Politico: House Panel Says Drugmakers Inflated Prices To Boost Profits And Reap Bonuses 
Major pharmaceutical companies raised drug prices exponentially by hundreds or thousands of percent to boost profits and executives’ bonuses, “taking full advantage” of Medicare rules, a House panel said Wednesday. The House Oversight and Reform Committee this morning reported the findings, the first from its 18-month investigation into a dozen drug companies' pricing practices, ahead of two days of hearings with the manufacturers. (Owermohle, 9/30)

Stat: Investigation Shows Celgene, Teva Plotted To Keep Drug Prices High
The House Oversight Committee released two major reports Wednesday that expose the internal strategies used by drug makers Celgene and Teva to repeatedly jack up the price of their blockbuster drugs revlimid and copaxone. The reports, which are the culmination of an 18-month investigation based on internal company documents, outline in vivid detail how both drug makers raised their prices at will and plotted to  keep lower-cost alternatives off the market. (Florko, 9/30)

Kaiser Health News: Sky-High Drug Prices Driven By Pharma Profits, House Dems Charge
Those costs have little to do with research and development or industry efforts to help people afford medication, as drug companies often claim, according to the probe. “It’s true, many of these pharmaceutical industries have come up with lifesaving and pain-relieving medications, but they’re killing us with the prices they charge,” Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said as the hearings began Wednesday. He added that “uninhibited pricing power has transformed America’s pain into pharma’s profit.” (McAuliff, 9/30)

Stat: ‘You Just Got Better At Making Money’: Democrats Blast Celgene, Teva For Price Hikes Detailed In Internal Documents
A handful of newly elected Democrats, including Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Katie Porter of California put drug industry CEOs on the defensive Wednesday like they’ve never been before. The trio of freshman lawmakers used an Oversight Committee hearing to press the CEOs of Teva, Celgene and Bristol-Myers Squibb — painfully and directly — on the results of an 18-month investigation into the pricing of two drugs: Teva’s Multiple Sclerosis drug copaxone and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s multiple myeloma drug revlimid. (Florko, 9/30)

In related news —

Becker's Hospital Review: Drug Costs Aren't The Main Reason US Spends So Much On Healthcare, Study Finds
Payments to hospitals and physicians — not  drug prices — are the main reason the U.S. spends so much more on healthcare than other wealthy countries, despite much of the national conversation around healthcare spending being focused on drug costs, according to a report released by the Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Kaiser Family Foundation. The U.S. spends about twice as much per person on healthcare than other wealthy countries, with an average of $10,637 per capita in 2018 compared to $5,527 in other countries.  (Anderson, 9/30)

Roll Call: Mnuchin Coronavirus Relief Plan Includes More State, Local Funds
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin offered a $1.62 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal in talks with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, offering more state and local assistance than GOP negotiators have to date in a sign of potential progress toward a deal. A person briefed on Mnuchin’s plan said it included $250 billion for state and local governments, which is $186 billion less than Democrats want in their latest $2.2 trillion package, but $100 billion more than the White House offered in talks that broke down over the summer. (McPherson, 9/30)

Bloomberg: Mnuchin, Pelosi Try To Forge Stimulus Deal With Time Running Out
Mnuchin and Pelosi held their first in-person talks since August on Wednesday, yet fell short of reaching an agreement that would bridge the gaps between the administration and Democrats on further aid for the U.S. economy. Both sides face increased pressure to act as more companies announce job cuts, including airlines that had received help under earlier rounds of federal support. (Wasson and House, 10/1)

The Washington Post: No Deal After Pelosi, Mnuchin Meet On Economic Relief, But Talks Will Continue 
“Secretary Mnuchin and I had an extensive conversation and we found areas where we are seeking further clarification. Our conversations will continue,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement after their 90-minute meeting. Democrats pulled back plans to vote on their $2.2 trillion stimulus bill, which is opposed by House and Senate Republicans and has no chance of becoming law. Democratic leaders delayed that vote to allow more time for a bipartisan deal to emerge. (Werner, Stein and Bade, 9/30)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

The Washington Post: House Democrats Inquire Into Changes That Softened A CDC Report To A Meatpacking Plant Facing A Coronavirus Outbreak 
A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about safety procedures at a meatpacking plant whose workers were falling ill at an alarming rate early on in the pandemic is raising new questions from Democrats about possible political interference at the agency. On April 22, the CDC issued a report with basic health recommendations to control the spread of the novel coronavirus at a meatpacking plant run by Smithfield Foods in Sioux Falls, S.D. (Rosenberg, 9/30)

Modern Healthcare: Congress Relaxes Medicare Loan Repayment Terms
The Senate on Wednesday passed a bipartisan government funding bill that averts a shutdown and will relax Medicare loan repayment terms for healthcare providers.The president is expected to sign the bill into law. The stopgap measure pushes the deadline for government funding and bankrolling several Medicare and Medicaid programs, including cuts to Medicaid disproportionate-share hospital payments, to Dec. 11. The bill passed the Senate on a 84-10 vote. (Cohrs, 9/30)

CNN: 4 Million More Americans Turn To Medicaid As Coronavirus Roils The Economy
Just over 4 million more Americans turned to Medicaid last spring as the coronavirus pandemic upended the nation's economy, new federal data released Wednesday shows. The 5.7% jump between February and June came as millions of people lost their jobs -- and, for many, their health insurance too -- amid the public health emergency. Also, a coronavirus relief package Congress passed in mid-March barred states from cutting eligibility and disenrolling beneficiaries during the pandemic. (Luhby, 9/30)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid, CHIP Enrollment Grew By 4 Million During COVID-19
CMS said enrollment spiked again with the Families First Coronavirus Response Act's continuity of coverage requirement. According to the agency, Medicaid and CHIP enrollment increased in all states except Montana, which reported an enrollment decrease. "As of August 31, 2020, Montana had not yet provided an explanation for its Medicaid and CHIP enrollment declines in the first half of 2020," the report said. (9/30)

In Medicaid news from Nebraska, Ohio, Alaska and Illinois —

AP: Expanded Medicaid Begins In Nebraska After Years Of Dispute 
Nebraska will officially offer expanded Medicaid coverage to low-income people starting Thursday after years of wrangling over it in the Legislature, a statewide ballot campaign that led voters to approve it and a nearly two-year rollout that left some people in health care limbo. The state will provide coverage to 10,288 residents who have signed up so far, a number roughly in line with the state's projections. State officials expect expanded enrollment to rise to about 90,000 within a few years. (Schulte, 9/30)

WPCO: DeWine Announces First Major Overhaul Of Medicaid Program In 15 Years
Governor DeWine announced his administration's plans for the first major overhaul of Ohio's Medicaid system in 15 years during his Tuesday afternoon press conference. "The Department of Medicaid is the largest provider of health insurance in the state of Ohio," said DeWine. "Medicaid covers 3 million Ohioans. Of those, nearly 90% are enrolled in a managed care plan, including nearly every child enrolled in Medicaid in the state of Ohio." (Jordan, 9/29)

Modern Healthcare: Ohio Searches For New Managed Care Insurers Amid Medicaid Overhaul
Ohio is on the hunt for health insurers interested in serving the state's 2.6 million Medicaid members. The state released a request for applications on Wednesday to procure managed care organizations for the safety-net program, which is undergoing a massive overhaul for the first time since 2005, when CMS approved Ohio's Medicaid program. (Livingston, 9/30)

Houston Chronicle: Medicaid Expansion Could Bring Texas $5.4 Billion In Federal Dollars, Study Says
Expanding Medicaid in Texas could bring as much as $5.4 billion federal dollars into the state and enroll nearly 1 million more people in the federal safety-net insurance program, according to a new study by Texas A&M researchers. Health policy experts said Medicaid expansion would help drive down the state’s uninsured rate, which was the highest nationwide at 18.4 percent in 2019, according to U.S. Census Bureau. (Wu, 9/30)

AP: Number Of Alaskans With Medicaid Coverage Grows During Pandemic 
The coronavirus pandemic has caused a national increase in the number of people enrolling in the federal Medicaid health payment program and officials have said Alaska residents are joining at unprecedented levels. Over the last six months, more than 12,000 people in Alaska have joined Medicaid, known in the state as DenaliCare and Denali KidCare, Alaska Public Media reported Friday. (9/30)

