First Edition: Monday, Oct. 7, 2024
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KFF Health News:Even Political Rivals Agree That Medical Debt Is An Urgent Issue While hot-button health care issues such as abortion and the Affordable Care Act roil the presidential race, Democrats and Republicans in statehouses around the country have been quietly working together to tackle the nation's medical debt crisis. New laws to curb aggressive hospital billing, to expand charity care for lower-income patients, and to rein in debt collectors have been enacted in more than 20 states since 2021. (Levey, 10/7)
KFF Health News:FDA's Promised Rules On Pulse Oximeters Unlikely To End Decades Of Racial Bias The patient was in his 60s, an African American man with emphysema. The oximeter placed on his fingertip registered well above the 88% blood oxygen saturation level that signals an urgent risk of organ failure and death. Yet his doctor, Noha Aboelata, believed the patient was sicker than the device showed. So she sent him for a lab test, which confirmed her suspicion that he needed supplemental oxygen at home. (Allen, 10/7)
KFF Health News:Catholic Hospital Offered Bucket, Towels To Woman It Denied An Abortion, California AG Said When Anna Nusslock showed up at her local hospital 15 weeks pregnant and in severe pain earlier this year, she said, a doctor delivered devastating news: The twins she and her husband had so desperately wanted were not viable. Further, her own health was in danger, and she needed an emergency abortion to prevent hemorrhaging and infection. (Castle Work, 10/7)
KFF Health News:KFF Health News' 'What The Health?': The Health Of The Campaign The 2024 presidential race is taking on a familiar tone — with Democrats accusing Republicans of wanting to ban abortion and repeal the Affordable Care Act and Republicans insisting they have no such plans. Voters will determine whom they believe. ... Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News' Lauren Sausser, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-Washington Post "Bill of the Month," about a teenage athlete whose needed surgery lacked a billing code. (Rovner, 10/4)
The Washington Post:Overdose Deaths Decline Sharply After Years Of Fentanyl-Fueled Surges Overdose deaths appear to be declining sharply in the United States, a sign that efforts to combat the scourge of lethal fentanyl may be paying off even as experts caution that the toll remains unacceptably high and could rise again. Preliminary data compiled by states and released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show a 10 percent drop in deaths during the 12-month period ending in April 2024, with about 101,000 people succumbing to overdoses. (Ovalle, 10/7)
Fierce Healthcare:CMS Authorizing Accelerated, Advance Payments For Hurricane-Impacted Providers, Suppliers Providers and suppliers feeling the weight of Hurricane Helene and its aftermath will see accelerated and advance Medicare payments alongside other assistances and flexibilities, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Wednesday. Specifically, the agency said those in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster zones may request the payments on an individual basis. Enrolled Part A providers and Part B supplies must have billed the program for claims in the 90 days prior to the disaster's aftermath and be in good standing. (Muoio, 10/3)
NBC News:Field Hospitals Set Up To Treat North Carolina Storm Victims Sit Mostly Empty Health care companies and nonprofit organizations have erected fully equipped field hospitals in North Carolina, in a pre-emptive attempt to treat residents injured by Hurricane Helene. But few patients had shown up Friday at the hospital set up in a large, white tent by Samaritan's Purse, an aid organization founded by Christian evangelist Franklin Graham, near the remote mountain towns of Newland and Linville, some 140 miles west of Greensboro. (Burke, 10/5)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:Disaster Mobile Mortuary Ready To Move If North Carolina Hits Mortuary Capacity A team of forensic pathologists, funeral home directors and DNA specialists is assembled in Charlotte to help state and local officials if the North Carolina death toll from Tropical Storm Helene continues to climb and the challenge of identifying bodies becomes unmanageable. Suzanne Sellman, a spokesperson with federal Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, said the Disaster Mortuary Response Team is ready to mobilize as soon as it is needed anywhere in the state. (Van Egeren, 10/6)
