Axios: Appellate Court Maintains Access To ACA Preventive Care Mandate
A federal appeals court on Tuesday maintained a freeze on a ruling that struck down the Affordable Care Act's mandate that employers and insurers fully cover preventive health services while the case continues to wind through the courts. (Gonzalez, 6/13)

AP: 'Obamacare' Will Still Cover Prevention For HIV, Other Illnesses Amid Court Battle
The government can keep enforcing “Obamacare” requirements that health insurance plans cover preventative care — such as HIV prevention, some types of cancer screenings and other illnesses — while a legal battle over the mandates plays out, under a court agreement approved Tuesday. The pact approved by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals preserves — at least for now — cost-free preventive care coverage for millions of Americans under the Affordable Care Act. (McGill, 6/14)

Also —

The Baltimore Sun: Obamacare Insurance Carriers In Maryland Request Higher Rates, Though Not As Much As Last Year
Health insurance prices may be higher in 2024 for Marylanders who buy their own coverage, but the hike is expected to be smaller than it was last year, when coronavirus pandemic-related costs prompted carriers to request rate increases averaging 11%. The average rate increase that carriers requested from state insurance regulators this year was 5.7%. (Roberts, 6/14)

Federal Times: GOP Budget Bill Would Ban Abortions, Transgender Services At VA
Abortion procedures, transgender surgeries and LGBTQ Pride flags would all be banned at Veterans Affairs medical centers under a budget bill adopted by House Republicans on Tuesday. The spending plan — which advanced on a party-line vote out of the House Appropriations Committee — also calls for a record $320 billion in veterans program spending next fiscal year, matching the White House’s funding request released earlier this year. (Shane III, 3/13)

Politico: Tuberville Hold Scrambles Marines’ Plans For Top Officer's Retirement 
The Marine Corps could be without a Senate-confirmed leader in less than a month, thanks to a Republican senator’s blockade of hundreds of senior military promotions. The service is already making preparations for this scenario. In a highly unusual move, Commandant Gen. David Berger sent out invitations to a “relinquishment of office ceremony” scheduled for July 10. POLITICO obtained a copy of the invitation. This is a departure from tradition: typically, top military officials host a “change of responsibility” ceremony when a new member of the Joint Chiefs takes over. ... Sen. Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, put a blanket hold on nominees this spring over the Pentagon’s new policy of reimbursing troops and their family members if they travel to receive an abortion. (Seligman, O'Brien and Gould, 6/13)

Military.com: Lawmakers Pressure Air Force To Finally Make Space Command HQ Basing Decision
As that decision has languished for two and a half years, the fight over whether the HQ should move to Huntsville, Alabama, or remain in Colorado Springs has become increasingly political. Notably, the Supreme Court's ruling last year to overturn Roe v. Wade -- known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization -- has also been viewed as a potential factor impacting the decision, according to Colorado and Alabama lawmakers. Moving Space Command from Colorado, where abortion access is unrestricted, to Alabama, where it is illegal with limited exceptions, has raised concerns. (Novelly and Kheel, 6/13)

In other military health news —

NPR: VA Hospitals Beat Out Private Facilities, Medicare Survey Shows
A nationwide Medicare survey released today found that veterans rated Veterans Affairs hospitals higher than private health care facilities in all 10 categories of patient satisfaction. The VA takes care of about 9 million veterans at 1,255 facilities — the nation's largest integrated health care system. Despite many widely publicized scandals, VA health care has been consistently rated as competitive with private care in dozens of peer-reviewed articles. (Lawrence, 6/14)

Military Times: VA Nurses Join Nationwide Protests Over Working Conditions
Nurses at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals in California and Georgia took part in nationwide demonstrations June 13 demanding improvements for short-staffed medical facilities. Caregivers from the Jennifer Moreno VA Medical Center in San Diego and the Atlanta VA Medical Center joined peers from 16 other hospitals across the country to protest conditions they claim overburden medical personnel and compromise patient care. National Nurses United, the country’s largest union of registered nurses, organized the rally. (Moore-Carrillo, 6/13)

