First Edition: June 8, 2023

Nov 04, 2023

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.

KFF Health News: How The Mixed Messaging Of Vaccine Skeptics Sows Seeds Of Doubt It was a late-spring House of Representatives hearing, where members of Congress and attendees hoped to learn lessons from the pandemic. Witness Marty Makary made a plea. "I want to thank you for your attempts at civility," Makary, a Johns Hopkins Medicine researcher and surgeon, said softly. Then his tone changed. His voice started to rise, blasting the "intellectual dishonesty" and "very bizarre" decisions of public health officials. Much later, he criticized the "cult" of his critics, some of whom "clap like seals" when certain studies are published. Some critics are "public health oligarchs," he said. (Tahir, 6/8)

KFF Health News: Massage Therapists Ease The Pain Of Hospice Patients — But Aren't Easy To Find Ilyse Streim views massage for people in hospice care as "whispering to the body through touch." "It's much lighter work. It's nurturing. It's slow," said Streim, a licensed massage therapist. Massage therapy for someone near the end of life looks and feels different from a spa treatment. Some people stay clothed or lie in bed. Others sit up in their wheelchairs. Streim avoids touching bedsores and fresh surgery wounds and describes her work as "meditating and moving at the same time." She recalled massaging the shoulders, hands, and feet of one client as he sat in his favorite recliner and watched baseball on TV in the final weeks of his life. (Ruder, 6/8)

KFF Health News: Personal Medical Debt In Los Angeles County Tops $2.6 Billion, Report Finds About 810,000, or 1 in 10, Los Angeles County adults together owe more than $2.6 billion in medical debt as of 2021, a new analysis has found — a staggering sum that suggests extending health coverage to more people doesn't necessarily protect them from burdensome debt. The report from the county Department of Public Health, entitled "Medical Debt in LA County: Baseline Report and Action Plan," said medical debt disproportionately affects the uninsured and underinsured, low-income residents, and Black and Latino populations. It said the consequences are alarming, noting that debt negatively impacts factors that determine future health outcomes, such as housing, employment, food security, and access to prescriptions and health care. (Castle Work, 6/7)

The Hill: Biden Speaks With Trudeau About Canadian Wildfires As Air Quality Issues Persist In US President Biden on Wednesday spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and offered federal support to respond to wildfires burning in Canada, which have caused widespread air quality issues across the eastern United States. Biden directed his administration to deploy "all available Federal firefighting assets that can rapidly assist in suppressing fires impacting Canadian and American communities," the White House said in a readout of the call. (Samuels, 6/7)

AP: Smoky Haze Blanketing US, Canada Could Last For Days As Wildfires Rage, Winds Won't Budge The weather system that's driving the great Canadian-American smoke out — a low-pressure system over Maine and Nova Scotia — "will probably be hanging around at least for the next few days," U.S. National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Ramsey said. "Conditions are likely to remain unhealthy, at least until the wind direction changes or the fires get put out," Ramsey said. "Since the fires are raging — they’re really large — they’re probably going to continue for weeks. But it's really just going be all about the wind shift." (Peltz, Gillies and Sisak, 6/8)

The Atlantic: Masking For Smoke Isn't Like Masking For COVID Late last night, New Yorkers were served a public-health recommendation with a huge helping of déjà vu: "If you are an older adult or have heart or breathing problems and need to be outside," city officials said in a statement, "wear a high-quality mask (e.g. N95 or KN95)." It was, in one sense, very familiar advice—and also very much not. This time, the threat isn't viral, or infectious at all. (Wu, 6/7)

