- 蘑菇影院 Health News Original Stories 3
- High Price of Popular Diabetes Drugs Deprives Low-Income People of Effective Treatment
- Biden Leans Into Health Care, Asking Voters To Trust Him Over Trump
- Watch: Medical Residents Are Increasingly Avoiding Abortion Ban States
- Political Cartoon: 'Follow the Insurance Plan Road?'
From 蘑菇影院 Health News - Latest Stories:
蘑菇影院 Health News Original Stories
High Price of Popular Diabetes Drugs Deprives Low-Income People of Effective Treatment
The makers of Ozempic and Mounjaro charge list prices of around $1,000 a month for the diabetes and obesity drugs, and insurers are reluctant to pick up the tab. Often, low-income patients have to resort to less effective treatments. (Renuka Rayasam, )
Biden Leans Into Health Care, Asking Voters To Trust Him Over Trump
President Joe Biden鈥檚 new health care ad draws on the Affordable Care Act鈥檚 popularity among independent voters and alludes to his edge over Trump on health issues. (Phil Galewitz, )
Watch: Medical Residents Are Increasingly Avoiding Abortion Ban States
On 蘑菇影院 Health News鈥 鈥淲hat the Health?,鈥 chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner interviewed Atul Grover of the Association of American Medical Colleges about its recent analysis showing that graduating medical students are avoiding training in states with abortion bans and major restrictions. ( )
Political Cartoon: 'Follow the Insurance Plan Road?'
蘑菇影院 Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Political Cartoon: 'Follow the Insurance Plan Road?'" by Andrew Toos.
Here's today's health policy haiku:
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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:
Over 1 Million Claims Granted Under PACT Act For Vets Exposed To Toxins
The White House released the latest numbers related to 2022 PACT Act, which provides compensation and disability benefits for veterans who were sickened by toxic materials during their service. More claims are also in the works, with 4.17 million submitted over the past two years.
The White House on Tuesday announced that more than 1 million claims have been granted through the PACT Act, a landmark law passed in 2022 that gave veterans expanded access to apply for compensation and relief related to toxic exposures during service. More than 880,000 veterans are receiving disability benefits through the PACT Act across the entire country and its territories, according to the White House. (Dress, 5/21)
Former Army National Guard Spc. Donald Carey, a Desert Storm veteran, had reached the point in his long bout with homelessness where he was telling himself and anyone who would listen: "Just get me off the street. Gotta' get off the street." Former Marine Lance Cpl. Byron Malcolm Ballard, who served a harrowing tour with the Corps in Lebanon, had grown weary of sleeping behind a library and getting into fights that were rowdy enough to land him in court several times. (Sisk, 5/20)
In other Biden administration news 鈥
蘑菇影院 Health News:
Biden Leans Into Health Care, Asking Voters To Trust Him Over Trump
Angling to tap into strong support for the sweeping health law he helped pass 14 years ago, one of President Joe Biden鈥檚 latest reelection strategies is to remind voters that former President Donald Trump tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act. 鈥淔olks, he鈥檚 coming for your health care, and we鈥檙e not going to let it happen,鈥 Biden says of Trump in a television and digital ad out this month, part of a $14 million investment in the handful of states expected to decide the presidency in November. (Galewitz, 5/21)
Bird Flu Spreads To Three Dairy Herds In Michigan, Cats In South Dakota
In a scientific breakthrough, researchers have developed a full genetic sequence of the H5N1 virus from milk. With this new information, they say they can better monitor the progression of the disease in dairy cattle.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDRAD) today reported three more H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in dairy herds, noting that it will send results to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) for confirmation. Also, H5N1 has been detected in two domestic cats in South Dakota, neither of them from affected poultry farms or dairy farms, according to a notification from US government officials to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH). (Schnirring, 5/20)