The New York Times:For Some Children, Hurricane Helene's Ruin 'Could Take Years to Get Over' Tens of thousands of children across the Southeast remain out of their classrooms one week after Helene, the deadliest hurricane to strike the mainland United States since Katrina. They are cut off from academics, friends and stabilizing routines. Hurricane Helene ravaged school buildings, demolished football fields and killed young children and their educators. Dozens of schools are closed for the foreseeable future. (Closson and Sandoval, 10/7)
The Washington Post:Helene Response Hampered By Misinformation, Conspiracy Theories One day after Helene slammed into Asheville, N.C., leading to seven trees falling on her house and destroying her roof, Nicole McNeill read an alarming that warned a second storm was barreling toward the area. McNeill, 43, had a panic attack, her anxiety spiking and her heart pounding. She knew she didn't have enough gasoline in her car to evacuate from yet another disaster. But it was all a hoax. Across the Southeast, false rumors and conspiracy theories are flying about Helene, which made landfall as a major hurricane about a week ago, causing at least 229 deaths in six states. The misinformation is adding to the chaos and confusion in many storm-battered communities, including many rural areas that lack power and cell service, leading locals to rely on word of mouth. (Joselow, Oremus, De Vynck and Berman, 10/5)
The Washington Post:Vance Says Trump Administration Would End Funding To Planned Parenthood Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), former president Donald Trump's running mate, said that Trump, if elected, would seek to end federal money for Planned Parenthood. "We don't think that taxpayers should fund late-term abortions," Vance told RealClearPolitics on Saturday night. "That has been a consistent view of the Trump campaign the first time around, it will remain a consistent view." Vance's comments on Saturday against one of the biggest reproductive health care providers in the nation stand in stark contrast to recent positioning by himself, Trump and other Republicans on the issue of reproductive rights. (Alfaro and Cha, 10/6)
NPR:Three States Show How Abortion, Schools And Taxes Are At Stake In Legislature Races Elections for state legislatures don't get the attention that races for president or Congress do but they often have a big impact on our lives. Congress is divided and gridlocked. In contrast, nearly all state legislatures have both chambers run by one party or another. That makes it easy to pass laws. And they've been passing a lot. ... This year, several legislatures could see power shift if just a few seats flip in the election — maybe just a matter of hundreds of votes in some districts. (Schutsky, Ferguson and Irwin, 10/5)
The Independent:DeSantis Threatens Local TV Stations For Airing Abortion Rights Campaign Ads Ron DeSantis's administration has appeared to threaten a local TV station with legal action for airing an abortion rights campaign ad. The ad in question is the same one that aired in Florida during the vice presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance. It features a woman named Caroline who needed to have an abortion and cancer treatments after a brain tumor diagnosis in 2022. Florida is one of several states with reproductive rights on the ballot this November. If passed, Amendment 4 would enshrine the right to abortion care in the state's constitution, effectively overturning the six-week ban. The Health Department said that if the ad is not removed within 24 hours, the department will initiate legal proceedings to obtain an injunction. (Lubin, 10/6)
The Texas Tribune:Facing A Tight Race, Ted Cruz Goes Quiet On Abortion U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has been a loud anti-abortion crusader throughout his political career. But as reproductive rights loom over the election season as a key issue for voters, Cruz is uncharacteristically quiet. The Texas Republican, running for a third term in the Senate, is locked in a tight race against U.S. Sen. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, who has made restoring access to abortion and blaming Cruz for the toppling of Roe v. Wade central to his campaign. (Guo, 10/7)
The New York Times:Melinda French Gates's New Life: Abortion Politics And Kamala Harris After her divorce from Bill Gates, Ms. French Gates came into her own billions of dollars, with which she could do whatever she chose. She used to insist on appearing nonpartisan, but no more. (Schleifer, 10/6)
Politico:The Supreme Court's Back. These 2024 Election Cases Could Land On Its Docket. Heading into the court's opening session on Monday, the justices have agreed to hear 40 cases this term. None of those cases is nearly as consequential as the high court's forays in recent years into abortion, affirmative action and gun rights. The cases on tap do include some politically sensitive disputes, like a fight over a Tennessee law banning hormone treatments for transgender minors. There's also an argument set for Tuesday on the Biden administration's effort to ban so-called "ghost guns," which are assembled from kits purchased over the internet and are often untraceable. Another case tests a new Texas law that requires visitors to porn websites to provide identification proving they're over 18. (Gerstein,10/7)
