Bloomberg: Biden Seeks To Boost Abortion Patient Privacy After Roe Tossed
The Biden administration moved to assure women that sensitive information – including medical records related to abortion and data collected by health and period tracking apps – could be shielded from law enforcement after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion. The Department of Health and Human Services issued new guidance Wednesday telling health-care providers they are not required to - and often legally prohibited from – disclosing private health-care information related to abortion and other sexual and reproductive health care. (Sink, 6/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Abortion Ruling Prompts Privacy Guidelines From Biden Administration
For instance, the guidance document says, a hospital employee who suspected a patient of having an abortion in a state where it is illegal couldn’t report that to law-enforcement personnel unless a state law specifically required such reporting. (Mathews, 6/29)

The Washington Post: The Planned Parenthood Website Shares Your Data
An investigation by Lockdown Privacy, the maker of an app that blocks online tracking, found that Planned Parenthood’s web scheduler can share information with a variety of third parties, including Google, Facebook, TikTok and Hotjar, a tracking tool that says it helps companies understand how customers behave. These outside companies receive data including IP addresses, approximate Zip codes and service selections, which privacy experts worry could be valuable to state governments looking to prosecute abortions. (Hunter, 6/29)

The Washington Post: Abortion Is Illegal For Millions. Will Big Tech Help Prosecute It?
Even before Roe v. Wade was overturned, tech workers and privacy advocates had a big question: Will Big Tech help in abortion prosecutions by sharing user data with police? (De Vynck, O'Donovan, Tiku and Dwoskin, 6/29)

The Boston Globe: A Chilling Post-Roe Reality In An Age Of Digital Tracking
Delete your period app. Get your daughter a burner phone. These are a couple of the chilling recommendations tech security experts have for women in the new post-Roe United States, where anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. And now, in states with early-abortion bans, that includes your digital data. “The privacy issues are going to be a really big thing,” says Carmel Shachar, who directs the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. Going forward, in antiabortion states a pregnant person who Googles the abortion pill or ventures to a reproductive health clinic with her phone in her pocket will be putting herself at risk. (Holmes and Dreyfuss, 6/30)

Also —

The New York Times: First Amendment Confrontation May Loom In Post-Roe Fight 
The Supreme Court declared clearly last week that there is no federal right to abortion. But how the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization affects the right to talk about abortion remains far from settled, teeing up what legal experts said was a looming confrontation over whether the First Amendment allows censoring speech about a medical procedure that will become illegal in much of the country. In states where abortion is outlawed, for instance, how can women be informed of their options elsewhere? (Peters, 6/29)

The New York Times: In States Banning Abortion, A Growing Rift Over Enforcement 
Dozens of Democratic prosecutors who represent liberal pockets in conservative states already have vowed to resist bans by refusing to bring charges against abortion providers. But in many rural areas and outlying suburbs, conservative prosecutors have said they will enforce their state bans. (Goodman and Healy, 6/29)

CNN: Abortion: Some Big-City District Attorneys Vow Not To Prosecute Providers, Setting Up Legal Clashes In Red States 
More than a third of the district attorneys representing the 25 most populous counties in states that have banned or are set to ban abortion have publicly vowed not to prosecute abortion cases, according to a CNN review. (Tolan, 6/30)

In related news —

The Hill: Biden Plans To Nominate Anti-Abortion Lawyer As Federal Judge: Yarmuth
President Biden plans to nominate a conservative lawyer who has represented anti-abortion causes to a federal judgeship in Kentucky, according to Rep. John Yarmuth’s (D-Ky.) office. Chad Meredith, the attorney, has previously served as Kentucky’s solicitor general and represented a number of Kentucky’s top GOP officials in cases curbing abortion access and COVID-19 public health measures. (Schonfeld, 6/29)

On crossing state lines for an abortion —

The Washington Post: Anti-Abortion Lawmakers Seek To Block Patients From Crossing State Lines 
Several national antiabortion groups and their allies in Republican-led state legislatures are advancing plans to stop people in states where abortion is banned from seeking the procedure elsewhere, according to people involved in the discussions. ... The Thomas More Society, a conservative legal organization, is drafting model legislation for state lawmakers that would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a resident of a state that has banned abortion from terminating a pregnancy outside of that state. (Kitchener and Barrett, 6/29)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Uptick In Out Of State Abortion Patients Coming To NH, Maine, Vermont
Staff at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England are reporting a spike in appointments for contraceptives and an uptick in out-of-state abortion patients following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and end the constitutional right to abortion. Since Roe fell on Friday, a handful of patients from states like South Dakota and Louisiana, where the procedure is now illegal, have scheduled abortions in northern New England. Abortions remain legal in New Hampshire up to 24 weeks, and past that in a few circumstances. (Fam, 6/29)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Page Backs $1 Million St. Louis County Plan To Help Residents Get Out-Of-State Abortions
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page on Wednesday backed a proposal before the County Council to set aside $1 million in federal pandemic aid to help people get abortions in other states. The proposal is a response to the state’s ban on most abortions, following the U.S. Supreme Court decision Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade. Page on Wednesday said the Supreme Court decision “endangered the lives of millions of Americans” and “triggered a major public health crisis in Missouri.” (Benchaabane, 6/29)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Abortion Funds Fear Jail Time In Post-Roe Legal Turmoil
For years, the Frontera Fund hotline has helped residents of the Rio Grande Valley access and pay for abortions in the region and out of state. But now, callers get just a recorded voicemail message: “In light of the Supreme Court decision and the uncertainty around Texas law, we are forced to pause funding at this time,” the recording says. “We are working diligently with our lawyers and national partners to get through this crisis.” As one of two full-time staffers at the Frontera Fund, Cathy Torres has been fielding these calls for years. Now, each missed call breaks her heart a little more. (Douglas and Klibanoff, 6/29)

