Axios: Exclusive: Inside HHS' Plan To Develop Next-Generation COVID Treatments
The Biden administration is pouring billions of dollars into the development of future coronavirus vaccines, trying to develop a sequel to Operation Warp Speed even as the public health emergency ends. The Department of Health and Human Services is fleshing out targets and putting an organizational framework around the $5 billion "Project NextGen," which will operate similarly to the Trump-era public-private partnership in speeding the development of new treatments. (Gonzalez, 5/11)

The Independent: Scientists Inch Closer To Covid Vaccine That Provides Lifelong Protection 
Scientists have shown that a new Covid vaccine provides more durable protection against the novel coronavirus in animals than existing ones, an advance that may lead to a better therapeutic offering lifelong immunity against the virus. ... The new vaccine, dubbed MT-001, may provide longer-lasting protection in humans against many variants of the virus, according to the study, published recently in the journal Vaccines. (Sankaran, 5/10)

The BMJ: What Is The Future For Covid Drugs And Treatments? 
It’s not so much about “new” treatments as continuing research to prove effectiveness of drugs we already know work in practice, says Janet Diaz, who leads clinical management at the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme. (Looi, 5/10)

The covid emergency and Title 42 come to an end —

The New York Times: The U.S. Built A European-Style Welfare State. It’s Largely Over. 
In the early, panicked days of the pandemic, the United States government did something that was previously unimaginable. It transformed itself, within weeks, into something akin to a European-style welfare state. Congress rapidly fortified the social safety net, making it much stronger than at any point. It made policies like Medicaid and food stamps more generous. It created new federal benefits like paid sick and caregiving leave, and free school lunches. And it made some pandemic benefits, like stimulus checks and child allowances, nearly universal. The government is estimated to have spent about $5 trillion helping individuals and businesses since March 2020. (Miller and Parlapiano, 5/11)

KFF Health News: The Crisis Is Officially Ending, But Covid Confusion Lives On
The formal end May 11 of the national public health emergency for covid-19 will usher in lots of changes in the way Americans get vaccines, treatment, and testing for the coronavirus. It will also change the way some people get their health insurance, with millions likely to lose coverage altogether. (5/11)

The New York Times: U.S. Ends Last Covid Travel Barrier, Vaccine Mandate For Foreign Arrivals 
International passengers traveling to the United States no longer have to show proof of vaccination against Covid as of midnight Thursday, when the coronavirus health emergency officially ended. The Biden administration dropped its requirement for coronavirus testing last June but kept in place its vaccination policy for foreign travelers. In February, the House of Representatives voted to end the last remaining pandemic restrictions on May 11. (Yeginsu, 5/12)

The Washington Post: Thousands Of Migrants Overwhelm The U.S.-Mexico Border As Title 42 Expires 
As the midnight expiration time passed, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas posted a video statement to Twitter, warning that “people who arrive at the border without using a lawful pathway will be presumed ineligible for asylum.” He also warned that 24,000 Border Patrol agents and officers and thousands of troops and contractors are on hand to enforce the policy. “Do not believe the lies of smugglers,” he said. “The border is not open.” (Mata III and Miroff, 5/12)

More on the spread of covid —

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID At New ‘Tipping Point’ Says UCSF’s Bob Wachter, Experts
Bay Area epidemiologists, infectious disease experts, and public health officials agree that we are in a much better place now than when the emergency order was enacted by the former administration in March 2020. However, they said, it is too soon to declare closure. “It no longer meets my definition of a pandemic,” said Dr. Bob Wachter, the chair of the department of medicine at UCSF. Still, he added that there’s no lingo in epidemiology to accurately describe the ongoing threat from the virus that has subsided but remains a threat. “Nobody has quite invented that word.” (Vaziri, 5/11)

CIDRAP: COVID-Related Stress, Depression May Have Altered Placentas During Pregnancy
Maternal stress and depression amid the COVID-19 pandemic can alter the structure, texture, and other characteristics of the placenta during pregnancy, although the long-term neurodevelopmental impact on children is unknown, according to an ongoing observational study published yesterday in Scientific Reports. Researchers from MedStar Washington Hospital Center and Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC, used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to compare the placentas of 63 pregnant women without known COVID-19 exposure during the pandemic with 165 control patients who were pregnant before the pandemic. (Van Beusekom, 5/11)

AP: Illinois Gov. Pritzker Signs Law That Gives Benefits To Chicago First Responders Disabled By COVID
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday signed a law providing full disability benefits to Chicago police officers and firefighters struck by COVID-19 before vaccines were available, presiding over an emotional statehouse ceremony which marked the end of a financial struggle for responders including the brother of Comptroller Susana Mendoza. The Act-of-Duty law, HB3162, ensures disability benefits of 75% of salary plus health insurance for anyone unable to work after contracting the coronavirus from March 9, 2020, when the flare-up intensified in Illinois, until June 30, 2021. The law grants them the presumption that they picked up the illness on the job. (O'Connor, 5/10)

Stat: House Democrat Demands Answers On Long Covid Research
A powerful Democratic lawmaker is interrogating the National Institutes of Health over its slow progress in addressing long Covid, citing a recent STAT investigation into the agency’s lack of urgency. Rep. Anna Eshoo, the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee’s top Democrat, sent a letter to NIH acting Director Lawrence Tabak on Tuesday highlighting the agency’s delays in enrolling clinical trials, the lack of relief for patients, and the exclusion of long Covid from the White House’s Next Gen program to accelerate development of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments. The Energy and Commerce Committee is responsible for overseeing the NIH. (Cohrs, 5/11)

