Politico: Biden To End Covid Health Emergency Declarations In May 
The Biden administration will end the Covid-19 national and public health emergencies on May 11, the White House said Monday in a major step meant to signal that the crisis era of the pandemic is over. The move would restructure the federal government’s coronavirus response and unwind a sprawling set of flexibilities put in place nearly three years ago that paved the way for free Covid treatments and tests. The White House disclosed its plan in response to two House Republican measures aimed at immediately ending the emergencies, calling those proposals “a grave disservice to the American people.” (Cancryn, 1/30)

NPR: COVID Emergency Declarations Will End In May, The White House Says
The plan from the White House came in a statement opposing two House bills that would end the emergency declarations sooner. "An abrupt end to the emergency declarations would create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system — for states, for hospitals and doctors' offices, and, most importantly, for tens of millions of Americans," the statement says, calling the bills a "grave disservice to the American people." (Farrington, 1/30)

AP: President Biden To End COVID-19 Emergencies On May 11
The costs of COVID-19 vaccines are also expected to skyrocket once the government stops buying them, with Pfizer saying it will charge as much as $130 per dose. Only 15% of Americans have received the recommended, updated booster that has been offered since last fall. ... Free at-home COVID tests will also come to an end. And hospitals will not get extra payments for treating COVID patients. (Miller and Seitz, 1/31)

The Washington Post: Biden To End Covid National Emergencies In May 
Among the most notable effects of ending the state of emergency, according to the White House, would be the termination of Title 42, a public health measure that has limited the inflow of migrants at the border. The Biden administration has attempted to end Title 42, but that action has been held up in court. An administration official said because Title 42 is a public health order, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined there would no longer be a need for the measure once the coronavirus no longer presented a public health emergency. But some House Republicans lambasted the White House statement on Monday, arguing that Title 42 is not tied to the public health emergency and exists at the discretion of the president. Many in the GOP are in favor of keeping the Title 42 restrictions, saying that health concerns provide reasonable grounds for limiting immigration. (Pager and Sun, 1/30)

Reuters: U.S. To End COVID-19 Emergency Declarations On May 11 
The COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency (PHE) were put in place in 2020 by then-President Donald Trump. Biden has repeatedly extended the measures, which allow millions of Americans to receive free tests, vaccines and treatments. ... OMB said in a separate statement that Biden would veto a proposed bill in the U.S. Congress that would eliminate COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health care providers working on certain federal programs. (1/30)

The Hill: Here Are 3 Things The End Of The COVID Public Health Emergency Could Undo 
Here are three things that could be undone with the lifting of the national and public health emergencies. (Sforza, 1/30)

In related news —

San Francisco Chronicle: White House Blames Trump Administration For Laxity Leading To Pandemic Fraud
The White House says the Trump administration was responsible for extensive pandemic aid fraud outlined in a government watchdog report released Monday The report alleges that the U.S. government awarded $5.4 billion in pandemic loans and assistance to people with "questionable" Social Security numbers. (Vaziri and Beamish, 1/30)

Stat: Medicare Advantage Insurers To Repay Billions Under Audit Rule
The federal government will audit Medicare Advantage insurers aggressively under a rule finalized Monday, which is expected to result in billions of dollars in overpayments going back toward Medicare’s trust fund and patients over the next decade. (Herman and Bannow, 1/30)

AP: Feds Expect To Collect $4.7B In Insurance Fraud Penalties 
The Biden administration estimated Monday that it could collect as much as $4.7 billion from insurance companies with newer and tougher penalties for submitting improper charges on the taxpayers’ tab for Medicare Advantage care. Federal watchdogs have been sounding the alarm for years about questionable charges on the government’s private version of the Medicare program, with investigators raising the possibility that insurance companies may be bilking taxpayers of billions of dollars every year by claiming members are sicker than they really are to receive inflated payments. (Seitz, 1/30)

Bloomberg: Medicare Advantage Health Plans Face $4.7B Clawback From Federal Audit Rule
The rule, which governs audits of Medicare Advantage insurers by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is stricter than the industry had lobbied for. It finalized a 2018 proposal for auditing the private plans that administer programs for the agency, a move intended to recover excessive payments based on exaggerated claims of patient illness. (Tozzi, 1/30)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Finalizes RADV Rule For Medicare Advantage Plans
CMS’ approach to these audits will be significantly different than under the previous policy. Instead of reviewing samples of insurers’ claims to determine if they were correctly paid, the agency will extrapolate the error rates from those reviews and apply them to the whole plan. The proposed rule would have been retroactive to 2011, but CMS instead will limit its scope to 2018 onward. (Berryman, 1/30)

