AP: Justice Department Appeals Texas Abortion Pill Order
The Justice Department on Monday appealed a Texas court ruling that would halt approval of a drug used in the most common method of abortion in the U.S., calling the decision “extraordinary and unprecedented. ”If allowed to stand, the order issued last week by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk could restrict access to the abortion medication mifepristone as early as Friday, unsettling abortion providers less than a year after the reversal of Roe v. Wade already dramatically curtailed abortion access. (Weber, 4/10)

Politico: White House Says Ignoring Judge's Abortion Pill Ruling Would Set 'Dangerous Precedent' 
The White House said on Monday that it would be a “dangerous precedent” for the administration to ignore a federal judge’s decision last week blocking the sale of an abortion pill. “But I’ll say this, you know, as a dangerous precedent is set for the court to set aside the FDA’s and expert judgment regarding a drug’s safety and efficiency, it will also set a dangerous precedent for this administration to disregard a binding decision,” White House press secretary Jean-Pierre said at her briefing on Monday. “We are ready to fight this. This is going to be a long fight. We understand this. We stand by FDA approval of mifepristone.” (Frazier, 4/10)

Case could head to Supreme Court —

Roll Call: Legal Fight Over Abortion Drug Could Quickly Hit Supreme Court
The Justice Department and several Democrat-led states took steps Monday to preserve access to a commonly used medication abortion drug after dueling federal court rulings about its availability. The moves come as experts expect fast-paced court action that could easily head to the Supreme Court as soon as this week on the Food and Drug Administration’s approval and regulations of mifepristone, which was first approved in 2000 to end pregnancies. (Macagnone and Raman, 4/10)

The New York Times: Abortion Pill Ruling May Face Headwinds At The Supreme Court 
The conservative legal movement has long had two key goals: to limit access to abortion and to restrict the authority of administrative agencies. The decision last week by a federal judge in Texas invalidating the Food and Drug Administration’s approval 23 years ago of the abortion drug mifepristone checked both of those boxes. The ruling, if it stands, would not only thwart access to the pills, used in more than half of pregnancy terminations, but also undermine the F.D.A.’s authority to approve and regulate other drugs. (Liptak, 4/10)

The Hill: What To Expect As Legal Battle Heats Up Over Texas Abortion Ruling
As the only sitting judge in Amarillo’s federal courthouse, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a former attorney at a religious freedom legal group, was guaranteed to be assigned the mifepristone case when it was filed there late last year. A frequent home for challenges brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and other conservatives, Kacsmaryk previously issued high-profile decisions against the Biden administration that reinstated the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy, curtailed federal protections for LGBTQ workers and ruled against a vaccine mandate. Lawyers have long looked for the best forum to bring their cases, but some legal observers say the way Texas operates its single-judge divisions allows plaintiffs to strategize with striking precision. (Choi and Schonfeld, 4/10)

The Boston Globe: Texas Judge’s Rationale On Abortion Misses The Truth
In his ruling last week, US District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of Texas cited numerous statistics that suggest mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medical abortions, is unsafe and untested, even though it has been used for more than two decades. Here are six statements from the decision, which attempts to invalidate the FDA’s approval of the drug, that medical experts said are either inflammatory, inaccurate or both. (Bartlett, 4/11)

Response from the drug industry and the FDA —

The New York Times: Pfizer CEO And Other Drug Company Leaders Condemn Texas Abortion Pill Ruling
The pharmaceutical industry plunged into a legal showdown over the abortion pill mifepristone on Monday, issuing a scorching condemnation of a ruling by a federal judge that invalidated the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug and calling for the decision to be reversed. The statement was signed by more than 400 leaders of some of the drug and biotech industry’s most prominent investment firms and companies, none of which make mifepristone, the first pill in the two-drug medication abortion regimen. It shows that the reach of this case stretches far beyond abortion. Unlike Roe v. Wade and other past landmark abortion lawsuits, this one could challenge the foundation of the regulatory system for all medicines in the United States. (Belluck and Jewett, 4/10)

Politico: The Abortion Pill Rulings Are Scaring The FDA And Drugmakers. Here’s Why.
Jane Henney, who was FDA commissioner when mifepristone was approved, said Monday that “this ruling sets a very dangerous precedent for the FDA’s authority in terms of other new medications.” “Clearly, we would be entering totally uncharted territory in that regard,” she said during a call with reporters. ... And William Schultz, former deputy commissioner for the FDA and former general counsel for HHS, said the decision “could allow virtually anyone to challenge any FDA drug approval decision with a good chance of succeeding.” “Any FDA drug approval involves hundreds of judgments by the agency. If a court feels free just to kind of take a fresh look at each of those, there’s a chance that a court will find one of those judgments is wrong,” Schultz said. (Foley, Lim, Messerly and Ollstein, 4/10)

