The New York Times: RSV Shot Is Approved For Infants
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a shot to protect infants and vulnerable toddlers against respiratory syncytial virus, or R.S.V., offering one of the first protections for an illness that fills children’s hospitals year after year. The monoclonal antibody shot is expected to be available at the start of the fall R.S.V. season. The F.D.A. is also considering approval of an R.S.V. vaccine by Pfizer for pregnant women that is meant to protect infants from the virus. (Jewett, 7/17)

Axios: FDA Approves 1st RSV Immunization For All Infants
SV is considered the second leading cause of death during the first year of a child's life, with infants six months and younger at greater risk of becoming severely ill. Around one to two out of every 100 children younger than six months with RSV may need to be hospitalized, per data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ... An uptick of cases last fall put a strain on children's hospitals ahead of the typical surge of respiratory viruses. (González, 7/17)

The Washington Post: First RSV Antibody Treatment To Protect All Infants Approved In The U.S. 
The preventive shot, called Beyfortus, isn’t a vaccine, but it works in a similar way, delivering a temporary shield of protection that lasts for a single winter respiratory virus season. It is made up of laboratory-brewed antibodies that block the virus from entering cells. The drug can be given at birth to infants born during the RSV season, or administered in a pediatrician’s office to babies before their first winter respiratory virus season. The shot is also approved for high-risk children up to age 2. (Johnson, 7/17)

CNN: FDA Approves Antibody To Protect Infants From RSV
“RSV can cause serious disease in infants and some children and results in a large number of emergency department and physician office visits each year,” said Dr. John Farley, director of the Office of Infectious Diseases in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Today’s approval addresses the great need for products to help reduce the impact of RSV disease on children, families and the health care system,” Farley said in a news release.(Goodman, 7/17)

Axios: Alzheimer’s Drug Slows Cognitive Decline By 60% In Early-Stage Patients, Study Shows
An experimental Alzheimer's drug from Eli Lilly was shown effective in slowing the disease's progression by about a third — and more so when it was administered as early as possible, when patients only suffered mild cognitive impairment. Driving the news: The drug giant on Monday released full clinical trial results for its treatment donanemab, which could become the second FDA-approved drug of its kind to receive full approval, and accompanying Medicare coverage. (González, 7/18)

Reuters: Lilly Drug Slows Alzheimer's By 60% For Mildly Impaired Patients In Trial
Lilly's study showed that brain swelling, a known side effect of amyloid-clearing antibodies, occurred in more than 40% of patients with a genetic predisposition to develop Alzheimer's. The company had previously reported that 24% of the overall donanemab treatment group had brain swelling. Brain bleeding occurred in 31% of the donanemab group and about 14% of the placebo group. The deaths of three trial patients were linked to the treatment, researchers reported. (Beasley, 7/17)

NPR: Experimental Alzheimer's Drug Donanemab Outperforms Leqembi In Clinical Trial
But experts caution that donanemab is no cure, and that its benefit amounts to only about a seven-month delay in the loss of memory and thinking. "I do think that will make a difference to people," says Dr. Reisa Sperling, who directs the Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "But we have to do better." (Hamilton, 7/17)

Amid hope, caution about Alzheimer's drugs' impact on patients —

AP: Second Alzheimer's Drug In Pipeline Can Slow The Disease By A Few Months But With Safety Risk
“Finally there’s some hope, right, that we can talk about,” Lilly’s Dr. John Sims told reporters Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Amsterdam. “We don’t cure the disease,” he said. “Diabetes doesn’t have a cure either — it doesn’t mean you can’t have very meaningful treatments for patients.” (Neergaard, 7/17)

Fox News: New Dementia Drug 'Has Given Me Hope’: Alzheimer’s Patients Reveal Their Stories
Two Ohio patients who participated in the trials recently spoke to Fox News Digital about how Leqembi has impacted their Alzheimer’s journeys — and changed their lives. Joan Murtaugh, 77, lives in Lakewood, Ohio, with her husband, Larry. She first started noticing memory problems nearly seven years ago, just after her 70th birthday. "Timing is everything," her husband, Larry Murtaugh, told Fox News Digital in an interview. "It was Joan who made an appointment at the brain center clinic." (Rudy, 7/18)

