NBC News: South Carolina’s All-Male Supreme Court Upholds 6-Week Abortion Ban
Just months after the exit of its sole female justice, the South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld restrictions that would ban most abortions after around six weeks of pregnancy. ... The decision brings an end to the brief relief abortion rights advocates found in January when then-Justice Kaye Hearn wrote a majority opinion striking down a separate six-week ban tied to a 2021 state law, arguing it violated the state’s constitutional right to privacy. After Hearn’s mandatory retirement, South Carolina was left with an all-male high court. (Harris, 8/24)

Reuters: South Carolina's Top Court Upholds State's 'Heartbeat' Abortion Ban 
In a 4-1 ruling, the South Carolina Supreme Court found that the state constitution's protection against "unreasonable invasions of privacy" did not include a right to abortion, and that the state law was "within the zone of reasonable policy decisions rationally related to the State's interest in protecting the unborn." "With this victory, we protect the lives of countless unborn children and reaffirm South Carolina's place as one of the most pro-life states in America," South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, a Republican, said in a statement. (Pierson, 8/23)

More abortion news —

Stat: 2024 Presidential Candidates Spar Over Abortion In Republican Debate
Republican presidential candidates sparred Wednesday over a question that has haunted the party since The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade: Now that abortion bans are possible, how far should they go? Like voters, candidates splintered on the question. From a national ban to state decisions and when in pregnancy limits should be imposed, no two had quite the same answer. (Owermohle and Lawrence, 8/23)

AP: Arizona Court To Review Ruling That Abortion Doctors Can't Be Charged Under Pre-Statehood Law
The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to review a lower court’s conclusion that abortion doctors can’t be prosecuted under a pre-statehood law that bans the procedure in nearly all cases. The high court decided on Tuesday that it would review the Arizona Court of Appeals ruling that said doctors couldn’t be charged for performing abortions in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy because other Arizona laws passed over the years allow them to perform the procedure. Abortions are currently allowed in Arizona in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy under a 2022 law. (8/23)

Axios: Abortion's Next Big Battleground Is In Virginia
Democrats are mobilizing for what they widely view as the next major referendum on abortion rights: this fall's Virginia state legislature elections. Why it matters: Virginia is the lone southern state that hasn't banned or restricted abortion since the Supreme Court struck down federal protection of the procedure and provides another off-year test of its potency as a campaign issue following Ohio's special election this month. (Owens, 8/22)

Axios: Where Abortion Has Been Banned Now That Roe V. Wade Is Overturned
A total of 22 states have moved to ban or restrict abortion following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and end all federal protections for abortion. At least 24 U.S. states in total are expected to ban abortions or heavily restrict access to them, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights organization. (Gonzalez, 8/23)

In other reproductive health news —

KFF Health News: Dangers And Deaths Around Black Pregnancies Seen As A ‘Completely Preventable’ Health Crisis 
Tonjanic Hill was overjoyed in 2017 when she learned she was 14 weeks pregnant. Despite a history of uterine fibroids, she never lost faith that she would someday have a child. But, just five weeks after confirming her pregnancy, and the day after a gender-reveal party where she announced she was having a girl, she seemed unable to stop urinating. She didn’t realize her amniotic fluid was leaking. Then came the excruciating pain. “I ended up going to the emergency room,” said Hill, now 35. “That’s where I had the most traumatic, horrible experience ever.” (West, 8/24)

Politico: White House To Name First 10 Drugs For Medicare Negotiations Early 
The Biden administration is expected to disclose early next week the first 10 prescription drugs selected for Medicare price negotiations, ahead of a White House event Tuesday to celebrate the milestone, four people involved in the plans told POLITICO. The announcement will mark a major step in a bid to lower drug prices through the first-ever direct negotiations between Medicare and pharmaceutical manufacturers over a set of medicines. (Lim and Cancryn, 8/23)

Stat: Mid-Year Drug Price Hikes Are Back Despite Inflation Reduction Act
It’s almost a tradition. At the start and halfway points of each year, many pharmaceutical companies raise drug prices to bolster revenue and reportedly fund new research. (Bajaj, 8/24)

Stat: DeSantis Wants To Import Drugs. Biden’s FDA Blasted His Plan
Florida governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis has ballyhooed a high-profile plan to import prescription drugs from Canada, even suing the Biden administration for allegedly holding up a necessary sign-off. But the plan’s long odds just got longer: the Food and Drug Administration said in a letter last week that Florida’s plan has gaping holes — and the state has less than a week to explain how it’ll fix them. (Wilkerson, 8/23)

