First Edition: Oct. 7, 2022

KHN:
Abortion Bans Skirt A Medical Reality: For Many Teens, Childbirth Is A Dangerous Undertaking 

Maryanna’s eyes widened as the waitress delivered dessert, a plate-sized chocolate chip cookie topped with hot fudge and ice cream. Sitting in a booth at a Cheddar’s in Little Rock, Maryanna, 16, wasn’t sure of the last time she’d been to a sit-down restaurant. With two children — a daughter she birthed at 14 and a 4-month-old son — and sharing rent with her mother and sister for a cramped apartment with a dwindling number of working lights, Maryanna rarely got out, let alone to devour a Cheddar’s Legendary Monster Cookie. (Varney, 10/7)

KHN:
Hurricane Ian Shows That Coastal Hospitals Aren’t Ready For Climate Change 

As rapidly intensifying storms and rising sea levels threaten coastal cities from Texas to the tip of Maine, Hurricane Ian has just demonstrated what researchers have warned: Hundreds of hospitals in the U.S. are not ready for climate change. Hurricane Ian forced at least 16 hospitals from central to southwestern Florida to evacuate patients after it made landfall near the city of Fort Myers on Sept. 28 as a deadly Category 4 storm. (Chang and Sausser, 10/7)

KHN:
Photographer’s 12-Year Quest To Document Her Life Produces A Rich Portrait Of Aging

A dozen years ago, at age 70, Marna Clarke had a dream. She was walking on a sidewalk and rounded a corner. Ahead of her, she saw an end to the path and nothing beyond. It was a turning point for Clarke. “I realized, ‘Oh my God, I’m nearer the end than the beginning,’” she said. Soon, she was seized by a desire to examine what she looked like at that time — and to document the results. (Graham, 10/7)

KHN:
As The Deadline Creeps Up, Submit Your Scariest Halloween Health Haikus 

Submissions are now open for KHN’s fourth annual Halloween Haiku competition. KHN has been publishing reader-submitted health care haikus for years and is on pins and needles to see how this holiday season inspires you. We want your best scary health care or health policy haiku. Submissions will be judged by an esteemed panel of experts. We’ll share favorites on our social media channels, and members of our staff will pick the winners, announced on Monday, Oct. 31. (10/7)

KHN:
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Looking Ahead To The Lame-Duck Session

When the lame-duck Congress returns to Washington after Election Day, it will face a long list of health items needing attention before the end of the year, including setting overall spending for health programs and averting a series of Medicare payment cuts to health care providers. Meanwhile, in California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a first-in-the-nation bill aimed at curbing covid-19 misinformation and disinformation by doctors. (10/6)

Politico:
U.S. Will Divert Travelers Who Have Been To Uganda To 5 Airports As Ebola Outbreak Worsens 

The Biden administration will reroute passengers coming to the U.S. who have been in Uganda to five designated airports for additional health screenings, the government said on Thursday, as an Ebola outbreak in the east African nation widens. All passengers, including U.S. citizens and residents, who have been in Uganda in the last 21 days will be flown to airports in New York, Newark, Atlanta, Chicago or Washington, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection will conduct the screening, according to a notification from the U.S. Embassy in Uganda. (Mahr and Pawlyk, 10/6)

AP:
US To Begin Screening Travelers Coming From Uganda For Ebola

Those passengers will have a “temperature check, risk assessment, visual symptom check, and contact information verification” conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Authorities will share that Information with local health departments at the travelers’ final destination. (Miller, 10/6)

The Washington Post:
Biden Offers Mass Pardon For Those Convicted Of Marijuana Possession 

[Biden] also directed his administration to expedite a review of whether marijuana should continue to be listed as a Schedule I substance, a classification reserved for the most dangerous drugs, including heroin, LSD and ecstasy. “Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana,” Biden said in a video statement. “It’s time that we right these wrongs.” He added: “There are thousands of people who were convicted for marijuana possession who may be denied employment, housing or educational opportunities as a result.” (Olorunnipa and Abutaleb, 10/6)

The New York Times:
Biden Pardons Thousands Of People Convicted Of Simple Marijuana Possession 

