KHN Weekly Edition: May 27, 2022

Novavax Missed Its Global Moonshot but Is Angling to Win Over mRNA Defectors
By Arthur Allen and Sarah Jane Tribble After years of failure, the Maryland company aims to attract the vaccine-hesitant with an alternative to mRNA shots. But will it find a market?

Burned Out by Covid and 80-Hour Workweeks, Resident Physicians Unionize
By Sarah Kwon In California and beyond, physician trainees working long hours for what in some states amounts to little more than minimum wage are organizing to seek better pay, benefits, and working conditions. More than 1,300 of them at three L.A. County public hospitals will vote May 30 on whether to strike.

California Schools Try to Outrace Covid Outbreaks
By Mark Kreidler A covid outbreak on a field trip. Another at prom. Yet administrators are reluctant to expose their schools to legal challenges by again requiring masks for students and staffers. That leaves parents fretful and confused.

Watch: UVA Doctor Talks About the State of the Pandemic and Health Equity 
By Hannah Norman KHN checks back in with Dr. Taison Bell to pinpoint changes in health care equity since the rollout of the covid-19 vaccines.

Police Suspect Arson at Wyoming Site of Clinic That Would Provide Abortions
By Arielle Zionts A building slated to become the site of Wyoming’s sole provider of procedural abortions caught fire early Wednesday. Investigators suspect arson at the site that has been the focus of weekly rallies.

As ‘Trigger Law’ Looms, New Clinic Preps to Provide Abortions in Conservative Bastion
By Arielle Zionts A Wyoming clinic slated to open this summer would be the only one in the state to provide procedural abortions and the closest option for some people in surrounding states. But its fate is uncertain now that the Supreme Court looks poised to strike down Roe v. Wade.

Betting on ‘Golden Age’ of Colonoscopies, Private Equity Invests in Gastro Docs
By Emily Pisacreta and Emmarie Huetteman An aging population in need of regular cancer screenings has driven private equity companies, seeking profits, to invest in many gastroenterology practices and set up aggressive billing practices. Steep prices on routine tests are one consequence for patients.

Caskets Wrapped in Colorful Images Pay Tribute to Young Lives Lost to Trauma and Violence
By Cara Anthony Mourners are wrapping caskets in imagery, similar to the way companies wrap logos around cars, trucks, and buses. Across the country, casket-wrap companies create custom designs, too often for grieving parents who have lost their children to gun violence.

‘Almost Like Malpractice’: To Shed Bias, Doctors Get Schooled to Look Beyond Obesity
By Lauren Sausser Research has long shown that doctors are less likely to respect patients who are overweight or obese — terms that now apply to nearly three-quarters of adults in the U.S. The Association of American Medical Colleges plans to roll out new diversity, equity, and inclusion standards aimed at teaching doctors, among other things, how to treat patients who are overweight with respect.

Tribal Pharmacy Dispenses Free Meds and Fills Gaps for Native Americans in the City
By Katherine Huggins and Julia Mueller The Mashkiki Waakaa’igan Pharmacy in downtown Minneapolis gives Native Americans an economical option for filling prescriptions while being sensitive to tribal traditions and expectations.

The Blackfeet Nation’s Plight Underscores the Fentanyl Crisis on Reservations
By Aaron Bolton, MTPR The deadly synthetic opioid has spread across the nation during the pandemic, and the problem is disproportionately affecting Native Americans.

The New MADD Movement: Parents Rise Up Against Drug Deaths
By Rachel Scheier People who have lost children to pills laced with fentanyl are demanding that lawmakers adopt stricter penalties and are pressuring Silicon Valley for social media protections. The movement harks back to the 1980s, when Mothers Against Drunk Driving activated a generation of parents.

‘An Arm and a Leg’: Private Equity Is Everywhere in Health Care. Really.
By Dan Weissmann Private equity companies are the house-flippers of the investment world, and they’ve found their way into many areas of our lives — including your local gastroenterologist's office.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: A(nother) Very Sad Week
Two mass shootings in two weeks — one at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 fourth graders and two teachers — have reignited the “guns-as-public-health-problem” debate. But political consensus seems as far away as ever. Meanwhile, the FDA is in the congressional hot seat over its handling of the infant formula shortage. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, and Rachana Pradhan of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Dr. Richard Baron, head of the American Board of Internal Medicine, about how doctors should discipline colleagues who spread medical misinformation.

Journalists Explore Affordability of Mental Health Care and Abortion Laws’ Effect on Miscarriages
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.