- 蘑菇影院 Health News Original Stories 4
- Medics at UCLA Protest Say Police Weapons Drew Blood and Cracked Bones
- Federal Panel Prescribes New Mental Health Strategy To Curb Maternal Deaths
- California鈥檚 $12 Billion Medicaid Makeover Banks on Nonprofits鈥 Buy-In
- Addiction Treatment Homes Say Montana鈥檚 Funding Fixes Don鈥檛 Go Far Enough
From 蘑菇影院 Health News - Latest Stories:
蘑菇影院 Health News Original Stories
Medics at UCLA Protest Say Police Weapons Drew Blood and Cracked Bones
In contrast to police statements, volunteer medics said they treated serious wounds as UCLA鈥檚 pro-Palestinian protest was besieged by police and counterprotesters, including some injuries that appeared to be caused by 鈥渓ess lethal鈥 projectiles fired by cops. (Molly Castle Work and Brett Kelman, )
Federal Panel Prescribes New Mental Health Strategy To Curb Maternal Deaths
The leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States 鈥 including suicides and fatalities linked to substance use disorders 鈥 stem from mental health conditions. Now a federal task force has recommended strategies to help women who are at risk during or after pregnancy. (Cheryl Platzman Weinstock, )
California鈥檚 $12 Billion Medicaid Makeover Banks on Nonprofits鈥 Buy-In
California鈥檚 Medicaid program is relying heavily on community groups to deliver new social services to vulnerable patients, such as security deposits for homeless people and air purifiers for asthma patients. But many of these nonprofits face staffing and billing challenges and haven鈥檛 been able to deliver services effectively. (Angela Hart, )
Addiction Treatment Homes Say Montana鈥檚 Funding Fixes Don鈥檛 Go Far Enough
Montana has created a voucher program to help cover room and board costs at low-intensity residential programs for people with addiction. Those running the homes say bridging that care is urgent but that the program鈥檚 funding falls far below the need. (Katheryn Houghton, )
Here's today's health policy haiku:
PERSPECTIVE
鈥橳was never a whole.
Healthcare was never broken.
Just FRAGMENTED goals.
- Kitchie McBride
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:
Annual Overdose Deaths Drop For Only Second Time In Decades Of Drug Crisis
CDC data show that the number of fatal drug overdoses in 2023 fell from 111,000 in 2022 to more than 107,000. The drop is a rare occurrence in the nation's epidemic. One expert told AP that "any decline is encouraging," but that it is "premature to celebrate or to draw any large-scale conclusions."
The number of U.S. fatal overdoses fell last year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data posted Wednesday. Agency officials noted the data is provisional and could change after more analysis, but that they still expect a drop when the final counts are in. It would be only the second annual decline since the current national drug death epidemic began more than three decades ago. (Stobbe, 5/15)
Drug overdose deaths decreased slightly last year, falling for the first time since 2018, early data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Wednesday shows. Still, overdose deaths remain extremely high. More than 107,000 people died of a drug overdose in 2023, down from roughly 111,000 in 2022, the data showed. (Sullivan, 5/15)
Also 鈥
Walgreens is set to offer a cheaper version of an important opioid reversal drug at its stores soon, according to Wednesday press release. 鈥淲algreens today announced it is expanding access to an over the counter, life-saving medication with the launch of Walgreens Brand Naloxone HCI Nasal Spray,鈥 reads the press release from Walgreens鈥 parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance. (Suter, 5/15)
When Travis County Judge Andy Brown got a phone call two weeks ago about a rash of overdoses that claimed at least eight lives in Austin over a span of 27 hours, he knew the dark day he had been preparing for had arrived. 鈥淭hat day was absolutely horrible and something we haven鈥檛 seen before as far as I know,鈥 Brown said. (Simpson, 5/16)
For almost six years, R struggled with addiction. He said he tried to quit using opioids and 鈥嬧媌enzodiazepines more than 50 times 鈥 mostly 鈥渃old turkey鈥 鈥 but it never worked. In 2020, he got arrested. When he got out of jail on bond a few days later, R said he knew he needed to do something different so his life wouldn鈥檛 be cycling in and out of jail.聽That change came on March 14, 2020, when he started taking Suboxone. The medication containing buprenorphine and naloxone is one of the most effective known treatments for opioid use disorder. (Crumpler, 5/16)
蘑菇影院 Health News:
Addiction Treatment Homes Say Montana鈥檚 Funding Fixes Don鈥檛 Go Far Enough
Montana health officials have started a voucher system to help people with substance use disorders move into transitional housing as they rebuild their lives. But those who run the clinical houses said the new money isn鈥檛 enough to fix a financial hole after a prior state revamp. (Houghton, 5/16)
Seeking Price Drop, Sanders Warns Wegovy Could Ruin Health Care System
Americans are paying substantially more for popular weight-loss medications, a report released by Sen. Bernie Sanders' office says. Separately, even though the price of anti-obesity drugs is high, Medicare could save about $500 million a year by covering them.
Blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy could bankrupt the U.S. health care system unless the price drops, according to a staff report released Wednesday from the office of Senate Health Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).聽Unless prices dramatically decline, Wegovy and weight loss drugs could push Americans to spend $1 trillion per year on prescription drugs, the report concluded. (Weixel, 5/15)
Anti-obesity medications are a hot topic in the medical world, and many Americans remain conflicted on how and when they should be covered by health insurance. Despite the controversy around paying for weight loss drugs like Ozempic, a new Intensity report found covering the anti-obesity medications could in fact save Medicare around $500 million yearly. (Blake, 5/15)
Patients prescribed highly effective anti-obesity medications are growing anxious about the increasing difficulty of obtaining them amid long-running shortages driven by blockbuster demand for the drugs. (Reed, 5/16)
President Biden鈥檚 messaging about lowering the cost of prescription drugs through the Inflation Reduction Act is resonating with more people, but most voters overall are still unaware of some key provisions, according to a new poll from health policy research group 蘑菇影院.聽Lowering health costs has been a key reelection message for Biden, and he has touted passage of the IRA as a signature achievement. (Weixel, 5/15)
In other news 鈥
Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) will introduce legislation Wednesday that would extend the Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCAH) waiver program past its 2024 expiration date. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced several waivers and flexibilities in 2020, allowing for various inpatient-level hospital services to be conducted in patients鈥 homes. (Choi, 5/15)
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer鈥檚 bipartisan artificial intelligence working group is calling for committees to consider a policy framework that could rein in the technology鈥檚 use in health care. The policy proposals, from the working group of Schumer and Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), are the most detailed Congress has offered on AI in health care to date. (Leonard, 5/15)
Health systems implementing artificial intelligence should聽have strict oversight, informed patient consent and rigorous testing in place for the technology, according to safety recommendations from a recent Institute for Healthcare Improvement report. The report, published Wednesday by聽IHI's think tank, Lucian Leape Institute,聽lays out聽best practices from 30 patient safety and technology experts on generative AI used in documentation assistance, clinical decision support and chatbots that interact with patients. (Devereaux, 5/15)
Most Americans 鈥 more than 65% 鈥 have private health insurance, but a new report has revealed a potentially very expensive drawback. Patients who have private (commercial) coverage may end up paying significantly more for their medical care compared to those who have public health insurance, such as Medicare, according to recent data from RAND Corp. in Washington, D.C. As of 2022, employers and private insurance companies paid an average of 254% more for medical services than what Medicare programs would have paid. (Rudy, 5/15)
Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan pointed to her agency's antitrust work Wednesday, including blocking healthcare mergers and investigating vertical integration, in her pitch to boost the FTC's budget. Khan also defended the FTC's recent decision to聽finalize a rule banning non-compete clauses, and told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services she would like to see the agency's budget聽grow next year by about 25% to $535 million so she can continue to expand its work. She also wants聽to add 55 more staffers. (McAuliff, 5/15)
Also 鈥
Instead of a traditional speculum-involved pelvic exam to screen for cervical cancer, the US Food and Drug Administration has given the go-ahead for patients to have the option to collect their own vaginal samples for screening in a health care setting, such as at their doctor鈥檚 office, an urgent care or even a mobile clinic. (Howard, 5/15)
The U.S. health regulator on Wednesday approved the expanded use of Bristol Myers Squibb's (BMY.N) cancer cell therapy Breyanzi for the treatment of adults with a type of blood cancer called follicular lymphoma, that has returned or has not responded to prior treatments. The Food and Drug Administration's decision marks the fourth approval for Breyanzi, which can now be used to treat patients who have received two or more prior lines of therapy. (5/16)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered a software recall for a type of ventilator, for fear of "serious injuries or death." The ventilators鈥攖he Philips Respironics, Inc. Trilogy EVO, Trilogy EV300, Trilogy Evo O2, and Trilogy Evo Universal鈥攈ave been assigned a Class I recall, which is the most serious type of recall that the FDA has. (Thomson, 5/15)
The World Health Organization on Wednesday authorized a second dengue vaccine, a move that could provide protection for millions worldwide against the mosquito-borne disease that has already sparked numerous outbreaks across the Americas this year. In a statement on Wednesday, the U.N. health agency said it approved the dengue vaccine made by the Japanese pharmaceutical Takeda. ... The two-dose vaccine protects against the four types of dengue. (5/15)
Spotlight Falls On 'Two-Midnight Rule' For Medicare Patient Hospital Stays
Modern Healthcare reports on how providers and Medicare Advantage companies are reacting to the new policy that allows more patient visits to be categorized as higher-cost inpatient care. Separately, reports explain how Blackstone Equity Healthcare is lowering costs.
