Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KHN:
Health Plan Shake-Up Could Disrupt Coverage For Low-Income Californians
Almost 2 million of California’s poorest and most medically fragile residents may have to switch health insurers as a result of a new strategy by the state to improve care in its Medicaid program. A first-ever statewide contracting competition to participate in the program, known as Medi-Cal, required commercial managed-care plans to rebid for their contracts and compete against others hoping to take those contracts away. The contracts will be revamped to require insurers to offer new benefits and meet stiffer benchmarks for care. (Wolfson, 9/27)
KHN:
At This Recovery Center, Police Cope With The Mental Health Costs Of The Job
Ken Beyer can’t think of a day in the past few months when his phone didn’t flutter with calls, text messages, and emails from a police department, a sheriff’s office, or a fire station seeking help for an employee. A patrol officer threatening to kill himself with his service weapon before roll call. A veteran firefighter drowning in vodka until he collapses. A deputy overdosing on fentanyl in his squad car. “It’s the worst that I’ve seen in my career,” said Beyer, co-founder and CEO of Harbor of Grace Enhanced Recovery Center, a private mental health and substance use recovery and treatment center for first responders in the waterfront Maryland town of Havre de Grace. Established in 2015, Harbor of Grace is one of only six treatment centers in the U.S. approved by the Fraternal Order of Police, the world’s largest organization of law enforcement officers. (Ridderbusch, 9/27)
KHN:
Britain’s Hard Lessons From Handing Elder Care Over To Private Equity
A little over a decade ago, Four Seasons Health Care was among the largest long-term care home companies in Britain, operating 500 sites with 20,000 residents and more than 60 specialist centers. Domestic and global private equity investors had supercharged the company’s growth, betting that the rising needs of aging Britons would yield big returns. Within weeks, the Four Seasons brand may be finished. Christie & Co., a commercial real estate broker, splashed a summer sale across its website that signaled the demise: The last 111 Four Seasons facilities in England, Scotland, and Jersey were on the market. Already sold were its 29 homes in Northern Ireland. (Spolar, 9/27)
USA Today:
Nursing Homes Data Released By Biden Administration Shows Ownership
Officials said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data is part of the Biden administration’s effort to shine a light on an industry that receives substantial federal funding. The new ownership information follows a data release in April on more than 3,000 nursing homes that changed ownership through mergers or purchases since 2016. (Alltucker, 9/26)
Modern Healthcare:
Nursing Home Ownership Data Now Available From HHS
The Health and Human Services Department has unveiled a public database that provides unprecedented access to information about who owns nursing homes. The database, which debuted Monday, contains information about who owns the 15,000 skilled nursing facilities that Medicare reimburses and could offer regulators and the public with insights into the often opaque nature of nursing home company structures. (Berryman, 9/26)
USA Today:
Medical Tailored Meals Part Of Conference On Hunger, Nutrition, Health
The White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, scheduled for Wednesday, will recommend a pilot program to cover medically tailored meals as part of Medicare Advantage plans. It is one of a laundry list of new plans proposed Tuesday by the Biden administration to “end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases and disparities.” (Weintraub, 9/27)
NPR:
Why The White House Wants To Put Nutrition Labels On The Front Of Food Packages
The Biden administration is proposing that nutrition labels go on the front of food packages rather than the back. It’s part of a strategy to end hunger and diet-related diseases in America in eight years – some 40 pages of ideas to try to make the nation healthier. (Bustillo, 9/27)
Stat:
Democrats Concede To Clean User Fee Agreement To Fund FDA
Democrats have conceded to Republican demands and agreed to fund the Food and Drug Administration for five years without any extra policy reforms attached, according to four congressional aides, a move that will punt any additional fights over FDA policy to December. (Cohrs, 9/26)
Axios:
The Supreme Court’s Latest Health Care Tempest
A Supreme Court case that takes up Medicaid recipients’ ability to sue providers is providing a new battleground over patients’ rights and could potentially open the door to erosion of the program’s benefits. (Bettelheim and Owens, 9/27)
The Hill:
University Of Idaho Warns Staff Not To Offer Reproductive Health Services Following State’s Near-Total Abortion Ban