Marijuana is already fully legal in about 20 states, and some other states have relaxed criminal penalties, according to DISA, a large drug-testing company that tracks state laws regarding marijuana. It remains fully illegal in a handful of states. The federal government will stop charging anyone with simple possession starting on Thursday, officials said. Mr. Biden’s announcement could give Democrats a boost in the upcoming midterm elections, especially among young people, liberals and minority communities. (Shear and Kanno-Youngs, 10/6)

The Hill:
Advocates Cheer Biden Marijuana Decision, Call For Legalization

Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a statement that she is “thrilled” with Thursday’s news, adding that Biden should fully deschedule marijuana rather than reschedule it to a lower drug classification. “Keeping marijuana on the federal drug schedule will mean people will continue to face criminal charges for marijuana,” she said. “It also means that research will continue to be inhibited and state-level markets will be at odds with federal law.” (Evers-Hillstrom, 10/6)

The New York Times:
Teenagers Keep Vaping Despite Crackdowns On E-Cigarettes 

High school students resumed taking the annual National Youth Tobacco Survey in school this year and 14 percent of them reported using e-cigarettes, underscoring how an upstart industry is dodging regulators’ efforts to spare a generation from nicotine addiction. The number shows a slight change from 11 percent last year, but researchers cautioned against drawing comparisons to 2021’s survey, which was conducted differently because it took place when many schools were closed during the pandemic. The latest results were released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday. (Jewett, 10/6)

USA Today:
Millions Of Teens Still Vape, Use Flavored E-Cigarettes, Survey Finds

The Food and Drug Administration banned flavored vaping products derived from tobacco, but underage users have increasingly turned to synthetic nicotine products, often disposable and sold in flavors favored by underage vapers. The survey, conducted Jan.18 through May 31, reported 85% of teen vapers said they used flavored e-cigarettes and more than half used disposable e-cigarettes. Unlike in 2019 when the Silicon Valley-based JUUL was the most recognizable brand, teens reported a wide variety of favored brands. (Alltucker, 10/6)

The New York Times:
Gun-Related Suicides And Killings Continued To Rise In 2021, C.D.C. Reports 

Homicides and suicides involving guns, which soared in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, continued rising in 2021, reaching the highest rates in three decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday. Firearms caused 47,286 homicide and suicide deaths in 2021, up from 43,675 in 2020, according to the agency’s research, which is based on provisional data. Rates of gun-related homicide and suicide each rose by 8.3 percent last year. (Rabin, 10/6)

NBC News:
Gun Deaths In 2021 Hit Highs Not Seen Since Early ’90s, CDC Finds

“We had hoped after a 35% increase in one year, that it would either level off or go down,” said Thomas Simon, the lead author of the new study and the associate director for science in the CDC’s division of violence prevention. “But instead, it continued to climb in 2021. And now the suicide rate also climbed.” Simon said disparities in gun homicide rates among racial groups have widened.(Griffith, 10/6)

ABC News:
Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Part Of NY’s New Gun Law

Thursday’s ruling is at least a temporary victory for six New York residents who said the new law is just as restrictive — and unconstitutional — as the one the Supreme Court overturned. (Katersky and DiMartino, 10/6)

Scientific American:
Do You ‘Matter’ To Others? The Answer Could Predict Your Mental Health 

In South Carolina a grieving mother whose son died by suicide hands out stickers to young people. The sticker bears the words “Jackson Matters and So Do You.” To be important to others—to matter—has become more than just a truism. “You Matter” is the tagline of the National Suicide Prevention hotline. And the phrase “Black Lives Matter” calls attention to the exclusionary racism to which more than one in eight Americans is exposed. Over the past 30 years, but never more so than now, psychologists have formalized “mattering” into a psychological construct that uniquely predicts depression, suicidal thoughts or other mental ills. It also foretells physical resilience among the elderly. (Russo, 10/6)

AP:
Planned Parenthood Pours $5M Into Vital North Carolina Races 

Planned Parenthood’s political arm announced a $5 million investment Thursday in North Carolina’s battleground races as Democrats fight to preserve the governor’s veto power in one of the last abortion access points in the Southeast. Just 32 days from Election Day, with absentee voting now underway, Planned Parenthood Votes and Planned Parenthood Action PAC North Carolina are targeting 14 legislative swing districts with ads, mailings, phone banks and canvassing. The investment is part of an existing $50 million national campaign to protect reproductive rights in nine target states — the largest-ever electoral program in its history. (Schoenbaum, 10/6)