Medicare Advantage companies聽and healthcare providers聽are reckoning with the effects of an updated federal聽policy that governs how to pay for patients鈥 hospital stays. The "two-midnight rule," newly applied to Medicare Advantage this year, lets聽hospitals categorize more聽patient visits as higher-cost, inpatient stays. In addition to threatening to disrupt carriers' already shaky finances, it could invite more scrutiny of Medicare Advantage companies' coverage policies and decision-making tools. (Tepper, 5/15)
Andreas Mang knows that executives like him aren鈥檛 always going to get a warm welcome from human resources leaders whose company has been acquired by Blackstone. 鈥淎 lot of companies will say, 鈥極h God, we were just bought by Blackstone,鈥欌 said Mang, CEO of Blackstone Equity Healthcare, which manages benefits for some of Blackstone鈥檚 portfolio companies. 鈥淚鈥檓 sure there are a lot of HR leaders who are saying, 鈥極h geez, what are these guys going to do?鈥欌 (Perna, 5/15)
Once a full-service hospital that performed heart surgery and treated a range of stroke patients, Beth Israel on Manhattan鈥檚 East Side offers more limited services these days. The number of employees has dwindled from 1,800 to about 1,300 in less than a year. Some floors are nearly empty of patients. That is because for years Beth Israel鈥檚 parent hospital system, Mount Sinai, has been trying to close it, saying it loses too much money. (Goldstein, 5/16)
Jefferson Health and Lehigh Valley Health Network聽have taken a major step toward completing their proposed merger. The two health systems have signed a definitive agreement to merge, according to a Wednesday news release. The organizations聽said they plan to create聽a $15 billion regional nonprofit system with more than 65,000 employees, which will operate聽30 hospitals and more than 700 care sites in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. (Hudson, 5/15)
State leaders on Wednesday unveiled a new $305 million hospital, part of an $2.5 billion overhaul of the state鈥檚 aging psychiatric hospital system. Austin State Hospital is a new 240-bed facility that has been built on the existing 80-acre campus located about three miles north of downtown Austin. The Old Main Building, which opened 1861 has been designated a historic landmark. It will continue to be used for offices, when the hospital opens its doors later this summer. (Simpson, 5/15)
Allianz confirmed its 2024 guidance after growth across all of its segments over the first quarter boosted its net profit by 22%. Europe鈥檚 largest insurer made a net profit of 2.475 billion euros ($2.68 billion) compared with EUR2.16 billion in the year-earlier period, it said Wednesday. (Vardon, 5/15)
The founder of a Philadelphia-based health care company is going the extra mile to hire caregivers from diverse cultural backgrounds who can communicate with clients in their native languages. There's nothing quite like a home-cooked meal, and caregiver Uknary Rennie recently cooked up something special for her 84-year-old client, Phun Ing 鈥 a traditional Cambodian seafood soup with shrimp, vegetables and rice. (Wright, 5/15)
Seeking to differentiate itself from other makers of CAR-T cancer therapies, Galapagos NV on Wednesday announced it had struck a deal with Blood Centers of America to open up dozens of manufacturing sites for its cell-based medicines around the U.S. (Joseph, 5/15)
Roche (ROG.S) shares gained as much as 4.7% early on Thursday after an early-stage trial showed that the obesity drug candidate by newly acquired Carmot Therapeutics led to significant weight loss. The Swiss drugmaker said the study in the first of three trial stages required for regulatory approval showed the compound known as CT-388 resulted in weight loss of 18.8%, when adjusted for a placebo effect, after 24 weeks in healthy adults with obesity. (Burger, 5/16)
In other industry news 鈥
Ascension is facing the first class-action complaints related to a ransomware attack it reported last week that shut down systems and continues to disrupt operations. The two complaints ... allege that聽Ascension failed to properly safeguard patients' private information and put them at risk of fraud or identity theft.聽(Hudson, 5/15)
The Connecticut Hospital Association is suing Prospect Medical Holdings and its three financially troubled hospitals, alleging they have failed to pay $1.75 million in dues and other fees over the past two years. (Altimari, 5/15)
Pfizer (PFE.N), opens new tab will pay up to $250 million to settle more than 10,000 U.S. lawsuits over cancer risks associated with its discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The drugmaker was set to pay between $200 million and $250 million in the settlement, the newspaper reported, citing two people briefed on the deal. The settlement was disclosed in a court filing in Delaware last week, and is aimed at reducing Pfizer's potential liability, the report added. (5/16)
