- 蘑菇影院 Health News Original Stories 3
- Democrats Seek To Make GOP Pay for Threats to Reproductive Rights
- Their First Baby Came With Medical Debt. These Illinois Parents Won鈥檛 Have Another.
- 蘑菇影院 Health News' 'What the Health?' Podcast: Newly Minted Doctors Are Avoiding Abortion Ban States
From 蘑菇影院 Health News - Latest Stories:
蘑菇影院 Health News Original Stories
Democrats Seek To Make GOP Pay for Threats to Reproductive Rights
Democrats running for office are using abortion rollbacks to galvanize voters, with abortion rights ballot initiatives amplifying their lines of attack. In Missouri, the leading Democratic candidate for the Senate also blames Republican Sen. Josh Hawley for threatening access to IVF. (Samantha Liss, )
Their First Baby Came With Medical Debt. These Illinois Parents Won鈥檛 Have Another.
Millions of new parents in the U.S. are swamped by medical debt during and after pregnancy, forcing many to cut back on food, clothing, and other essentials. (Noam N. Levey, )
For the second year in a row, medical school graduates across specialties are shying away from applying for residency training in states with abortion bans or significant restrictions, according to a new study. Meanwhile, Medicare鈥檚 trustees report that the program will be able to pay its bills longer than expected 鈥 which could discourage Congress from acting to address the program鈥檚 long-term financial woes. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins University schools of nursing and public health and Politico Magazine, and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join 蘑菇影院 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. ( )
Here's today's health policy haiku:
HERE WE GO AGAIN
Bird flu transmission.
We're "caught off guard" again. Can't
we learn from the past?
- Sarah Greene
If you have a health policy haiku to share, please Contact Us and let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to an original story.
Opinions expressed in haikus and cartoons are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions of 蘑菇影院 Health News or 蘑菇影院.
Summaries Of The News:
Cyberattack Against Ascension Is Latest Hack To Disrupt Patient Care
News outlets report that patients of some of hospital chain Ascension's facilities have had procedures delayed or been diverted to other hospitals. Doctors have also lost access to some records.
Ascension continues to experience disruptions in patient care as the health system investigates a potential data breach it reported Wednesday. Local news reports have surfaced about patients waiting hours for medical procedures, ambulances diverting patients to other facilities and physicians losing access to medical records. Ascension acknowledged "clinical disruptions" in a Wednesday statement but has not provided additional details.聽(Hudson, 5/9)
Meanwhile, the attack's impact is felt 鈥
Ascension, a nonprofit national health care system with several hospitals in North Florida, says it is investigating a cybersecurity event had disrupted clinical operations. As of Thursday night, it was unknown if any patient data was affected. (Mayer, 5/10)
Ascension is postponing some non-emergency elective surgeries, tests and appointments after a cyber security event at the health system, which has about 150 sites of care in Illinois, including 14 hospitals. (Schencker, 5/9)
Ascension hospitals in Wisconsin and across the U.S. were hit Wednesday by a cyberattack that has interfered with its computer network and led to major disruptions in patient care that have continued into Thursday. The cyberattack has led to canceled appointments, delayed care and confusion at Ascension hospitals and health care facilities in Wisconsin and across the country. (Volpenhein, 5/9)
The emergency department at Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital in Southwest Baltimore has stopped receiving new patients, following a cyberattack that affected clinical operations at Ascension health centers nationwide. (Roberts, 5/9)
The Time To Act On Bird Flu Is Now, FDA Chief Advises Lawmakers
Although the risk to humans is still low, a proactive stance鈥攊ncorporating protective gear, research, and vaccine readiness鈥攃ould stem the spread of the virus afflicting mainly poultry and cattle. Meanwhile, the CDC is coming up against resistance over its push for PPE for farm workers.