Scientists from the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center have managed to generate a full genetic sequence of H5N1 virus from milk, a development they suggest means commercially purchased milk products could be used to monitor the progress of the bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle and to check for important changes in the virus over time. (Branswell, 5/21)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Monday that it tested retail samples of milk and other dairy products in 17 states for viable bird flu virus, providing further details about the locations of the previously disclosed tests. The regulator said it collected 297 samples at retail locations in 17 states between April 18-22, but the retail samples represented products made at 132 processing locations in 38 states. (5/20)
As Dr. Sreyleak Luch drove to work the morning of Feb. 8, through busy sunbaked streets in Cambodia鈥檚 Mekong river delta, she played the overnight voice messages from her team. The condition of a 9-year-old boy she had been caring for had deteriorated sharply, and he had been intubated, one doctor reported. What, she wondered, could make the child so sick, so fast? 鈥淎nd then I just thought: H5N1,鈥 she recalled. 鈥淚t could be bird flu.鈥 (Nolen, 5/20)
The bird flu virus that is spreading through American dairy cows can probably be traced back to a single spillover event. Late last year, scientists believe, the virus jumped from wild birds into cattle in the Texas panhandle. By this spring, the virus, known as H5N1, had traveled hundreds of miles or more, appearing on farms in Idaho, North Carolina and Michigan. The virus did not traverse those distances on its own. Instead, it hitched a ride with its hosts, the cows, moving into new states as cattle were transported from the outbreak鈥檚 epicenter to farms across the country. (Anthes and Qiu, 5/20)
As unnerving as H5N1鈥檚 current spread in cows might be, 鈥淚 would be a whole lot more concerned if this was an event in pigs,鈥 Richard Webby, the director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds, told me. Like cows, pigs share plenty of spaces with us. They also have a nasty track record with flu: Swine airways are evolutionary playgrounds where bird-loving flu viruses can convert鈥攁nd have converted鈥攊nto ones that prefer to infect us. (Wu, 5/20)
Visiting Saudi Arabia? Be Sure To Get Meningococcal Vaccine First, CDC Says
Twelve cases stemming from people who either traveled to the nation or were close contacts prompted the travel and health alerts. In other news, a more severe mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could have global implications.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today issued a health alert and a level 1 travel alert about meningococcal disease in travelers to Saudi Arabia, especially those taking part in pilgrimage activities. The alerts follow a recent notification from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Of 12 recent cases in the United States and Europe due to Saudi Arabia travel, 10 were in people who traveled to Saudi Arabia and 2 were close contacts, the CDC said in its Health Advisory Network notice. (Schnirring, 5/20)
An ongoing outbreak of the clade 1 mpox virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) poses a threat to the United States, authors write in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Clade 1 is more deadly and severe than the clade 2 virus that caused a global outbreak among men who have sex with men (MSM) in 2022.聽(Soucheray, 5/20)
In covid news 鈥
Long COVID is likely much more prevalent than indicated in electronic health record (EHR) diagnostic or referral codes, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine researchers聽report in eClinicalMedicine. (Van Beusekom, 5/20)
New guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aims to help schools reduce the spread of infections, but recommendations include some that Florida officials have spoken out against. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo have previously discouraged vaccination and mask wearing 鈥 particularly when it comes to COVID-19. (Miller, 5/21)
If the effects don't fade too rapidly, new data suggests regular COVID-19 vaccinations could strengthen our immune systems against future variants and even related viruses. This is on top of the proven protection they already provide against current infections. (Koumoundouros, 5/21)
Doctors Say Texas' Emergency Abortion Rules Will Only Increase Confusion
During a public hearing Monday, physicians and lawyers said the medical board's rules don't answer critical questions such as 鈥渉ow close to death a patient needs to be鈥 before a doctor can intervene.