Also 鈥
Dr. Rod Hochman, president and CEO of Providence for 11 years, will retire Jan.1, the health system announced Wednesday.聽The Renton, Washington-based system, which has 51 hospitals, more than 1,000 clinics and 120,000 employees in seven states, said聽its board has begun a search for a successor. Hochman will move into the role of CEO emeritus.聽(Devereaux, 5/15)
Taking care of her dad after his two hip replacements awakened Jasmine Barnachea鈥檚 desire to be a nurse, but she needed a way to jumpstart her health care education. So when Barnachea, a nutritional aide at Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital, heard about the Basic Nursing Assistant Training Program, she applied and got in. The program at Northwestern Medicine started in 2022 and is free to employees. It recently opened up to outside candidates as well, and offers a payment plan. (Neumann, 5/15)
Covid Research Group Loses Funding, May Be Banned Over Reporting Lapses
EcoHealth Alliance plans to contest the ruling by the Department of Health and Human Services. In other news, as funding for pandemic-era initiatives dwindles, the CDC's program to provide uninsured adults free covid vaccines will end early.
The Biden administration, under acute pressure from House lawmakers, moved on Wednesday to ban funding for a prominent virus-hunting nonprofit group whose work with Chinese scientists had put it at the heart of theories that Covid leaked from a lab. The decision, announced in a letter from the Department of Health and Human Services, came on the heels of a scorching congressional hearing this month at which lawmakers barraged the group鈥檚 president with suggestions that he had misrepresented work with virologists in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic began. (Mueller, 5/15)
The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic shared the letter signed by HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisitions Katrina Brisbon to EHA President Peter Daszak. 鈥淎 thorough investigation determined that there is adequate evidence that EHA has not been compliant with federal regulations and grant terms and conditions, which affects EHA鈥檚 present responsibility,鈥 and HHS spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill. (Choi, 5/15)
Uninsured and underinsured adults could have a harder time getting the newest Covid-19 vaccine this fall, just as temperatures cool and cases are expected to rise. The CDC鈥檚 Bridge Access Program, which provides free updated Covid vaccines to uninsured adults, will end in August, according to the agency. The program was slated to end in December. (Gardner, 5/15)
In covid research news 鈥
AstraZeneca's (AZN.L) COVID-19 prevention therapy reduced the risk of infection in patients with weaker immunity in a late-stage trial, meeting its primary goal, the drugmaker said on Thursday. The long-acting antibody therapy called sipavibart showed a "statistically significant reduction" in symptomatic COVID-19 cases among immunocompromised patients, the company said. (5/16)
A new analysis of pre-vaccine data from scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 18% of hospitalized patients and 44% of those admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) for COVID-19 died, with wide variations among different groups.聽The study was published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases and is based on 2,479,423 cases from 21 jurisdictions with hospitalization information reported to the CDC from May 1, 2020, to December 1, 2020, to create a hospitalization dataset. (Soucheray, 5/15)
In a new study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, Hunter and colleagues from the University of East Anglia analyzed official data from the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics from November 2021 to May 2022 to explore how infection risk factors changed before and after the first Omicron wave. Risk factors included history of foreign travel, household size, employment status, contact with children and wearing a face mask. (Dewan, 5/15)
PETA Condemns Xenotransplantation After Death Of Historic Kidney Patient
The transplant of a genetically altered pig kidney into a human was hailed as a milestone, but PETA's Senior Science Policy Manager Julia Baines alleged the organ transplant was a failure in a statement. Massachusetts General Hospital said there was no indication the organ was related to the death of the patient.