The Washington Post: How To Protect Yourself From Wildfire Smoke And Levels Of Poor Air Quality Smoke from wildfires mostly consists of fine particles known as PM2.5, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. These particles "are of greatest health concern," the EPA notes. ... The EPA recommends using a "particulate respirator" tested and approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health when trying to protect yourself from wildfire smoke or ash. It should have the words "NIOSH" and either "N95" or "P100" printed on it. It should also have two straps to go above and below your ears — otherwise it will not seal well enough to protect your lungs. (Chiu, 6/7)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Children With Asthma Will Struggle Most With Wildfire Smoke, Air Quality In Philadelphia As the chief of the emergency department at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in North Philadelphia, James Reingold often sees kids struggling to breathe as they cross his hospital's doorstep. Children in the neighborhoods around the hospital have some of the highest rates of asthma in the city. "That's not because Hispanic and Black children have an inherent difference in how they respond to asthma," Reingold said. "It's just a marker for where they live, what pollution they’re exposed to and what other chronic stress they’re under." (Whelan, Ruderman, Pananjady and Gutman, 6/7)

The New York Times: How to Keep Indoor Air Clean if You Don't Have an Air Purifier An air purifier, like one that uses a HEPA filter, is the best way to improve the quality of your indoor air — but if you are staying inside to avoid wildfire smoke and don't have access to an air filter, there are a few other things you can do to keep the air in your home as clean as possible. The next best tool after an air purifier is an air-conditioner, said Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, a pulmonary and critical care medicine physician at Johns Hopkins Medicine. (Blum, 6/7)

The Washington Post: Is It Safe To Exercise Outdoors When The Air Quality Is Bad? The answer, experts say, depends on your health, fitness and age. ... Air quality in the Orange range is considered "unhealthy for sensitive groups," which includes people with asthma or other respiratory conditions, young children and the elderly. If you’re not among those groups, most experts say it's reasonable to exercise outside while the air quality index is Orange. But don't be surprised if your clothes and hair smell of smoke after spending time outdoors. (Reynolds, 6/7)

The Hill: Court Gives Friday Deadline In ObamaCare Coverage Case The panel of judges on Wednesday gave the two parties until Friday to submit the terms of a possible agreement on staying a federal judge's order that blocked ObamaCare's preventive care requirement. (Weixel and Choi, 6/7)

AP: Court Seeks Compromise That Might Preserve Preventive Health Insurance Mandates As Appeals Play Out Federal appeals court judges are seeking compromise on whether government requirements that health insurance include coverage for HIV prevention, cancer screenings and some other types of preventive care can be maintained while a legal battle over the mandates plays out. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Wednesday told attorneys on both sides of the issue to report by Friday on the possibility of a temporary compromise in the case. (McGill, 6/7)

Stat: CDC Comes Under Fire For Inadequate Update On Its Covid Response Republicans aren't impressed with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's reorganization plan, or its efforts to explain it. (Owermohle, 6/7)

Roll Call: House Republicans Quash CDC Request For More Authorities As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lobbies Congress this summer to expand its data authorities and capabilities, it's clear the agency won't get much support from Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. (Cohen, 6/7)

Roll Call: Once Cushioned From Lawmaker Scrutiny, Hospitals See A Shift While groups like the American Hospital Association, which represents about 5,000 hospitals and which spent $27 million on lobbying in 2022, remain incredibly powerful, inflation, rising health care costs and headlines about questionable business practices have put an unwelcome spotlight on the industry, especially as the Medicare trust fund nears its insolvency date. (Hellmann, 6/8)

Stat: ‘We Don't Agree’ On Drug Pricing, FDA Chief Tells Biotech Leaders The drug industry has spent the past year speaking against new mechanisms that could limit how much governments or insurers pay for certain new medicines. Robert Califf, the Food and Drug Administration chief, walked on stage Wednesday and told a crowd of biotech leaders that drug costs needed fixing. (Mast, 6/7)

Stat: Democrats Blast Biden Administration Over Alzheimer's Drug Plans Ahead of a major Food and Drug Administration meeting on a new Alzheimer's treatment this week, several Democratic lawmakers are ratcheting up their criticism of how the Biden administration is planning to handle a potential approval this summer. (Cohrs, 6/7)