Meanwhile, news on where Alzheimer's is prevalent in the U.S. —

The Hill: Alzheimer’s Is Most Prevalent In East, Southeast, According To New Research 
Alzheimer’s disease is most prevalent in the east and southeast, according to new research published Monday that seeks to map out the disease on a state and county level. The prevalence of Alzeheimer’s in those regions is closely tied to demographics and age. (Fortinsky, 7/17)

Fox News: Alzheimer’s Disease Is Most Common In These US Counties, New Study Finds
"It's important for us to know where the prevalences are going to be highest, so that we know how to direct resources and educational opportunities for people," said Dr. Percy Griffin. He is director of scientific engagement for the Alzheimer’s Association in Chicago, Illinois, and shared his thoughts with Fox News Digital in an interview. (Rudy, 7/17)

Stat: ER Docs Worry Over Extreme Heat As A 'Mass Casualty Event'
In Phoenix, where daytime temperatures are topping 110 degrees Fahrenheit for the third straight week, emergency room doctors think of extreme heat as the public health emergency it has proved itself to be: In 2022, Arizona’s Maricopa County reported a 25% increase in heat-related mortality from the previous year. “Heat is just something we know we need to be really worried about,” said Geoff Comp, an emergency medicine physician at Valleywise Health Medical Center. Protocols developed by Comp, who is also associate program director of the Creighton School of Medicine/Valleywise emergency medicine residency, include treating heat stroke victims with the latest standard of care: immersive cooling in a body bag filled with ice and zipped to about shoulder level. (Pennar, 7/18)

CBS News/AP: Phoenix About To Shatter Yet Another Heat Record For Big Cities: "Intense And Unrelenting"
Phoenix's relentless streak of dangerously hot days was poised to smash a record for major U.S. cities on Tuesday, the 19th straight day the desert city was to see temperatures soar to 110 degrees Fahrenheit or more. Nighttime has offered little relief from the brutal temperatures. Phoenix's low of 95 degrees on Monday was its highest overnight low ever, topping the previous record of 93 degrees set in 2009. It was the eighth straight day of temperatures not falling below 90, another record. (7/18)

The Washington Post: Historic Heat Wave Engulfing Southern U.S. Isn't Moving Anytime Soon
The southern United States is in its third week of an extreme and stubborn heat wave that refuses to budge. It continues to set records as nearly 100 million Americans remain under heat alerts from South Florida to northern Nevada. The intensity of the heat wave probably peaked on Sunday in California’s Central Valley and the Desert Southwest. Temperatures climbed as high as 128 degrees in Death Valley and approached all-time records in Reno, Nev.; Las Vegas; Flagstaff, Ariz.; and Salt Lake City. Although temperatures won’t be quite as high in the Southwest in the coming days, it will still be dangerously hot, and more records could be set. (Cappucci, 7/17)

In Europe, hottest weather on record could hit today —

The Washington Post: Europe, Italy Could See Hottest Weather On Record Tuesday
The sweltering temperatures come after the journal Nature reported that more than 60,000 peopled died in Europe in heat waves last summer. Record-breaking temperatures are also searing the southern United States, and the Earth is enduring its hottest period in modern records. (Livingston, 7/17)

Air quality continues to be an issue —

The Wall Street Journal: Millions Are Under Air-Quality Alerts Again As Canada Deploys Troops To Fight Wildfires
Millions of people from the Great Plains to the Northeast were under air-quality alerts Monday as smoke billowed into the U.S. again from Canadian wildfires that may continue to rage into the fall. (Lukpat, 7/17)

AP: Unhealthy Air Quality Lingers Across Parts Of U.S. From Drifting Canadian Wildfire Smoke
For Chicagoans planning a lengthy outdoor run Monday, “today is not necessarily the day for that,” according to Kim Biggs of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Extensive swaths of the northern United States awoke to unhealthy air quality Monday morning or were experiencing it by midafternoon, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov Smoke and Fire map. (Savage, 7/17)

Bloomberg: Air Quality Index Today: New York, Midwest, Northeast See More Canada Smoke 
Air quality across New York City and Washington is unhealthy for sensitive groups, along with other major US cities along the Interstate 95 corridor and worse in Pittsburgh and across the Midwest. Air quality index in Manhattan reached 142, just below the 151- to 200-point range where it would be considered unhealthy for all, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov. It has reached 138 in Washington and 122 in Philadelphia. (Sullivan, 7/17)