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf warned lawmakers Wednesday that unless the United States initiates countermeasures to stem the spread of avian influenza, the government may be ill-prepared to respond if the virus mutates and spreads among humans. While the risk to the general public remains low, he told Senate appropriators in charge of FDA funding that investment to clamp down on the spread of the virus among cattle and poultry would pay dividends. (Lim, 5/9)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended this week that dairy and poultry farms with infected animals supply protective gear to workers in a bid to stave off human transmission of the H5N1 virus. The challenge now is making it happen. (Owermohle, 5/10)
Even as it has become increasingly clear that the bird flu outbreak on the nation鈥檚 dairy farms began months earlier 鈥 and is probably much more widespread 鈥 than previously thought, federal authorities have emphasized that the virus poses little risk to humans. Yet there is a group of people who are at high risk for infection: the estimated 100,000 men and women who work on those farms. There has been no widespread testing to see how many may be infected. None have been vaccinated against bird flu. (Mandavilli, Qiu and Anthes, 5/9)
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is planning to post data on influenza A found in wastewater in a public dashboard possibly as soon as Friday that could offer new clues into the outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in cattle herds. CDC wastewater team lead Amy Kirby told Reuters on Thursday that the agency has identified spikes of influenza A, of which H5N1 is a subtype, in a handful of sites and is investigating the source. She said there is no indication of human infection with H5N1. (Steenhuysen, 5/9)
In early March, Dr. Barb Petersen, a large-animal vet in Texas, began getting calls from the dairy farms she works with in the Panhandle.聽Workers there were seeing a lot of cows with mastitis, an infection of the udder. Their milk was thickened and discolored, and it couldn鈥檛 be explained by any of the usual suspects such as bacteria or tissue damage. (Goodman and Kounang, 5/9)
Also 鈥
Seven more groups involved in poultry production have signed on to an international effort to reduce the use of antimicrobials on poultry farms. The organizations, which include poultry associations from several European countries and fast-food giant Yum! Brands, announced yesterday that they'll adopt principles developed by the Transformational Strategies for Farm Risk Output Mitigation (TRANSFORM) project to ensure the proper use of antimicrobials on poultry farms. (Dall, 5/9)
Gay Couple Launches Class-Action Lawsuit Against NYC For IVF Benefits
New York City only provides in vitro fertilization benefits to employees who are women or heterosexuals. A first-of-its-kind class-action lawsuit alleges that policy is discriminatory to gay men.
New York City is denying in vitro fertilization benefits to thousands of gay male employees of the city and their partners, a class-action lawsuit filed by a same-sex married couple alleged Thursday. Brooklyn-based couple Nicholas Maggipinto, 38, and Corey Briskin, 35, claim the city is discriminating against male same-sex couples and violating federal, state and local laws by denying them IVF insurance benefits that other city employees are able to access. (Javaid, 5/9)
The proposed class action was filed in Manhattan federal court by former assistant district attorney Corey Briskin and his husband, who say they were forced to put off having a family for years because the city's employee health insurance plan denied them coverage for IVF procedures. ... The New York City Council is considering a bill introduced in March that would require the city to cover IVF treatments for all employees, regardless of their marital status or sexual orientation. (Wiessner, 5/9)
In other reproductive health news 鈥
A trial is underway in Virginia that will determine whether state law allows frozen embryos to be considered property that can be divided up and assigned a monetary value. Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Dontae Bugg heard arguments Thursday from a divorced couple who disagree over the ex-wife鈥檚 desire to use two embryos that they created when they were married. (Barakat, 5/10)
Leaders in the House and Senate declined to take up a bill this session that would have shielded medical providers at religiously affiliated hospitals and other health care centers who offer referrals and counseling on reproductive care, including abortions. (Carlesso, 5/9)
蘑菇影院 Health News:
Democrats Seek To Make GOP Pay For Threats To Reproductive Rights
Democrat Lucas Kunce is trying to pin reproductive care restrictions on Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), betting it will boost his chances of unseating the incumbent in November. In a recent ad campaign, Kunce accuses Hawley of jeopardizing reproductive care, including in vitro fertilization. Staring straight into the camera, with tears in her eyes, a Missouri mom identified only as Jessica recounts how she struggled for years to conceive. (Liss, 5/10)
蘑菇影院 Health News:
Their First Baby Came With Medical Debt. These Illinois Parents Won鈥檛 Have Another
Heather Crivilare was a month from her due date when she was rushed to an operating room for an emergency cesarean section. The first-time mother, a high school teacher in rural Illinois, had developed high blood pressure, a sometimes life-threatening condition in pregnancy that prompted doctors to hospitalize her. Then Crivilare鈥檚 blood pressure spiked, and the baby鈥檚 heart rate dropped. 鈥淚t was terrifying,鈥 Crivilare said. (Levey, 5/10)
Missouri Governor Signs Bill Targeting Planned Parenthood Funding
The measure blocks Medicaid reimbursements to health centers affiliated to abortion providers, which the Missouri Independent notes will impact Planned Parenthood's health services to low-income patients. Meanwhile a Colorado abortion assistance fund is seeing rising demand, much from Texas.