The University of Idaho sent a memo to staff last week warning employees not to provide birth control pills or reproductive health services after the state’s near-total abortion ban took effect last month. The memo shared by the Idaho Press says that under Idaho’s new law, staff cannot provide emergency contraception except in the cases of rape. Because the law is unclear on birth control and the “prevention of conception,” the university advised staff against providing contraception pills and condoms for the purpose of contraception. Staff are allowed to provide condoms for the purpose of preventing sexually transmitted diseases. (Dress, 9/26)
Ohio Capital Journal:
Affidavits: 2 More Raped Minors Were Denied Ohio Abortions
At least two more minors made pregnant by sexual assault were forced to leave Ohio to avoid having their rapists’ babies, according to sworn affidavits filed by abortion providers. The affidavits were filed in Cincinnati as part of a lawsuit aimed at stopping the enforcement of Ohio’s strict new abortion law. Originally paused for two weeks, the enforcement delay was extended last week to at least Oct. 12. (Schladen, 9/26)
AP:
Arizona Abortion Clinics Send Women To Other States
Providers in neighboring states, already seeing an increase in traffic from other conservative states that have banned abortion, were preparing to treat some of the 13,000 Arizona patients who get an abortion each year. (Cooper and Tang, 9/27)
The Hill:
Satanic Temple Files Sues Indiana Over Abortion Ban
The Satanic Temple is challenging Indiana’s near-total abortion ban with a lawsuit that takes aim at Senate Enrolled Act 1 and claims the ban infringes on their followers’ religious rights and violates the U.S. Constitution. … Despite often being confused with the Church of Satan or Satan worship, the Satanic Temple doesn’t believe in or worship the Biblical Satan. Instead, it venerates “the allegorical Satan described in the epic poem Paradise Lost — the defender of personal sovereignty against the dictates of religious authority.” (Christy and Nextar Media Wire, 9/26)
AP:
Major Abortion Law Changes Unlikely In S. Carolina After Roe
Whether conservative South Carolina changes its abortion laws at all in the wake of this year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision may be decided by divided conservatives Tuesday in the state House. (Collins, 9/27)
ABC News:
Amid Nationwide Abortion Debate, American Cancer Society Warns Fertility Preservation For Cancer Patients Could Be At Risk In The Future
More than 32,000 young patients newly diagnosed with cancer now live in states that have imposed or have impending abortion restrictions, according to a new study published Monday in The Lancet Oncology. Because many life-saving cancer treatments harm future fertility, many teens and young adults with cancer decide to freeze eggs, sperm or embryos in the hope of having a family later in life. (Jhaveri and DiMartino, 9/27)
AP:
Teen Interest In Long-Lasting Birth Control Soars After Roe
Sixteen-year-old Adismarys Abreu had been discussing a long-lasting birth control implant with her mother for about a year as a potential solution to increasing menstrual pain. Then Roe v. Wade was overturned, and Abreu joined the throng of teens rushing to their doctors as states began to ban or severely limit abortion. “I’m definitely not ready to be pregnant,” said Abreu, who had Nexplanon — a reversible, matchstick-sized contraceptive — implanted in her arm in August. Her home state of Florida bans most abortions after 15 weeks, and not having that option is “such a scary thought,” she said. (Hollingsworth and Rodgers, 9/27)
Chicago Tribune:
Illinois Youth Write Handbook For Sex Education Curriculum
Northbrook resident Irene Sooah Park remembers educators and other adults treating sex education as something that should never be talked about outside the classroom. It was during middle school that she recalled a teacher standing in the back of the classroom when discussing the vagina and penis to avoid eye contact with students. And recently, during COVID, she said sex education was left out of her sophomore health class in favor of lessons about bones and muscles. (Rockett, 9/26)
The Hill:
Pfizer Asks FDA To Authorize New COVID Booster For Children
Pfizer on Monday announced it has submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking authorization of its bivalent COVID-19 booster shot for children between the ages of 5 and 11.In a press release, Pfizer said it has requested authorization of a 10 microgram dose of its omicron-specific booster for that age group. Pfizer’s bivalent boosters are currently only authorized for use in those 12 and older. (Choi, 9/26)
Reuters:
U.S. FDA Clears Additional Lots Of Moderna’s Covid Booster Amid Shortage
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Monday it has authorized an additional five batches of Moderna Inc’s updated Covid booster shots made at a Catalent facility in Indiana, after it deemed them safe for use. Last week, the health regulator had allowed use of ten batches of Moderna’s updated booster shots made at the Bloomington, Indiana facility, owned by a unit of Catalent Inc, which is currently not a part of the company’s emergency use authorization. (9/26)
Modern Healthcare:
COVID-19 Treatment Bebtelovimab Supplies For Uninsured Boosted
The Health and Human Services Department is purchasing 60,000 COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment doses as federal funding runs dry, the department announced Friday. (Berryman, 9/26)