KHN: Government Lets Health Plans That Ripped Off Medicare Keep The Money 
Medicare Advantage plans for seniors dodged a major financial bullet Monday as government officials gave them a reprieve for returning hundreds of millions of dollars or more in government overpayments — some dating back a decade or more. The health insurance industry had long feared the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would demand repayment of billions of dollars in overcharges the popular health plans received as far back as 2011. (Schulte, 1/30)

Reuters: U.S. Seeks To Expand Birth Control Coverage Under Obamacare 
Women whose employers have opted out of covering contraceptives under their health insurance plans on religious grounds would gain no-cost access to birth control under a rule proposed by the Biden administration on Monday. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, requires private insurance plans to cover recommended preventive services including contraception without any patient cost-sharing, but current regulations grant exemptions for religious or moral objections. If the new rule is implemented, women enrolled in plans governed by the ACA would gain birth control coverage regardless of employer exemption, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a statement. (Aboulenein, 1/30)

USA Today: Biden Proposal Seeks To Bolster Obamacare's Contraception Coverage
The proposed rule from three federal agencies would remove an employer's ability to object to such coverage on moral grounds while still allowing religious objections. But individuals whose coverage is provided by employers or schools with religious objections could still access contraceptive care through a willing provider. (Alltucker, 1/30)

The Hill: White House Moves To Strengthen ObamaCare Contraception Requirement
The proposal would make it so employers are not required to notify HHS if they have a moral objection. The agency said far more employers have invoked religious objections than moral; about 18 employers have claimed that exemption, and around 15 employees are affected. It would also establish a new independent pathway for individuals enrolled in plans or coverage offered by religious employers to obtain contraceptive services at no cost directly from a willing provider or facility that furnishes contraceptive services. (Weixel and Choi, 1/30)

The Hill: RNC Calls On Candidates To ‘Go On Offense’ On Anti-Abortion Laws In 2024 
The Republican National Committee is doubling down on its anti-abortion stance by urging all GOP candidates and lawmakers to “go on offense” in the 2024 election cycle and pass the strictest anti-abortion legislation possible. In a resolution passed Friday during its winter meeting, the committee called on Republicans to pass laws “that acknowledge the beating hearts and experiences of pain in the unborn.” Such language has been used to pass “heartbeat” bills that would ban abortions at six weeks, before many people know they are pregnant. (Weixel, 1/30)

AP: Attorney General Asks Court To Reconsider Abortion Ruling 
South Carolina’s attorney general on Monday asked the state’s high court to reconsider its ruling striking down the state’s six-week abortion ban. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson filed a rehearing request with the South Carolina Supreme Court. The court, in a 3-2 decision earlier this month, ruled that the 2021 law banning abortions when cardiac activity is detected, about six weeks after conception, violated the state constitution’s right to privacy. (1/30)

Stateline.org: Republican Leaders In Some States Now Want To Add Abortion Ban Exceptions
With Tennessee’s so-called trigger law already on the books, the state enacted its abortion ban almost immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June. Yet even as anti-abortion legislators and advocates celebrated, they considered how much further they could go — perhaps by barring Tennesseans from seeking abortions in other states, or by restricting contraception. (Elliott, 1/30)

AP: Massachusetts Abortion Hotline Now Offers Free Legal Advice 
Massachusetts launched a hotline Monday offering free legal advice to people seeking abortions in the state, as well as their health care providers and helpers — joining several other states in a move spurred by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last summer, which has led to increasingly restrictive abortion laws in other states. “It will help people and families, including those who travel from out of state seeking care, access these critical health care services,” Attorney General Andrea Campbell said at a news conference. (Pratt, 1/30)

Also —

Stateline: Looming Court Rulings To Decide Future Of Abortion Pills
Medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of all abortions in the United States, has become more common since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion this summer. But in federal courts and state legislatures, abortion opponents are trying to limit the use of abortion-inducing pills. Meanwhile, abortion rights supporters have filed lawsuits arguing the opposite — that federal approval of the drugs should prevail over state restrictions. (Vestal, 1/30)

The Washington Post: George Washington Students Get Emergency Contraception Vending Machine After Demands 
The vending-machine company is supplying the pills and neither the school nor the students purchased or subsidized the product, according to a university spokeswoman. GWU previously offered emergency contraception through its student health center. (Svrluga, 1/30)