Reuters: Eisai-Biogen Alzheimer's Drug Data Confirms Benefits, FDA Staff Says U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff on Wednesday said data from a late-stage trial of Eisai and Biogen's Alzheimer's disease drug suggests it offered a meaningful benefit to patients and safety concerns likely would not hamper its chances of a traditional approval. The FDA staff did not highlight any new risks linked to the drug, Leqembi, in documents released ahead of a meeting of a panel of external advisers on Friday that will discuss the companies' application for full approval. (Leo and Mandowara, 6/7)

Stat: Reanimated Hearts Work Just As Well For Transplants, Study Finds A new method of heart transplantation that uses machines to reanimate donor hearts from people who have died is just as good as traditional heart transplantation, a new study finds. If adopted broadly in the U.S., the procedure that could expand the donor pool by 30%. (Chen, 6/7)

AP: Newer Heart Transplant Method Could Allow More Patients A Chance At Lifesaving Surgery The usual method of organ donation occurs when doctors, through careful testing, determine someone has no brain function after a catastrophic injury — meaning they’re brain-dead. The body is left on a ventilator that keeps the heart beating and organs oxygenated until they’re recovered and put on ice. In contrast, donation after circulatory death occurs when someone has a nonsurvivable brain injury but, because all brain function hasn't yet ceased, the family decides to withdraw life support and the heart stops. That means organs go without oxygen for a while before they can be recovered — and surgeons, worried the heart would be damaged, left it behind. What's changed: Now doctors can remove those hearts and put them in a machine that "reanimates" them, pumping through blood and nutrients as they’re transported –- and demonstrating if they work OK before the planned transplant. (Neergaard, 6/7)

Modern Healthcare: SCAN, CareOregon, RIP Medical Debt Erase $110M In Patient Debt Grants by SCAN Group and CareOregon to a charity that buys and forgives medical debt will erase $110 million in medical bills for almost 70,000 lower-income people across five states. The companies' $345,000 in grants are the first funds RIP Medical Debt has received directly from health insurance companies, a spokesperson for RIP Medical Debt wrote in an email. (Tepper, 6/7)

The Boston Globe: Prior To Its Abrupt Closure, Compass Medical Was Involved In Acquisition Talks With Atrius Compass Medical, whose abrupt closure last week upended care for the practices’ 70,000 patients and left hundreds scrambling for new doctors, had recently been in negotiations with the nation's largest physician organization for a possible acquisition, according to two former employees familiar with the talks. (Bartlett, 6/7)

Stat: Google Strikes Deal With Mayo To Comb Records With Generative AI Google will embed its generative AI technology into computer systems at Mayo Clinic and other health systems to make it easier to search vast repositories of patient data and automate administrative tasks, the organizations said Wednesday. (Ross, 6/7)

Fox News: ChatGPT Shows One Dangerous Flaw When Responding To Health Crisis Questions, Study Finds People are turning to ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot from OpenAI, for everything from meal plans to medical information — but experts say it falls short in some areas, including its responses to appeals for help with health crises. A study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open found that when the large language model was asked for help with public health issues — such as addiction, domestic violence, sexual assault and suicidal tendencies — ChatGPT failed to provide referrals to the appropriate resources. (Rudy, 6/8)

Reuters: Teva To Pay Nevada $193 Million Over Role In Opioid Epidemic Teva Pharmaceutical Industries on Wednesday agreed to pay Nevada $193 million to settle claims that its marketing practices fueled opioid addiction, the state announced. Nevada was one of two states, along with New Mexico, that did not join a $4.35 billion nationwide settlement with the Israel-based drugmaker last year. New Mexico has also since settled. (Pierson, 6/7)

AP: Cancer Centers Say US Chemotherapy Shortage Is Leading To Treatment Complications A growing shortage of common cancer treatments is forcing doctors to switch medications and delaying some care, prominent U.S. cancer centers say. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network said Wednesday that nearly all the centers it surveyed late last month were dealing with shortages of carboplatin and cisplatin, a pair of drugs used to treat a range of cancers. Some are no longer able to treat patients receiving carboplatin at the intended dose or schedule. (Murphy, 6/7)