Missouri鈥檚 Republican Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday signed legislation to once again try to kick Planned Parenthood out of the state鈥檚 Medicaid program. Parson鈥檚 signature could mean Missouri joins a small band of states 鈥 Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas, according to Planned Parenthood 鈥 to have successfully blocked Medicaid funding for the organization. (Ballentine, 5/9)
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has announced he will sign legislation limiting Planned Parenthood鈥檚 ability to serve low-income patients at a ceremony in his Capitol office Thursday. The new law, which will go into effect Aug. 28, will end Medicaid reimbursements to any health centers affiliated with abortion providers. In Missouri, the law would apply to Planned Parenthood. (Spoerre, 5/9)
A Colorado abortion fund said Thursday it鈥檚 helped hundreds access abortion in the first months of 2024, many arriving from Texas where abortion is restricted, showing a steady increase in need each year since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. The U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 decision left a patchwork of state bans, restrictions and protections across the country. In response, a national makeshift network of individuals and organizations help those seeking abortions in states where it鈥檚 restricted, including the Colorado-based Cobalt Abortion Fund. (Bedayn, 5/9)
Anti-abortion legal crusader Jonathan Mitchell has filed at least seven legal petitions in Texas in recent years asking to depose abortion funds, providers and researchers. While these filings have created fear and confusion, none have yet to be approved by a judge. Now, Mitchell has moved on to targeting individual women. (Klibanoff, 5/10)
The Alaska Legislature is slated to approve a bill that would allow Alaska women to get a year鈥檚 worth of prescription birth control at one time. Supporters of House Bill 17 say extending the amount of birth control medicines given by pharmacies from the current limit of 90 days would be particularly impactful for women in rural Alaska. Under the measure, insurance companies and Medicaid would be require to cover prescription contraceptives without a co-payment. (Maguire, 5/9)
Also 鈥
Fewer U.S. medical school graduates are applying to residency programs, but the drop is more striking in states that ban abortion compared with other states. Figures released Thursday by the Association of American Medical Colleges showed continuing declines after the group first spotted the difference in an analysis last year. 鈥淚t looks even more pronounced. So now, I鈥檓 looking at a trend,鈥 said Dr. Atul Grover, a co-author of the latest report. (Ungar, 5/10)
蘑菇影院 Health News:
Medical Residents Are Increasingly Avoiding States With Abortion Restrictions
Isabella Rosario Blum was wrapping up medical school and considering residency programs to become a family practice physician when she got some frank advice: If she wanted to be trained to provide abortions, she shouldn鈥檛 stay in Arizona. Blum turned to programs mostly in states where abortion access 鈥 and, by extension, abortion training 鈥 is likely to remain protected, like California, Colorado, and New Mexico. Arizona has enacted a law banning most abortions after 15 weeks. (Rovner and Pradhan, 5/9)
Republicans Target NIH For Changes If They Win Senate Control Next Year
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, says reforms at the federal health agency are "overdue." Separately, an NIH official will appear later this month before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic to answer questions about the covid pandemic timeline.
