AP: Republicans Push Anti-Abortion Measures With New Majority
House Republicans are taking early action on abortion with their new majority, approving two measures Wednesday that make clear they want further restraints after the Supreme Court overruled the federal right to abortion last year. The new GOP-led House passed one resolution to condemn attacks on anti-abortion facilities, including crisis pregnancy centers, and a separate bill that would impose new penalties if a doctor refused to care for an infant born alive after an abortion attempt. (Jalonick, 1/11)

Politico: GOP Sticks To Its Abortion Playbook As House Acts
It’s highly unlikely that the Democratic-controlled Senate will consider either measure, but the votes indicate that the GOP, at least for now, plans to handle the abortion issue as it has during past stints in the majority. Both measures focus on issues around the periphery of the abortion debate and don’t address new questions created by the Supreme Court’s decision, such as whether Congress should pass legislation banning or restricting the procedure. (Leonard, 1/11)

The Hill: House Passes First GOP Abortion Bill Days Into New Session
It is rare for an infant to be born after an attempted abortion, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A total of 143 infants were born after an attempted induced termination from 2003 to 2014, according to the agency, the majority of whom died between one and four hours later. Of those, 97 “involved a maternal complication or, one or more congenital anomalies.” (Schnell, 1/11)

Republicans' abortion agenda continues to be debated —

The Hill: GOP Rep: Republicans ‘Tone-Deaf’ On Abortion
As House Republicans are set to consider a number of bills that would limit abortion access, GOP Rep. Nancy Mace (S.C.) says her party is “tone-deaf” on the issue, blasting their approach. “We have been tone-deaf on this issue since the time that Roe was overturned,” Mace told reporters Tuesday. “We buried our heads in the sand … We didn’t have any policy alternatives.” (Neukam, 1/11)

The Boston Globe: The National March For Life Is Next Week, The First Since Roe V. Wade Was Overturned. Advocates Now Want The Federal Government To Go Even Further. 
Antiabortion activists who will assemble in Washington later this month for the annual March for Life plan to send a message that they still believe there’s a federal role for the government to take on abortion, even after the US Supreme Court kicked the issue back to the states. (Villa de Petrzelka, 1/12)

AL.com: Women Can Be Prosecuted For Taking Abortion Pills, Says Alabama Attorney General
One week after the federal government made it easier to get abortion pills, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Tuesday that women in Alabama who use those pills to end pregnancies could be prosecuted. That’s despite wording in Alabama’s new Human Life Protection Act that criminalizes abortion providers and prevents its use against the people receiving abortions. Instead, the attorney general’s office said Alabama could rely on an older law, one initially designed to protect children from meth lab fumes. (Yurkanin, 1/10)

The Hill: Alabama AG Says Women Could Be Prosecuted For Taking Abortion Pills
In a statement to The Hill, a spokesman for state Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) said individuals could instead face charges under Alabama’s chemical endangerment law, which was passed in 2006 to protect children from exposure to chemicals and fumes from home meth labs. Prosecutors have since extended the law so it applies to pregnant people who took any drugs while pregnant or exposed their fetuses to drugs. (Weixel. 1/11)

In other news relating to abortion from across the country —

AP: New Push To Restrict Abortions To Be Introduced In Nebraska
A Nebraska lawmaker who sponsored a failed total abortion ban last year announced Wednesday that she will introduce a new bill this week that would ban abortion once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which is generally around the sixth week of pregnancy. (Beck, 1/11)

AP: Montana Seeking Prior Authorization For Medicaid Abortions
State officials in Republican-controlled Montana want to require prior authorization before its health department pays for abortions for people covered by Medicaid, a proposal critics say would reduce access and delay or even prevent abortion care for low-income women in the state. (Beth Hanson, 1/12)

New Hampshire Bulletin: Abortion Access Expands In NH In Part Due To Telehealth
A recent federal rule change will expand access to abortion care by allowing pharmacies, no longer just clinics, to dispense abortion pills, which can be used to terminate a pregnancy up to 11 weeks. But it’s local providers who may give even greater access with the introduction of telehealth appointments. (Timmins, 1/11)