AP:
Idaho Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over 3 Abortion Laws 

The Idaho Supreme Court heard arguments in lawsuits over three of Idaho’s abortion laws on Thursday, sharply questioning attorneys about the value placed on a pregnant woman’s health, the state’s interest in ensuring that pregnancies are carried to term and Idaho’s long history of anti-abortion laws. (Boone, 10/6)

AP:
Jewish Women Cite Faith In Contesting Kentucky Abortion Ban

Kentucky’s sweeping abortion ban was challenged Thursday by three Jewish women who brought a lawsuit arguing that it violates their religious rights under the state’s constitution. The legal challenge, filed in state court in Louisville, says the state’s Republican-dominated legislature “imposed sectarian theology” by prohibiting nearly all abortions. The lawsuit bears similarities to legal challenges to abortion bans in at least two other states. (Schreiner, 10/6)

Stat:
Potential Roadblock To Wider Telemedicine Abortion: State Medical Boards

In the post-Roe landscape, advocates for abortion rights are pinning hopes on telehealth as one way to provide access in states with newly imposed limits. (Pasricha, 10/7)

NPR:
Barnard College Will Offer Abortion Pills For Students

The move, a direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, was made to ensure students’ access to abortion health services no matter what the future holds, Marina Catallozzi, Barnard’s chief health officer, and Leslie Grinage, the dean of the college, said in a statement announcing the move. (Diaz, 10/7)

The Hill:
CDC To Stop Reporting Daily COVID-19 Cases, Moving To Weekly Reports 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will stop reporting daily COVID-19 cases later this month and switch to weekly reports after more than two years of near constant daily updates. In an update regarding its coronavirus data and surveillance, the CDC said it was transitioning from daily to weekly reports to allow for more “flexibility” and to reduce the burden on state and local governments. The change in case reporting will take place on Oct. 20. (Choi, 10/6)

San Francisco Chronicle:
Masking Recommendation For School Nurses’ Offices Quietly Dropped By CDC

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has changed its masking guidance for K-12 schools, updating a portion that previously said the agency “recommends masking at all times in healthcare settings, including school nurses’ offices, regardless of the current COVID-19 Community Level.” (Vaziri, 10/6)

Reuters:
COVID Rebound After Pfizer Treatment Likely Due To Robust Immune Response, Study Finds

A rebound of COVID-19 symptoms in some patients after taking Pfizer’s antiviral Paxlovid may be related to a robust immune response rather than a weak one, U.S. government researchers reported on Thursday. They concluded that taking a longer course of the drug – beyond the recommended five days – was not required to reduce the risk of a recurrence of symptoms as some have suggested, based on an intensive investigation of rebound in eight patients at the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center. (Leo and Steenhuysen, 10/7)

CIDRAP:
Omicron Infection More Effective Than Earlier Variants Against BA.4/BA.5 Reinfection 

Infection with a pre-Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant offered 35.5% protection against symptomatic Omicron BA.4 or BA.5 reinfection, while an Omicron infection was 76.2% protective, according to a Qatari test-negative, case-control study published yesterday in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine. (Van Beusekom, 10/6)

USA Today:
Flu, COVID, RSV: Children Are Getting Sick With Winter Viruses

“We are continuing to see a very high number of sick children with various respiratory problems,” said Dr. Stan Spinner, vice president and chief medical officer of Texas Children’s Pediatrics and Texas Children’s Urgent Care in Houston. “It was already pretty high before school started, but it has clearly gotten worse and faster than it typically takes.” (Rodriguez, 10/6)

Fierce Healthcare:
How Much Commercial Plans Could Save If COVID Vaccines Increase

If 80% of eligible Americans got fully vaccinated between now and March 31, 2023, the medical cost savings would come to $34 billion for those who receive the treatment through commercial insurance plans, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. If the uptake of bivalent and other COVID-19 vaccines matched the uptake for influenza vaccinations, the medical cost savings would come to $27 billion for individuals in commercial insurance plans. (Diamond, 10/6)