The New York Times: Iowa Judge Temporarily Suspends New Abortion Ban 
On Friday, Iowa’s Republican governor signed a strict new abortion ban into law. And for three days, most abortions in Iowa were illegal past six weeks of pregnancy. Until Monday afternoon, when a district judge put the ban on hold. Joseph Seidlin, a district court judge in Polk County, said that the new ban would be suspended while the larger legal case against it moved forward. He said in his ruling that the plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit against the ban, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers, were likely to succeed on the merits of their case. (Edmonds, 7/17)

Iowa Public Radio: Judge Issues Temporary Injunction Blocking 6-Week 'fetal Heartbeat' Abortion Ban
A Polk County district judge has temporarily blocked a new Iowa law that bans abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy from taking effect. On Monday, Polk County District Judge Joseph Seidlin issued a temporary injunction on Monday blocking the new law, which bans abortion after cardiac activity is detected, from going into effect while it goes through the courts. (Krebs, 7/17)

Iowa's governor vowed to fight for the abortion ban —

AP: Abortion In Iowa Is Legal Again, For Now, After A Judge Blocks New Restrictions
Abortion providers said they scrambled last week to fit in as many appointments as possible before the governor put pen to paper, preemptively making hundreds of calls to prepare patients for the uncertainty and keeping clinics open late. Reynolds swiftly put out a statement underscoring her intention to fight the issue all the way to the state Supreme Court. “The abortion industry’s attempt to thwart the will of Iowans and the voices of their elected representatives continues today,” she said. (Fingerhut, 7/17)

Also —

Axios: Where Abortion Has Been Banned Now That Roe V. Wade Is Overturned
A total of 21 states have moved to ban or restrict abortion following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and end all federal protections for abortion. Why it matters: At least 24 U.S. states in total are expected to ban abortions or heavily restrict access to them, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights organization. (González, 7/17)

Politico: Biden’s HIPAA Expansion For Abortion Draws Criticism, Lawsuit Threats
The Biden administration’s effort to wield the nation’s premier health-privacy law to protect abortion rights is under fire from Republicans who accuse the president of overreaching — and from Democrats who call it too weak. The Department of Health and Human Services is preparing to release a final rule later this year that would expand the protections of the decadesold Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, with the aim of shielding people who seek, obtain or provide abortions from red state probes — one of the most concrete steps the administration has taken to defend abortion rights since the Supreme Court ended Roe v. Wade a year ago. (Miranda Ollstein, 7/18)

Mississippi Today: AG Lynn Fitch Wants To Make Info On Out-Of-State Abortions Available To Mississippi Authorities
Attorney General Lynn Fitch wants to ensure Mississippi authorities are allowed to investigate and gather information on abortions performed out of state on Mississippi women. Fitch, Mississippi’s first-term Republican attorney general, and 18 other state attorneys general have filed comments in opposition to a proposed change to federal regulations, known as HIPAA, that protects the privacy of people’s health care. (Harrison, 7/13)

AL.com: Alabama Top Prosecutor Wants Information On Out-Of-State Abortions
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall signed a letter that said states need to have access to medical information for people who travel out of state for abortions or gender-affirming health care. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch wrote the letter last month to oppose proposed federal rules that would shield that information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Marshall was one of 19 attorneys general who signed. (Yurkanin, 7/17)

Tennessee Lookout: Tennessee AG Asserts Right To Out-Of-State Abortion, Transgender Care Medical Records
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has joined Republican counterparts in 18 states in an effort to prevent the federal government from shielding the medical records of those who cross state lines to obtain legal abortion or gender-affirming care from investigations in their home state. (Wadhwani, 7/18)

Stat: Medicare Has A New Plan To Address Drug Shortages — But It Could Backfire
Medicare has a new proposal to pay hospitals more to stockpile essential drugs — an idea that comes as doctors report running low on critical chemotherapies and other drugs. But experts caution the policy could cause the very shortages that government officials are trying to avoid. For years most of the solutions for addressing drug shortages have involved giving the Food and Drug Administration more power. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Congress empowered the FDA to make drug companies create backup plans for manufacturing facility interruptions, and to collect information from drug makers on where they source ingredients. (Wilkerson, 7/18)