Military.com: New Tape Test: Here's How The Army Is Measuring Body Fat Now 
It's official -- the Army will now assess body fat using a tape measurement around the waist only. The service announced Monday it has simplified one of the key ways it judges soldier physical fitness following a broader overhaul of the Army Combat Fitness Test, or ACFT. Previously, men were measured at their neck and abdomen, while women were also measured at the hips. (Beynon and Bonenberger, 6/13)

Stat: Key House Republican Suggests Breaking Up PBMs
A key House Republican ramped up his criticism of pharmacy benefit managers Tuesday, calling for the government to dismantle companies that have consolidated drug supply chain operations. (Wilkerson, 6/13)

Stat: Sanders Pushes NIH On Pricing Language For Drugs It Helps Develop
In another bid to lower prescription drug prices, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued a report showing that medicines developed with help from the National Institutes of Health have often cost Americans more than what is paid in other countries. And he called on the agency to reinstate a provision in federal law that would require companies to set reasonable prices when they license NIH inventions. (Silverman, 6/13)

On artificial intelligence in health care —

Roll Call: Congress Ponders Whether AI Should Have The Power Of The Patent
Lawmakers are beginning to consider ways in which artificial intelligence systems are involved in inventive processes like discovery of new drugs, and how the use of such technologies affects what is, and is not, patentable. (Ratnam, 6/13)

Modern Healthcare: AI In Healthcare Needs More Oversight, AMA Delegates Say
Delegates voted Monday to study the benefits and unforeseen circumstances of A.I., including large language models such as GPTs and other intelligence-generated medical content, and propose appropriate state and federal regulations, according to AMA documents. In those documents, A.I. is defined as augmented intelligence, a type of technology that still requires human involvement. (Hudson, 6/13)

On the federal and state push for gun control —

The Hill: Raskin Defends Pistol Brace Rule: ‘We Want Them To Read The 2nd Amendment’ 
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) defended the Biden administration’s restriction on pistol braces and rejected arguments from Republicans who claim it violates the Second Amendment, saying, “We don’t want them to repeal the Second Amendment. We want them to read the Second Amendment.” Raskin argued that his Republican colleagues repeatedly invoke the second half of the Second Amendment, describing the right to keep and bear arms, but gloss over the first half that says, “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state.” (Fortinsky, 6/13)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Democrats Fail In Initial Try To Push Gun Control Through House
The Maine House of Representatives defeated a measure Tuesday to enshrine a 72-hour waiting period before gun purchases. Maine sticks out nationally as a Democratic-controlled state with a strong hunting culture that combines loose gun laws and  high levels of gun ownership with lower levels of gun mortality, although federal data from 2021 showed the latter was the highest in New England. Voters in 2016 rejected a referendum on mandatory background checks on private gun sales. (Kobin, 6/13)

The Boston Globe: Millions Who Got COVID-19 May Not Fully Recover Sense Of Smell, Study Says
Millions of Americans stricken with COVID-19 in 2021 may not have fully recovered their senses of smell and taste after contracting the virus, according to a study from researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. The study, published recently in The Laryngoscope, a peer-reviewed medical journal, culled data from the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey, which included information on nearly 30,000 adults who were diagnosed with the infectious disease, the hospital said in a statement. (Andersen, 6/13)

Also —

Roll Call: Republicans Grill Outgoing CDC Director As She Prepares To Exit 
During what’s likely to be her last appearance before skeptical congressional Republicans on Tuesday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky once again asked for more data and workforce authorities — and, once again, she was sharply dismissed. (Cohen, 6/13)

Stat: CDC’s Walensky Parries GOP Criticism Over Covid Response 
One of the very last duties of one of President Biden’s very first pandemic response officials was to spend two hours deflecting Republican criticisms of how she did her job. (Cohrs, 6/13)

