The New York Times: Abortions Have Increased, Even For Women In States With Rigid Bans, Study Says 
In nearly every state that has banned abortion, the number of women receiving abortions increased between 2020 and the end of 2023, according to the most comprehensive account of all abortions by state since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. In the 13 states that enacted near-total abortion bans, the number of women receiving abortions increased in all but three, according to the study. Some women traveled to clinics in states where abortions were legal. Others ordered abortion pills from U.S. doctors online, after doctors in other states started writing prescriptions under shield laws that protect them when they provide mail-order pills to patients in states with bans. (Miller and Sanger-Katz, 10/22)

Missouri Independent: Missouri AG In Abortion Pill Lawsuit Argues Fewer Teen Pregnancies Hurt State Financially 
Missouri’s attorney general has renewed a push to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone, arguing in a lawsuit filed this month that its availability hurt the state by decreasing teenage pregnancy. The revised lawsuit was filed by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, alongside GOP attorneys general in Kansas and Idaho. It asks a judge in Texas to order the Federal Drug Administration to reinstate restrictions on mifepristone, one of two medications prescribed to induce chemical abortions. (Spoerre, 10/22)

The 19th: Missouri Voters Could Undo Their State’s Abortion Ban. Making Abortion Accessible Is A Different Story.
Nicole was driving when she heard on the radio that Roe v. Wade had fallen, and that soon abortion would be almost completely illegal in her home state of Missouri. She thought first of her children, two teenagers who she feared might someday need reproductive health care, including abortion. She worried far less about herself. She was in her late 30s, and she was done having children. She had an intrauterine device, one of the most effective forms of birth control. The odds of an abortion ban affecting her directly seemed slim. Then six weeks later, Nicole took a pregnancy test. It came back positive. (Luthra, 10/22)

KFF Health News: Marylanders To Vote On Expansive ‘Right To Reproductive Freedom’
Voters in 10 states will consider whether or not to protect or expand abortion rights in November. That includes battleground states such as Arizona and Nevada and such Republican strongholds as South Dakota and Missouri. In Maryland, where abortion is legal, a proposed amendment is much broader than many abortion-related ballot questions in other states. Called the Right to Reproductive Freedom amendment, it would enshrine in the state constitution a right “to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one’s own pregnancy.” (Varney, 10/23)

CBS News: Napa Anti-Abortion Group Follows Planned Parenthood Clinic To New Location
In Napa, Planned Parenthood has not been able to shake its old neighbor. Anti-abortion activists moved out of the building they had renovated only a few years before and have taken up residence in an office directly below the new Planned Parenthood clinic. (Ramos, 10/22)

APM Reports: Native Women Fought For Years To Expand Plan B Access. But Some Tribal Clinics Remain Resistant.
The emergency contraceptive pill Plan B, which can prevent pregnancy following unprotected sex, has been available over the counter at most American pharmacies for more than a decade. But in more than 100 federally funded clinics and pharmacies run by or on behalf of Native American tribal nations, the medication is harder to access — if it’s available at all. (Herrera, Besst, Keenan-Kurgan and Martin, 10/22)

The Atlantic: Abortion In America Will Never Be The Same
In the fall of 2021, Tammi Kromenaker started looking for a new home for her North Dakota abortion clinic. For more than 20 years, Red River Women’s Clinic had provided abortion care to the Fargo area, most of that time as the state’s only provider. But now Kromenaker, the practice’s owner and director, was moving it just across the state line to Minnesota. “We had seen the writing on the wall,” she told me. A few months earlier, the Supreme Court had announced that it would take up Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and North Dakota had a trigger law that would almost completely ban abortion if the justices ruled in favor of Dobbs. (Brown, 10/22)

The Wrap: Kamala Harris Says No To 'Concessions' On Abortion: 'Freedom Has Been Taken From The Women Of America' 
Kamala Harris isn’t planning to compromise when it comes to women’s reproductive freedom — even if she were to become president with a GOP-controlled congress. “I don’t think we should be making concessions when we are talking about a fundamental freedom to make decisions about your own body,” she told NBC News’ Hallie Jackson. Jackson’s initial question was asked in reference to the distinct possibility that Harris will be faced with a Republican-controlled Congress should she win the presidential election. (Kaloi, 10/22)