The Texas Medical Board鈥檚 attempt to clarify when doctors can legally perform emergency abortions falls short and could make working under the state鈥檚 near-total ban even worse, dozens of doctors, lawyers and patients warned during a public hearing Monday. The proposed rules, which the board unveiled in March, do not lay out a list of conditions or situations that warrant an emergency abortion. (Goldenstein, 5/20)
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is leading a charge to protect access to in vitro fertilization as conservative states scramble to figure out where IVF fits in the new anti-abortion legal landscape. On Monday, Cruz and Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, both conservative, anti-abortion Republicans, filed the IVF Protection Act, which would make states ineligible to receive Medicaid funding if they ban IVF. (Klibanoff, 5/20)
As some Republicans try to moderate their messaging on abortion over concerns about voter backlash this November, some activists are trying to go much further. Outside a fertility clinic in Charlotte, N.C., last month, dozens of protestors lined both sides of the street, as some shouted toward the closed front door. ... The protest was organized by a group of activists who describe themselves as abortion abolitionists, who recently spent a long weekend in Charlotte meeting and strategizing. (McCammon, 5/21)
Also 鈥
Nevada abortion rights supporters said Monday they have enough signatures on a petition to qualify for a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution. Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, the organization behind the petition, said it has collected more than 200,000 signatures from voters in all 17 counties, double the 102,362 threshold required to qualify for the November 2024 election. (Kekatos, 5/21)
The abortion rights position has won in seven of seven states post-Roe v. Wade. But Arizona and Florida are especially big 鈥 as are the margins by which their ballot measures lead. (Blake, 5/20)
蘑菇影院 Health News:
Watch: Medical Residents Are Increasingly Avoiding Abortion Ban States
On 蘑菇影院 Health News鈥 鈥淲hat the Health?,鈥 chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner interviewed Atul Grover of the Association of American Medical Colleges about its recent analysis showing that graduating medical students are avoiding training in states with abortion bans and major restrictions. (Rovner, 5/21)
Looking to expand access to medication abortion even further in Illinois, Planned Parenthood is allowing people to request access to the drugs without seeing a doctor. Patients who are up to 10 weeks pregnant can fill out screening questions on the Planned Parenthood Direct app any time of the day and provide an Illinois address where their medication abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol would be mailed if they qualify. (Schorsch, 5/21)
Health Officials To Unveil $50 Million Program To Beat Cyberattacks
The effort will create tools to defend net-connected private hospitals from cyberattacks like the recent Ascension and Change Health hacks 鈥 the effects of which are still reverberating, with cybersecurity experts reportedly on "edge" and looking for system weaknesses.
The US government is seeking to play a more active role in protecting the private health-care sector from a deluge of cyberattacks that have disrupted patient care and left providers unpaid. US health officials will unveil Monday a new program to create tools that defend internet-connected hospital equipment from cyberattacks that could take them offline or leave them incapacitated. (Griffin, 5/20)
A recent string of massive healthcare cybersecurity breaches has put data security leaders on edge.聽Health system cybersecurity executives are looking at their biggest points of weakness in the aftermath of large-scale breaches at聽St. Louis-based health system Ascension, UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare and Chicago-based Lurie Children's Hospital.聽(Turner, 5/20)
The Los Angeles Department of Mental Health notified some of their clients after their personal information may have been accessed during a data breach two months ago.聽It happened on March 20 when a LACDMH employee clicked on a phishing email, compromising their account. The department said the employee had a confidential client and patient information in those accounts.聽LACDMH said it immediately enlisted the help of a "nationally recognized forensic firm" to determine what had been accessed and downloaded. (Rodriguez, 5/20)
More health care industry developments 鈥
Declining doctors' pay in Medicare is getting its most serious look in nearly a decade in the Senate, with a bipartisan push launched Friday by the Senate Finance Committee. Doctors have grown especially vocal in recent years about falling聽Medicare reimbursement.聽Groups including the American Medical Association have estimated doctors were effectively getting paid 26% less in 2023 than in 2001 because the physician fee schedule set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is not adjusted for inflation. (McAuliff, 5/20)
Steward Health Care is seeing interest from potential buyers of its 31 hospitals, particularly in Massachusetts and Arizona, and it hopes to complete sales this summer. The health system, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection聽earlier this month, also is in advanced discussions with UnitedHealth Group's Optum to buy physician network Stewardship Health.聽Optum, which had been negotiating with Steward before the bankruptcy filing, submitted聽a "stalking horse" bid. (Hudson, 5/20)
The families of five patients who died awaiting liver transplants at Memorial Hermann were granted a temporary injunction Monday against a surgeon accused of potentially preventing some patients from receiving organs. The order granted by 295th District Court Judge Donna Roth prevents Dr. J. Steve Bynon聽from deleting or destroying critical evidence, such as emails and text messages, that may be relevant to a potential wrongful death claim in the future. Roth previously granted a temporary restraining order in the case, which expired after 14 days. (MacDonald, 5/20)
Even when she had a massive infection and grueling pain from a cracked tooth, Nicole Sutton could not get a dentist to provide timely care. Sutton, a single mother based in Tampa, Florida, could only get herself on a waitlist where she got in line to see one of the few dentists who take Medicaid, the government insurance for low-income families. She visited a hospital emergency room and a federally funded community health center, but those appointments only yielded prescriptions for antibiotics and pain pills. (Alltucker, 5/20)
UnitedHealth Teases New Value-Based Drug Pricing Model Coming In 2025
UnitedHealth's OptumRx Clear Trend Guarantee is designed to help manage insurers' costs for drugs, Reuters says. Under value-based models like this, everyone in the supply chain agrees to link payments for the drugs to the patient's outcome.