Axios: As Health Care Costs Soar, Employers Struggle With How To Cover New Pricey Treatments
Facing a tight labor market and rising health care costs, employers are wrestling with how to afford a new wave of pricey, highly effective treatments without forcing workers to bear too much of the cost. From emerging gene and cell-based therapies in cancer and other conditions to a buzzy class of weight-loss drugs, the landscape for game-changing treatments has never been quite so promising — or expensive for employers. (Reed, 8/23)

Fierce Healthcare: Employers Want To See Drug Price Reforms In Commercial Space
The Business Group on Health released its annual survey of large employers this week and found that 91% are either concerned or very concerned about overall pharmacy cost trend. Alongside that finding, the survey identified that the median spending on pharmacy continues to grow, rising from 21% in 2021 to 24% in 2022. In addition, 92% said they were either concerned or very concerned about high-cost drugs coming through the pipeline. Specialty pharmacy accounts for a growing portion of health spend, and orphan drugs for rare, complex diseases account for large swaths of products coming to market. (Minemyer, 8/23)

Roll Call: FDA Taps New Human Foods Program Head After Baby Formula Crisis
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday announced the selection of its first deputy commissioner for human foods — part of an effort to reorganize the agency’s oversight of food safety after contaminated baby formula caused major shortages last year. James “Jim” Jones, a former EPA official, will start his new role on Sept. 24 leading the new Human Foods Program, which will oversee food safety, chemical safety, nutrition and other areas. (Hellmann, 8/23)

FiercePharma: A Tale Of 2 Industries: FDA's Robert Califf Weighs In On 'Fundamental Problem' Causing So Many Shortages
Robert Califf, M.D., is “fired up” about the spate of U.S. drug shortages that now constitutes a “national security threat,” the FDA commissioner said Tuesday. “I did not come back to FDA to spend all my time on supply chain, but that’s what’s happened,” Califf said in response to a question about shortages during a recent presentation of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA. “And I feel like I know a lot about it, and I’m pretty fired up to do something about it.” (Kansteiner, 8/22)

On cancer research —

Axios: Biden Admin Invests $24M In Researching MRNA To Fight Cancer
The Biden administration's new biomedical research agency is providing $24 million for research leveraging an mRNA platform to train the immune system to fight cancer and other diseases, officials told Axios first. The project, led by Emory University in Atlanta, supports the administration's "cancer moonshot" — part of President Biden's "unity agenda" — aimed at cutting the cancer death rate in half over 25 years. (Reed, 8/23)

Stat: Drug Makers Bet Big On MRNA For Cancer. Why's Biden Going In?
President Biden’s fledgling health agency, designed to accelerate under-funded research, just set its sights on one of the hottest areas of medicine — and one where the drug industry has a multibillion-dollar head start. The White House announced Wednesday that the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health would bankroll a $24 million project by Emory University to build messenger RNA platforms to target “cancer and other diseases,” investing in the technology behind the U.S.’s most commonly used vaccines for Covid-19. (Garde and Owermohle, 8/24)

Also —

KFF Health News: After Backlash, Feds Cancel Plan That Risked Limiting Breast Reconstruction Options 
Federal regulators have abandoned a plan that physicians, patients, and advocacy groups for breast cancer patients feared would limit women’s options for reconstructive surgery. The controversy centered on how doctors are paid for a type of breast reconstruction known as DIEP flap, in which skin, fat, and blood vessels are harvested from a woman’s abdomen to create a new breast. (Pradhan, Werner and Winick, 8/23)

Reuters: US CDC Says New COVID Lineage Could Cause Infections In Vaccinated Individuals
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday the new BA.2.86 lineage of coronavirus may be more capable than older variants in causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received vaccines. CDC said it was too soon to know whether this might cause more severe illness compared with previous variants. But due to the high number of mutations detected in this lineage, there were concerns about its impact on immunity from vaccines and previous infections, the agency said. (8/23)

CIDRAP: CDC Weighs Risk Of BA.2.86 COVID-19 Lineage As 3 More Nations Report Sequences 
The mutation profile suggests that treatments such as Paxlovid will be effective against the variant and that there will be little impact on the accuracy of molecular and antigen-based tests. (Schnirring, 8/23)

CNN: Early Testing Suggests Variant BA.2.86 Has Been Detected In US Wastewater, According To New CDC Report
Preliminary testing of wastewater in the United States has detected the new highly mutated coronavirus variant BA.2.86, according to a risk assessment posted Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC did not give details on where the positive wastewater sample had been collected but said it was part of routine monitoring through its National Wastewater Surveillance System. (Goodman, 8/23)

And you may have long covid even if you didn't test positive for covid —

Stat: People Can Get Long Covid Without Testing Positive For Virus: Study
Of the 103 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the U.S., an estimated one-third have led to long Covid — a condition that ranges in severity, but can be debilitating. A new study suggests that even more people may be suffering from the post-viral syndrome without having ever received an official diagnosis of Covid-19. (Merelli, 8/23)