The New York Times:Supreme Court 'Ghost Guns' Case Has Major Implications For An Industry In Flux The number of untraceable homemade guns recovered at crime scenes has fallen since the enactment of rules restricting the sale of the weapons, according to law enforcement statistics. (Thrush, 10/7)
San Francisco Chronicle:California Reports Third Possible Human Bird Flu Case State health officials have identified a third possible case of bird flu in a human, according to an announcement Saturday. The suspected case involves an individual from the Central Valley who had contact with infected dairy cattle, according to the California Department of Health. Confirmation of H5N1 avian flu presence is pending results from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Vaziri, 10/5)
The Mercury News:Sick California Farmworkers Could Help Reveal Evolution Of Bird Flu Federal scientists are closely studying H5N1 genetic sequences from California dairy workers in search of any dangerous mutations that may make the virus, called avian flu or bird flu, more skilled at jumping from animals to people — then spreading. "It can tell us how the virus is evolving," said Stanford infectious disease expert Dr. Abraar Karan. "It is a window into what is going on." (Krieger, 10/5)
NBC News:Is Bird Flu Spreading In People? Without Blood Test Results, Officials Can't Say A total of seven people who were in close contact with a bird flu patient in Missouri developed symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday, but it remains unclear whether these represent cases of human-to-human spread of the virus. Antibody blood test results, which will come back later this month, officials said, are needed to answer that question. Since most of the seven people weren't tested for bird flu, it's not yet known whether any of them were infected with the virus or another pathogen. (Lovelace Jr., 10/4)
Reuters:Sanofi, GSK, CSL Tapped To Expand US Bird Flu Vaccine Supply GSK, Sanofi, and CSL Ltd have secured $72 million from the U.S. government to ramp up production of bird flu vaccines, a health official said on Friday during a press briefing. The move comes as a multi-state outbreak among livestock and poultry has caused human illnesses and infected more than 254 herds in 14 states since March, according to government data. The companies will use the funds to fill vials and pre-filled syringes so that doses can be ready to distribute if needed, said David Boucher, director of Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (10/4)
Times of San Diego:San Diego County Investigating First Ever Case Of Locally Acquired Dengue Officials are looking into what appears to be the first case of locally-acquired dengue in San Diego County's history. The illness appeared in an Escondido resident who had not recently traveled anywhere that the mosquito-borne illness is common. (Binkowski, 10/6)
The Mercury News:Highly Aggressive, Dangerous Mosquito Species Found Again In Santa Clara County Discovery of more dangerous and highly aggressive Aedes aegypti mosquitos near a San Jose cemetery has Santa Clara County officials imploring residents to remove standing water and give access to pest-control crews so the insects don't becoming a permanent menace. The invasive mosquitos can transmit dengue, yellow fever and other serious diseases, and also threaten "our way of life" because of their voracious feeding on human blood can take place in the middle of the day, unlike the state's native mosquitos, the county warned in a Friday press release. (Baron, 10/6)
The Boston Globe:West Nile Update: Mass. Reports 2 More Virus Cases In Humans Two additional human cases of West Nile virus have been confirmed in women in Massachusetts, raising the state's total this year to 15, state health officials said Friday. A woman in her 60s was exposed to the mosquito-borne illness in Middlesex County, and a woman in her 70s was probably exposed while out-of-state, according to a statement from the state Department of Public Health. (McDonald, 10/4)
Reuters:Rwanda Begins Marburg Vaccinations To Curb Deadly Outbreak Rwanda said on Sunday it had begun administering vaccine doses against the Marburg virus to try to combat an outbreak of the Ebola-like disease in the east African country, where it has so far killed 12 people. "The vaccination is starting today immediately," Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana said at a news conference in the capital Kigali. (10/6)