FiercePharma:
Pfizer, BioNTech Enlist Marvel’s Avengers In COVID Booster Push

Just like how the Avengers have repeatedly kept the world safe from Ultron, people need to protect themselves by updating their COVID-19 vaccination with the latest booster. That’s the message Pfizer and BioNTech are trying to get across in a new custom comic book partnered with Marvel. The companies unveiled the project Tuesday. (Liu, 10/6)

CIDRAP:
Report: Monkeypox Case Rates 5 Times Higher In Black Americans

A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) based on Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data reveals that monkeypox case rates in the US disproportionately affect Black and Latino Americans, with Black Americans having case rates 5 times of those found among White peers (14.4 cases  vs. 2.6 per 100,000). (Soucheray, 10/6)

NBC News:
Are Pets At Risk Of Catching Monkeypox From Humans?

The risk of people with monkeypox passing the virus to their pets is low, the authors of a new study that found no such transmissions in the United Kingdom have concluded. The study’s findings offer a broader perspective in the wake of two recently reported cases of apparent monkeypox transmission from humans to their pets, including a dog in France and a puppy in Brazil. (Ryan, 10/7)

The Washington Post:
Five Men Share The Personal And Economic Toll Of Having Monkeypox

The virus is rarely deadly and only a few fatalities have been reported in the United States. But TikTok and Instagram are flush with firsthand accounts of agony and loneliness. Here are the stories of five men who contracted monkeypox, as told to reporter Fenit Nirappil. (Nirappil, 10/6)

Chicago Tribune:
City Reports Lowest Number Of New AIDS, HIV Cases In 40 Years

The number of Chicagoans with new HIV and AIDS diagnoses in 2020 sunk to levels not seen since the 1980s, according to a new city report. (Schencker, 10/6)

Modern Healthcare:
UnitedHealth, CVS, Centene To Lose Medicare Star Bonuses For 2023

Just half of Medicare Advantage plans with prescription drug coverage received ratings that will earn them bonuses for the 2023 plan year, down from nearly 70% in the current year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services revealed Thursday. (Tepper, 10/6)

Reuters:
U.S. Pharmacies To Offer Hearing Aids By Mid-October Under New Govt Rule

Major U.S. pharmacy operators Walgreens Boots Alliance and Walmart Inc said on Thursday that in mid-October they would start selling hearing aids over-the-counter without the need for a medical exam, prescription, or audiologist fitting. … Walgreens said it was planning to make Lexie Lumen hearing aids available at its stores across the country for adults starting Oct. 17 at a price of $799. Walmart separately told Reuters it would begin offering hearing aids to adults with mild to moderate hearing loss without an assessment or medical exam by Oct. 17. (Satija, 10/6)

Stat:
Drugmakers Will Be Penalized For Price Hikes On Privately Insured Patients

Democrats’ drug pricing law will still penalize drugmakers if they hike prices on medicines for patients who have private insurance, a top Medicare official said Thursday.
The penalties may factor into drugmakers’ decisions about how to price their medicines as the new law begins to take effect. Some experts and employers have been concerned that the drug pricing policy reforms that will save money in Medicare could incentivize drugmakers to try to charge more to patients with other forms of insurance coverage. (Cohrs, 10/6)

Fierce Healthcare:
Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company Bags First Health Plan Partner

Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company nabbed its first health plan partner, Capital Blue Cross. Beginning this month, the Pennsylvania-based plan and Mark Cuban’s drug company (MCCPDC) will begin to let members and community organizations know about their collaboration and how they can access low-cost drugs, according to a press release. In 2023, Capital Blue Cross members will be able to use their insurance cards at the company’s online pharmacy. (Gliadkovskaya, 10/6)

Bloomberg:
Adderall Shortage Worsens As Novartis Reports New Supply Issue

Novartis’s Sandoz unit, previously reported as having supply issues with only the extended-release medication, is now also having challenges with the immediate-release version, according to the University of Utah’s drug information service, which tracks drug shortages. The company has shortages of two dosages of generic immediate-release Adderall, according to an update from the university. (Swetlitz, 10/6)