Mask mandates and shutdowns are making a comeback —

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID Spike Prompts Bay Area Hospitals To Reinstate Mask Mandate
As the Bay Area experiences a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, one of its most prominent health care providers is requiring patients, staff and visitors to mask up again. Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center has reinstated a temporary mask mandate for people within its facilities. The measure is a direct response to the increasing number of individuals testing positive for the coronavirus, according to an official statement made on Wednesday. (Vaziri, 8/23)

NBC News: Kentucky School District Cancels Classes Due To Covid, Flu, Strep
Less than two weeks into the school year, a Kentucky school district has canceled in-person classes for the rest of week after nearly a fifth of its students came down with Covid, strep throat, the flu and other illnesses. The Lee County School District, which has just under 900 students, began classes Aug. 9 but noticed attendance drop to about 82% on Friday, Superintendent Earl Ray Schuler said. By Monday, the rate dipped to 81%, and 14 staff members called in sick, Schuler said. (Pandey, 8/24)

Politico: Top Review Says COVID Lockdowns And Masks Worked, Period 
Speedy implementation of a combination of measures such as face masks, lockdowns and international border controls, “unequivocally” reduced COVID-19 infections, a major review has shown. The report published Thursday by the Royal Society looked at findings from six evidence reviews that analyzed thousands of studies to assess the effect of masks, social distancing and lockdowns, test trace and isolate systems, border controls, environmental controls and communications. It found evidence that each of these measures — which are called "non-pharmaceutical interventions" — were effective, albeit to varying degrees, when looked at individually. However, the evidence in favor of using these tools was stronger when countries combined several measures. (Furlong, 8/24)

On the covid vaccine rollout —

KFF Health News: Timing And Cost Of New Vaccines Vary By Virus And Health Insurance Status 
As summer edges toward fall, thoughts turn to, well, vaccines. Yes, inevitably, it’s time to think about the usual suspects — influenza and covid-19 shots — but also the new kid in town: recently approved vaccines for RSV, short for respiratory syncytial virus. But who should get the various vaccines, and when? “For the eligible populations, all three shots are highly recommended,” said Georges Benjamin, a physician and the executive director of the American Public Health Association. (Appleby, 8/24)

Reuters: J&J's Janssen To Close Part Of Its Vaccine Division -Telegraaf
Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N) Janssen division, which helped to develop its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, will close much of its vaccine research and development operations in the Netherlands, newspaper De Telegraaf reported. In an emailed response on Wednesday, Johnson & Johnson confirmed plans to exit some of its vaccine research and development programmes, which it said it had initially disclosed in its 2023 second-quarter results. (8/23)

Axios: Kindergarten Vaccine Exemption Rate Keeps Rising: U.S. Average Nearly Doubles In A Decade
The nationwide median rate of kindergartners with vaccine exemptions nearly doubled between the school years ending in 2012 and 2022, per CDC estimates. While COVID-19 vaccination is not required for young children attending public school anywhere in the U.S., it appears that concerns over that shot may be fueling broader vaccine skepticism among a relatively small but growing number of parents — though that trend certainly existed before the pandemic. (Fitzpatrick and Beheraj, 8/24)

The Washington Post: Justice Dept. Brings Wave Of Cases Over $836 Million In Alleged Covid Fraud 
In one of the largest national crackdowns on fraud targeting federal coronavirus aid, the Justice Department on Wednesday said it had brought 718 law enforcement actions in connection with the alleged theft of more than $836 million. The vast array of criminal charges and other sanctions — part of a federal sweep conducted over the past three months — reflected the ongoing, costly work in Washington to recover stolen pandemic funds roughly three years after the peak of the public health crisis. (Romm, 8/23)

Reuters: US Says Stolen COVID Relief Funds Seized So Far Top $1.4 Billion 
"This latest action, involving over 300 defendants and over $830 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud, should send a clear message: the COVID-19 public health emergency may have ended, but the Justice Department's work to identify and prosecute those who stole pandemic relief funds is far from over," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. A total of 119 defendants pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial during the sweep, according to the Justice Department. (Singh, 8/23)

In related news about families' struggles during the pandemic —

CIDRAP: Families Felt Pandemic Burdens Differently, Depending On Education Level And Child Age 
The COVID-19 pandemic did not affect all US families the same way, a new cohort study in JAMA Network Open claims, with families helmed by caregivers with lower levels of education more strained during the first 2 years of the pandemic. ... Caregivers who had less than a high school education (compared to a master’s degree or higher) had more challenges accessing COVID-19 tests, lower odds of working remotely, and more food-access concerns. (Soucheray, 8/23)

