CNN: Omicron Variant Partly Evades Pfizer Vaccine's Protection, Study Shows 
The Omicron coronavirus variant partly escapes the protection offered by the Pfizer vaccine, but people who have been previously infected and then vaccinated are likely to be well protected, researchers working in South Africa reported Tuesday. Boosters are also likely to protect people, Alex Sigal of the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, who led the study team, told CNN. It's the first experiment to directly look at how the Omicron virus might behave in vaccinated people. (Fox, 12/8)

The Washington Post: First Lab Results Show Omicron Has ‘Much More Extensive Escape’ From Antibodies Than Previous Variants
The first in-depth laboratory study of the omicron variant of the coronavirus offers a mixed bag of bad news and good news. The bad: This variant is extremely slippery. It eludes a great deal of the protection provided by disease-fighting antibodies. That means people who previously recovered from a bout of covid-19 could be reinfected. And people who have been vaccinated could suffer breakthrough infections. But the findings of the study, which tested the omicron variant of the coronavirus against the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, aren’t entirely bleak. The study, released Tuesday, found that even if the power of vaccines is diminished in the face of omicron, there’s still some protection afforded against the virus. And it suggests that booster shots could be key in the battle with the variant. (Johnson and Achenbach, 12/7)

Stat: First, Small Study Suggests Omicron Is A Larger Threat To Covid-19 Immunity
The scientists found that, overall, there was a 41-fold reduction in neutralization against Omicron compared to an early form of the coronavirus, a substantial drop but not necessarily a devastating one. And, the researchers noted, “the escape was not complete.” Notably, five of the participants, all of whom had been previously infected, maintained “relatively high neutralization [levels] with Omicron.” That suggests, the authors and outside experts said, that previous infection combined with vaccination, or primary vaccination combined with booster doses, can amp up the body’s neutralizing power even against a variant as evolved as Omicron. (Joseph and Branswell, 12/7)

Bloomberg: Covid Antibody Tests Offer Early Hint That Booster Vaccine May Counter Omicron
The magnitude of the drop in neutralizing antibodies against omicron could indicate a need for omicron-matched vaccines, though other considerations may play a role, said Stephen Goldstein, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Larger studies looking at neutralizing antibodies from people immunized with other vaccines are also needed, he said. (Gale, 12/8)

NBC News: CDC Zeroes In On Anime Convention To Understand Omicron Variant
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reached out to tens of thousands of people who attended a recent anime convention in Manhattan as it works to understand the risks of the Covid-19 omicron variant. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House media briefing Tuesday that the agency is looking at the convention, which ran from Nov. 19-21 and was attended by a Minnesota man who later tested for omicron, as a way to collect data on the transmissibility of the variant. (Bush, 12/7)

CNN: NYC Anime Convention May Offer 'Earliest Looks' At Omicron Spread In US, CDC Director Says 
Peter McGinn was starting to feel exhausted. It was his last day in New York. He had an exciting four days meeting in person for the first time with friends he made online during the pandemic. They explored the bustling streets of New York City together and saw anime exhibits at the Anime NYC convention. "During my time there, I was walking everywhere in New York City. So, I personally just thought that I was just exhausted from doing a lot of walking, not a lot of sleep, eating pretty poorly," McGinn said. "I thought that was all just catching up to me." McGinn didn't think twice about his fatigue until he returned home to Minnesota on November 22. Later that day he received a group text from someone he spent time with in New York. They texted to the group that they had Covid-19. (Howard, 12/7)

In other omicron updates —

NPR: Omicron Update: 19 U.S. States Now Have Detected The COVID-19 Variant
The fast-spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus has now been reported in 50 countries and 19 states, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She added, "we expect that number to continue to increase." States that have detected the variant range from Hawaii to Texas to Massachusetts. The reports are part of a new surge in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. that now tops 100,000 cases per day. While officials and researchers are concerned about the transmissibility of the omicron variant, they also say it's too early to know what toll it might take in the U.S. (Chappell, 12/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: California ‘Definitely Seeing Omicron Across The State’ As Wastewater Yields Clues
The omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in wastewater samples in areas of Sacramento and Merced counties, but public health officials emphasized that the delta variant continues to pose the biggest immediate threat. The number of omicron cases diagnosed in California stands at just 10, but the wastewater sample suggests that there are more cases circulating, state epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan said in a panel discussion on Tuesday. “We’re definitely seeing omicron across the state,” she said. (Vaziri, 12/7)

Also —

Axios: Americans Embrace More COVID Shots As Omicron Spreads 
Vaccination rates have ticked higher since the discovery of the Omicron variant, CDC data shows. The seven-day average for vaccinations in the U.S. reached about 1.8 million on Monday, up from an average of about 1.3 million a month ago. Much of the growth is happening because vaccinated people are getting boosters, not because of a surge in unvaccinated people seeking their first shots, the Washington Post writes. (Reed, 12/7)

Bloomberg: Omicron Propels U.S. Booster Drive In Colorado And Michigan
The anemic effort to persuade vaccinated people to get boosters is intensifying as U.S. residents protect themselves from rising Covid-19 cases and the threat of the omicron variant. Even with Thanksgiving travel disruptions, at least 5.6 million boosters were given from Nov. 27 — the day after the World Health Organization named omicron a variant of concern —  to Dec. 3. The tally continues to climb, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Indeed, the pace is on par with the end of October, when the booster push was at its peak. (Edney, 12/7)

CNBC: Omicron Symptoms, Cases And Vaccine Evasion: What We Know Now
It’s been two weeks since South Africa reported the omicron Covid variant to the World Health Organization and now it’s spreading around the globe. In the last fortnight, experts have scrabbled to gain more of an understanding about the new heavily mutated variant, and what kind of symptoms and illness it can cause and whether it undermines the vaccines that have already been developed. (Ellyatt, 12/8)

NBC News: 6 States Account For More Than Half Of The Country’s Recent Covid Hospitalizations
Covid-19 hospitalizations are once again rising in the United States. Among the 30-plus states that have seen increases in Covid-19 hospitalizations over the last two weeks, six stand out. Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois have accounted for the majority of the country’s increase in hospital beds filled, according to an NBC News analysis of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data. (Lovelace Jr., Murphy and Hersher, 12/7)

In updates on the spread of covid in schools —

Bangor Daily News: COVID-19 Cases Among Kids Drove Maine’s Huge November Infection Spike
COVID-19 cases in younger children drove Maine to record infection levels in November, highlighting the continued threat posed by the delta variant for a group generally considered less affected by the virus. Maine reported more new cases of the virus in November than any other month, with unvaccinated people continuing to account for a majority of cases despite making up a minority of the state’s population at this point. The high infection rate has also contributed to record hospitalization numbers, with 367 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Tuesday. (Piper, 12/7)

Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky School Workers' COVID Deaths Stir Concern Over Student Impact
Abraham Garcia-Romero was spending the summer before his high school senior year working as a cashier when his bus monitor came through his line at the Walmart in Beaver Dam. Lisa Butler had ridden the bus with him in the afternoons for about two years before the pandemic struck, and the two talked about everything - "school stuff" and a lot about food, he said. (Johnson, 12/8)

Louisville Courier Journal: Here Are the School Workers Kentucky Has Lost to COVID
Small cities in their own right, school districts cannot educate children without a variety of professionals working together to keep a building operating. Each school needs its teachers and counselors, its custodians, coaches, bus drivers and monitors, its cafeteria workers, attendance clerks and so much more. (Johnson, 12/8)

In related news —

The Washington Post: Unvaccinated Hospital Patients In Illinois Should Pay For Their Covid Medical Bills, Democrat Proposes
Unvaccinated hospital patients in Illinois would have to pay their own coronavirus medical bills out of pocket, according to legislation proposed Monday by a Democratic state lawmaker. Rep. Jonathan Carroll filed his bill amid the state’s struggle to contain covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. (Bella, 12/7)

