AP: Paperwork Problems Drive Surge In People Losing Medicaid Health Coverage
Though a decline in Medicaid coverage was expected, health officials are raising concerns about the large numbers of people being dropped from the rolls for failing to return forms or follow procedures. In 18 states that began a post-pandemic review of their Medicaid rolls in April, health coverage was continued for about 1 million recipients and terminated for 715,000. Of those dropped, 4 in 5 were for procedural reasons, according to newly released data from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Lieb, 7/28)

The Washington Post: Nearly 4 Million In U.S. Cut From Medicaid, Most For Paperwork Reasons 
Most of those people have been dropped from Medicaid for reasons unrelated to whether they actually are eligible for the coverage, according to KFF, a health-policy organization, which has been compiling this data. Three-fourths have been removed because of bureaucratic factors. Such “procedural” cutoffs — prompted by renewal notices not arriving at the right addresses, beneficiaries not understanding the notices, or an assortment of state agencies’ mistakes and logjams — were a peril against which federal health officials had cautioned for many months as they coached states in advance on how best to carry out the unwinding. (Goldstein, 7/28)

Reuters: Centene Aims To Enroll Back Some Lost Medicaid Members 
Centene Corp said on Friday it was working to enroll people back into government-backed Medicaid plans after the end of pandemic-relief measures left hundreds of thousands of members without coverage. Medicaid memberships, the largest contributor to Centene's revenue, were hit by the removal of pandemic-related relief measures on April 1 that rendered several members ineligible for insurance coverage. (Sunny and Leo, 7/28)

Houston Chronicle: HHS Sec. Becerra's Houston Visit Highlights Medicaid Coverage Struggle
Vanessa Tovar knows how to navigate the Medicaid renewal process, but the long wait times and cumbersome phone calls still take an emotional toll on the single mother of two. She said she can’t imagine what the process is like for people who are less tech-savvy. “I feel like every time it’s time to renew, I’m like ‘Oh Lord, just let me get this,’” the Houston woman said Friday to a crowd of community health leaders at Hope Health & Wellness Center. (Gill, 7/28)

Iowa Public Radio: Four Months Into Medicaid Unwinding, Iowa DHHS Says Around 120,000 Iowans Have Been Disenrolled
State officials are reporting around 120,000 Iowans have been disenrolled from Medicaid since April. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services is four months into Medicaid unwinding, the process of redetermining thousands of Iowans’ eligibility for Medicaid following the end of the national public health emergency this spring. (Krebs, 7/28)

Missouri Independent: Missouri Kicked 32,000 Residents Off Medicaid In June. Half Were Kids
More than 32,000 Missourians — half of them children — lost Medicaid coverage in June during Missouri’s first round of eligibility checks after the COVID public health emergency. According to a Department of Social Services announcement Thursday, out of the roughly 116,000 Medicaid recipients who had their eligibility checked in June, around 43% retained coverage, 28% lost coverage and 29% have their determinations pending. (Bates, 7/31)

On Medicaid's 'estate recovery' collection program —

Dayton Daily News: Ohio Medicaid Recovery Collected $87M From Dead Recipients Last Year, Puts Property At Risk
Rebecca Miller said her father was on Medicaid for about two years and she served as his caretaker at his home after he was diagnosed in 2018 with Parkinson’s disease, from which he died last August. About 30 days later while still mourning David Miller’s passing, the 36-year-old said she received a letter from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office stating her father owed $56,000 to Medicaid Estate Recovery. (Blizzard, 7/29)

Dayton Daily News: Options, Resources Available To Help Ohioans Avoid Medicaid Taking Their Assets
Ohio collected more than $87.5 million last year through Medicaid Estate Recovery, frequently used to obtain the property of a deceased recipient who owes money to the Medicaid program. Future and current Medicaid recipients have options and resources available to minimize the potential of the state to recover their estates after they die, attorneys familiar with Medicaid Estate Recovery said. (Blizzard, 7/28)

The Hill: Which Drugs Will Be Selected For Medicare Negotiations? Here’s What We Know 
The first 10 drugs selected for Medicare price negotiation will be announced by Sep. 1 and will set the stage for unprecedented government action regulating drug costs, with billions of dollars at stake and scores of patients standing to benefit. Once the initial batch of drugs chosen for negotiations are announced, the years-long negotiation process — currently being challenged in courts — will kick off. The manufacturers of the Medicare Part D-covered drugs picked by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will have one month to send in their agreements saying they will engage in the negotiation process. (Choi, 7/28)