The Washington Post:
Five Things About Covid We Still Don’t Understand At Our Peril
The virus has kept many of its secrets, from how it mutates so rapidly to why it kills some while leaving others largely unscathed — mysteries that if solved might arm the world’s scientists with new strategies to curb its spread and guard against the next pandemic. Here are some of the most pressing questions they are trying to answer. (Johnson, 9/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. Wastewater Shows Virus Retreat Is Slowing, Wachter Says
While the official number of daily COVID-19 cases reported by San Francisco’s health department continues to fall, the virus levels in the city’s wastewater samples — which do not depend on individual testing — appear to have stopped declining. Dr. Bob Wachter, UCSF’s chief of medicine, noted the discrepancy on Monday and in a Twitter thread highlighted that the hospital’s asymptomatic test rate has also plateaued. (Fracassa and Vaziri, 9/26)
ABC News:
COVID Cases Not Dramatically Rising With Schools Back In Session, But Experts Say Testing Is Down
Cases and hospitalizations do not appear to be dramatically rising and adults have the highest rate of weekly cases per 100,000, per CDC data. But experts said testing data is not robust as it was during the last two school years, making it difficult to compare current data to previous seasons. (Kekatos, 9/27)
CIDRAP:
Omicron Subvariants Linked To Reinfections
A new study based on COVID-19 patients in France shows high reinfection rates among people with different Omicron subvariants, including BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5. The study is published as a research letter in Emerging Infectious Diseases. … The median age of patients was 32, and 70% were women. Time between two infections was less than 90 days for 50 patients (26.6%) and less than 60 days for 28 patients (14.9%). (9/26)
Reuters:
Truckers, Lawmaker Push For U.S. To Drop Foreign Visitor Vaccine Requirement
A group representing truck drivers in North America and a New York lawmaker on Monday asked the Biden administration to rescind a requirement for foreign visitors to be vaccinated. The United States in June rescinded its requirement that people arriving in the country by air test negative for COVID-19 but has not lifted vaccination requirements for nearly all foreign visitors arriving by air or at land ports. (Shepardson, 9/26)
The Wall Street Journal:
Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout Carries Lessons For Pharma Supply Chains, Says Pfizer Executive
The concentrated effort to develop, manufacture and distribute vaccines as the Covid-19 pandemic began to rage across the world highlighted the importance of the supply chain and helped set a model for how lifesaving medicines will be rolled out in the future, a Pfizer Inc. executive said. “Supply chain has probably done just as much, if not more” than the innovative science that Pfizer and other drug companies used to produce the new vaccines that have been distributed around the world, Jim Cafone, Pfizer’s senior vice president of global supply chain, told a supply-chain industry conference this week. (Young, 9/24)
AP:
Canada Won’t Require Masks On Planes, Drops Vaccine Mandate
The Canadian government announced Monday it will no longer require people to wear masks on planes to guard against COVID-19. Transport Canada said the existing rules for masks will come off Oct. 1“We are able to do this because tens of millions of Canadians rolled up their sleeves and got vaccinated,” Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said. (Gillies, 9/26)
The New York Times:
Monkeypox Appears To Recede, But Risks And Uncertainties Linger
Nearly four months after the first report of monkeypox in the United States, the virus is showing promising signs of retreat, easing fears that it may spill over into populations of older adults, pregnant women and young children. Supplies of the vaccine have improved, and federal health officials have begun clinical trials to gain a better understanding of who benefits, and how much, from both the vaccine and the drug used to treat those who become infected. That’s the good news. But unhappily, case numbers are accelerating in a few states and jurisdictions, including Indiana, Virginia and Massachusetts. (Mandavilli, 9/26)
Stat:
‘It Is Sinking Us Even Further’: Monkeypox Stretches STI Clinics To The Brink
At the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s sexual health clinic, patients are normally seen within 24 hours. Recently, amid the monkeypox outbreak, it’s been a five-day wait. (Joseph, 9/27)
CIDRAP:
Monkeypox Vaccine 79% Effective, According To Israeli Preprint Study
According to a new non-peer reviewed study out of Israel, the Jynneos vaccine is 79% effective against monkeypox infection. … Fifteen unvaccinated subjects and three vaccinated participants contracted monkeypox during the study. (9/26)
CIDRAP:
Department Of Defense Funds Research Of Monoclonal Antibodies For Plague
German pharmaceutical company Evotec SE announced last week that its US subsidiary (Just – Evotec Biologics) has received nearly $5o million in funding from the US Department of Defense (DOD) to develop a monoclonal antibody (mAB)-based drug against bubonic plague. (9/26)