PBS NewsHour: ‘Why Aren’t You Taking Care Of Us?’ Why Long COVID Patients Struggle For Solutions
For long COVID patients, the pandemic is far from over. The U.S. public health emergency expires today, and many fear that their struggle – to be recognized and treated within the nation’s fragmented health care system – is only beginning. When it comes to finding expert guidance and treatment for the complex tangle of disorders and illnesses, “COVID is [no doctor’s] full-time job,” said long COVID patient Liza Fisher. “Nobody’s doing this full-time to give patients the kind of care they need — it’s very complex and individualized.” (Santhanam, 5/11)

CBS News: Long COVID Patients Desperate For Answers, Relief As National COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Ends 
As the national COVID-19 emergency declaration ends Thursday, some people who contracted the virus are still suffering. CBS2's Cindy Hsu spoke to people with long COVID who are desperate for answers and relief. "People look at you and they're like, oh, you look fine, you know, and it's gonna, you're gonna be OK. And I'm going, 'Well, it's been three years and I still have it,'" said Darlene Tejeiro Dahl, who suffers from long COVID. (Hsu, 5/10)

Also —

CNN: Sleep Apnea And A Chronic Condition Raise Long Covid Risk 
Adults who have obstructive sleep apnea have up to an 75% increased risk, on average, of developing long Covid after a SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with people without sleep apnea, a new study found. Women with obstructive sleep apnea had up to an 89% increased risk, while men had a 59% higher risk, according to the analysis of electronic health data on nearly 1.8 million people. (LaMotte, 5/11)

Stat: Senate Panel Passes A Suite Of Drug Pricing Bills — But Fails To Advance One Major PBM Reform
The Senate health committee on Thursday passed a package of bills aimed at speeding generic drug competition and reining in drug middlemen business practices. But they failed to pass an ambitious reform to the pharmacy benefit manager sector, despite strong bipartisan support for it. (Wilkerson, 5/11)

The Hill: Senate Panel Advances Drug Pricing Bills, Including PBM Reforms
The bill would prohibit a PBM practice known as “spread pricing,” or charging health plans more for a drug than the PBM reimburses to the pharmacy, a tactic that’s drawn harsh criticism from lawmakers. It would also implement new requirements designed to increase the transparency of PBM contracts and pricing practices and mandate that PBMs pass 100 percent of the rebates collected from drug makers to health plans. (Weixel, 5/11)

Stat: Wyden Decries 'Astonishingly Low' Tax Rates For Pharma Companies
Thanks to changes in tax law six years ago, several of the largest pharmaceutical companies saw their tax rates fall substantially, but they also reported that most of their profits were shifted offshore in an effort to avoid paying U.S. taxes, according to a memo by a U.S. Senate Committee. (Silverman, 5/11)

Reuters: Pfizer CEO Calls US Drug Price Plan 'Negotiation With A Gun To Your Head'
Pfizer Inc Chief Executive Albert Bourla called U.S. plans to negotiate drug prices for its Medicare health program "negotiation with a gun to your head" and said he expects drugmakers to sue in an attempt to halt the process. "It is not negotiation at all. It is price setting," Bourla said at a Reuters newsmaker event on Thursday, referring to the Biden Administration’s signature drug pricing reform, part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The law aims to save $25 billion through price negotiations by 2031 for Americans who pay more for medicines than any other country. (Erman and Satija, 5/11)

C-Span: Watch: Drug Company Executives Testify On Insulin Prices
Pharmaceutical industry CEOs and senior executives testified on lowering the cost of insulin before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The committee questioned the witnesses on drug pricing tactics and asked for transparency from the industry. Topics included stock buybacks for pharmaceutical companies, patient assistance programs for uninsured consumers, competitiveness in the market, and lowering the price of prescription drugs overall. (5/10)

The Wall Street Journal: White House Debt-Ceiling Meeting Postponed
A highly anticipated meeting scheduled for Friday between President Biden and congressional leaders to chart a path forward on lifting the debt ceiling was postponed until next week, officials said. The delay will give White House and congressional staff more time to make progress in their closed-door spending talks, the officials said, adding that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) was unable to attend the Friday meeting because of a scheduling conflict. (Restuccia, Andrews and Harrison, 5/11)

Vox: The Republican Plan To Sneakily Cut Medicaid, Explained
The Republican proposal to require people to work in order to receive Medicaid benefits poses an existential question about the very nature of government assistance: Do you need to do something to earn it? For years, the GOP’s answer has been yes, some people should. These days, they have very specific people in mind: The 19 million Americans, most of them childless and nondisabled adults, who were not eligible for Medicaid until the Affordable Care Act expanded eligibility a decade ago. (Scott, 5/12)

Barron's: Breaching The Debt Ceiling Could Cripple Medicare And The Healthcare System 
A sustained breach of the debt ceiling would have a catastrophic impact on the country’s healthcare system, experts say, with the fallout reaching beyond government insurance programs like Medicare to the millions of Americans with private coverage. ... “Ultimately, if the federal government can’t pay the bills, the entire thing stops,” said Sara Rosenbaum, emerita professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University. “The whole health system collapses.” (O'Brien, 5/12)