The New York Times: Biden Warns That Trump’s Election Could Jeopardize Health Care For Millions 
President Biden warned on Tuesday that if former President Donald J. Trump returned to office by winning next month’s election, he would enact policies that could deprive tens of millions of Americans of health insurance coverage and explode the price of prescription drugs. During a speech in Concord, N.H., Mr. Biden assailed Mr. Trump for repeatedly trying to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, and he mocked the former president for offering only ephemeral and unspecified “concepts of a plan” to replace it. (Baker, 10/22)

Axios: "Pro-Life" Cheney Says GOP-Led States' Post-Roe Moves "Not Sustainable"
Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) during an event with Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday criticized GOP-led states' moves to curtail women's rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections: "When women are facing situations where they can't get the care they need, where in places like Texas, for example, the attorney general is talking about suing, is suing, to get access to women's medical records … that's not sustainable for us as a country and it has to change." (Falconer, 10/21)

The Hill: Republicans Ramp Up Defensive Strategy On Abortion After Midterm Struggles
Republicans are kicking their defensive messaging on abortion into high gear, aiming to blunt Democrats’ attempts to paint them as extreme in the run-up to the election. In debates, GOP congressional candidates are taking a more aggressive approach when talking about the issue, accusing Democrats of misrepresenting their position. Republican campaigns are successfully pitching fact-checks to local media that pick apart the claims of Democratic campaigns, and candidates are going on air with ads to directly articulate their stances on abortion. (Brooks, 10/22)

On gender-affirming care —

The Hill: Harris Says Gender-Affirming Care Decisions Should Be Left To Doctors And Patients
Vice President Harris on Tuesday said decisions on gender-affirming care should be left to doctors and their patients in an interview with NBC News. The vice president said “we should follow the law” when NBC’s Hallie Jackson pressed her on whether she believes in access to gender-affirming care. ... “I believe that people, as the law states, even on this issue about federal law, that that is a decision that doctors will make in terms of what is medically necessary. I’m not going to put myself in a position of a doctor,” Harris said. (Gangitano, 10/22)

Also —

Stat: Look To Lame Duck Congress For Health Policy Changes After Election 
When Congress returns on Nov. 12 after the elections, lawmakers will have just over a month to fund the government. That deadline pressure creates an opportunity to potentially enact health care legislation. Regardless of what happens this year, next year will be huge for health care policy, in part because lawmakers need to address major expiring policies. (Wilkerson, 10/23)

Axios: Medicaid Leaders Buckle Up For More Rocky Times
After weathering the pandemic, purging their rolls and coping with inflationary pressures, state Medicaid offices see more upheaval on the horizon, including a presidential election that could bring enormous changes to the safety-net program. (Goldman, 10/23)

NPR: Election Stress Crosses The Political Divide, New Report Finds
Every year the American Psychological Association takes a look at the leading causes of stress in the U.S., and publishes an annual report. This year the report shows all the usual suspects like money, health and family are still wearing people down, but one issue is dominating – politics. Seven out of 10 adults say the future of the nation is a significant source of stress in their lives and the issue crosses party lines: 80% of Republicans rated it a top stressor, so did 79% of Democrats and 73% of Independents. (Riddle, 10/22)

The New York Times: FDA Names A New Chief Of Medical Devices 
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced that Dr. Michelle Tarver, an agency veteran, will be the new director of the medical device division. Dr. Tarver will face a slate of pressing tasks, that include addressing calls to strengthen standards to protect the public from issues like racial bias in artificial intelligence software and hastily authorized and faulty cardiac devices, like external defibrillators. (Jewett, 10/22)

MedTech Dive: Legacy Medical Devices Keep Regulators Up At Night 
New regulations are designed to ensure future devices are secure, but one thing still keeps regulators up at night: legacy medical devices, or machines that have outdated or unsupported software. Many legacy devices or systems are currently in operation in hospitals. They perform as intended but may have outdated operating systems, which can present cybersecurity vulnerabilities, said Suzanne Schwartz, director of the Office of Strategic Partnerships and Technology Innovation at the Food and Drug Administration’s device center. (Reuter, 10/17)