Modern Healthcare:
Bias In Medical Device Results Raises Patient Safety Concerns
Racial biases continue to be exposed in medical devices clinicians commonly use to evaluate patients. From thermometers to oximeters to X-rays, people of color receive the most inconsistent results, and it’s bad for their health. (Hartnett, 9/26)
Stat:
Google And Fitbit Launch New Cloud Tools To Help Hospitals Use Wearables
Google Cloud and Fitbit are rolling out a new offering they hope will ease some of the challenges hospitals face collecting and processing data from wearable devices. (Aguilar, 9/27)
Modern Healthcare:
Not-For-Profit Health Systems Navigate Lower Cash Reserves
Days cash on hand at not-for-profit hospital systems is trending downward as the sector recalibrates after last year’s higher-than-normal balances. For some, it’s requiring tough choices to be made. (Hudson, 9/26)
Bloomberg:
Mental Health Crisis Leads Hospitals to Create a New Type of ER
With mental health treatment in short supply, Americans experiencing a psychiatric crisis frequently land in a hospital emergency room—brought in by the police or loved ones—and usually stay there until they can be safely discharged or transferred. That means patients can spend hours or even days stuck on a gurney until a spot opens in a psych ward, the only other setting deemed appropriate. (Tozzi, 9/26)
AP:
West Virginia University Children’s Hospital Set To Open
A new children’s hospital at West Virginia University is set to open in a matter of days. Officials held a ribbon cutting Saturday in Morgantown for the new WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital. The 150-bed, $215 million facility will open on Thursday. (9/26)
AP:
Nursing Home Complaints Rise In Wisconsin, Staffing Is Cited
Complaints against Wisconsin nursing homes continue to pile up and could surpass a record number filed last year as the state struggles to find enough nurses and nursing home inspectors. State officials have contracted with two private companies — Healthcare Management Solutions and Long Term Care Institute, Inc. — to help inspect nursing homes that have complaints against them. (9/26)
AP:
Alabama Eyes Fentanyl Penalties; Critics Say They Won’t Work
Alabama lawmakers may consider harsher penalties for traffickers and distributors of illicit fentanyl next year, but some say a comprehensive approach should also include more health services and helping drug users reduce overdoses. Republicans Reps. Matt Simpson of Daphne and Chris Pringle of Mobile tell Al.com they plan bills next year to increase penalties for distributing the deadly drug that accounted for 66% of all U.S. overdose deaths in 2021. (9/26)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
First Human Case Of West Nile Virus This Year Found In Sheboygan
Wisconsin’s first human case of West Nile Virus this year was confirmed in a Sheboygan County resident, prompting state health officials to once again emphasize the importance of preventing mosquito bites. Earlier this year, the virus had been found in three animals: a horse in Trempealeau County, a horse in Monroe County and a bird in Milwaukee County. (Shastri, 9/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Women More Likely To Overdose During COVID Pandemic
Women were more likely than men to overdose during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., according to an analysis of private insurance claims by FAIR Health to be published Tuesday. (Fracassa and Vaziri, 9/26)
The New York Times:
More Trans Teens Are Choosing ‘Top Surgery’
Michael, 17, arrived in the sleek white waiting room of his plastic surgeon’s office in Miami for a moment he had long anticipated: removing the bandages to see his newly flat chest. After years of squeezing into compression undershirts to conceal his breasts, the teenager was overcome with relief that morning last December. Wearing an unbuttoned shirt, he posed for photos with his mother and the surgeon, Dr. Sidhbh Gallagher, happy to share his bare chest with the doctor’s large following on social media. “It just felt right — like I’d never had breasts in the first place,” Michael said. “It was a ‘Yes, finally’ kind of moment.” (Ghorayshi, 9/26)
Southern California News Group:
Aging Boom: Here’s A Look At Population Trends In The U.S., California By 2060
The world is getting really old, really fast. And while many economically developed countries (Japan, Italy, Germany) are ahead of us, the United States is not immune to the aging boom. Our new demography could mean big changes over the next few decades. (Snibbe and Mouchard, 9/26)
The Boston Globe:
Candy Corn Recalled By Auburn Company Over Allergy Concerns
An Auburn-based snack company is withdrawing a candy corn product in New England due to allergy concerns, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Arcade Snacks issued a recall of its 15-ounce candy corn packages on Friday, per an FDA advisory, after it was found that the products may contain undeclared egg. No illnesses have been reported in connection to the products, the agency said. (Fonseca, 9/26)
This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