The National Institutes of Health will face an overhaul if Republicans gain control of the Senate next year. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy 鈥 the Republican in line to lead the Senate committee that oversees the agency 鈥 said Thursday that reform was long overdue. 鈥淐ongress has not thoroughly reviewed NIH operations and practices since the 21st Century Cures Act passed in 2016,鈥 he said in a release. (Schumaker, Reader, Paun and Payne, 5/9)
Lawrence Tabak, principal deputy director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will testify before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic later this month, with committee Chair Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) planning to ask about 鈥渄iscrepancies鈥 between prior testimonies. Tabak has agreed to testify before the subcommittee on May 16. (Choi, 5/9)
In other administration news 鈥
The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday advised healthcare facilities to move away from using Getinge's (GETIb.ST) heart devices in patients as they faced safety and quality concerns despite a string of recalls. The recommendation is based on concerns that the company has not sufficiently addressed the problems and risks with the recalled devices, it added. Getinge did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. (5/9)
The US Food and Drug Administration is considering a requirement for blood banks to use a new test that can detect the parasites that cause malaria in certain donors鈥 blood, and it鈥檚 seeking the opinion of its independent advisers on the best way to meet its goal of zero transfusion-related cases without unnecessarily prohibiting some people from donating blood. (Christensen, 5/9)
CDC investigates stem cell injections in Mexico 鈥
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report Thursday about three cases of infections apparently linked to stem-cell treatments American patients received in Mexico. The CDC issued the report Thursday on infections of Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM), which it described as 鈥渄ifficult-to-treat鈥 and 鈥渋ntrinsically drug-resistant鈥 and 鈥渞apidly growing.鈥 (5/10)
An investigation by clinicians and public health officials from Colorado and Arizona has linked a cluster of antibiotic-resistant infections in three US residents to embryonic stem-cell injections at clinics in Mexico. In a report published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), the investigators said the infections were caused by Mycobacterium abscessus, an intrinsically drug-resistant species of nontuberculosis mycobacterium that has previously been associated with medical tourism. (Dall, 5/9)
From Congress 鈥
A pair of Democratic senators introduced new legislation to limit the levels of harmful metals in commercial baby food, they announced Thursday. The bill, called 鈥淭he Baby Food Safety Act of 2024,鈥 would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new authority to enforce higher safety standards for commercial baby food and imported products. (Fortinsky, 5/9)
Reps. John Joyce (R-Pa.) and Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.) discussed Thursday why they鈥檙e pushing to pass their bill that would alter provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), with the congressmen saying the legislation is needed to ensure continued research into treatments for rare diseases. Joyce and Nickel discussed the ORPHAN Cures Act while speaking at The Hill鈥檚聽event聽鈥淪cience & Policy, The Future of Cancer Care,鈥澛爏ponsored by AstraZeneca. (Choi, 5/9)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, both Democrats, are introducing legislation Thursday that would allow Medicaid coverage of doulas and midwives. The bill, called the Mamas First Act, aims to 鈥渋mprove access to care before, during, and after pregnancy to under-served and under-resourced communities鈥 as an OB-GYN deficit looms and the high rates of pregnancy-related deaths persist. (Davis, 5/9)
Also 鈥
A bill that would have consolidated six South Carolina heath care agencies and was overwhelmingly passed by both chambers of the General Assembly died on the session鈥檚 final day Thursday in a procedural move by a member angry he was mocked by his colleagues. Republican Rep. Josiah Magnuson has been against the bill from the start, saying it would create a health care czar who could take over like a dictator if there was another pandemic emergency like COVID-19. (Collins, 5/10)
A federal judge cited conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in a ruling that allowed lawsuits to proceed against Alabama's attorney general over his statements about prosecuting those who help Alabama residents travel to another state to seek abortions. Alabama banned abortion at any stage of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape and incest after the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending constitutional protections for abortion. (Rahman, 5/9)
Back in March, at the first hearing, opens new tab in consolidated litigation over allegedly undisclosed side effects from Ozempic and other diet drugs, plaintiffs lawyers told a Philadelphia federal judge that they'd already agreed on a slate of four lawyers to lead the mass tort case. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Gene Pratter of Philadelphia appointed those same four lawyers ... as lead counsel in the multidistrict litigation against diet drugmakers Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) and Eli Lilly (LLY.N). (Frankel, 5/9)
Novavax And Sanofi Join Forces To Develop Combination Covid-Flu Vaccine
Meanwhile, infectious disease experts are monitoring the newest covid variant 鈥 known as FLiRT 鈥 as concerns grow over a summer uptick in cases.