CNN: Debt Ceiling: These States Will Be Hit The Hardest If The Standoff Isn't Resolved 
As leaders in Washington fail to make progress on a debt ceiling deal, Moody’s Analytics is warning of disastrous implications for American jobs if the United States defaults on its debt for an extended period. ... While most states would be “hit hard” by a debt limit breach, the economic pain would vary from state to state, according to projections released on Wednesday by Moody’s. It would disproportionately hurt states with large concentrations of federal workers or that have a number of jobs that rely on government funding. That includes Washington, DC, and states located near or that rely on federal institutions such as national labs or military bases such as Alaska, Hawaii and New Mexico. (Egan, 5/11)

In related news about Social Security —

KFF Health News: ‘A System In Crisis’: Dysfunctional Federal Disability Programs Force The Poor To Pass Up Money 
Brenda Powell had suffered a stroke and was in debilitating pain when she called the Social Security Administration last year to seek disability benefits. The former Louisiana state office worker struggled at times to write her name or carry a glass of water. Powell, then 62, believed she could no longer work, and she was worried about how to pay for medical care with only a $433 monthly pension. (Clasen-Kelly, 5/12)

Roll Call: FDA Finalizes New Rules On Blood Donations 
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday finalized new rules eliminating blanket restrictions on blood donations from LGBT men, responding to long-standing pressure from advocates, blood banks and public health groups. The new guidelines are instead focused on individual risk behaviors, rather than sexual orientation. The rules block anyone from donating blood if they have had new or multiple sexual partners and have also had anal sex in the previous three months. Anal sex carries a much higher risk of HIV transmission than vaginal sex. (Clason, 5/11)

AP: New Blood Donation Rules Allow More Gay Men To Give In US 
All potential donors — regardless of sexual orientation, sex or gender — will be screened with a new questionnaire that evaluates their individual risks for HIV based on sexual behavior, recent partners and other factors. Potential donors who report having anal sex with new partners in the last three months will be barred from giving until a later date. (Perrone, 5/11)

The Washington Post: What New Questions Will I Be Asked When I Donate Blood?
Here are answers to a few common questions about how the guidelines could affect eligibility to donate blood in the United States. (Amenabar, Nirappil and McGinley, 5/12)

Also —

KOMO: Increase In Washington Gun Violence Leads To Greater Need For Blood Donations 
A rise in gun violence is really pushing up the need for blood right now, according to Bloodworks Northwest. “An increase in gunshot wounds, which is really sad to say, but we are definitely seeing it,” said Dr. Kirsten Alcorn, Co-Chief Medical Officer at Bloodworks Northwest. Alcorn told KOMO News that she learned of one gunshot victim in the last few weeks, who needed 50 units of blood to stay alive. (Whitaker, 5/10)

Want to give blood? —

Schedule a blood, platelet, or plasma donation with the American Red Cross

CNN: Ohio Republicans Approve August Election That Could Thwart Abortion-Rights Push In State 
Ohio voters will decide this summer whether to make it more difficult to change the state’s constitution – only months before a potential ballot measure in November over whether to guarantee abortion rights in the state. Ohio’s Republican-controlled legislature this week approved a resolution that will ask voters in August to increase the threshold needed to change the constitution from a simple majority to 60%. It also would require backers of ballot initiatives to get signatures from voters in all of Ohio’s 88 counties – rather than current 44 – to place something on the ballot. (Schouten, 5/11)

Axios: Ohio's Abortion Rights Battle Intensifies After Special Election Resolution Passes 
Though several crucial steps remain, increasing the constitutional amendment passage threshold by 10 percentage points could mean everything for the future of abortion rights in Ohio. ... "Based on polling, there's plenty of reason to believe that the [abortion rights] amendment would pass if only a simple majority were required," Christopher Devine, associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton, tells Axios. "But based on recent evidence, I do not expect that it would clear a 60% threshold." (Smith and Buchanan, 5/12)

In other abortion news —

The 19th: House Democrats Seek Answers About Mifepristone Abortion Pill Access At Pharmacies
Over 60 House Democrats are looking for answers from AmerisourceBergen following reports that the company would not distribute the abortion pill to pharmacies in up to 31 states. AmerisourceBergen is the sole U.S. distributor of Mifeprex, the brand name for mifepristone, a drug used in a two-step regimen to terminate pregnancies and manage miscarriages. (Panetta, 5/11)

Connecticut Public: Wesleyan University Will Pay For Students' Abortions, Contraception
Wesleyan University has agreed to pay for emergency contraception and abortions for all students. The move comes after a petition gained over 700 signatures. (Torres, 5/11)

The New York Times: Abortion Access Keeps Winning Elections
The 2024 elections offer supporters of abortion rights an opportunity to continue their winning streak. There are 10 states that both significantly restrict abortion (or may soon) and allow citizen-sponsored ballot initiatives, including Florida, Ohio and Arizona. Placing measures on the ballots there offers progressives a possible double victory — to expand access and energize 2024 turnout among Democratic voters. But it remains unclear how many of these states will hold referendums. (Leonhardt and Bentahar, 5/11)

On birth control access —

Chicago Tribune: Illinois Makes It Easier For Women To Get Birth Control Directly From Pharmacists, Without Doctors’ Visits 
The state’s top public health official has signed an order allowing women across Illinois to get hormonal birth control directly from pharmacists, without first visiting their doctors. The head of the Illinois Department of Public Health issued a standing order Wednesday that will allow pharmacists who complete additional training to dispense hormonal patches, vaginal rings, oral contraceptives and contraceptive injections to patients. Patients will not need prescriptions from their own doctors first. (Schencker, 5/11)

