, Forcing People From Homes
The smoke billowing from the burning landfill 100 yards from Richard Harp’s house in central Alabama has, he said, given his young sons headaches and nosebleeds. Harp and his wife have battled fever and bouts of bronchitis brought on, his doctor told him, by breathing the acrid air. Like many of their neighbors, the family fled weeks ago. They have patched together stays in multiple hotels, in a short-term rental and with relatives out of state, waiting for the end to a disaster that never seems to come. ... On Wednesday, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) declared a state of emergency over the ongoing fire at the privately owned landfill in St. Clair County, northeast of Birmingham, which has inundated residents from miles around with smoke since at least Nov. 25, the day after Thanksgiving. (Dennis, 1/19)

The Washington Post: Alabama Farmer Secretly Paid Strangers’ Pharmacy Bills For 10 Years 
Hody Childress was a farmer living off his meager retirement savings in the small town of Geraldine, Ala. About 10 years ago, he walked into Geraldine Drugs and pulled aside owner Brooke Walker to ask if there were families in town who couldn’t afford to pay for their medications. “I told him, ‘Yes, unfortunately that happens often,’” recalled Walker, 38. “And he handed me a $100 bill, all folded up.” (Free, 1/19)

Stat: FDA Cites Indian Drugmaker For Numerous Quality Control Problems
In a stunning rebuke, the Food and Drug Administration accused a drugmaker of a “cascade of failures” for a litany of quality-control problems at a manufacturing plant, the latest instance in which the regulator has castigated an Indian pharmaceutical company for such lapses. (Silverman, 1/19)

Stat: Pallone Pushes NIH And FDA To Disclose Steps Being Taken To Ensure Clinical Trial Results Are Reported
A Democratic lawmaker is demanding to know what steps the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health are taking to ensure that results of clinical trials funded by the government are reported to a federal database. (Silverman and Wilkerson, 1/19)

Stat: Will The EU Give Vouchers To Pharma To Develop Needed Antibiotics?
Amid rising concern over antibiotic resistance, a battle is brewing in Europe over a proposal to offer vouchers to companies as an incentive to develop new treatments. The controversial idea has already raised objections from more than a dozen members of the European Union. (Silverman, 1/19)

Stat: For The Second Time, A Big Drugmaker Offers Warranty On A Medicine
In a bid to blunt competition and address rising drug costs, Sanofi is offering a warranty that will cover the cost for any hospital if a specific medicine fails to work, marking only the second time a major pharmaceutical company has taken such a step. (Silverman, 1/19)

NBC News: What Happens When You Stop Taking Wegovy Or Ozempic? Many People Regain The Weight.
Wegovy, or semaglutide, is part of a class of drugs called GLP-1 agonists. They mimic a hormone that helps reduce food intake and cuts appetite. In clinical trials, Wegovy was shown to reduce body weight by around 15%. (Lovelace Jr., Lynch and Thompson, 1/19)

NPR: New Tech Targets Epileptic Seizures With Lasers, Robots And Precision Surgery 
About three million people in the United States have epilepsy, including about a million who can't rely on medication to control their seizures. For years, those patients had very limited options. Surgery can be effective, but also risky, and many patients were not considered to be candidates for surgery. (Hamilton, Scott, Lu and Spitzer, 1/20)

Stat: Some Biotechs Bet That Mesothelin Is Key To Tackling Solid Tumors
Scientists working to produce immunotherapies for solid tumor cancers have spent decades searching for biological targets that can help them distinguish between healthy cells and cancerous ones. Finding such biomarkers is critical to developing treatments that can kill the cancer without also killing the patient. (Chen, 1/20)

The Washington Post: Burnout Is Real. Here’s How To Know If You Have It And How To Cope
When Jacinda Ardern announced her decision to resign as New Zealand’s Prime Minister, she didn’t cite burnout as the reason. But she described it. “I know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice,” she said. “It is that simple.” The World Health Organization in 2019 acknowledged burnout as an “occupational phenomenon,” but job or work burnout can still take a significant toll on your mental and physical health, and is closely linked with depression and anxiety. (Soong, 1/19)

The Hill: Here Is How ‘Dry January’ Can Help And Hurt You 
Even for light drinkers, or someone who has 3 drinks or fewer a week, forgoing alcohol for a month will have some immediate cosmetic benefits. Alcohol dehydrates the body and takes a serious toll on the skin causing dryness and dark undereye circles among other things. So, skipping that bedtime glass of wine can result in clearer and more hydrated skin. (O'Connell-Domenech, 1/19)