CNN: US Spends Most On Health Care But Has Worst Health Outcomes Among High-Income Countries, New Report Finds 
The United States spends more on health care than any other high-income country but still has the lowest life expectancy at birth and the highest rate of people with multiple chronic diseases, according to a new report from The Commonwealth Fund, an independent research group. (Howard, 1/31)

The Hill: Health Care Spending In The US Nearly Double Of Other Wealthy Nations: Report 
People in the U.S. may be more likely to be living with multiple health complications than people in other high income countries. About 30 percent of adults surveyed in the U.S. had two or more chronic conditions, like asthma, cancer, depression, diabetes, heart disease or hypertension, according to the Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey 2022. Ten other countries were included in this survey, with results that ranged from 17 percent in France to 20 percent in Germany, to about 26 percent in Australia. (Hou, 1/31)

Bloomberg: US Leads World In Health-Care Spending Yet Key Health Outcomes Lag, Study Says
The report adds to a litany of indicting data from the US, where half of adults are worried about medical costs that sometimes force them to delay or forgo care, according to a recent study, and life expectancy of 77 years ranks 39th among all nations. One glaring problem is that Americans visit the doctor just four times a year, trailing most other wealthy countries, perhaps because of cost and a lack of practicing physicians, the authors said. The American health system “can seem designed to discourage people from using services,” they wrote in the report, US Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2022: Accelerating Spending, Worsening Outcomes. “High out-of-pocket costs lead nearly half of working-age adults to skip or delay getting needed care.” (Fay Cortez, 1/31)

On the high cost of prescription drugs —

USA Today: Why Drugmakers Have Raised Prices On Nearly 1,000 Drugs So Far This Year
Major drug companies such as AbbVie, Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb have raised prices so far this month, according to data provided by 46brooklyn Research, a nonprofit that researches drug pricing. The amount consumers pay depends on their insurance coverage and complex rebates often hidden from public view. (Alltucker, 1/30)

Stat: Pharma Wins A Round In Fight With Hospitals Over Discount Program
In a victory for the pharmaceutical industry, a federal appeals court ruled drug companies have the right to limit discounts to hospitals that rely on numerous contract pharmacies as they participate in a U.S. government drug discount program. (Silverman, 1/30)

Americans are being crushed in the grip of inflation —

The Hill: Survey: Nearly Two-Thirds Of Americans Are Living Paycheck To Paycheck 
A new survey found that Americans living paycheck to paycheck increased over the last year, with nearly two-thirds of Americans reporting that they do so. About 64 percent of consumers said they were living paycheck to paycheck at the end of 2022, according to a report from Pymnts and LendingClub. The report found that the number is about 9.3 million more than the previous year and includes about 8 million people making more than $100,000 per year. (Sforza, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: The U.S. Consumer Is Starting To Freak Out
The engine of the U.S. economy—consumer spending—is starting to sputter. Retail purchases have fallen in three of the past four months. Spending on services, including rent, haircuts and the bulk of bills, was flat in December, after adjusting for inflation, the worst monthly reading in nearly a year. Sales of existing homes in the U.S. fell last year to their lowest level since 2014 as mortgage rates rose. The auto industry posted its worst sales year in more than a decade. It’s a stark turnaround from the second half of 2020, when Americans lifted the economy out of a pandemic downturn, helping the U.S. avoid what many economists worried would be a prolonged slump. (Torry and Pinsker, 1/30)

Modern Healthcare: Kaufman Hall: Signs Of Hospital Margin Stability Emerging
Hospital operating margins continued to decline in 2022 as labor expenses climbed, but financial pressures may be easing, according to a new report. The median hospital operating margin dropped 39% from 2021 to 2022 as labor costs increased 9%, a monthly Kaufman Hall analysis of data from more than 900 hospitals found. However, expense growth slowed and inpatient volumes improved in December, which could signal a more stable financial outlook for early 2023, analysts said in the report. Here are five takeaways from the data. (Kacik, 1/30)

Bloomberg: Moody's Warns Hospitals Of More Bad Debt As Medicaid Continuous Enrollment Ends
Hospitals will likely see bad debt soar when a pandemic-era rule expires allowing states to kick patients off Medicaid April 1, according to a January report from Moody’s Investors Service. The rule had encouraged states to keep beneficiaries continuously enrolled — regardless of eligibility — in order to receive higher reimbursements. Once states start trimming their rolls, however, hospital revenue is expected to decline as health-care providers will need to assume costs from an expected wave of uninsured patients. (Coleman-Lochner, 1/30)