In news about maternity care and childbirth —

Columbus Dispatch: 10 Ohio Hospitals Closed Labor And Delivery Services Since June 2022
Access to maternity care continues to decline in the United States and in Ohio, with multiple maternity wards closing in the past year. Since June 2022, the Ohio Hospital Association has counted 10 maternity wards closing across the state, according to spokesman John Palmer. Some merged or moved to a partner hospital, but Palmer said the reasons given for the closures centered around workforce issues, operational costs and a decline in use due to fewer births in Ohio. (King, 5/11)

Axios: Closing Rural Iowa Birthing Units Is Hurting Delivery Outcomes 
Expectant mothers are less likely to access prenatal care in rural counties where birthing units have shut down, despite other prenatal providers still being available locally. Pregnant mothers who attend less prenatal care appointments are more likely to deliver prematurely, and both parent and baby have a higher risk of complications. (Ta, 5/11)

Stateline: Low Fertility Rates, High Housing Prices Mean Fewer Children In Most States
Thirty-five states have fewer children than they did five years ago, a situation caused by declining birth rates nationwide, but also by young families migrating across state borders in search of cheaper housing. Even in the 15 states that gained children, all but North Dakota experienced greater growth in the adult population, meaning children now make up a lower percentage of residents. (Henderson, 5/11)

Reuters: Teen Mental Health Emergency Visits Decline In U.S. As Pandemic Eases, CDC Says 
U.S. adolescents made fewer weekly emergency department (ED) visits for mental health conditions in Fall 2022 compared to a year earlier, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Thursday. By late 2022, pandemic restrictions had been loosened or lifted and adolescents had generally returned to schools, with better social engagement and reduced isolation linked with improved mental and behavioral health, the researchers noted. (5/11)

CBS News: Youth Mental Health Crisis May Be Improving, Early ER Data Suggests
The data is an early sign that the surge in suicide attempts and mental health conditions that filled emergency rooms with adolescent patients, many teen girls, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic might be subsiding nationwide. But compared to a pre-pandemic "baseline" in the fall of 2019, the CDC's report also suggests average weekly emergency room visits remained as high or worse than they were for suicide and overdoses. (Tin, 5/11)

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 related news about teen health —

Colorado Sun: A Grand Junction School Board Rejects A New School-Based Health Center, Complicating Access To Care For Some Students 
Clinic proponents — including some Central High students, who shared at school board meetings how they’ve benefited from having access to health care at school — were unable to convince the board’s conservative majority to proceed with plans to establish a school-based health center at Grand Junction High. (Sullivan, 5/12)

Minnesota Public Radio: How Mental Health Programs Focused On Cultural Identity Are Helping Minnesota Students 
Abe Gebeyehu, a school-based mental health practitioner, started noticing things were not going well for his students in 2020.When Minnesota schools closed their doors to in-person learning, the time they spent on computers and other screens skyrrocketed. Their interactions with friends and teachers plummeted. They began, in the online meetings he had with them, describing symptoms of anxiety and depression. (Shockman, 5/11)

AP: Sex? Sexual Intercourse? Neither? Teens Weigh In On Evolving Definitions — And Habits 
Situationships. “Sneaky links.” The “talking stage,” the flirtatious getting-to-know-you phase — typically done via text — that can lead to a hookup. High school students are having less sexual intercourse. That’s what the studies say. But that doesn’t mean they’re having less sex. The language of young love and lust, and the actions behind it, are evolving. And the shift is not being adequately captured in national studies, experts say. (Gecker, 5/12)

CNN: Planet Fitness To Give Teens Free Summer Workout Passes 
The fitness center franchiser and operator, which runs 2,400 gyms in the US and Canada, has launched its third year of its High School Summer Pass program during Mental Health Awareness Month. Touted as a way to keep high schoolers active during summer in a “fun, safe and judgment-free zone,” the annual program is open to teens aged 14 to 19. (Williams, 5/7)

The Washington Post: 18-To-20-Year-Olds Can’t Be Barred From Buying Handguns, Judge Rules 
A federal judge in Virginia has declared unconstitutional a set of laws and regulations that prohibit federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to 18-to-20-year-olds, finding that the measures violated the Second Amendment. ... Gun-control advocates say the decision, if allowed to stand, would significantly increase gun access for a population that research shows is more impulsive and responsible for a disproportionate number of fatal shootings. But attorneys on both sides of the case said they expected the Justice Department to appeal and request a stay, which would prevent Payne’s ruling from taking effect while higher courts weigh the case. (Rizzo, 5/11)

In other news about the gun violence epidemic —

Los Angeles Times: Texas Bill Would Give Schoolchildren 'Battlefield' Training
About a year after a gunman massacred 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, a bill has been introduced by a state lawmaker to offer annual training to elementary school children on how to tie tourniquets or pack bleeding wounds during mass-casualty incidents. (Petri, 5/11)

The Hill: Uvalde Shooting Victim’s Father: ‘If These Laws Don’t Change, It’s Gonna Keep On Happening’
The father of one of the victims of last year’s mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, urged state lawmakers this week to push forward with gun control legislation, arguing that “if these laws don’t change, it’s gonna keep on happening.” In an interview with CBS News, Javier Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter Jacklyn was killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting last May, said that it’s been an “emotional rollercoaster” since the incident. Cazares has been an advocate for gun control legislation in his home state. (Oshin, 5/11)

NPR: One Way To Prevent Gun Violence? Treat It As A Public Health Issue
Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith was working in an emergency room as a medical student more than four decades ago when she realized that victims of violence were getting treated and then released — unlike other patients — without any sort of preventative care. "And one night, at 3:00 in the morning, a young man just very specifically said to me that he was going to go out and cut the guy who cut him," she says. "I thought, this is not adequate. My response is not adequate. My profession's response is not adequate." (Treisman, 5/12)

CBS News: Gun Violence Researcher Maps America's "Firearm Ecosystem" 
Maurizio Porfiri spoke to CBS News about the strides his engineering team at New York University has made in understanding gun violence, how engineering and mathematical equations can provide insights into gun violence, and what it means to map America's "firearm ecosystem."