(Arlington Heights, Ill.) Daily Herald: GOP House Candidate Wants To End Medicare, Medicaid
The Republican candidate for Illinois' 11th Congressional District seat wants to gradually end the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs for older and poorer Americans and those with disabilities. "We need not immediately eliminate Medicare and Medicaid but we should cease ... future expansion of the programs, allow development of private programs and free individuals to leave Medicare and Medicaid," said Rick Laib, who's challenging Democratic incumbent Bill Foster for the post. (Lissau, 9/28)

The New York Times: Study Finds ‘Single Largest Driver’ Of Coronavirus Misinformation: Trump
Of the flood of misinformation, conspiracy theories and internet falsehoods about the coronavirus, one common thread stands out: President Trump. That is the conclusion of researchers at Cornell University who analyzed 38 million articles about the pandemic in English-language media around the world. Mentions of Mr. Trump made up nearly 38 percent of the overall “misinformation conversation,” making the president the largest driver of the “infodemic” — falsehoods involving the pandemic. (10/1)

NPR: Trump Often Gives 'Complete Opposite' Of Health Experts' Advice, Former Staffer Says
President Trump has consistently told Americans "the complete opposite" of what his health experts have been telling him in private meetings about COVID-19, according to Olivia Troye, who until recently worked on the the White House coronavirus task force. "They brief him. They tell him the facts. They're telling him the truth. They're telling him things that need to be done," Troye said in an interview with NPR's Ari Shapiro. "And it is a very frustrating environment to work in, when you know that the message that is going to be relayed is counter to what you just told him." (Chappell, 9/30)

The Washington Post: TikTok Videos, Facebook Trump Ads Spread Misinformation Concerning Biden’s Health 
False stories about Joe Biden’s health continued to spread on social platforms the day after the first presidential debate, including misleading Facebook ads by the Trump campaign and a viral video on TikTok. A false story about Biden wearing an earpiece that emerged on Tuesday continued to get traction on Facebook after the debate. The Trump campaign ad, which encourages people to “Check Joe’s Ears,” and asked “Why won’t Sleepy Joe commit to an earpiece inspection,” was viewed between 200 to 250,000 times and marketed primarily to people over 55 in Texas and Florida. The implication of the ad, the content of which originated from a tweet by a New York Post reporter who cited a single anonymous source, is that Biden needed the assistance of an earpiece so someone could pass him information during the debates. (Dwoskin, 9/30)

In related Trump administration news —

ABC News: CDC Slowing Pace On Releasing New Coronavirus Health Guidance 
For the last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stopped issuing new health information related to the novel coronavirus after altering the procedure by which that information was being shared with the American people, sources with direct knowledge of the change told ABC News. The type of information that has been withheld has previously been vital to hospitals, health officials and local leaders on the front lines providing updated guidance on how to treat, test and slow the spread of the illness, which has claimed over 200,000 American lives. (Abdelmalek, Bhatt and Santucci, 10/1)

The New York Times: Fauci And Trump Are At Odds Again Over Masks 
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the leading U.S. official on infectious diseases, hit back at President Trump on Wednesday for what he called the misrepresentation of his stance on using masks to curb the coronavirus. In the presidential debate on Tuesday, Mr. Trump claimed that Dr. Fauci initially said “masks are not good — then he changed his mind.” And when former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said wearing masks could save tens of thousands of lives, Mr. Trump contended that “Dr. Fauci said the opposite.”Dr. Fauci, whose relationship with his boss has often seemed tenuous at best, took issue with his claims the day after the debate. “Anybody who has been listening to me over the last several months knows that a conversation does not go by where I do not strongly recommend that people wear masks,” he said in an interview on ABC News’s “Start Here” podcast. (10/1)

The Hill: Ex-FDA Employees Express Worries To Congress Over Politicization Of Vaccines 
Experts and former Food and Drug Administration officials say they worry President Trump is undermining public confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine approval process, potentially leading people to reject the vaccine when one is available. The experts, appearing before a Congressional panel Tuesday, said they still have faith in the government's career officials and scientists responsible for determining whether a potential COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective, but that Trump and his political appointees are making it harder to gain public trust. (Hellmann, 9/30)

The Hill: Atlas, Health Officials Feuds Add To Trump Coronavirus Turmoil 
The feuds between White House coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas and top public health officials are raising more questions about President Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Atlas, a Stanford University neuroradiologist without experience in public health, first joined the White House coronavirus task force this summer after appearing frequently on Fox News. He has come under fire from public health experts inside and outside the administration who accuse him of feeding Trump misinformation. (Weixel, 9/30)

The New York Times: White House Blocked C.D.C. Order To Keep Cruise Ships Docked 
The White House has blocked a new order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to keep cruise ships docked until mid-February, a step that would have displeased the politically powerful tourism industry in the crucial swing state of Florida. The current “no sail” policy, which was originally put in place in April and later extended, is set to expire on Wednesday. Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the C.D.C., had recommended the extension, worried that cruise ships could become viral hot spots, as they did at the beginning of the pandemic. (Kaplan, 9/30)

The Washington Post: Diabetic Americans Dispute Trump’s Claim He Made Insulin So Cheap ‘It’s Like Water’ 
Early in Tuesday night’s presidential debate, President Trump claimed he had drastically lowered the price of insulin, a lifesaving drug taken in some form by more than 7 million Americans with diabetes. “Insulin, it’s going to — it was destroying families, destroying people. The cost,” the president said. “I’m getting it for so cheap it’s like water.” That came as a shock to the Americans who shell out hundreds of dollars a month on insulin, a number of whom posted triple-digit pharmacy bills to social media immediately after the president’s assertion. (Guarine, 9/30)

Tampa Bay Times: Trump Says He Brought Down The Cost Of Insulin. But That’s Not True For All Americans
In Tuesday’s presidential debate, President Donald Trump claimed he helped lower the price of insulin to be as cheap as water. In reality, many Americans still pay hundreds of dollars a month for insulin depending on their insurance coverage, health experts said. Trump may have been referring when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a $35 cap on copays for insulin in May for some Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans. The Trump administration estimated the cap would save seniors $446 on average, and that the manufacturers would endure an added $250 million in costs. But Anne Swerlick, a senior policy analyst at the Florida Policy Institute, said the insulin cap was mostly just “political theatre,” and barely scratched the surface of the murch larger, systemic issue of inflated drug pricing. (Ellenbogen, 10/1)

KIIITV: Fact Checking The Price Of Insulin: Local Health Experts Say The Price Has Dropped, But It’s Not Quite As Cheap As Water 
3News checked with local health experts who say although the price of insulin has dropped, it's still not quite as cheap or accessible as water. “People just really need to look at what's available with the insulin they use. There's also copay cards available so there's a lot of help out there now with insulin and this is kinda brand new it just started happening in 2020,” said Registered Nurse, Georgiana Bradshaw. “I know a lot of people kinda don’t know about it and it's kind of the sad thing. "It could easily cost someone without insurance thirteen-hundred dollars per month to care for the condition. Even with insurance, co-payments and supplies can eat away at your monthly budget. (Trevino, 9/30)

In related news about insulin and diabetes —

Stat: Pharma And PBMs Must Jointly Face Insulin Price Fixing Lawsuit For First Time
A federal judge ruled that a Texas county can proceed with a lawsuit accusing several drug makers and pharmacy benefit managers of conspiring to fix prices for insulin, the first time these companies will have to collectively defend their role in the rising cost of the life-saving diabetes medicine. In a lawsuit filed last year, Harris County officials claimed taxpayers were “fraudulently overcharged” for ongoing and drastic price hikes for a medication that has not substantively changed in many years. (Silverman, 9/30)

Stat: Diabetes, Disparities, And Covid-19: Three Intertwined ‘Epidemics’ Raise Risk
Some of Mary-Elizabeth Patti’s patients with diabetes are in a bind. Careful to practice social distancing, they tell her during telehealth visits they don’t feel safe exercising outdoors in their congested neighborhoods — though they know staying active and maintaining good blood sugar levels may be their best defense against severe Covid-19. (Cooney, 10/1)

Modern Healthcare: VA's First Site To Go Live On New $16 Billion EHR On Oct. 24
A leader with the Veterans Affairs Department on Wednesday confirmed to lawmakers that the agency is on track to bring its first site live on a new $16 billion electronic health record system next month, saying the system is 99% ready. That first site—Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Wash.—is scheduled to go live on the new Cerner Corp. EHR system on Oct. 24. (Cohen, 9/30)