More on the spread of covid —

The Washington Post: This Skin Rash Is Back After Almost Vanishing During The Pandemic 
Before the pandemic began, D.C. dermatologist Adam Friedman routinely treated patients with pityriasis rosea, a temporary but often unbearably itchy skin rash that can last several months. There are 170 cases of pityriasis rosea per 100,000 people each year, according to one study. It can affect people of all ages and races but predominantly afflicts those between the ages of 10 and 35, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. But as the pandemic worsened, curiously, the condition “all but disappeared” from his practice, said Friedman, chair of dermatology at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. (Cimons, 6/13)

CIDRAP: US Data Show Rise In Hospitalizations For Fungal Infections During COVID-19
New data from a US hospital database show a significant increase in hospitalizations involving fungal infections from 2019 through 2021, driven primarily by COVID-19–associated infections, US researchers reported yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases. ... Among the specific fungal pathogens that saw increases were Candida, Aspergillus, Coccidioides, and Histoplasma. (Dall, 6/13)

CIDRAP: Researchers Identify Type Of Long COVID With Persistent Inflammation
US researchers say they have discovered a subtype of long COVID characterized by persistent inflammation, a finding that could help identify dominant disease pathways of diagnostic or therapeutic value. ... The study authors noted that long COVID may be caused by persistent inflammation, unresolved tissue damage, or detailed clearance of viral protein or RNA but that the biologic differences these factors represent are not well understood. (Van Beusekom, 6/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Some Cancer Patients Must Travel Hundreds Of Miles For Medication 
During the pandemic, Carl Prudhomme of Alpine, Texas, got his cancer drugs mailed directly to him from his oncologist. No longer. With the end of the Covid-19 public-health emergency, independent cancer doctors can no longer send prescriptions directly to their Medicare patients—creating hurdles for some people in rural areas who say they have to travel to get their medications. Prudhomme plans to drive the 569 miles each way to his oncologist’s office in Houston every three months to pick up his drugs in person. (Armour, 6/12)

Axios: Cancer Drug Shortages Highlight Supply Chain Vulnerabilities
A critical shortage of chemotherapy drugs is fueling calls to fortify the U.S. drug supply chain, which advocacy groups and lawmakers say too often relies on a handful of manufacturers to churn out products in highest demand. (Reed and Dreher, 6/14)

Also —

The Hill: Who You Are, Where You Live Help Determine Your Chances Of Beating Cancer
About 2 million people in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and 600,000 will die from the disease, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates. But cancer is not equal opportunity. A wide range of factors plays a role in determining whether a person will get and potentially die from the disease, including their genetics and where they live. (O'Connell-Domenech, 6/13)

Stat: Protagonist Therapeutics Looks To Key Trial For Rare Disease Therapy
Protagonist Therapeutics has run into some speed bumps as it’s developed its medicine for a rare blood cancer characterized by the overproduction of red blood cells. In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration put studies of the drug, rusfertide, on hold after a mouse study raised concerns about skin malignancies (the hold was lifted quickly, after less than a month). Then last year, citing concerns about malignancies, the FDA yanked the therapy’s “breakthrough” designation, which can expedite a medicine’s review. (Joseph, 6/13)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’ 
This week’s KFF Health News Minute looks at why hundreds of thousands of people are losing Medicaid coverage and why breast cancer patients are worried about changes to hospital billing. (6/13)

Axios: Medicare Advantage Overpayments Higher Than Estimated: Study
Overpayments to insurers administering Medicare Advantage plans now exceed $75 billion a year due to aggressive coding of patients' health conditions and easily-achieved bonus payments tied to quality, researchers with the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics found. (Bettelheim, 6/14)

In news about health care personnel —

St. Louis Public Radio: Nurses Ask For Better Working Conditions At SLU Hospital
As a nurse at St. Louis University Hospital, Jessica Tulk expects physical and verbal assault by patients on any given day. Violence against nurses is one of the many problems union officials and staff called attention to at a protest Tuesday outside the hospital, which is part of the SSM Health system. (Halloran, 6/13)