NPR: Medicare Drug Price Negotiations Raise The Question: What's A Fair Price?
Drugmakers around the globe are bracing for a major shakeup in how one of their largest customers does business. On Sept. 1, Medicare will target its first 10 drugs for historic price negotiations. The medications are sure to be among the country's costliest and will likely include common treatments for cancer and diabetes. (Walker and Gorenstein, 7/28)

Reuters: Focus: Drugmakers Go Under The Skin, Skirting Early US Medicare Price Negotiations 
Injectable versions of some widely-used cancer drugs including Johnson & Johnson's blockbuster multiple myeloma treatment Darzalex are likely to be excluded from new U.S. government price negotiations for years, drugmakers told Reuters, protecting billions in revenue. (Erman, 7/28)

Barrons: Pharma Companies Want To Crush Medicare's Ability To Negotiate Costs
The pharmaceutical industry is launching a major legal assault against a new law that will allow Medicare to pay less for some high-price drugs, in an all-out effort to kill the program. (Nathan-Kazis, 7/28)

More Medicare developments —

Modern Healthcare: CMS Hospice Payment Final Rule Boosts Medicare Fees For 2024
Hospice providers will receive a 3.1% Medicare payment increase next fiscal year under a final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued Friday. That's higher than the 2.8% reimbursement increase CMS proposed in a draft regulation published in March. The final rate for fiscal 2024 is the product of a 3.3% market basket increase adjusted for productivity. Beginning next year, hospice providers that fail to meet quality reporting requirements will be subject to a four-percentage-point penalty. The final rule raises the aggregate amount hospices can be paid per patient per year by 3.1% to $33,491. (Eastabrook, 7/28)

Modern Healthcare: Centene CEO Sarah London: Medicare Advantage Star Ratings May Drop
Centene’s standing in the Medicare Advantage market may further deteriorate as the company anticipates losing its sole four-star quality rating, CEO Sarah London told investors Friday. The insurer reported the greatest drop in star ratings among Medicare Advantage carriers last year after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid resumed stringent reviews it had paused during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Insurers strive to achieve at least four out of five stars in order to qualify for the biggest bonuses, which they use to offer supplemental benefits and zero-premium plans. (Tepper, 7/28)

Fierce Healthcare: Medicare Patients More Likely To Get Cancer Screenings: Study
Researchers found that once joining Medicare, patients are 50% more likely to get health screenings for breast cancer and colorectal cancer. Patients with other undiagnosed diseases, such as depression, COPD, type 2 diabetes, lung or prostate cancer, hypertension and hyperlipidemia, are also more likely to discover their condition in their first year of being on Medicare coverage. (Tong, 7/28)

KFF Health News: Sen. Sanders Says Millions Of People Can’t Find A Doctor. He’s Mostly Right
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has long been a champion of a government-sponsored “Medicare for All” health program to solve long-standing problems in the United States, where we pay much more for health care than people in other countries but are often sicker and have a shorter average life expectancy. Still, he realizes his passion project has little chance in today’s political environment. “We are far from a majority in the Senate. We have no Republican support … and I’m not sure that I could get half of the Democrats on that bill,” Sanders said in recent remarks to community health advocates. (Andrews, 7/31)

Roll Call: Senate Sends Organ Transplant Bill To Biden's Desk
Days after it was passed by the House, the Senate cleared legislation Thursday evening that aims to overhaul the organ transplant system in the United States. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature. The bill would give the Department of Health and Human Services the authority to expand competition for contracts related to the operation of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which matches donor organs with patients waiting for transplants. (Hellmann, 7/28)

The Washington Post: Congress Authorizes Overhaul Of Troubled Organ Transplant System
For 37 years, one nonprofit organization, the United Network for Organ Sharing, has held the federal contract to run the system, relying on a 1984 law that blocked almost all competition. With a unanimous vote Thursday night, the Senate rewrote the law to let the federal Health Resources and Services Administration break that stranglehold and solicit bids from other for-profit and nonprofit groups. (Bernstein, 7/28)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

