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The politicization of COVID-19 vaccines may have led to a higher excess death rate among Republicans in Ohio and Florida during the coronavirus pandemic, a new study found. According to the study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, registered Republicans had a higher rate of excess deaths than Democrats after COVID-19 vaccines became widely available in May 2021. (Weixel, 7/24)

Registered Republicans experienced a "significantly higher" rate of excess deaths than Democrats in Florida and Ohio in the months after COVID-19 vaccines were made widely available, a new study has found. The Yale researchers note in their study, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine Monday, the findings "suggest that well-documented differences in vaccination attitudes and reported uptake between Republican and Democratic voters may have been a factor in the severity and trajectory of the pandemic." (Falconer, 7/24)

After May of 2021, roughly 1 month after COVID-19 vaccines became widely available, the gap between Republicans and Democrats further widened, to 7.7 percentage points (95% PI, 6.0 to 9.3 percentage points) in the adjusted analysis, or a 43% difference, the authors said. The difference was seen in Florida, but was most pronounced in Ohio. (Soucheray, 7/24)

In other news —

Millions of people are set to lose Covid-19 pandemic-era benefits this fall. The expiration of these programs, which were created by Congress in the early years of the pandemic, will strip away economic assistance that millions of Americans have received for years and still rely on. (Lobosco and Luhby, 7/25)

We still don’t know how the pandemic started. Here's what we do know — and why it matters. (Quammen, 7/25)

On where the next pandemic may start —

“I think there’s this real feeling here in the U.S. that disease is something that comes from elsewhere,” said Ann Linder, an associate director at the animal law and policy program at Harvard Law School. But there is real risk in our own backyards — and barnyards. Since 2011, there have been more confirmed human cases of swine flu in the United States than anywhere else in the world. (That may be because other nations are doing less testing and surveillance, and many cases here and abroad are likely to go undetected, experts say.) Most have been linked to agricultural shows and fairs. “They have become kind of hot spots,” Ms. Linder said. (Anthes, 7/25)

President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday is announcing new rules meant to push insurance companies to increase their coverage of mental health treatments. The new regulations, which still need to go through a public comment period, would require insurers to study whether their customers have equal access to medical and mental health benefits and to take remedial action, if necessary. The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act requires that insurers provide the same level of coverage for both mental and physical health care — though the administration and advocates argue insurers’ policies restrict patient access. (7/25)

In other news from the Biden administration —

The Biden administration announced $58 million in grants to help schools and day care centers remove lead from drinking water during an event in Boston on Monday. The grants will help local communities test for lead in drinking water, identify potential sources of the contamination, and take steps to address the problem, said Radhika Fox, the Environmental Protection Agency’s assistant administrator for water. (7/25)

The Biden administration is discussing lifting sanctions on a Chinese police forensics institute suspected of participating in human-rights abuses, people familiar with the matter said, in a bid to secure Beijing’s renewed cooperation in fighting the fentanyl crisis. (Spegele and Hutzler, 7/24)

Hospitals that would receive the biggest 340B remedy payments under a new proposal to correct unlawful reimbursement cuts tended to provide proportionally less uncompensated care than other 340B-eligible hospitals. (Kacik and Broderick, 7/24)

On other developments —

Cigna Healthcare is facing a federal class action lawsuit which alleges the company used algorithms to "deny payments in batches of hundreds or thousands at a time," as part of an almost completely automated claims decision process. (Heath, 7/25)

A new lawsuit accuses Cigna of using an algorithm to automatically deny claims in bulk instead of individually reviewing each case, putting patients on the hook for bills the health insurer otherwise would have paid. (Bannow, 7/24)

A key House committee announced its own plans to increase health care transparency and reduce some health care costs for patients on Monday, according to bill text obtained by STAT. The House Ways & Means Committee package includes a new provision that would ensure that patients in the Medicare program pay for medicines they pick up at the pharmacy counter based on the discounted price that insurers negotiate with drugmakers, instead of higher sticker prices, starting in 2027. (Cohrs, 7/24)

���ϳԹ��� News: Hospitals Ask Congress To Delay ACA Medicaid Funding Cuts — For The 14th Time
It has become as familiar a sight in Washington as the cherry blossoms in spring: lobbyists from the nation’s hospitals descending on the Capitol to ask lawmakers to postpone billions in Medicaid funding cuts prescribed by the Affordable Care Act — cuts industry leaders agreed to years ago. It is unlikely the reductions will occur this year, if history is any indication. Since 2013, Congress has voted 13 times to delay them, siding with hospitals over their claims that losing the money would hinder the delivery of care. (Galewitz, 7/25)