The New York Times: Gender Surgeries Nearly Tripled From 2016 Through 2019, Study Finds 
The number of gender-affirming surgeries, intended to align patients’ physical appearance with their gender identity, nearly tripled in the United States between 2016 and 2019, according to a new analysis published in JAMA Network Open on Wednesday. The number of procedures rose from about 4,550 in 2016 to about 13,000 in 2019, and then dipped slightly in 2020, according to the study’s estimates. Because of various data limitations, the researchers behind the study believe the true figures are higher. (Baumgaertner, 8/23)

AP: Gender-Affirming Surgeries In The US Nearly Tripled Before Pandemic Dip, Study Finds 
The increase likely reflects expanded insurance coverage for transgender care after the Obama administration and some states actively discouraged discrimination based on gender identity, lead author Dr. Jason Wright of Columbia University said. The dip in 2020 can be attributed to the pandemic. A little more than half the patients were ages 19 to 30. Surgeries in patients 18 and younger, were rare: fewer than 1,200 in the highest volume year. (Johnson, 8/23)

More about LGBTQ+ health —

AP: Opponents Are Unimpressed As A Georgia Senator Revives A Bill Regulating How Schools Teach Gender 
A Georgia state senator is trying to revive a proposal aimed at stopping teachers from talking to students about gender identity without parental permission, but both gay rights groups and some religious conservatives remain opposed to the bill. (Amy, 8/23)

The New York Times: Florida Considers Tough Consequences For College Staff Who Break Bathroom Law
The Florida State Board of Education voted Wednesday to approve new rules at state colleges for transgender employees and students that are intended to comply with a law, passed in May, restricting access to bathrooms. Colleges will be forced to fire employees who twice use a bathroom other than the one assigned to their sex at birth, despite being asked to leave. And bathroom restrictions also now apply to student housing operated by the colleges. (Goldstein and Edmonds, 8/23)

The New York Times: How A Small Gender Clinic Landed In A Political Storm
The small Midwestern gender clinic was buckling under an unrelenting surge in demand. Last year, dozens of young patients were seeking appointments every month, far too many for the clinic’s two psychologists to screen. Doctors in the emergency room downstairs raised alarms about transgender teenagers arriving every day in crisis, taking hormones but not getting therapy. (Ghorayshi, 8/23)

The 19th: Support Grows To Pull National Federation Of The Blind Conference From Florida
More than 200 blind and low-vision people have signed an open letter requesting that the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) relocate their recently announced 2024 national convention from Orlando, Florida, citing concerns for the safety of LGBTQ+ attendees. (Luterman, 8/23)

AP: PeaceHealth To Shutter Only Hospital In Eugene, Oregon; Nurse's Union Calls It 'Disastrous' 
PeaceHealth announced this week it is closing the only hospital in Eugene, Oregon, and moving services 6 miles to its Springfield location. PeaceHealth said Tuesday the hospital serving the city of about 178,000 people is underutilized, the Register-Guard reported. The PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center University District in Eugene, which first opened in 1936, employs hundreds of nurses, health care professionals and staff. (8/23)

The Boston Globe: UMass Memorial Still Closing Leominster Hospital Maternity Unit
UMass Memorial Health is pushing forward with the closure of maternity services at Leominster hospital, saying in a letter to state officials that it is developing a transportation plan to accommodate women who will have to give birth elsewhere than the local hospital. (Bartlett, 8/23)

Modern Healthcare: Nursing Homes At Risk As More Companies File Bankruptcy
High labor costs, rising interest rates and looming federal staffing minimums are prompting more nursing homes and senior living operators to file for bankruptcy. The two kinds of care providers accounted for half of the 40 filings for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in healthcare through the first half of the year, according to Gibbins Advisors, a healthcare advisory and restructuring consultancy. (Eastabrook, 8/23)

Modern Healthcare: Optum Layoffs Executed In Texas, West Virginia
UnitedHealth Group is laying off Optum employees as it restructures its healthcare service subsidiary. The healthcare conglomerate cut jobs at MedExpress urgent care clinics and at WellMed Medical Group this month, the company confirmed, although it would not disclose how many employees were laid off or if Optum workers in other locations have been or will be let go. (Tepper, 8/23)

In other health care industry news —

Axios: Medicare Gets Serious On Hospice Fraud
After a year of scrutinizing fraud in the hospice industry, Medicare dropped the hammer this week: The agency warned nearly 400 hospices are at risk of being bounced from the program if they can't prove they're a legitimate enterprise. (Goldman, 8/24)