Boston 25 News: Prosecutor: NH Man Stabbed Mass. Hospital Nurse In Neck As She Tried To Adjust His Oxygen Tube 
A New Hampshire man has been ordered held on high bail after he allegedly stabbed a nurse at a hospital in Massachusetts on Monday night. ... The victim, Sharon Siew, was taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. She is expected to be OK. ... The attack did not surprise Karen Coughlin, RN, a psychiatric nurse for 34 years and chair of the Workplace Violence Task Force at the Massachusetts Nurses Association. MNA is the largest union in the state representing nurses. Its membership includes nurses at Heywood Hospital. “We are seeing an increase in workplace violence across the spectrum,” Coughlin said. “Nurses are more likely to be assaulted — seven times more likely to be assaulted — than police officers.” (Morelli and O'Laughlin, 6/13)

Modern Healthcare: Home Health Nursing Programs Grow As Demand Increases
Duke University launched a four-year program this spring with a $3.9 million federal training grant aimed at helping better prepare nurses for a growing trend in healthcare: treating patients where they live. “In the hospital, nurses really have all the power and the patients are literally stripped of their clothing,” said Donna Biederman, associate clinical professor at Duke University School of Nursing. “In the community, the nurse really needs to understand the dynamics. It can be very humbling when you are in a place where you’re not necessarily able to call all of the shots.” (Eastabrook, 6/13)

In other health care industry news —

Stat: AMA Asks Doctors To De-Emphasize Use Of BMI In Gauging Health
The American Medical Association on Tuesday strongly criticized the body mass index, urging doctors to de-emphasize its use in assessing health and obesity and acknowledging that the measurement has been used for “racist exclusion” and has caused “historical harm.” (Trang and Chen, 6/13)

Stat: Infighting Leads Chapters To Break Away From Leading ALS Group
After a bitter dispute, the ALS Association has settled a lawsuit filed by 15 chapters that chafed at managerial moves by the national organization and will now break away to form an alternative organization for patients and their families combating the debilitating disease. (Silverman, 6/13)

Stat: Vindicated MIT Professor Says Probe Into His Lab Did Lasting Damage
For three years, nine months, and one week, Ram Sasisekharan lived under a gag order. In 2019, some of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor’s peers publicly accused his lab of falsifying research, setting in motion a lengthy internal investigation that sidelined his work, decimated his team, and barred him from speaking out in his own defense. (Garde, 6/14)

KFF Health News: At Least 1.7M Americans Use Health Sharing Arrangements, Despite Lack Of Protections 
A new report has provided the first national count of Americans who rely on health care sharing plans — arrangements through which people agree to pay one another’s medical bills — and the number is higher than previously realized. The report from the Colorado Division of Insurance found that more than 1.7 million Americans rely on sharing plans and that many of the plans require members to ask for charity care before submitting their bills. (Hawryluk, 6/14)

Modern Healthcare: How Health Insurers Did During The First Quarter
Publicly traded health insurance companies enjoyed a profitable first quarter in 2023. But uncertainty looms about how the year will shake out for the insurance industry, which experienced strong performances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Investors are concerned about how regulatory updates will impact Medicare Advantage plans and risk-bearing providers, how Medicaid redeterminations will shake out, and how legislation targeting pharmacy benefit managers would impact operations and profits. (Tepper, 6/13)

The Markup and Stat: Suicide Hotlines, Promising Anonymity, Send User Data To Facebook
Websites for mental health crisis resources across the country — which promise anonymity for visitors, many of whom are at a desperate moment in their lives — have been quietly sending sensitive visitor data to Facebook, The Markup has found. Dozens of websites tied to the national mental health crisis 988 hotline, which launched last summer, transmit the data through a tool called the Meta Pixel, according to testing conducted by The Markup. That data often included signals to Facebook when visitors attempted to dial for mental health emergencies by tapping on dedicated call buttons on the websites. (Lecher and Keegan, 6/13)