Much has been made of Jesse Ehrenfeld’s career of firsts. The current president of the American Medical Association, inaugurated in June, has long advocated for safe and equitable care for sexual and gender minorities, leading to an inaugural National Institutes of Health award for his research in the area. The anesthesiologist was the youngest-ever officer of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and this year became the first openly gay president of the AMA. Adding to that list: Ehrenfeld is the first board-certified clinical informaticist to take on the AMA’s top role — bringing a set of skills that could be particularly useful as medicine reacts to the rapid evolution of technology. (Palmer, 7/25)

The health data giant IQVIA became a dominant force by gobbling up its rivals. Over decades, it feasted on upstarts with new datasets or novel technologies, growing into a juggernaut with no peer in the business of brokering Americans’ medical information. Now, government regulators say, IQVIA’s appetite for acquisition is getting out of control — and must be reined in. (Ross, 7/25)

Also —

The release of "Oppenheimer" has rekindled discussion and debate over one of the most important events in U.S. history: the development of the atomic bomb. The first atomic bomb testing occurred in neighboring New Mexico in 1945. After World War II, the federal government moved testing to the Nevada Test Site, about 65 miles north of Las Vegas. The nuclear tests released radiation that carried downwind into Arizona and other southwestern states, leading to increased risk of cancer, per the CDC. (Boehm, 7/24)

Three decades ago, people with disabilities — and all workers marginalized because of their identities — began to see a transformation in the workplace thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The law, signed by President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990, represented a new approach to understanding the full scope of what employees truly need in the workplace to do their jobs. That concept has evolved in the years since the ADA went into effect: Back then, courts were only starting to understand the power and promise of the ADA, said Ben Klein, who litigated the first case on the ADA. (Carrazana, 7/24)

Sweeping support for a proposed Ohio constitutional amendment enshrining abortion rights spotlights the potential power of the issue to drive voter turnout and affect races up and down the ballot, even in Republican-leaning states. A new USA TODAY Network/Suffolk University survey of Ohio showed the amendment guaranteeing access to reproductive services backed by a double-digit margin, 58%-32%. Significant support crossed partisan lines, including a third of Republicans and a stunning 85% of independent women, a key group of persuadable voters. (Page, 7/24)

The fraught politics of abortion have helped turn an August ballot question in Ohio that would make it harder to change the state constitution into a cauldron of misinformation and fear-mongering. State Issue 1, the sole question on the ballot, calls for raising the threshold for passing future changes to the Ohio Constitution from a simple majority to 60%. Starting next year, it also would double the number of counties where signatures must be gathered, from 44 to all 88, and do away with the 10-day grace period for closing gaps in the total valid signatures submitted. (Carr Smyth and Swenson, 7/24)

In other abortion news developments —

A new and intriguing finding from PerryUndem, a nonpartisan research firm, suggests that a significant chunk of abortion-rights supporters may now oppose any government restrictions on abortion — even limits on later abortion that were largely uncontroversial before Dobbs. The researchers asked 4,037 registered voters if they supported a constitutional amendment establishing reproductive freedom. Half of the sample read an amendment identical to the ballot measure that passed in Michigan in 2022; the other half read the same amendment except the researchers removed language that allowed the state to regulate abortion after viability, or when a fetus can live outside a woman’s body. (Thomson-DeVeaux, 7/25)

Former Vice President Mike Pence has been vocal about his support for federal abortion restrictions. During an appearance on CNN last month, the GOP presidential hopeful was asked whether governments that restricted abortion had a financial responsibility to support families facing unexpected pregnancies. He responded that he supported such policies of “compassion.” “If we’re going to stand for life, we have to care as much for newborns and mothers as we do for the unborn,” Pence said. Asked if that included paid family leave and subsidized child care, Pence wouldn’t say outright. (Barclay, 7/24)

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has joined 18 other states' attorneys general in asking the federal government to allow local governments to obtain medical records of patients seeking out-of-state abortion care in certain cases. Rokita earlier this month signed onto a letter asking the U.S. Office of Health and Human Services to abandon a proposed rule change to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA. The draft rule would bar local governments in states where abortion is illegal from obtaining medical records of patients who sought legal abortion care in another state as part of civil or criminal investigations. (Napier, 7/24)