CNN:Nobel Prize In Medicine Goes To Victor Ambros And Gary Ruvkun For Work On The Discovery Of MicroRNA This year's Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their work on the discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated. The Nobel Prize committee announced the prestigious honor, seen as the pinnacle of scientific achievement, in Sweden on Monday. It praised the American biologists' "groundbreaking discovery," which the committee said "revealed an entirely new dimension to gene regulation." Ambros, a professor of natural science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, conducted the research that earned him the prize at Harvard University. Ruvkun conducted his research at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. (Edwards, 10/7)
CNN:5 Nobel-Worthy Discoveries That Haven't Won The Prize There is no shortage of Nobel-worthy discoveries: Here are five breakthroughs that haven't resulted in a life-changing call from Stockholm — at least not yet. (Hunt, 10/7)
Modern Healthcare:CMS' 2026 Benefits, Payment Policies Aim To Stop Rogue ACA Agents The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wants to take a firmer hand against health insurance marketers that fraudulenty switch exchange enrollees' plans without their consent. On Friday, the agency issued a proposed rule updating the regulations that govern the health insurance exchange marketplaces next year, including provisions to strengthen its authority to suspend dishonest agents and brokers and to prevent low-income people from losing coverage when they fall behind on premium payments. (Early, 10/4)
Modern Healthcare:Hospital-At-Home Lowers Medicare Costs, But Extends Stays: Study Hospital-at-home patients were more likely to be white, had longer lengths of stay and cost Medicare less money than patients receiving in-facility care, according to a new report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In the 79-page report released Monday, CMS evaluated home-based acute care delivered at 332 hospitals nationwide as a requirement of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. (Eastabrook, 10/4)
Modern Healthcare:How Private Equity Bills Targeting Healthcare Deals Fared In 2024 More than a dozen states have passed laws over the last several years bolstering notification requirements for healthcare transactions, some of which specifically cite corporate owners of healthcare entities like private equity and real estate investment companies. But last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed the most ambitious state-led private equity oversight bill under consideration this year. In doing so, the Golden State became the sixth state to nix legislation designed to bolster merger reviews. (Kacik, 10/4)
Becker's Hospital Review:'This Is Not The Step We Wanted To Take': UVM Halts Construction Of $129M Facility Burlington-based University of Vermont Medical Center, part of Burlington-based The University of Vermont Health Network, has temporarily paused construction on a $129 million outpatient surgical center. The decision was taken to meet obligations set by the Green Mountain Care Board in an effort to decrease the budget for the new fiscal year, which started in October. "While planning related to the project may continue, active construction will be paused until next year at the earliest," an Oct. 4 UVM Medical Center news release shared with Becker's said. (Ashley, 10/4)
CBS News:Michigan Medicine Health Care Workers Issue Strike Notice Over 2,700 health care workers with Michigan Medicine have sent a strike notice to hospital administration and management. The workers, represented by Service Employees International Union Health Care Michigan (SEIU HCMI), will conduct a one-day strike on Oct. 15, according to a release. Nearly 98% of the group voted to issue the strike. According to the release, workers are asking for pay increases and to restore benefits that were taken away during the pandemic. Negotiations for a first union contract began one year ago. (Lentz, 10/6)
The Boston Globe:Boston Medical Center Emerges From Steward Crisis As Larger Force Dr. Alastair Bell, chief executive of Boston Medical Center, got up early on Tuesday, the first day of the post-Steward era in Massachusetts. He drove to Brockton to greet caregivers as they arrived at Good Samaritan Medical Center. In the afternoon, he was back in Boston, welcoming staffers at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center as upbeat music played and managers handed out doughnuts in the lobby. That day, they became employees of BMC, the state's largest safety net hospital — now by a long shot. (Weisman, 10/4)