The Boston Globe: Mass Offers Financial Rewards For Quick Wheelchair Fixes
Wheelchair users are applauding new state regulations that address painfully long wait times for wheelchair repairs but worry the initiatives don’t go far enough to ensure people will no longer be immobilized for weeks or months as they await urgent fixes. “The people who are doing the repairs do need to put more effort into this service,” said Rich Levasseur, a wheelchair user from Tewksbury who spoke at a virtual public hearing Monday about the new regulations. “People can’t be without a repair for months at a time. It’s cruel and inhumane.” (Laughlin, 10/22)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Global Medical Technology Firm Shifts Some Of Its California Manufacturing To Mexico
CareFusion, a San Diego company that produces health care tools and technology, is relocating its San Diego manufacturing operations to Tijuana, in addition to conducting some layoffs. Together, the two moves will impact about 180 local jobs. The Sorrento Valley-based company is a subsidiary of New Jersey’s medical technology giant BD, or Becton Dickinson and Company. BD acquired CareFusion in 2014 for $12.2 billion. (Rocha, 10/22)

Medical Device Network: Oxford Medical Products Touts Positive Safety Data For ‘Mechanical’ Weight Loss Pill 
The surge of popularity of weight loss drugs has created a rivalry with traditional device orientated approaches, but a new technology aims to tread a fine line in between. Oxford Medical Products has developed a pill that works not by pharmacological activity, but by mechanical intervention. The UK-based company calls its product Sirona – and the device has just produced positive data in a first-in-human clinical study.  The pill, made of inert dual-polymer hydrogel, works by expanding once in the stomach to occupy space and mechanically suppress appetite via distension on the stomach wall. The device remains in the stomach for several days and provides a continuous reduction in appetite. (Barrie, 10/22)

Modern Healthcare: Clear Aims To Speed Up Prior Authorizations Amid Privacy Concerns
Clear, the digital identity verification company best known for helping travelers speed through airports, has set its sights on healthcare as the next market for its facial recognition technology. The company is working with a handful of hospitals and plans to pitch insurers to use the technology to expedite claim approvals and prior authorizations. It will have to get past skeptics' concerns about the data privacy of its program, which requires users to take a live photo that is matched against government-issued identification stored by the user on Clear's platform. (DeSilva, 10/22)

Stat: Fines For HIPAA Violations Max Out At $2 Million. That Could Change
Linda Barbour thought she was more interested in the Change Healthcare cyberattack than most. Having worked as a medical director for several large health insurance companies and having suffered through the Change fiasco herself as a rehab doctor with a private practice in Kansas City, she figured that if her data had been exposed in that February breach, she would have been notified by now. (Trang, 10/23)

Also —

Reuters: Insurer Centene Sues US Over Downgrade In Medicare 'Star' Rating
Health insurance company Centene accused U.S. regulators of unfairly downgrading the star ratings for its government-funded Medicare plans in a lawsuit on Tuesday. The company alleged in its complaint, filed in St. Louis, Missouri, federal court, that the lower ratings would cause it to lose customers and up to $73 million in gross revenue, which could be used to reduce premiums and increase benefits for its members. (Pierson, 10/22)

The Boston Globe: Children’s, UMass, Tenet Patients May Be Forced To Find New Doctors Or Insurance Plans
At least 22,000 Massachusetts residents will soon lose access to their primary care doctors and specialists at Boston Children’s Hospital and UMass Memorial Health in Worcester because their insurer, Point32Health, was unable to negotiate a new contract with the health systems. And the number of patients scrambling could grow soon to nearly 40,000 because Point32Health, the state’s second-largest insurer, is also at an impasse with a third health system, Tenet Healthcare, the for-profit owner of three hospitals in the Worcester and Framingham areas. (Saltzman and Gerber, 10/22)

Crain's New York Business: CarePoint Health, Hudson Regional Hospital Move Forward On Merger
CarePoint Health in Jersey City is advancing a planned merger with other hospitals in a bid to save its struggling finances, despite a legal battle that almost severed its lifeline, according to reports. CarePoint Health’s board of trustees greenlit its planned affiliation with Hudson Regional Hospital in a meeting last week, according to a report published in Becker’s Hospital Review on Monday. (D'Ambrosio, 10/22)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Mercy Unveils New Partnership With Health Plan Centivo
Mercy, one of the largest health systems in St. Louis region and in the U.S., announced Tuesday it has teamed up with health insurance plan Centivo as its contract with Anthem Blue Cross is set to expire at the end of the year. (Munz, 10/22)