CIDRAP: Drug Shortages Have Worsened And May Only Increase In The Future, Experts Say
COVID-19 snarled the US healthcare supply chain, but it was in trouble long before, experts say. What's more, drug and medical-device shortages could get worse, Tammy Beckham, DVM, PhD, associate director of the US Food and Drug Association's (FDA's) Resilient Supply Chain Program at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), told attendees at this month's MedCon 2023. (Van Beusekom, 5/11)

CNN: Cancer Drugs Among Top 5 Most Affected By Shortages In The US
As the US faces a near-record number of drug shortages, cancer treatments are among the hardest hit. There is an active shortage of about two dozen chemotherapy drugs, the fifth most of any drug category, according to data from the end of March from the University of Utah Drug Information Service. “The fact that we have this many chemo drugs in shortage is really concerning,” said Michael Ganio, senior director of pharmacy practice and quality at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. (McPhillips, 5/11)

In other pharmaceutical news —

CBS News: First Epinephrine Nasal Spray Clears Key FDA Hurdle, Promising Needle-Free Alternative 
A committee of the Food and Drug Administration's outside advisers voted Thursday in favor of an epinephrine nasal spray product, clearing a key hurdle for what could soon be the first needle-free option for treating severe allergic reactions. The majority votes backing the spray for both adults and kids followed a daylong meeting of the agency's Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee, picking apart an application from ARS Pharmaceuticals for their proposed epinephrine spray, branded as Neffy. (Tin, 5/11)

Reuters: Exclusive: Wegovy, Other Weight Loss Drugs ‘No Silver Bullet’, Says WHO Amid Obesity Review 
New highly-effective weight loss drugs such as Novo Nordisk's Wegovy are not a “silver bullet” for addressing the rapid rise in global obesity rates, the World Health Organization’s nutrition chief told Reuters, as the agency conducts its first review of obesity management guidelines in more than 20 years. (Rigby, 5/12)

Stat: AbbVie Sues A Behind-The-Scenes Company For Exploiting Its Patient Assistance Program 
AbbVie has filed a lawsuit against a behind-the-scenes company that helps health plan sponsors take advantage of the assistance programs created by drug companies to provide specialty medicines to patients for free. At issue is a maneuver called alternative funding, which a growing number of drugmakers contend exploits their charitable programs. Basically, a plan sponsor excludes certain expensive drugs from coverage and taps an outside vendor to help uninsured and underinsured patients obtain the medicines for free from patient assistance programs. (Silverman, 5/11)

Axios: The Fight Over Nursing Home Staffing Mandates
A fight over nursing home staffing mandates is pitting an industry that was at the epicenter of the pandemic against organized labor and some senior lawmakers in Congress. The Biden administration this spring wants to make every facility have enough adequately trained staff to provide high-quality care. But operators say they can't hire people out of thin air after COVID-19 hollowed out the long-term care workforce. (Dreher, 5/12)

Crain's Grand Rapids Business: Nurse Staffing Ratios Could Be Coming To Michigan Hospitals
A package of bills introduced today in Lansing would require hospitals to meet nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and end mandatory overtime as a regular practice. The legislation pushed by Democratic lawmakers in the state House and Senate and backed by the Michigan Nurses Association aims to retain and bring nurses back to the profession, and to improve patient safety after thousands of nurses have left their positions or the professions from burnout and stress. (Sanchez, 5/11)

Also —

Philadelphia Inquirer: Einstein Nurses Picket For Higher Wages, Better Staffing
Cars honked in support as nurses wearing red shirts waved signs that read “retain us, respect us” Thursday morning on North Broad street outside Einstein Medical Center. The picket was organized by the Einstein local of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, which represents nearly 900 nurses at the Philadelphia hospital. The union is negotiating a new contract, after their existing one expired on April 30. Einstein nurses are seeking wage increases for veteran nurses and better hospital security to protect staff. (Gutman, 5/11)

Modern Healthcare: Ochsner Health Layoffs: 2% Of Workforce Cut
Ochsner Health is eliminating 770 positions immediately in an effort to curb financial challenges, the health system announced Thursday. The positions represent about 2% of Ochsner's 36,000 staff members across its 47 hospitals and more than 370 health and urgent care centers in Louisiana and Mississippi. Thursday is the last day of work for affected employees. (Berryman, 5/11)

AP: Federal Government's $1 Billion Effort To Recruit Next Generation Of Doctors At Risk 
Thousands of women living in rural, eastern Maryland have few options when they’re looking for someone to deliver their babies. The local hospital doesn’t have an obstetrics doctor on staff so most women in this region, flanked by sprawling farm fields and antique stores, turn to the Chesapeake Health Care clinic. Five of the 10 obstetricians and midwives at the clinic are there because of the National Health Service Corps, which promises to pay off $50,000 in medical school debt for every two years that a doctor serves working in rural, urban or poor areas. (Seitz, 5/12)