Oklahoman: Oklahoma Lab Had Issues With Staffing, Storing COVID Samples, Report Shows
A federal investigation into Oklahoma’s Public Health Lab found that the lab lacked enough staff for the volume of testing it handles after its move to Stillwater, a report detailing the findings shows. The on-site investigation conducted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began on Sept. 21 and also found issues with how COVID-19 samples were stored, documented and processed according to guidelines, according to a report obtained Tuesday by The Oklahoman. (Branham, 12/7)

The Atlantic: Why Are We Still Isolating Vaccinated People For 10 Days?
For most fully vaccinated people, a breakthrough coronavirus infection will not ruin their health. It will, however, assuming that they follow all the relevant guidelines, ruin at least a week of their life. That very frustrating week began for Joe Russell on November 11, the day he found out he’d tested positive for the virus, just one month after getting a Pfizer booster, and about five or six days after he’d first felt an annoying tickle in his throat. Russell, a 35-year-old hospital-supply technician in Minnesota, dutifully cloistered himself in his basement, far from his fully vaccinated wife and his fully unvaccinated 2-year-old son, and phoned in sick to work. He stayed there through the 15th—the requisite 10 days past his symptoms’ start. Then, fearful of passing the pathogen to his family, he tacked on one more day, before venturing upstairs on the 17th, still in a mask. (Wu, 12/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: How The Pandemic Is Changing HVAC Standards In Bay Area Entertainment Venues And Beyond
As Bay Area audiences return to their beloved venues, they’ll be hearing a lot about upgrades to HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning). Many venue managers tout their use of 100% outside air, for instance, to assuage visitors’ COVID fears. But all that air pumping comes with complications that homes and office buildings don’t have to deal with. “Performance areas are really tough, because you blow more air and it’s louder. Curtains can ripple,” said Matt Suidan, a senior product manager at Enpowered Solutions, which has consulted with War Memorial Opera House, Davies Symphony Hall and American Conservatory Theater. Or any theater haze, used for a special effect, could get blown away. (Janiak, 12/6)

Bloomberg: Biden Vaccine Mandate For Contractors Blocked Nationwide
The Biden administration’s mandate for federal contractors’ employees to be vaccinated will be halted nationwide, amid a slew of challenges from states that say the president overstepped his authority in requiring the Covid-19 shots. Led by Georgia, the seven states that challenged the mandate set to take effect on Jan. 4 are likely to succeed in their lawsuits against the administration’s order, U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker of the Southern District of Georgia said in an order issued Tuesday. (Mulvaney, 12/7)

NBC News: Judge Issues Nationwide Injunction Against Biden's Vaccination Mandate For Federal Contractors
A federal judge on Tuesday issued a nationwide injunction against a vaccine mandate for federal contractors, ruling that President Joe Biden probably exceeded his authority by imposing the requirement. Judge R. Stan Baker, who's based in Georgia, temporarily blocked implementation of the administration after a lawsuit from numerous states and a trade group argued that letting the mandate take effect on Jan. 4 would cause "irreparable injury" to workers who could be forced out of their jobs. (Gregorian, 12/7)

The Hill: Second Senate Democrat To Back Vote Against Biden Vaccine Mandate 
Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.), a centrist Democrat from a state that voted heavily in favor of former President Trump, is planning to vote for a Republican resolution to nullify President Biden’s vaccine mandate for large employers. Tester is the second Senate Democrat to say he will support overturning Biden’s employer vaccine mandate under the Congressional Review Act (CRA).Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said last week that he would do so as well. (Bolton, 12/7)

In related news —

Detroit Free Press: Gretchen Whitmer Says Joe Biden Vaccine Mandate A 'Problem'
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, in her strongest public remarks to date about President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for employers, said Monday that the requirement is "a problem" for her and state government, according to a published report. The Daily News in Greenville reported Whitmer as telling business leaders in Montcalm County that she had the same concerns as some of them that the mandate, if enforced, could lead to workers, including those in state government, walking off the job. (Spangler, 12/7)

AP: Holcomb 'Frustrated' With Absurd Vaccine-Refusal Reasons 
With Indiana’s COVID-19 hospitalizations doubling in the past month, Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb expressed frustration Tuesday at the “absurd” reasons some cite for refusing vaccinations, although he isn’t offering any new state actions to combat the spread of the virus. ... Holcomb recalled during a Statehouse interview about a woman telling him that she was glad he opposed President Joe Biden’s proposed vaccination mandates on large businesses, but also that she was disappointed Holcomb had received the COVID-19 vaccine because “I had a chip in me now.” (Davies, 12/8)

Also —

NBC News: Biden's Plan For Free At-Home Covid Test Could Be Ineffective, Experts Warn
Sabrina Corlette, a co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, said not all families will be able to pay up front for at-home tests, which can cost more than $20. Even for people who can afford it, part of the challenge for the Biden administration will be to make people aware of the reimbursements. Private insurance holders "may not know how to save their receipt or that their health plan will even cover it," Corlette said. "So that's almost the first step, is just making sure people know that they can now do this." It is also unclear whether the plan will limit the number of tests people can be reimbursed for and whether there will be certain restrictions on who qualifies for reimbursement. (Egan, 12/7)

NBC News: Thousands Of Service Members Miss Covid Vaccination Deadlines
Thousands of active-duty service members have failed to comply with the Biden administration’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate, raising the prospect that they will be forced to leave their positions or the military altogether. The vaccination deadline for active-duty members of the armed services has passed for the Air Force, Navy and the Marine Corps. The Army's deadline is Dec. 15. (McCausland, 12/7)

In updates on other vaccine and mask mandates —

The New York Times: N.Y.C. Business Owners And Workers React To Vaccine Mandate
The day after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a vaccine mandate for on-site employees at all private businesses — the most far-reaching local measure in the country — workers across the city were figuring out what it would mean for them. Some business leaders raised concerns about the difficulty of enforcing the measure, whether the city had the power to enact the mandate and whether it could lead to worker shortages. (Fitzsimmons and Fadulu, 12/7)

AP: Phoenix Pauses COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate For City Workers
Phoenix paused implementation Tuesday of a federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the 14,000 workers in the nation’s fifth largest city, just hours after a federal judge temporarily blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a mandate for those employed by federal contractors. The pause was announced shortly before a planned afternoon hearing to discuss the city’s plan to get all city employees inoculated against the virus by Jan. 18. It was the latest standoff around the country over federal guidelines for the vaccines that have been challenged by more than a dozen lawsuits nationwide. (Snow, 12/8)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana Supreme Court Hears Arguments From Ochsner, Employees Over Vaccine Mandate
The Louisiana Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday from lawyers representing Ochsner Health and employees challenging the hospital operator's vaccine mandate and is set to make a decision on whether the mandate is enforceable. (Woodruff, 12/7)

AP: S. Carolina Lawmakers Advance COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Ban
A panel of South Carolina lawmakers advanced a proposal Tuesday to ban COVID-19 vaccine mandates for state and local government employees, contractors and public school students. The bill considered by a House Ways and Means subcommittee would effectively make such vaccine mandates illegal for public state or local employees, contractors and first responders. Under the proposal, school districts would not be able to require students to get the shots either. (12/8)

AP: Student Denied Emergency Relief In Nevada Vaccination Suit 
A college student who argues he’s immune from COVID-19 because he was previously infected has lost his bid for an emergency court order that would have allowed him to register for classes while his presses his federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the University of Nevada, Reno’s mandatory vaccination policy. A U.S district judge from California who was reassigned to the case last week said in denying the temporary restraining order sought by 18-year-old Jacob Gold that he’s failed to establish a fundamental constitutional right to refuse vaccination. (Sonner, 12/8)

Los Angeles Times: 34,000 L.A. Students Don't Comply With COVID Vaccine Mandate
About 34,000 students have not yet complied with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate in the Los Angeles Unified School District — and there’s no longer enough time for students who have not gotten their first shot to be fully vaccinated by the Jan. 10 start of the second semester, portending significant disruption to their education as they will be barred from campus. The high number of students who will not be able to meet the full inoculation deadline is likely to force difficult decisions on leaders of second-largest U.S. school system, which has enacted among the strictest vaccine mandates in the nation. Students who are not fully vaccinated — or exempt — will be forced into the district’s independent study program or will have to leave the Los Angeles public school system. (Blume, 12/7)