Modern Healthcare: Allina Health Rescinds Patient Debt Policy Amid Investigation
Allina Health said Wednesday it rescinded a policy that denied non-urgent treatment to patients with unpaid medical bills. The announcement follows reporting in June by The New York Times that revealed the Minneapolis-based nonprofit system prevented patients with at least $4,500 of unpaid debt from booking an appointment at its 90 outpatient clinics. Last week, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) said his office is investigating Allina’s billing practices. (Kacik, 8/23)

Modern Healthcare: Oak Street, Strive Health Launch Kidney Care Partnership
CVS Health-backed primary care provider Oak Street Health struck a multiyear deal with Strive Health to offer care focused on patients with chronic or end-stage kidney disease. With the partnership, the primary care provider's doctors can refer patients to Strive, whose nurses, nurse practitioners and other staff members offer care virtually, in-home and at partner nephrology offices. Strive began rolling out the services to Oak Street's 21-state footprint in 2022's fourth quarter and plans to complete the rollout by the end of this year, said Will Stokes, Strive's co-founder and chief strategy officer. (Hudson, 8/23)

The Boston Globe: Brown And Mass General Doctors Use AI To Simplify Medical Forms
It’s something all future doctors learn in medical school: how to communicate informed consent to patients. Yet medical forms are littered with impenetrable jargon, making it hard for lay people to understand exactly what they’re signing up for. Dr. Rohaid Ali, a neurosurgery resident at Brown University in Providence grew fed up with the forms and enlisted ChatGPT, a language model-based chatbot developed by OpenAI, to help translate them into regular English. (Scales, 8/23)

Stat: Two Tragic Stories Show How Hard It Is To Be A Mother In Medicine
In Igbo-Nigerian culture, new moms receive exquisite care from their own mothers, mothers-in-law, or surrogate mothers for the first few months postpartum. After each of my daughters was born, I was blessed to participate in this tradition, called omugwo, which allowed me to be nurtured by the mothers who came before me. They cooked and cleaned. Massaged my belly and taught me how to breastfeed. They took care of my newborn overnight. These women were my village. This nurturing helped me recover from childbirth and grow into my own role as a mother. (Okwerekwu, 8/24)

In military news —

Military.com: 32,000 Veterans Have VA Disability Claims Decisions Delayed By Technical Glitch 
Roughly 32,000 veterans are receiving letters this month notifying them that their disability claims submitted through the VA.gov website weren't processed, with the error dating back to 2018 for some. A Department of Veterans Affairs official told Military.com Monday that the letters were going to all veterans “impacted by the issue,” which was described as a "technical issue" that resulted in the claims not being automatically routed for processing. (Kime, 8/23)

AP: Indiana Hospital Notifies Hundreds Of Patients They May Have Been Exposed To Tuberculosis Bacteria 
A southern Indiana hospital where an employee recently tested positive for tuberculosis has notified hundreds of patients that they may have been exposed to the bacteria that causes the illness. Clark County Health Officer Dr. Eric Yazel said Clark Memorial Health had a “significant exposure” and has notified about 500 patients by letter that they were potentially exposed to TB at the hospital. (8/23)

More health news from across the U.S. —

USA Today: Eastern Equine Encephalitis, A Mosquito-Borne Virus, Found In 2 States
Health officials in Alabama and New York are warning the public about confirmed cases of a rare, deadly mosquito-borne virus that's been found in people, animals and insects. The dangerous mosquito-borne Eastern equine encephalitis virus, also known as Triple E, was detected in two people in Alabama, including one person who died as result of contracting the disease, according to the state's Department of Public Health. (Neysa Alund, 8/23)

San Francisco Chronicle: Sacramento County Reports First West Nile Virus Death Of 2023
Sacramento County reported its first West Nile virus death of the year on Wednesday. The individual was in their 70s and had an underlying chronic disease, according to Sacramento County Public Health. There are 16 other cases of confirmed or suspected West Nile virus in the county. As of August 22, there were 26 human cases in California, two of them fatal. San Bernardino County also announced its first West Nile virus death of the year on Wednesday, also an individual with “underlying health problems.” (Fan Munce, 8/23)

WMFE: Is Leprosy Endemic In Central Florida? Researchers Argue Yes
In July, a report showed Central Florida accounted for 81 percent of leprosy cases in Florida and almost one-fifth of nationally reported cases in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most cases were attributed to Brevard County, with Volusia County just behind it, according to the Florida Department of Health. When WMFE's original report came out in early August, there were 15 cases reported so far this year. (Pedersen, 8/23)

News Service of Florida: Florida Wants To Block Court Order In Nursing Home Kids Case
The state wants a federal appeals court to put on hold an injunction that requires changes aimed at keeping children with complex medical conditions out of nursing homes, arguing that part of the injunction is “nothing less than a court-ordered takeover of Florida’s Medicaid program.” (Saunders, 8/23)

