KHN Weekly: January 29, 2021

Baby Blues: First-Time Parents Blindsided by ‘the Birthday Rule’ and a $207,455 NICU Bill
By Cara Anthony Charlie Kjelshus needed neonatal intensive care for the first seven days of her life. The episode generated huge bills, and left her parents in a tangle of red tape that involved two insurers, two hospitals and two states.

Lost on the Frontline: Explore the Database
By The Staffs of KFF Health News and The Guardian As of Wednesday, the KHN-Guardian project counted 3,607 U.S. health worker deaths in the first year of the pandemic. Today we add 39 profiles, including a hospice chaplain, a nurse who spoke to intubated patients "like they were listening," and a home health aide who couldn't afford to stop working. This is the most comprehensive count in the nation as of April 2021, and our interactive database investigates the question: Did they have to die?

Vaccination Chaos in California Fuels Push to Recall Gov. Newsom
By Angela Hart The growing public backlash over California’s messy vaccine rollout is putting immense pressure on Gov. Gavin Newsom, a first-term Democrat facing a Republican-driven recall effort.

As Vaccine Rollout Expands, Black Americans Still Left Behind
By Hannah Recht and Lauren Weber Covid vaccines are reaching more Americans, but Black residents are being vaccinated at dramatically lower rates in the 23 states where data is publicly available. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to release national data next week.

Huge Gaps in Vaccine Data Make It Next to Impossible to Know Who Got the Shots
By Rachana Pradhan and Fred Schulte Details about race, ethnicity and occupation are often missing as data collected nationally is scattered across scores of digital systems that don’t connect. And the CDC doesn’t require vaccinators to report occupations of recipients, even though the order in which people get shots largely depends on their job.

At Colorado’s Rural Edges, Vaccines Help Assisted Living Homes Crack Open the Doors
By Rae Ellen Bichell Amid the disorganization and confusion of the vaccine distribution, smaller communities may have an advantage. In some long-term care facilities where vaccination is underway, things are looking up.

If I Have Cancer, Dementia or MS, Should I Get the Covid Vaccine?
By Judith Graham Older patients with cancer, dementia or other serious illnesses should check with their doctors, but medical experts recommend the vaccine for most people.

Poll: Nearly Half of American Adults Now Want the Covid Vaccine — ASAP
By Phil Galewitz The number of adults seeking to get inoculated has risen since December, according to a new poll.

Big Business Boosts Vaccine Effort, but It’s ‘Complex Choreography’ to Get Shots in Arms 
By Will Stone Corporations like Starbucks, Honeywell, Microsoft, Costco and Google are lining up to help with vaccine logistics. But the problem of the moment is supply, not systems.

Why Even Presidential Pressure Might Not Get More Vaccine to Market Faster
By Liz Szabo and Sarah Jane Tribble and Arthur Allen and Jay Hancock Even invoking the widely heralded Defense Production Act to pressure drugmakers wouldn’t overcome vast obstacles.

Anti-Vaccine Activists Peddle Theories That Covid Shots Are Deadly, Undermining Vaccination
By Liz Szabo Thousands of people died shortly after inoculation, but their deaths weren’t related to getting a vaccine.

Vaccine Ramp-Up Squeezes Covid Testing and Tracing
By Bernard J. Wolfson The ability of California health officials to multitask in a pandemic will be severely tested as they scramble to find staff for vaccination sites while maintaining testing and contact tracing.

Remdesivir, Given to Half of Hospitalized Covid Patients in U.S., Is Big Win for Gilead — Boosted by Taxpayers
By Sarah Jane Tribble With U.S. cases skyrocketing, demand for Gilead’s dark horse antiviral is only growing. Biden appointees propose potential legal tactics to tamp down the price for patients.

California’s Top Hospital Lobbyist Cements Influence in Covid Crisis
By Samantha Young Carmela Coyle, who represents California’s hospitals in the state Capitol, is a power player whose clout has grown during the pandemic. Though she hasn’t won every battle, she has helped shape the state’s response to the crisis.

Amid Covid Health Worker Shortage, Foreign-Trained Professionals Sit on Sidelines
By Markian Hawryluk Hospitals dealing with staff shortages during the current covid surge are unable to tap into one valuable resource: foreign-trained doctors, nurses and other health workers, many with experience treating infectious diseases. Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Nevada are the only states to have eased credentialing requirements during the pandemic.

Kids Already Coping With Mental Disorders Spiral as Pandemic Topples Vital Support Systems
By Christine Herman, Side Effects Public Media and Cory Turner, NPR and Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR Many children with serious emotional or behavioral difficulties depend on schools for access to vital therapies. When schools and doctors' offices stopped providing in-person services last spring, kids became untethered.

‘We’re Not Controlling It in Our Schools’: Covid Safety Lapses Abound Across US
By Laura Ungar As President Biden calls for more support to help schools hold in-person classes, public health experts say schools can be relatively safe if they take well-known steps to prevent covid. But a KHN investigation shows many districts and states have ignored health advice or written their own questionable safety rules for schools.

Pandemic Sends a Couple Into Indefinite Long Distance Though Just Miles Apart
By Katheryn Houghton Everyone is trying to figure out how relationships work in the time of covid. That includes a Bozeman, Montana, couple who suddenly found themselves in a long-distance relationship when the pandemic sent their group homes for adults with disabilities into lockdown.

Can the US Keep Covid Variants in Check? Here’s What It Takes
By Anna Maria Barry-Jester The U.S. has fumbled almost every step of its public health response in its battle against covid-19. Experts say that must change if we’re going to outflank the variants emerging as the virus continues to mutate.

New Covid Cases Plunge 25% or More as Behavior Changes
By Christina Jewett End of holiday gatherings or fear of the virus may be at play – or hope for the vaccine

If This Self-Sufficient Hospital Cannot Stand Alone, Can Any Public Hospital Survive?
By Jordan Rau New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, N.C., makes money and does not require taxpayer subsidies. But the county is selling the public hospital because officials say it needs more capital to compete. Civic leaders say the change will lead to higher health care costs.

States Move Ahead With Canada Drug Importation While Awaiting Signal From Biden
By Phil Galewitz As president, Donald Trump encouraged states to bring in drugs from Canada, where prices are cheaper. It’s not clear if the new administration will follow suit.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Long Road to Unwinding Trump Health Policies
President Joe Biden signed a pair of health-related executive orders this week that would, among other things, reopen enrollment under the Affordable Care Act and start to reverse former President Donald Trump’s anti-abortion policies. Meanwhile, Congress remains bogged down with taking up the next round of covid-19 relief. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.

4 Vital Health Issues — Not Tied to Covid — That Congress Addressed in Massive Spending Bill
By Emmarie Huetteman Lawmakers answered pleas from strained health facilities in rural areas, agreed to cover the cost of training more new doctors, sought to strengthen efforts to equalize mental health coverage with that of physical medicine and instructed the federal government to collect data that could be used to rein in high medical bills.

Readers and Tweeters Fight Stigma and Salute Front-Line Workers
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

Journalists Stay on Top of Rocky Vaccine Rollout
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.