In other health care industry news —

Axios: Trauma Support In High Demand From Companies Amid Relentless Wave Of Tragedies
Mental health professionals are seeing an increase in requests from companies for trauma support training. From self-care practices to recognizing the physiological impacts of trauma, more organizations have realized that workers can't just be expected to handle the trauma on their own, according to Ruth Yeo-Peterman, a resilience programming trainer with the Center for Victims of Torture. (King, 1/30)

The New York Times: Barbara Stanley, Influential Suicide Researcher, Dies At 73
Barbara H. Stanley, a psychologist and researcher who developed a simple, effective tool for suicide prevention, died on Wednesday in a hospice in Scotch Plains, N.J. She was 73. Her daughter, Melissa Morris, said the cause was ovarian cancer. Dr. Stanley, a professor of psychology at Columbia University and the director of suicide prevention training at New York State Psychiatric Institute, helped propel a major shift in the field of mental health as researchers began to view suicide as a distinct problem that could be directly addressed, rather than as a symptom of another disorder. (Barry, 1/29)

CNN: Covid-19 'Baby Bump' Brought An Increased US Fertility Rate In 2021 -- But Also Record High Preterm Births 
The number of babies born each year in the United States has been steadily dropping since the Great Recession of 2008. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit and brought another burst of uncertainty, many expected an even steeper dropoff. (McPhillips, 1/31)

ABC News: US Births Increased In 2021 For 1st Time In 7 Years: CDC
A report published early Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics showed there were 3,664,292 babies born in 2021, which is a 1% increase from 2020. (Kekatos, 1/31)

The Hill: Fertility Rate Increases For First Time Since 2014: CDC
The average age for pregnant people at first birth was 27.3 years old, an increase from 27.1 in 2020 and a new record high, notes the CDC. The average age at first birth increased across nearly all race groups to 25.5 years old for Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black women, 28.1 for non-Hispanic White women and 31.2 for non-Hispanic Asian women.(Hou, 1/31)

In related news —

Axios: Deaths Jump Among Pregnant Women
The number of women who died during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth jumped in the first year of the pandemic, a study in JAMA Network Open shows. While pregnancy-associated causes were still the leading cause of death, the jump in mortality between 2019 and 2020 was largely not related to the pregnancies themselves. (Reed, 1/30)

The New York Times: Deaths Among Pregnant Women And New Mothers Rose Sharply During Pandemic 
Pregnant women and new mothers died in sharply increasing numbers during the pandemic, and not just because of a rise in medical complications that may accompany pregnancy and childbirth. An even greater toll was exacted by other causes, like drug overdoses, homicides and car accidents, according to a study published on Friday. “It is really heartbreaking to see,” said Jeffrey T. Howard, an associate professor of public health at the University of Texas at San Antonio and lead author of the paper, which was published in JAMA Network Open. (Rabin, 1/27)

Also —

NBC News: What Is Postpartum Psychosis? Rare Condition Is In The Spotlight After The Killing Of Three Children In Massachusetts
A Massachusetts woman accused of killing her three children has put a spotlight on a rare condition that mental health advocates say is shrouded in shame, often preventing mothers from seeking treatment. Postpartum psychosis is an illness in which hallucinations and delusions alter a person’s sense of reality after giving birth, sometimes driving them to harm themselves or their children. (Chuck and McShane, 1/30)

The Boston Globe: When Postpartum Psychosis Turns A Mother Into A Killer: Advocates Call For Alternatives In Prosecuting The Unthinkable
In recent years, legal and health advocates have sought to bring more awareness to the nature of postpartum depression, though that work has not always translated into policy change in the legal system. (Murphy, Ellement and Cutler, 1/31)

NPR: COVID-19 Is The Eighth Leading Cause Of Death Among Children In The U.S.
COVID-19 was the eighth leading cause of death among children in recent months, according to a study published Monday. In a yearlong period from August 2021 to July 2022, 821 children ages 0 to 19 died from COVID-19 at a rate of 1 per 100,000. Children's deaths of any kind are rare, researchers noted. (Archie, 1/31)

CIDRAP: Studies Estimate COVID And All-Cause Deaths In Youth, Pregnancy
Two new studies published in JAMA Network Open assess causes of death in US youth and pregnant and recently pregnant women during the pandemic, with the former finding that COVID-19 was the eighth-leading cause of death among children, and the latter showing that non-White pregnant women were significantly more likely to die of any cause than their White peers. (Van Beusekom, 1/30)