Modern Healthcare: Providence, Compassus Form Home Care Joint Venture
Home care provider Compassus will take over management of Providence’s home-based care services through a joint venture the two companies announced Tuesday. Under the arrangement, Brentwood, Texas-based Compassus would manage and jointly own Providence’s home health, hospice, community-based palliative care and private duty nursing services under the name Providence at Home with Compassus, the companies said in a news release. (Eastabrook, 10/22)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada’s First Stand-Alone Children’s Hospital Coming To Las Vegas
Nevada’s first stand-alone children’s hospital is coming to the Las Vegas Valley. Intermountain Health unveiled the site of its future stand-alone children’s hospital on Wednesday at UNLV’s Harry Reid Research and Technology Park in the southwest valley, according to a news release. (Lane, 10/22)

Stat: Study On Physicians' Race Affecting Black Babies' Health Challenged
New research calls into question the high-profile conclusion of the first major study to show that the race of physicians influences health outcomes. In August of 2020, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science made headlines with its finding that Black infants were half as likely to survive to their first birthday when they were cared for by white doctors instead of Black ones. (McFarling, 10/23)

Modern Healthcare: UT Southwestern To Pay $900K For Alleged Hiring Discrimination
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center will pay $900,000 and make more than 100 job offers to settle Labor Department allegations that the health system discriminated against Black applicants. A routine compliance evaluation of UT Southwestern, a federal contractor, found the Dallas-based system's hiring practices allegedly discriminated against 6,123 Black applicants between August 2016 and August 2018, potentially violating Equal Employment Opportunity laws, the Labor Department said Monday. (DeSilva, 10/22)

More news about health care personnel —

Los Angeles Times: More Patients Sue Cedars-Sinai Over Alleged Misconduct By OB-GYN
Twenty-five more women have filed suit against a former Cedars-Sinai Medical Center obstetrician-gynecologist and the facilities where he worked, accusing Dr. Barry J. Brock of sexual abuse and medical misconduct. The lawsuit, filed late Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges “a generations-long history of covering up Brock’s serial sexual exploitation and abuse of female patients” at Cedars-Sinai, where Brock practiced medicine from the early 1980s until the recent termination of his hospital privileges. (Purtill and Alpert Reyes, 10/22)

North Carolina Health News: Doctor’s Lawsuit Tests Constitutionality Of How NC Regulates Health Care Facilities 
Jay Singleton, owner of an ophthalmology practice in New Bern, has spent the past four years challenging a state law that caps the kinds of medical services offered in a region. Now, the Singleton Vision Center proprietor is at the center of a case that has the potential to upend how the health care and hospital industries have done business in North Carolina for decades. (Blythe, 10/23)

Modern Healthcare: How The No Surprises Act Arbitration Strains Physician Groups
Providers are often waiting months for insurers to pay out-of-network bills, leading to strapped finances and a pile up of complaints and lawsuits. Physician groups have filed hundreds of complaints with the federal government and sued insurers to collect overdue payments stemming from the dispute resolution process established by the No Surprises Act of 2022. In just one example, an orthopedic physician practice in New Jersey recently sued Cigna, alleging the insurer has not paid a $42,000 dispute settlement in the 30-day period required by the law. (Kacik, 10/22)

CBS News: Former Eye Surgeon Tests New Way To Treat Shingles Of The Eye For A Year. Here's What She Found Out
There's a potential new treatment for people who develop shingles that spread to the eye. Doctors say about 8% of shingles cases impact the eyes, and now, for the first time there's a new treatment plan that might help. Shingles of the eye can cause scarring and vision loss. ... Patients with zoster eye disease, who received a placebo, had a 44% risk of developing new or worsening eye disease over the next 18 months. With low-dose daily Valacyclovir or Valtrex, that risk was 22% lower at 12 months and became 26% lower at 18 months. (Stahl, 10/22)

Fox News: New Jersey Medical Students Offer Haircuts And Grooming Services To Patients
Basic grooming can be a challenge during an extended hospital stay, taking a toll on patients' moods and mental health. A group of medical students is on a mission to change that through a program called Bergen Barbers, named for the street in Newark, New Jersey, where University Hospital is located. Launched in 2021 by Vaishali Ravikumar, a Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) student, the program provides haircutting, shaving and detangling services for hospitalized patients. (Rudy, 10/22)

CBS News: Walmart Plans To Deliver Prescriptions Nationwide In As Little As 30 Minutes
Walmart will begin delivering prescriptions across the U.S. early next year, as the retailing giant strives to keep pace with rival Amazon in competing for health care dollars. Walmart's new service includes new prescriptions and refills, which customers can receive along with groceries and other products, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company announced on Tuesday. Prescriptions will be delivered in as little as 30 minutes and should be available for over 86% of American households, according to Walmart. (Gibson, 10/22)