UnitedHealth said on Monday its unit OptumRx would offer a new pricing model, starting next year, to help manage insurers' costs for drugs. The new model, Optum Rx Clear Trend Guarantee, will provide value-based pricing of drugs per member combining the cost of these medicines from various sources such as retail pharmacy, home delivery, specialty drug and rebates. (5/20)
More on the cost of drugs 鈥
In just a few years, Hims & Hers Health Inc. reached almost $1 billion in sales by making it easy to buy cheap, generic versions of popular drugs such as Viagra. Now it鈥檚 using that playbook to jump into the hottest part of health-care: weight-loss shots. And in typical fashion, a big part of the company鈥檚 pitch is the discount. Wegovy, made by Novo Nordisk A/S, costs roughly $1,350 for a month of injections without insurance, and Eli Lilly & Co.鈥檚 Zepbound is similarly priced. Hims said it鈥檚 offering a treatment with the same active ingredient as Wegovy for $199 a month. That undercuts big pharma by as much as 85%. (Muller and Nix, 5/20)
蘑菇影院 Health News:
High Price Of Popular Diabetes Drugs Deprives Low-Income People Of Effective Treatment
For the past year and a half, Tandra Cooper Harris and her husband, Marcus, who both have diabetes, have struggled to fill their prescriptions for the medications they need to control their blood sugar. Without Ozempic or a similar drug, Cooper Harris suffers blackouts, becomes too tired to watch her grandchildren, and struggles to earn extra money braiding hair. Marcus Harris, who works as a Waffle House cook, needs Trulicity to keep his legs and feet from swelling and bruising. (Rayasam, 5/21)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday approved two close copies of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' Eylea, its first-ever clearance to biosimilar versions of the blockbuster eye treatment. The agency approved Biocon Biologics' Yesafili as well as Samsung Bioepis and Biogen's (BIIB.O), opens new tab Opuviz, while also allowing interchangeability, or the drug's substitution with biosimilars without the need for a doctor's advice. (5/20)
In legal news 鈥
GSK has been sued by an independent Connecticut laboratory that accused the drugmaker of defrauding the U.S. government and taxpayers by concealing cancer risks in Zantac, once a blockbuster heartburn drug. In a whistleblower complaint filed on Monday, Valisure said GSK violated the federal False Claims Act by hiding the risks for nearly four decades while Medicare, Medicaid and other health programs covered billions of dollars of prescriptions. (Stempel, 5/20)
A Howard University scientist on Monday sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for failing to act on his six-year-old petition seeking a warning label for two classes of common antidepressant drugs about the potential for persistent sexual side effects. In a complaint filed in Washington, D.C. federal court, Antonei Csoka said the FDA has "unreasonably delayed issuing a decision in light of the nature and extent of the public health interests addressed in the petition." (Pierson, 5/20)
The family of Henrietta Lacks can proceed with a lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company that uses the Baltimore County woman鈥檚 鈥渋mmortal鈥 cell line to develop medical treatments, a federal judge ruled Monday. (O'Neill, 5/20)
In tech and pharma advancements 鈥
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave a green light to Elon Musk鈥檚 Neuralink to implant its brain chip in a second person, signing off on the company鈥檚 proposed fixes for a problem that occurred in the first test participant. The fixes include embedding some of the device鈥檚 ultrathin wires deeper into the brain, according to a person familiar with the company and a document viewed by The Wall Street Journal.聽(Winkler, 5/20)