KHN: Bleeding And In Pain, A Pregnant Woman In Louisiana Couldn’t Get Answers
When Kaitlyn Joshua found out she was pregnant in mid-August, she and her husband, Landon Joshua, were excited to have a second baby on the way. They have a 4-year-old daughter and thought that was just the right age to help with a younger sibling. At about six weeks pregnant, Joshua, 30, called a physician group in Baton Rouge. She wanted to make her first prenatal appointment there for around the eight-week mark, as she had in her first pregnancy. But Joshua said the woman on the line told her she was going to have to wait over a month. (Westwood, 1/12)

The Washington Post: Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson Shares Story Of Stillborn Pregnancy
As Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) heard colleagues share personal experiences during abortion debates over her long career, the 80-year-old said, she considered telling her own story. But she said she didn’t want to relive her most painful incident. (Melnick and Alfaro, 1/12)

Also, concerning gender care, plus religion-affiliated hospital policies —

KHN: Despite Doctors’ Concerns, University Of California Renews Ties With Religious Affiliates
As the University of California’s health system renews contracts with hundreds of outside hospitals and clinics — many with religious affiliations — some of its doctors and faculty want stronger language to ensure that physicians can perform the treatments they deem appropriate, including abortions for women or hysterectomies for transgender patients. (Sciacca, 1/12)

AP: Wisconsin Republicans Look To Undo 'Conversion Therapy' Ban
Wisconsin Republicans planned to vote Thursday to again allow therapists, social workers and counselors to try to change their LGBTQ clients’ gender identities and sexual orientations, a practice known as conversion therapy. (Venhuizen, 1/12)

Axios: Biden Administration Extends COVID Public Health Emergency
The COVID-19 public health emergency will be extended for another 90 days, maintaining a long set of Trump-era allowances and programs affecting much of U.S. health care. When the emergency does end, it will bring major policy shifts to insurance markets, drug approvals and telehealth. (Reed, 1/11)

The Hill: White House Extends COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Once Again
An administration official told The Hill, “The decision to terminate the COVID [public health emergency] will be made by the HHS Secretary based on the best available data and science. Any suggestion that a specific end date has been established is untrue.” (Choi, 1/11)

In news on XBB.1.5, the "Kraken" covid subvariant —

Fortune: The Kraken COVID Variant Isn’t Different Enough From Other Omicrons To Get A Greek Letter, WHO Official Says
New Omicron variant XBB.1.5, dubbed Kraken, doesn’t differ enough from other Omicron strains to warrant its own Greek letter, WHO officials said Wednesday. While Kraken, rapidly growing in the U.S., is “incredibly transmissible” and spreads faster than other circulating variants like BQ.1.1, it still belongs in the Omicron family, Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for COVID-19 response at the WHO, said at a news conference. (Prater, 1/11)

CIDRAP: WHO Weighs In On Omicron XBB.1.5 Subvariant; US Extends COVID Health Emergency
The World Health Organization (WHO) advisory group on virus evolution said the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant is poised to drive an increase in COVID-19 cases, but it cautioned that confidence in its assessment is low, because most of the information is based on data from just one country—the United States. (Schnirring, 1/11)

CNN: How Much Should People Worry About Covid's XBB.1.5 Variant? Our Medical Analyst Explains
A new Covid-19 variant, XBB.1.5, is spreading rapidly throughout the United States. In December 2022, the proportion of new Covid-19 infections due to this Omicron offshoot have increased from 4% to 18%, according to a January 6 release from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is projected to rise further still. In some parts of the country, it constitutes more than half of all new infections. According to the World Health Organization, XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible form of Omicron yet. What should people know about XBB.1.5? (Hetter, 1/12)