In other health and wellness news —

The Washington Post: All Calories Are Not Created Equal When It Comes To Weight Loss 
For years scientists have believed that when it comes to weight gain, all calories are created equal. But an intriguing new study, published in the journal Nature Communications, suggests that’s not true. The body appears to react differently to calories ingested from high-fiber whole foods vs. ultra-processed junk foods. The reason? Cheap processed foods are more quickly absorbed in your upper gastrointestinal tract, which means more calories for your body and fewer for your gut microbiome, which is located near the end of your digestive tract. (O'Connor, 6/13)

CIDRAP: Mpox Transmission Stays Low Globally, With Mixed Regional Patterns 
Global mpox transmission continues at low levels, though two regions—Southeast Asia and Africa—reported increases in recent weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest update on the outbreak. ... Over the past 3 weeks, the Americas reported the most cases, and in the most recent reporting week, increased cases were reported in the European and South East Asia regions. (Schnirring, 6/13)

Axios: Jet Lag: Tips To Protect Your Sleep While Traveling
While jetsetters brace for a summer of air travel mayhem, there’s another thing to prepare for: the literal headache of traveling across time zones. Jet lag is hard on sleep and could seriously affect your health. (Mallenbaum, 6/13)

Stat: Teens Seeking Addiction Care Unlikely To Get Standard Medication
Adolescents who seek treatment for opioid addiction at an inpatient facility are more likely to be offered horseback riding than given full access to a common, highly effective addiction medication. According to a new research paper, just one out of every eight residential treatment facilities open to patients ages 16 or 17 offers full access to buprenorphine. By contrast, nearly two-thirds of adult treatment facilities offer the medication. (Facher, 6/13)

CNN: People Who Are Gay, Lesbian Or Bi Have More Mental Health And Substance Use Problems, Survey Finds 
Despite increasing acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community, at least in some circles, adults who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual are more likely than those who identify as straight to have serious thoughts of suicide and mental health conditions including major depressive episodes, and they are more likely to misuse substances like alcohol or drugs, according to a new US government report. (Christensen, 6/13)

Also —

Stat: ‘The Drug Bust Paradox’: Study Finds Opioid Deaths Rise After Arrests
Police drug busts are strongly associated with a large and sudden spike in overdose deaths, according to a new study. In the week following a major opioid bust, fatal overdoses in the same neighborhood in Indianapolis doubled, the analysis showed. Calls to 911 and the use of naloxone, the overdose-reversal medication, also spiked. (Facher, 6/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Mayor Breed Defends Controversial Move To Arrest Drug Users
Mayor London Breed fiercely defended her controversial policy to arrest and detain drug users to get them into treatment against criticism from Supervisor Dean Preston on Tuesday, calling him a “white man who’s talking about Black and brown people as if you’re the savior.” (Moench, 6/13)

Axios: Here Are The States Where It's Costliest To Give Birth
Having a baby isn't cheap anywhere, but there are some states in the U.S. where it's far pricier to give birth than others, according to data provided first to Axios from FAIR Health. FAIR Health's new Cost of Giving Birth Tracker — which uses data from more than 41 billion private healthcare claim records — offers a glimpse at how much variability there is in the cost of one of the most common health care services. (Reed, 6/13)

The New York Times: What Is Eclampsia? What To Know About The Rare Pregnancy Complication 
On Tuesday, an autopsy report shared with The New York Times showed that the Olympic sprinter Tori Bowie, who was found dead in May, was eight months pregnant and in labor at the time of her death. She was 32 years old. The report identified complications of childbirth as the cause of death, listing eclampsia and respiratory distress as possible factors. “Eclampsia occurs in somewhere between one to 10 in 10,000 pregnancies,” said Dr. Joanne Stone, the head of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Research has suggested that rates of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy — including pre-eclampsia, eclampsia and gestational hypertension — have been on the rise, and increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. (Gupta, 6/13)