AP:
Hospital Chain Attack Part Of Ongoing Cybersecurity Concerns 

Diverted ambulances. Cancer treatment delayed. Electronic health records offline. These are just some of ripple effects of an apparent cyberattack on a major nonprofit health system that disrupted operations throughout the U.S. While CommonSpirit Health confirmed it experienced an “IT security issue” earlier this week, the company has remained mum when pressed for more details about the scope of the attack. The health system giant has 140 hospitals in 21 states. As of Thursday, it’s still unknown how many of its 1,000 care sites that serve 20 million Americans were affected. (Foody and Kruesi, 10/6)

Des Moines Register:
MercyOne Clinics Operating After Online Systems Shut Down By Breach

All care locations in MercyOne Central Iowa’s region, including Des Moines, remain open and are caring for patients even as the health system struggles with an unspecified IT security breach affecting its parent company, official said. (Ramm, 10/6)

Healthcare Dive:
Google Launches Suite Of Digital Tools Around Medical Images

Google is launching a set of tools meant to make medical images more interoperable and help organizations develop artificial intelligence and machine learning models around them. Billions of medical images are scanned each year, and imaging data makes up 90% of all healthcare data, according to research from Cornell University. (Pifer, 10/6)

The Boston Globe:
Some Doctors Are Reluctant To Care For Patients With Disabilities, Study Finds

“[Physicians] don’t necessarily know about making accommodations,” said Iezzoni, a professor at Harvard Medical School and a longtime disability researcher, who has multiple sclerosis. “For almost 25 years now people have been asking me, ‘Why is health care so far behind every other industry?’ You go to see a Celtics game or Fenway and they have great disability access. But health care facilities, not so much.” (Bartlett, 10/6)

AP:
Philadelphia Apologizes For Experiments On Black Inmates 

The city of Philadelphia issued an apology Thursday for the unethical medical experiments performed on mostly Black inmates at its Holmesburg Prison from the 1950s through the 1970s. The move comes after community activists and families of some of those inmates raised the need for a formal apology. It also follows a string of apologies from various U.S. cities over historically racist policies or wrongdoing in the wake of the nationwide racial reckoning after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. (10/7)

Houston Chronicle:
Judge Rules Employers Can Discriminate Against LGBT Texans

An LGBT Texan can be fired from a job because of the way they dress, their pronouns or the bathroom they use, a federal judge ruled. The ruling stemmed from a suit Texas brought in September of last year, just months after the Biden administration issued guidance showing states how to comply with federal anti-discrimination protections. A federal judge in Tennessee had already stayed the directives in 20 other states as part of a separate court case. (Goldenstein, 10/6)

AP:
Amid End To COVID Help, Homelessness Surging In Many Cities 

In California’s capital, massive tent encampments have risen along the American River and highway overpasses have become havens for homeless people, whose numbers have jumped a staggering nearly 70% over two years. Among the 9,300 without a home is Eric Santos, who lost his job at a brewery and was evicted from his apartment in July. Now he carries a list of places where free meals are available and a bucket to mix soap and water to wash his hands, and to sit on. (Ronayne, Casey and Mulvihill, 10/6)

San Francisco Chronicle:
Popular California Hot Spring Reportedly Has Brain-Eating Amoeba In Water

Recent water testing of a popular California hot springs destination called Hot Ditch in Bishop (Inyo County) reportedly found that the same brain-eating amoeba that killed an 8-year-old boy in 2018 remained present in the water. (Vainshtein, 10/6)

Axios:
Liver Cancer Deaths To Jump 55% By 2040

Cases of Hepatitis B and C, upticks in alcohol consumption and excess body weight and diabetes are expected to drive the number of liver cancer deaths around the world 55% higher by 2040, according to an analysis published in the Journal of Hepatology. (Reed, 10/6)

USA Today:
Food Poisoning From Salmonella, Listeria Still A Problem In US: CDC

Cases of food poisoning slightly decreased in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic years, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it’s not a cause for celebration, said food safety experts, who mostly attribute the decrease to COVID-19 pandemic disruptions. (Rodriguez, 10/6)