Stat: 6 Burning Questions About FDA's Response To Abortion Pill Decisions
A dueling pair of federal court decisions has thrown the fate of the abortion pill mifepristone into jeopardy  — and have left regulators and drugmakers navigating uncharted territory. The two decisions throw the drug, also used to treat miscarriages, into legal limbo nationwide, regardless of state governments’ abortion protections. They also raise fundamental questions for regulators responsible for overseeing much of the country’s health care, and for the drugmakers that expend time and money to bring countless medicines to the market. (Owermohle and Silverman, 4/11)

Stat: Where Is PhRMA In The Mifepristone Debate?
A judge’s decision to suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of an abortion pill could have massive impacts for the pharmaceutical industry, but its largest lobbying association is staying on the sidelines. (Cohrs, 4/10)

Also —

KHN: Doctors’ Lesson For Drug Industry: Abortion Wars Are Dangerous To Ignore
Texas District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision April 7 to rescind the approval of the abortion pill mifepristone dealt a blow to more than just people seeking a medication abortion. It appears to be the first time a court has directly usurped the FDA’s authority to provide the final word on which medicines are safe and effective and, thus, allowed to be sold in the United States. And it could well throw the pharmaceutical industry into turmoil. (Rovner, 4/11)

KHN: Watch: Rulings On Abortion Pill Have Far-Reaching Repercussions 
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, has invalidated the FDA’s two-decade-old approval of mifepristone, part of a drug regimen used in medication abortion. The order will take effect on April 14, unless an appeals court or the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes. In Washington state, U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice, appointed by former President Barack Obama, directed the FDA not to make any changes that would restrict access to the drug in 17 states and the District of Columbia, where Democrats sued to protect its availability. The conflicting rulings are all but assured to wind up before the Supreme Court. (Varney, 4/10)

Politico: Blue States Are Buying Up Abortion Medication Amid Legal Uncertainty 
California and other blue states are rushing to stockpile abortion medication amid uncertainty at the federal level about the status of the drugs. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that California had secured 250,000 misoprostol pills and negotiated the purchase of up to 2 million — the latest move by a state that has repeatedly tried to shore up abortion access in the face of restrictive laws elsewhere. The announcement follows a Texas judge’s decision to invalidate the Food and Drug Administration’s approval for mifepristone, another medication commonly used in the procedure. (Bluth, 4/10)

AP: Some US States Stock Abortion Medications After Court Ruling
Massachusetts has purchased enough doses of the drug mifepristone — one of two drugs used in combination to end pregnancies — to last for more than a year, Democratic Gov. Maura Healey said Monday. California has secured an emergency stockpile of up to 2 million pills of misoprostol, the other drug used in abortion medication, Gov. Newsom, also a Democrat, announced. And in Washington state, Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee announced last week that the state purchased 30,000 doses of the generic version of mifepristone — which he said is enough to last the state’s residents three years. The shipment arrived in late March. (LeBlanc, 4/11)

Mifepristone is still available —

Bloomberg: Abortion Pill Still on Market Despite Judge’s Ruling to Pull It
Pharmacies are pushing ahead with sales of the abortion pill even after a judge’s decision threatens to restrict access to the drug nationwide as soon as Friday. (Rutherford, 4/10)

New Hampshire Public Radio: NH Clinics Say Abortion Pills Are Still Available Following Federal Court Rulings, For Now 
Abortion providers in New Hampshire say nothing has changed, for now, in the wake of competing court rulings on a widely used abortion pill. “We are being very clear in our messaging that medication abortion is still available,” said Jinelle Hobson, executive director of Equality Health Center in Concord. “As of today, it is still available. And we will continue to see patients that are seeking that care.” (Cuno-Booth, Furukawa and Liu, 4/10)

The CT Mirror: CT Joins Challenge To Texas Judge's Ruling On Abortion Pill
Days after a federal court judge issued a decision invalidating the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion medication mifepristone, state officials in Connecticut vowed to continue fighting to keep the pill legal. Attorney General William Tong is part of a multistate coalition challenging the ruling by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas. ... For now, the drug is legal and available in Connecticut. But the issue appears likely to reach the Supreme Court. (Carlesso, 4/11)

NPR: Documents In Abortion Pill Lawsuit Raise Questions About Ex-Husband's Claims
A Texas man says three women helped his now-ex-wife obtain pills for an abortion last year "without his knowledge," and he's suing them for $1 million each. The wrongful death lawsuit, believed to be the first of its kind since the U.S. Supreme Court curtailed abortion rights last summer, highlights concerns about digital privacy and reproductive health. And it comes as a battle over the future of access to medication abortion plays out in the federal court system. And now, experts say a close analysis of documents related to the case appears to undercut some of the man's claims. (McCammon, 4/10)