The Atlantic: CMV Is A Pregnancy Risk That Doctors Won't Mention
The nonexhaustive list of things women are told to avoid while pregnant includes cat litter, alfalfa sprouts, deli meat, runny egg yolks, pet hamsters, sushi, herbal teas, gardening, brie cheeses, aspirin, meat with even a hint of pink, hot tubs. The chance that any of these will harm the baby is small, but why risk it? Yet few doctors in the U.S. tell pregnant women about the risk of catching a ubiquitous virus called cytomegalovirus, or CMV. The name might be obscure, but CMV is the leading infectious cause of birth defects in America—far ahead of toxoplasmosis from cat litter or microbes from hamsters. (Zhang, 6/13)

In other news about abortion —

The 19th: The Next Red State Abortion Fight Is Unfolding In Ohio
A coalition of doctors and abortion rights advocates wants to make Ohio the first Republican-controlled state to vote to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution — but they must first defeat Republicans’ efforts to thwart the measure. (Panetta, 6/13)

World Health Organization: New Clinical Handbook Launched To Support Quality Abortion Care
The World Health Organization (WHO) today released a new handbook for health workers to help them deliver quality abortion services for women and girls. The publication provides detailed clinical advice to support implementation of WHO’s consolidated guidance on abortion care, published in 2022. Clinical services relating to abortion include not only the procedure itself, but also the provision of information and counselling, pain management and post-abortion care, including contraception. In line with WHO’s updated recommendations, the Clinical practice handbook for quality abortion care additionally provides expanded guidance on how health workers can support self-management approaches, and telemedicine, where this is available. (6/12)

AP: Nevada GOP Governor Signs Transgender Health Bills While Vetoing Another, Bucking Party Trends
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo has signed two bills related to transgender rights and vetoed another, bucking trends from other Republican governors across the country who have pushed anti-transgender policies. Lombardo’s signing of a bill Monday requiring health insurance companies including Medicaid cover all gender-affirming surgeries was the third major bill related to transgender health and rights to reach his desk. (Stern, 6/14)

News Service of Florida: Florida Pediatrician Group Loses First Round In Subpoena Fight Over Trans Care Standards
A federal judge has rejected an initial request to block a Florida House effort to obtain internal communications about how the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics developed standards of care for children diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The pediatricians group sought a preliminary injunction after House Health & Human Services Chairman Randy Fine, R-Brevard County, issued a subpoena seeking information from the chapter. (Kam, 6/13)

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

San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco Pays $2 Million For Second Laguna Honda Patient Lawsuit
San Francisco agreed to settle the second of three lawsuits stemming from a shocking patient abuse scandal at Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in 2019. The Board of Supervisors approved a $2.2 million settlement on Tuesday for 11 patients who were then at the city-run facility, which serves San Francisco’s most vulnerable residents. (Moench, 6/13)

AP: Young Athlete In Montana Climate Change Trial Testifies He Uses Inhaler Due To Forest Fire Smoke 
A high school athlete who along with 15 other young people took Montana to court over climate change testified Tuesday that increased smoke from forest fires makes it difficult for him to compete and that a doctor prescribed an inhaler to help his breathing problems. Mica Kantor, now 15, said he has been worried about climate change since as a 4-year-old he dictated a letter to Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., because he was too young to write it himself. He said it’s increasingly difficult to run or go on hikes with his family, and that the warmer conditions have shortened snowboarding seasons. (Hanson and Brown, 6/14)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Hospital Rules Up For More Scrutiny By Senators
Georgia lawmakers are once again looking into the laws that govern the opening and expansion of hospitals and other medical facilities in state, as access to health care continues to be a cause for concern among Georgians. At a Senate study committee hearing on state laws governing hospital expansion Tuesday, lawmakers and advocates discussed the effectiveness of the existing laws. (Thomas, 6/13)