Anchorage Daily News: Anchorage Assembly Votes To End Mask Mandate
Anchorage’s emergency mask ordinance requiring people to wear masks in indoor public spaces is expiring early. In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Assembly passed a resolution declaring that the ordinance would expire at midnight. (Goodykoontz, 12/7)

The Washington Post: First Plant-Based Coronavirus Vaccine Shows ‘Positive’ Results, Say GlaxoSmithKline And Medicago
Pharmaceutical companies Medicago and GlaxoSmithKline announced on Tuesday “positive efficacy and safety results” from a global trial using what they say is the world’s first plant-based coronavirus vaccine. ... Plant-based vegan and vegetarian alternatives in food and materials markets have become increasingly popular globally, as consumers choose them for environmental or religious reasons, but Brian Ward, medical officer at Medicago, told The Washington Post that it would not be appropriate to categorize the vaccine candidate as such: “The plants that are used simply act as bioreactors to produce the antigen.” (Suliman, 12/7)

NPR: A COVID Vaccine Grown In Plants Measures Up
A Canadian biotech firm is reporting positive results from a large study of its COVID-19 vaccine. What makes it unusual is that the key ingredient of the vaccine is grown in plants. Medicago has already developed an experimental flu vaccine in Nicotiana benthamian, a plant related to tobacco. When the pandemic struck, the company decided to try to make a COVID-19 vaccine. Now it appears those efforts have succeeded. "This is an incredible moment for Medicago and for novel vaccine platforms," Medicago CEO and President Takashi Nagao said in a statement. (Palca, 12/7)

In other updates on the vaccine rollout —

Axios: CDC: 60% Of U.S. Is Fully Vaccinated 
Sixty percent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately 71% of the U.S. population has received at least one vaccine dose, and around 23% have had a booster shot. Some 64% of those over 5 years old are fully vaccinated. That number is around 72% for all adults. (Gonzalez, 12/7)

CIDRAP: Unvaccinated Parents Highly Unlikely To OK COVID Vaccine For Their Kids
A research letter yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics shows that 25.6% of a sample of US parents responding to an online survey said they were hesitant to vaccinate themselves against COVID-19, and these parents were highly unlikely to approve of COVID vaccination for their children—by a wide margin. In the ongoing CHASING COVID nationwide cohort study, City University of New York researchers analyzed responses from the June 2021 survey of 1,162 parents of 1,651 children 2 to 17 years old. (Van Beusekom, 12/7)

Stat: Changing ‘Fully Vaccinated’ Definition Is More Than Semantics, Experts Say
Who’s “fully vaccinated” against Covid-19 — and who’s not — is starting to get a lot more complicated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says you are only granted the status two weeks after you get a single-dose vaccine or the second dose in a two-dose series. But with the advent of boosters, certain colleges, the NBA, and the state of New Mexico are saying you’re only there with three shots. “For the time being, the official definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ is two,” although that determination could change as we learn more about the Omicron variant, Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said at a White House briefing last week. (Bender, 12/8)

In global news —

Reuters: Exclusive: Up To 1 Million COVID Vaccines Expired In Nigeria Last Month 
Up to one million COVID-19 vaccines are estimated to have expired in Nigeria last month without being used, two sources told Reuters, one of the biggest single losses of doses that shows the difficulty African nations have getting shots in arms. Governments on the continent of over one billion people have been pushing for more vaccine deliveries as inoculation rates lag richer regions, increasing the risk of new variants such as the Omicron coronavirus now spreading across South Africa. (Mcallister, George and Nebehay, 12/7)

Axios: Poor Global Equity Likely In COVID Pill Access 
The same countries that have struggled to obtain coronavirus vaccines will also have to wait longer for new treatments, the WSJ reports. These pills could keep unvaccinated people out of the hospital if taken soon after a person becomes infected with the virus. Pfizer and Merck, the companies developing the treatments, have licensed their formulas so generic companies can sell them at a much lower price. But low-income countries may still struggle to pay the generic prices, and generic manufacturers still need several months to ramp up production. (Owens, 12/7)

Science Alert: Giant Study Finds Viagra Is Linked To Almost 70% Lower Risk Of Alzheimer's
That's based on an analysis of health insurance claim data from over 7.2 million people, in which records showed that claimants who took the medication were much less likely to develop Alzheimer's over the next six years of follow up, compared to matched control patients who didn't use sildenafil. It's important to note that observed associations like this – even on a huge scale – are not the same as proof of a causative effect. ... Nonetheless, the researchers say the correlation shown here – in addition to other indicators in the study – is enough to identify sildenafil as a promising candidate drug for Alzheimer's disease. (Dockrill, 12/6)

The Guardian: Viagra Could Be Used To Treat Alzheimer’s Disease, Study Finds
Viagra could be a useful treatment against Alzheimer’s disease, according to a US study. Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of age-related dementia, affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Despite mounting numbers of cases, however, there is currently no effective treatment. Using a large gene-mapping network, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic integrated genetic and other data to determine which of more than 1,600 Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs could be an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. They gave higher scores to drugs that target both amyloid and tau – two hallmarks of Alzheimer’s – compared with drugs that targeted just one or the other. (Gregory, 12/6)

BBC News: Viagra May Be Useful Against Alzheimer's Dementia 
Viagra, also known as sildenafil, was originally designed as a heart drug because of its main action - improving blood flow by relaxing or widening blood vessels. Doctors then discovered it was having a similar effect elsewhere in the body, including the arteries of the penis, and it was developed into a successful treatment for erectile dysfunction. But experts think it could have other uses too. Sildenafil is already used in men and women for a lung condition called pulmonary hypertension. (12/6)

The Daily Beast: Viagra's Generic Brand Sildenafil Associated With Reduced Alzheimer's Risk
Feixiong Cheng, a researcher at the Cleveland Clinic and the lead author of the new study, said it’s unlikely we’d see sildenafil being prescribed just on its own. “As Alzheimer’s is a complex disease caused by many factors, multi-target drugs or combination therapy targeting multiple disease pathways may offer better clinical benefits,” he said. More likely than not, we’d see sildenafil being used in combination with other treatments.

Medical News Today: Does Viagra Reduce Alzheimer’s Risk?
Doctors prescribe sildenafil — popularly known by its brand name, Viagra — to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension, which refers to high blood pressure in the lungs. However, several studies in mice, and a few pilot studies in humans, have hinted that sildenafil could also treat Alzheimer’s disease. (Kingsland, 12/7)

Bloomberg: House Passes Bill Opening Way To Quick Debt Ceiling Increase
The House passed legislation Tuesday that would create a quick process to raise the U.S. debt ceiling by a simple majority vote in the Senate, approving a procedural measure on a 222 to 212 vote.  Under the terms of the bill, Democrats would receive one-time fast track authority to raise the U.S. debt ceiling, likely by an amount sufficient to cover borrowing through 2022. The vote lessens the risk of a U.S. payment default this month. The bill would also cancel automatic cuts to Medicare, farm subsidies and other programs triggered by deficit spending earlier this year. (Wasson and House, 12/8)

New York Times: House Passes Legislation To Pave Way For Debt Ceiling Increase
Its passage was not guaranteed in the evenly divided Senate, where Republicans have for weeks refused to let Democrats take up any bill to provide a long-term increase. But Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, signaled confidence that enough of his colleagues could accept the solution. (Cochrane and Sanger-Katz, 12/7)

Modern Healthcare: House Votes To Avert Looming Medicare Cuts
The bill falls short of what providers advocated but hospitals are relieved that Congress is taking steps to block tens of millions of dollars in reimbursement reductions slated to take effect next year, American Hospital Association President and CEO Rick Pollack said. "The AHA is pleased that the House has recognized that now is not the time to make cuts to hospitals and physicians under the Medicare program," Pollack said in a news release. "Providers on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 will not face additional imminent financial jeopardy as they continue to care for patients and communities." (Hellmann, 12/7)