In abortion news from Iowa, Montana, and elsewhere —

Iowa Public Radio: Iowa Supreme Court Gears Up To Hear Abortion Rights Case
The future of abortion rights in the state will be left up to the Iowa Supreme Court on Tuesday. The case will determine whether the state can enforce a ban on abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks of pregnancy. Iowans can currently get an abortion up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. (Sostaric, Fischels and Masters, 4/10)

AP: Montana Abortion Proposal Met With Preemptive Lawsuit
Planned Parenthood of Montana filed a preemptive lawsuit Monday seeking to stop legislation that would ban the abortion method most commonly used in the second trimester, arguing the proposed law is unconstitutional. The nonprofit organization filed the complaint over the proposal to ban dilation and evacuation abortions before the bill has been forwarded to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte. The organization asked for the court to at least temporarily block the legislation because it would take effect immediately upon being signed, causing irreparable harm to its patients. (Hanson, 4/10)

AP: Next Abortion Battles May Cross State Borders 
Abortion is banned in Idaho at all stages of pregnancy, but the governor on Wednesday signed another law making it illegal to provide help within the state’s boundaries to minors seeking an abortion without parental consent. The new law is obviously aimed at abortions obtained in other states, but it’s written to criminalize in-state behavior leading to the out-of-state procedure – a clear nod to the uncertainty surrounding efforts by lawmakers in at least half a dozen states to extend their influence outside their borders when it comes to abortion law. (Mulvihill and Hanna, 4/10)

The New York Times: Pressured By Their Base On Abortion, Republicans Strain To Find A Way Forward
Republican leaders have followed an emboldened base of conservative activists into what increasingly looks like a political cul-de-sac on the issue of abortion — a tightly confined absolutist position that has limited their options ahead of the 2024 election season, even as some in the party push for moderation. (Weisman, 4/11)

The Washington Post: White House Launches $5B Program To Speed Covid Vaccine Development 
The Biden administration is launching a $5 billion-plus program to accelerate development of new coronavirus vaccines and treatments, seeking to better protect against a still-mutating virus, as well as other coronaviruses that might threaten us in the future. “Project Next Gen” — the long-anticipated follow-up to “Operation Warp Speed,” the Trump-era program that sped coronavirus vaccines to patients in 2020 — would take a similar approach to partnering with private-sector companies to expedite development of vaccines and therapies. Scientists, public heath experts and politicians have called for the initiative, warning that existing therapies have steadily lost their effectiveness and that new ones are needed. (Diamond, 4/10)

The national covid emergency has ended, but not the health emergency —

CNN: Biden Signs Bill Ending Covid-19 National Emergency
President Joe Biden signed legislation Monday to end the national emergency for Covid-19, the White House said, in a move that will not affect the end of the separate public health emergency scheduled for May 11. A White House official downplayed the impact of the bill, saying the termination of the emergency “does not impact our ability to wind down authorities in an orderly way.” The bill to end the national emergency cleared the Senate last month in a bipartisan 68-23 vote and passed the House earlier this year with 11 Democrats crossing party lines to vote for the joint resolution. (Carvajal, 4/10)

Politico: Biden Signs Bill Ending Covid-19 National Emergency 
Ending the national emergency will end the use of some waivers for federal health programs meant to help health care providers during the height of the pandemic. The law Biden signed Monday did not affect the public health emergency, which is still set to expire in May — along with the Trump-era Title 42 border policy. (Garrity, 4/10)

More on the spread of covid —

Fortune: ‘Arcturus,’ A Highly Transmissible COVID Variant Eyed By The WHO, Appears To Have A New Symptom. Here's What You Need To Know 
A new COVID variant the World Health Organization has its eye on seems to be causing a new symptom in children rarely caused by other Omicron spawn: “Itchy” conjunctivitis—or pink eye—without pus, but with “sticky eyes." (Prater, 4/10)

Capital & Main: Working Sick: Americans With Long COVID Struggle To Make A Living
Last year the CDC estimated that 7.5% of the adult U.S. population, or about 19 million people, had long COVID, and that 20% of adults 18-64 who recovered from their initial COVID infection have experienced at least one health condition that may be attributable to long COVID. Long COVID was recognized as a disability by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2021. But specific help for sufferers, or “long haulers,” in the workplace — including flexible hours, sick leave and the ability to work from home — depends on the generosity of the employer. And nearly half of workers with long COVID say their employers either didn’t offer paid sick leave or weren’t making workplace accommodations for their illness, according to a report released last year. Without policies like paid time off for illness, American workers face a financial burden to the tune of more than $500 billion, according to a report by the Solve Long Covid Initiative. (Buhl, 4/10)