In other health care industry news —

The New York Times: U.S. News Releases Its Latest, Disputed Rankings Of Law And Medical Schools 
U.S. News & World Report finally released its annual rankings of top law and medical schools on Thursday, after boycotts by those institutions, disputes over methodology, and a delay of weeks. A few law schools shuffled positions, but the ones at the top of the new list were familiar — Stanford, Yale, Chicago, Duke, Harvard and New York University. Yale, which was the first to boycott, retained its No. 1 position, though in a tie this year with Stanford. Columbia, which also participated in the boycott, dropped to eighth place from fourth. (Saul, 5/11)

KFF Health News: AI May Be On Its Way To Your Doctor’s Office, But It’s Not Ready To See Patients 
What use could health care have for someone who makes things up, can’t keep a secret, doesn’t really know anything, and, when speaking, simply fills in the next word based on what’s come before? Lots, if that individual is the newest form of artificial intelligence, according to some of the biggest companies out there. Companies pushing the latest AI technology — known as “generative AI” — are piling on: Google and Microsoft want to bring types of so-called large language models to health care. Big firms that are familiar to folks in white coats — but maybe less so to your average Joe and Jane — are equally enthusiastic: Electronic medical records giants Epic and Oracle Cerner aren’t far behind. The space is crowded with startups, too. (Tahir, 5/12)

Reuters: WHO Declares End To Mpox Public Health Emergency 
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday it was ending a 10-month-long global health emergency for mpox, a viral disease that led to confirmed cases in more than a hundred countries. The organization declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern in July 2022 and backed its stand in November and February. (Mahobe and Sunny, 5/11)

And other health threats —

NBC News: Drug-Resistant Ringworm: CDC Says At Least 2 Cases Found In U.S.
Two cases of highly contagious, drug-resistant ringworm infections have been detected in New York City — the first such cases reported in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. The infection was first identified in a 47-year-old woman who had developed a bad case of ringworm, also known as tinea, while traveling in Bangladesh. (Edwards, 5/11)

The Washington Post: Bacteria Linked To Tainted Baby Formula May Become Nationally Reportable
The federal government may soon ask states to notify them when doctors or epidemiologists identify infections caused by a common bacteria that can cause severe illness in the very young and was at the center of last year’s baby formula crisis. A working group convened by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists is considering recommending that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ask states to track and submit cases of Cronobacter sakazakii. As they do with salmonella and more than 100 other pathogens, state and local health departments would be asked to report documented cases to the CDC so the bacteria can be tracked nationally. (Reiley, 5/11)

NBC News: Eyedrops Bacteria: Why Woman's Infection Diagnosis Took Months
How a rare type of bacteria infected and ultimately blinded Nancy Montz's left eye was a head-scratcher for Dr. Morgan Morelli, a physician who specializes in infectious diseases. The Ohio woman had been infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium resistant to most antibiotics. Morelli, chief fellow in the division of infectious diseases and HIV medicine at the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, had never seen this kind of bacteria in an eye. (Edwards, 5/11)

The Mercury News: Bitten By An Iguana? You Could Get A Rare Bacterial Infection, New Study Says
Iguanas, those pesky green critters that come out in full force during the summer months in South Florida, are more than just a nuisance. They also pose health risks. While touching an iguana or its feces can cause salmonella, a new Centers of Disease Control & Prevention report links an iguana’s bite to a rare bacterial infection called mycobacterium marinum. (Krischer Goodman, 5/11)

More health and wellness news —

Los Angeles Times: Fentanyl-Related Deaths Among Children Rising, Yale Study Says
Fentanyl-related deaths among children increased more than 30-fold between 2013 and 2021, illustrating the opioid crisis’ unrelenting impact across the United States, according to a study by the Yale School of Medicine. Between 1999 and 2021, 37.5% of all fatal pediatric opioid poisonings were caused by fentanyl, according to the study published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. The drug is now the primary agent noted in the pediatric opioid crisis, said Julie Gaither, the study’s author and an assistant professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at Yale. (Arredondo, 5/11)

NPR: Peloton Recalls Popular Exercise Bike
The current recall involves bikes with model number PL01 and sold in the U.S. from January 2018 to this month. Peloton received 35 reports of the bike's seat post breaking and detaching from the bike during use — including 13 reports of users suffering a broken wrist, lacerations and bruises after falling from the bike, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. (Diaz, 5/11)

Axios: DeSantis Signs "Medical Freedom" Laws
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday sought to draw a contrast with the expiring COVID-19 public health emergency, signing a set of "medical freedom" measures into law, including bans on mask and vaccine mandates, and new conscience protections for health providers. (Reed, 5/12)

WJCT News: DeSantis Signs Sweeping Immigration Bill That Includes Hospital Provision
With concerns about illegal immigration intensifying, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed sweeping immigration reforms into law Wednesday at a business in Jacksonville. Among the law's provisions is a requirement that hospitals that accept Medicaid ask patients about whether they are U.S. citizens or in the country legally. Hospitals are also required to submit reports about the responses to the state. (Scanlan, 5/11)

Other news from Florida —

WUSF Public Media: Leapfrog Group's Safety Report Finds Hospital Infections Soared During The Pandemic
Some hospitals in Florida and around the U.S. struggled with a spike in health care-associated infections during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a safety analysis released this month. Experts with The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit that issues hospital safety ratings twice a year, cautioned about the rise in infections in their latest rankings. Many Florida hospitals still received A ratings, while others saw a dip in their grades. (Colombini, 5/11)