Politico: House Passes Workaround To Move Forward On Raising The Debt Ceiling
Under the bill the House passed Tuesday night, Congress will be averting a 2 percent reduction in Medicare payments that Congress paused last year, and a 4 percent reduction that would be triggered by the budget reconciliation process Democrats used to pass President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package earlier this year. That process would also necessitate cuts to farm aid programs, which the fix would avoid. (Ferris, Scholtes and Emma, 12/7)

Also —

The Wall Street Journal: Sen. Joe Manchin Holds Back Support For Social-Spending Bill 
Sen. Joe Manchin declined to commit to voting for Democrats’ roughly $2 trillion social-policy and climate package, citing concerns about inflation and the length of programs, weeks before the Christmas deadline party leaders are racing to meet. Mr. Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, made the remarks during The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit at a pivotal moment for Democrats in Washington—and one where he has been a key figure. Because Senate Democrats are using a special budget maneuver to pass their education, healthcare and climate package without any GOP support, they can’t lose a single senator from their own party. (Collins, 12/7)

KHN: Oncology Doctors Say The Build Back Better Act Will Slash Cancer Care Funding — A Skewed Argument
An advertisement from the Community Oncology Alliance, part of a $1.6 million campaign running both on radio airwaves and in print, attacks a proposal in the Democratic-backed Build Back Better package approved by the House last month and now headed to the Senate. The ads, which started on Nov. 29 and are set to run through Dec. 12, say parts of the legislation would have “serious unintended consequences” for cancer patients — specifically, that “an independent analysis shows that payments for cancer care will be slashed by close to 45%, causing cancer clinics to close and massively raising your healthcare costs.” The alliance is an advocacy and lobbying organization representing physicians and clinics involved with cancer care. (Appleby, 12/8)

Axios: A Surprising Opponent Of Democrats’ Drug Pricing Plan: Generics 
The generic drug industry is warning that Democrats' drug pricing legislation would undercut their ability to compete against brand-name drugs, and some experts say they have a point. Generic drugs and biosimilars are America's most effective way of exerting downward pressure on drug prices, and keeping this competition healthy would remain vital even under the Democrats' new system. (Owens, 12/8)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

The New York Times: Lawmakers Reach Deal To Overhaul How Military Handles Sexual Assault Cases
House and Senate negotiators reached a landmark agreement on Tuesday that would strip military commanders of most of their authority to prosecute sexual assaults and myriad other criminal cases, a move that Pentagon leaders, lawmakers and presidents have resisted for nearly a generation. The legislation, part of a broad defense policy bill, comes after nearly two decades of efforts by female lawmakers and survivors’ groups, and in spite of fierce last-minute lobbying against the proposal by military lawyers. (Steinhauer, 12/7)

Casper Star Tribune: Cheney, Expert Say Hageman Mischaracterizing Vaccine Bill
Rep. Liz Cheney voted last week in favor of the Immunization Infrastructure Modernization Act of 2021, joining Democrats and 80 House Republicans. Harriet Hageman, the Donald Trump-backed candidate who is challenging Cheney, quickly pounced, putting out a press release claiming Wyoming’s congresswoman had voted to allow a federal database to track COVID-19 vaccination status. (Eavis, 12/7)

Roll Call: Partisan Bickering Could Doom Efforts To Regulate Social Media Companies
Industry representatives are accusing Republicans and Democrats of attempting to intimidate social media companies ahead of next year’s midterm elections. That comes as a brief period of bipartisan momentum behind legislative efforts to regulate companies like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter appears to have passed, with Republicans and Democrats reverting to partisan differences and bickering. After the disclosure this fall of tens of thousands of internal documents by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, including those that showed the company knew its products were harming the mental and physical health of teenage users, lawmakers from both parties said the time had come for federal regulation. (DeChiaro, 12/7)

The New York Times: Debate Over ‘Packing’ Supreme Court Divides Biden Panel 
The bipartisan commission appointed by President Biden to study possible changes to the federal judiciary unanimously approved a final report on Tuesday that flagged “profound disagreement” among its members over the issue that led to the panel’s creation: calls to expand or “pack” the Supreme Court with additional justices. By a vote of 34 to 0, the commission approved a 288-page report that offered a critical appraisal of arguments for and against that and many other ideas for changes to the Supreme Court, including imposing 18-year term limits on justices and reducing their power to strike down acts of Congress. (Savage, 12/7)

USA Today: Biden Supreme Court Commission Finishes Work; Has No View On 'Packing'
The nearly 300-page document noted "profound disagreement" over expanding the size of the nine-member court and it does not make a recommendation about the idea, an outcome that will give Biden political cover to sidestep progressive Democrats who hoped adding members would limit the power of the court's 6-3 conservative majority. Biden's commission finished its work as the Supreme Court is considering several high-profile cases that have captured the nation's attention, including a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion. A series of polls, meanwhile, have indicated slipping support for the high court. (Fritze, 12/7)

AP: Biden's Supreme Court Commission Releases Final Report
The makeup of the Supreme Court has come into even sharper focus following a ban on abortions after six weeks in Texas and arguments last week on a Mississippi case in which the 6-3 conservative-leaning court signaled a willingness either to overturn or substantially roll back abortion rights enshrined in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and its 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which reaffirmed Roe. A decision isn’t expected for months. The commission’s review was a campaign promise Biden made in response to pressure from activists and Democrats after the court’s composition tilted sharply to the right during former President Donald Trump’s term. He’s largely avoided the topic since. (Long, 12/8)

In related news about Roe v. Wade —

Politico: Most Voters Back Abortion Rights But Are Not Swayed By Threat To Roe, Poll Finds
Far more voters say they want the Supreme Court to leave Roe v. Wade in place than not, but the issue isn't a key motivator heading into the midterm elections, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. Justices by next June are expected to decide whether to scrap the half-century-old decision underpinning abortion rights and let states chose if they want to ban the procedure early in pregnancy. Already, activists on both sides of the issue are framing the stakes for voters and pouring millions of dollars into ads, voter mobilization efforts and direct campaign donations. (Ollstein, 12/7)

AP: If Roe Falls, Some Fear Ripple Effect On Civil Rights Cases
If the Supreme Court decides to overturn or gut the decision that legalized abortion, some fear that it could undermine other precedent-setting cases, including civil rights and LGBTQ protections. Overturning Roe v. Wade would have a bigger effect than most cases because it was reaffirmed by a second decision, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, three decades later, legal scholars and advocates said. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority signaled in arguments last week they would allow states to ban abortion much earlier in pregnancy and may even overturn the nationwide right that has existed for nearly 50 years. A decision is expected next summer. (Whitehurst, 12/8)

In other Supreme Court action —

Modern Healthcare: Supreme Court Won't Revive Antitrust Lawsuit Against Atrium Health
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a lower court's decision that Atrium Health is immune to antitrust lawsuits due to its status as a "local government unit. The justices declined a petition to revive a proposed class action lawsuit alleging that Atrium uses its dominant market position to stop insurers from guiding patients toward less expensive healthcare options. (Devereaux, 12/7)

Also —

Politico: Meadows: Trump Considered Yanking Kavanaugh Over ‘I Like Beer’ Comments And Apologetic Tone
During Brett Kavanaugh’s controversial 2018 Supreme Court confirmation hearings, President Donald Trump “strongly considered” dropping the nominee and instead going with a “stronger candidate,” according to a new book by Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows. It wasn’t because of accusations that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford while in high school, but because he’d professed that he “liked beer” during his hearings and was, in Trump’s estimation, being too apologetic. (McGraw, 12/7)

NPR: Surgeon General Vivek Murthy Warns About Youth Mental Health
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has a warning about the mental health of young people. Murthy told Morning Edition that children and young adults were already facing a mental health crisis before the coronavirus pandemic began: One in three high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, a 40% increase from 2009 to 2019, he said. Suicide rates went up during that time by 57% among youth ages 10 to 24. During the pandemic, rates of anxiety and depression have increased, he said. The pandemic has made the issues behind the mental health crisis only worse, he said. (Ritchie, 12/7)