AP: South Dakota Governor Prods Washington To Address National Drug Shortages 
As the U.S. struggles with prescription drug shortages, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has advanced a modest plan that she hopes will prod Washington to take decisive action to address weaknesses in the international pharmaceutical supply chain. Noem told reporters at a pharmacy in Sioux Falls last week that her state will expand its stockpiles of certain medications that have been in short supply. The Republican former congresswoman also used the occasion to turn up the heat on the federal Food and Drug Administration, urging the agency to make the U.S. less dependent on foreign suppliers like China and India. (Karnowski, 7/17)

In other news from CMS —

Reuters: CMS Proposes Broader Coverage Of PET Scans For Alzheimer's Patients
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Monday proposed a broader coverage for a type of brain scan, used to identify a key Alzheimer's disease protein, that will be needed for doctors to determine whether patients are eligible for newly developed drugs. The agency proposes to remove the once-per-lifetime limit on beta amyloid PET scans that restricted their use to clinical trials. The changes will permit Medicare beneficiaries to seek reimbursement for the tests. (7/17)

Politico: Winners And Losers In The Physician Fee Schedule
CMS released its highly anticipated proposed physician fee schedule last week, and it quickly drew applause — and scorn — from industry groups. The 1,920-page document lays out how the agency proposes to pay doctors in the Medicare system in 2024. CMS touted it as a win for health equity, price transparency and behavioral health. (Leonard and Payne, 7/17)

On other news from the Biden administration and Capitol Hill —

Politico: OSHA Revives Obama-Era Workplace Injury Reporting Requirements
The Labor Department will require large employers in certain high-risk industries to electronically file injury and illness reports to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, starting next year. The agency intends to use this information for “strategic outreach and enforcement” to reduce harm to workers, OSHA head Doug Parker said in a statement Monday. (Niedzwiadek, 7/17)

Los Angeles Times: Blinken Condemns GOP Senators Blocking Diplomatic Nominations Over Abortion, Transgender Healthcare
The diplomatic delays come as hundreds of U.S. military promotions — including the appointment of the commander of the Marine Corps, leaving an acting leader in charge for the first time in more than 100 years — blocked by a single Republican senator from Alabama, former football coach Tommy Tuberville. He objects to the Defense Department’s efforts to provide reproductive and gender-affirming care to service members. “By failing to confirm these nominees, a handful of senators are keeping our best players on the sidelines,” Blinken said. (Wilkinson, 7/17)

AP: House Republicans Propose Planting A Trillion Trees As They Move Away From Climate Change Denial
As Speaker Kevin McCarthy visited a natural gas drilling site in northeast Ohio to promote House Republicans’ plan to sharply increase domestic production of energy from fossil fuels last month, the signs of rising global temperatures could not be ignored. Smoke from Canadian wildfires hung in the air. When the speaker was asked about climate change and forest fires, he was ready with a response: Plant a trillion trees. (Groves, 7/18)

The New York Times: A Positive Covid Milestone
The United States has reached a milestone in the long struggle against Covid: The total number of Americans dying each day — from any cause — is no longer historically abnormal. Excess deaths, as this number is known, has been an important measure of Covid’s true toll because it does not depend on the murky attribution of deaths to a specific cause. Even if Covid is being underdiagnosed, the excess-deaths statistic can capture its effects. The statistic also captures Covid’s indirect effects, like the surge of vehicle crashes, gun deaths and deaths from missed medical treatments during the pandemic. (Leonhardt, 7/17)

In news on toxic lead —

The Wall Street Journal: Environmental Groups Ask EPA To Shield Public From Abandoned Lead Cables
Agency is urged to take action following WSJ investigation into toxic lead cables left behind by telecom companies. (Ramachandran and Pulliam, 7/17)

Bloomberg: Verizon Starts Testing Of Potential Lead Contamination Sites
With its shares tumbling to their lowest in 13 years, Verizon Communications Inc. is launching an investigation to help clarify the extent of potential lead contamination that may be related to its aging phone cables. Verizon is testing various sites where lead was reported to be leaching into the ground from wiring dating back to the early 20th century. (Mortiz, 7/17)

On other public health matters —

The Washington Post: Drowning Remains A Leading Cause Of Death For Young Children
Each year in the United States, an average of 4,000 people — or about 11 each day — die by drowning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That death toll includes two children younger than 14 every day, the American Red Cross says, making drowning the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4 and the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related deaths (after motor vehicle crashes) for kids 1 to 14. (Searing, 7/17)