In Medicaid news from Maryland, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma —

AP: Maryland Officials Urge Medicaid Recipients To Renew Coverage
Maryland officials announced a public awareness campaign on Thursday to remind Medicaid recipients to renew their coverage since the federal government is reinstating a requirement that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic for states to verify eligibility. The announcement came on the same day that the nation’s COVID-19 health emergency was ending. (Witte, 5/11)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County Task Force Earmarks $500K For Medicaid Re-Enrollment
With thousands of Milwaukeeans potentially losing Medicaid insurance coverage with the end of the COVID-19 national emergency declaration, Milwaukee County is considering devoting $500,000 to ramp up efforts to help residents re-enroll in the program or explore alternative health insurance options. The county's American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Task Force unanimously recommended Thursday allocating the pandemic federal aid to a Medicaid re-enrollment support project on Thursday. (Swales, 5/11)

Oklahoman: Oklahoma's Long-Term Care Facilities Face A Medicaid Funding Gap
Oklahoma nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are facing a 20% funding decrease in caring for Medicaid patients as pandemic-era emergency funding ends next month. Nursing homes will be short $36 a day in caring for Medicaid patients, while the funding shortfall for other facilities that care for the intellectually disabled will be much higher, according to estimates from the Oklahoma Health Care Authority. (Felder, 5/11)

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

The Texas Tribune: Texas Bill Aimed At Removing Sodomy Ban From State Law Falls Short In House
A promising Democratic push to repeal Texas’ defunct ban on gay sex has fizzled after the lower chamber ran out of time to consider House Bill 2055 on Thursday. In June 2003, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas struck down the state’s criminalization of gay sex. Sessions after sessions since then, Texas Democrats have attempted to repeal this unconstitutional ban. That effort gained the most traction this legislative session, as HB 2055 — which sought to erase the ban from Texas’ penal code as well as its health and safety code — was poised to be debated by the full chamber. (Nguyen and Melhado, 5/11)

AP: Ohio Opioid Settlement Panel's Records Must Be Public, Top State Court Says
The state panel that will decide how Ohio distributes more than half of the money it will receive from a nationwide settlement regarding the opioid addiction crisis must make its records publicly available, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In their unanimous ruling, the justices rejected the OneOhio Recovery Foundation’s claim that it was a private nonprofit corporation and therefore not subject to the state’s open public records law. The justices found the foundation “misstates its function,” noting it’s not responsible for providing treatment, education or prevention services, but rather giving settlement money to those who do provide such services. (5/11)

KFF Health News: Students In Rural Colorado Are Left Without Options As Specialized Schools Close 
At first glance, nothing seems particularly unusual about the four-room school in this western Colorado city. Inside, six students are learning about radioactivity. The walls of their classroom are plastered with motivational messages like “Determination” and “Courage” scribbled onto paper cutouts of stars and moons. A closer look reveals that Hilltop Day Treatment is no ordinary school. There are no backpacks or lockers. Students are escorted to the restroom. Hugs aren’t allowed, a precaution against inappropriate touching by students who do not yet understand physical boundaries. And before lunch, the students break from their regular lessons for group therapy. (Bichell and Santoro, 5/12)

Detroit Free Press: Oakland County's Top Health Officer Dies In Apparent Murder-Suicide
Oakland County health officer Calandra Green died in an apparent murder-suicide, according to authorities Thursday night. Officials did not release the identity of the second person who died. The deaths are being investigated by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, said a county official who asked not to be named. (Laytner, 5/11)

The Washington Post: ‘Medical Moms’ Share Their Kids’ Illnesses With Millions. At What Cost?
When Bella was born in 2013, she didn’t leave the hospital for the first two years of her life because of a combination of a rare form of dwarfism, bowel disease and autoimmune disease. Kyla Thomson, Bella’s mom, started sharing online as a way to update her family members. As Bella grew and changed, so did the internet. Kyla moved her updates from blogs to Facebook to Instagram, eventually landing on TikTok, where she has amassed 5.7 million followers. Fans watch Bella and Kyla dance and joke and follow Bella’s hospital stays, ambulance rides and nightly intravenous medication rituals. (Latifi, 5/11)

The New York Times: The Mother Who Changed: A Story of Dementia
As cognitive decline began to alter who Diane Norelius was, her adult daughters and her boyfriend wound up in a bitter dispute over which version of her should get to decide what she wanted. (Engelhart, 5/9)

The New York Times: Hearing Aids Are Changing. Their Users Are, Too.
Ayla Wing’s middle school students don’t always know what to make of their 26-year-old teacher’s hearing aids. The most common response she hears: “Oh, my grandma has them, too.” But grandma’s hearing aids were never like this: Bluetooth-enabled and connected to her phone, they allow Ms. Wing to toggle with one touch between custom settings. She can shut out the world during a screeching subway ride, hear her friends in noisy bars during a night out and even understand her students better by switching to “mumbly kids.”(Bohra, 5/6)

The New York Times: Liz Holmes Wants You to Forget About Elizabeth
Elizabeth Holmes blends in with the other moms here, in a bucket hat and sunglasses, her newborn strapped to her chest and swathed in a Baby Yoda nursing blanket. We walk past a family of caged orangutans and talk about how Ms. Holmes is preparing to go to prison for one of the most notorious cases of corporate fraud in recent history. In case you’re wondering, Ms. Holmes speaks in a soft, slightly low, but totally unremarkable voice, no hint of the throaty contralto she used while running her defunct blood-testing start-up Theranos. (Chozick, 5/7)