St. Louis Public Radio: U.S. Senate OKs Hawley Proposal To Expand Coverage For Atomic Bomb-Related Illness To St. Louis
The U.S. Senate voted narrowly Thursday in favor of expanding a program that compensates Americans who become ill because of exposure to radiation from the country’s development and testing of nuclear weapons to cover Missourians. The proposal, offered by Sen. Josh Hawley, was attached as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes funding levels and sets policy for the Department of Defense. The bill itself still faces a Senate vote and agreement by the U.S. House of Representatives. (Kite, 7/28)

Stat: House GOP Plan To Stem Drug Shortages Differs From Democrats’
House Republicans have drafted drug-shortage legislation that differs significantly from the approach Democrats propose to stem shortages of chemotherapies and other critical medicines that hospitals typically use. Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are focused on what they say are the underlying economic reasons for shortages. Hospitals band together to negotiate drug prices, and makers of generic injectables say those group purchasing organizations can drive prices down so low that they stop making certain drugs or can’t afford to maintain manufacturing facilities, which then leads to manufacturing interruptions. (Wilkerson, 7/28)

San Francisco Chronicle: Congress Is Old. But They’re Not Leaving
Many have touted their health and vitality. Yet the challenge isn’t how lawmakers are feeling now, but how they might be doing at the end of their term. Feinstein, who announced earlier this year she is not running for re-election, was not experiencing major health issues when she was re-elected to a six-year term in 2018, but is now at 90. This is less of an issue for House members, who serve two years. (Garofoli, 7/30)

Reuters: US FDA Approves Second Over-The-Counter Opioid Overdose Reversal Drug
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the prescription-free sale of the second opioid overdose reversal drug, its manufacturer Harm Reduction Therapeutics said on Friday. The approval of the drug, called RiVive, will provide patients with another over-the-counter option in the United States, where drug-related overdose deaths surpassed 100,000 in 2021. (7/28)

The Hill: FDA Approves First Opioid Reversal Drug From A Nonprofit Company 
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first version of over-the-counter (OTC) naloxone from a nonprofit company, a move that could bring cheap and even free doses of the opioid overdose drug to Americans who need it most. ... Each RiVive device contains one dose of naloxone. It will be exclusively available in twin packs containing two single-dose devices of 3 milligrams each. (Weixel, 7/28)

Also —

Reuters: US Asks Supreme Court To Delay Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Settlement
The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Purdue Pharma from proceeding with a bankruptcy settlement that protects its Sackler family owners from lawsuits. An appeals court rejected a proposed delay earlier this week, ruling that Purdue may proceed with a bankruptcy plan that was approved in May. Purdue's bankruptcy plan would shield its owners from opioid lawsuits in exchange for a $6 billion contribution to the company's broader bankruptcy settlement. (Knauth, 7/28)

Axios: A Possible New Way To Prevent Fentanyl Overdoses: Monoclonal Antibodies
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday gave a North Carolina biotech company the go-ahead to test if a monoclonal antibody can prevent people from overdosing on fentanyl. The synthetic opiate is becoming a leading cause of death for people under 50. Naloxone is currently the most widely used drug to reverse an overdose, but researchers are looking at other treatments, including an experimental vaccine. (Moreno, 7/28)

AP: Former Abortion Clinic Pleads With Residents To Keep 'Open Mind' About Syringe Service Program 
West Virginia’s former abortion provider is pleading with capital-area residents to keep “an open mind and an open heart” about a proposal to add a syringe service program to its offerings in the opioid-ravaged state. “This work is too important and too vital to be guided by fear or disdain or past grudges,” Iris Sidikman, the harm reduction coordinator at the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, said at a public hearing Thursday on Charleston’s west side. (Willingham, 7/28)

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Lawsuit Asks Ohio Supreme Court To Block Abortion Rights Measure From November Ballot 
After an abortion rights amendment qualified to appear on the November ballot in Ohio, a new lawsuit from Republicans asks the Ohio Supreme Court to block the measure. Filed on Friday, the challenge argues that the abortion rights petition did not identify which state laws would have to be repealed if the constitutional amendment were to be adopted. (Smith, 7/29)