In other updates from the Trump administration —

The Wall Street Journal: Justice Department Opens Ventilator Antitrust Probe Focused On Medtronic 
The Justice Department is investigating whether acquisitions by Medtronic PLC limited competition in ventilator manufacturing, according to people familiar with the matter, an antitrust probe that emerged from complaints about device shortages during the coronavirus pandemic. Medtronic has received a civil subpoena from the Justice Department formally requesting more information, the people said. (Kendall, 9/30)

Modern Healthcare: ONC Grants HIEs $2.5 Million To Fight Disasters, Pandemics
HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology granted $2.5 million to five local health information exchanges to improve health data interoperability, the agency said Wednesday. According to HHS, the funding will help state and local public health agencies respond to public health emergencies like natural disasters and pandemics. The agency will administer the funds through the Strengthening the Technical Advancement and Readiness of Public Health Agencies via Health Information Exchange—STAR HIE—program. (Brady, 9/30)

Reuters: Exclusive: FDA Widens U.S. Safety Inquiry Into AstraZeneca Coronavirus Vaccine - Sources 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has broadened its investigation of a serious illness in AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine study and will look at data from earlier trials of similar vaccines developed by the same scientists, three sources familiar with the details told Reuters. AstraZeneca’s large, late-stage U.S. trial has remained on hold since Sept. 6, after a study participant in Britain fell ill with what was believed to be a rare spinal inflammatory disorder called transverse myelitis. The widened scope of the FDA probe raises the likelihood of additional delays for what has been one of the most advanced COVID-19 vaccine candidates in development. The requested data was expected to arrive this week, after which the FDA would need time to analyze it, two of the sources said. (Taylor and Levine, 9/30)

MarketWatch: Moderna CEO Tells FT That Coronavirus Vaccine Won't Be Ready By Election Day
CEO Stéphane Bancel told the [Financial Times] in an interview that Moderna — a front-runner in the COVID-19 vaccine race — will not seek emergency-use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration until Nov. 25 at the earliest and does not expect to have secured approval for distribution of the vaccine to the general public until spring 2021. “I think a late [first quarter], early [second quarter] approval is a reasonable timeline, based on what we know from our vaccine,” Bancel told the FT. (Murphy, 9/30)

The New York Times: All Eyes Are On Pfizer As Trump Pushes For Vaccine By October
In media appearances and talks with investors, Pfizer’s chief executive nearly always mentions a word that is so politically perilous, most of his competitors shy away from it: October. “Right now, our model — our best case — predicts that we will have an answer by the end of October,” the chief executive, Dr. Albert Bourla, told the “Today” show earlier this month. In other interviews, he has said he expected a “conclusive readout” by then, with an application for emergency authorization that could be filed “immediately.”Dr. Bourla’s statements have put his company squarely in the sights of President Trump, who has made no secret of his desire for positive vaccine news to boost his chances on Election Day, Nov. 3. “We’re going to have a vaccine very soon. Maybe even before a very special date,” Mr. Trump said recently. (Thomas, 9/30)

Stat: Eager For A Covid Vaccine, Trump Now Trusts Drug Makers He Once Vilified
Amid the chaos and rancor of the first presidential debate, President Trump gave a dramatic and troubling look into his ideas about the vaccine approval process. He also left the clear impression that he trusts pharma companies more than government scientists. In fact, he called out three biopharma companies by name — Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna. (Herper, 9/30)

More on vaccine clinical trials —

The Hill: Fauci Calls For Racial And Ethnic Diversity In Coronavirus Vaccine Trials 
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci on Wednesday said coronavirus vaccine trials need to be conducted on a diverse population to make sure any potential vaccines are safe and effective for everyone. "We need to get a diverse representation of the population in the clinical trials," Fauci told a panel of Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) members. (Bernal, 9/30)

North Carolina Health News: Getting Diverse Subjects For COVID Vaccine Trials A Challenge 
Last week, Noshima Darden-Tabb logged onto Facebook for an informal research study. “I was just doing my own little mini-research. I’d been out talking to people all day, and I was seeing a trend,” the 53-year-old said. “So I asked a handful of people online: Would they participate in a vaccine research study for COVID-19? “I only had one person that said yes,” Darden-Tabb said. (Critchfield, 10/1)

And more on vaccine safety —

USA Today: Experts: Politics Will Have A Hard Time Getting In The Way Of A Safe, Effective COVID-19 Vaccine
Despite the public's legitimate concerns about political rhetoric, politics is not having an impact on the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, several public health experts testified to Congress Wednesday. Both government and independent researchers provide strong oversight of the vaccine development process, said Dr. Mark McClellan, director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University and a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner. (Weise and Weintraub, 9/30)

Politico: Cuomo Says State Will Have Final Say In Vaccine Approval, Administration
Health care experts, scientists and state officials will vet all federally authorized Covid-19 vaccines to ensure they are safe — and not used as political tools — before being administered and will supervise distribution throughout New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday. The governor, who has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, said he’s formed an independent Clinical Advisory Task Force to review every Covid-19 vaccine authorized by the federal government and counsel the state on their safety and effectiveness in fighting the virus. (Young, 10/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: UCSF Testing Promising New Treatment That Could Lessen COVID-19 Symptoms
UCSF researchers are testing a promising COVID-19 drug that could lessen symptoms and keep people out of the hospital. The drug, which could eventually work on coronavirus much the way Tamiflu reduces flu symptoms, is being rolled out in a clinical trial at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, one of many U.S. sites that are enrolling volunteers for the study. (Ho, 9/30)

The Washington Post: These Laboratory-Made Antibodies Are A Best Bet For A Coronavirus Treatment, But There Won’t Be Enough 
In two-story-high stainless steel vats, a drug is brewing in trillions of hamster ovary cells. Many experts think this could be the best bet to defang the novel coronavirus and transform it from a potentially lethal infection into a treatable illness. Current treatments for the coronavirus aim to help the sickest patients survive. But this drug, called a monoclonal antibody cocktail, aims to keep people out of the hospital altogether. The experimental shot of lab-generated antibodies imitates the body’s own disease-fighting force. The goal is to boost a person’s immune defense, instead of waiting for human biology to muster its own response — and possibly lose to the virus. (Johnson, 9/30)

The Washington Post: Remdesivir May Not Cure Covid, But It’s On Track To Make Billions For Gilead
J. Randall Curtis gives remdesivir to his seriously ill coronavirus patients based on statistics, not his own experience. From the bedside, he said, benefits of the drug are undetectable. "It’s hard when you’re on the front line, knowing whether it makes a difference. People are not jumping out of bed and saying, ‘Thanks, you saved my life,' " said Curtis, a doctor at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center. "We are continuing to use it, because if you look at all the data in total, there probably is some benefit.” (Rowland, 9/30)

Also —

Stat: How Is Covid-19 Upending Drug Development? An Industry Leader Weighs In
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to force drastic change in everyday life, the effects on the pharmaceutical industry are no less profound. Although drug makers are still regularly demonized over their pricing, their proverbial stock has, nonetheless, risen in the public eye thanks to the desperate need for treatments and vaccines to combat the coronavirus. But what are those changes looking like? And what might they mean going forward? (Silverman, 10/1)

The Texas Tribune: Medical Schools, Hospitals And Plenty Of Coronavirus: How Texas Became A Leading COVID-19 Research Hub
In the race to develop a vaccine and other stopgap treatments for coronavirus patients in the meantime, Texas has emerged as a leading site for COVID-19 research. Home to massive research universities, hundreds of hospitals and a relatively high rate of coronavirus transmission, the state is the site of 130 clinical trials investigating possible vaccines and treatments for the coronavirus. That’s the highest of any state other than California and New York, according to the National Institutes of Health. (Walters, 10/1)

Sacramento Bee: New California Law Lets Nurses Work Independently Of Doctors 
Gov. Gavin Newsom paved the way for nurse practitioners in California to practice medicine independent of doctors under a bill he signed Tuesday. Newsom’s signature represents the culmination of a fight that has spanned several legislative sessions, pitting doctors groups against those that want to expand nurse practitioners’ ability to treat patients. The measure, Assembly Bill 890, would allow nurse practitioners to practice independently in 2023. Nurse practitioners would have to operate under a doctor’s supervision for a minimum three-year transition period before embarking on their own practices. Current California law requires nurse practitioners, who hold masters or doctorate degrees in nursing and additional certification beyond a regular nursing degree, to always operate under a doctor’s supervision. (Bollag, 9/29)