An experimental drug from GSK Plc reduced asthma attacks in late-stage trials, paving the way for a treatment that the British drugmaker thinks could exceed 拢3 billion ($3.8 billion) in sales. The drug, depemokimab, showed clinically meaningful reductions in severe asthma exacerbations over 52 weeks in patients with eosinophilic asthma, according to a statement Tuesday. That form of asthma is caused by high levels of white blood cells called eosinophils in the lungs鈥 airways. (Furlong, 5/21)
988 Helpline Has Helped 10 Million People In Crisis Since Launch
The Boston Globe pays particular attention to Rhode Island, where over 33,000 calls have been answered, which has the country's highest in-state answer rate. The hotline was launched in 2022.
Since it launched in 2022, nearly 10 million calls, texts and chats have been received as part of the 988 system, and in Rhode Island, the 988 and BH Link hotline have answered more than 33,000 calls, officials said Monday. And they said Rhode Island now has the country鈥檚 highest in-state answer rate, meaning that 98 percent of the calls are answered by people in the state rather than being patched through to call centers in other states. (Fitzpatrick, 5/20)
Medicaid news from North Carolina and Delaware 鈥
Medicaid expansion has already provided more than 450,000 low-income North Carolinians with health insurance. Could it also help them find better-paying jobs? State lawmakers believed that was the case when they approved legislation making North Carolina the 40th state to expand access to Medicaid in March 2023. (Baxley, 5/21)
Delaware will test a Medicaid program allowing delivery of meals and diapers to postpartum enrollees for three months after giving birth. The pilot program approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Friday is the latest effort to expand coverage of social supports aimed at improving the health of Medicaid beneficiaries. (Millman, 5/20)
More health news from across the U.S. 鈥
A $4.5 million federal investment is bringing Makerspace to Coppin State, and health care services to West Baltimore. A $2 million portion of the funding will be allocated to open an Open Works Maker Space at Coppin State University. The facility will provide high-tech tools, an industrial co-working space, and technical education programs for students of all ages.聽Also included are workforce development programs that will support local entrepreneurs and community projects. (Olaniran, 5/20)
When the doors closed last year at the only cancer center in the Florida Keys, public officials and local residents worried that Monroe County's 82,000 residents may lose more specialized medical care in the future. Those concerns were evident this month when the Lower Keys Hospital District Board announced it was going to convene a special committee to set minimum care standards on the Lower Keys Medical Center鈥檚 next lease. (Cooper, 5/20)
A potent animal tranquilizer is likely behind an increase in drug overdoses in Chicago this month, health officials warned on Monday.聽The overdoses happened between May 11 and May 14, and drug samples from those cases tested positive for elevated levels of medetomidine. This powerful veterinary tranquilizer is not approved for human use.聽Chicago health officials said medetomidine has not previously been detected in Chicago. (Dodge, 5/20)
The surgery was supposed to alleviate worry, but now, years later, Whitney Carter鈥檚 mind kept flicking back to it, wondering if it could be undone. She sometimes descended into these moods, taciturn, withdrawn, as if all hope had gone extinct. She sat on the couch in the half-light, blinds shut against the heat. The whole thing made her feel less than, like some essential part of her had been removed. (Boodman, 5/21)
Study Links Higher Fluoride Exposure In Pregnancy To Kids' Behavior Issues
Also in the news: More seniors are making ER visits as legalized weed is approved in more places; a major study found that weed use by minors was lower in states where the drug was legal; paralysis treatment from a novel spinal cord stimulator; and more.