Los Angeles Times: Will Omicron Subvariant XBB.1.5 Fuel California COVID Surge?
The latest Omicron subvariant — perhaps the most infectious yet — has gained a foothold in California, a potentially problematic development given the possibility of a post-holiday spike. However, it’s unclear whether the circulation of this latest strain, XBB.1.5, will alter the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Money and Lin II, 1/11)

Politico: Biden Admin Frustrated With Nursing Homes As Senior Vax Rates Languish And New Variant Spreads
State and federal health officials are frustrated that thousands of seniors have landed in the hospital with Covid-19 since the holidays — despite the widespread availability of a vaccine designed to prevent exactly that. (Messerly and Cancryn, 1/12)

NBC News: Younger, Healthy People Don't Need Another Covid Booster, Vaccine Expert Says
A key adviser to the Food and Drug Administration's vaccine panel is questioning whether more Covid booster shots are necessary for healthy, younger people. (Lovelace Jr, 1/11)

On other covid-related developments across the states —

Houston Chronicle: Peter Hotez On New Omicron Variant, Vaccine Fatigue, Bivalent Booster
After a fall that brought several new “Scrabble variants" of COVID-19, Dr. Peter Hotez has a more focused concern in 2023 with the emergence of XBB1.5 — as well as what may come next from China, where a late-December estimate from the country’s health officials  suggested 37 million new infections a day. (Dansby, 1/11)

AP: Mississippi Reports 14th Death Of A Child Due To COVID-19
A 14th Mississippi child has died from COVID-19, the state’s department of health said Wednesday. The infant under the age of one was the most recent child to die in Mississippi. The child was the first person under 18 to die from COVID-19 in the state in 2023. (1/11)

The Boston Globe: Coronavirus Levels Fall In Boston Area Waste Water, New Readings Show
Coronavirus levels in waste water in the Boston area fell sharply last week, according to new data from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, an encouraging sign after COVID levels climbed during the holidays. (Stoico, 1/11)

Meanwhile, some government-sourced covid tests are set to expire —

NBC News: Some Free Covid Tests From Government Set To Expire Shortly
Nora Boydstun is diligent about checking expiration dates. So when she received her latest batch of four free at-home Covid tests from the U.S. government in December, she quickly noticed that their packages listed expiration dates in July or August 2022. (Bendix, 1/10)

Reuters: U.S. To Announce List Of Drugs For Pricing Negotiations Sept. 1
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) - which oversees Medicare and the negotiation process - announced the specific timeline for the first year of negotiations on Wednesday. It had previously said it would release the names of the 10 Part D high-spend brand name medicines that would be included in pricing negotiations in the fall of 2023. (Aboulenein, 1/12)

Politico: Biden Administration Lays Out Timeline For Initial Medicare Drug Price Negotiations
Once the list of 10 drugs is published, Medicare will go through the negotiation process with drug manufacturers in 2024, according to Brooks-LaSure. CMS expects to publish the established maximum fair price for the drugs in September 2024, which will take effect in January 2026. (Lim, 1/11)

Stat: HHS Will Seek More Input On New Medicare Drug Price Negotiation
The Department of Health and Human Services is gearing up to start releasing details about its new Medicare drug price negotiation process this year, and the public will have more of a chance to weigh in along the way than initially expected, officials said Wednesday. (Cohrs, 1/11)

On other developments relating to access to pricey drugs —

Stat: Lawmakers Again Urge Biden Administration To Widen Cancer Drug Access
For the third time in less than a year, a group of lawmakers is urging the Biden administration to use a controversial provision of federal law to widen access to a pricey cancer medicine, an issue that has festered ever since cancer patients petitioned the federal government. (Silverman, 1/11)

Politico: Talk Of Gas Stove Rules Angers Manchin, Republicans
"The federal government has no business telling American families how to cook their dinner," Manchin said in a statement. "If this is the greatest concern that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has for American consumers, I think we need to reevaluate the commission." A peer-reviewed study released last month found that nearly 13 percent of childhood asthma rates in the United States are attributable to gas stove usage. (Portuondo and Wittenberg, 1/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Gas Stoves Don’t Face Ban From Biden Administration
“To be clear, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so,” said Chairman Alexander Hoehn-Saric. He said the CPSC is researching emissions from stoves and “actively engaged in strengthening voluntary safety standards.” (Collins and Blunt, 1/11)