Bay Area News Group: Founder Of San Francisco ‘Sexual Wellness’ Retreat Surrenders To Feds
When Nicole Daedone founded her San Francisco-based “sexual wellness” commune in 2004, its focus on “orgasmic meditation” and the intricacies of female pleasure promised to revolutionize ideas about intimacy and personal freedom for both women and men. Instead, it became a cult-like organization with branches in cities across the country, where members lived in warehouse-like accommodations, gave up their independence and were coerced into engaging in sex acts with current and prospective clients, investors and employees, according to federal prosecutors. (Ross, 6/13)

Axios: Columbus Summer Feeding Programs Tackle Youth Hunger 
Local parks and community centers are offering more to families than summer fun right now — they're also keeping thousands of local kids fed while school is not in session. One in five children in Ohio live in "food insecure" households, which means they don't know where their next meal will come from, according to the Children's Hunger Alliance. (Neese and Buchanan, 6/13)

KFF Health News: Foster Kids In Casino Hotels? It Happened In Rural Nevada Amid Widespread Foster Home Shortages
Brandy Holbrook spent April driving hundreds of miles across four counties in northeastern Nevada to deliver a plea to local leaders about a smoldering crisis in the regional foster care system. A shortage of homes for children and teens in need of care in this sprawling rural corner of the state pushed officials to temporarily house kids in casino hotel rooms, where state workers watched over them while seeking foster homes. Holbrook, a state social services manager based in Elko, said it’s normal to see fluctuations in need but that early 2023 was the worst she has witnessed during her 20 years working for Nevada’s Division of Child and Family Services. (Rodriguez, 6/14)

Reuters: Pfizer Expects To Run Out Of Some Antibiotic Supply For Children Soon
Pfizer has warned that a drug used to treat syphilis and other bacterial infections in children could run out by the end of June because it has had to prioritize versions made for adults due to a spike in syphilis infections in that population. Supply of the pediatric version of the drug, Bicillin L-A, is expected to be exhausted by the end of this quarter, the company said in a letter to the U.S. health regulator dated Monday. Pfizer said in an email on Tuesday that the pediatric formulations of the antibiotic are not widely used. (6/13)

In other pharmaceutical news —

Reuters: Exclusive: India Probes Bribery Claim In Toxic Syrup Tests 
Indian authorities have launched an inquiry into an allegation that a local pharmaceutical regulator, in return for a bribe, helped switch samples of cough syrups that the World Health Organization (WHO) had linked to the deaths of children in Gambia before the samples were tested at an Indian laboratory, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Reuters. (Das, 6/13)

CIDRAP: One Dose Of New Chikungunya Vaccine Prompts Antibody Response In 99% 
A single dose of the VLA1553 chikungunya virus vaccine candidate triggered neutralizing antibody production in 98.9% of recipients 28 days later, finds a phase 3 randomized, controlled trial published yesterday in The Lancet. Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne virus that causes periodic outbreaks of an illness featuring severe joint and muscle pain that can lead to chronic rheumatic (inflammatory) disease. (Van Beusekom, 6/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: UCSF Doctor Fights Drugmaker's Halt To Research On Lifesaving Medicine
Diana Mansfield credits her life to a miracle drug. Since undergoing a kidney transplant at UCSF in 2001, Mansfield has received infusions of an immunosuppressant every two months that prevent her body from rejecting the organ. But the drug’s manufacturer, Bristol Myers Squibb, has cut back recently on funding for research on the medication, called belatacept, and now says it will halt investment entirely. It’s a blow to transplant patients and doctors hoping for improved regimens of the drug, and for inquiries into its use as a treatment for other ailments. (Castro-Root, 6/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Berberine, The Cheaper Weight-Loss Alternative Riding The Ozempic Wave
The Ozempic weight-loss craze has fueled new interest in a dietary supplement with roots in ancient traditional medicine as a cheap way to shed pounds. Posts mentioning berberine, dubbed “nature’s Ozempic,” have racked up millions of views on the social network TikTok, where some people claim it can help with weight loss, as well as other ailments. ... In the U.S., it is available in the form of a pill or powder from a range of manufacturers, though like other supplements, it isn’t regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (Subbaraman, 6/14)