KHN: Watch: Crossing State Lines For Abortion Care 
Since last week’s Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, one state after another has outlawed abortion. Illinois is one of the few states in the middle of the country where people can still legally access abortion care. In this report co-produced by PBS NewsHour, KHN senior correspondent Sarah Varney traveled from Illinois’ border with Missouri to its border with Wisconsin to talk to clinicians who provide abortion care. Dr. Erin King is the executive director of Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. (6/29)

The 19th: How Much Does An Abortion Cost? Travel, Medical Supplies Have Prices Rising
Soaring inflation is making travel more expensive just as millions of people have lost access to abortion in their own states, stretching the already limited resources of the private funds that help people pay for the procedures. (Luthra, 6/29)

NPR: Supreme Court's Ruling Makes It Even Harder For Adolescents To Get Abortions
Before last week, adolescents seeking abortions in the U.S. already had to struggle through a thicket of legal hurdles and logistical challenges to access reproductive health care. The Supreme Court decision striking down Roe v. Wade made it that much harder. A number of states have already banned or severely restricted abortions in light of the ruling — laws that apply equally to adolescents and adults. Young people who go out of state to seek abortions elsewhere in the U.S. may run up against laws requiring parental involvement, which are common across the country. (Hernandez, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: New Abortion Lawsuits Continue In States Cutting Access
State court battles over the future of abortion access continued to expand Wednesday, as abortion providers in Ohio and West Virginia filed legal challenges to state laws curtailing access to the procedure. In Ohio, abortion-rights groups and local providers asked the state Supreme Court to block a law banning abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy that went into effect on Friday. ... In West Virginia, abortion providers and advocates filed a lawsuit in state court challenging a law dating back to the 1800s that has created uncertainty over whether abortion is legal in the state, causing providers to stop offering the procedure. (Kusisto and Calfas, 6/29)

USA Today: 'Trigger' Laws That Ban Abortion Are Being Challenged In Court: What To Know
U.S. abortion providers are challenging a growing number of state “trigger laws” designed to ban abortion after the Supreme Court ended constitutional abortion protections. A handful of challenges to trigger laws adopted in 13 states come as states also face expected legal battles over certain restrictions – such as bans on abortions over six or 15 weeks – as well as outdated bans from as far back to the 19th century that were never removed from state statues after the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. (Kenning, 6/29)

AP: Arizona Attorney General: Pre-1901 Abortion Ban Enforceable 
Arizona’s Republican attorney general announced Wednesday that a pre-statehood law that bans all abortions is enforceable and that he will soon file for the removal of an injunction that has blocked it for nearly 50 years. Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office said after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 1973 decision that said abortion was a constitutional right that he was weighing whether the old law could be be enforced. (Christie, 6/30)

Lexington Herald Leader: Kentucky’s ‘Trigger Law’ Could Put Doctors In Prison For Five Years. How Does It Work? 
Effective immediately, surgical and medication abortions are illegal in Kentucky. Performing an abortion is a Class D felony, punishable by one to five years in prison. Penalties can be levied on those who perform a surgical procedure or prescribe or provide pills to a woman to end her pregnancy, such as mifepristone and misoprostol. Pregnant women cannot be held criminally responsible under the law as presently written. The people at risk would be medical professionals — doctors, nurses, pharmacists. (Cheves, 6/29)

The Salt Lake Tribune: State Lawmakers Say They Will Run Bills Modifying Utah's Abortion Laws
State lawmakers are already looking at ways to update Utah’s abortion laws, less than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Rep. Angela Romero told The Salt Lake Tribune on Wednesday that she is proposing a bill that would remove criminal penalties for health care providers who provide abortion services. (Jacobs, 6/29)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Roe Ruling, Abortion Ban May Affect Wisconsin Doctor Recruitment
Molly Wecker, a second-year medical student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, had long planned to be an obstetrics-gynecology doctor in her home state. But with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling last week, the Rock County native is rethinking her plan. “Wisconsin is in desperate need of OB/GYNs,” she said. “It’s an underserved area for sure. It’d be great to help fill in that gap, but with the possibility of having incomplete medical training, it makes it hard for me to consider staying in Wisconsin.” (Meyerhofer, 6/29)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Abortion Funds Fear Jail Time In Post-Roe Legal Turmoil
For years, the Frontera Fund hotline has helped residents of the Rio Grande Valley access and pay for abortions in the region and out of state. But now, callers get just a recorded voicemail message: “In light of the Supreme Court decision and the uncertainty around Texas law, we are forced to pause funding at this time,” the recording says. “We are working diligently with our lawyers and national partners to get through this crisis.” (Douglas and Klibanoff, 6/29)