USA Today: CDC Report: Toxic Algae Are Causing Illnesses In People, Pets
A new federal report says more people and animals, including beloved pets, are getting sick from exposure to toxic algae that forms in natural waterbodies across the country. While there have been no human deaths, animals have died from the toxic effects, the report shows. (Nguyen and Waymer, 7/17)

Bloomberg: Eyedrop Recall 2023 And Infections Were Result Of Lack Of FDA Regulation
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a rod-shaped bacterium a fraction of a millimeter long. In a petri dish, it smells of corn tortillas. It’s opportunistic, invading any tissue that’s already compromised, and can be lethal: Among the especially vulnerable, the mortality rate can be as high as 50%. But perhaps the bacterium’s most notable characteristic is how hard it is to kill. The hardiest of pseudomonas are antibiotic-resistant superbugs that rage on no matter what drugs doctors throw at them. (Robison and Pulla, 7/18)

Stateline: Harm Of Anti-LGBTQ Laws Includes Economic Pain For Communities, Families
Roberto Che Espinoza had been thinking about leaving Tennessee after the 2024 election, but in June they noticed that the state attorney general was seeking medical records on gender-affirming medical care, which Espinoza, a nonbinary transgender man, said included their own records. “Being on any kind of list … I knew after the release of those records that this is not good,” Espinoza said. (Quinlan, 7/17)

CNN: A One-Minute Video Reduced Kids’ Unsafe Behavior Around Guns, Study Finds
Sixty seconds might be all it takes to keep some kids safer around guns, a new study suggests. The new report, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics on Monday, explored how short safety videos can cause children to behave around firearms. Among more than 220 kids who participated in the study, those who watched a gun safety video were less likely to touch guns they found and pull the trigger – and more likely to tell an adult. (Viswanathan, 7/17)

Meanwhile, worries over H5N1 bird flu —

AP: Dozens Of Cats In Poland Had Bird Flu But The Risk To People Is Low, The UN Health Agency Says
he World Health Organization said more than two dozen cats have been infected with bird flu across Poland, but no people appeared to have been sickened. In a statement on Monday, the U.N. health agency said it was the first time so many cats had been reported to have bird flu over such a wide geographical area in a single country, amid an unprecedented global outbreak of the latest version of the H5N1 version of the disease. (7/17)

Bloomberg: Cats Dying Across Poland Test Positive For Bird Flu, WHO Says 
An unusual number of cats are dying across Poland, and authorities found more than half of those tested harbored the worrisome strain of bird flu known as H5N1, the World Health Organization said. Of 47 samples tested — including one wild feline in captivity — 29 were positive for the H5N1 flu, marking the first report of “high numbers of infected cats over a wide geographical area within a country,” the WHO said in a statement. (Fourcade, 7/17)

CIDRAP: WHO Weighs In On Risks From H5N1 Avian Flu In Polish Pet Cats
In a statement yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the surveillance of human contact of cats infected with H5N1 avian flu in Poland has wrapped up, and none have reported symptoms, and it put the risk as low to moderate for cat owners and those, such as veterinarians, who have occupational exposure. (Schnirring, 7/17)

On vaccines and immunizations —

CNN: Childhood Immunization Rates That Fell During Covid Are Improving But Still Not At Pre-Pandemic Levels, New Data Shows
Millions of children around the world missed routine childhood vaccinations against diseases such as measles, diphtheria and tetanus during the Covid-19 pandemic, but new data suggests that this decline may be reversing. Globally, 4 million more children worldwide received routine childhood immunizations last year than in the previous year, according to estimates released Monday by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO). (Howard, 7/17)

KFF Health News: The Goddess Of Smallpox 
In the mid-’60s, the national campaign to eradicate smallpox in India was underway, but the virus was still widespread throughout the country. At the time, Dinesh Bhadani was a small boy living in Gaya, a city in the state of Bihar. (7/18)

Newsweek: Scientists Discover Link Between Brain And Weight Gain
How does a high-fat diet affect your brain? Researchers from Canada's Memorial University have identified an inflammatory pathway in the brain linking high-fat diets to the activation of appetite-promoting neurons. "Scientists have known for a while that high-fat foods cause a low-intensity inflammation in the brain," Lisa Fang, the study's first author, told Newsweek. (Dewan, 7/17)

CIDRAP: Study Finds Kids' Obesity Increased During COVID-19
A new study based the body mass indexes (BMIs) of the residents of Monroe County, Indiana, shows the pandemic was tied to increased rates of severe obesity for children, with the greatest increase among those ages 5 to 11. The study is published in JAMA Network Open. (Soucheray, 7/17)