The New York Times: Surgeon General Warns Of Youth Mental Health Crisis 
The United States surgeon general on Tuesday warned that young people are facing “devastating” mental health effects as a result of the challenges experienced by their generation, including the coronavirus pandemic. The message came as part of a rare public advisory from the nation’s top physician, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, in a 53-page report noting that the pandemic intensified mental health issues that were already widespread by the spring of 2020. (Richtel, 12/7)

In other news about mental health care —

AP: Illinois Courts Seek Compassion, Hope For Mentally Ill 
Illinois courts are taking steps toward better understanding mental illness and its growing impact on the judicial system, which state Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke said Tuesday too often lacks compassion, treats mental disorders as a crime and skirts alternatives to jail. Burke told reporters that her “call to action” came in response to a report her committee issued last year after months of study. It’s part of a national effort to review courts’ interactions with defendants or litigants who deal with mental health issues and so-called co-occurring disorders such as substance abuse. (O'Connor, 12/8)

North Carolina Health News: Vets Are Connecting To Mental Health Care. Is It Enough? 
Cornelia Vincent still struggles with the trauma she experienced years ago when a grenade pierced the tower where she was on guard while serving 10 months in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army. The explosion left the former unit supply specialist in the military police force with a shrapnel wound on her wrist and a gash on her head. Vincent, who’s now in her 30s, suffers from internal scars, too, trying to deal with a stew of stress and unresolved emotions that roil inside her long after she completed her stint in the Army from 2011 to 2014. (Dougani, 12/8)

The New York Times: Pediatricians Find Children Need Much More Than Vaccines 
Near the end of one of the first days that 5- to 11-year-olds could get a coronavirus shot last month, Dr. Anne Steptoe, a pediatrician, sat hunched in her cramped office between packages of diapers, onesies and children’s books, cataloging the week’s patients on her laptop. One teenage girl had been sleepless and suicidal; another was anemic. Several young boys had gained weight during the pandemic. A 10-year-old had been plagued by asthma attacks and was using her inhalers incorrectly. Another child of the same age needed a mental health consultation after angry outbursts at school. (Weiland, 12/7)

Stat: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Invests Another $3.4 Billion To Advance Research
As Mark Zuckerberg aims to build his social network empire into the foundation for a virtual metaverse, his other company is tying itself even more closely to the physical world and the delicate human bodies that reside there. On Tuesday, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative — the limited liability company formed to execute the philanthropic vision of co-CEOs Priscilla Chan and her husband, Zuckerberg — announced a significant new investment into its missions of curing, preventing, or managing all disease by the end of the century. (Palmer, 12/7)

In other health care industry news —

Las Vegas Review-Journal: United Healthcare Owes $60M To ER Doctors, Jury Rules
United Healthcare Insurance Co., one of the country’s largest health insurers, must pay $60 million to a group of Nevada out-of-network emergency medical providers, a Las Vegas jury decided Tuesday. The jury in the 8th Judicial District Court case awarded the millions in punitive damages a week after it found United Healthcare liable of underpaying millions to the three Nevada-based TeamHealth affiliate providers, which includes Fremont Emergency Services (Mandavia) Ltd., Team Physicians of Nevada-Mandavia PC and the parent company of Ruby Crest Emergency Medicine. (Hudson, 12/7)

Stat: Centene To Pay $28 Million To Resolve Another State Probe Into PBMs
Centene (CNC), one of the largest health insurers in the U.S., agreed to pay nearly $28 million to Kansas to settle allegations that a pharmacy benefits subsidiary overcharged the state Medicaid program, the fifth such deal this year between the company and a state government. The deal comes after heightened scrutiny of Centene operations that were raised in a state audit and subsequent lawsuit filed earlier this year by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who alleged the health insurer misrepresented pharmacy costs and, through its different subsidiaries, collected an additional $20 million in fees. (Silverman, 12/7)

Modern Healthcare: Providers Push For Surprise Billing Resolution Process Changes
"What was supposed to be an independent check on both parties is now gone. In short, the departments have forfeited this important restraint with respect to plans and issuers, while creating a nearly insurmountable set of conditions for providers," the American Hospital Association wrote in a letter. The No Surprises Act says arbitrators should consider a list of factors when deciding how much a payer should reimburse an out-of-network provider for services. The list includes the median in-network payment rate, known as the qualified payment amount. It could also factor in market share of each party, quality measurements of the provider, patient's acuity and several other factors. (Goldman, 12/7)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Vanguard Will Phase Out Popular RMA Benefit
Malvern-based Vanguard will freeze a popular medical benefit for retirees and employees, instead of cutting it entirely as announced in October, according to a letter from the mutual fund company. Current retirees and those who retire by the end of next year will retain their generous retiree medical accounts (RMAs), but the value of the benefit will no longer increase starting in 2023. (Arvedlund, 12/8)

Bloomberg: Suki Funding Sets Value At $400 Million For ‘Siri For Doctors’
Suki AI Inc., a health startup that makes a sort of Siri digital assistant for doctors, raised a new round of venture capital valuing the business at $400 million. The five-year-old company plans to announce Tuesday that it received $55 million in a deal led by growth equity firm March Capital. It also formed an agreement with Google for its cloud division to start selling Suki’s services to health companies, said Punit Soni, the startup’s chief executive officer. The upstart is also chasing a giant. In April, Microsoft said it plans to spend nearly $20 billion on Nuance Communications, a company that has provided note-taking services to doctors for over two decades. “We’re basically trying to catch up with companies that have been doing this for 20 years,” Soni said. (Bergen, 12/7)

Also —

KHN: Post-Pandemic, What’s A Phone Call From Your Physician Worth? 
Maybe this has happened to you recently: Your doctor telephoned to check in with you, chatting for 11 to 20 minutes, perhaps answering a question you contacted her office with, or asking how you’re responding to a medication change. For that, your doctor got paid about $27 if you are on Medicare — maybe a bit more if you have private insurance. Behind those calls is a four-digit “virtual check-in” billing code created during the pandemic, for phone conversations lasting just within that range, which has drawn outsize interest from physician groups. (Appleby, 12/8)

Bloomberg: Kamala Harris Rolls Out Plan To Reduce High U.S. Maternal Mortality Rates
Vice President Kamala Harris Tuesday announced a plan to reduce the country’s alarmingly high maternal mortality rate by improving pregnancy and postpartum care nationwide. The strategy includes calling for states to extend postpartum coverage under Medicaid from 2 to 12 months and designating “birthing-friendly” hospitals. “Maternal mortality and morbidity is a serious crisis and one that endangers both public health and economic growth,” Harris said at a White House event. (Butler, 12/7)

USA Today: Best Hospitals To Have A Baby In Every State: US News & World Report
After more than 30 years of evaluating the best health systems in America, U.S. News & World Report hopes to better inform expecting families with its first-ever edition of the “Best Hospitals for Maternity" report. Out of the 2,700 hospitals nationwide that offer maternity services, U.S. News said 237 made the list. But while health experts appreciate the focus on maternity care, some say the report provides an incomplete picture. The publication evaluated facilities based on five different factors: scheduled early deliveries, C-section rates in low-risk people, newborn complications, rate of exclusive breast milk feeding and option for vaginal births after cesarean. (Rodriguez, 12/7)

In cancer news —

AP: Study Can't Confirm Lab Results For Many Cancer Experiments
Eight years ago, a team of researchers launched a project to carefully repeat early but influential lab experiments in cancer research. They recreated 50 experiments, the type of preliminary research with mice and test tubes that sets the stage for new cancer drugs. The results reported Tuesday: About half the scientific claims didn’t hold up. “The truth is we fool ourselves. Most of what we claim is novel or significant is no such thing,” said Dr. Vinay Prasad, a cancer doctor and researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the project. (Johnson, 12/7)

Stat: Is Cancer Biology Research Reproducible? The Answer Still Isn't Clear
Replication is something of a litmus test for scientific truth, and cancer biologists at the Center for Open Science wanted to see just how many of cancer’s most influential experiments stood up to it. So, for nearly a decade, they worked their way, step-by-step, through 50 experiments from 23 studies toward an answer — but like cancer research writ large, what they found is complicated. (Chen, 12/7)