The Mercury News: California Saw Nearly 20% More Deaths Since 2020, And COVID Alone Can’t Explain It
Since 2020, California has recorded 130,000 more deaths than in the three previous years, a nearly 20% increase in mortality, the largest sustained spike in more than a century, and the reversal of a decades-long trend of decreasing death rates. In essence, experts say, that’s 130,000 more burials, cremations, viewings and funerals than there should have been. (Blair Rowan, 1/30)

In other pandemic news —

Reuters: All Countries 'Dangerously Unprepared' For Future Pandemics, Says IFRC 
The world is "dangerously unprepared" for future pandemics, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) say in a report published on Monday, calling on countries to update their preparedness plans by year-end. In its World Disasters Report 2022, the IFRC said "all countries remain dangerously unprepared for future outbreaks" despite COVID-19 killing more people than any earthquake, drought or hurricane in history. (1/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Record Number Of Americans Missing Work Due To Illness
About 1.5 million Americans missed work due to illness in December, with over 1 million calling in sick every month for the past three years, according to the latest federal data. The last time the absentee number dipped below 1 million was in November 2019, according to a report from the Guardian that cites the prevalence of long COVID as contributing to increasing worker absences. (Vaziri and Beamish, 1/30)

CNBC: Long Covid Has ‘Underappreciated’ Role In Labor Gap: Study
Long Covid is keeping people out of work and may reduce on-the-job productivity for others, contributing to a labor shortage and weighing on the U.S. economy at large, according to a new study. (Iacurci, 1/30)

Minnesota Public Radio: COVID Response Turns Another Corner: MN Test To Treat Sites Are No More 
The Minnesota Department of Health has closed COVID testing sites that people once visited in droves. But the agency said use of the sites at places like St. Paul's Midway neighborhood and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport had dropped. But that’s left some Minnesotans wondering where they’ll get a COVID test now. (Wiley, 1/31)

The Atlantic: Airplane Toilets Could Catch The Next COVID Variant
Airplane bathrooms are not most people’s idea of a good time. They’re barely big enough to turn around in. Their doors stick, like they’re trying to trap you in place. That’s to say nothing of the smell. But to the CDC, those same bathrooms might be a data gold mine. (Ladyzhets, 1/30)

KHN: It’s ‘Telehealth Vs. No Care’: Doctors Say Congress Risks Leaving Patients Vulnerable
When the covid-19 pandemic hit, Dr. Corey Siegel was more prepared than most of his peers. Half of Siegel’s patients — many with private insurance and Medicaid — were already using telehealth, logging onto appointments through phones or computers. “You get to meet their family members; you get to meet their pets,” Siegel said. “You see more into their lives than you do when they come to you.” (Tribble, 1/31)

The Wall Street Journal: J&J’s Talc Bankruptcy Case Thrown Out By Appeals Court
A federal appeals court in Philadelphia rejected Johnson & Johnson ‘s use of chapter 11 bankruptcy to freeze roughly 40,000 lawsuits linking its talc products to cancer, blunting a strategy the consumer health giant and a handful of other profitable companies have used to sidestep jury trials. The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday dismissed the chapter 11 case of J&J subsidiary LTL Management LLC, which the company created in 2021 to move the talc injury lawsuits to bankruptcy court and freeze them in place. J&J is now exposed once again to talc-related cancer claims that have cost the company’s consumer business $4.5 billion in recent years and are expected to continue for decades. (Randles and Loftus, 1/30)

Reuters: U.S. Court Rejects J&J Bankruptcy Strategy For Thousands Of Talc Lawsuits 
The decision could force J&J to fight talc lawsuits for years in trial courts. The company has a mixed record fighting the suits so far. While the firm was hit with major judgments in some cases before filing bankruptcy, more than 1,500 talc lawsuits have been dismissed and the majority of cases that have gone to trial have resulted in verdicts favoring J&J, judgments for the company on appeal, or mistrials, according to its subsidiary's court filings. A December 2018 Reuters investigation revealed that J&J officials knew for decades about tests showing that the company’s talc sometimes contained traces of carcinogenic asbestos but kept that information from regulators and the public. J&J has said its talc does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer. (Hals, Spector and Levine, 1/30)