The Washington Post: On Abortion, Virginia Gov. Youngkin Says He Will Sign ‘Any Bill ... To Protect Life’ 
Gov. Glenn Youngkin said this week he believes life begins at conception and vowed to sign “any bill … to protect life” that reaches his desk, expressing more ambitious antiabortion goals than he set out last year on the campaign trail or expects to pull off in the next legislative session. (Vozzella, 6/29)

And Texas may soon go after same-sex couples —

The Washington Post: Texas AG Says He’d Defend Sodomy Law If Supreme Court Revisits Ruling
The Republican attorney general, who is running for reelection in November, suggested he would be comfortable supporting a law outlawing intimate same-sex relationships. (Bella, 6/29)

The Atlantic: The Abortion Pill Can Be Used Later Than The FDA Says
When the U.S. finally approved medication abortion in 2000—much delayed because of political controversy—the FDA allowed only self-managed abortions up to seven weeks and did not extend to 10 weeks until 2016. Since then, though, international consensus has shifted with new data. The World Health Organization now recommends 12 weeks, or the end of the first trimester, as the cutoff for self-managing a medication abortion. ... In countries where abortion is or until recently had been illegal, such as Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, and Chile, activists have for years helped women self-manage medication abortions in the second trimester up to 24 weeks. Different stages in pregnancy just require different doses of the drugs. (Zhang, 6/29)

ABC News: Mobile Abortion Clinics Ramp Up Operations As Roe V. Wade Is Overturned 
Just The Pill, which was founded in 2020, provides reproductive health care services in Colorado, Minnesota, Montana and Wyoming. They also currently operate two mobile clinics in Colorado. The services Just The Pill provides include medication abortion, which is an abortion procedure that uses a combination of pills to terminate a pregnancy. The group announced it would build a fleet of mobile clinics that would travel across the country, specifically in states where abortion remains legal yet surrounding states have banned the procedure, such as Illinois and New Mexico. (Moscufo and Mielke, 6/29)

WUSF Public Media: Medication Abortion And Other Reproductive Care Is Still Legal In Florida. Here's How To Access It
Doctors with Planned Parenthood want Floridians to know they are still providing reproductive health care in the state, including abortions. In the days since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, calls to Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida have “skyrocketed,” according to Chief Medical Officer Robyn Schickler. “Patients are calling, if they have appointments, seeing if they still have appointments, calling to see if we’re going to close,” Dr. Schickler said. “And then, even patients that were worried about birth control visits like, ‘What does this mean about birth control, can I still get my birth control?’ So a lot of confusion and hectic chaos.” (Colombini, 6/29)

On Plan B and other contraceptives —

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Hospital System Does About-Face On Emergency Contraceptives, Says Missouri Law Unclear
A Kansas City-area hospital system decided late Wednesday to resume providing emergency contraceptives after not making them available to patients in the wake of Missouri’s new abortion ban. But concern and confusion over their use remain. (Munz and Suntrup, 6/29)

Missouri Independent: Abortion Ban Does Not Prohibit Plan B Or Contraception In Missouri 
After at least one hospital system in Missouri stopped providing emergency contraception because of ambiguity in the state’s abortion ban, Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office clarified Wednesday that contraception is not prohibited under state law. “Missouri law does not prohibit the use or provision of Plan B, or contraception,” said Chris Nuelle, a spokesman for Schmitt. The Kansas City Star first reported late Tuesday night that Saint Luke’s Health System in Kansas City was no longer providing emergency contraception, citing the “ambiguous” nature of Missouri’s trigger ban. (Weinberg and Kite, 6/29)

AP: Amazon, Rite Aid Cap Purchase Of Emergency Contraceptives 
Amazon is limiting how many emergency contraceptives consumers can buy, joining other retailers who put in place similar caps following the Supreme Court decision overruling Roe v. Wade. Amazon’s limit, which temporarily caps purchase of the contraceptives at three units per week, went into effect on Monday, a spokesperson for the e-commerce giant confirmed to The Associated Press. (Hadero, 6/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Online Healthcare Companies Increase Advertising For Morning-After Pill 
Companies that sell sexual health products and medicines over the internet are shifting their marketing strategies to highlight the availability of mail-order emergency contraception, commonly known as morning-after pills. ... Some online providers are encouraging customers to stock up for later emergencies. (Deighton, 6/29)

NBC News: Black Women Are Underserved When It Comes To Birth Control Access. The Roe Decision Could Make That Worse.
The Supreme Court’s ruling to gut nationwide rights to abortion last week has highlighted the importance of access to birth control, which already proves difficult for many women of color due to discrimination, stigma and systemic barriers in the health care system. (Bellamy, 6/30)