CBS News: GOP Megadonor Pours Millions Into Effort To Hinder Ohio Abortion Amendment 
New campaign finance records show Illinois Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein is funding the bulk of the campaign aimed at thwarting a constitutional amendment on abortion in Ohio. Ohio is likely the only state this year to have a measure on the ballot to enshrine abortion access into the state constitution, setting up a test case for how the issue may drive voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election. A USA TODAY Network/Suffolk University poll released this week found 58% of Ohioans support a constitutional amendment. (Huey-Burns and Kaplan, 7/28)

ProPublica: Ohio Doctors Join Political Battle Over Abortion Laws
In her eight years as a pediatrician, Dr. Lauren Beene had always stayed out of politics. What happened at the Statehouse had little to do with the children she treated in her Cleveland practice. But after the Supreme Court struck down abortion protections, that all changed. The first Monday after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling was emotional. Beene fielded a call from the mother of a 13-year-old patient. The mother was worried her child might need birth control in case she was the victim of a sexual assault. Beene also talked to a 16-year-old patient unsure about whether to continue her pregnancy. Time wasn’t on her side, Beene told the girl. (Jaramillo, 7/31)

Abortion news from Florida —

The 19th: The Future Of Abortion Law In Florida Could Hinge On Hispanic Voters
The campaign to secure abortion rights in Florida and create a haven for access in the South is facing a tough road to success. To build a winning coalition, rallying support from the state’s Hispanic voters will be crucial. A proposed ballot measure, backed by a coalition of reproductive rights groups under the banner Floridians Protecting Freedom, would guarantee the right to an abortion until fetal viability. Backers are racing against time to get a million Florida voters to sign a petition to say they want it on the ballot. Then they must rally 60 percent of the vote in the November 2024 elections — the threshold to change the state constitution. (Barclay, 7/31)  

NPR: Activists On Both Sides Of The Abortion Issue Are Trying To Change Florida's Constitution 
There are dueling efforts in Florida by activists on both sides of the abortion issue to insert language into the state constitution. (McCarthy, 7/29)

KFF Health News and Tampa Bay Times: To Protect A Mother’s Health: How Abortion Ban Exemptions Play Out In A Post-‘Roe’ World
This pregnancy felt different. After the heartache of more than a dozen miscarriages, Anya Cook was 16 weeks along. She and husband Derick Cook spent a Sunday last December sharing the news with his parents and looking at cribs. As they left a restaurant in Coral Springs, Florida, that evening, Cook’s water broke. Her husband rushed her to the nearest emergency room. (O'Donnell, 7/31)

From Iowa, Delaware, and elsewhere —

The 19th: Kamala Harris Returns To Iowa To Defend Abortion Access
Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Iowa’s capital city Friday to defend abortion access, her second such visit to the ruby-red state this year. The political significance was palpable. Friday marked exactly two weeks since the state’s Republican governor signed into law a six-week abortion ban that was quickly put on legal hold. Harris’ visit also fell on the same day that the major Republican candidates for president — many of whom support more abortion restrictions — were scheduled to speak at a party fundraiser just a few miles away. (Rodriguez, 7/28)

AP: Judge Allows Suit Alleging That Hospital Ignored Parents And Performed Fetal Autopsy Without Consent 
A judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that a Delaware hospital system performed an autopsy on a 16-week-old fetus despite the parents refusing to give their consent. Superior Court Judge Patricia Winston denied a motion this week by Christiana Care Health Services and Christiana Care Health System to dismiss a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress filed by Maryland residents Meredith and Brandon Boas. (Chase, 7/28)

Slate: How Meta Created a Wild West for Abortion Misinformation
In March, a member of an anti-abortion Facebook group shared a post describing what it claimed was “pro-abortion logic”: “We don’t want you to be poor, starved or unwanted. So we’ll just kill you instead." That same month, another Facebook user shared a link to a news article covering a South Carolina bill that would have criminalized abortion as homicide, thus making it eligible for the death penalty. In the caption, the user criticized lawmakers’ logic that “it’s wrong to kill so we are going to kill you.” On Instagram, another post struck the same tone, criticizing the idea of being “so pro-life” that “we’ll kill you dead if you get an abortion.” (John, 7/31)