CIDRAP: Meta-Analysis Reveals Wide Range Of Persistent Long-COVID Psychiatric Symptoms 
A meta-analysis of 23 studies reveals that the psychiatric symptoms of long COVID were, from most to least prevalent, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), poor sleep, hyperfocus on symptoms (somatic disorder), impaired cognition, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Women and those with a history of psychiatric diagnoses were at greater risk for these symptoms. The investigation was published late last week in PLoS One. (Van Beusekom, 4/10)

Daily Beast: Louisville Bank Massacre Suspect ID’d As Ex-Varsity Star Connor Sturgeon
A former friend and teammate of Connor Sturgeon’s from Floyd Central High School in Floyds Knobs, Indiana, described Sturgeon to The Daily Beast as “Mr. Floyd Central.” Sturgeon was smart, popular, and a star athlete in high school track, football, and basketball, he said. ... In an essay on “personal ethics” for the University of Alabama, uploaded to CourseHero in 2018 under Sturgeon’s name, Sturgeon wrote about his quest to improve his “discipline, responsibility, and self-esteem... so that I can improve myself as a whole.” “My self-esteem has long been a problem for me,” he wrote. “As a late bloomer in middle and high school, I struggled to a certain extent to fit in, and this has given me a somewhat negative self-image that persists today. Making friends has never been especially easy, so I have more experience than most in operating alone." (Fiallo, Rohrlich and Olding, 4/10)

CNN: Connor Sturgeon: What We Know About The Gunman Who Opened Fire At A Louisville Bank
(Connor) Sturgeon graduated from the University of Alabama in December 2020, according to a spokesperson for the university. He participated in an accelerated master’s program and earned both his bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in finance at the same time, the spokesperson, Shane Dorrill, said. Earlier, Sturgeon played basketball and ran track for his high school in a Louisville suburb, and he was named a semifinalist for a National Merit Scholarship in 2015, according to local news reports. A former high school classmate of Sturgeon’s who knew him and his family well said he never saw any “sort of red flag or signal that this could ever happen.” “This is a total shock. He was a really good kid who came from a really good family,” said the classmate, who asked not to be identified and has not spoken with Sturgeon in recent years. “I can’t even say how much this doesn’t make sense. I can’t believe it.” (Tucker, 4/11)

More details on the shootings —

AP: Louisville Bank Employee Livestreamed Attack That Killed 5
A Louisville bank employee armed with a rifle opened fire at his workplace Monday morning, killing five people — including a close friend of Kentucky’s governor — while livestreaming the attack on Instagram, authorities said. ... The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, about 160 miles to the south. (Lovan and Galofaro, 4/11)

The Courier-Journal: Biden On Louisville Shooting: 'Too Many Americans Are Paying For The Price Of Inaction'
In a brief statement Monday following a mass shooting in downtown Louisville, President Joe Biden said the victims were on his mind – and called on Republican legislators to take action. ... "Once again, our nation mourns after a senseless act of gun violence – Jill and I pray for the lives lost and impacted by today's shooting," Biden said in a Twitter post. ... In a longer statement, Biden thanked Louisville Metro Police Department officers "who quickly and courageously stepped into the line of fire to save others." But he also used the release to ask Republican lawmakers to pass gun safety measures. He said Republican lawmakers need to pass legislation to require safe storage of firearms, background checks for people buying guns and to eliminate the immunity from liability from gun manufacturers. (Aulbach, 4/10)

ABC News: What We Know About Kentucky's Gun Laws After Louisville Shooting 
Kentucky is one of 26 states that allow for permitless carry of firearms for eligible adults. The state passed a law in 2019 that removed the provisions that mandated state gun owners pass a background check if they were going to going to conceal carry their weapon. Under the law, most adults over 21 can purchase and carry a firearm and take them to most places in the state without any license. (Pereira, 4/10)

In other news about the gun violence epidemic —

KHN: Most Americans Say They Or A Family Member Has Experienced Gun Violence 
A majority of Americans say they or a family member has experienced gun violence, such as witnessing a shooting, being threatened by a person with a gun, or being shot, according to a sweeping new survey. The national survey of 1,271 adults conducted by KFF revealed the severe physical and psychological harm exacted by firearm violence, especially in minority communities. (Szabo, 4/11)

The New York Times: Expelled Democratic Lawmaker Is Sworn Back in to Tennessee House
Justin Jones, one of the two Black Democrats expelled from the Tennessee House of the Representatives for leading a gun control protest on the House floor, was sworn back in to his seat on Monday in a swift rebuke to the state’s Republican supermajority. (Cochrane, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Popular Handgun Fires Without Anyone Pulling The Trigger, Victims Say
One warm afternoon in May, Dwight Jackson was getting dressed for a visit to his favorite cigar lounge. He slipped his holstered SIG Sauer P320 pistol onto his belt, put on a button-down shirt and leaned across his bed for his wallet. Suddenly, he said, the gun fired, sending a bullet tearing through his right buttock and into his left ankle. “I heard ‘bang!’” said Jackson, 47, a locomotive engineer who lives in Locust Grove, Ga. “I looked down and saw blood.” His wife heard the shot from down the hall and screamed. She called an ambulance while Jackson hobbled toward the front door, painting a trail of blood over the hardwood floors. At no point, Jackson later told police, had he touched the gun’s trigger. (Barton and Jackman, 4/11)