Becker's Hospital Review: Missouri Hospital Offering Nurses $20,000 Sign-On Bonuses
Mercy Hospital Springfield (Mo.) is offering nursing up to $20,000 to join its staff, according to Ozarks First. The bonus would apply to registered nurses who become hospital staffers in the next several months. "Whether you're about to graduate in December or you're a nurse who's ready for a new opportunity, our doors are open at Mercy," said Dea Geujen, MSN, RN, chief nursing officer for Mercy Hospital Springfield. (Paavola, 9/30)

Indianapolis Star: Holcomb Executive Order Extends Licenses For Healthcare Workers
Gov. Eric Holcomb on Wednesday signed an executive order extending the temporary licensing of health care workers who do not currently hold active licenses. Under the order, medical professionals who retired or became inactive in the last five years, as well as those who hold licenses in other states, would be permitted to practice in Indiana for an additional 90 days. (Andrea, 9/30)

Portland Press Herald: UMaine System Under Fire For Changes To Retirees’ Health Coverage  
The University of Maine System expects to save $2.5 million a year through a change in health insurance for retired employees, saying it will expand benefits and provide more flexibility, even though former employees and lawmakers have raised concerns about the switch. In a letter to state lawmakers Wednesday, system Chancellor Dannel Malloy said no UMaine System retiree or their spouse will lose health care benefits as the system prepares to change from a group benefits plan to a Medicare exchange. (Ohm, 9/30)

Kaiser Health News: To Free Doctors From Computers, Far-Flung Scribes Are Now Taking Notes For Them
Podiatrist Dr. Mark Lewis greets his first patient of the morning in his suburban Seattle exam room and points to a tiny video camera mounted on the right rim of his glasses. “This is my scribe, Jacqueline,” he says. “She can see us and hear us.” Jacqueline is watching the appointment on her computer screen after the sun has set, 8,000 miles away in Mysore, a southern Indian city known for its palaces and jasmine flowers. She copiously documents the details of each visit and enters them into the patient’s electronic health record, or EHR. (Kwon, 10/1)

Also —

NPR: Web Of 'Wellness' Doctors Push Unproven COVID-19 Treatment 
Just as the coronavirus pandemic began its rapid and deadly spread across the United States, a well-known doctor named Dominique Fradin-Read told thousands of viewers tuning into an Instagram Live video that she had an answer, "one of the best ways to prevent and fight COVID-19."It was April 2020. The virus had already killed 50,000 Americans, a number that has since grown to more than 200,000. And scientists were scrambling to find a safe and effective treatment - a search that continues to this day. Dr. Fradin-Read is a prominent figure in the wellness community. She owns the medical practice VitaLifeMD in Los Angeles, and helped formulate the "Madame Ovary" supplement for actor Gwyneth Paltrow's brand Goop. (Dreisbach, 10/1)

Medscape: Physicians Misjudge a Terminal Patient's Life Span: Is It Fraud?
Can physicians always tell when a patient has less than 6 months to live? And if they misjudge, is that fraud? A registered nurse and three nonclinicians filed a federal False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit against Care Alternatives, a for-profit hospice in Cranford, New Jersey, claiming the hospice illegally admitted at least 16 patients who were not in their last 6 months of life and so did not qualify for Medicare hospice coverage. (Meyer, 9/30)

Modern Healthcare: Feds Charge Hundreds Of Individuals In $6 Billion Healthcare Fraud
More than 340 individuals were charged with submitting $6 billion in fraudulent claims to federal healthcare programs and private insurers for telehealth consultations and substance abuse treatment, among other services, the Justice Department announced Wednesday, describing it as the largest healthcare fraud "takedown" in history. (Kacik, 9/30)

FierceHealthcare: DOJ Charges Hundreds In Connection With $6B In Healthcare Fraud In Largest Takedown Ever
The Department of Justice charged 345 people across 51 federal districts in the largest healthcare fraud takedown in the agency's history. DOJ said the charges were in connection cases responsible for more than $6 billion in losses. Among those charged were more than 100 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, according to DOJ. The billions in false claims were submitted to both public and private insurers, DOJ said, with more than $4.5 billion connected to telemedicine schemes. (Minemyer, 9/30)

Also —

Denver Post: Colorado Shuts Down Clear View Behavioral Health, Will Seek To Revoke License Permanently
The state of Colorado will work to revoke the license of, and has already shut down, a much-scrutinized mental health hospital in northern Colorado. Clear View Behavioral Health in Johnstown has been the subject of more than a dozen Denver7 investigations since January 2019. The state had taken prior action but earlier this year decided to re-issue the license to the mental health facility. (Kovaleski, 9/28)

Modern Healthcare: Anthem Settles Last 2015 Cyberattack Probe For Nearly $40M
Anthem agreed to pay $39.5 million to settle an investigation by state attorneys general into the massive 2015 cyber-attack that exposed the personal information of nearly 79 million of the health insurer's members and employees. The settlement resolves the last open investigation of the breach, in which hackers stole the names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, home addresses and other information of current and former members and workers. Anthem said it does not believe it violated the law regarding data security and did not admit to doing so in the settlement. (Livingston, 9/30)

Becker's Hospital Review: HHS Tells Hospitals To Guard Against Ryuk Ransomware Attack: 10 Things To Know
HHS released important updates on the Ryuk ransomware, which is suspected in the recent cyberattack at King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Systems hospital. Ryuk ransomware is an encryption used by individuals to lock information within an organization's computer system. The information HHS released Sept. 29 urges organizations to take action to reduce the risk of attack, according to an American Hospital Association report. (9/30)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Hospitals Waitlist, Transfer Patients During COVID-19 Surge
Some Wisconsin hospitals are resorting to wait-listing patients, or sending them to other facilities, as the state's coronavirus surge continues to rage. Hospitals have been especially overwhelmed in Green Bay, Wausau and the Fox Valley, which are among the state's latest COVID-19 hot spots. Officials at Bellin Hospital in Green Bay, for example, said the facility was at 94% capacity as of Tuesday, just days before a Saturday campaign rally for President Donald Trump that could draw thousands of supporters to the city. (Spicuzza, Heim, Hickman and Jones, 9/30)

Bloomberg: Health Plans Undercutting Obamacare Get Boost From Texas Ruling 
The U.S. judge in Texas who ruled that Obamacare’s individual mandate was unconstitutional has signed off on a kind of low-cost insurance alternative that could pull young, healthy people away from the exchanges and drive up health-care costs for those left behind. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth overruled the U.S. Labor Department’s objections to novel plans proposed by two would-be providers, including a small Georgia company that proposes to offer health plans to individuals who agree to have their internet activity tracked. (Wheeler and Glovin, 9/30)

Becker's Hospital Review: Northwell Develops COVID-19 Predictive Tool That Spots Outbreaks 2 Weeks In Advance
New Hyde, N.Y.-based Northwell Health created a new predictive tool that can anticipate a spike in COVID-19 cases at its hospitals by mining user data patterns from the system's website, according to a Sept. 30 news release. The digital dashboard gathers 15 different indicators from the Northwell.edu website and inputs them into a machine learning algorithm to identify patterns in website traffic, including searches for emergency department wait times and physician page clicks. (Drees, 9/30)

FierceHealthcare: UnitedHealth Group Buys DivvyDose To Compete With Amazon's PillPack: Report 
UnitedHealth Group is jumping into the online pharmacy space with the acquisition of startup DivvyDose, according to a media report. CNBC's Christina Farr reported Tuesday that the insurer bought DivvyDose for more than $300 million, citing a person familiar with the deal. (Landi, 9/30)

AP: Sanford Health Opens New Unit At Bismarck Hospital
Sanford Health opens a new unit at its Bismarck hospital Wednesday, adding 14 more beds. Sanford says it’s not exclusively for coronavirus patients, but it could be used to treat them if the need arises. Six of the 14 beds in the new unit opening Wednesday are designated for intensive care patients. (9/30)