NPR: Appeals Court Clears The Way For More Lawsuits Over Johnson's Baby Powder
Plaintiffs attorneys cheered the decision, accusing Johnson & Johnson of trying to "twist and pervert" the bankruptcy code. "Bankruptcy courts aren't a menu option for rich companies to decide that they get to opt out of their responsibility for harming people," said attorney Jon Ruckdeschel. "And that's what was happening here." Johnson & Johnson promised to appeal the decision. (Horsley and Mann, 1/30)

In other pharmaceutical industry developments —

Stat: FDA Offers Clues On How It Will Wield Authority On Post-Approval Trials
A Food and Drug Administration official on Monday gave more clues for how the agency plans to wield new authority to make drug companies enroll post-market clinical trials before granting speedy drug approvals. (Wilkerson, 1/30)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna, CVS Health In Court Over Alleged Noncompete Violation
Cigna filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on Thursday that alleges Amy Bricker, president of the company's Express Scripts pharmacy benefit manager, violated her employment contract. Cigna asserts the agreement bars her from taking senior roles with rival companies including "chief competitor" CVS Health, which operates the CVS Caremark PBM. (Berryman, 1/30)

The Hill: Memphis Fire Department Terminates Three Officials Who Responded To Tyre Nichols Arrest
The Memphis Fire Department on Monday announced that it has terminated two emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and a lieutenant it determined violated “numerous” policies and protocols when they responded to the scene where Tyre Nichols had been handcuffed on the ground leaning against a police vehicle. (Oshin, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: EMTs Fired, Two More Police Officers Relieved From Duty After Death Of Tyre Nichols 
The three EMTs were let go after an internal investigation into their actions at the scene of Mr. Nichols’s Jan. 7 encounter with police following a traffic stop, the Memphis Fire Department said in a statement. The review showed they “failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment of Mr. Nichols,” the department said.  (Bhattacharya and De Avila, 1/30)

The Hill: Scott Says Democrats Are To Blame For The Failure Of Police Reform Legislation 
Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), the lead Senate Republican negotiator on police reform, on Monday signaled he’s willing to have another go at the tough issue in the wake of Tyre Nichols’s death at the hands of Memphis police, while criticizing Democrats for blocking his reform bill in 2020 for not going far enough. ... Scott's Just and Unifying Solutions To Invigorate Communities Everywhere Act (JUSTICE) Act would have ended the use of police chokeholds and created a “duty” for officers to intervene when they see a colleague use excessive force against a suspect. (Bolton, 1/30)

On Valley fever —

The Mercury News: As California’s Climate Heats Up, Valley Fever Spikes
On a windy summer day a decade and a half ago, insidious fungal spores, each a tiny fraction of the width of a human hair, wafted through a Modesto orchard and into Jaime Gonzalez’s lungs. Several weeks later, Gonzalez grew weak and feverish. The spores had infected him with Valley fever, a little-known and often-misunderstood disease that causes him fatigue, chronic pain and skin ulcers to this day. Sometimes, he said, his legs fail him. (Cummings, 1/30)

NBC News: Valley Fever, Historically Found Only In The Southwest, Is Spreading. It Can Have Devastating Consequences
The fungus is endemic to the hot, dry soils of the Southwest; 97% of all U.S. cases of Valley fever are reported in Arizona and California, according to the California Department of Public Health. But that could change: Fungal infections, including Valley fever, are increasingly being diagnosed outside of their usual ranges. One study in the journal GeoHealth projected that, due to climate change, the range of Valley fever could spread east, through the Great Plains and north, to the Canadian border, before the end of the century. (Bauer and Schwartz, 1/30)

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

The Boston Globe: In Boston, Ambulance Response Times Slow As Crews Get Stuck In Hospital Gridlock, Short Staffing
Median ambulance response times in Boston for life-threatening emergencies — think cardiac arrest, arterial bleeds, an unconscious person — have grown significantly this past year, rising from just over 7 minutes in January 2022, to 7.7 minutes in December, Boston EMS records show. Those city-wide numbers mask even more troubling signs in some neighborhoods: Response times in Hyde Park hit nearly 11 minutes for the most urgent calls in December, while West Roxbury was at 9.5 minutes. (Lazar, 1/30)

St. Louis Public Radio: Rural Missouri School Districts Will Scan Servers For Threats
Dozens of rural school districts across Missouri will use specialized software to scan their servers and Wifi internet traffic looking for signs of students who may hurt themselves or others. The Department of Justice is giving $2 million dollars to the districts to purchase software and train staff to use it. (Ahl, 1/31)