Missouri Independent: More Than 170,000 Missouri Kids Waiting For Last Summer’s Food Aid 
Even as low-income families across most of the country are receiving federal food aid for this summer, thousands of Missouri families are still waiting for last summer’s benefits. Missouri still needs to issue food benefits to around 177,000 children for a federal program that were designed to help cover costs from last summer, Mallory McGowin, spokesperson for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said in an email to The Independent this week. (Bates, 8/24)

On mental health —

The Washington Post: More Than 100 Chaplains Urge Texas School Boards Not To Hire Chaplains Instead Of School Counselors
More than 100 chaplains signed a letter urging local Texas school boards to vote against putting chaplains in public schools, calling efforts to enlist religious counselors in public classrooms “harmful” to students and families. ... The chaplains who signed the letter, released Tuesday, bemoaned the lack of standards for potential school chaplains aside from background checks, contrasting it with the extensive training required for health-care and military chaplains. (Jenkins, 8/23)

The CT Mirror: Advocates Laud 'Radical Change' In Children's Mental Health Care
Mental health providers say they hope the opening of four new urgent crisis centers can be the start of a new system of caring for children’s mental health needs. Providers say they hope the centers can offer a quicker, holistic approach as walk-in clinics for kids in crisis with acute mental health needs. (Monk, 8/23)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Gun Store Owners Take In Firearms To Combat Suicide
No questions. No judgment. And no police or other government involvement. Today, there are nearly 40 gun shops in Wisconsin participating in the suicide prevention education effort, known as the “Gun Shop Project.” Many of those stores also offer to take in guns temporarily, an effort known as the “Safe Storage Initiative.” The programs are part of a grassroots movement to address gun suicides that started in New Hampshire and has spread to more than 20 states. (Diedrich, 8/23)

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: Mallinckrodt’s Bankruptcy Plan Would Cut Payments To Opioid Victims By $1 Billion 
In a regulatory filing on Wednesday, Mallinckrodt disclosed that it had reached a plan to file for bankruptcy for the second time in three years. The plan would cancel a majority of the $1.25 billion that the company still owes under the original settlement agreement, in exchange for a final payment of $250 million that would be made before the company enters its second bankruptcy. The plan to cancel a majority of the outstanding payments was devised with backing from hedge funds that would control the company under a second bankruptcy. The funds had lent money to Mallinckrodt and were in a position to force the company to prioritize paying back its lenders over compensating victims. (Robbins, 8/23)

In other news about opioids and tobacco use —

Fox News: Medical Professionals Utilizing AI To Judge Narcotics Prescriptions: Report
Health agencies and law enforcement are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) in their efforts to combat widespread opioid addiction, according to a report. Data-driven monitoring systems such as NarxCare offer numerical ratings of patients' medication history that give doctors a rudimentary idea of their risks, but professionals are split on their effectiveness, according to a report from MarketPlace. "We need to see what’s going on to make sure we’re not doing more harm than good," health economist Jason Gibbons told the outlet. (Nerozzi, 8/23)

Fox News: FDA Cracks Down On Companies That Sell Unauthorized Vapes To Kids: ‘We Will Hold Anyone Accountable’
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent warning letters to 15 companies for selling "unauthorized e-cigarette products" — otherwise known as vapes — disguised as school supplies, food and drinks, toys and other kid-enticing designs, according to a Wednesday press release. The letters were sent to 15 online sellers. (Rudy, 8/23)

More pharmaceutical news —

CBS News: FDA Says To Stop Using 2 Eye Drop Products Because Of Serious Health Risks
Federal health regulators are warning consumers to immediately stop using two additional eye drop products because of potential bacterial or fungal contamination. The Food and Drug Administration is advising people not to buy "Dr. Berne's MSM Drops 5% Solution" and "LightEyez MSM Eye Drops – Eye Repair," warning that they could pose a serious health risk, including vision- and life-threatening infections. The agency noted that it doesn't know of anyone who has reported a problem due to the products. (Cerullo, 8/23)

Reuters: CVS Launches Unit To Market And Co-Produce Biosimilar Medicines 
CVS Health Corp said on Wednesday it has launched a new company called Cordavis that will work directly with manufacturers to commercialize and co-produce biosimilar medicines for the U.S. market. The company next year will partner with Swiss drugmaker Novartis' Sandoz unit to market Hyrimoz, a version of AbbVie's blockbuster arthritis drug Humira, at a list price that is more than 80% lower than the branded drug. (Wingrove and Jain, 8/23)