Kaiser Health News: New Laws Keep Pandemic-Weary California At Forefront Of Health Policy Innovation
Though COVID-19 forced California leaders to scale back their ambitious health care agenda, they still managed to enact significant new laws intended to lower consumer health care spending and expand access to health coverage. When Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom concluded the chaotic legislative year Wednesday — his deadline to sign or veto bills — what emerged wasn’t the sweeping platform he and state lawmakers had outlined at the beginning of the year. But the dozens of health care measures they approved included first-in-the-nation policies to require more comprehensive coverage of mental health and addiction, and thrusting the state into the generic drug-making business. (Young and Hart, 10/1)

Stat: Telehealth Startup Ro Expands Generics Partnership With Pfizer
Telehealth startup Ro is expanding its partnership with pharma giant Pfizer’s generics arm to offer its generic versions of commonly prescribed blood pressure and cholesterol medications. Through its virtual mail-order pharmacy, Ro will supply Pfizer-produced generics of Lipitor, a cholesterol drug, and Norvasc, a hypertension medication. The medications will be made available through Ro’s $5-per-month prescription drug service, which launched earlier this year and which doesn’t take insurance. (Runwal, 9/30)

Stat: New Bill Aims To Jumpstart Antibiotic Development With A Subscription Model
In a bid to combat antimicrobial resistance, two U.S. lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill that would create a new payment model to encourage drug makers to develop antibiotics. Known as the Pasteur Act, the legislation would establish a subscription-style model to offer upfront payments to pharmaceutical companies in exchange for unlimited access to their antibiotics. The idea is to enable drug makers to recover their costs and make an appropriate profit without having to sell large volumes of antibiotics. (Silverman, 9/30)

Stat: With A New CEO, A Small Biotech Is Out To Prove Wall Street Wrong
G1 Therapeutics, a North Carolina biotech company, is changing CEOs on the eve of an expected first FDA approval and hoping to shatter the industry truism about small companies struggling to sell products. Mark Velleca, who has led G1 since 2014, will step down Jan. 1 and be replaced by Jack Bailey, a 30-year pharmaceutical veteran who currently sits on the company’s board. That transition will come about a month before the FDA is slated to rule on G1’s trilaciclib, an intravenous treatment designed to preventively reduce the side effects of chemotherapy. (Garde, 9/30)

Forbes: Mississippi Becomes First State To Lift Mask Mandate
Mississippi is lifting its statewide mask-wearing mandate, Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said Wednesday, making it the first state to institute and end a public health measure that experts say is one of the most effective ways to stem the spread of coronavirus. (9/30)

NPR: New York City Imposes Fines Of Up To $1,000 For Those Who Refuse To Wear Face Masks
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that the city will impose fines on people who refuse to wear face coverings, after it saw a positivity rate for coronavirus tests of over 3% for the first time since June. The fine is up to $1,000, the mayor's office told NPR. (Penaloza, 9/30)

AP: North Dakota Tries Ad Campaign, Not Mask Rule, To Stem Virus
Executives at a Bismarck marketing agency hired to help stem the tide of rising virus cases in central North Dakota say that’s the mindset facing them with their campaign in the hot spot of a state that for weeks has been among the nation’s leaders in the number of new virus cases per capita, according to The COVID Tracking Project. (Kolpack, 9/30)

NBC News: Pastor Linked To Superspreader Wedding In Maine Told To Wear Mask At Son's Marriage
A Maine pastor who presided over a wedding-turned-superspreader event that has been linked to at least eight Covid-19 deaths and over a hundred more infections will be taking part in another wedding next month — his son’s. The Rev. Todd Bell’s son is tying the knot on Oct. 17 across the state line at the South Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the church confirmed. And if Bell refuses to wear a mask at this ceremony, he could get the boot. (Siemaszko, 9/30)

NBC News: Texas Teacher Loses Job For Wearing 'Black Lives Matter' Mask
A Texas art teacher says she was fired for wearing a Black Lives Matter mask, but school administrators say she "effectively resigned" by refusing to follow the dress code policy. Lillian White, a teacher at Great Hearts Western Hills, a K-12 charter school in San Antonio, said she started wearing her handmade mask with the slogan "Black Lives Matter" to in-person teacher training days once the school reopened in July during the coronavirus pandemic. (Salam and Gostanian, 9/29)

In other news about masks —

Fox News: Coronavirus Face Masks Made With Silk Are Better Than Cotton, Study Finds
When choosing a fabric to make a homemade face mask to protect against the novel coronavirus, silk is better than cotton, namely when used in conjunction with a respirator, according to a new study from researchers with the University of Cincinnati. In an analysis of what types of fabric would be best when making a homemade mask, silk took the cake, with researchers saying this material is not only comfortable but also is breathable and repels moisture – a “desirable trait in fighting an airborne virus,” per a news release on the findings. (Farber, 9/30)

Miami Herald: App Wants You To Swipe And Report Who’s Wearing A Face Mask 
Instead of swiping right for your next date, you can now swipe left to let local researchers and public health professionals know when someone near you is not wearing a face mask. MaskCount is a new, web-based app that allows users to “easily and anonymously” document the number of people wearing or not wearing face coverings. Its purpose? To help understand local outbreaks and inform policy decisions based on real-time data. (Camero, 9/30)

Kaiser Health News: We Freely Wear Seat Belts. Why Can’t We Learn To Wear Masks?
I was a reporter in Rome in 2005 when Italy banned smoking in restaurants. I was skeptical. For many Italians, having a cigarette with after-dinner coffee was simply part of the meal, like dessert. Also, Italians are famously lax about following rules: They dodge their taxes and park on sidewalks. As I wrote back then: “Smokers declared — basta! — they would never comply.” But to my shock (and ease of breathing, since I have asthma), very quickly everyone did. (Rosenthal, 10/1)

Kaiser Health News: The Mask Hypocrisy: How COVID Memos Contradict The White House’s Public Face
While the president and vice president forgo masks at rallies, the White House is quietly encouraging governors to implement mask mandates and, for some, enforce them with fines. In reports issued to governors on Sept. 20, the White House Coronavirus Task Force recommended statewide mask mandates in Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma. The weekly memos, some of which have been made public by the Center for Public Integrity, advocate mask usage for other states and have even encouraged doling out fines in Alaska, Idaho and, recently, Montana. (Weber and Houghton, 10/1)

AP: School Officials Charged With Hiding Lead, Asbestos Problems
The former superintendent of a Pennsylvania school district and two other officials were charged Wednesday with felony child endangerment over allegations they covered up lead and asbestos contamination in the schools and exposed students and staff to serious health risks. Starting in 2016, officials in the Scranton School District were repeatedly told about dangerous lead levels in drinking water in at least 10 schools but failed to ensure tainted water fountains and sinks were disconnected or remediated and misled the public about the problem, according to a grand jury presentment released Wednesday. (Rubinkam, 9/30)

Also —

WCIV: Gov. Henry McMaster Signs "Health Education Act" To Teach Mental Health In Schools
A bill that focuses on mental health in schools was signed into law this afternoon, a spokesperson for [South Carolina] Governor Henry McMaster confirmed to ABC News 4 on Tuesday afternoon. It's called the "Health Education Act" and it is a bill that is personal to a former Fort Dorchester High School student and a critical conversation for a South Carolina State Representative. (Ellis, 9/29)

Fox News: FSU Cancels Spring Break After 1,000-Person Party Over The Weekend 
Florida State University canceled its spring break on Wednesday to try to protect against the spread of coronavirus. Sally McRorie, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at FSU, told students that the administration is altering the schedule and canceling spring break because the school's "highest priority remains the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff." (Best, 9/30)

ABC News: Changing How You Inhale And Exhale Could Help Reduce Coronavirus Anxiety 
Fear, worry and anxiety during the coronavirus pandemic debilitates your mental and physical health. Amid this growing mental health crisis, some medical doctors are now prescribing a deep breathing technique for patients and physicians alike, nicknamed "box breathing." Intentional deep breathing exercises are known to reduce feelings of stress. Experts interviewed by ABC News identify box breathing as a type of breath hold specifically used to overcome the type of anxiety people are experiencing during these distressing times. (Lambert, 10/1)

Georgia Health News: For Deaf People, Pandemic Brings Unique Problems 
When Julie Burton was growing up, she had a hard time communicating with the people and the world around her. Being born profoundly deaf posed many challenges for the young Burton. But life changed for her when she started school at the Alabama School for the Deaf (ASD) and became immersed in the deaf world. She’s now an American sign language teacher at the Georgia School for the Deaf, and is one of about 48 million deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals living in the United States. (Laguaite, 9/30)