Stat: Novo Asks FDA To Bar Compounders From Making Semaglutide Copies
Novo Nordisk has asked the Food and Drug Administration to bar compounding pharmacies from making copies of its blockbuster weight loss drug semaglutide, arguing that the medication is too complex for the pharmacies to safely make. (Chen, 10/22)

AP: Hospitals' IV Fluid Shortage May Impact Surgeries For Weeks
Surgery schedules around the country may be washed out for several more weeks while a crucial IV and sterile fluids factory remains shut down for hurricane-related damage. People often plan non-emergency surgeries in the fall and early-winter months when their insurance coverage will pick up more of the bill, but they may have to wait while health systems preserve supplies for emergencies. (Murphy, 10/22)

On medical marijuana and cannabis —

The Texas Tribune: Medical Marijuana Companies Are Losing Patients To Delta-8
Jack Stinnett got life-changing news in 2020 when he learned the lump that appeared on the side of his neck was tongue and mouth cancer. He and his wife Karen quickly enrolled him at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where he underwent five and a half rounds of chemotherapy and 33 treatments of radiation. During this time, Stinnett, a Marble Falls resident, went from a reasonably healthy 60-year-old who rode his bicycle more than 60 miles daily to losing more than 100 pounds after losing his appetite and sense of taste. Then, Stinnett qualified for a medical marijuana prescription for the nerve pain he received from the cancer treatments and found the relief he needed. (Simpson, 10/23)

Reuters: Breaking The Grass Ceiling: Pot Firms Rethink Strategy As Young Women Lead Cannabis Use 
Young women are consuming more pot than men for the first time in a historic shift in the $30 billion U.S. cannabis industry, prompting companies to revamp products and step up investments. Top cannabis retailers told Reuters they've started refocusing shelf space toward products that have proved popular with women, including edibles, tinctures, topicals, and beverages, in the hopes that any resulting rise in costs will pay off in the longer term. (Roy and Bose, 10/22)

AP: An Alabama Judge Appoints A Mediator In A Long-Running Medical Marijuana Dispute
A judge on Tuesday appointed a mediator in the long-running dispute over who gets licenses to grow and sell medical marijuana in Alabama. Montgomery Circuit Judge James Anderson named retired Circuit Judge Eugene Reese to act as mediator in the case. Anderson wrote that he believed the use of mediation “is appropriate in this case and could result in the speedy and just resolution of the dispute.” (Chandler, 10/22)

AP: Deadly E. Coli Outbreak Linked To McDonald’s Quarter Pounders Sickens 49 People In 10 States
E. coli food poisoning linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states, including one person who died and 10 who were hospitalized, federal health officials said Tuesday. The death was reported in an older person in Colorado, and one child has been hospitalized with severe kidney complications, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Infections were reported between Sept. 27 and Oct. 11, in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Colorado has the most cases, 26, followed by Nebraska with nine. (Aleccia, 10/22)

NBC Chicago: Read McDonald’s Full Statement On Multistate E. Coli Outbreak 
"The initial findings from the investigation indicate that a subset of illnesses may be linked to slivered onions used in the Quarter Pounder and sourced by a single supplier that serves three distribution centers," the company said. (10/22)

In other health and wellness news —

Fox News: Aging May Speed Up After Death Of A Loved One, Study Finds
Experiencing the loss of a loved one not only has an emotional impact, but it may also speed up the aging process. That’s according to a recent report from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Butler Columbia Aging Center in New York, in collaboration with the Carolina Population Center at University North Carolina Chapel Hill. Researchers found that people who suffered a loss of a close family member such as a parent, child or sibling appeared to have an older biological age compared to those who did not. (McGorry, 10/23)