In news about the First Lady —

The New York Times: Jill Biden Has Surgery To Remove Two Cancerous Lesions
The White House physician, Dr. Kevin C. O’Connor, said in a statement that the tissue from two sites — above her right eye and on her chest — was tested and confirmed to be basal cell carcinoma, a common and relatively unaggressive form of skin cancer. All the cancerous tissue was removed, Dr. O’Connor said, and doctors did not expect any further procedures to be necessary. (Montague, 1/11)

Reuters: U.S. First Lady Had All Cancerous Tissue Removed After Surgery - White House
"All cancerous tissue was successfully removed and the margins were clear of any residual skin cancer cells," White House physician Kevin O'Connor said in a letter, adding that no further procedures were anticipated. (1/11)

On other political, legal developments relating to health and care —

AP: Arkoosh To Lead Shapiro's Sprawling Human Services Agency
Dr. Val Arkoosh, an anesthesiologist who led Pennsylvania’s third-most populous county through the pandemic before mounting a failed run for U.S. Senate, will be nominated to lead the sprawling Department of Human Services under the incoming Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro. Wednesday’s announcement by Shapiro also included his picks to lead the departments of Health, Drug and Alcohol Programs, Aging and Insurance. (Levy, 1/11)

The New York Times: Obamacare Is Everywhere In The Unlikeliest Of Places: Miami 
Lídice Hernández opened an insurance agency last year on a busy street, affixing to the storefront a logo that has become deeply familiar in South Florida: a white sun rising over the red stripes of the American flag, all encased in a big, blue O.“Obamacare,” it read underneath. (Mazzei, 1/11)

Stat: Medicare Paves The Way For CAR-T In Doctors Offices
Medicare officials have taken a step toward making a cutting-edge cancer treatment called CAR T-cell therapy available in doctor offices, in anticipation of the procedure being used for increasingly common cancer types. (Wilkerson, 1/12)

Politico: Bill Seeking To Charge Retirees For Health Insurance Is Unlikely To Pass Council
Legislation backed by Mayor Eric Adams to charge municipal retirees, who don’t select the Medicare Advantage plan, is facing significant opposition in the City Council, the lawmakers told POLITICO. (Touré, 1/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Veterans Affairs Agency Waives Doctor Copays For Native Veterans
The Department of Veterans Affairs said it would waive all copays for eligible American Indian and Alaska Native veterans, in an effort to boost use of primary-care medicine among traditionally underserved populations. (Kesling, 1/11)

Axios: Long COVID Symptoms May Ease Within A Year — Study
People experiencing long COVID may see their symptoms ease within a year, per a study published in BMJ medical journal Wednesday. The outcome of this new study may provide some hope for the millions of people left newly disabled during the pandemic with a lingering illness that has no effective treatment. (Habeshian, 1/11)

Stat: Study: For Most Mild Infections, Long Covid Subsides After A Year
Since long Covid emerged, how best to define it, predict it, and treat it has been up for debate, but perhaps the most urgent question for patients and providers alike has been how long it lasts. A new study analyzing nearly 2 million patient records in Israel concludes that for most people, the troubling symptoms that persist after a mild Covid infection fade away after about a year. (Cooney, 1/11)

Kansas City Star: There Are 4 ‘Major’ Types Of Long COVID Symptoms, Study Says
While long COVID can manifest in the body in a myriad of ways — proving a challenge for doctors to officially diagnose the condition — new research has categorized four “major” types of symptoms. (Marnin, 1/11)