Detroit Free Press: U-M Health Public Websites Hit By Pro-Russian Cyberattack
University of Michigan Health experienced problems with its public websites Monday as a result of a cyberattack on a vendor, according to a statement from the hospital system. The problems are among other reports of similar cyberattacks at hospital systems around the United States and in other countries that have agreed to provide tanks to Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia nearly a year ago. (Hall, 1/30)

KHN: California Author Uses Dark Humor — And A Bear — To Highlight Flawed Health System
Mother-to-be Kathleen Founds made a routine doctor’s appointment to discuss the risks of antidepressants in pregnancy. After the visit, Founds, who relies on medication to quell the manic highs and despondent lows of bipolar disorder, learned the physician was out of network. She received a surprise bill for $650, launching her into a maze of claim forms and hours on the phone being routed from one office to the next to dispute the charges — insurance red tape that so many Americans have encountered. A decade later, Founds captured her experience in a graphic novel, “Bipolar Bear and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Health Insurance,” a richly illustrated, darkly funny fable for adults about the country’s dysfunctional health system. (Scheier, 1/31)

The Washington Post: TIAs Are Emergencies, Not Just ‘Mini-Strokes,’ Group Says
Transient ischemic attacks, or TIAs, should no longer be thought of as mere “mini-strokes,” but rather harbingers of a bigger stroke to come, according to the American Heart Association. In new guidance, the group says that at least 240,000 Americans experience a TIA each year and calls on medical providers to treat TIAs as emergencies. (Blakemore, 1/30)

Axios: Axios Finish Line: Happiness Spikes In Our 70s
Americans are staying healthier longer than ever before — and they're transforming what older age looks like. A recent study from AARP and National Geographic found that happiness dwindles in middle age but then spikes again in one's 70s and 80s, as people find themselves with more free time and less stress. (Pandey, 1/30)

CNN: Infant Screen Time Could Impact Academic Success, Study Says
Letting infants watch tablets and TV may be impairing their academic achievement and emotional well-being later on, according to a new study. Researchers found that increased use of screen time during infancy was associated with poorer executive functioning once the child was 9 years old, according to the study published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. (Holcombe, 1/30)

NBC News: Can't Say No To Sweets And Snacks? It Could Be A Sign Of Food Addiction
Eating too many sweet treats or salty snacks may sound like something you’d grow out of, but a sizable proportion of adults over 50 say they can’t say no to highly processed foods, a survey published Monday from the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation found. About 1 in 8 adults over 50 showed signs of food addiction, according to the survey. (Carroll, 1/30)

KHN: Listen To The Latest ‘KHN Health Minute’ 
This week’s “KHN Health Minute” nudges listeners to have an antiviral care plan before covid hits, and looks at how medical emergencies like Damar Hamlin’s heart attack can affect NFL players’ mental health. (1/31)

Reuters: Georgia Families' Opioid Trial Begins After COVID Delay 
A trial began for the second time Monday in a case brought by families of opioid addicts in Georgia accusing drug distributors Cardinal Health Inc, McKesson Corp and JM Smith Corp of acting as illegal drug dealers. The case originally went to trial in Glynn County Superior Court last year, but ended in a mistrial three days later after Judge Roger Lane called it off due to rising COVID-19 cases in the region. It was the first trial of opioid claims brought by individual plaintiffs, rather than government entities. (Pierson, 1/30)

In other news about the opioid crisis —

AP: Doctor Gets Nearly 17 Years In Prison For Vast Opioid Scheme 
A Detroit-area doctor was sentenced Monday to nearly 17 years in prison and ordered to pay $30 million for leading a scheme to bill Medicare and private insurers for unnecessary painkiller injections and write prescriptions for millions of opioids. Frank Patino’s fraud lasted years and was one of the most egregious health care schemes in U.S. history, prosecutors said. (1/30)

KOMO: Dozens Protest Opening Of Opioid Treatment Center In Lynnwood 
Dozens of people in Lynnwood, Washington, protested Sunday against a new opioid treatment center opening in their city, claiming they never had a say before the state signed off on the license. But, the health care operator insists it will be transparent about security and how it operates. Organizers with the group Safe Lynnwood are building a safety plan to address their concerns about the new opioid treatment clinic off 196th Street Southwest and 24th Avenue West. The clinic, which is set to open Monday is located near little league fields, businesses, and neighborhoods. (Kent, 1/29)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: The Feds Just Removed Restrictions Around Prescribing A Popular Addiction Medication. What Does It Mean For Patients?
People struggling with opioid addiction will now be able to access an addiction treatment drug from any physician licensed to prescribe controlled substances, rather than having to seek out doctors with specialized credentials. The federal government in December lifted restrictions on who can prescribe the opioid buprenorphine to treat addiction, thanks to a legal change pushed by the Biden administration to decrease barriers to addiction care. (Whelan, 1/30)