Interest in vasectomies has surged —

Kansas City Star: Considering Vasectomy After Roe V Wade Was Overturned? 
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned on Friday and Missouri’s trigger ban outlawed nearly all abortion in the state, interest in vasectomies has been on the rise around Kansas City. Since the ruling dropped on Friday, The Kansas City Urology Care, which has about a dozen locations in the region, has seen nearly a 90% increase in vasectomy consultation, according to urologist, Dr. Christian Hettinger. Vasectomies are a safe and effective form of birth control for people who have sperm and are trying to prevent pregnancy, but Kansas City doctors warned they are intended to be permanent. (Phillips, 6/30)

NBC News: ‘No Question’ That U.S. Maternal Mortality Rate Will Rise Post-Roe, Experts Say
An analysis published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open found that maternal deaths increased in 2020 by as much as 41% after the pandemic was declared. The increases were starkest for Hispanic and Black women. As states across the country curtail access to abortion, women’s health advocates and researchers foresee the maternal mortality rate and its racial disparities only getting worse — particularly because states that are banning abortion are often the ones that already have high maternal mortality rates. (Chuck, 6/30)

ABC News: US Maternal Mortality Increased 33% During Pandemic, Hitting Black And Hispanic Women Especially Hard 
Hispanic women had nine more deaths per 100,000 births, a 74% increase from the years before the pandemic. Non-Hispanic Black women had 16.8 more deaths per 100,000 births, a 40% increase from previous numbers. White women, however, had only 2.9 more deaths per 100,000 births, a change of 17%. (Dumlao, 6/28)

CIDRAP: Maternal Deaths Climbed 33% During COVID-19 
For underlying cause-of-death codes, the authors determined that the largest relative increase was among indirect causes (56.9%), specifically other viral diseases (2,374.7%), diseases of the respiratory system (117.7%), and diseases of the circulatory system (72.1%). Relative increases in direct causes (27.7%) were mostly associated with diabetes in pregnancy (95.9%), high blood pressure (39.0%), and other pregnancy-related conditions (48.0%). (Wappes, 6/29)

Vox: Black Women Will Suffer The Most Without Abortion Access 
Black women have the highest rates of maternal mortality and pregnancy complications, and those risks will only increase if more Black women have to carry unwanted pregnancies to term. Here are the numbers that show how alarming the situation is. (Cineas, 6/29)

The Washington Post: Senators Kill Sweeping Plan To Reshape Sprawling VA Health Care System 
A long-sought realignment of the country’s largest health care system was killed this week by bipartisan political resistance through a short news release from 12 senators who said they would not approve the nine nominees up for confirmation to establish the Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission. And a costly four-year effort to reposition VA in an increasingly competitive health care market fell victim to the principle that, just as all politics is local, so, apparently, is any decision to shift services for a constituency as crucial as veterans. (Rein, 6/29)

AP: Realignment Of Veterans' Healthcare Facilities On Hold 
Proposed changes in veterans’ healthcare facilities in South Dakota and elsewhere are on hold for now. Some U.S. senators, including South Dakota’s Mike Rounds and John Thune, have agreed to dismantle a commission tasked by the Department of Veterans Affairs to carry out closures, downsizing and other significant changes to medical facilities. That means the VA Hospital in Hot Springs will remain open. (6/29)

In other military news —

NBC News: U.S. Military Hasn't Implemented Measure To Help Service Members Seek Mental Health Care
The U.S. military has not yet put a six-month-old federal law designed to improve how service members get mental health care into effect, despite a recent rash of suicides in the Navy. The Brandon Act, which allows members of the military to confidentially seek mental health help, was signed into law by President Joe Biden in December under the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. (Chan, 6/29)

Military Times: Marine Corps, Army Report Disproportionate Substance Abuse, Mental Health Issues
Substance abuse and mental health challenges are disproportionately common in the Marine Corps and Army when compared to the other military services, according to a Rand study published Tuesday. And the reason may have more to do with culture than the individual troops themselves. (Myers, 6/24)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Agrees To Pay $3.2 Billion For More Pfizer Covid Vaccines 
The Biden administration has agreed to pay $3.2 billion for 105 million doses of Pfizer Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine. The deal would provide supplies for the federal government’s planned fall booster campaign. ... Under the deal, the federal government would have the option to buy 195 million additional doses, the Health and Human Services Department said Wednesday. (Restuccia and Hopkins, 6/29)

Politico: Florida Surgeon General Tells Lawmakers Blocking Orders To Childhood Vaccines Could Have Led To Delays 
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo told a congressional subcommittee this week that Florida did not allow pediatricians and health care providers to place orders for Covid-19 vaccines for young children until the doses were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which ultimately could have led to short delays in accessing the vaccines. (Kihara, 6/29)

Houston Chronicle: Sen. Ted Cruz Targets Sesame Street Over Elmo’s COVID Shot
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is again taking issue with the Muppets of “Sesame Street” over COVID vaccines. First, it was Big Bird, the 6-year-old yellow-feathered friend who was vaccinated last November. Cruz called the announcement “government propaganda," fueling a skit on “Saturday Night Live.” His adversary this time? Elmo, age 3 and a half — and his dad, Louie, who took Elmo to get the shot just days after the United States authorized the vaccine for children under 5. (Harris, 6/29)