Novavax on Friday said it has signed a multibillion-dollar deal with French drugmaker Sanofi to co-commercialize the company鈥檚 Covid vaccine starting next year and develop combination shots targeting the coronavirus and the flu, among other efforts. (Constantino, 5/10)
Novavax, the beleaguered maker of a Covid-19 vaccine, just got a boost of its own.聽The French pharma company Sanofi on Friday said it had reached a licensing deal to sell Novavax鈥檚 Covid shot going forward as well as to try to combine the vaccine with Sanofi鈥檚 own flu shot. (Joseph, 5/10)
In other covid news 鈥
The emergence of a new set of coronavirus variants, known colloquially as FLiRT, is sparking concerns about a potential summer uptick in COVID-19 cases after an extended period of calm and a relatively mild winter. The variants, known as KP.1.1 and KP.2, have recently overtaken JN.1 as the dominant omicron offshoot in the U.S. They now account for 1 in 4 infections nationwide, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Vaziri, 5/9)
Closing the border separating San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, during the COVID-19 pandemic didn't stop drug tourism and may have increased the spread of HIV, concludes a聽study posted in The Lancet Regional Health Americas. (Van Beusekom, 5/9)
Talks to draw up a global pact to help fight future pandemics are likely to miss an initial deadline on Friday, three sources close to the process said. Negotiators from the World Health Organization鈥檚 194 member states were hoping to have a final draft agreement by the end of Friday, with a view toward adopting the legally-binding text at the World Health Assembly later this month. Instead talks on the text may have to continue, sources said, as countries grapple with key sticking points. (Rigby, 5/10)
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has initiated a global withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine just months after it admitted it could cause a rare side effect. The news sparked speculation on social media that the vaccine was being withdrawn because of concerns about associated health risks. However, the British-Swedish company said that the decision was made purely for commercial reasons after a decline in demand because of a "surplus of available updated vaccines." (Shoaib, 5/9)
Also 鈥
After the coronavirus pandemic triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. Years later, countries are still struggling to come up with an agreed-upon plan for how the world might respond to the next global outbreak. A ninth and final round of talks involving governments, advocacy groups and others to finalize a 鈥減andemic treaty鈥 is scheduled to end Friday. (Cheng and Keaten, 5/10)
New Maps Improve Deep Brain Stimulation For OCD Therapy
CNN covers improvements in deep brain stimulation treatments. Also, an experimental spinal cord implant helped a patient with Parkinson's disease to walk. A gene therapy trial that allowed a baby born with profound deafness to hear is also in the news.
Five years ago, in a wheelchair, Julia Hum was admitted to a state mental hospital in Massachusetts. After treatment with targeted deep brain stimulation, she hopes to walk out soon and, for the first time in her adult life, live independently, in her own apartment. Hum, 24, has severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, which once caused her to hurt herself and even affected her ability to eat and drink. (Goodman, 5/9)
Marc Gauthier can now step into an elevator without his body stiffening and freezing in place. He can take a 3-mile lakeside stroll without stopping. He can stand up out of a chair with ease. For Gauthier, 63, who has been living with Parkinson鈥檚 disease for almost three decades, these everyday activities were a challenge 鈥 until now. (Howard, 5/9)
A baby girl born with profound genetic deafness can now hear unaided after receiving a 鈥済roundbreaking鈥 gene therapy trial, Britain鈥檚 National Health Service said Thursday. Opal Sandy, an 18-month-old from Oxfordshire, England, is the first patient treated in a global gene therapy trial that is showing 鈥渕ind-blowing鈥 results, Addenbrooke鈥檚 Hospital in Cambridge said in a statement. Opal is 鈥渢he first British patient in the world and the youngest child to receive this type of treatment,鈥 the hospital said. (Bisset and Suliman, 5/9)
Blaise Pfeifer, 15 and a ninth grader at Standley Lake High School, lives for hockey. He started skating at 3, travels the country for tournaments, and describes gliding across the ice with a puck 鈥渓ike second nature.鈥澛燞e also knows he has multiple sclerosis, though he has never felt a symptom. (Brown, 5/9)
Also 鈥
Taking zinc could shorten the duration of the common cold by 2 days, according to a Cochrane review today. The evidence is not conclusive, however, and potential benefits must be balanced against side effects including bowel problems, nausea and unpleasant taste, the reviewers note. (Soucheray, 5/9)
A 30-year study found that eating ultraprocessed foods is linked to a higher risk of early death. The study, published Wednesday in the BMJ journal, examined the eating habits of 115,000 people and found that a higher intake of ultraprocessed foods was associated with a slightly higher mortality risk. (Irwin, 5/9)
Over-salting your food might be putting you at risk of certain cancers, researchers have found. People who add salt to their food are 40 percent more likely to develop stomach cancer than those who don't, according to a new study in the journal Gastric Cancer. (5/9)
WHO's New Guidance Aims To Head Off Bloodstream Infections From Catheters
Peripheral intravenous catheters are commonly used for hospital inpatients, but the WHO wants to improve poor practices in insertion and maintenance that can cause infections. Also in the news: Merck's endometrial cancer therapy fails; Novo Nordisk targets new obesity drugs; more.