Stateline: More States Ban PFAS, Or ‘Forever Chemicals,’ In More Products
Legislative momentum against PFAS has surged this year, as at least 11 states enacted laws to restrict the use of “forever chemicals” in everyday consumer products or professional firefighting foam. The legislation includes bans on PFAS in apparel, cleaning products, cookware, and cosmetic and menstrual products. Meanwhile, lawmakers in some states also passed measures that require industries to pay for testing or cleanup. (Chatlani, 10/22)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Study Sparked By Brain Injury To NFL's Tua Tagovailoa Identifies New Concussion Symptom
A new study, led by Harvard Medical School researchers and neuroscientist Chris Nowinski, has identified a symptom that might help training staff and coaches sooner identify a player who has suffered a concussion. The study, published Wednesday in the medical journal Diagnostics, focuses on a specific motion: an athlete shaking his or her head rapidly from side to side, moments after they’ve suffered a head impact or collision, a movement that the researchers refer to as Spontaneous Headshake After a Kinematic Event (SHAAKE). (Gambacorta, 10/23)

KFF Health News: Can You Rely On Your Mammogram To Identify Heart Disease Risk?
When people check in for their annual mammogram these days, some may face a surprising question: In addition to reviewing the mammogram for breast cancer, would the patient like the radiologist to examine the images for heart disease risk? That’s what happened recently when a colleague visited Washington Radiology, a practice with more than a dozen locations in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. (Andrews, 10/23)

NBC News: Loss Of Sense Of Smell Linked To Changes In Breathing Patterns, Research Suggests
Not having — or losing — your sense of smell may be linked to changes in breathing that could lead to depression, social isolation or other mental and physical health problems, a new study suggests. It's more evidence of how important this often neglected olfactory sense is. A new analysis of breathing data from 52 volunteers over a 24-hour period revealed that people with a normal sense of smell had little spikes, or “sniffs,” during each breath that were not seen in those with no sense of smell, according to the report published in Nature Communications on Tuesday. (Carroll, 10/22)

CIDRAP: Young Children More Likely To Be Hospitalized For COVID-19 Than Older Kids, Study Shows 
Today a Kaiser Permanente Northern California study of children during the COVID-19 pandemic finds children too young to be vaccinated had the highest hospitalization rate, while adolescents had the highest rate of intensive care unit (ICU) admission. The findings are published in Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses. (Soucheray, 10/22)

Reuters: US FDA Approves Pfizer's RSV Vaccine For Adults At Increased Risk Of The Disease 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved Pfizer's RSV vaccine for the prevention of lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV in adults aged 18 to 59 at increased risk of the disease. In June, the U.S. CDC narrowed its recommendation for the use of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines in older adults this year and held off on recommending their use for adults under age 60. (10/22)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute' 
This week on the KFF Health News Minute: Health care companies and the federal government are teaming up to fund hospitals in rural areas, and Florida’s surgeon general is offering misleading guidance about this year’s covid shots. (10/22)

On the spread of mpox —

Reuters: Roche CEO Says More People Have Mpox In Europe Than Has Been Reported
The CEO of Roche said he has been informed that more cases of mpox infection have occurred in Europe than previously reported and that the Swiss group could quickly offer 10 times more test kits than are currently in demand. "It seems like there are more mpox cases already in Europe, maybe not all of them are in the media yet," CEO Thomas Schinecker said on a call after the drugs and diagnostics company reported quarterly sales on Wednesday. (Burger, 10/23)

CIDRAP: Germany Reports First Mpox Case From New Clade
The Robert Koch Institute in Germany says the country has its first case of mpox cause by a new, more virulent variant causing a massive outbreak in Africa. The case-patient recently traveled abroad, but few other details were given by the institute. (Soucheray, 10/22)

ABC News: Maryland's Drug Affordability Board Is A Step Closer To Setting Prescription Caps 
A Maryland drug affordability board can move forward with a plan to cap how much the state and local governments pay for certain high-cost prescription drugs after it was given the green light by a state House Committee. The Maryland Prescription Drug Affordability Board -- which drafted the Upper Payment Limit Action Plan -- presented before the Legislative Policy Committee on Tuesday morning, saying caps will help increase affordability and increase access. (Kekatos, 10/22)

Colorado Sun: Coloradans Can Now Compare Hospital Prices For Specific Procedures
If you have a medical procedure on the horizon in Colorado, there’s a new way to shop around for the best price. Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday announced a new website — ColoradoHospitalPrices.com — where people can look up various procedures performed at a hospital and see a list of prices based on insurance carrier. (Ingold, 10/23)

CBS News: Medicare Drug Plans Are Getting Better Next Year. Some Will Also Cost More. 
When Pam McClure learned she'd save nearly $4,000 on her prescription drugs next year, she said, "it sounded too good to be true." She and her husband are both retired and live on a "very strict" budget in central North Dakota. (Jaffe, 10/21)