In other news on the spread of covid —

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Clark County COVID-19 Hospitalizations Rise, Mostly Older And Unvaccinated
Hospitalizations from COVID-19 in Clark County were back up this week after a slight decrease the week before, but people who required hospitalization are generally older and unvaccinated, the Nevada Hospital Association said Wednesday. (Longhi, 6/29)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Missouri Mental Health Facility Struggles To Find Room To Isolate Patients With COVID
Living space is so limited at a controversial lock-up for some of Missouri’s most troubled residents that they aren’t kept away from roommates who test positive for COVID-19. Stan Schell, 74, said this scenario recently played out for him in Farmington at Sex Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Services, or SORTS, a Missouri Department of Mental Health program for sexually violent predators civilly committed against their will. In a letter, Schell said he lives in a small room with three other patients. He said two of them tested positive May 31. Schell said his request to move the men into isolation elsewhere was denied. (Bogan, 6/29)

The New York Times: Fauci Says He Believes Paxlovid Kept Him Out Of The Hospital, Even Though He Tested Positive Again
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s top medical adviser for the coronavirus pandemic, sought on Wednesday to discourage doubts about the antiviral drug Paxlovid after disclosing that he had suffered what appeared to be a “rebound” of Covid-19 after taking a five-day course of the pills. (Stolberg, 6/30)

The Washington Post: The Pandemic Is Waning. Anthony Fauci Has a Few More Lessons to Share
Since March 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci has a been a ubiquitous presence in the news. But despite the countless stories about him and his endless TV appearances, most Americans still don’t have a sense of what he’s learned in his role as their top doctor: what he’s come to understand about pandemics, about the good and bad of government service, and, really, about all of us. (Peele, 6/29)

Stat: Health Insurers And Employers Now Have To Publish What They Pay For Care
The federal government’s latest push for more health care price transparency starts July 1, and it is focused on those who are writing the checks: Health insurance companies and employers that directly pay for their workers’ medical care will have to start posting data on what they pay hospitals, doctors, and other providers. (Herman, 6/30)

USA Today: More Than Half Of Hospitals Haven't Revealed Pricing Data, Study Says
Since the beginning of 2021, a federal law has required hospitals to post prices and establish a consumer-friendly price list for 300 common procedures and services. But a new study finds more than half of U.S. hospitals have failed to meet either of the two main requirements of the federal Hospital Price Transparency law, which aims to give consumers an opportunity to shop for prices before getting non-emergency medical care. (Alltucker, 6/30)

Stat: A Rich Republican Businessman Is Winning The Fight For Lower Hospital Prices
Al Hubbard isn’t the typical crusader for lowering health care costs. Hubbard and his wife golf with Condoleezza Rice. He’s a Harvard Business School buddy of George W. Bush, and the former chairman of Indiana’s Republican Party. He’s also a prolific political donor, generous with the millions he made buying and growing companies in sectors as diverse as specialty chemicals, gluten-free baked goods, and camper van rentals. He’s also, lately, been shockingly successful at forcing hospitals to lower their prices. (Cohrs, 6/30)

In nursing home news —

Modern Healthcare: CMS Updates Nursing Home Staffing Compliance Guidelines
Nursing home surveyors will begin using payroll data to investigate noncompliance with staffing rules, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in guidance issued Wednesday. The agency also states that long-term care facilities must employ at least a part-time infection prevention employee, elaborates on new arbitration requirements and more. The guidance takes effect Oct. 24. The document is part of President Joe Biden's crackdown on nursing home safety and quality. (Goldman, 6/29)

In other health industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Alignment Healthcare Expands As Insurtech Rivals Shring Their Footprint
Alignment Healthcare will expand into Texas and Florida, two of the most competitive and fastest-growing Medicare Advantage markets in the nation. In addition to offering Medicare Advantage in those states during open enrollment this year, the company on Wednesday said it also plans to extend its reach into more counties in Arizona, California, Nevada and North Carolina for the upcoming plan year, pending regulatory approval. (Tepper, 6/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Rite Aid CFO Looks To Cut Debt As Earnings Suffer 
Rite Aid Corp. is closing stores and looking for ways to boost its revenue as it faces widening losses and a pile of debt. (Maurer, 6/29)

Genomeweb: Helix, Memorial Hermann Health System Partner On Population Genomics Project
Population genomics and viral surveillance company Helix said Tuesday that it has begun a new partnership with Texas' Memorial Hermann Health System to launch a new population health program targeting 100,000 individuals. Expected to be one of the largest such programs in the region, the effort will give participants no-cost access to genetic data intended to help them and their medical providers assess their risk for serious health conditions such as cardiovascular disease and certain cancers. (6/29)

The Washington Post: More Than 150 Grand Canyon Visitors Infected With Norovirus 
More than 150 rafters and backcountry campers who visited the Grand Canyon in April and May reported symptoms of a gastrointestinal illness, the National Park Service said this week. The symptoms — including nausea, stomach cramping and pain, vomiting, and diarrhea — are representative of norovirus, according to a release from the National Park Service Office of Public Health. (Compton, 6/29)