Fact-checking some extreme opinions on abortion —

"In some liberal states," he said, "you actually have post-birth abortions and I think that’s wrong." Some on social media thought DeSantis misspoke, but the post-birth abortion claim is something that Republicans and anti-abortion activists have repeated for years, before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. PolitiFact Rating: False. Killing an infant after birth is infanticide and is illegal in all 50 states. Situations resulting in a fetal death in the third trimester are exceedingly rare, and involve emergencies such as fetal anomalies or life-threatening medical emergencies affecting the mother. (Putterman, 7/24)

Also —

The US Supreme Court has Taylor Porter questioning her career path, where she wants to live, and even the relationships around her as she enters her final year at the University of Texas. Porter, 20, wonders if she’ll be able to pursue plans to be a physician’s assistant and whether she should leave Texas, a red state, after the rulings all aligned with the court’s 6-3 conservative majority striking affirmative action, student loan forgiveness, and abortion rights. (Headley and Cohen, 7/24)

A group of 112 Democratic members of Congress on Monday called on U.S. President Joe Biden's administration to establish heat safety regulations for indoor and outdoor workplaces as a persistent and deadly heatwave spreads across the country. The group asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue new standards on adequate water and sheltered rest breaks, medical training to identify heat-related illness and a plan for workplaces to adjust their operations during times of dangerously high heat. (Walker, 7/25)

Every summer, as temperatures rise, Phoenix-area doctors begin seeing more patients with heat-related symptoms but a deadly heat wave entering its fourth week with temperatures above 110 degrees is taking its toll on even the most heat-acclimated populations. (Speck, 7/25)

Meanwhile, research links extreme heat and heart health —

Extreme heat and air pollution can be dangerous for the heart. Enduring both at the same time can be especially deadly, new research shows. (Mosbergen, 7/24)

Risk of a fatal heart attack was 18% higher during ­2-day heat waves with heat indexes at or above the 90th percentile, ranging from 82.6 to 97.9 degrees Fahrenheit, the study found. The risk was 74% higher during 4-day heat waves with heat indexes at or above the 97.5th percentile, ranging from 94.8 to 109.4 degrees. (Moniuszko, 7/24)

On other environmental health news from across the country —

Extreme heat impacts everything it touches — the body, infrastructure, plant life — and even things it doesn’t. It’s hard to ignore the physical sensations of discomfort and sweat on a hot day, but high temperatures can have a negative effect on mental health, too. Given the record-breaking heat bearing down on the US, Europe, China, and Iran, millions of people may be feeling a change in their mood. (Volpe, 7/25)

At a homeless encampment dubbed the Lost City, hidden behind a cluster of pine trees off Highway 95, Charles Johnson was sweltering. He was drenched in sweat, worsening the heat rash on his back and arms. His sunburned skin ached. He was hungry. He was desperate for water. And he yearned for ice — which he can’t keep from melting while living outside, under the unforgiving desert sun. (Vives and Dillon, 7/24)

The clouds that blanket Los Angeles in the late spring, keeping temperatures cool and skies overcast, dissipate by the first weeks of summer. The months known in the city near the ocean as “May Gray” and “June Gloom” give way to an exposed July sun that blazes relentlessly until well after the school year starts. It is not unusual for Angelenos to contend with triple-digit heat until shortly before Halloween. When the mercury rises, many students can’t take refuge. They attend campuses with more cement than greenery, unreliable air-conditioning and drinking fountains that go unused due to water quality concerns. (Nittle, 7/21)

The heat waves hitting the US and Europe seem linked to climate change —

The heat waves simultaneously broiling the southwest United States and southern Europe would have been “virtually impossible” if not for climate change, according to a group of scientists who study the probability of extreme weather events. A third heat wave, in China, could have been expected about once every 250 years if global warming weren’t a factor. (Bush, 7/25)

The McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s latest Mood of the Nation Poll, conducted from May 12-18, 2023, finds that 86 percent of American adults support U.S. Congress mandating background checks for all firearm sales and transfers. Nearly three-quarters support Congress requiring gun owners to take a test, obtain a license and register their firearms, similar to the process of owning an automobile. (Helmstetter, Plutzer and Kalale, 7/25)