Also —

The Washington Post: Boston University Coronavirus Experiment Reveals New Weak Spot In Omicron
A controversial coronavirus experiment at Boston University has identified a mutation in the omicron variant that might help explain why it doesn’t appear to be as likely to sicken or kill as the original strain that emerged in China. The finding could offer scientists a new target for designing therapies that limit the severity of covid. (Achenbach, 1/11)

CIDRAP: More Evidence Of High Antibiotic Use, Low Prevalence Of Bacterial Co-Infection In COVID-19 Patients
A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies published during the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic provides further evidence that antibiotic use far exceeded the prevalence of bacterial co-infection, researchers reported this week in BMC Infectious Diseases. (Dall, 1/11)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Pneumonia Outcomes Seem Similar To Those In Other Pneumonia Types
A Johns Hopkins study suggests that mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients who have severe pneumonia and respiratory failure have similar outcomes as those who have other types of pneumonia but required mechanical ventilation longer. (Van Beusekom, 1/11)

CIDRAP: Music Listeners Report Lower Stress, Better Mood Amid COVID Lockdowns
University of Vienna researchers used a smartphone app to prompt 711 adults to report data on their mood and stress levels while listening to music during strict lockdowns 5 times a day from Apr 1 to May 8, 2020. Participants used visual analog scales to report their emotions on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 indicating "not at all" and 100 indicating "very much." (Van Beusekom, 1/11)

CBS News: Nursing Strike At Two Big NYC Hospitals Ends After Three Days 
A nursing strike that disrupted patient care at two of New York City's largest hospitals for three days is over. (1/12)

In other industry news —

NBC News: Nearly 1 In 4 U.S. Hospitalized Patients Experience Harmful Events, Study Finds
Nearly 1 in 4 patients who are admitted to hospitals in the U.S. will experience harm, according to a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Sullivan, 1/11)

Stat: Physicians Urge FDA To Convene Expert Panel Before Final Leqembi Approval
A physicians group is urging the Food and Drug Administration to hold an expert panel meeting to review an experimental Alzheimer’s treatment before issuing a full-blown approval, a move that reflects nagging safety issues surrounding the medication. (Silverman, 1/11)

The Boston Globe: Harvard Medical School And Partners In Health Receive $50 Million To Launch Paul Farmer Collaborative 
A $50 million donation from the Cummings Foundation will create the Paul Farmer Collaborative, an international partnership between Harvard Medical School and the University of Global Health Equity, a health sciences school in Rwanda co-founded by Dr. Paul Farmer, the late global health champion. (Mohammed, 1/11)

Stat: Element Ratchets Up Race For Cheaper DNA Sequencing
Decoding the billions of chemical letters that help shape who we are once cost a fortune. But genomics startup Element Biosciences on Wednesday announced it can now read a whole human genome for as little as $200 — the cost of a couple trips to the grocery store. (Wosen, 1/11)

On artificial intelligence and health —

Stat: Medical Schools Are Missing The Mark On Artificial Intelligence
Ready or not, health care is undergoing a massive transformation driven by artificial intelligence. But medical schools have barely started to teach about AI and machine learning — creating knowledge gaps that could compound the damage caused by flawed algorithms and biased decision-support systems. (Palmer, 1/12)

Stat: BioNTech CEO: How MRNA, AI Can Power Personalized Medicine
When BioNTech was founded in 2008, messenger RNA therapies and vaccines were still an unproven idea. The German company has now shipped out billions of doses of its mRNA Covid-19 vaccine worldwide — and BioNTech’s leaders say that’s just the beginning of a larger revolution in medicine. (Wosen, 1/12)

Also —

Stat: Drastic Changes Should Bring Profitability, Startup Health Insurers Say 
Startup insurers Oscar Health, Bright Health, and Clover Health have hemorrhaged money since going public within the past two years. All three used their stage time at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference to make the case that their drastic decisions — like fully exiting some insurance markets — will deliver the profitability investors are demanding. (Bannow and Herman, 1/11)