The Washington Post: Fake Sign Language Is Spreading On TikTok. Deaf People Are Worried. 
Anthony Eagle Jr. is big on TikTok. He boasts over 850,000 followers, many of whom love the way he performs sign language renditions of songs. There’s just one problem — the sign language is sometimes wrong. When Eagle, 39, of Winston-Salem, N.C., signs the song, “Love the Way You Lie,” his rendition is riddled with mistakes, like signing the word “lie” with two hands in the wrong position. To a deaf person who uses sign language, it looks like gibberish. (Morris, 5/8)

The Washington Post: Oregon Doctors Found World's Smallest Skin Cancer Spot On Woman’s Face 
When Christy Staats visited a dermatologist for a red spot under her right eye, she expected a lecture about wearing sunscreen — but not a diagnosis. Alexander Witkowski, a dermatologist at Oregon Health & Science University, agreed the spot wasn’t a problem when he inspected Staats in 2021.But there was a different, smaller mole that caught his attention. The other spot was 0.65 millimeters in diameter — about the size of a needle tip — and had a slightly different pigment than a normal mole. So Witkowski looked at it through a microscope. ... Last week, Guinness World Records recognized Witkowski and his team of researchers for discovering the smallest known skin cancer spot. (Melnick, 5/9)

The Atlantic: Eat More MSG—You Know, For Your Health 
The much-maligned seasoning could be the secret to eating less salt. (Tayag, 5/11)

Reuters: At Musk’s Brain-Chip Startup, Animal-Testing Panel Is Rife With Potential Conflicts
Elon Musk’s brain-implant venture has filled an animal-research oversight board with company insiders who may stand to benefit financially as the firm reaches development goals, according to company documents and interviews with six current and former employees. Such oversight boards are required by federal law for organizations experimenting on certain types of animals. The panels are charged with ensuring proper animal care, high research standards, and the reliability of data that helps regulators decide whether drugs or medical devices are safe for human testing. (Levy and Taylor, 5/9)

The Atlantic: 23 Pandemic Decisions That Actually Went Right
Not every lesson has to be a cautionary tale, however, and the end of the COVID-19 emergency may be, if nothing else, a chance to consider which pandemic policies, decisions, and ideas actually worked out for the best. Put another way: In the face of so much suffering, what went right? (Gutman-Wei, Laskow, Tayag, Wu and Zhang, 5/9)

Bloomberg: An Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pill? Make It Happen, FDA 
On Wednesday, a panel of independent advisors to the US Food and Drug Administration unanimously voted in favor of approving over-the-counter availability for a birth control pill called Opill. Regulators at the FDA will now have to decide whether to follow their advice. They should. (Lisa Jarvis, 5/11)

The New York Times: The Pandemic Threat That Hasn’t Gone Away 
In December 2014, two monkeys in outdoor cages at the Tulane National Primate Research Center, about 40 miles north of New Orleans, became ill with Burkholderia pseudomallei, a deadly bacteria in the federal government’s highest risk category, reserved for pathogens like smallpox, anthrax and Ebola. This is the category for which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sees “significant potential for mass casualties or severe effects.” (Zeynep Tufekci, 5/12)

Bloomberg: Medicine And The Metaverse: Why VR Could Upend Health Care 
To the uninitiated, “virtual reality” may summon visions of dystopian digital galaxies or zombie-slaying epics. Increasingly, though, VR is showing promise in real-world industries. In particular: It may soon revolutionize the health-care business. (5/11)

The Washington Post: Four Groups Who Should Still Be Testing For Covid 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not yet changed its stance on isolation and quarantine for people who test positive for the coronavirus, as some public health experts have advocated. But with the national emergency regarding the coronavirus soon coming to an end, the United States is shifting to start treating covid-19 like other infectious diseases. (Leana S. Wen, 5/11)

The Boston Globe: Doctors, Not Government, Should Decide When To Require Masks In Health Care
When COVID-19 was spreading virulently without vaccines or treatments, mask mandates were necessary to keep patients and caregivers safe. But while COVID still poses a serious health threat and people are still dying, society has more tools to handle it now. (5/11)

Houston Chronicle: Texas' Moms Need More Than Eight Weeks Of Medical Insurance 
As we prepare to celebrate Mother’s Day, I’m thinking about all the sacrifices Texas mothers consistently make for their children — and how the Texas Legislature can support moms by passing a policy proposal that has the backing of Gov. Greg Abbott and numerous maternal health experts. (Erica Giwa, 5/12)

Stat: Draft Rules To Protect Health Data Privacy Need Updating 
A new rulemaking by the Biden administration seeks to lessen the harmful effects of abortion bans by protecting certain health data from being used to prosecute both clinicians and patients. But in the current draft, the rulemaking is designed to reinforce the privacy of reproductive health in states where abortion is legal and does little for those seeking abortion in states where it is illegal.(Eric D. Perakslis, Katie D. McMillan and Jessilyn Dunn, 5/12)

The CT Mirror: Social Media Is Bad For Your Mental Health
Social media is a topic that is up for debate all around the world. People should get to know better the effects it has on people’s lives. While social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok have undoubtedly transformed the way people communicate and interact with one another, it is also believed that the negative effects of social media far outweigh the positives. Social media is negatively affecting people all around the globe. (Emily White, 5/12)