In news on other scientific developments —

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Vaccine Tied To Reduced Deaths In Seniors With Dementia
For the first time, researchers have calculated excess deaths among US dementia patients during the pandemic, and they found a reduction in excess mortality among long-term care residents after COVID-19 vaccines were made available. The study was published today in JAMA Neurology. (Soucheray, 7/17)

CIDRAP: COVID Vaccine In Pregnancy Yields Antibody Responses In Moms, Babies For 6 Months
mRNA COVID-19 vaccines induced an antibody response in both mothers and babies for at least 6 months after birth, with no adverse outcomes, according to a single-center study published late last week in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 7/17)

CIDRAP: Only 1 In 5 US Nursing Home Residents Given Monoclonal Antibodies, Antivirals For COVID
A new study published in JAMA finds that fewer than one in five US nursing home residents received evidenced-based treatment with monoclonal antibodies or oral antiviral drugs for COVID-19, despite being at high risk for poor outcomes. The rate had improved to one in four by late 2022. Researchers from the University of Rochester and Harvard used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) National Healthcare Safety Network Nursing Home COVID-19 database to determine rates of monoclonal antibodies and oral antivirals among residents of all Medicare-certified nursing homes from May 31, 2021, to December 25, 2022. (Van Beusekom, 7/17)

CIDRAP: Trial Supports Use Of Direct Oral Challenge For Penicillin Allergy
A randomized clinical trial found that direct oral penicillin challenge in patients with a low-risk penicillin allergy was non-inferior to the standard-of-care skin test, investigators reported today in JAMA Internal Medicine. (Dall, 7/17)

Stat: Study: Hearing Aids May Slow Cognitive Decline In Those At Risk
Doctors have long suspected that hearing loss in older adults hastens dementia, the cognitive decline associated with aging. A new study published in The Lancet on Tuesday probes the link between the two conditions further in what could be the first randomized controlled trial of its kind. More than 55 million people have dementia worldwide; a number that continues to grow as more people live longer. Hearing loss has emerged as one of the likely risk factors for dementia for several reasons. (Lawrence, 7/18)

Houston Chronicle: Rice Students Are Using Data To Help Health Care Nonprofits
Growing up in South Korea, Rice University student Alex Han used to love it when his great-grandmother told him stories about what it was like to live through the Korean War. Those stories stopped when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease when Han was 15 years old. “There was no more of that history and those talks about the Korean War,” he said. “I didn’t really understand what it was at that time. I just knew ‘that’s because of Alzheimer’s.’” (MacDonald, 7/17)

On technology and health care —

The Boston Globe: New App Allows People With Disabilities To Report And Respond To Abuse
A team at the University of Rhode Island has developed a new, free app that helps teach adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities how to recognize abuse and report it. R3: Recognize, Report and Respond is the brainchild of Krishna Venkatasubramanian, a computer science professor at the URI. It’s available through Apple and Amazon app stores for smartphones and tablets. (Gagosz, 7/17)

Stat: Google And Epic Fight Stronger Regulation Of AI In Health Care
Big businesses poised to profit from the advance of artificial intelligence in health care are pushing back against newly proposed federal rules meant to increase oversight and fairness of AI tools used to help make decisions about patient care. (Ross, 7/17)

MPR News: Allina Health Announces Layoffs Affecting Around 350 Workers
Allina Health is laying off some 350 workers, according to an announcement from the health system Monday. That includes staff at Mercy and United hospitals, according to internal emails shared with MPR News. In the health system’s statement, Allina said it is facing “unprecedented financial challenges,” and said the jobs involved in the layoff are in leadership and non-direct caregiving roles. It currently employs 28,500 people in both full and part-time positions. (Wiley, 7/17)

In other industry news —

Stat: As Digital Health Tech Proliferates, A New Institute Aims To Cut Through Hype
A new $50 million nonprofit initiative aims to independently evaluate health technologies’ impact on costs and quality, an attempt to help patients, payers, and providers sort over-hyped products from ones that actually move the needle. The Peterson Center on Healthcare, a nonprofit supporting programs that raise care quality and drive down costs, announced the new Peterson Health Technology Institute Tuesday. The institute plans to publish its methodology for assessing new health technology as soon as September, and start publishing reports on specific sectors, like disease types or tech mechanisms, in 2024, executive director Caroline Pearson told STAT. (Ravindranath, 7/18)