Modern Healthcare:Here's Where Healthcare Hiring Is Rising And Falling In 2024 Employment gains in healthcare have been slightly weaker this year than last but the overall numbers mask some dramatic swings in different parts of the industry, particularly in hospitals. The average monthly increase in overall healthcare hiring during the first nine months of the year was 53,977 jobs added, slightly less than 2023's 55,378 positions. In hospitals, the gains have been robust. (Broderick, 10/4)
The Washington Post:A Young Doctor's Final Words Offer A Mental Health Warning For Others David West barely slept the night his older brother, William Ballantyne West Jr., called him from his D.C. apartment, sounding worried. His brother had earned the nickname "Iron Will" for the tenacity he showed when faced with challenges. He had rock-climbed, gone on a religious mission to Italy and competed in overnight relay races. But during that call earlier this year, Will talked about how his problems felt too big to solve: He was not getting the training he needed to prepare him to practice medicine. He was not getting enough time to sleep or recharge after long shifts. Happiness, he felt, would elude him always. (Portnoy, 10/5)
Modern Healthcare:Ophelia, Bicycle Health Urge DEA To Rethink Virtual Prescribing Telehealth companies that focus on opioid addiction treatment say not all controlled substances should be regulated equally by the Drug Enforcement Administration. The legal authority allowing clinicians to prescribe DEA-regulated medications virtually, without an office visit, expires Dec. 31 and a draft version released last year triggered protests from providers and telehealth companies. (Perna, 10/4)
Bloomberg:Sanofi Healthcare Bidders Revising Offers Over Talc Concerns Bidders for Sanofi's consumer healthcare unit are revising their offers in part to address concerns around potential liabilities related to a brand that sold talcum powder, according to people with knowledge of the matter. French pharmaceutical company Sanofi had asked suitors to revise their proposals for the Opella business, Bloomberg News reported earlier this week. The new bids may exclude parts of the Gold Bond business, a brand that historically sold talc-based products, or seek to leave any future legal risks with Sanofi, said the people. (Morpurgo and Eleanor Duncan, 10/4)
Bloomberg:Novo Nordisk To Invest $158 Million In Brazilian Insulin Plant Novo Nordisk A/S is investing 864 million Brazilian reais ($158 million) to revamp a plant in Brazil responsible for a quarter of the Danish company's global insulin production. Novo said it will modernize its Montes Claros plant, in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, and install sustainability projects. The facility, opened in 2007, produces insulin for Brazil's national health system as well as for export. (Sousa, 10/5)
Reuters:Regeneron Loses Key Defense In COVID-19 Treatment Patent Lawsuit Biotech company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals lost a bid on Friday to be held immune from allegations that it misused a patented protein while testing a COVID-19 treatment. (Brittain, 10/4)
The Wall Street Journal:Activist Starboard Value Takes $1 Billion Stake In Pfizer Activist investor Starboard Value has taken a roughly $1 billion stake in Pfizer and wants the struggling drugmaker to make changes to turn its performance around, according to people familiar with the matter. Pfizer had a market value of about $162 billion as of Friday. Its shares have been roughly cut in half from a record high notched in late 2021 after the company delivered the world's first Covid-19 vaccine. They are little changed so far this year, compared with a 21% rise in the S&P 500. (Thomas, 10/6)
Fox News:Aging Slowdown Could Be Surprise Benefit Of Existing Medication, Research Shows The immune-suppressing medication rapamycin, also known as sirolimus, is being used off-label as a means of extending longevity. "By targeting a key pathway (mTOR) in cells, this drug has been shown to extend lifespan in animals and could be beneficial to prevent age-related diseases in humans," Dr. Andrea B. Maier — a professor in healthy aging and dementia research at the Director of the Centre for Healthy Longevity at the National University of Singapore — told Fox News Digital. (McGorry, 10/7)
USA Today:FDA: Recall Of Salmonella Linked Eggs Upgraded To 'Serious' The Food and Drug Administration in late September upgraded a previous egg recall alert to warn consumers of serious reactions and possibly death, if consumed. The recall was originally announced Sept. 6 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and was upgraded Sept. 30 to Class I, a product that "will cause serious adverse health consequences or death." (Forbes, 10/5)
This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations..