The Guardian: Vending Machines With Lifesaving Drug Grow As Opioid Crisis Rages In US 
The police chief of the small Kentucky city of Vine Grove knew from heart-rending experience why he needed a vending machine outside his office. Kenneth Mattingly’s daughter was twice brought to the brink of death by heroin and twice pulled back by paramedics carrying an antidote, naloxone. Then Mattingly responded to an opioid overdose call early last year at which a woman saved a friend’s life because she was carrying a naloxone spray, often known by its brand name Narcan. (McGreal, 1/29)

WLRN 91.3 FM: UF Scientist Is Part Of A Research Team Looking To Make Fentanyl Less Dangerous 
A group of scientists, including a University of Florida researcher, may have found a way to alter the chemical components of fentanyl and lessen its deadly side effects. Jay McLaughlin, a neuroscientist and a professor of pharmacodynamics at the UF College of Pharmacy, is working with scientists at Washington University, the University of Southern California and Stanford University who've discovered a safer version of it. (Zaragovia, 1/30)

KHN: Some Addiction Treatment Centers Turn Big Profits By Scaling Back Care
Near the end of his scheduled three-month stay at a rehab center outside Austin, Texas, Daniel McKegney was forced to tell his father in North Carolina that he needed more time and more money, he recently recalled. His father had already received bills from BRC Recovery totaling about $150,000 to cover McKegney’s treatment for addiction to the powerful opioid fentanyl, according to insurance statements shared with KHN. But McKegney, 20, said he found the program “suffocating” and wasn’t happy with his care. (Rayasam and Farmer, 1/31)

Scientific American: Rising Physical Pain Is Linked To More 'Deaths Of Despair' 
The relationship between despair and pain is multifaceted. As most people know from personal experience, physical pain increases psychological distress and anxiety. Several studies have found that people with severe pain—as opposed to those with low or moderate pain—are more likely to worry about their affliction and its possible consequences. (Lucia Macchia, 1/30)

Politico: The Medics Are Also To Blame For Tyre Nichols’ Death 
The medics involved in the death of Tyre Nichols are culpable and need to be criminally charged. (Donell Harvin, 1/30)

The New York Times: Ozempic And Wegovy Make Clear That Body Size Is Not A Choice 
We tend to believe body size is something we can fully control, that we’re skinny or fat because of deliberate choices we make. After talking to hundreds of patients with obesity over the years, and clinicians and researchers who study the disease, let me assure you: Reality looks a lot less like free will. (Julia Belluz, 1/31)

The Washington Post: Can Medical Abortions Last In The Post-Roe Era? 
The Supreme Court’s decision overruling the constitutional right to abortion didn’t remove courts from deciding abortion cases. It merely changed the terms of the debate. Right now, nothing is more front and center than competing efforts to eliminate or expand access to abortion medications. (Ruth Marcus, 1/30)

USA Today: Can Processed Foods Be Healthy? Eliminating Trans Fat Is First Step
Trans fat is a killer: Up to 500,000 people a year die worldwide from the consequences of eating it. Trans fat increases LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol, the compound that clogs arteries and causes heart attacks and deaths from heart disease. (Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, 1/31)

Stat: Covid Winter Preparedness Plan Doesn't 'Follow The Science' 
The White House’s Covid Winter Preparedness Plan is a missed opportunity to narrow the divide between Americans. The plan contains important elements to mitigate the anticipated seasonal surge of Covid-19. But it sidesteps the emerging evidence base and President Biden’s pledge to “follow the science.” (Steven Phillips, Robert C. Gallo and Christian Brechot, 1/31)

East Bay Times: How Congress Can Improve Seriously Ill Americans' Quality Of Life
A National Library of Medicine literature review of 30 articles comparing quality versus length of life revealed 80% of cancer patients choose the quality of life over the length of life. (Yanira Cruz and Kim Callinan, 1/29)

VC Star: Healthcare May Be Headed For A Cliff
Doom and gloom are never attractive topics to read about, particularly when dealing with healthcare. But have you wondered why it takes months to get a doctor’s appointment, or why you can’t get a hospital bed and need to sit in in an emergency department for hours or even days, even if there are open beds available. (Dr. Irving Kent Loh, 1/28)