The New York Times: The Direct Effects And Existential Dread Created By Gun Violence 
As of mid-April, there have been at least 145 mass shootings in the United States in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group that tracks gun violence. (The group defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are killed or injured.) And mass shootings represent just a small fraction of shootings nationwide. How has this pervasive violence affected our mental states or changed the way we live? The New York Times’s Well desk created an online form for readers to answer those questions in their own words. More than 600 people responded: Some had personal experiences with gun violence; others were dealing with the existential dread of what might occur. (Lindner, 4/11)

The Washington Post: GOP Eyes New Work Requirements For Millions On Medicaid, Food Stamps 
House Republicans are eyeing new work requirements for millions of low-income Americans who receive health insurance, money to buy food and other financial aid from the federal government, reprising the party’s historic crusade against welfare as some lawmakers seek new ways to slash spending. In recent weeks, the GOP has focused its attention on two anti-poverty programs: Medicaid, which enrolls the poorest families in health insurance, and food stamps, which provide grocery benefits to those in need. Top lawmakers including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) have publicly endorsed rules that could force some enrollees to find a job and work longer hours — or risk losing the government’s help entirely. (Romm and Roubein, 4/11)

In other Medicaid news —

AP: Georgia Medicaid Insurer Denied Psychotherapy For Thousands
A newspaper finds that the insurance company that manages medical care for many Georgia children has denied or partially denied more than 6,500 requests for psychotherapy between 2019 and mid-2022. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that many of the requests denied by Amerigroup, a unit of insurance insurance giant Elevance Health, were for children in state-run foster care. (4/10

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

The Texas Tribune: House Budgets Money For Air Conditioning Texas Prisons, Senate May Balk
The Texas House last week committed to spend $545 million to install air conditioning in many of the state’s dangerously hot prisons. It’s a historic win for prison rights’ advocates, who have long fought to cool prisons in a state where the relentless Texas heat has baked prisoners to death, likely contributed to severe staff shortages and cost taxpayers millions of dollars in wrongful death and civil rights lawsuits. More than two-thirds of Texas’ 100 prisons don’t have air conditioning in most living areas, forcing thousands of prison officers and tens of thousands of prisoners to work and live in stifling temperatures. (McCullough, 4/11)

The CT Mirror: In CT, A ‘Battle Royale’ Over Lowering Health Care Costs
Last year, dozens of Connecticut residents and state officials confronted the insurance industry at a public hearing over its proposed annual rate hikes, which averaged more than 20% for individual health plans and roughly 15% for small group plans. The insurance companies said they had to raise rates or they’d lose money, pointing to the ballooning cost of health care services. This year, for the first time, those health care providers had to respond to a similar grilling. (Phillips and Golvala, 4/10)

The Colorado Sun: Avian Flu In Colorado: 4 Mountain Lions Dead, But Crossover Slowed
Four mountain lions are among the Colorado mammals felled by a crossover of the avian flu epidemic to larger animals, but state wildlife officials say the trend has slowed even as they warily eye the spring bird migration. The bird-borne flu has also killed two bobcats, multiple skunks, two red foxes and a bear in Colorado since Jan. 1, according to records kept by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. (Booth, 4/11)

In updates on LGBTQ+ health care —

The Hill: 14 Trans And Nonbinary Legislators Tell Biden They’re Concerned About Title IX Change 
A coalition of transgender and nonbinary legislators sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Monday to voice their concern about the administration’s proposed changes to Title IX. “We are fourteen of the transgender and nonbinary legislators holding office across the United States of America, and we are writing to express our concern regarding the Administration’s proposed rulemaking changes to the eligibility of transgender athletes in sports,” the legislators’ letter reads. (Oshin, 4/10)

Politico: Florida Republican Apologizes After Calling Transgender People ‘Mutants' 
A Florida Republican apologized Monday after he called transgender people “demons” and “mutants” during a hearing on a bill that would make it a misdemeanor offense for someone to use a bathroom that doesn’t align with the sex they were assigned at birth. (Atterbury, 4/10)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Proposes 2.8% Hospital Inpatient Reimbursement Hike
Hospitals complying with quality reporting rules and the electronic health records meaningful-use policy would get a 2.8% net increase in Medicare reimbursements in fiscal 2024 under the hospital inpatient prospective payment system proposed rule published Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Turner, 4/10)