The Boston Globe: Saint-Gobain To Close Merrimack Plastics Manufacturing Facility Amid Ongoing PFAS Concern
Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics announced Wednesday that it will be closing its facility in Merrimack, N.H. The plant has been at the center of controversy and concern after the PFAS chemicals the company uses to produce stain and water resistant materials were found in nearby drinking water in 2016. A 2021 state report found cancer rates in Merrimack were higher than expected. (Gokee, 8/23)

Stat: FDA Panel Gives Mixed Vote On Blood Pressure Devices 
An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration delivered a split decision on a surgical system used in a controversial blood pressure treatment called renal denervation. The panel, whose advice the FDA typically follows, voted that the system developed by ReCor Medical was safe and effective. It voted that the benefits of a system developed by Medtronic, however, did not outweigh the risks. (Lawrence, 8/23)

Stat: Roche's Accidental Data Boosts Hopes For Anti-TIGIT Therapy
The multibillion-dollar hunt for what many drugmakers hope will be the next big immunotherapy target has had no shortage of twists and tea-leaf-reading. In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, it got another. Roche confirmed it accidentally released interim data from a closely watched clinical trial testing whether blocking that target — a protein on T cells known as TIGIT — can enable non-small lung cancer patients to live longer than standard immunotherapy alone. (Mast, 8/23)

Bloomberg: Dogs Have A Lyme Disease Vaccine. Now Pfizer Is Making One For People
If you want to get vaccinated against Lyme disease today, your choices are limited. In fact, you’d have to find a rogue veterinarian willing to experiment on you. The only options on the market are for dogs. This wasn’t always the case. (Brown and Cattan, 8/24)

Also —

Stat: Vivek Ramaswamy Made Waves In The Debate, Much As In Biotech
The youngest candidate on Wednesday night’s debate stage didn’t make any friends among his fellow Republican presidential hopefuls, questioning their morality, mocking their promises, and suggesting that he, by virtue of his inexperience in government, was ideally suited to solve a nation’s problems. For Vivek Ramaswamy, it was familiar territory. Long before he was explaining Perestroika to Mike Pence and congratulating Nikki Haley on a future career in the defense industry, Ramaswamy brought a similar brashness to biotech. (Garde, 8/24)

NPR: New Technology Is Letting Paralyzed Patients Communicate 
For Pat Bennett, 68, every spoken word is a struggle. Bennett has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative disease that has disabled the nerve cells controlling her vocal and facial muscles. As a result, her attempts to speak sound like a series of grunts. But in a lab at Stanford University, an experimental brain-computer interface is able to transform Bennett's thoughts into easily intelligible sentences, like, "I am thirsty," and "bring my glasses here." (Hamilton, 8/23)

The New York Times: A Stroke Stole Her Ability to Speak at 30. A.I. Is Helping to Restore It Years Later
At Ann Johnson’s wedding reception 20 years ago, her gift for speech was vividly evident. In an ebullient 15-minute toast, she joked that she had run down the aisle, wondered if the ceremony program should have said “flutist” or “flautist” and acknowledged that she was “hogging the mic.” Just two years later, Mrs. Johnson — then a 30-year-old teacher, volleyball coach and mother of an infant — had a cataclysmic stroke that paralyzed her and left her unable to talk. (Belluck, 8/23)

In other science news —

USA Today: Mapping The Y Chromosome, Which Makes Males Biologically Distinct
Two decades after the human genome sequence was completed, researchers have finally finished a map of the piece that makes males distinct. The Y chromosome is what distinguishes biological males from females. It determines male fertility, including sperm production, and typically is used to determine paternal lineage for tracking inheritance and ancestry. (Weintraub, 8/23)

Stat: Complete Sequence Of Y Chromosome Published For First Time
Two years ago, when an international team of scientists announced it had finally sequenced and assembled the first fully complete human genome, including previously unmappable regions, Melissa Wilson was ecstatic. She reached out to Adam Phillippy, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health and a leader of the Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium to congratulate him on the accomplishment. And to ask the question she was almost too excited to utter: “And the Y?” (Molteni, 8/23)

More health and wellness news —

NPR: New Class Of Flame Retardants Found In Breast Milk Raises Concerns
In the early 2000s, researchers tested breast milk samples from U.S. mothers and found high levels of toxic compounds used as a common flame retardant in household items. The compounds, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), were gradually phased out after a link was found with certain health risks. It sounds like a public health success story, but new research suggests it may not be quite that simple. This summer, scientists detected a new set of similar flame retardants in the breast milk of 50 U.S. women. (Roldan, 8/24)