The Salt Lake Tribune: How The Coronavirus Has Reshaped LDS Missionaries And Members As They Find New Meaning In A New Normal 
Missionaries suddenly streaming home before their end dates. Weekly worship services being discontinued. Temples closing. Brigham Young University moving online. The campus evacuating its students. Like so many worldwide disruptions last spring, COVID-19 was radically reshaping Latter-day Saint rituals and communities — and BYU folklore archivist Christine Blythe felt an urgency to document the transformations. (Stack, 9/30)

In other public health news —

The New York Times: Timothy Ray Brown, First Patient Cured Of H.I.V., Dies At 54 
Timothy Ray Brown, the first person to be cured of H.I.V., through an experimental bone marrow transplant that offered hope though not a realistic treatment for most people with the virus, died on Tuesday at his home in Palm Springs, Calif. He was 54. His partner, Tim Hoeffgen, said the cause was unrelated recurring leukemia. Mr. Brown had remained free of H.I.V., the virus that can lead to AIDS. (Roberts, 9/30)

USA Today: Chrissy Teigen Suffers Pregnancy Loss After Hospitalization
Chrissy Teigen suffered a miscarriage Wednesday, three days after she was hospitalized for bleeding issues. Teigen, 34, posted a heartbreaking hospital room photo on Instagram announcing that her unborn child, a boy, had died. "We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we’ve never felt before," Teigen wrote. "We were never able to stop the bleeding and give our baby the fluids he needed, despite bags and bags of blood transfusions. It just wasn’t enough." (Alexander, 10/1)

CNN: Breast Cancer Awareness: Battling Depression Post-Treatment 
I discovered I had breast cancer last year after a routine mammogram. I was 50 years old. It took about a month of biopsies, more mammograms, MRIs, ultrasounds and genetic testing in my suburban Chicago hospital before I was diagnosed with stage I breast cancer. I then had a unilateral mastectomy, followed months later by reconstructive surgery. (Segal Block, 10/1)

Fox News: Consistency In The Time Of Day You Work Out May Keep Off The Pounds, Study Finds
The key to working out consistently and keeping off the pounds may be as simple as setting the same time of day for your workouts and sticking to the schedule, according to a recent study in the journal Obesity. Researchers from Brown Alpert Medical School looked at the exercise habits of 375 individuals who work out regularly, and found that people who set the same time of day for their workouts spent notably more time working out per week than people who set random times of day for exercise. (Best, 9/30)

Stat: One Filmmaker's Surreal, Hilarious Documentary On Her Father's Dementia
When the documentary filmmaker Kirsten Johnson learned her dad had dementia, she decided to kill him herself. Over and over again. The result is the new film “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” which is available on Netflix starting Friday. In it, Johnson combines staged enactments of her father dying in accidental ways (tumbling down the stairs or getting hit by a falling air conditioner) with scenes from their life navigating his memory loss, cognitive decline, and impending death. The film is both incredibly moving and funny, an exploration of the coming grief and an act of preserving what it is that Johnson is so sad to be losing. (Joseph, 10/1)

NPR: Alabama Gov. Apologizes To Surviving '5th Girl' Of 1963 KKK Bombing 
Sarah Collins Rudolph was 12 years old when the explosion of a bomb, planted by the Ku Klux Klan, ripped through the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963.Her sister and three other young girls were killed by the dynamite blast, and although she survived, she lost an eye and was hospitalized for months. Since then, the medical bills and the trauma of that violent Sunday have haunted her. On Tuesday, after 57 years, 15 days and multiple pleas for an apology and compensation, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey tried to make amends for the hateful attack. (Romo, 9/30)

In news from the Midwest and West —

AP: Task Force: Oklahoma Among Worst In Nation In Coronavirus
Oklahoma remains among the worst states in the United States for positive coronavirus tests per 100,000 people and the number of new reported cases, according to a report released this week by the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Oklahoma is in the red zone for virus cases, meaning 101 or more new cases per 100,000 population, with a rate of 201 new cases per 100,000, an increase of 15% from a week ago, according to the federal report dated Sept. 27 and released Wednesday by the Oklahoma State Department of Health. The report recommends increased testing to identify those with COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, and to isolate those infected to limit the spread of the virus. (Miller, 9/30)

ABC News: South Dakota Seeing Surge In COVID-19 Transmission As Cases Rise In Midwest 
South Dakota has one of the highest rates of COVID-19 spread in the country, several reports show, as the Midwest experiences a surge in cases. The state ranked second in the country for both rates of new cases and test positivity in the latest report from the White House Coronavirus Task Force. According to the report, dated Sept. 27, both numbers increased over the last week amid greater testing, "indicating increasing transmission." (Deliso, 9/30)

AP: Idaho Is Entering 3rd Coronavirus Wave, Health Experts Say 
Idaho now has more than 40,500 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, and some health experts are warning that the state is entering its third wave of new infections. “I think we are a week into our third spike that is going to be bigger than either of the ones before,” Dr. David Pate, a member of the state’s coronavirus task force and the former CEO of St. Luke’s Health System said, Boise television station KTVB reported Sunday. (9/30)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Sisolak Loosens COVID-19 Rules On Indoor, Outdoor Gatherings
Nevada is substantially loosening its COVID-19 rules on large gatherings for both indoor and outdoor events and will allow for a limited number of spectators at sporting and other live entertainment events as part of a continued relaxation of restrictions announced by Gov. Steve Sisolak on Tuesday. Starting Thursday, the gathering limit for indoor and outdoor events will be raised to no more than 250 people, up from the 50-person limit implemented in May. (9/29)

Cronkite News: COVID-19 Puts Spotlight On State’s Lacking Mental Health Care
Arizona ranks close to last in the nation when it comes to available mental health care providers – a problem that’s been underscored during a pandemic that is increasing anxiety and depression. Heather Ross, a clinical assistant professor at Arizona State University who advises Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego on health policy issues, said the state also lacks sufficient beds and inpatient facilities to treat patients with mental health challenges. Still, she added: “You can build a building, you can stick a bed in a room, but unless you have the professionals to deliver the care, those beds almost don’t matter.” (Engstrom, 9/30)

Bloomberg: Mapping The Disparities Of Chicago's Unequal Pandemic 
Just as the coronavirus has an accomplice in health conditions like diabetes and asthma, it is also aided and abetted by the stark inequality that makes such conditions possible. A century of racist housing practices — from redlining to contract buying to the grossly unequal lending that persists today — have denied Black Chicagoans generations of wealth. The series of maps below shows the results. Black neighborhoods see more poverty, air pollution, extreme heat and flood damage, and less access to health care and food — all factors that make residents more vulnerable to the coronavirus. The maps are of Chicago, but they reflect the reality of numerous other American cities where coronavirus has devastated communities of color. (Deaton and Oladipo, 9/30)

The Salt Lake Tribune: State Auditors Say Utah Did ‘Not Adequately Anticipate Or Prepare’ For COVID-19
A newly released review of the state’s early response to COVID-19 found that Utah leaders were unprepared for a global pandemic and that in the scramble to adapt, they spent millions of dollars in no-bid contracts with little documentation of due diligence. “From our high-level review, we conclude that the State did not adequately anticipate or prepare for this type of statewide, national, and global pandemic,” stated the review released Wednesday by the Office of the State Auditor. (Rodgers and Stevens, 9/30)

CNN: Disinfecting The Texas Water Supply From A Brain-Eating Amoeba Could Take Months, Officials Say 
Texas officials said that it could take months to disinfect the brain-eating amoeba contaminated water that claimed the life of a 6-year-old boy. Gov. Greg Abbott held a news conference Tuesday to address what he called "the total tragedy" of the death of Josiah McIntyre, who CNN previously reported died from single-celled brain eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri found in the Lake Jackson water supply earlier this month. (Johnson, 9/30)

Politico: California To Ban Chokeholds, Independently Review Police Shootings Under Newly Signed Laws
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed policing bills that ban chokeholds, allow the state Department of Justice to investigate police shootings and give counties more oversight of sheriff's departments. The signings represent a win for police reform advocates and Democrats who introduced a wave of bills after the May police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. (Nieves, 9/30)