Tribune News Service: Researchers Created A Pocket-Size Blood Pressure Monitor That Attaches To A Smartphone Researchers at UC San Diego have developed a new kind of blood pressure monitor that's small enough to fit in your pocket and attaches to a smartphone. The team out of the Jacobs School of Engineering outlined their invention and findings in a paper that was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Scientific Reports, last week. (6/7)

Stat: Akili Interactive Releases Video Game Treatment For Adult ADHD Following positive top-line data released in May, Akili Interactive announced it will release its video game treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to adults who want to use it. (Aguilar, 6/7)

AP: Maryland Board Approves Funds For Abortion Pill Stockpile A Maryland board approved an emergency procurement of more than $1 million on Wednesday to pay for a stockpile of a widely used abortion pill due to uncertainty surrounding legal challenges against the drug's use. The Board of Public Works approved the funds to pay for 35,000 doses that would last several years, if necessary. The stockpile, acquired in April, includes 30,000 doses of mifepristone and 5,000 doses of misoprostol. The powerful spending panel is comprised of Gov. Wes Moore, Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Treasurer Dereck Davis. (Witte, 6/7)

Fox News: Sucralose, A Chemical In Splenda, Is Found To Cause ‘Significant Health Effects’ In New Study Sucralose, a chemical found in the popular zero-calorie sweetener Splenda, has been shown to cause damage to DNA, raise the risk of cancer and cause leaks in the gut lining, according to a new study from North Carolina State University. Splenda is used as a sugar substitute in thousands of foods, beverages, desserts and candy. The product contains 1.10% sucralose. It is made by Tate & Lyle in the U.K. (Rudy, 6/8)

CNN: Insomnia Raises Stroke Risk In People Under 50, Study Says If you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, wake up too early most days or have other signs of insomnia, you may be at higher risk for stroke, a new study found. The more symptoms of insomnia you have the higher the risk, especially if you’re younger than age 50, according to the study, which followed over 31,000 people with no history of stroke for nine years. Stroke risk is typically higher in older adults with more health problems, the study noted. (LaMotte, 6/7)

The Washington Post: For Premature Babies, Kangaroo Care Significantly Reduces Death Rates Early implementation of a type of skin-to-skin contact called kangaroo mother care appears to significantly improve the odds of survival for premature or low-birth-weight babies, according to a sweeping scientific analysis published Monday. Researchers analyzed data from multiple studies that collectively included more than 15,000 infants worldwide. They found that, compared to conventional care, kangaroo mother care seemed to reduce mortality by 32 percent within the first 28 days of life. The study also suggests that the benefits of kangaroo mother care are higher when it's implemented within 24 hours of birth. (Malhi, 6/7)

USA Today: Pregnancy After 40, IVF: CDC Data Shows More Women Delay Having Babies At 45 years old, Kate DeGaetano wanted to be pregnant more than anything in the world. But the thought also terrified her. She worried about having the strength to carry her child or what others would say when she picked them up from kindergarten. "I was nervous and scared," the Chicago resident said. "Was it something I was 100% going to do? Yes. But that doesn't mean those feelings weren't there." (Rodriguez, 6/7)

The Hill: Teens Are Spending Less Time Than Ever With Friends America's teenagers are seeing a lot less of one another. The share of high school seniors who gathered with friends in person "almost every day" dropped from 44 percent in 2010 to 32 percent in 2022, according to Monitoring the Future, a national survey of adolescents. Social outings for the typical eighth grader dwindled from about 2 1/2 a week in 2000 to 1 1/2 in 2021. (De Vise, 6/7)

Stat: BMI Is Starting To Plateau In Rich Countries. But Obesity Still Isn't Solved "Soaring obesity rates." "An alarming surge in BMI." We’ve grown accustomed to the obesity trend stories over the last few decades, since prevalence rates started to rise. A closer look at the latest global obesity data tells a more nuanced story than monolithic surging. It's true that, worldwide, obesity continues to rise. But in high-income countries, such as the U.S., the rate of increase in body mass index, or BMI, has actually been slowing, even beginning to level off. (Belluz, 6/8)

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