Fortune: Medicare Prescription Payment Plan: Who Should And Shouldn’t Sign Up 
There’s one question people over 65 will need to answer for the first time during Medicare Open Enrollment (Oct. 15 to Dec. 7): Should I sign up for the optional, new, and little-known Medicare Prescription Payment Plan for 2025? Like so many things about Medicare, making the decision is not simple. (Eisenberg, 10/14)

CBS News: What To Know About Prescription Cost-Saving Programs Like GoodRx 
Rising prescription drug prices can be tough to swallow, but apps and websites can help lower your pharmacy bill. Shayne Chamberlin's monthly prescription went from $210 to $37. She credits GoodRx. (Mitchell, 10/15)

The Tennessean: Small Businesses Want Low Health Care Costs, But Big Pharma Proposals Do Opposite
Drugmakers are unhappy that PBMs drive down their profit margins. In response, Big Pharma is spending millions campaigning to impose new regulations on PBMs, and some of their D.C. politician friends are trying to help them out. (Nina Matthews, 10/13)

Stat: What Bayer Pharmaceuticals' COO Hopes The 2024 Election Will Bring
The future of health care starts on Jan. 20, 2025. The stakes for Americans could not be higher. Whether it’s Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump in the White House that day, the health care industry must not lose sight of what matters most: giving all Americans more affordable access to the most innovative medicines. (Sebastian Guth, 10/16)

Bloomberg: CD&R Faces Tough Road To 20% Returns With Sanofi 
In pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter medicines are often the poor relation to drug discovery, treated as cash cows to fund the next blockbuster. Creating a focused business – through a spinoff or buyout – ought to unleash latent revenue growth, with the removal of excess cost helping amplify the impact on profit. (Chris Hughes, 10/23)

Bloomberg: Emmanuel Macron's Private-Equity Migraine Needs New Pills
Emmanuel Macron’s administration has agreed to take a 1%-2% stake in Sanofi SA’s consumer-health unit Opella to sugar the pill of a US private equity takeover, seen as a critical test of deal-making openness in a country where everything from supermarkets to dairy firms is deemed strategic. Yet what the recent political aches and pains over paracetamol “sovereignty” really show is the scale of the investment gap facing France and Europe. (Lionel Laurent, 10/22)

Scientific American: We Need More Meds, Not Beds, To Help People Recovering From Addiction 
As overdose deaths take more than 100,000 U.S. lives annually, the medical profession needs to reexamine our country’s inpatient addiction treatment system, one that is often well-intended but not always rooted in evidence, particularly when it comes to treating patients with opioid addiction. (Zoe Adams and Sarah Wakeman, 10/22)

USA Today: Registering Voters At Medical Facilities Would Be A Good Rx For Democracy
This might strike you as an odd pairing ‒ health care and democracy ‒ but as former secretaries of state from opposing political parties and an emergency physician on the front lines of health care, we have witnessed firsthand how health and civics intersect. (Trey Grayson, Miles Rapoport and Dr. Ali Raja, 10/21)

Newsweek: I'm An ER Doctor. I've Seen The Damage Of Trump's Health Care Policies 
I have been an emergency doctor in the same small rural community for over 20 years. I've witnessed medicine with and without the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—also known as Obamacare—as well as before, during, and after Donald Trump was president. So when Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio), former president Trump's running mate, said during the vice presidential debate that Trump "saved" the ACA, I thought I had heard wrong. On the ground, in the ER, that was not the reality at all. (Rob Davidson, 10/21)

Newsweek: Project 2025 Would Reserve Good Health For The Rich. We Can Help 
Health care in America is often a tale of two nations. For many Americans—particularly white and wealthy ones—the U.S. can offer some of the best, most groundbreaking care in the world. (Judy Chu, Nanette Barragan and Steven Horsford, 10/22)

Stat: Opioid Settlement Billions Are At Risk Of Being Wasted 
The opioid and overdose crisis is a national tragedy, claiming more than 1 million lives since 1999. In the past three years, more than $55 billion has flowed into state, county, and city coffers from opioid manufacturers, distributors, and chain pharmacies as a result of their collective role in instigating and perpetuating this public health crisis. This urgently needed infusion of funding has the potential to turn the tide on the epidemic. (Justin Berk, Dennis Bailer and Brandon D.L. Marshall, 10/23)