Animal rights organization PETA has condemned the use of animal organs in human transplantation after the world's first living recipient of a genetically modified pig kidney passed away just weeks after receiving the organ transplantation. ... The transplantation was celebrated as a "historic milestone" in medical research, which experts hope will make organ transplantation more readily available in the future. However, not everyone agrees with the use of animals in this technology. (Dewan, 5/15)
Gregory Hess was running out of time. His kidneys had stopped working. He鈥檇 die without an organ transplant. For two years, Hess had scrambled to find a kidney donor. Friends and family offered to donate, but each potential donor got ruled out for medical or logistical reasons. Hess, an emergency medicine doctor from Wayne, began flying around the country to register with multiple transplant centers, which improved his chances of getting a kidney on a waitlist with roughly 90,000 Americans. (Ruderman, 5/16)
Lauren Sheppard decided to perform 鈥28 acts of kindness鈥 for her 28th birthday. She paid for the customer behind her at the Dunkin鈥 Donuts drive-through, left flowers at neighbors鈥 doorsteps, and wrote heartfelt cards to friends. And, she donated a kidney to a stranger. 鈥淚t was a no-brainer,鈥 Sheppard said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 need it. Somebody else does. I鈥檓 going to give this away.鈥 (Ruderman, 5/16)
Also 鈥
Twenty-eight years ago, Brad Szczecinski was at a volleyball tournament in prime physical fitness when he ended up in the emergency room. His blood pressure spiked, and he learned quickly he would need a new kidney 鈥 the main regulator of blood pressure in the body. (Kalra, 5/15)
Study Highlights Hospital Covid Death Risks As Higher Than For Influenza
Scientists have estimated that during the past winter respiratory virus season, hospitalized covid patients were at 35% higher risk of death from any cause than patients with the flu. The risk is actually down, however, from the previous winter's 61% figure.
During the 2023-24 respiratory virus season, hospitalized US COVID-19 patients were at a 35% higher risk for death from any cause than those admitted for influenza, compared with a 61% higher risk the winter before, estimates a聽research letter published today in JAMA. (Van Beusekom, 5/15)
In other research news 鈥
A new blood test can be performed in a pregnant person鈥檚 first trimester to help assess their risk of developing preeclampsia, a potentially life-threatening pregnancy complication. It鈥檚 the first and only test of its kind available in the United States that can be used between 11 and 14 weeks gestation to determine the risk of preeclampsia before 34 weeks of pregnancy, its maker, Labcorp, announced Wednesday. The first trimester聽is the period from 0 to 13 weeks of a pregnancy. (Howard, 5/15)
Having a female doctor could lower the risk of death or major health issues after surgery or hospitalization, studies have shown over and over. The latest evidence, published Wednesday in the British Journal of Surgery, finds that surgical teams with more women see fewer health complications among patients than male-dominated teams. (Bendix, 5/15)
Heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease are among the most common chronic illnesses in the United States 鈥 and they鈥檙e all closely connected. ... The three illnesses overlap so much that last year the American Heart Association coined the term cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome to describe patients who have two or more of these diseases, or are at risk of developing them. A new study suggests that nearly 90 percent of American adults already show some early signs of these connected conditions. (Sheikh, 5/15)
To better understand problems in the brain鈥檚 blood vessels that may lead to stroke, we need a better way to see them. Cardiovascular imaging can peer inside coronary arteries to spot clots blocking blood flow to the heart, but those tools are dangerously large for the smaller arteries inside the brain that twist and turn in tortuous ways. (Cooney, 5/15)
Neuralink's disclosure last week that tiny wires inside the brain of its first patient had pulled out of position is an issue the Elon Musk company has known about for years, according to five people familiar with the matter. The company knew from animal testing it had conducted ahead of its U.S. approval last year that the wires might retract, removing with them the sensitive electrodes that decode brain signals, three of the sources said. Neuralink deemed the risk low enough for a redesign not to be merited, the sources added. (Levy, 5/15)
States Are Failing New And Expecting Moms In Mental Health, Report Finds
The Biden administration's plan to stem untreated conditions during pregnancy includes "data and research; prevention, screening and diagnosis; intervention and treatment; community practices; and community engagement."