NBC News: Pediatric Brain Tumors Like The One That Killed Nick Cannon’s Son Are Rare But Serious In Infants
The 5-month-old son of celebrity Nick Cannon died recently of a brain tumor, a rare but a serious condition among infants in the U.S., according to specialists in the field. Only about 1,200 to 1,500 children up to 4 years old are diagnosed with brain tumors every year, said Dr. Susan Chi, the deputy director of pediatric neuro-oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital. “Brain tumors in children are very rare. And certainly less frequent than what we see in the adult population,” Chi said. (Planas, 12/7)

In other public health news —

USA Today: Mumps Cases In US: Majority Occur In Vaccinated Kids, CDC Study Finds
Since 2007, about one-third of mumps cases reported in the United States were in children and teenagers, according to the report published last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those approximately 9,000 cases, up to 94% of patients were vaccinated against the mumps, which can cause fever, headache, painful swollen glands and sometimes hearing loss in children. Although this may alarm some parents, health experts say they aren’t surprised. “People take from that headline that the vaccine doesn’t work,” said Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious diseases expert at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. But the vaccine has "virtually eliminated what was at one time the most common cause of deafness” in children. (Rodriguez, 12/8)

Axios: Experts Fear A Bad Flu Season On Top Of COVID 
Public health officials are warning that the U.S. may be on the verge of a dangerous double whammy: COVID and flu, spreading simultaneously. The Delta variant is still circulating across the U.S., and the Omicron variant isn't far behind. On top of that, experts see potential warning signs of a bad flu season, which could leave millions of Americans vulnerable and strain health care resources. (Reed, 12/8)

Axios: Tragedies, Pandemic Drove GoFundMe Giving In 2021 
The pandemic, natural disasters and response to other tragedies spurred giving in 2021, according to GoFundMe's annual report. The crowdfunding platform says one donation is made every second to help people across the globe. One in three fundraisers is started for someone else. Though the annual report did not specify numbers for every fundraiser, it highlighted some of 2021's "most notable" campaigns where people turned "hard to watch headlines into meaningful help." The company would not share which campaigns raised the most money. (Chen, 12/7)

Los Angeles Times: Why Car Crash Deaths Have Surged During COVID-19 Pandemic
It was a tally that shocked the experts: 38,680 deaths on U.S. roadways last year, the most since 2007 even though pandemic precautions had dramatically reduced driving. “This was completely unprecedented,” said Ken Kolosh, a researcher at the nonprofit National Safety Council. “We didn’t know what was happening.” One possibility was that stressed-out Americans were releasing their anxieties on the wide-open roads. He guessed that fatal accidents would decline in 2021 when traffic returned. He was wrong. The latest evidence suggests that after decades of safety gains, the pandemic has made U.S. drivers more reckless — more likely to speed, drink or use drugs and leave their seatbelts unbuckled. (Baumgaertner and Mitchell, 12/8)

KHN: From ‘Physician Assistant’ To Medicare, Readers And Tweeters Mince No Words 
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories. (12/8)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Expansion Didn't Improve Critical Access Hospital Operations
The expansion of Medicaid hasn't made critical access hospitals any more financially stable or better for patient care than hospitals in non-expansion states. A new study in the December issue of Health Affairs found these hospitals did not experience improved quality scores or better staffing levels overall as compared as compared to critical access facilities in states that didn't expand the insurance program. (Gillespie, 12/7)

In news about water quality —

CBS News: Hawaii Health Department Issues Emergency Order After Petroleum Products Found In Navy Water System 
The Hawaii Department of Health issued an emergency order on Tuesday, calling on the Navy to take further action to remedy its water system after tests detected petroleum products in one of its wells. The order comes a day after Navy officials at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam announced they would suspend operations at a major fuel tank farm located near the contaminated water well. "The Navy's contamination of drinking water has impacted all O'ahu residents—military and civilian—and we must take appropriate steps to safeguard the drinking water we all share as a community," Hawaii's health director Dr. Elizabeth Char said in a statement Tuesday. (Powell, 12/7)

Charleston Gazette-Mail: State Lawmakers To Consider Water Quality Standard Update Opposed By Environmentalists
A panel of West Virginia lawmakers is expected to consider an update to the state’s water quality standards Wednesday that has drawn the ire of environmentalist groups. The provision would allow the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to evaluate water quality criteria on a case-by-case basis, a change that the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and other environmentalist groups view as a loophole for chemical and other industrial manufacturers. (Tony, 12/7)

Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Dirty Water: One Jackson Neighborhood's Struggle With Trusting the Taps
On the tiny stoop of a small, brick Grand Avenue home, an older, petite Black woman strains to drag two 24-pack cases of bottled water. Bobbie Johnson, a slender 76-year-old with wiry, gray hair, buys the water every few days from the local Save A Lot grocery store. She drags the cases through the front door, over worn, brown carpet, past clutter and pictures of her 19 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren and 5 great-great-grandchildren hanging on living room walls. (Sanderlin and Rowe, 12/8)

In news about HIV/AIDS —

Georgia Health News: Routine HIV Testing In Jails Would Make Medical And Economic Sense, Study Says 
Routine HIV testing of inmates when they enter jails would lead to many more diagnosed infections and overall would save costs on health care, a recently published study says. Researchers from the CDC, Emory University and the Georgia Department of Public Health focused on an HIV testing change at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. Three years ago, the jail switched from routine testing of inmates to a more random process. That led to dozens of missed HIV diagnoses over the course of a year, according to the study, published in November in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. (Miller, 12/7)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia HIV Detection And Treatment Dropped Because Of COVID-19
Fewer people were tested, and fewer people were able to access care while most city services were shut down at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. The result? HIV counts in Philadelphia from 2020 are likely artificially low, city health officials said in the report, released Tuesday. And people already living with an HIV diagnosis were more likely not to receive care last year, either because HIV services were shut down or because they were afraid of contracting COVID at a doctor’s office or hospital. People with HIV can also be immunocompromised, compounding the fear for contracting the virus. (Whelan, 12/7)

In other news from across the U.S. —

CBS Atlanta: Emails Link Sterigenics’ Landlord To Toxic Gas Releases 
More than 300 people have developed cancer or other illnesses, attorneys say, as a result of exposure to a toxic gas at a medical sterilization plant in Cobb County. Lawsuits allege that Smyrna plant, Sterigenics, which has been under fire for the last two years, released airborne toxins that caused elevated cancer risks to those living in surrounding neighborhoods. Now, new court filings reveal another company could potentially be facing blame. Not only is Sterigenics listed on the lawsuit but so is its landlord, Prologis. (12/7)

Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Prisoners Have Received Delayed And Inadequate Medical Care, Audit Shows
They rifled through dumpsters, pieced through shredded forms and reviewed patient records from dozens of people who were sick and incarcerated at the Utah State Prison. What state legislative auditors found, they say, was proof of an inadequate prison health care system in Utah, one rife with so many “systemic deficiencies” that it has often translated to delayed and inadequate care for inmates. Legislative auditors discovered some prisoners who are diabetic were not getting food quickly enough after receiving insulin. They found private medical logs in a public dumpster outside the prison — twice. And a medical expert hired to review patient charts found at least two prisoners who contracted COVID-19 did not receive medical follow-ups for days as they became increasingly sick. (Miller, 12/7)

AP: Missouri Effort Launched To Put Legal Marijuana To 2022 Vote
The leader of a campaign to legalize marijuana use in Missouri said he is confident the issue will pass if his group gathers enough signatures to put the question on the 2022 election ballot. A group called Legal Missouri 2022 began an initiative petition effort last week that, if successful, would allow anyone 21 and over to buy, consume, possess or cultivate marijuana for any reason. Currently, the state allows marijuana use only for medical reasons. (12/8)

Albany Herald: Report Recommends Increasing Penalties For Violence Against Health Care Workers 
A state Senate study committee has asked the General Assembly to consider stiffening penalties for violent attacks on Georgia health care workers. But new legislation addressing the issue is unlikely because criminal justice experts believe existing law already covers violence in the health-care workplace, Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta, the study committee’s chairman and an orthopedic surgeon, said. “There are already penalties in place for aggravated assault and aggravated battery,” she said. “I can’t promise legislation is going to happen or would pass if it’s proposed.” (Williams, 12/7)