Modern Healthcare: Nonprofit Health Systems Move Past 'The Worst Of It' In 2023
Nonprofit healthcare systems are in for a tough year, but a Fitch Ratings report released Wednesday projects even the hardest-hit providers may start to see improvement in the coming months. (Hudson, 1/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Alphabet Unit Verily To Trim More Than 200 Jobs
Verily Life Sciences, a healthcare unit of Alphabet Inc. is laying off more than 200 employees as part of a broader reorganization, the first major staff reductions to hit Google’s parent following a wave of layoffs at other technology companies. (Kruppa, 1/11)

Reuters: Mark Cuban's Pharmaceuticals Startup Ties Up With RxPreferred
Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban's pharmaceuticals startup has tied up with pharmacy benefits manager RxPreferred Benefits, the companies said on Wednesday, in a move to offer lower priced drugs through some employer-backed health insurance plans. (1/11)

The New York Times: R.J. Reynolds Pivots To New Cigarette Pitches As Flavor Ban Takes Effect
The law prohibits flavors, odors or “tastes” in tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes. But antismoking experts argue that R.J. Reynolds, the maker of Camel and Newport brands, is trying to circumvent the ban by luring smokers with a suite of what it says are new non-menthol versions offering “a taste that satisfies the senses” and “a new fresh twist.” (Jewett and Baumgaertner, 1/11)

Reuters: U.S. Judge Rules Apple Watch Infringed Masimo's Pulse Oximeter Patent
A U.S. judge ruled that Apple (AAPL.O) had infringed on one of Masimo Corp's (MASI.O) pulse oximeter patents by importing and selling certain Apple Watches with light-based pulse oximetry functionality and components, Masimo said on Tuesday. The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) will now consider whether to implement an import ban on these Apple Watches, the medical device maker said. (1/11)

Politico: Carcinogen Found In Products Used By People Of Color
Published this week, the study from Washington's environment and health departments found elevated amounts of formaldehyde in items including skin lotions and hair gels from brands like Herbal Essences and Pantene, many of them geared toward non-white users. Of the products tested by state regulators, more than half contained formaldehyde in levels about 200 parts per million (ppm) — or “high enough to cause allergic reactions in some individuals.” (Crunden, 1/11)

The 19th: Why Misgendering Trans People Even After Death Has Deep Implications
A death certificate files the most basic snapshots of a person’s life into a series of boxes. This last official record leaves much uncaptured about how a person truly lived and how they’ll be remembered. For transgender people, the unrecorded carries even deeper implications: The loss of their identity within that document is literal. (Rummler, 1/11)

CBS News: Cardiac Arrest In Youth Athletes Is Rare, But Does Happen. Here's How To Be Prepared. 
About 60 million kids in the U.S. participate in organized sports, and cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death among young athletes. Dr. Korin Hudson, a MedStar Health emergency physician, said what happened to Hamlin can "absolutely" happen to a child. (O'Donnell and Rinaldi, 1/11)

Dallas Morning News: What Is Rhabdomyolysis, And When Does An Intense Offseason Workout Pose Danger?
After a strenuous workout Friday left numerous Rockwall-Heath football players hospitalized and the head coach on administrative leave, social media reared its head and accusations of being “soft” were thrown around with indifference. But health professionals defended the hospitalized players and urged the public not to rush to judgment when the athletes are dealing with a medical condition that can be extremely dangerous. (Riddle, 1/11)

CNN: Sitting Too Much Is Bad For Your Health, But Offsetting The Impact Is Easy, Study Shows
Sure, you’ve heard the dangers of sitting all day, but with most jobs there isn’t much you can do about it, right? Not according to a new study, which looked into the impacts of prolonged sitting. Five minutes of light walking every half hour can help alleviate some of the increased risk that comes with sitting for long stretches of the day, according to the study published Thursday in the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. (Holcombe, 1/12)