In other reproductive health news —

The Washington Post: How A Renowned Fertility Doctor Profits From An Unproven Supplement
Older women struggling to conceive often find hope in an over-the-counter steroid hormone supplement called DHEA. Though evidence for its effectiveness is weak, DHEA has rocketed to prominence as a fertility booster thanks largely to one man: Norbert Gleicher. Gleicher, 74, is among a small cadre of prominent fertility doctors. He said in an interview that he identified “the aging ovary as the issue of the future” more than two decades ago. His small clinic in a neo-Georgian townhouse on New York’s Upper East Side has become a beacon for women in their 40s trying to conceive with their own eggs — a statistical long shot. (Torbati, 7/30)

Fierce Healthcare: Another Hospital Shooting Stokes Fears Over Hospital Safety
[Last] week, a visitor opened fire at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center in Portland, killing a security guard and injuring a nurse. Following increases in both aggression towards nurses and mass shootings, stakeholders are debating whether new tech or old solutions can make a difference. Texas-based University Medical Center announced this month that it has deployed an AI-based gun detection system. Protesting nurses in Colorado, meanwhile, say protections against guns are far lower on their safety to-do list, below things like improved nurse-to-patient ratios. (Burky, 7/28)

In other health care industry news —

AP: Merger Talks End Between Large Health Care Systems In Minnesota, South Dakota
A merger that would have created one of the largest health service companies in the Upper Midwest has been scrapped. Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services and Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Sanford Health announced Thursday that they would not proceed with the merger they had been discussing since late last year. It would have created a system with more than 50 hospitals and about 78,000 employees. (7/28)

AP: Legal Approval Puts Takeover Of Augusta University Hospitals A Step Closer 
A plan for an Atlanta-area hospital system to take over Augusta University’s hospitals complies with state law and may proceed, Georgia’s attorney general ruled Thursday. Marietta-based Wellstar Health System would take over the 478-bed Augusta University Medical Center and 154-bed Children’s Hospital of Georgia, as well as the rights to build a 100-bed hospital in Grovetown, in the growing Columbia County suburbs of Augusta. (Amy, 7/28)

Fierce Healthcare: Half Of Female Doctors With Children Pass Up Career Advancement
Women physicians often delay starting a family, in part due to career-related pressures and the hours required for medical training and residency programs. The competing priorities of parenthood and career may account for higher rates of infertility among women physicians than women in the general population, according to a study in JAMA Network Open. Researchers with Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine surveyed 1,056 cisgender women from March to August 2022, with 98% of respondents living and working in the United States. (Diamond, 7/28)

NBC News: New Jersey Woman Posed As A Doctor For More Than A Year And Wrote Prescriptions, Prosecutors Say
A New Jersey woman who posed as a doctor, treated patients and prescribed medications has been arrested, prosecutors in Ocean County said Thursday. Toms River resident Maria F. Macburnie, 62, also known as Marife L. Macburnie, was charged with practicing medicine without a license, forgery, health care fraud, and distributing a dangerous substance, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said in a statement. (Romero, 7/29)

KFF Health News: Be Aware: Someone Could Steal Your Medical Records And Bill You For Their Care
After HCA Healthcare announced this month that the personal identification data of roughly 11 million HCA patients in 20 states had been exposed in a breach, people may be justifiably concerned that their own medical data and identities could be stolen. Consumers should realize that such “medical identity” fraud can happen in several ways, from a large-scale breach to individual theft of someone’s data. (Andrews, 7/31)

Also —

The Washington Post: HHS Says It's Not The Ugliest Building In D.C., No Matter What People Say
Few D.C. buildings are judged more harshly than the health agency’s 803,555-square-foot headquarters. (Diamond, and Latson, 7/29)

NBC News: More Women In The U.S. Are Drinking Themselves To Death, Research Finds
Deaths related to excessive alcohol consumption are rapidly rising in the United States, especially among women, a new study finds. While drinking is still killing more men than women, the rate of alcohol-related deaths is rising faster among women, according to the report published Friday in JAMA Network Open. “The gender gap is narrowing,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Ibraheem Karaye, a professor of population health and director of the health science program at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. (Carroll, 7/28)