Jaqueline Sharp, 35, remembers聽her anxiety 鈥渨ent through the roof鈥 shortly after she gave birth to her son in 2019. ... Sharp is one of the millions of women whose mental health declined after delivery. About 1 in 5 pregnant or postpartum women in the United States will experience a mental health disorder like depression, anxiety or suicidal ideation, according to the American Psychiatric Association. But very few of these women will receive treatment. (O鈥機onnell-Domenech, 5/15)
The Biden administration on Tuesday announced the first national maternal mental health strategy, seeking specific actions from Congress and multiple federal agencies to reduce the effects of untreated mental health and substance use conditions during and after pregnancy. (Raman, 5/15)
蘑菇影院 Health News:
Federal Panel Prescribes New Mental Health Strategy To Curb Maternal Deaths
Milagros Aquino was trying to find a new place to live and had been struggling to get used to new foods after she moved to Bridgeport from Peru with her husband and young son in 2023. When Aquino, now 31, got pregnant in May 2023, 鈥渋nstantly everything got so much worse than before,鈥 she said. ... Perinatal depression affects as many as 20% of women in the United States during pregnancy, the postpartum period, or both, according to studies. (Platzman Weinstock, 5/16)
A study by Rutgers Health experts of more than 31 million hospital records shows that infertility treatment patients were twice as likely as those who conceived naturally to be hospitalized with heart disease in the year after delivery. (Rutgers, 5/15)
In news relating to abortion 鈥
More than 50 percent of Black girls and women of reproductive age live in states with little to no abortion access, according to a new report.聽The analysis from National Partnership for Women & Families and In Our Own Voice: National Black Women鈥檚 Reproductive Justice Agenda found that nearly 7 million Black women ages 15-49 live in the 26 states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion. (Daniels, 5/15)
Vice President Kamala Harris paused briefly after telling an audience last month in Las Vegas, 鈥淪o, let鈥檚 all be clear.鈥 What followed has become a hallmark of her public campaign against states鈥 abortion bans. 鈥淲hat we are seeing in these states that we are talking about are Trump abortion bans, and he can鈥檛 get away from that,鈥 Harris said, repeating the line for effect: 鈥淭hose are Trump abortion bans.鈥 (Bennett, 5/15)
A new abortion clinic will open in southeast Kansas this fall, bolstering the state鈥檚 role as a regional hub for reproductive health services whose neighbors have severely restricted access since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. ... After the Roe reversal, Kansas was the first state where voters weighed in on abortion at the ballot box, resoundingly rejecting a constitutional amendment that could have led to an abortion ban in August 2022. (Fingerhut and Mulvihill, 5/15)
Also 鈥
The national legal battle over transgender rights is escalating, making it difficult for the Supreme Court to avoid the hot-button social issue much longer. A growing number of courts have weighed in on several contested issues, including transgender healthcare, medical procedures for minors, participation on school sports teams and limits on drag shows. Some courts have enshrined new rights for transgender individuals, while others have rejected claims for legal protections. (Wolfe and Kusisto, 5/15)
Inside a Boise clinic in April, Dr. Marvin Alviso was meeting with a transgender patient who had been on puberty blockers for a year. The Boise teen was ready and 鈥済iddy鈥 to start taking testosterone, Alviso said, as part of the next step in his transition. It鈥檚 also a step in the slate of practices recommended in gender-affirming medicine. Alviso was about to prescribe his patient the hormone when he received a message from a nurse to come see her. He left the patient鈥檚 room, and the nurse told him the news: The U.S. Supreme Court just allowed Idaho鈥檚 gender-affirming care ban for minors to take effect. (Stevenson and Savransky, 5/16)
Experts Warn Of Energy Drink Health Risks For Youngsters
In other news, research shows certain vegetarian diets 鈥 including less-restrictive versions like a lacto-ovo diet 鈥 reduce risks of cancer, heart disease, and early death. And food safety regulators are looking into possible pesticide contamination in certain Indian spice blends.
Hennessy Sepulveda thought she was going to die. 鈥淚 began dissociating as I was driving. I was 10 minutes away from my house. My vision started warping and the lights were hitting me really bright,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 felt my chest pounding, I felt a wave of panic hit me 鈥 I knew something was wrong.鈥 Sepulveda, a Florida International University student who was 19 at the time, was admitted to the hospital, and was surprised by the cause of her symptoms: the Monster energy drink she had just a few hours earlier. (Gillespie, 5/15)
Eating a vegan, vegetarian or lacto-ovo vegetarian diet significantly reduces the overall risk of developing cancer, heart disease and dying early from cardiovascular disease, according to a new 鈥渦mbrella鈥 analysis of more than 20 years of research. An umbrella review looks at existing metanalyses of large numbers of studies, providing a high-level view of existing research on a topic. (LaMotte, 5/15)
Food safety regulators around the world have launched investigations into two brands of Indian spice blends over concerns that they may be contaminated with cancer-causing pesticides. ... The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is also gathering information about the alleged contamination, and regulators in New Zealand and Australia have launched their own investigations, according to the report. (Dewan, 5/15)
The World Health Organization urged countries Wednesday to set legal limits on the amount of salt in manufactured foods, restaurants and canteens in a suite of recommendations to curb excessive intake and cut rates of heart disease. Nearly all countries in the European region 鈥 51 out of 53 鈥 have an average daily salt intake above the WHO recommended maximum of 5 grams per day. This poses serious health concerns, the WHO says. (Chiappa, 5/15)
Migraines are increasing in frequency and intensity among Americans: Could climate change be a reason? Although the number of Americans who have migraines has remained stable for the last 30 years, their impact on people鈥檚 daily activities 鈥 including missing social events or being less productive at school or work 鈥 has become much worse, according to a recent study. (Sudhakar, 5/16)
Hawaii Study: Respiratory, Lung Issues Plague Many Maui Wildfire Survivors
The Washington Post and AP report on a new University of Hawaii study on the effects of the Lahaina wildfire. Researchers found, among other things, that up to 74% of the 679 people surveyed had elevated blood pressure levels, meaning a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. Other news from around the nation comes from California, Missouri, North Carolina, West Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado, Kentucky, Louisiana, and more.