Axios: Hospitals Get A Slight Pay Bump
Payments to offset the costs of charity care for low-income patients will decrease by $115 million. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services heard hospital groups' request for exploring additional payments to safety-net hospitals, however, and has asked for public comment on the matter. Hospital groups said the increase will hardly address inflation. (Dreher and Goldman, 4/11)

In other health care industry developments —

AP: AMA's First Gay President To Take Over At Tumultuous Time
The first openly gay person to lead the American Medical Association takes the reins at a fractious time for U.S. health care. Transgender patients and those seeking abortion care face restrictions in many places. The medical judgment of physicians is being overridden by state laws. Disinformation is rampant. And the nation isn’t finished with COVID-19.In the two decades since Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld first got involved with the AMA as young medical resident, the nation’s largest physicians’ group has tried to shed its image as a conservative self-interested trade association. While physician pocketbook issues remain a big focus, the AMA is also a powerful lobbying force for a range of public health issues. (Tanner, 4/9)

Crain's Chicago Business: CommonSpirit Data Breach Impacted Over 100 Facilities, Cost Millions
CommonSpirit Health, a nationwide Catholic hospital chain, revealed additional details around the impact of a data breach late last year that affected more than 600,000 patients. (Davis, 4/10)

Becker's Hospital Review: Healthcare Websites Being Flooded With Fake Requests, HHS Says
HHS' Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center is warning healthcare organizations to look out for flood distributed-denial-of-service attacks that could shut down their websites. A trusted third party told HC3 that the fake domain name server requests have been targeting providers since at least November, according to the April 7 notice. The threat actors aim to overload servers with a large number of nonexistent or invalid requests, slowing down the websites. (Bruce, 4/10)

Stat: Stanford President Defends Decision Not To Correct Paper 
Amid an investigation of alleged research misconduct, Stanford University’s president took responsibility in an email to STAT for the decision not to correct or retract a paper at the heart of the controversy and defended his actions. That decision concerned a major study published in the journal Nature in 2009 and co-authored by Marc Tessier-Lavigne, the university’s president and a renowned neuroscientist who at the time was a top researcher at the biotech company Genentech. (Wosen, 4/11)

North Carolina Health News: Typical Medical Research Hasn’t Included Everyone. This Program Wants To Build The Nation’s Most Diversified Research Database.
A colorful bus with the words “All of Us” on it is crisscrossing the nation, stopping in cities for days at a time — including a stop last week in Charlotte. Folks traveling on the bus aren’t stopping at tourist sites for adventure and exploration. Instead, they’re spending time in the parking lots of local community partners, such as colleges, community centers and libraries, with an ambitious goal of enrolling a million people — or more — of all backgrounds to participate in medical research. (Crumpler, 4/11)

The Boston Globe: Mass. Hospitals Turn To Controversial Labor Practices To Stretch Beleaguered Staff
With staffing shortages plaguing every part of the health care system, nurses say some hospitals have turned to controversial methods to stretch their existing personnel, from mandating on-call shifts to increasing the number of days nurses must work. According to reports filed with the Department of Public Health, several hospitals have turned to mandatory overtime, which requires nurses to stay beyond their scheduled shift. The practice is prohibited under state law except in cases of emergency. (Bartlett, 4/10)

KHN: Doctor Shortages Distress Rural America, Where Few Residency Programs Exist
Anger, devastation, and concern for her patients washed over Dr. Bridget Martinez as she learned that her residency training program in rural northeastern Nevada would be shuttered. The doctor in training remembered telling one of her patients that, come July of this year, she would no longer be her physician. Martinez had been treating the patient for months at a local health care center for a variety of physical and psychiatric health issues. “She was like, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do,’” Martinez said. “It almost set her back, I would say, to square one. That’s so distressing to a patient.” (Rodriguez, 4/11)

KHN: Listen To The Latest ‘KHN Health Minute’ 
This week’s KHN Health Minute looks at how some lawmakers are reacting to ballooning pay for travel nurses and how states are spending billions of dollars in opioid settlement funds. (4/10)

CNBC: Moderna Hopes To Offer New Vaccines For Cancer, Heart Disease By 2030
Moderna hopes to offer a new set of life-saving vaccines targeting cancer, heart disease and other conditions by 2030, a spokesperson for the company told CNBC on Monday. The spokesperson confirmed remarks Moderna’s chief medical officer, Dr. Paul Burton, made to the Guardian on Saturday. Burton said he’s confident those jabs will be ready by the end of the decade, adding that Moderna could possibly offer them in as little as five years. (Constantino, 4/10)