The World Health Organization (WHO) today published guidelines aimed at preventing bloodstream infections from peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVCs). Noting that up to 70% of all hospitals inpatients require the use of a catheter inserted into a peripheral vein or artery, the WHO says that poor practices in the insertion, maintenance, and removal of PIVCs carry the high risk of introducing bacteria into the bloodstream, which can result in life-threatening conditions such as sepsis and difficult-to-treat complications in major organs鈥攑articularly when the infections are caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. (Dall, 5/9)
Facing a forecasted shortage of 60,000 nursing positions, AdventHealth Central Florida is actively improving its workforce to meet those future needs. Since 2020, the hospital has hired 10,000 nurses. A 2021 study by the Florida Hospital Association found the demand for nurses is set to increase dramatically by 2035 due in part to a 21% increase in population and, more specifically, an increase in aging populations. (Pedersen, 5/9)
Nurses aren鈥檛 optimistic that this year will be any better than last year 鈥 and more than one-third of them are "extremely likely" to change jobs. That鈥檚 according to a new survey by AMN Healthcare, a health care workforce solutions company based in Texas. The majority of nurses (80%) said they think 2024 will be either "no better or worse" for the profession than 2023 鈥 while 38% said it will be worse. (Rudy, 5/10)
Health systems聽are turning to artificial intelligence to easily bring patient-doctor conversations into the electronic health record. Health systems聽are buying ambient AI documentation solutions, technology that takes a recording of a doctor-patient conversation and turns it into usable clinical notes. The goal is to give doctors more face-time with patients rather than staring at a computer screen while in the exam room, taking notes. (Turner, 5/9)
Merck (MRK.N) said on Thursday its therapy being tested in certain patients with a type of cancer in the uterus lining failed a late-stage trial. The drugmaker's Keytruda therapy in combination with chemotherapy was being evaluated in about 1,095 patients with high-risk endometrial cancer after surgery. The trial did not meet the main goal of disease-free survival, which is the length of time after primary treatment for a cancer ends that the patient survives without any signs or its symptoms. (5/9)
Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) signed a research tie-up with U.S. biotech firm Metaphore on Thursday to develop next-generation obesity drugs. Danish drugmaker Novo is trying to expand beyond its blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy with at least eight other treatments in its R&D pipeline for the condition. The collaboration will use Metaphore's tech platform to develop two therapies for obesity, the companies said. (5/9)
A new federal policy promoting integrated Medicare and Medicaid coverage seems poised to boost health insurers such as Centene and Molina Healthcare with Medicaid experience and large numbers of high-needs Medicare Advantage members. A final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued last month underscores the agency's commitment to supporting Dual Special Needs Plans that serve dual-eligible beneficiaries. (Tepper, 5/9)
Community Health Systems sued MultiPlan聽Wednesday, accusing the聽data analytics firm of allegedly conspiring with large insurance companies to fix commercial rates 鈥 an alleged violation of federal antitrust laws.聽The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, represents the third time a hospital system has taken MultiPlan to court in the past nine months.聽(Tepper, 5/9)
Obituaries 鈥
Dr. Herbert Pardes, a psychiatrist and a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health who brought order to the merger of two major medical centers that became New York-Presbyterian Hospital and ran it for 11 years, died on April 30 at his home in Manhattan. He was 89. His son Steve said the cause was aortic stenosis. (Sandomir, 5/9)
Company Issues Broad Recall Of Nuts Over 'Undeclared Allergen' Risk
Elsewhere, a mobile app has been recalled after patients with diabetes were injured when their insulin pumps unexpectedly stopped working. Also in the news: how muscle guarding, loneliness, and alcohol affect the body.