CNN: Just One Drink A Day Can Raise Blood Pressure, Study Says
As little as one alcoholic drink a day increased systolic blood pressure — the top number in a blood pressure reading — even in men and women with no existing hypertension, a new study found. “We found no beneficial effects in adults who drank a low level of alcohol compared to those who did not drink alcohol,” said senior study author Dr. Marco Vinceti, a professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy, in a statement. (LaMotte, 7/31)

In other news about health and wellness —

NBC News: Mosquitoes That Carry West Nile Are Becoming Resistant To Insecticides, CDC Says
John VanDenBerg suspects he was gardening when a mosquito got him. It was September 2018, and VanDenBerg, then 67, had been feeling a little "off" for a few days, he said, like maybe he had the flu. But one morning, as he was walking out of his Colorado home, he collapsed. "I just went down," VanDenBerg said. "That's the last I remember for quite some time." VanDenBerg had a severe form of West Nile virus, caused by a single mosquito bite. (Edwards, 7/29)

The Washington Post: Alzheimer's, Dementia Patients End Up In ERs More Often, Study Says 
Older people with dementia seek care in the emergency room twice as often as their peers, a new analysis suggests — leading to what researchers call “potentially avoidable and harmful visits” for some patients. The study, published July 24 in JAMA Neurology, examined data from the 2016-2019 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which collects demographic and other information about a nationally representative sample of ER visits. About 1.4 million of the annual 20.4 million ER visits among adults over 65 involved patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, researchers found. (Blakemore, 7/30)

Stat: As Wildfires Burn, Scientists Race To Understand The Health Dangers Of Prolonged Exposure
More than 120 million Americans — one-third of the U.S. population — have been living under air quality alerts this summer, with citizens in New York City, Chicago, and Detroit at times experiencing some of the unhealthiest air in the world. The hazy conditions, fed by an unprecedented surge in Canadian wildfires likely fueled by climate change, has grounded planes, canceled outdoor sporting events, and filled emergency rooms with asthma patients. (Molteni, 7/31)

Axios: How Heat Hits America's Hungry
Some Americans are being hit harder than others by the extreme heat wave baking swaths of the country because they can't get enough to eat or drink. Food-insecure households are among the most at risk of health and financial hardships during blistering temperatures. They face unique exposure to dehydration and costly relief that further strains dwindling food budgets. (Horn-Muller, 7/30)

The 19th: How One Quick Conversation Can Help Keep Guns Out Of Children’s Hands
At work as a pediatrician, Annie Andrews sees firearm injuries as a “huge public health crisis.” When she ran to represent South Carolina in the U.S. House, Andrews routinely heard from mothers on the campaign trail about their feelings of helplessness and hopelessness about what to do about gun violence. And as a mom to three children — ages 6, 8 and 11 — she sees how simple parent-to-parent interactions are key to reducing potential harm to children. Given the rates of accidental shooting deaths among children, something as simple as a text message could literally save lives. (Gerson, 7/28)

NPR: Trader Joe's Says Its Falafel And Two Types Of Cookies Could Have Rocks In Them
Trader Joe's has recalled its frozen falafel for potentially having rocks in it, after it recalled two of its cookie products for the same reason recently. The company's supplier informed them of the concern, and Trader Joe's said in a statement Friday that "all potentially affected product has been removed from sale and destroyed." (Archie, 7/29)

AP: 3 North Carolina Residents Killed By Vibrio Bacteria That Can Be Found In Brackish Water 
Three North Carolina residents died this month from infections from bacteria naturally found in warm seawater and brackish water, state health officials said Friday. (7/28)

On Naegleria fowleri —

NBC News: Georgia Resident Dies From Rare Brain-Eating Amoeba
A Georgia resident has died from a rare brain-eating amoeba after they were likely infected while swimming in a freshwater lake or pond, officials said. The resident, who has not yet been identified, died after being exposed to Naegleria fowleri, which can cause a rare infection that "destroys brain tissue, causing brain swelling and usually death," the Georgia Department of Public Health said in a news release Friday. (Da Silva, 7/31)

The Washington Post: What To Know About Brain-Eating Amoeba, Symptoms And How To Avoid It
As Americans find ways to cope with an unusually sweltering summer, many of them have taken to bodies of water to cool off. But at least two people who ventured to freshwater swimming holes this summer have died after contracting an amoeba that devours brain tissue. A man died after he was infected by the amoeba, whose scientific name is Naegleria fowleri, the Georgia Department of Public Health said Friday. Earlier this month, Nevada public health officials said a boy died of the same infection after he probably came into contact with the amoeba at Ash Springs, a hot springs about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. (Pietsch, 7/31)