ScienceDaily: New Study Links Contraceptive Pills And Depression 
Women who used combined contraceptive pills were at greater risk of developing depression than women who did not, according to a new study. Contraceptive pills increased women's risk by 73 percent during the first two years of use. (Uppsala University, 6/12)

CIDRAP: US Hospital Data Show High Death Rate With Candida Auris Infections
An analysis of US hospitalizations linked to the multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen Candida auris found an estimated mortality rate of about one-third, researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases. (Dall, 6/9)

ScienceDaily: A New Way To Develop Drugs Without Side Effects
Researchers now reveal a new way of activating GPCR by triggering shape changes in the intracellular region of the receptor. This new process can help researchers design drugs with fewer or no side effects. (School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 6/8)

FiercePharma: Novo Spends $2.3B On API Capacity, But Not For Ozempic Or Wegovy
While Novo is dealing with overwhelming demand for its diabetes and obesity products Ozempic and Wegovy, this funding will expand its ability to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to “develop its future clinical late-phase product portfolio,” the company said. (Dunleavy, 6/12)

USA Today: Make Birth Control OTC. Teens Like Me Deserve Control Over Our Futures
I’m 17 years old, and today I can walk into any drugstore in Texas and buy condoms or Plan B emergency contraception without issue. But to get daily birth control pills, I have to get past a whole lot of restrictions and medical professionals. (Maia Lopez, 6/12)

The Boston Globe: Why Are Drug Prices So High? Mass. Should Press For Answers.
Prescription drugs are costing more, and residents are feeling the pinch. In 2021, nearly 1 in 4 Massachusetts residents reported skipping a dose of medicine, cutting a pill in half, or not filling a prescription because of cost concerns, according to the health research nonprofit Altarum. (6/14)

Bloomberg: India's Generic Drugs Need Better Oversight 
Indians have long been proud of their pharmaceutical sector. It’s a big exports earner in a country that can’t have too many. It boasts a number of well-regarded, profitable companies. And its exports to other developing countries allow us to think of ourselves as benefactors, and therefore leaders, of the Global South. (Mihir Sharma, 6/11)

The Hill: Do You Know What’s In Your Makeup? Me Neither! 
Today, it is estimated that there are more than 10,000 chemicals used to make beauty and personal care products. On average, men and women use six to 12 personal care products a day, exposing themselves to hundreds of unique chemicals daily. A 2019 study found that teen girls use an average of 14 products a day. Their widespread use makes it especially unsettling that the FDA does not conduct pre-market safety reviews of personal care products before they go to market. (Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., 6/13)

Stat: Medicaid Dental Benefits In Most States Are Nowhere Near Enough
In the middle of the night, you’re jolted awake by a throbbing pain in your mouth that is radiating down your neck and behind your eyes. Earlier in the week, it was just a small toothache, but now over-the-counter remedies can’t even begin to address the excruciating pain. Knowing you will not be able to get any sleep tonight, let alone concentrate on work tomorrow, you head to the emergency room, where they suspect you have an infection inside of your tooth or an abscess. That could be deadly, but the ER doctor is not equipped to provide dental treatment. All they can do is prescribe medication for your pain and infection, which can’t address the root of the problem. (Myechia Minter-Jordan, 6/14)

The Tennessean: If That Spot Is Skin Cancer, Delay Is Not Your Ally
Dr. Robert M. Gathings, a fellowship-trained specialist in Mohs micrographic and facial reconstructive surgery, had certainly concentrated my attention. What I’d expected was only a minor procedure to remove a squamous cell skin cancer from the bridge of my nose. Words like “tumor” and “radiation” were new and somewhat chilling. (George Korda, 6/14)