Chicago Tribune: Cook County Set To Break Record For Opioid Deaths In 2022
A few people stood bundled up near West Roosevelt and South Pulaski roads with clipboards and little black baggies looking to talk to people about drug overdose and harm reduction. Jackie Musgray was waiting for a bus nearby when one of the members of the West Side Heroin/Opioid Task Force approached. They offered her information about signs of overdose as well as its antidote, naloxone, which she said she would be comfortable using to help someone if needed. (Ahmad, 1/11)

The Boston Globe: Making Opioid Addiction Treatment Available At Pharmacies May Dramatically Increase Positive Outcomes, Study Shows 
Fatal drug overdoses are historically high in Rhode Island right now, forcing policymakers to look anywhere they can for solutions. A team of Rhode Island researchers says one of those potential solutions can be found on street corners and strip malls around the state: pharmacies. (Amaral, 1/11)

New Hampshire Public Radio: New Law Could Improve Access To Medication-Assisted Treatment In NH
A recent change in federal law could expand Granite Staters’ access to one of the most effective treatments for opioid addiction, by making it easier for more physicians to prescribe buprenorphine. Also known by the brand name Suboxone, the medication works by reducing cravings for drugs like heroin and fentanyl. It and other forms of medication-assisted treatment have been shown to keep people in treatment for longer and reduce the risk of overdose. (Cuno-Booth, 1/12)

Politico: New Jersey Could Get $508M From Nationwide Settlements Related To Opioid Crisis
New Jersey has joined nationwide settlement agreements with multiple pharmacy chains and drug makers to resolve claims related to the opioid crisis, Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced Wednesday. (Petrow-Cohen, 1/11)

Meanwhile, in other health news from the states —

The New York Times: Supreme Court Leaves New York’s Gun Law In Place For Now
The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed New York to enforce, for now, a law placing strict limits on guns outside the home that was enacted in response to a landmark ruling in June. The court’s brief, unsigned order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. Challenges to the new law are pending before the federal appeals court in New York. (Liptak, 1/11)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Declares State Of Emergency Over Homeless Crisis
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an emergency declaration aimed at dramatically speeding up services to the tens of thousands of people living in encampments and vehicles. The declaration started the clock: County officials with the Homeless Initiative now have two weeks to report to the board exactly what parts of the county bureaucracy can be scrapped. (Ellis, 1/10)

Chicago Tribune: Suit Filed Against Against Gynecologist And His Employer
Seven women are suing an obstetrician/gynecologist and his former employer, Duly Health and Care, alleging the doctor cared for patients while drunk and, in some cases, committed medical and sexual battery. (Schencker, 1/11)

The CT Mirror: CT Legislators Likely To Address Kids' Mental Health In 2023 Session
Mental health support for kids may be a theme in committees that deal with children’s issues this session, a continuation of the work legislators started last session with the passage of three sweeping bills focused on children’s mental health. (Monk and Harkay, 1/11)

The Baltimore Sun: The ‘First First Responder’: Mental Health Clinicians Are Now Taking Some Of Baltimore County’s 911 Calls 
Around 8:30 p.m. one Thursday last fall, a phone rang.“C3, Pam speaking,” a woman answered. For a few seconds, she nodded as she scribbled on a sticky note in front of her. Then she paused her note taking and spoke again into her headset. “Hey, I understand you have a tense situation out there tonight,” she said, her tone gentle. “Officers are getting sent out. I’m going to talk with you in the meantime.” (Costello, 1/12)

Crain's Detroit Business: Blue Cross Of Michigan Antitrust Case Tossed By Federal Judge
Late last month, a federal judge dismissed an antitrust lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, concluding the plaintiffs did not establish the Detroit-based insurer conspired to lower reimbursement. (Walsh, 1/11)

AP: Police: Man Assaulted Iowa Hospital Patients Before He Died
A male nurse practitioner who died of a drug overdose at a private hospital in Iowa sexually assaulted at least nine female patients while they were sedated or unconscious, hospital and police officials said. (1/11)

CIDRAP: As More Organs Affected, Outcomes Worsen In Kids With Post-COVID Syndrome 
A study of more than 4,100 US patients hospitalized with the post-COVID multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) suggests that deaths, length of stay, adverse drug reactions, and the proportion of Black patients rose along with the number of organ systems involved. (Van Beusekom, 1/6)