Anut recall was issued this week alongside warnings of a possible "life-threatening" allergic reaction. On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shared a recall announcement from the Texas Pecan company, based in Dallas. "Texas Pecan of Dallas TX is recalling 1 Lb and 8 oz products because it may contain an undeclared allergen," the announcement said. (Impelli, 5/9)
More than 200 people with diabetes were injured after technology defect caused their insulin pump to unexpectedly shut down, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The software glitch has prompted the recall of more than 85,000 versions of a mobile app, called t:connect and developed by Tandem Diabetes Care, the FDA noted on Wednesday. (Gibson, 5/9)
Lead screening conducted on west Maui residents after last summer鈥檚 devastating wildfires showed no widespread exposure to the toxic metal, Hawaii health officials said Thursday. ... Just 27 people鈥檚 screening results came out positive, and subsequent testing showed 15 of them did not have elevated blood lead levels and were determined to have had a false positive, the state health department said. (5/10)
Stephen Clark, an Atlanta-area physical therapist, sees many patients who suffer from muscle guarding after a traumatic surgery or injury. Muscle guarding, which emanates from the brain, is a physical response to pain. For some, though, protracted muscle guarding can prolong pain and inhibit recovery. ... In muscle guarding, the brain seeks to protect an injured area by subconsciously directing the surrounding muscles to not function, or to lock, ostensibly to defend the body against additional pain or injury. (Theim, 5/9)
Everyone feels lonely from time to time. ... Some people, though, experience loneliness not just transiently but chronically. ... These individuals seem to have 鈥渢his persistent emotion that then shapes their behavior.鈥 Research is mounting that this type of entrenched loneliness is bad for our health and can even change our brains, raising the risk for neurodegenerative diseases. Here鈥檚 what experts know about how chronic loneliness affects the brain, and some strategies to address it. (Smith, 5/9)
The issue of alcohol 鈥 and how much of it Americans should consume 鈥 is up for debate again as the dietary guidelines undergo updates and revisions, due in 2025. Already, there鈥檚 simmering debate over a growing body of research, plus clashing of interests and the same specter of controversy that鈥檚 followed the report since Nestle鈥檚 time. (Cueto, 5/10)
Florida Medicaid Unwinding Cut Coverage, CHIP From 600,000 Kids
Report writers examining Medicaid review processes wrote that Florida was one of the states prioritizing "hasty" removal of kids from support programs. Also in the news: a slowdown in deadly overdoses in L.A. County homeless people; more.
Nearly 600,000 children in Florida lost government health insurance last year when states began reviewing Medicaid eligibility again, according to a report published this month. In the report, policy experts at the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. write that Florida is among states that prioritized "hasty" removal of kids from the program. (Colombini, 5/9)
In other news from across the country 鈥
Year after year, Los Angeles County has seen devastating losses on its streets as homeless people bedding down in tents, under tarps and on sidewalks died of drug overdoses at soaring rates. Now a newly released report shows that the death rate from overdoses stopped rising among unhoused people in the county in 2022 鈥 the year L.A. County was stepping up its efforts to save lives. (Reyes and Seidman, 5/9)
Seattle will open a new space for people to recover and receive treatment for nearly 24 hours after they have overdosed on fentanyl or other drugs, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced Thursday. The center is slated to open near the Pioneer Square neighborhood in mid-2025 and will be run by a homelessness and substance abuse nonprofit organization called the Downtown Emergency Services Center. (5/10)
Julie Harris had never been tested for lung cancer. A low-dose CT scan, the only recommended screening for adults at risk of developing lung cancer, was not something she鈥檇 ever found time to do. But when her primary care doctor recently suggested a new blood test to help look for signs of the disease, Harris was intrigued. She had her blood drawn the same day, in the same building as her doctor鈥檚 appointment. (Schencker, 5/10)
Jerome Massey doesn鈥檛 know all that was done behind-the-scenes to help him get a new kidney聽by removing an unfair barrier based on his race. But he鈥檚 thankful it allowed him to get back to normal life, with long days at work and busy weekends with his children and grandkids stopping by for his barbecue. (Munz, 5/9)
If a group of dentists, policymakers and health care analysts got their way, North Carolina would do some revamping of its oral health care infrastructure to make routine cleanings and preventative care more accessible to hundreds of thousands of people. (Blythe, 5/10)
Inmates got spoiled milk and uncooked or burned food, served with dirty cups and utensils. Bed sheets weren鈥檛 washed for weeks. Inmates were threatened with sexual violence by other inmates. Guards, who sometimes failed to conduct safety checks, withheld showers. Prescription medicines weren鈥檛 handed out. (Cheves, 5/9)
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
Each week, 蘑菇影院 Health News finds longer stories for you to enjoy. This week's selections include stories on weight loss, syphilis, mental health, lead poisoning, and more.