In other health and wellness news —

CIDRAP: NIH Launches Universal Flu Vaccine Clinical Trial
The National Institute of Health (NIH) yesterday announced the launch of a phase 1 clinical trial of a universal flu vaccine, with a goal of enrolling up to 100 adults 18 to 55 years old. (6/29)

The Washington Post: U.S. Population Continues To Become Older, More Diverse, Census Data Shows 
The U.S. population is continuing a two-decade trajectory during which it has grown older and less White, according to Census Bureau data released Thursday. (Bahrampour, 6/30)

CNN: Sleep Duration Matters For Heart Health: AHA Checklist 
If you needed another reason to get enough sleep, here it is: It may help your heart health. The American Heart Association added sleep duration to its cardiovascular health checklist. It's a part of "Life's Essential 8," a questionnaire that measures eight key areas to determine a person's cardiovascular health. The updated list was published Wednesday in Circulation, AHA's peer-reviewed journal, and replaced the association's "Life's Simple 7" questionnaire, which had been used since 2010. In addition to sleep, the new list retained the original categories: diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose and blood pressure. (Marples, 6/29)

Stat: Food Science Inspires New Approach To Treating Gut And Liver Injury
Inspired by how coffee shops foam milk, as well as gummy candy and sizzling Pop Rocks, researchers have designed three gas-trapping materials to deliver a low dose of carbon monoxide into the body to potentially treat gastrointestinal disorders. Carbon monoxide is fatal when inhaled at high concentrations, but the team’s results, published in Science Translational Medicine on Wednesday, showed that the three systems — using foam, a hydrogel, and a solid — can effectively deliver carbon monoxide in mice. The foam method was found to reduce tissue injury and inflammation in mouse models of chemically induced colitis, radiation-induced proctitis, and liver injury due to acetaminophen overdose, and also tested in pigs. (Muthukumar, 6/29)

NPR: Doctor's Experience In A Mid-Flight Emergency Opens Questions About Medical Kits
A couple of hours into her Delta Air Lines flight to Portugal earlier this month, Dr. Andrea Merrill heard the call to help a fellow passenger with a medical emergency. She approached the scene and was handed a red bag. "They told me it was the medical kit, and I opened it up to see what's in there because I've never been in a medical emergency before," Merrill said. What was in the kit surprised her. (Marquez Janse and Fox, 6/29)

And in updates on the spread of monkeypox —

AP: Health Officials: Michigan Has 1st Probable Monkeypox Case 
Michigan’s first probable case of monkeypox has been identified in suburban Detroit, health officials said Wednesday. The case was identified in an Oakland County resident who is currently isolating and does not pose a risk to the public, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported. (6/30)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Monkeypox Cases Rise In Georgia, Small Number Of Vaccines Ordered
Georgia Public Health officials ordered a small number of a monkeypox vaccines for high-risk people as new cases of the virus continue to climb here and around the world. Federal health officials announced plans Tuesday to send several thousand vaccine doses from the federal government’s Strategic National Stockpile across the country for people who may have been exposed to the virus. (Oliviero, 6/29)

Bloomberg: Monkeypox Cases: NYC Says 62 People Presumed To Have Tested Positive
A total of 62 people in New York City are presumed to have tested positive for monkeypox. Most of the patients that have tested positive are experiencing mild illnesses that have not required hospitalization, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said on its website on Wednesday. (Sapienza, 6/29)

St. Louis Public Radio: Record Numbers Of Syphilis Cases In St. Louis Spur Health Officials To Action
Missouri last year reported the highest number of congenital syphilis cases in the state since 1994. St. Louis and St. Louis County each reported 11 congenital syphilis cases in 2021 — a sharp increase from five years ago. In response, the St. Louis and St. Louis County health departments are urging people who are pregnant to get tested for syphilis so they do not pass it to their children. “It's really heartbreaking because every single case of congenital syphilis is 100% preventable,” said Nebu Kolenchery, director of communicable disease response for the St. Louis County Health Department. (Anderson, 6/30)

In news from California —

AP: California Late Start Law Aims To Make School Less Of A Yawn 
Beginning this fall high schools in the nation’s most populous state can’t start before 8:30 a.m. and middle schools can’t start before 8 a.m. under a 2019 first-in-the-nation law forbidding earlier start times. Similar proposals are before lawmakers in New Jersey and Massachusetts. Advocates say teens do better on school work when they’re more alert, and predict even broader effects: a reduction in suicides and teen car accidents and improved physical and mental health. (Thompson, 6/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Ranks Worst In California For Police-Caused Hospitalization Rates For Black Residents
A new UCSF study is drawing a sharp link between lingering racial segregation and the increased threat of police violence against Black residents. The study, published Wednesday in the JAMA Network, an online medical journal, also reveals something else: Out of 52 California counties included in the study, San Francisco had the highest injury rate for Black residents. (Narayan, 6/29)