A University of Hawaii study examining the health effects of last year鈥檚 deadly wildfires on Maui found that up to 74% of participants may have difficulty breathing and otherwise have poor respiratory health, and almost half showed signs of compromised lung function. The data ... comes from what researchers hope will be a long-term study of wildfire survivors lasting at least a decade. Researchers released early results from that research on Wednesday. (McAvoy, 5/16)
In west Maui, thousands of people are living in the burn zones 鈥 in or near homes that absorbed heavy amounts of toxic smoke from the most deadly wildfire in U.S. history. Many residents say their health is compromised or declining because of exposure to ash, debris and smoke, according to a new health report released Wednesday and first reported by The Washington Post. (Sacks, 5/15)
On other developments across the country 鈥
State lawmakers voiced frustration on Wednesday over a lack of detail on Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 promised $25-per-hour minimum wage for health care workers, saying they need to know soon as they work to pass his newly proposed budget. 鈥淲e鈥檒l have to see it soon, because we need to pass this budget in like a month,鈥 Assembly Health Budget Chair Akilah Weber told administration representatives at a hearing Wednesday. (Bluth, 5/15)
蘑菇影院 Health News:
California鈥檚 $12 Billion Medicaid Makeover Banks On Nonprofits鈥 Buy-In
For much of his young life, Jorge Sanchez regularly gasped for air, at times coughing so violently that he鈥檇 almost throw up. His mother whisked him to the emergency room late at night and slept with him to make sure he didn鈥檛 stop breathing. 鈥淗e鈥檚 had these problems since he was born, and I couldn鈥檛 figure out what was triggering his asthma,鈥 Fabiola Sandoval said of her son, Jorge, now 4. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so hard when your child is hurting. I was willing to try anything.鈥 (Hart, 5/16)
Missouri鈥檚 GOP-led Legislature on Wednesday renewed a more than $4 billion Medicaid program that had been blocked for months by a Republican faction that used it as a bargaining tool. The bill which now heads to Gov. Mike Parson will renew a longstanding tax on hospitals and other medical providers. Money from the tax is used to draw down $2.9 billion in federal funding, which is then given back to providers to care for low-income residents on Medicaid health care. (Ballentine, 5/15)
Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are pushing forward with their plan to repeal a pandemic-era law that allowed the wearing of masks in public for health reasons, a move spurred in part by demonstrations against the war in Gaza that have included masked protesters camped out on college campuses. The legislation cleared the Senate on Wednesday in a 30-15 vote along party lines despite several attempts by state Senate Democrats to change the bill. (Seminera, 5/16)
West Virginia voters ousted the Republican state Senate president on Tuesday, as well as a doctor who drew fire for breaking with his party over school vaccination policy. They were among at least eight incumbent GOP legislators who lost in the state鈥檚 primary elections.(Willingham and Raby, 5/16)
Time is running out for legislation that would make it harder to sue pesticide manufacturers over claims their products cause cancer, with an unusual coalition of opponents working to ensure they鈥檝e stalled the bill鈥檚 progress. The bill, critics argue, shields large corporations at the expense of everyday Missourians who have developed non-Hodgkin鈥檚 lymphoma they attribute to the use of pesticides formulated with glyphosate 鈥 most prominently, Roundup. (Kite, 5/16)
In a state that ranks among the top 10 wealthiest, nearly half a million people don鈥檛 know where their next meal is coming from. One in eight Connecticut residents experienced 鈥渇ood insecurity鈥 in 2022, rising from one in 10 in 2021, according to the latest annual 鈥淢ap the Meal Gap鈥 report from hunger-relief organization Feeding America. (Phillips, 5/15)
The gas you put in your car has an octane rating between 85 and 91 in Colorado, but, to get off the ground, airplanes need a little more oomph. Standard aviation fuel for piston-engine aircraft 鈥 think Cessnas and other small planes 鈥斅 has an octane rating of at least 100. But that extra pop comes with a price: The fuel typically has lead in it. (Ingold, 5/15)
Pertussis, or whooping cough, is spreading at Lexington schools with six total cases so far, and all central Kentucky families should look for symptoms while ensuring kids are up-to-date on their vaccines, Lexington-Fayette Health Department officials said Wednesday. Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory illness spread by coughing and sneezing. It affects people of all ages but can be most serious in infants and those with chronic diseases., officials said. (Spears, 5/16)