In news from the East —

CNN: US Coronavirus: Several New York Zip Codes Are Reporting Infection Rates Five Times Higher Than Statewide Rate 
New York has reported several Covid-19 clusters that have created "hotspot" zip codes, the governor said, with a positivity rate about five times more than statewide. The new clusters are a "stark reminder" that the state is still not out of the woods when it comes to the pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. (Maxouris, 10/1)

NH Times Union: Listeria Found In Wild Gray Foxes In New Hampshire
Listeria has been found in two New Hampshire wild gray foxes by investigators at the New Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire. The disease can sicken both people and farm animals, researchers said in a UNH news release. Some strains can be particularly important if they are resistant to multiple antibiotics and carry genes that lead to more severe diseases in infected people or animals. According to Patrick Tate, a wildlife biologist with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, antibiotic resistance is an important measure to track because some pathogens are zoonotic diseases or can become zoonotic. “Zoonotic pathogens have the ability to significantly impact human health, impact agricultural animals and cause significant impact to the food supply chain. To effectively respond to outbreaks requires the utmost understanding of viruses, fungi, parasites and bacteria,” Tate said in the news release. (9/28)

Newsweek: Putin Says He Will Receive Russia's Sputnik Coronavirus Vaccine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he plans to receive the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, though has not specified when. Russia approved the Sputnik vaccine in August, claiming to be the first country to find a way to stop the pandemic that has claimed more than one million lives worldwide. Putin has not yet committed publicly to receiving the vaccine—the development of which has been financed by the state Russian Direct Investment Fund—but told South Korean President Moon Jae-in by phone Monday that he would have the shot before a planned visit to Seoul. (Brennan, 9/28)

The New York Times: The Carnival Parade Is Canceled, And Rio Is Reeling
For more than a century, Rio de Janeiro’s carnival has been an irrepressible force, unstoppable by wars, disease, labor strikes or political repression. Raucous celebrations took over city streets despite the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, during both World Wars and through Brazil’s military dictatorship. Glitter flew, hips swayed and drummers pounded in 2008, despite a dengue outbreak that sickened more than 200,000 in the state. ... But now, amid the pandemic, the official carnival parade has been suspended, indefinitely. Rio is reeling. (Andreoni and Londono, 9/30)

BBC: Spain Orders Lockdown Amid Rise In Cases
Under the new restrictions, residents will not be allowed to leave the area unless they have to make an essential journey. However, Madrid's regional government says the lockdown is not legally valid. Greater Madrid accounts for more than a third of the 133,604 cases diagnosed in Spain over the past two weeks. On Wednesday, a majority of Spain's regional governments, who are in charge of healthcare, voted in favour of imposing restrictions in areas with more than 100,000 residents if they met three benchmarks - 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, 35% Covid patient occupancy in intensive care units and positive results in 10% of tests. (10/1)

The New York Times: Huge Study Of Coronavirus Cases In India Offers Some Surprises To Scientists
With 1.3 billion people jostling for space, India has always been a hospitable environment for infectious diseases of every kind. And the coronavirus has proved to be no exception: The country now has more than six million cases, second only to the United States. An ambitious study of nearly 85,000 of those cases and nearly 600,000 of their contacts, published Wednesday in the journal Science, offers important insights not just for India, but for other low- and middle-income countries. Among the surprises: The trend in increasing deaths with age seemed to drop off after age 65 — perhaps because Indians who live past that age tend to be relatively wealthy and have access to good health care. (Mandavilli, 9/30)

CNN: China Mid-Autumn Festival: After Covid-19, Hundreds Of Millions Of People Are About To Go On Vacation At The Same Time
China is on the move again. As October 1 arrives, hundreds of millions of people are expected to pack highways, trains and planes for the National Day holiday, one of the busiest times for travel in the world's most populous country. The eight-day Mid-Autumn Festival break is China's first major holiday since it emerged from the coronavirus outbreak. While life has largely returned to normal in recent months, the upcoming "Golden Week" holiday will be an ambitious test of China's success in taming the virus -- and a much-awaited boost to its economic recovery. (Gan, 10/1)

CIDRAP: Study Finds 100% Death Rate In COVID-19 Patients After CPR
All 54 COVID-19 patients who underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in a Michigan hospital died, leading to questions about the risks and benefits of performing a procedure that exposes healthcare personnel to the coronavirus amid limited supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE). The findings, published yesterday in a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that 52 of 54 patients who experienced cardiac arrest from Mar 15 to Apr 3 (96.3%) had nonshockable rhythms, 44 (81.5%) with pulseless cardiac electrical activity, and 8 (14.8%) with asystole (flatlining). Nonshockable rhythms are those in which the use of defibrillation is highly unlikely to restore a normal heartbeat. (Van Beusekom, 9/29)

New England Journal of Medicine: Cardiovascular Outcomes With Ertugliflozin In Type 2 Diabetes 
In a multicenter, double-blind trial, we randomly assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease to receive 5 mg or 15 mg of ertugliflozin or placebo once daily. With the data from the two ertugliflozin dose groups pooled for analysis, the primary objective was to show the noninferiority of ertugliflozin to placebo with respect to the primary outcome, major adverse cardiovascular events (a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke). The noninferiority margin was 1.3 (upper boundary of a 95.6% confidence interval for the hazard ratio [ertugliflozin vs. placebo] for major adverse cardiovascular events). The first key secondary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes or hospitalization for heart failure. (Cannon et al, 9/23)

JAMA Network: Effects Of Time-Restricted Eating On Weight Loss And Other Metabolic Parameters In Women And Men With Overweight And Obesity
What is the effect of time-restricted eating on weight loss and metabolic health in patients with overweight and obesity? In this prospective randomized clinical trial that included 116 adults with overweight or obesity, time-restricted eating was associated with a modest decrease (1.17%) in weight that was not significantly different from the decrease in the control group (0.75%). (Lowe et al, 9/28)

The Lancet Rheumatology: Clinical Criteria For COVID-19-Associated Hyperinflammatory Syndrome: A Cohort Study 
A subset of patients with COVID-19 develops a hyperinflammatory syndrome that has similarities with other hyperinflammatory disorders. However, clinical criteria specifically to define COVID-19-associated hyperinflammatory syndrome (cHIS) have not been established. We aimed to develop and validate diagnostic criteria for cHIS in a cohort of inpatients with COVID-19. (Webb et al, 9/29)

New England Journal of Medicine: Lower-Dose Zinc For Childhood Diarrhea — A Randomized, Multicenter Trial 
The World Health Organization recommends 20 mg of zinc per day for 10 to 14 days for children with acute diarrhea; in previous trials, this dosage decreased diarrhea but increased vomiting. We randomly assigned 4500 children in India and Tanzania who were 6 to 59 months of age and had acute diarrhea to receive 5 mg, 10 mg, or 20 mg of zinc sulfate for 14 days. The three primary outcomes were a diarrhea duration of more than 5 days and the number of stools (assessed in a noninferiority analysis) and the occurrence of vomiting (assessed in a superiority analysis) within 30 minutes after zinc administration. (Dhingra et al, 9/24)

Stat: The U.S. Needs A National Covid-19 Testing Strategy 
Widespread and accessible testing is an essential component of our nation’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet while testing continues to expand across the U.S., with nearly 90 million tests administered to date, the lack of a national Covid-19 testing strategy is standing in the way of the government’s oft-repeated promise that “anyone who wants a test can get a test.” The Trump administration’s decision to shift the responsibility for managing Covid-19 testing to the states has led to a patchwork system with critical issues, including supply chain and logistical challenges, lack of reimbursement, and disparities in which populations should be tested. (Craig Brammer and Tim Elwell, 10/1)

The Washington Post: We Run Cornell. Here’s How We’ve Kept Low Covid-19 Rates On Campus.
At Cornell, science informed our decision to invite students back to campus this fall. Our epidemiological models showed us that by opening our doors for instruction and implementing robust pooled testing and contact tracing programs, we could keep our infection rate lower than if we were strictly online, knowing that many of our students would return to our area anyway. At least so far, the situation on our campus is in hand. We have had an extraordinarily low rate of infection: just 10 cases in all over the past two weeks within our campus community of about 9,000 faculty and staff, and about 19,000 students (out of our normal enrollment of 25,000). Since the beginning of classes at the start of September, we have had fewer than 100 cases in total. And we are not alone. Several peers, including Boston University, Duke University, Colby College and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, are also managing to keep infection rates low. (Martha E. Pollack and Michael I. Kotlikoff, 9/30)