In updates on the Theranos case —

Bloomberg: Elizabeth Holmes Loses Bid To Remain Free During Appeal 
Elizabeth Holmes must report to prison as scheduled later this month, a judge ruled, rejecting her request to remain free on bail as she appeals her fraud conviction. The decision Monday by US District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, is likely his last in the case which he’s handled since Holmes was indicted in 2018. Davila presided over the Theranos Inc. founder’s four-month trial in 2021 and sentenced her in November to serve 11 1/4 years of incarceration for deceiving investors in her blood-testing startup. (Rosenblatt, 4/11)

In other pharmaceutical industry news —

NBC News: Shortage On 4 Cancer Drugs Creates Dire Scenarios For Patients
Robert Landfair, 76, was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer in 2018. After several unsuccessful rounds of chemotherapy, his doctor, Alan Tan of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, recommended that he switch to Pluvicto, a new medication for advanced prostate cancer. But the drug’s manufacturer, Novartis, has had supply problems. Landfair is now on a waitlist for the medication, which isn’t expected to be widely available for several more months. (Lovelace Jr. and Kopf, 4/11)

AP: Vaping Company Juul Settles West Virginia Lawsuit For $7.9M
Vaping company Juul Labs will pay West Virginia $7.9 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the company marketed products to underage users, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Monday. The lawsuit accuses Juul of engaging in unfair or deceptive practices in the design, manufacturing, marketing and sale of e-cigarettes in violation of the state’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act. (Raby, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Black Man Awaiting Kidney Transplant Alleges Racial Bias 
An African American man is seeking millions of dollars in damages and a better position on the kidney transplant waiting list in a lawsuit that claims an algorithm used in determining priority for organs is biased against Black people. Anthony Randall last week sued an affiliate of the Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, where he is listed as a transplant patient, and the United Network for Organ Sharing, the nonprofit organization that operates the U.S. transplant system. (Bernstein, 4/10)

Politico: GOP Embraces A New Foreign Policy: Bomb Mexico To Stop Fentanyl 
A growing number of prominent Republicans are rallying around the idea that to solve the fentanyl crisis, America must bomb it away. In recent weeks, Donald Trump has discussed sending “special forces” and using “cyber warfare” to target cartel leaders if he’s reelected president and, per Rolling Stone, asked for “battle plans” to strike Mexico. Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) introduced a bill seeking authorization for the use of military force to “put us at war with the cartels.” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said he is open to sending U.S. troops into Mexico to target drug lords even without that nation’s permission. And lawmakers in both chambers have filed legislation to label some cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, a move supported by GOP presidential aspirants. (Ward, 4/10)

In other news about the opioid crisis —

Roll Call: DEA Proposal Sparks Concerns About Access To Telehealth
Members of Congress and advocates worry a proposed rule from the Biden administration will make it harder for people to access a medication commonly used to treat opioid use disorder. The Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing limiting telehealth prescriptions for buprenorphine to an initial 30-day supply until the patient can be seen in person by a physician. (Hellmann, 4/10)

The Texas Tribune: Fentanyl Strips Get Initial Approval From Texas House
In an effort to combat a rising number of opioid overdose deaths in the state, the Texas House on Monday gave initial approval to a bill that would decriminalize fentanyl test strips, which warn people if a drug they are about to take contains traces of the deadly synthetic opioid. (Barragan, 4/10)

Scientific American: How Over-The-Counter Narcan Can Help Reverse Opioid Overdoses
A recent Food and Drug Administration decision that makes naloxone available without a prescription may increase the drug’s accessibility. But cost could be a barrier. (Bartels, 4/11)

The Washington Post: High Stress Raises Odds Of Cognitive Problems After Age 45 
People 45 and older who have elevated stress levels have been found to be 37 percent more likely to have cognitive problems, including memory and thinking issues, than those who are not stressed, according to research published in the journal JAMA Network Open. (Searing, 4/10)

The New York Times: More Girls Are Being Diagnosed With Autism 
Morénike Giwa Onaiwu was shocked when day care providers flagged some concerning behaviors in her daughter, Legacy. The toddler was not responding to her name. She avoided eye contact, didn’t talk much and liked playing on her own. But none of this seemed unusual to Dr. Onaiwu, a consultant and writer in Houston. “I didn’t recognize anything was amiss,” she said. “My daughter was just like me.” Legacy was diagnosed with autism in 2011, just before she turned 3. Months later, at the age of 31, Dr. Onaiwu was diagnosed as well. (Ghorayshi, 4/10)

Health News Florida: Latinos And Hispanics Are More Likely To Get Certain Leukemias, But Why?
Karen Estrada, 46, lives in Miami-Dade County with her husband and two sons. Until last year, she had a full-time job, worked out at the gym often and regularly volunteered at her children’s school. She had no clue of what was to come. "I would just feel a little bit tired — but as a mom, as a professional, you feel tired sometimes," Estrada said. "That's how I felt." After a dental procedure turned into an infection that wouldn't heal, she found out she had acute myeloid leukemia. Her life changed immediately. (Zaragovia, 4/10)