NPR: Thinx Settled A Lawsuit Over Chemicals In Its Period Underwear. Here's What To Know
If you live in the U.S. and bought Thinx underwear recently, you could soon be getting some money back. That's because the period panty brand has just settled a class-action lawsuit alleging that its products — long marketed as a safer, more sustainable approach to menstrual hygiene — contain potentially harmful chemicals. (Treisman, 1/19)

PBS NewsHour: A Look At The Environmental And Health Effects Associated With Gas Stoves 
There's been quite a bit of heated debate lately about gas stoves and potential government regulation. The fire was lit last week after recent studies linked asthma with the use of gas stoves, and a member of a federal consumer agency briefly suggested that perhaps the federal government might even ban them in newly built homes. But that was quickly shut down by the White House. (O'Brien and Toubman, 1/19)

KHN: The ‘KHN Health Minute’ Debuts On CBS News Radio 
Tune in to the first “KHN Health Minute” to hear how noise pollution affects health and why an optimistic outlook may help people live longer. (1/20)

KHN: NFL Has Been Slow To Embrace Mental Health Support For Players 
When Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field in the middle of the “Monday Night Football” game in Cincinnati on Jan. 2, Carrie Hastings, half a continent away, understood what she needed to do — and right away. “I had a few guys that I sort of immediately knew I should check in on,” said Hastings, the Los Angeles Rams’ sports psychologist and mental health clinician. “A couple of spouses and significant others, too.” (Kreidler, 1/20)

The Washington Post: Colorado Taco Bell Investigated After Accusation Of Rat Poison In Taco 
The sheriff’s office in Arapahoe County, Colo., is investigating a Taco Bell location after a customer there ate a taco containing a substance he suspected to be rat poisoning. Investigators are searching video and other evidence from a Taco Bell in Aurora after a man who had gotten into a verbal argument with fast-food workers while ordering food later became violently ill and was hospitalized on Sunday, Deputy John Bartmann of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said in an interview. The man told hospital personnel that he had ingested rat poison in a taco he was served, and a deputy confirmed that the item contained “a greenish-gray substance.” (Heil, 1/19)

The New York Times: The Father Of The Abortion Pill 
When the idea struck him, nearly 50 years ago, Dr. Étienne-Émile Baulieu believed it could be revolutionary. Creating a pill that could abort a pregnancy would transform reproductive health care, he thought, allowing women to avoid surgery, act earlier and carry out their decisions in private. ... He had also hoped, as he wrote in a 1990 book, that by the 21st century, “paradoxically, the ‘abortion pill’ might even help eliminate abortion as an issue.” (Belluck, 1/17)

AP: Making Pig Livers Humanlike In Quest To Ease Organ Shortage
The ghostly form floating in a large jar had been the robust reddish-brown of a healthy organ just hours before. Now it’s semitranslucent, white tubes like branches on a tree showing through. This is a pig liver that’s gradually being transformed to look and act like a human one, part of scientists’ long quest to ease the nation’s transplant shortage by bioengineering replacement organs. (Neergaard, 1/17)

Fierce Healthcare: Elsevier Introduces More Expansive 3D Human Anatomy To Increase Racial Representation In Education
Elsevier’s updated 3D human anatomy model seeks to tie the tangible to the intangible—medical training tools to lingering racism within medicine. Complete Anatomy 2023 features the most expansive skin tone library available ever, according to the clinical practice content company. (Burky, 1/17)

The Guardian: ‘The Silent Disease’: Chagas Is A Killer. Now Carriers Want Their Voices Heard 
It can be between 10 and 30 years before people develop symptoms so most are unaware they have Chagas, often called a “silent and silenced disease”. Some will never develop symptoms but up to a third suffer heart damage, which can lead to progressive heart failure or sudden death. Others (up to 10%) may experience abnormal enlargement of the colon or esophagus. About 12,000 people die from Chagas every year. It kills more people in Latin America than any other parasitic disease, including malaria. (Johnson, 1/16)

AP: Gates Foundation Takes Up Question Of Its Own Power
Does The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have too much power and influence? It’s a question the foundation’s CEO Mark Suzman raised in its annual letter released Tuesday that outlines the organization’s priorities and announces its budget for the coming year. With $8.3 billion to give away in 2023, the Gates Foundation is the largest private philanthropic donor. And with an endowment of more than $70 billion, its spending power is likely to continue for many decades. When asked in an interview with The Associated Press what he thought the answer to that question was, Suzman said, “No.” (Beaty, 1/17)

The New York Times: What Is Intuitive Eating? Meet The Duo Behind The Method 
Intuitive eating, as conceived by the dietitian-nutritionist duo, is the practice of renouncing restrictive diets and the goal of weight loss and encouraging people to tune into the intuition that governed their eating as toddlers. This includes satiating hunger rather than trying to suppress or outsmart it; feeling your fullness (and pausing mid-meal to assess it); and savoring, even seeking pleasure from, food. Among the other principles are addressing emotional eating, emphasizing movement over “militant exercise” and practicing “gentle nutrition” — minding moderation and balance in one’s diet, but not too harshly. (Ruiz, 1/18)