The Scientist: Scientists Must Battle The Disinformation Pandemic
As COVID-19 wreaks havoc across the world, scientists are making unparalleled, heroic strides to discover the virus’s biology and vulnerabilities. We have learned far more about SARS-CoV-2 than we knew about any pandemic-sparking pathogen in human history within a year of its emergence, and experts are working tirelessly to publicly share this information. These efforts should be bolstered and carefully considered by federal governments to save lives and stem the tide of contagion. In the US, however, the Trump administration has censored scientists, diminished the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s role in leading the pandemic response, politicized tracking and storage of health data, and attempted to undermine the credibility of its own researchers. (Genna Reed, 10/1)

The New York Times: Considering A Coronavirus Divorce? You’re In Good Company 
One of the few good things about a deadly pandemic is that if you are a person who enjoys talking on the phone, as I am, you will now have lots of time to do this, far more time than you did during regular life. When I was a teenager, it was always a challenge to find the time and space for phone calls. Somehow my parents always seemed to have something important to do in the room where I was talking. After I got married, my husband would get annoyed by my phone talking. So it’s only recently that I find myself talking on the phone as much as I want, in part because of Covid-19 and in part because, shortly after our lockdown began, my husband, Pete, moved across the street and we began the process of divorce. (Kim Brooks, 10/1)

CNN: Back To Normal: Why We Must Accept It Won't Happen 
As 2020 slides into and probably infects 2021, try to take heart in one discomfiting fact: Things are most likely never going "back to normal." It has become a well-worn phrase our politicians, officials, experts, even family, like to lean on — an ultimate, elusive prize. Perhaps it's nostalgia for the world of January, a place where daily life more closely resembled our past decades. Perhaps it's a bid to show control, to revert to a time when change was not so universally imposed upon us. (Nick Paton Walsh, 9/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Leave No Country Behind In The Post-Covid Recovery
Developing economies face a decade of stagnation. Their plight poses dangers for the U.S. and the world. During the global financial crisis a decade ago, emerging markets supplied a supportive engine of growth. This time they might throw recovery into reverse. For months, Covid-19 spread slowly in the developing world. Now about 70% of new cases plague poorer countries, and that’s surely an undercount. Developing countries struggle with weak public-health systems and have a hard time implementing social distancing and quarantines. Many people lack basic needs such as soap and water. The economics of the pandemic smashed emerging markets. Remittances fell. Tourists vanished. Exports, including of energy and commodities, tumbled. Governments have less money to help people. Deficits and debts jumped. Long-term foreign investments dropped. (Robert B. Zoellick, 9/30)

Modern Healthcare: Re-Envisioning Healthcare In The COVID-19 Era
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented disruption and poses a threat to long-standing revenue streams. And in the face of a recession to which healthcare was particularly vulnerable, it discovered new agility. Telehealth programs emerged in a matter of days, new programs were started to provide care outside hospital walls, and well-being programs emerged and expanded. Many organizations have viewed these interventions as bridging measures, set up to assist them in returning to their primary focus: elective visits and procedures. (Dan Marchalik and Meena Seshamani, 9/30)

Los Angeles Times: At Biden Debate, Trump Still Has No Healthcare Plan
Analyzing the policy positions taken by President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden at Tuesday’s anarchic debate is like critiquing the footwear of the fighters in a steel cage match. The evening wasn’t about policy, it was about force — and more precisely, it was about Trump trying to batter Biden into incoherence with his relentless interruptions, attacks and wild claims. Nevertheless, the two candidates made some points about healthcare early in the evening that are worth resurrecting from the wreckage because they illustrate how much of Trump’s presidency has been about symbolic moves instead of substantive ones. (Jon Healey, 9/30)

Fox News: ObamaCare And The Supreme Court -- Can The Government Force Us To Eat Broccoli?
With President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Saturday, the Affordable Care Act -- ObamaCare -- is back in the news. Barrett expressed constitutional misgivings about ObamaCare 10 years ago when she was a professor at Notre Dame Law School, and some folks who oppose her nomination have argued that should she be confirmed in the next month, she should not hear the Nov. 10 arguments on ObamaCare. Wait a minute. Didn’t the Supreme Court already uphold ObamaCare in 2012? Yes, it did. So why is the constitutionality of this legislation back before the Supreme Court? (Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, 10/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Pre-Existing Condition Fiction
Joe Biden claimed at Tuesday’s debate that “100 million people who have pre-existing conditions” will lose insurance if the Trump Administration wins an Affordable Care Act case at the Supreme Court. Democrats have terrified voters with this fiction for years, and Republican confusion has helped keep the fear alive. So let’s explain the reality one more time. Stipulate first that the GOP attorneys general asking the court to strike down the Affordable Care Act are committing political malpractice. As we wrote Monday, Chief Justice John Roberts’s Court is not about to strike down the entire law, and Democrats know it. But the Trump Administration’s support of the lawsuit has handed Democrats a potent line of attack. (9/30)

Huffington Post: The Big Health Care Lie You Could Barely Hear In The First Presidential Debate
Polls have shown, consistently and conclusively, that the public does not want the Affordable Care Act thrown out. Whatever their thoughts about “Obamacare,” voters want its expansions of insurance and protections for preexisting conditions to stay in place. Trump knows that, too. It’s why he keeps insisting he wouldn’t take that coverage and those protections away ― and, presumably, why he kept interrupting Biden. But the record is clear. (Jonathan Cohn, 9/29)

WBUR: A Vote To Confirm Amy Coney Barrett Is A Vote To Kill The Affordable Care Act
For reasons I’ve written about, I pledge allegiance to the “anti” side on abortion. But if I were a senator, I’d vote against putting my fellow Catholic, Amy Coney Barrett, on the Supreme Court, absent new revelations during her confirmation hearing. I don’t doubt predictions, based on Barrett’s words, that she’d likely vote to further restrict or overturn Roe v. Wade. But hysterics on the left and obsessive-compulsives on the right both grossly hyperbolize the salience of the issue. On a more important and imminent matter — the fate of Obamacare — Barrett’s querulous utterances against that law suggest that she might condemn thousands to a premature burial. (Rich Barlow, 10/1)

The Washington Post: The Horrific Debate Shows Exactly Why Trump Shouldn’t Get A Second Term
Tuesday’s presidential debate was a horrific event, with only one conclusion: President Trump has no business inhabiting the White House now, and most certainly should not receive a second term. The president’s behavior onstage was rude, bullying and rampantly inappropriate. To say it was like a 2-year-old throwing a temper tantrum is to insult the toddler. No one should want this man in control of a television remote, never mind the nuclear button. The president lied — a lot. He asserted widespread voter fraud, falsely saying ballots were getting dumped in rivers. He promised drug prices “will be coming down 80 or 90 percent,” when they went up 3 percent last year. He claimed to have an Obamacare replacement, then couldn’t coherently explain anything resembling one. (Helaine Olen, 9/31)

The Hill: Medicare Drug Discount Cards Will Be Future Disaster For Republicans 
Donald Trump is eager to show he can lower prescription drug costs, and he’s running out of time. Drug companies refused a demand to send $100 cash cards to seniors in time for the election. Last week, the President announced that Medicare would send out cards, raising the value to $200. That’s a trick that is likely to backfire on Republicans. (Joseph Antos, 9/30)

Los Angeles Times: Why Abuse Of Immigrants In ICE Detention Is Getting Worse 
In immigrant rights circles, it is common to hear the phrase “abolish ICE,” a sentiment that has grown stronger with every new abuse. A whistleblower recently filed a complaint about a gynecologist in Georgia performing hysterectomies on migrant women in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement without fully informed consent. Women from the same immigration detention center in Georgia have also reported being subjected to unnecessary gynecological procedures. (Jennifer R. Najera, 10/1)

The Hill: Preventing Next Pandemic Requires New Bill's Global Solutions 
The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than one million lives, shattered the global economy and left many people overwhelmed by the harsh realities of a changing world. Congress has struggled desperately to address the disease’s impacts. Yet lawmakers and all Americans have to grapple with a disturbing and irrefutable fact: Even as the novel coronavirus continues to inflict immense suffering, the next pandemic disease could already be brewing somewhere in the world, preparing to leap to people from bats or other host animals. (Stephanie Kurose, 9/30)