A new study finds that higher fluoride levels in pregnant women are associated with increased odds of their children experiencing neurobehavioral problems at age 3. (5/20)
On marijuana and cannabis 鈥
As more places legalize marijuana, policymakers and health officials have worried about the health risks that the drug may pose to adolescents. But a new study suggests that an additional demographic is at risk: seniors. The study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that after Canada legalized marijuana, the number of emergency room visits for cannabis poisoning rose sharply among people ages 65 and older. Poisonings doubled after Canada legalized sale of the cannabis flower, and then tripled just 15 months later, when Canada legalized the sale of edibles. (Richtel, 5/20)
Contrary to expectation, a major study found that weed use among minors was lower in states where the drug was legal. (Richtel, 5/20)
In other health and wellness news 鈥
Hundreds of genetic variants can nudge someone鈥檚 risk of breast cancer up or down or towards a particular subtype. The studies identifying those gene variants, though, have largely involved people with European ancestry and thus give a less accurate picture of breast cancer risk for people who are not white. (Chen, 5/21)
After his spinal cord injury in 2014, Sherown Campbell worked hard to regain as much bodily function as he could. Once a dedicated athlete, Campbell had to learn the new limits of his body. One of them, jarringly, was his body鈥檚 inability to sweat. (Lawrence and Broderick, 5/20)
Men are at higher risk of Type 2 diabetes, and a new study says it may boil down to hormonal differences. In general, men tend to develop Type 2 diabetes at a lower BMI than women and at younger ages.聽They also are more likely to develop complications from both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, such as heart disease, poor circulation in the legs, kidney failure, and vision impairment. (Marshall, 5/20)
British authorities and the country鈥檚 public health service knowingly exposed tens of thousands of patients to deadly infections through contaminated blood and blood products, and hid the truth about the disaster for decades, an inquiry into the U.K.鈥檚 infected blood scandal found Monday. An estimated 3,000 people in the United Kingdom are believed to have died and many others were left with lifelong illnesses after receiving blood or blood products tainted with HIV or hepatitis in the 1970s to the early 1990s. (Hui, 5/20)
Viewpoints: US Policies Hinder Needed Immigrant Doctors; Here's How PCPs Hope To Collaborate With AI
Editorial writers tackle immigrant doctors, AI in health care, mental health, and more.
The U.S. needs more doctors, and there is no getting around the fact that we are going to need many of them to be immigrants. (Shahryar Rana, 5/21)
I am both excited and terrified by the entrance of artificial intelligence into my primary care practice. AI鈥檚 enormous potential to help clinicians become more focused on patients, available, diagnostically accurate, and efficient feels like a dream. Yet memories of the nightmarish introduction of the electronic heath record into clinicians鈥 work lives looms like a dark cloud. (Jeffrey Millstein, 5/21)
My team at The Trevor Project, the nation's leading provider of suicide prevention and crisis intervention services for LGBTQ youth, released our 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health and Well-being of LGBTQ+ Young People. Commensurate to previous years' findings, we see that LGBTQ young people have much higher rates of considering or attempting suicide than their straight and cisgender peers; 39 percent of LGBTQ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year鈥攊ncluding 46 percent of transgender and nonbinary young people. (Ronita Nath, 5/20)
Let's think about the perspective of a new nurse鈥攖hey went through years of rigorous studies (mostly in the classroom), passed a major exam, were elated and ready for practice but were then thrust into the chaos of a hospital environment. Multiple patients, interruptions, and administrative duties make a recipe for quick burnout and error. Unsurprisingly, nearly 18 percent of these dedicated professionals leave the profession within their first year, overwhelmed by the demands at the bedside after finding it doesn't match up with what they expected in clinical practice. (Tim Bristol, 5/20)
鈥淭elehealth is collapsing.鈥 鈥淭elehealth is going through a contraction.鈥 鈥淭here is a dark cloud hovering over virtual care.鈥 These are just a few of the doomsday views sparked by the news that Optum and Walmart are shutting down their virtual care businesses. (Owen Tripp and Robin Glass, 5/21)