KHN: California May Require Labels On Pot Products To Warn Of Mental Health Risks 
Liz Kirkaldie’s grandson was near the top of his class in high school and a talented jazz bassist when he started smoking pot. The more serious he got about music, the more serious he got about pot. And the more serious he got about pot, the more paranoid, even psychotic, he became. He started hearing voices. (Dembosky, 6/30)

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

AP: Dental Coverage To Expand To More Than 200K Maine Residents 
A state that has among the fewest dentists in the Northeast will soon expand dental care access. Maine has about 55 dentists per 100,000 residents, which is below the national average of about 61 and well below New England states such as Massachusetts and Connecticut. State officials said Wednesday more than 200,000 Maine residents will start getting access to dental care coverage on Friday. (6/29)

North Carolina Health News: Streamlined Medicaid For NC Foster Kids Hits A Wall 
A few years ago, Gaile Osborne and her husband took in several foster children. Osborne, a special education teacher, should have been the perfect foster parent. There was one problem. Osborne and her family lived in Buncombe County. The children were originally from Alamance County. That meant Osborne was unable to get the mental health services her foster children needed from Vaya, the local mental health management entity (known as an LME-MCO) that covers western North Carolina. Hoban, 6/30)

Bloomberg: New York To Bolster Concealed-Carry Laws To Blunt Supreme Court Gun Decision 
“We take this deadly seriously. This Supreme Court decision was a setback for us, but I would call it a temporary set back,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said at a Wednesday news conference. The governor and the Democratic-dominated Legislature negotiated the details of the new gun legislation to speed its passage in votes scheduled for Thursday. (Clukey and Cutler, 6/29)

KHN: Montana’s Blackfeet Tribe To Use Dogs To Sniff Out Disease And Contaminants 
Kenneth Cook used a mallet and a chisel to crack into a pig’s skull in the gravel driveway outside his home on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana. Cook planned to use the pig’s brains in brain tanning, practiced by Indigenous people for thousands of years. (Bolton, 6/30)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: $3.8M Grant Aims To Help Rural Mental Health In Nevada
When Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee first joined the sheriff’s office more than three decades ago, he says there was a mental health call roughly once a month. Now, Lee says his deputies deal with mental health calls weekly, if not daily. “I have never seen law enforcement being asked to do more than they are right now,” Lee said. “Officers are being asked to do things that we were never trained to do.” (Longhi, 6/29)

AP: Ski Resort To Retire Name To Avoid Mental Health Connotation 
A small ski area in Vermont has announced that it’s retiring its name, Suicide Six, this summer amid growing concerns about the insensitive nature of the historical name. The resort said on its website on Tuesday that it shares those concerns and “embraces the increasing awareness surrounding mental health.” (6/29)

CIDRAP: Persistent Symptoms Common After COVID-19 In Children, MIS-C
More than one in four children hospitalized with acute COVID-19 or COVID-related multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) experienced persistent symptoms or problems with daily activity for at least 2 months, a study across 25 US pediatric hospitals finds. It was published today in Pediatrics. (6/29)

CIDRAP: UK Study Shows Long COVID More Common In Women, Adults 50 To 60
Symptoms of long COVID are more frequently reported by women, those with poor overall health before the pandemic, and those aged 50 to 60, according to a new UK-based study in Nature Communications. The study was based on results gathered from 6,907 people with self-reported COVID-19 from 10 population-based longitudinal health surveys in the United Kingdom that had been in place prior to the pandemic. (6/29)

New England Journal of Medicine: BNT162b2 Vaccine Effectiveness Against Omicron In Children 5 To 11 Years Of Age 
Using data from the largest health care organization in Israel, we identified a cohort of children 5 to 11 years of age who were vaccinated on or after November 23, 2021, and matched them with unvaccinated controls to estimate the vaccine effectiveness of BNT162b2 among newly vaccinated children during the omicron wave. (Chandra J. Cohen-Stavi, Ph.D, et al, 6/29)

ScienceDaily: RNA Modifications In Mitochondria Promote Invasive Spread Of Cancer 
Mitochondria are the power plants of cells, and they contain their own genetic material and RNA molecules. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have now discovered that certain modifications in mitochondrial RNA boost the invasive spread of cancer cells by supporting protein synthesis in mitochondria. (German Cancer Research Center, 6/29)

CIDRAP: Study: Quicker Antibiotic Therapy For Sepsis Doesn't Lead To Overuse 
A study involving more than 1.5 million US hospital patients found that quicker antimicrobial treatment for sepsis did not lead to increased antibiotic use, a finding that may ease antimicrobial stewardship concerns about sepsis treatment guidelines. (Dall, 6/29)

NBC News: What Facebook And Instagram's Restricting Abortion Pills Posts So Fast Should Tell Us
Friday’s Supreme Court decision eliminating the constitutional right to abortion in the U.S. has sent the demand for prescribed pills that induce abortion skyrocketing. So it’s staggering that, at the very time women most need information about and access to these medications, Facebook and Instagram are making it hard for them to find it. (Kara Alaimo, 6/28)