Updates on covid —

NPR: CDC Says Summer COVID Wave May Have Begun
Yet another summer COVID-19 wave may have started in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."After roughly six, seven months of steady declines, things are starting to tick back up again," Dr. Brendan Jackson, the CDC's COVID-19 incident manager, tells NPR. The amount of coronavirus being detected in wastewater, the percentage of people testing positive for the virus and the number of people seeking care for COVID-19 at emergency rooms all started increasing in early July, Jackson says. (Stein, 7/28)

Fox News: CDC Likely To Recommend Annual COVID Booster Shot, Director Says
The new director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that her agency would likely come out with guidance in the fall that Americans should get an annual COVID-19 booster shot. "We’re just on the precipice of that, so I don’t want to get ahead of where our scientists are here and doing that evaluation work, but yes we anticipate that COVID will become similar to flu shots, where it is going to be you get your annual flu shot, and you get your annual COVID shot," Dr. Mandy Cohen told Spectrum News. (Musto, 7/28)

CNBC: Covid Vaccine: What Uptake Of New Shots Could Look Like
A new round of Covid vaccines is coming to the U.S. this fall — but many Americans may not roll up their sleeves and take one. That’s largely because pandemic fatigue, the belief that Covid is “over” and confusion over personal risk levels could deter some people from getting an additional shot, experts in public health and health policy told CNBC. (Constantino, 7/29)

WUSF 89.7: Florida Supreme Court Will Take Up A UF COVID Shutdown Case
The state Supreme Court on Thursday said it will take up a dispute about whether the University of Florida should return fees to students because of a campus shutdown early in the COVID-19 pandemic — one of numerous similar cases filed in Florida and across the country. Justices issued an order saying they will consider what is known as a “certified question of great public importance” in the potential class-action lawsuit filed by UF graduate student Anthony Rojas. The order did not set a date for arguments. (Saunders, 7/28)

WLRN: Billionaires Pay $264 Million In Medical Debt For 125,000+ Miami-Dade Residents
Tens of thousands of Miami-Dade County residents have found a surprise in their mailboxes: a letter stating some or nearly all of their medical debt has been paid off. Billionaires Daniel and Jane Och living on Miami Beach have recently helped more than 125,611 Miami-Dade County residents by paying $264 million worth of medical bills. The Miami Herald reports that the Jane and Daniel Och Family Foundation donated to RIP Medical Debt. (Tweh, 7/30)

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

AP: What To Know As Recreational Marijuana Becomes Legal In Minnesota On Aug. 1 
Minnesotans can legally possess and grow their own marijuana for recreational purposes starting Tuesday, Aug. 1, subject to limits meant to keep a lid on things while the state sets up a full-blown legal cannabis industry. The Democratic-controlled Minnesota Legislature approved a massive legalization bill and Democrat Gov. Tim Walz signed it in May. (Karnowski, 7/28)

The CT Mirror: CT Nursing Home Conditions Raise Alarms As Inspections Lag
Serious violations in Connecticut’s nursing homes have increased over the last 18 months, while the state has failed to conduct routine inspections in nearly half of all facilities, a CT Mirror review has found. (Carlesso and Altimari, 7/30)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Ranks Low In Care Hours For Nursing Home Residents
Missouri ranks second to last in the nation in the hours of care nursing home residents receive from nurses per day, according to an independent analysis of federal data. A report by the Long Term Care Community Coalition found that Missouri nursing home residents on average receive about three hours of care a day. That's slightly more than last year but still well below the national average of 3.61 hours of care per day and below the minimum four hours of care that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services say is needed for residents. (Davis, 7/31)

North Carolina Health News: Congenital Syphilis Cases On The Rise In NC
More North Carolina babies are being born with syphilis, and state health officials are urging women to get tested before they give birth to help catch the sexually transmitted illness early. In December, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services issued a public health alert on the rise of syphilis in women and children. Reported cases among women rose 538 percent between 2012 and 2021, DHHS said in that alert. During that same time period, there was an associated 4,100 percent increase in babies born with congenital syphilis. (Fernandez, 7/31)