Until this year, there were no inpatient beds for children under 12 in Acadiana. Now, there are 10 beds available at the only local facility currently offering those services to patients under 18, but the resources still fall short compared to the growing need for adolescent mental health services. The area 鈥渋s under-resourced for inpatient adolescent and pediatric needs, and really all psychiatric needs,鈥 explained Dr. Foster Kordisch, who oversees Lafayette General鈥檚 emergency department. ERs are often the entry point into the mental health care system for those in crisis. (Maschkle, 5/8)
There are so few Indigenous physicians in the United States 鈥 just 0.3% of doctors 鈥 that their numbers barely show up in charts and graphs depicting the diversity of the medical workforce. But as of Thursday, there will be at least nine more. (McFarling, 5/16)
Maryland will part ways with its troubled provider of medical care in state prisons, following a decision Wednesday by the Board of Public Works to forgo contracting with the company again. (Roberts, 5/15)
Colstrip Power Plant owners and politicians are ignoring the public health impacts of air toxics emissions as they blame the EPA for costly air pollution controls, several health and environmental organizations said Tuesday. Since the Environmental Protection Agency rolled out tougher standards on mercury and air toxic emissions April 25, Montana elected officials and power plant owners have characterized the new rules as unreasonably expensive, a potential power plant killer for Colstrip. But the rules have been in the works for years and the health benefits going unmentioned are significant, said those speaking during a Tuesday press conference. (Lutey, 5/15)
蘑菇影院 Health News:
Medics At UCLA Protest Say Police Weapons Drew Blood And Cracked Bones
Inside the protesters鈥 encampment at UCLA, beneath the glow of hanging flashlights and a deafening backdrop of exploding flash-bangs, OB-GYN resident Elaine Chan suddenly felt like a battlefield medic Police were pushing into the camp after an hours-long standoff. Chan, 31, a medical tent volunteer, said protesters limped in with severe puncture wounds, but there was little hope of getting them to a hospital through the chaos outside. (Castle Work and Kelman, 5/16)
Research Roundup: New Antibiotics; Phage Therapy; Avian Influenza
Each week, 蘑菇影院 Health News compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
A new聽report indicates that without additional investments in antibiotic research and development (R&D) from governments and other stakeholders, the pipeline for new antibiotics could become considerably weaker over the next decade, with only a few candidates in the late stages of development. (Dall, 5/15)
Results from a new study are providing new insights into the therapeutic potential of bacteriophage (phage) therapy for treating diseases like cystic fibrosis (CF). (The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, 5/15)
Texas Tech University's Biological Threat Research Laboratory (BTRL) played a key role in detecting the first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A (H5N1) transmitted from a mammal (dairy cow) to a human. (Texas Tech University, 5/13)
A small number of New York City wild birds carry highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Virology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. (American Society for Microbiology, 5/15)
Editorial writers tackle reproductive rights, chronic pain, bird flu, and health care hiring.
The saga of Anthony Comstock and the Comstock Act mostly lingered as a dusty historical tale until March 26, 2024. On that day, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments from attorneys representing a small group of anti-abortion physicians who sought to restrict access to mifepristone, a safe and effective abortion drug approved by the FDA in 2000. (Amy Werbel, 5/15)
There鈥檚 a lot of buzz surrounding the new non-addictive pain pill that is up for FDA approval. It works as well as opioids for treating acute pain, and shows promise in treating chronic neuropathic pain as well. We are constantly getting messages from patients we are treating for all different types of chronic pain 鈥 arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia, and pain we just can鈥檛 seem to figure out 鈥 along the lines of 鈥淒oc, have you heard about it? When it鈥檚 available, sign me up!鈥 But treating chronic pain is so much more than a prescribed pill 鈥 even a non-addictive one. (Antje M. Barreveld and Edin Randall, 5/16)
In 1918, an influenza virus jumped from birds to humans and killed an estimated 50 million to 100 million people in a world with less than a quarter of today鈥檚 population. Dozens of mammals also became infected. (John M. Barry, 5/16)
Healthcare added more than 650,000 jobs last year. How many of those new hires signed a noncompete agreement with their employment contract when they walked through the door?聽(Mary Ellen Podmolik, 5/13)