Modern Healthcare: Ochsner, Novant To Build Primary Care Clinics In Southeast
Ochsner Health and Novant Health plan to to build clinics throughout the Southeast that will offer primary care, wellness programs and social services to older adults. The partnership between the two nonprofit health systems, branded as 65 Plus, will also offer social events, fitness centers and health coaching to encourage older adults to live more active lives as they age. The venture is the latest effort by providers and payers to capture the lucrative healthcare market of aging adults, including the large baby boomer generation. (Eastabrook, 7/17)

Reuters: BridgeBio's Heart Disease Drug Meets Late-Stage Study Goal, Shares Soar
BridgeBio Pharma Inc's (BBIO.O) experimental drug for a rare heart disease showed significant improvement in patients in a late-stage study, sending its shares surging 65% on Monday. The drug, acoramidis, is being developed to treat transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy in which abnormal deposits of a protein called amyloid buildup in the heart, and can cause heart failure. (Mandowara, 7/17)

Modern Healthcare: Joint Commission CEO Discusses Forthcoming Revisions To Standards
The Joint Commission is staying busy. The accrediting organization is in the process of overhauling its standards, with the aim of refocusing hospital safety and quality goals and decreasing administrative burden on providers. So far, it has retired 14% of its quality standards, with more revisions set to be announced this week. President and CEO Dr. Jonathan Perlin joined Modern Healthcare to discuss the ongoing review process. (Hartnett, 7/17)

On health industry financial developments —

Politico: Health + Hospitals Has Spent Over $2 Billion On Temporary Staff
NYC Health + Hospitals has spent at least $2 billion on temporary staff since the start of the pandemic, internal records show — a far higher sum than previously reported. The actual amount is certain to be even greater. That’s because the figure only reflects the municipal health system’s spending between September 2020 and March 2023, according to invoices obtained through a public records request by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a not-for-profit research organization, and shared exclusively with POLITICO. (Kaufman, 7/17)

Reuters: Medical Device Maker Masimo Forecasts Weak Quarterly Sales, Shares Fall
Masimo Corp (MASI.O) on Monday reported preliminary second-quarter sales below analysts' estimates due to weak performance at its healthcare segment, sending the medical device maker's shares down about 28% in after-market trading. The company forecast consolidated revenue for the second quarter between $453 million and $457 million, compared with estimates of $553.2 million, according to Refinitiv. (7/17)

Reuters: Novartis Raises 2023 Forecast, Maps Out Sandoz Spin-Off
Novartis on Tuesday raised its full-year earnings forecast on strong drug sales and mapped out the planned spin-off and stock market debut of its generic medicines division Sandoz for early October. The Swiss drugmaker said in a statement it expected group core operating income to grow by a "low double-digit" percentage in 2023, up from high single-digit growth previously projected. (Burger, 7/18)

Modern Healthcare: NextGen To Pay $31M To Settle False Claims Act Allegations
NextGen Healthcare agreed to pay $31 million to settle allegations that the electronic health record software developer offered kickbacks to attract users, among other alleged False Claims Act violations. (Kacik, 7/17)

Los Angeles Times: In-N-Out Bans Employees From Wearing Masks
California fast-food institution In-N-Out Burger announced that it will soon ban employees from wearing masks in five of the seven states in which it operates restaurants, according to an internal memo leaked Friday. The exceptions? Workers in California and Oregon will still be able to mask, if they choose, to protect themselves from COVID-19 and other illnesses. (Olson, 7/17)

In other news from across the states —

Houston Chronicle: As Texas Oil Wells Leak Toxic Waste, No One Wants To Pay To Clean It
Mesquite waved in the breeze at Antina Ranch as well control specialist Hawk Dunlap dipped a stick into a hole in the ground and smelled it. “See?” he asked, extending the stick. It smelled like gasoline. (Drane, 7/17)

AP: Mississippi Sheriff Expects Great Hardship After Hospital Closes Inpatient Mental Health Unit
A hospital company has shut down the only inpatient mental health unit in western Mississippi’s Warren County, and the sheriff says the closure will cause major problems. Merit Health River Region’s behavioral health unit in Vicksburg closed June 30, and its 50 beds were transferred to Merit Health Central Mississippi in Jackson, the Vicksburg Post reported. The two hospitals are about 39 miles (63 kilometers) apart. (7/17)