CIDRAP: Study Finds Few Mpox Infections After One Vaccine Dose 
A large study of patients seen at sexual health clinics in London found low numbers of mpox cases after vaccination with one dose of modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA-BN) vaccine. (Schnirring, 1/5)

ScienceDaily: Blood-Based Markers May Reveal Alzheimer Disease Ten Years Before Symptoms Show 
A new study on an inherited form of the disease shows that a protein called GFAP is a possible biomarker for very early stages of the disease. The study could one day lead to an earlier detection of this serious and common disease. (Karolinska Institutet, 1/10)

ScienceDaily: Consumption Of Fast Food Linked To Liver Disease
A new study found that eating fast food is associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a potentially life-threatening condition in which fat builds up in the liver. (University of Southern California - Health Sciences, 1/10)

USA Today: Anti-Abortion Bill Protects Fake Clinics. What About Provider Safety?
I am a board-certified OB-GYN who practices in Missouri and Illinois. I have seen firsthand the dangerous, almost immediate impacts of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. In fact, Missouri was the first to ban abortion in the minutes after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case was decided. (Dr. Colleen P. McNicholas, 1/12)

Stat: 4 Keys Gaps In Global Epidemic, Pandemic Responses 
Three years after news of the first cases of Covid-19 infections and deaths began to appear, the global response to pandemics remains in a sluggish, reactive mode, waiting until dire threats emerge before initiating action. Take the latest Ebola outbreak in central Uganda. It’s been more than a month since the last case has been found, and a two-month lockdown of two districts west of the capital, Kampala, ended in mid-December. After containing the outbreak to “only” 55 deaths, everyone is ready to move on — without planning for the future. (Jerome H. Kim, 1/11)

Stat: Uganda Ebola Outbreak Highlights Need For Vaccine Stockpile
When I learned that an outbreak of Ebola was declared in Uganda last fall, I had a flashback to 2014 when I was working at Merck and an outbreak of Ebola disease caused by a different species of the virus emerged in full force in West Africa. (Swati Gupta, 1/11)

Newsweek: The DEA Needs To Do More, Not Less, To Combat Opioid Abuse
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is facing fresh scrutiny about its efforts to reduce the supply of prescription opioids. Critics of the agency claim it has been overzealous in pursuit of its mission to enforce the controlled substances laws of the United States. (Jim Crotty, 1/11)

The Boston Globe: Let Pharmacists Prescribe Addiction Medicine 
Although medications like buprenorphine and methadone are safe and effective at treating addiction and preventing overdose and death, regulatory hurdles have prevented these treatments from being widely utilized. A recent national study estimated that 87 percent of people with opioid use disorder never receive any medication treatment. (Traci Green, Jeffrey Bratberg and Josiah Rich, 1/12)

Bloomberg: Tackling Homelessness Requires New Resources
With homelessness rising in several US cities, some officials are considering a controversial approach: involuntary hospitalization of the mentally ill. The policy has risks, and to have any hope of success it requires ample funding and planning. But without bold action the problem will only get worse. (1/11)

Stat: Democratizing Drug Development Will Be A Win For All
In 1992, the film Lorenzo’s Oil celebrated the true story of two parents who, despite their lack of scientific training, gathered the know-how and support they needed to develop a treatment for their son, who was suffering from adrenoleukodystrophy, a rare neurological disease. (Vanessa Almendro, 1/12)

The CT Mirror: Climate Change Can Affect Mental Health
“Climate change is projected to cause 83 million excess deaths by 2100.” Statistics such as this depict a grim future for humanity and the planet alike, and are more frequently being shared across news networks, social media platforms and stream-able documentaries. The reality of these projections can negatively affect individuals’ mental health, and threatens to devalue the importance of individual actions in the fight against the changing climate. (Mitchell Manware, 1/12)