CNN: Salad Recall: Some Ready-To-Eat Salads With Chicken Or Ham May Contain Potentially Deadly Listeria
Certain brands of fresh ready-to-eat salads that include chicken or ham may also contain lettuce contaminated with listeria, a potentially deadly bacteria, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Revolution Farms of Caledonia, Michigan, voluntarily recalled lettuce produced and sold under the brand Revolution Farms on April 5, 2023, due to the potential for listeria contamination. However, lettuce from that recall was used to create ready-to-eat salads under the brand names “Fruit Ridge Farms” and “Bell’s Bistro,” according to a FSIS public health alert issued Monday. (LaMotte, 4/10)

On weight loss —

CNN: Weight Loss May Mean A Risk Of Death For Older Adults, Study Shows
As much as people may celebrate their own weight loss, it is not always healthy. A new study shows that weight loss in older adults is associated with early death and life-limiting conditions. Weight gain, on the other hand, was not associated with mortality, according to the study published Monday in JAMA Network Open. (Holcombe, 4/10)

The Wall Street Journal: The $76 Billion Diet Industry Asks: What To Do About Ozempic? 
Annick Lenoir-Peek, a lawyer from Durham, N.C., has struggled with her weight since adolescence. She has tried Atkins and keto and spent thousands of dollars over decades on weight-loss efforts and programs such as Noom, Nutrisystem and WeightWatchers. Since starting Ozempic in late November, she has lost around 30 pounds. Her cholesterol and glucose levels have improved, and she can eat far fewer calories without feeling hungry, she says. She has felt few side effects and has more energy than when she tried calorie-restricted diets. Currently on a trip through Eastern Europe, she says she is doing more tours than she would have at a higher weight. (Petersen, Winkler and O'Brien, 4/10)

Los Angeles Times: Will The Texas Judge’s Abortion Overreach Be Matched By The Supreme Court?
The Kacsmaryk ruling is a reminder that far-right federal judges are increasingly unconstrained, with little fear of being reversed by the Supreme Court and no sense of accountability. If the decision reads more like an antiabortion pamphlet than a legal ruling, it also sends a clear message: The judge and others like him believe that there is nothing anyone will do about it. (Mary Ziegler, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Judge Kacsmaryk Relied On Ideology, Not Law, To Block Abortion Drug
Two opposing rulings by federal judges late last week have set the country up for a possible Supreme Court showdown over the abortion pill mifepristone. But first things first: Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk’s effective injunction invalidating the medication’s approval nationwide needs to be put on pause. (4/10)

The Boston Globe: How To Retain Access To Abortion Pills, Thanks To The Right Wing
The most obvious way to protect access to pharmaceutical abortion may be something many conservatives especially love and promote — off-label prescribing. Off-label use refers to the practice of physicians prescribing an FDA-approved drug for an unapproved indication. For example, off-label prescribing is frequently used for pediatric patients, since many drugs approved for adults are not tested in, and thus are not approved specifically for, children. Physicians in the United States are free to prescribe whatever approved medicines they believe to serve the best interests of their patients. Since mifepristone and its companion drug misoprostol have been approved, they can be prescribed for other reasons. (Lisa Kearns and Arthur L. Caplan, 4/11)

Also —

The Atlantic: My Childhood Best Friend And America’s Failure To Help The Mentally Ill 
Thousands of people with severe mental illness have been failed by a dysfunctional system. My friend Michael was one of them. Twenty-five years ago, he killed the person he loved most. (Jonathan Rosen, 4/11)

USA Today: Black Patients Are More Likely To Die Of Heart Failure. Why?
Heart failure stubbornly remains a leading cause of death in this country. Moreover, our own failures to do something about it are disproportionately impacting the Black community. (Dr. Alanna Morris and Robert Blum, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Why Decriminalizing Drugs Is A Bad Idea
If addiction is a disease, then why don’t we treat it like one, instead of prosecuting it like a crime? (Michael W. Clune, 4/10)

USA Today: How UW Scientists Tried To Avoid Reporting A Virus Research Accident
Inside the high-security Influenza Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, two experienced scientists were pulling ferrets out of their HEPA-filtered cages on a Monday in December 2019. Another researcher, still in training, was also in the room to watch and learn. (Alison Young, 4/11)

Stat: The U.S. Needs Stronger Extreme-Heat Warning Systems 
I’ve spent a decade studying the health impacts of extreme heat. In the communities I’ve studied, people don’t care to debate the origins of climate change or whether it’s even real. They care about how many times they have to choose between buying food or medicine and running their air conditioner. They think about paying their water bill or their power bill, because they can’t afford both. (Ashley Ward, 4/11)