NBC News: Federal Staffers Recommend Safety Requirements For Nursing Pillows After Dozens Of Infant Deaths
The Consumer Product Safety Commission staff on Wednesday recommended the first federal requirements to make nursing pillows safer and discourage caregivers from setting babies down on the pillows to sleep, citing dozens of deaths associated with the popular infant product. ... “Because infants frequently fall asleep during or after feeding, nursing pillows are foreseeably misused for infant sleep, which creates a potential hazard for the infant,” according to the staff’s draft proposal. (Khimm and Chuck, 8/23)

The Washington Post: Stop Kissing And Snuggling Turtles, CDC Warns Amid Salmonella Outbreak
“Don’t kiss or snuggle your turtle, and don’t eat or drink around it. This can spread Salmonella germs to your mouth and make you sick,” the CDC warned, adding that turtles with shells less than four inches long are “a known source of illness.” (Cho, 8/23)

ScienceDaily: New Research Shows How Cancer Rewires A Key Immune Pathway To Spread 
A study has discovered a new relationship between cancer cells and the immune system, and shows how cancer can selfishly hijack a normally helpful immune pathway. (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 8/23)

CIDRAP: Study Shows No Change In US Dental Antibiotic Prescribing Rates 
A retrospective study of US national data shows that dental antibiotic prescribing rates remained unchanged from 2012 through 2019, US researchers reported yesterday in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. (Dall, 8/23)

CIDRAP: 20% Of Vaccinated Transplant Recipients Got COVID Amid Omicron, But Only 8% Severely 
COVID-19 infections among 2,400 vaccinated transplant recipients were common (19.7%) during SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant predominance in the United States, but only 7.5% needed hospitalization, estimates a study published late last week in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 8/21)

CIDRAP: Serogroup B Meningococcal Vaccine Shown Up To 95% Effective In Young Kids 
A study of nearly 1.7 million children younger than 6 years in Italy estimates that the 4-component protein-based (4CMenB) vaccine is over 90% effective against serogroup B invasive meningococcal disease (IMD). (Van Beusekom, 8/21)

Newsweek: Child Tax Credits Are Good For Your Health
When Congress expanded the Child Tax Credit in 2021, monthly childhood poverty dropped by nearly 30 percent, pulling 3.7 million children out of poverty. However, when the Child Tax Credit expired at the end of that year, 3.7 million children were pushed back into poverty, potentially harming their health, learning, and futures. As legislators debate tax policy this fall, they must make reinstating the expanded Child Tax Credit a priority. (Michael Hole and Matt Alexander, 8/23)

The Boston Globe: We Need To Care For Front-Line Workers Who Care For Us
Even before the COVID pandemic, a large review of 60 scientific studies showed physicians were at significantly higher risk for suicide than the general population. (Ed Davis and Jonathan Olshaker, 8/23)

Stat: What Past Blockbusters Can Tell Us About Future Of Wegovy And Other Weight Loss Medicines
The news that the weight loss drug Wegovy reduced the risk of heart attacks and strokes in overweight volunteers opens up the door to vastly expanded use of the drug and medicines like it, known as GLP-1 inhibitors. That could have a big, positive impact on public health, and it will very likely swell the coffers of the pharmaceutical companies that make these medicines, including Wegovy’s maker, Novo Nordisk, and Eli Lilly, now the most valuable drug company in history thanks largely to hopes for its GLP-1, Mounjaro. (Matthew Herper, 8/24)

The Star Tribune: Maintain Values While Collecting Medical Debt
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is commendably investigating a controversial health care practice — cutting off nonemergency outpatient care for patients behind on their bills — after a New York Times story spotlighted Allina Health's use of this debt collection strategy earlier this summer. (8/23)

Stat: How To Make Best Hospitals Ratings Actually Useful For Patients
U.S. News & World Report recently issued its 2023-24 Best Hospitals ratings. The ratings come at a time of increased scrutiny and skepticism of ranking systems. In very public ways, many colleges, law schools, and medical schools have declined to participate in the U.S. News process, while some hospitals have expressed their desire to abandon the rankings as well. These stakeholders’ concerns center on the purpose of these ranking systems and whether their methodologies serve the best interests of consumers. (Brian Stein and Bala Hota, 8/24)

Kansas City Star: Missouri Has Longest US Medicaid, Insurance Phone Hold Times
Here’s a sure sign of bad customer service: Long hold times. We’ve all been there. You call up a hotline for a company or government agency to resolve an important problem, only nobody can take your call right away. So you sit and wait — through awful music and occasional assurances that “your call is very important to us,” hoping and waiting for an actual human to come on the line. Is there anything more frustrating? Maybe not in Missouri, and certainly not for Medicaid applicants. The state just might just be the reigning grand champion of terrible service for its most vulnerable residents. (8/24)