Bangor Daily News: Brewer Food Pantry May Close If It Doesn’t Raise $40K For New Roof And Building Repairs
The OHI Brewer Food Pantry needs to raise about $40,000 to pay for a new roof and repairs from water damage to its facility at 222 North Main St. If the organization can’t raise the money to pay for the completed work, it would have to close the food pantry that serves families in Brewer, Eddington and other nearby communities, Rich Romero, resource development director with OHI, warned Tuesday. (Harrison, 12/7)

AP: 'Pharma Bro' Firm Reaches $40M Settlement In Gouging Case
A company once owned by “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli will pay up to $40 million to settle allegations that it jacked up the price of a life-saving medication by roughly 4,000% after obtaining exclusive rights to the drug, the Federal Trade Commission announced Tuesday. The FTC said Vyera Pharmaceuticals LLC and its parent company, Phoenixus AG, agreed to settle allegations that it gouged buyers and monopolized sales of Daraprim, which is used to treat toxoplasmosis, an infection that can be deadly for people with HIV or other immune-system problems and can cause serious problems for children born to women infected while pregnant. (12/8)

Stat: Shkreli's Former Company Pays $40 Million For Blocking Drug Competition
The infamous saga began when Vyera Pharmaceuticals, previously known as Turing Pharmaceuticals, bought Daraprim, a drug taken by HIV patients, and raised the price by more than 4,000% — from $17.50 a tablet to to $750. The move galvanized criticism of the pharmaceutical industry at a moment when the cost of prescription drugs was becoming a pocketbook issue for many Americans. {Martin] Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager who seemed to sport a perpetual smirk, quickly became reviled for his smarmy responses to an outraged public. He later was sentenced to jail for unrelated securities fraud, but now faces a Dec. 14 trial for stifling competition because he refused to agree to the settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and six states. (Silverman, 12/7)

And in updates from the Theranos trial —

The New York Times: Elizabeth Holmes Caps Her Testimony With A Round Of Denials
For the six days that Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the failed blood-testing start-up Theranos, took the stand in her fraud trial, she blamed others, accused a former boyfriend of abusing and controlling her, and reframed her actions as trying to do good for her company. On Tuesday, Ms. Holmes capped her defense with flat denials. “I don’t think I did that,” she said in response to a question about whether she had minimized the findings of a devastating regulatory inspection at Theranos. She then blamed her company’s lawyers for “doing a lot of the talking in that meeting.” (Griffith, 12/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Elizabeth Holmes’s Testimony: Moments That Might Influence Jurors 
Elizabeth Holmes’s surprise turn on the witness stand in her criminal-fraud trial has given jurors a close look at the control she held over her blood-testing startup Theranos Inc., and at the alleged torment she endured in her personal life at the same time. Her six days of testimony have included moments that helped and hurt her case, trial observers say. (Randazzo, 12/7)

Fortune: Insulin’s Deadly Cost: Ultrahigh Prices In The U.S. Mean Many Diabetics Can’t Afford The Medication They Need To Survive 
Sa’ra Skipper has spent most of her life worried about staying alive for another day. She has Type 1 diabetes, which means she needs insulin to survive, and for years she’s had trouble affording it. Her younger sister is a Type 1 diabetic also, and Sa’ra recalls that as children, “my church, extended family, and members of our community were instrumental in our survival.” In college, she says, “I began to eat less to make my insulin last longer.” Less food means more hunger, but it also means less blood sugar for the insulin to control. (Colvin, 12/6)  

ABC27.com: Pa. Lawmakers Fight To Lower Insulin Costs
Two Pennsylvania senators are fighting to make insulin more affordable. Senator Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) and Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Adams, Franklin, York, Cumberland) introduced the ‘Affordable Insulin Act’ which would cap the price of insulin at just $30 per month. (Brandt, 12/2)

MedTech Dive: Insulet Omnipod 5 Insulin Pump Clearance Delayed To 2022: CEO 
Insulet said it now expects FDA clearance for its much-anticipated Omnipod 5 insulin patch pump in the first quarter of 2022 rather than later this year, a delay that sent its stock tumbling more than 8% on Friday. ... With Omnipod 5, Insulet promises to bring to market the first closed-loop insulin delivery system via a tubeless pump, in combination with Dexcom's G6 continuous glucose monitor. The system detects changes in blood glucose levels and automatically adjusts patients' insulin doses. (Kelly, 12/6)

In news about Aduhelm —

Salon: This One Drug Threatens To Tank Medicare's Entire Prescription Drug Model 
When Biogen's new Alzheimer's drug, Aduhelm, was officially approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in June, it was a decision that flouted overwhelming pushback from doctors in the field, dozens of whom argued that Biogen had failed to demonstrate whether the drug had any clinical value. Since then, only about a hundred Americans have been prescribed the medication – a vanishingly small amount for a disease that afflicts 5.8 million. But even as the scope of Aduhelm's use remains limited, critics are now warning that its fiscal implications could spell disaster for American healthcare as we know it. Aduhelm alone, priced at a whopping $56,000 a year, has already contributed to an approximate $10 spike in monthly Medicare Part B premiums, according to a recent CNN report. (Skolnik, 12/4)

Also —

FiercePharma: Lawmakers To Unveil Findings On Long-Running Drug Pricing Probe And Discuss Reforms 
The former chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Rep. Elijah Cummings, didn’t live to see the day when drug prices would fall significantly in the United States. But his work in launching an investigation into the industry's pricing practices has already shed a harsh spotlight on the routine price hikes and anticompetitive tactics that companies use to boost their top-lines. On Thursday, the committee—now led by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.)—will hold a hearing to examine the findings of the investigation that kicked off in January 2019, nine months before Cummings' death. (Dunleavy, 12/6)

Modern Healthcare: PBMs' Profit Swells As Sector Consolidates, Report Shows
Pharmacy benefit managers are more profitable as the sector consolidates, new research shows. PBMs, which negotiate rebates from drug manufacturers on behalf of payers, create networks of pharmacies and determine reimbursements to those pharmacies, have been joining forces with large insurers and pharmacies. That has helped boost PBMs' gross profit from PBM-owned mail order and specialty pharmacies to $10.1 billion in 2019, up 13% from $8.9 billion in 2017, according PBM Accountability Project's analysis of financial records, government reports, studies and surveys. (Kacik, 12/3)

Los Angeles Times: Insulin Prices Reveal Greed Of Healthcare Middlemen
Politicians for years have been making a show of wringing their hands over sky-high prescription drug prices. And no drug has drawn more scrutiny, or calls for action, than insulin. Insulin was discovered 100 years ago by a trio of Canadian scientists. They sold the patent to the University of Toronto for a mere $1.The patent was made available royalty-free to drug companies to foster widespread use of the life-saving hormone. Drug companies, in turn, did what they do best: They cashed in. (David Lazarus, 11/30)

Charleston Gazette Mail: How Build Back Better Helps Diabetics
It costs the drug makers about $6.16 to produce a vial of insulin. Yet, the purchase price is $332 for the same vial, according to the Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Insulin availability is a matter of life and death, given that diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control. (Joseph Wyatt, 11/25)

Medical Press: US Drug Prices Are Costing Us More Than We Think
Aduhelm, the first new Alzheimer's drug in 18 years, could easily become the best-selling drug in Medicare, despite its potential massive cost and tremendous uncertainty about whether the drug even works, says Rachel Sachs, the Treiman Professor of Law and nationally renowned expert on drug pricing and health policy. (Schoenherr, 12/7)

NorthJersey.com: Build Back Better Can Help NJ Pharmacies. Here's How
I have worked in pharmacies for 62 years, served as a licensed pharmacist for nearly 50 years, and owned a community pharmacy in Teaneck for the past 34 years. Over the last six decades, I have talked with countless customers who struggle to afford the high cost of their prescription drugs. One story in particular has always stayed with me. A few years ago, I had a customer who was suffering from severe Melanoma. Every three months, the medication she was taking doubled and sometimes tripled in price until eventually it was more expensive than her monthly mortgage. I believe we live in one of the greatest countries in the world, where no one should be forced to choose between the medication they need to survive or whether to put a roof over their head. (Michael Fedida, 12/4)