Axios: Florida Trans Teens Drive The Farthest For Gender-Affirming Care
Florida's transgender teens face the longest median travel time to access gender-affirming health care, according to a new study from the Journal of the American Medical Association. That puts up a massive barrier to health care that every major medical association agrees is medically necessary and in certain cases life-saving. (Varn and DiPaolo, 7/28)

KFF Health News: Journalists Explore Shortage Of Foster Care Sites And Prevalence Of Covid Misinformation 
KFF Health New correspondent Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez discussed the shortage of foster care homes in rural Nevada on The Nevada Independent’s “The Indy” on July 25. (7/29)

In mental health news —

Axios: Few In Georgia Know 988 Exists
Only about 16% of Georgia residents have a complete understanding of the national suicide prevention hotline a year after it launched, according to a new survey conducted by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. The survey, which was conducted in May, shows 31% of respondents were aware of the 9-8-8 number while 54% "correctly understood its role as the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline," the agency said Tuesday. (Dixon and Moreno, 7/28)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Extreme Weather Is Exacerbating Farmer Mental Health Crisis
Even in the best of times, farming in New England can be a profession full of anxiety and uncertainty. But Eve Klotz, a mental health care provider and farmer in Effingham, says she’s seen this year’s erratic weather take an especially big toll on her fellow farmers’ mental health. “There's a lot of depression and despair right now with what's going on in Vermont and the Connecticut Valley in New Hampshire with the flooding,” she said. “Some of these farmers are just losing everything.” (Dario, 7/29)

The Mercury News: A Virginia Man Won Right To Keep Emotional Support Emu Is Running For Office
Nicholas Olenik has battled mental health challenges throughout his life. As a sometimes anxious child, it took longer for him to process emotions. Four years ago, the 41-year-old fell into a depression when his brother died from a heart attack. The dark days of the pandemic, and his father’s battle with — and later death from — cancer in 2021 only made things worse. So last year, after a buddy told him about emus and how they can be a great emotional support companion, Olenik decided to give it a try. (Harper, 7/29)

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.

The New York Times: Are Eating Disorders Inherited? 
Food usually brings people together. It’s how we celebrate and connect. And yet I’ve spent decades of my life avoiding and restricting it according to rigid rules of my own design. I find food terrifying and had long been afraid of passing that fear along to a future daughter. While plenty of men suffer from eating disorders, patients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are overwhelmingly female. (Jillian Weinberger, 7/31)

The Boston Globe: With A Few Basic Steps, Most Of Us Can Finally Ignore COVID 
Like so many others, we are living with COVID. The virus isn’t going anywhere, but how safely we live with it has changed dramatically. Most Americans have resumed the full range of their pre-pandemic activities — concerts, parties, summer camps, and family events. But with the virus still circulating, many who have gone back to pre-pandemic life still worry if they are safe. (Ashish Jha, 7/31)

The New York Times: The Research Scandal At Stanford Is More Common Than You Think
Dr. Tessier-Lavigne made the announcement after a university investigation found that as a neuroscientist and biotechnology executive, he had fostered an environment that led to “unusual frequency of manipulation of research data and/or substandard scientific practices” across labs at multiple institutions. Stanford opened the investigation in response to reporting I published last autumn in The Stanford Daily, taking a closer look at scientific papers he published from 1999 to 2012. (Theo Baker, 7/30)

CNN: Doctor: What I Didn’t Know Until I Got Skin Cancer
As a practicing physician, my life revolves around caring for my patients, helping them stay healthy, educating them about diseases and picking up on the signs of health concerns that need to be addressed. A few weeks ago, however, it became painfully obvious that I had missed the signs of my own major health issue. To my surprise, I was diagnosed with skin cancer on my scalp. The diagnosis of basal cell cancer, and the fact that I ignored it for so long, have really made me pause to reflect on my own health habits and some common misconceptions about skin cancer. (Susannah Hills, 7/29)

Stat: My Superpower Is Killing Ticks 
Sometimes people call me “the tick guy,” but I’m a mammal guy by training. Although I respect ticks, I don’t fear them, especially after developing an immunity that kills them when they try to bite me. (Richard S. Ostfeld, 7/31)