The Boston Globe: What The Supreme Court’s Abortion Reversal Means For In Vitro Fertilization
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization will upend the lives of pregnant persons across the United States seeking abortions who live in states that will now restrict or eliminate their access. As the three dissenting justices argued, and one of the majority justices advocated in a concurring opinion, the court’s decision could also pave the way for the reversal of key precedents constitutionally protecting important rights including same-sex intimacy, same-sex marriage, and even contraception. In between its immediate effects on abortion and possible future effects on other rights is a question on the minds of families across America: What will the ruling mean for families trying to have children through in vitro fertilization and other reproductive technologies? (I. Glenn Cohen, Judith Daar and Eli Y. Adashi, 6/30)

The Baltimore Sun: Abortion Is My Birthright
Last month, at a pro-choice rally in my hometown located 20 minutes north of New York City, my mother took the megaphone for the first time in her life and said “I’ve had two abortions. ”I had known this about my mother since childhood, who would mention the abortions to me and my sister in passing, without explanation or shame. Abortion was part of what allowed my family to be a tight-knit quartet, and this knowledge existed somewhere in the back of each of our minds without ever having to be explicitly said. (Alessandra Hirsch, 6/29)

The Star Tribune: Facing Realities Of A Post-Roe World 
Coretta Scott King cautioned us that, "Freedom is never really won; you earn it and win it in every generation. "During this heavy time, with the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, we feel these words ring loudly at the core of our being. We need to remind Minnesotans that women, girls and gender-expansive people must be centered and valued, and that they are fully capable of making their own life choices in order to thrive. (Gloria Perez, 6/29)

The Washington Post: How Scott Atlas's 'Herd Immunity' Approach Wrecked Covid Response
In the very early days of the pandemic, a Stanford University professor and health policy expert, Scott Atlas, wrote to a high-level government official in Washington that lockdowns and other measures were wrong. “The panic needs to be stopped both about the need for lockdown and even a frantic need for urgent testing,” he said on March 21, 2020. This set the tone for a strategy known as herd immunity that he advocated at the White House starting in July as an aide to President Donald Trump. It was misguided, costly and wrong. (6/29)

Stat: FDA: Don't Rush Into Changing Covid-19 Vaccine Composition
On Tuesday, the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) voted 19-2 to approve the use later this year of Covid-19 vaccines based on an Omicron variant sequence. One of us (P.A.O.) was among those voting “no.” It is possible these vaccines will be two-component designs that also include the current version. Will Americans soon be better protected against Covid-19? (John P. Moore and Paul A. Offit, 6/29)

The Tennessean: Political Noise Surrounding Youth COVID-19 Vaccination Is Muted By Pediatrician Guidance
As a pediatrician, I have dedicated half of my life (nearly 20 years) to the study of medicine to help protect and care for children. It is heartbreaking to see politicians weaponize pediatric healthcare as a partisan issue. Recently, TN House Representatives petitioned Gov. Bill Lee to “direct the Tennessee Department of Health to halt distribution, promotion and recommendation of COVID-19 vaccines for our youngest Tennesseans.” (Erica C. Kaye, 6/29)

USA Today: My Friends And My COVID Rebound Case Made Me Feel Like A Real Schmuck
I feel like a schmuck. After I tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago, my doctor prescribed the anti-viral Paxlovid, which would lessen the severity of the disease. The only hitch, she explained, was that a small percentage of those taking this drug experience "rebound," also called "rapid relapse," meaning they develop symptoms anew after apparent recovery. Even worse, they test positive again shortly after a negative test. She pointed out that even more people might be rebounding than early data showed. (Steven Petrow, 6/29)

Also —

USA Today: Breastfeeding Recommendation Of Two Years Does Not Support Women, Moms
I snorted so hard my coffee shot right out of my nose when I saw the new American Academy of Pediatrics guidance on breastfeeding. "Two years they're saying?" I asked myself out loud as I cleaned up the mess splattered all over my desk and laptop. "What a nightmare!" I realize my words may come as a shock. Plenty of moms and doctors are probably praising the new recommendations for supporting body feeding and infant wellness. But not this mother of two. (Carli Pierson, 6/29)

Stat: PBMs Are Inflating The Cost Of Generic Drugs. They Must Be Reined In
These are not comfortable days in Washington for pharmacy benefit managers, the highly consolidated group of intermediaries that sit astride the drug supply chain. The Federal Trade Commission and Capitol Hill want to know how the PBMs’ arcane business practices impact pharmaceutical costs. This is welcome news for just about everyone else, including consumers of generic drugs. PBMs manage prescription drug benefits on behalf of health insurers, large employers, and other payers. They have become significant behind-the-scenes players in determining patients’ access to medications and how much pharmacies are paid. (Erin E. Trish, Karen Van Nuys and Robert Popovian, 6/30)

Stat: Palliative Care Should Be An Integral Part Of Mainstream Medicine
Even before the onset of Covid-19, there were legions of people with serious illnesses in America. Yet medical students and resident physicians get only a few hours of education on how to help these people cope with suffering or plan for the ends of their lives. Physicians are trained to prevent or treat illness and promote longevity, not to help people die. That head-in-the-sand approach needs to change. (John Mulder, 6/30)