Drugs or procedures to keep weight off could fuel an even bigger bonanza than Ozempic and its immensely profitable cousins. Losing weight is temporary, but maintaining it is lifelong. Maintaining weight is also a different challenge from losing it. (McKay, 5/8)
No state agency has authority over Shrub Oak, one of the country's most expensive therapeutic boarding schools. As a result, parents and staff have nowhere to report bruised students and medication mix-ups. (Smith Richards and Cohen, 5/8)
Markus Johnson slumped naked against the wall of his cell, skin flecked with pepper spray, his face a mask of puzzlement, exhaustion and resignation. Four men in black tactical gear pinned him, his face to the concrete, to cuff his hands behind his back. He did not resist. He couldn鈥檛. He was so gravely dehydrated he would be dead by their next shift change. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 do anything,鈥 Mr. Johnson moaned as they pressed a shield between his shoulders. (Thrush, 5/5)
The syphilis rate among Indigenous people in the Great Plains is higher than at any point in 80 years of records. More than 3% of Native American babies born in South Dakota last year had the preventable and curable 鈥 but potentially fatal 鈥 disease. (Barry-Jester, 5/7)
Using powerful technologies, scientists found staggering amounts of lead and other toxic substances in the composer鈥檚 hair that may have come from wine, or other sources. High doses of lead affect the nervous system, and could have destroyed his hearing. (Kolata, 5/6)
In the beginning, it seemed like Nina was just an imaginary friend. Two-year-old Aija had invented plenty of fictional characters before, but her parents 鈥 Ross, a musician, and Marie, a psychologist 鈥 noticed right away that Nina was different. From the time Aija learned how to talk, she talked about Nina, and her descriptions were remarkably consistent. Aija told her parents that Nina played piano, and she loved dancing, and she favored the color pink (Aija emphatically did not). When Aija spoke as Nina, in the first person, Aija鈥檚 demeanor changed: Her voice was sweeter and higher-pitched, her affect more gentle and polite than what Marie and Ross typically expected from their rambunctious toddler. (Gibson, 5/2)
Rob Dart isn鈥檛 the successful lawyer and father who left the people who love him two years ago to follow his delusions. That Rob lives in the memory of friends and in family photos. This Rob, who arrives on time for our interview, is standing by the roadside under the blazing California sun, his eyes and hair competing in wildness, his grin difficult not to match. In the past year, this Rob has been hospitalized, shot, housed, unhoused, a winner and a loser in court battles. Ultimately, he has shed every scrap of evidence of his life before illness: his connections to his son, family and most friends. (Wernau, 5/4)
Psychiatrist Nora Dennis works to build a care farm where people with mental illness can be healed as they nurture plants and animals.(Hoban, 5/8)
They鈥檙e clearly linked to poor health. But scientists are only beginning to understand why. (Callahan, 5/6)
Viewpoints: Telemedicine May Be What Saves Reproductive Rights; AI Is The Future Of New Medications
Editorial writers discuss telemedicine, AI in health care, bird flu, and more.
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe almost two years ago, it opened the door for abortion opponents in more than half the states to shut clinics and put women's rights out of state and out of reach. However, telemedicine is an option that has bloomed through the dark days post-Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. (Julie F. Kay, 5/10)
Alphabet鈥檚 artificial intelligence subsidiary, Google DeepMind, has yet again knocked the socks off scientists with its latest iteration of AlphaFold, using the tool to illuminate the intricate dance between some of life鈥檚 most important molecules. It鈥檚 an important leap towards a world where technology enables a deeper understanding of human biology and, hopefully, improves our ability to discover new drugs. (Lisa Jarvis, 5/9)
We don鈥檛 yet know if H5N1 bird flu will spill over from animals to infect a large number of humans. Based on the few cases of transmission so far, the World Health Organization has expressed concerns that infection in humans 鈥渃an cause severe disease with a high mortality rate.鈥 (Alex Tey, 5/10)
A 30-year-old farm worker in North Carolina died last September on a day that was fairly typical for the state. Temperatures were in the mid-90s and the heat index, which includes humidity, was 96 degrees F. This index is often referred to as the 鈥渇eels like鈥 temperature, and is commonly used to gauge heat stress on the body. But use of the heat index to gauge whether Jos茅 Arturo Gonz谩lez Mendoza and his fellow sweet potato harvesters could work safety grossly underestimated the lethal risks at play. (Ashley Ward and Jordan Clark, 5/10)
Pizza. Coloring books. Goody bags. They could be activities at a 5-year-old鈥檚 birthday party. But they鈥檙e not: These are many employers鈥 attempts to lift the morale of nurses on the frontlines of chronically understaffed organizations. What nurses really want are better working conditions so they can deliver the best care possible to their patients. (Karen B. Lasater and K. Jane Muir, 5/10)