AP: Florida Family Accused Of Selling Fake COVID-19 Cure Through Online Church Goes On Trial In Miami
A Florida family accused of selling a toxic industrial bleach as a fake COVID-19 cure through their online church is on trial this week in Miami. Mark Grenon, 65, and his sons, 37-year-old Jonathan, 35-year-old Joseph and 29-year-old Jordan, are all charged with conspiring to defraud the United States and deliver misbranded drugs, according to court records. (7/18)

AP: 2 Officials Are Out At Indiana Addiction Center After 3 Deaths
Two leaders are out at an Indiana addiction treatment center after three recent deaths and calls by police to yank its license. The executive director and director of nursing are no longer working at Praxis Landmark Recovery, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation site for men near South Bend, the company told WNDU-TV. (7/17)

MPR News: New Report Says Nearly 1 In 5 Minnesota Inmates Walk Out Of Prison Homeless
About 4,500 people a year leave prison in Minnesota, and nearly 1,000 are released onto the street, with nowhere to go. That’s according to the latest version of the Department of Corrections homelessness report, the second time the agency has taken a look at where people live once they’re released from state custody. (Nelson, 7/17)

The CT Mirror: Northwest CT Gets 'Competitive' Grant For Teen Mental Health Care
A $1.2 million federal grant will improve access to behavioral health services for teens in the northwest corner of Connecticut, addressing one of the area’s most critical health care needs. Funds will primarily go towards creating a network of care that will increase capacity of existing providers, as well as bring in new providers to help support excess demand. (Golvala, 7/18)

The New York Times: Fixing Health Care Starts With The Already Insured 
There is no shortage of proposals for health insurance reform, and they all miss the point. They invariably focus on the nearly 30 million Americans who lack insurance at any given time. But the coverage for the many more Americans who are fortunate enough to have insurance is deeply flawed. (Liran Einav and Amy Finkelstein, 7/18)

The Washington Post: Biden's New CDC Director Is The Right Person To Lead The Agency
Mandy Cohen, President Biden’s newly appointed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was sworn into her role last week. The internal medicine physician and former North Carolina state health secretary is exactly the right person to lead the agency through a critical inflection point. (Leana S. Wen, 7/17)

The Atlantic: I Have Cancer. I Can’t Put My Kids First Anymore
In February, two months before my 40th birthday, my left breast became swollen and painful. I chalked it up to the catchall pile of indignities known as perimenopause. But March and April came and went, and my breast seemed worse. May arrived, and I scrambled to schedule a mammogram. (Miranda Featherstone, 7/17)

Miami Herald: US Youth Exhibiting Unprecedented Mental-Health Difficulties
The subject line of the email declared: “Protecting the health of Florida’s children is a priority for the department, we aspire to do all we can to ensure the well-being of every child. ”The irony of these words from the Florida Department of Health is disturbing and incomprehensible, for the department has repeatedly remained silent as state lawmakers atrociously attack youth. (Natasha L. Poulopoulos and Melisa Oliva, 7/17)

The Baltimore Sun: Medicaid Now Covers Prenatal Care In Md. For Undocumented Residents, But Many Barriers To Access Still Exist 
During the 2022 legislative session, we were elated by the news that the Maryland General Assembly passed the Healthy Babies Equity Act, which would extend Medicaid coverage to pregnant people who would otherwise be eligible if not for their immigration status. But our moods dampened when we realized it would not be implemented until July of this year. There was already a great need. (Alexander Kaysin, 7/17)

Also —

Modern Healthcare: AI Tools Are Impressive But Can’t Replace The Physician Brain 
Talk to physicians today about the promises and pitfalls of digital technology in medicine and, inevitably, questions about ChatGPT and other AI-enabled tools surface. (Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld, 7/18)

Stat: AI Can’t Replace A Physician’s Gut Feeling
I’ve heard “WebMD said it could be cancer” countless times in my 15 years working as an emergency medicine physician. I get it: When someone is feeling unwell or hoping a worrying symptom will go away, it makes sense for them to turn to easily accessible resources. As people become increasingly familiar with artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT, it’s only a matter of time before patients turn to these tools in search of a diagnosis or second opinion. Change is already on the horizon. (Craig Spencer, 7/18)