Tampa Bay Times: A Drug Price Safety Net Is Fraying For Medicaid And Uninsured Patients In Florida 
Millions of Floridians can pick an insurance plan this enrollment period with the peace of mind that federal law defends their health care rights. Floridians also know that their state legislators have worked diligently to defend them from harmful practices like step therapy and the unnecessary burden of prior authorizations. But what about those Floridians — many of them elderly — who are still falling through the gaps in our health care system? Congress created a safety net drug pricing program for Medicaid patients and the uninsured, but the results tell us this safety net is failing, exacerbating unfair drug pricing for Floridians. To date, Congress has failed to act to contain the cost of the 340B program that is meant to protect the most vulnerable patients in our state. (Brian Nyquist, 12/6)

Bloomberg: Does GlaxoSmithKline Covid Antibody Treatment Sotrovimab Work Against Omicron? 
GlaxoSmithKline Plc has delivered some good news amid mounting concerns about the omicron variant. Its research showed that sotrovimab, the Covid-19 antibody treatment it developed with Vir Biotechnology Inc., is effective against the full combination of mutations seen in the new variant. Will this make it easier to live with omicron? Bloomberg Opinion’s Therese Raphael talks to Sam Fazeli, senior pharmaceutical analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, about the development. (Therese Raphael and Sam Fazeli, 12/7)

CNN: 'Twindemic' Fears Are Back. And This Time They Might Foretell A Tragic Season 
Just before South African scientists identified the Omicron coronavirus variant, many experts were beginning to focus on a completely different potential problem: the collision of Covid-19 and influenza, which is now in the first weeks of its annual surge. If the issue seems familiar, it is because it is: there was a big fear last year over the possibility of the same unholy alliance. It was so concerning it was even dubbed the "twindemic," to denote the anticipated one-two punch of both viruses circulating at once. (Kent Sepkowitz, 12/7)

The Washington Post: How Biden Can Enlist Insurance Companies To Get Covid-19 Tests To All Americans
When I first heard President Biden announce that his administration will make rapid coronavirus tests free through insurance reimbursement, I thought it was a terrible plan. Why isn’t the government procuring tests directly and distributing them free of charge, rather than making Americans go through the onerous process of purchasing tests and then applying to insurance companies to get their money back? (Leana S. Wen, 12/7)

Scientific American: Boosters Can Help End The COVID Pandemic 
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized COVID booster shots for all adults who have received their initial set of vaccinations. The CDC followed by strengthening their recommendation for all eligible people 18 years of age and older to get vaccinated. Most scientists knew when COVID-19 vaccines were first authorized that we would need at least one additional shot to complete the primary series, known as a prime-boost strategy. This is despite the vaccines’ outstanding initial efficacy. This sort of boost is required for many infectious disease vaccines to generate longer-lasting immunity. With holidays coming up, the emergence of new variants such as Omicron, and rising rates of infections in vaccinated individuals, it’s important to get boosters so we can move toward ending this pandemic. (Hayley A. Gans and Yvonne A. Maldonado, 12/7)

The CT Mirror: Ways To Address The Pandemic's Impact On Children's Behavioral Health
Covid-19 has brought on a behavioral health tsunami, a crisis in the brewing even before the pandemic. The effects on children’s health and mental health will be long-term. Children who have had Covid may become long haulers with both physical and behavioral health problems lasting years, or a lifetime. The solutions being sought must address both the immediacy of the crisis and the long-term needs. (Stephen Wanczyk-Karp, 12/8)

The Boston Globe: Don’t Look Away From 800,000 Dead From COVID-19 
COVID-19 deaths nationwide will soon surpass 800,000. Too few will notice. “Never in my wildest imagination did I think we would reach a point where a thousand-plus deaths a day would be normalized and met with a shrug,” Alex Goldstein, founder of Faces of COVID, told me. I first spoke to him in mid-May 2020, two months into the virus’s initial wave. He had just posted his thousandth story to @FacesofCOVID on Twitter, tweet-sized remembrances of those killed by the disease caused by the coronavirus. (Renee Graham, 12/7)

The New York Times: I’m An E.R. Doctor In Michigan, Where Unvaccinated People Are Filling Hospital Beds
Recently a patient in his 70s came seeking care at the small rural hospital in West Michigan where I’ve worked as an emergency physician for two decades. He had tested positive for the coronavirus earlier in the week, was running a high fever and struggled to breathe. When asked if he’d been vaccinated, he snapped back, “I don’t approve of the vaccine.” (Dr. Rob Davidson, 12/8)

Stat: Archaic In-Person Exam Law Is Holding Back Digital Prescribing 
At a press conference in 1986, President Ronald Reagan said he felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language were “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Many health care innovators know the chill, wondering whether some well-intentioned arrangement might techno-legally run afoul of some chapter or verse of an anti-kickback or coding or other law. Most of these laws come from a good place: a bad thing happened in the world and enough people believed it might not fix itself that they brought the problem to Uncle Sam. But because health care plays such an important safety net function, and also because the government is the biggest player in it — think Medicare and Medicaid and CHIP and the VA — the uncle has gone a little nuts. (Nisha Basu and Jonathan Bush, 12/8)

The Star Tribune: St. Thomas Embarks On Bold Nursing Plan 
A nursing shortage that has only been exacerbated by the strains of a global pandemic is now well into its second year. Some colleges in Minnesota are responding with stepped-up programs, all of which are needed. The University of St. Thomas, however, is taking an ambitious approach that re-envisions nursing with an eye toward underserved communities. The heart of this plan is to reach out into these communities for nursing candidates, while also training nurses in how to understand other cultures and the impact their care can have on individual and community health. (12/7)

Modern Healthcare: Improving Diagnosis: Four Things You Can Do Right Now 
An accurate and timely diagnosis is foundational to high-quality healthcare. A diagnosis sets off a chain of events—a course of treatment, a change in habits or lifestyle, sometimes even a radical shift in outlook on life itself. Unfortunately, in some instances, the diagnosis is wrong, or it comes too late. (Dr. David Meyers and Dr. Jeffery Brady, 12/7)

Georgia Health News: Housing Is A Health Issue — A Big One 
A patient at an Atlanta clinic regularly attended doctor’s appointments to monitor his diabetes, but he didn’t see any improvement. In fact, sometimes his A1c score was higher than on his previous visit. Given the way health care problems are often addressed, a provider would almost immediately begin to look at this patient’s diet, exercise and other lifestyle habits as the likely contributors to his lack of medical progress. However, in this case, the problem was linked to something more complicated. Recently, a community health worker discovered that the man was living in a storage unit — a place without heat, air conditioning or running water. (Kathryn Lawler, Tom Andres and Shannon Sale, 12/6)

Houston Chronicle: No Room For Blame — Patients, Doctors And Nurses All Feel Abandoned
One August morning this year, my husband awoke and told me he felt lucky. And indeed, the last year was a good year with but a few health emergencies for either of us. But by late afternoon his urine was filled with blood. In the 61 years Ted and I have been married we struggled through many an unexpected interruption to our expectations. If youth is about the lust and the beauty of love, then old age is about dedication to something bigger than our individual selves. Blame and temper are not sustainable when trouble hits. We can and do pull together and confront what needs confronting. (Jere Pfister, 12/8)

USA Today: WHO: Prevent Heart Attacks By Eliminating Trans Fats From Our Food
After victories in eradicating smallpox, certifying most of the world polio free and developing COVID-19 vaccines in record time, we are on the cusp – for the first time – of turning the tide on a major noninfectious global public health risk. Consumption of industrially produced trans fat, a toxic chemical compound found in many processed foods, has prematurely killed up to half a million people worldwide each year from coronary heart disease. Many more live with the debilitating effects of heart attacks. (Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Dr. Tom Frieden, 12/7)