Scientific American: Dads Have Been Older Than Moms Since The Dawn Of Humanity, Study Suggests
Men have consistently had children later in life than women throughout human history, suggests a study. The research used genetic mutations in modern human DNA to create a timeline of when people have tended to conceive children over the past 250,000 years, since our species first emerged. The timeline suggests that men have, on average, conceived children around seven years later then women. (Kreier, 1/18)

The Washington Post: Teen With Cerebral Palsy Set Harvard As His Goal. He Just Got In Early Acceptance
Since Matthew Myslenski was 6 years old, he said, attending Harvard University has been his goal. As a child, he became a frequent patient at Boston Children’s Hospital — the primary pediatric program of Harvard Medical School. “I’ve always looked up to my doctors at the hospital. They’re amazing people,” said Matthew, who hopes to become a physician one day, too. “When I found out they were associated with Harvard, I wanted to be a part of that.” (Page, 1/14)

Fortune: Here’s How To Be Truly Happy, According To The Longest Happiness Study In The World 
In The Good Life, Dr. Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz distill what makes people find happiness from a study beginning in 1938 following the lives of 724 Harvard students and low-income boys from Boston in the world’s longest scientific study of happiness to date, according to the researchers. The ongoing study, which has expanded to include the spouses and children of the original participants, consists of over 2,000 people. (Mikhail, 1/14)

The Washington Post: How To Help Your Kids Be Happy
For Robert Waldinger, the question of what constitutes the “good life” isn’t a hypothetical. Waldinger directs the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which, for more than 80 years, has followed the lives of 724 participants and more than 1,300 of their descendants. ... According to Waldinger’s research, “The people who were most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest (mentally and physically) at age 80.” So how do we intentionally help our kids start down this path? (Kris, 1/19)

The Washington Post: How To Fix The CDC: First, Make It Smaller 
Three years after the coronavirus started to spread in the United States, the nation’s institutions remain poorly equipped to respond to routine outbreaks, let alone combat a future pandemic. Many of the shortcomings stem from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Scott Gottlieb, 1/19)

The New York Times: Why Kids’ Medication Shortages Aren’t Going Away
Over Christmas, a friend was visiting family in England and posted a photo on Instagram of stocked pharmacy shelves, brimming with children’s pain relievers. Like many American parents — myself included — he’d been disturbed by the shortages of children’s pain relievers and certain formulations of antibiotics. (Jessica Grose, 1/18)

The New York Times: The New Cutting Edge Of Abortion- Rights Legislation 
Prine is a New York physician and co-founder of the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline, which provides support to people using pills to end their pregnancies on their own. She started the hotline during the Trump administration in response to escalating state restrictions. (Michelle Goldberg, 1/20)

The CT Mirror: We Must Respect The Neurodivergent's Rights
A month ago I laid in my bed, ticking — a manifestation of Tourette’s. My arms jerked, and my legs kicked out. I punched myself and slapped myself, sweating and exhausted. Weeks of stress had worn me down. I had reached my limits — physically, emotionally, and mentally. I needed to go to the hospital. (Justin Farmer, 1/20)

Stat: Will Insulin Ever Be Affordable? 
In an attempt to tackle the root causes of the inflated cost of insulin, the state of California filed a lawsuit last week accusing drug manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers of artificially and illegally jacking up the price of insulin. (Danielle Ofri, 1/20)

Bloomberg: Why Are Young People Dying In US And What Are The Causes? 
What the mortality data show is that, first of all, something has been killing American young people in sharply rising numbers lately. The 2021 mortality rate for those 15 to 34 was the highest since since 1973, and for those 25 to 34, it was the highest since 1950. (Justin Fox, 1/19)

Chicago Tribune: For All The Good Fauci Did, He Should Have Retired Sooner
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who began his career at the National Institutes of Health during Lyndon Johnson’s administration, has stepped down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden. To put it in perspective, after more than five decades of distinguished and controversial government service, his legacy will be bittersweet — not quite the hero his supporters lionize or the villain his detractors portray. (Cory Franklin, 1/19)

Stat: The New Pandemic Treaty Is Good For The World And The U.S. 
In December, delegates from more than 180 countries met in Switzerland to discuss the International Treaty for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response, which had initially been proposed in December 2021. Support for it gained traction as the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted concerns about global vaccine inequity, genomic data-sharing, and more. (Sergio Imparato and Sarosh Nagar, 1/20)