Mass shootings claim a disproportionate number of Black victims and happen more often in US cities with higher Black populations, suggesting that structural racism may play a role, according to a new study by Tulane University researchers. (Webb Carey and Akinnibi, 7/24)

In other public health news —

Trader Joe's has issued recalls for two types of cookies it sells, as they could potentially have rocks in them, the grocery store chain said Friday. A supplier for Trader Joe's alerted the company that the Almond Windmill Cookies, with sell-by dates between Oct. 19 and Oct. 21, 2023, and the Dark Chocolate Chunk and Almond Cookies, with sell-by dates between Oct. 17 and Oct. 21, 2023, had been impacted. (Archie, 7/24)

The number of children who received free summer lunches in 2022 dropped dramatically compared to the year prior, according to a new report from anti-hunger advocacy organization Food Research & Action Center. FRAC’s report found that nearly 3 million children received lunch from federally sponsored summer nutrition programs on an average day in July 2022, a decrease of almost 2.4 million children, or 44.5%, from July 2021. (Chuck, 7/25)

Dr. Chris Hakim lives in a version of the not-so-distant past. He practices modern medicine and spends as much time as he likes with patients without issue — a departure from the growing trend in health care. “The patient is now seeing a physician who doesn’t decide how much time he spends with a given patient,” Hakim said. “Those things are dictated by someone else. There are guidelines to everything and they come from administration.” (Munro, 7/24)

One in 10 elderly Americans develop Alzheimer's or dementia, challenging their daily lives as they experience cognitive decline. A recent study found many with this condition continue driving, posing a greater risk for road safety. Researchers with University of Michigan Medicine demonstrated the complicated factors at play for those affected, as caregivers and individuals with dementia struggle to navigate the decisions around driving. (Prestininzi, 7/24)

While lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) patients as a whole experience health outcomes twice as poor as heterosexual people, bisexuals are the worst affected among this already marginalized community, according to a new study published on July 24 in the Journal of Sex Research, with bisexual women four times more likely than heterosexuals to suffer from long-term issues. The researchers suggest that this may be a result of biphobia, or discrimination from heterosexuals as well as gay and lesbian people. (Thomson, 7/24)

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���ϳԹ��� News: New Weight Loss Drugs Carry High Price Tags And Lots Of Questions For Seniors
Corlee Morris has dieted throughout her adult life.After her weight began climbing in high school, she spent years losing 50 or 100 pounds then gaining it back. Morris, 78, was at her heaviest in her mid-40s, standing 5 feet 10½ inches and weighing 310 pounds. The Pittsburgh resident has had diabetes for more than 40 years. (Graham, 7/25)

Drugmaker Pfizer Inc said over 30 drugs, including injections of painkiller fentanyl and anesthetic lidocaine, may see supply disruption after a tornado destroyed a warehouse at its Rocky Mount, North Carolina, plant last week. (7/24)

The nation is already short of some of the products Pfizer said could be affected, according to a list maintained by the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists, which represents 60,000 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. They include products containing lidocaine, morphine and fentanyl. Pfizer said it had identified products that could be in short supply after assessing its market share and inventory levels. The Rocky Mount plant, which has 1.4 million square feet of manufacturing space, the firm said, makes almost 8 percent of all sterile injectable drugs used in American hospitals, including anesthesia, therapeutics and neuromuscular blockers. The tornado didn’t cause major damage to the production area. (Jeong, 7/25)

In news on a big deal for high blood pressure drugs —

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals will receive $310 million in cash from the Swiss drug giant Roche Holding AG and be eligible for as much as $2.5 billion more in a deal to jointly develop and market the Cambridge biotech’s novel potential treatment for high blood pressure. The firms announced on Monday that they will collaborate on Alnylam’s drug candidate, zilebesiran, which is undergoing testing in two mid-stage clinical trials. Unlike approved treatments for hypertension that require patients to take daily pills, the experimental medicine is given as an injection every few months. (Saltzman, 7/24)

Roche’s announcement Monday that it would pay $310 million for rights to a hypertension treatment, zilebesiran, invented by the biotech firm Alnylam is evidence of a renewed interest on the part of large pharmaceutical companies for treatments for cardiovascular disease. If things go well, Roche could pay Alnylam up to $2.8 billion in total. (Herper, 7/24)

On other financial developments in the industry —

National industry leaders are warily eyeing the horizon for a potential recession, but for healthcare organizations, an economic downturn could bring some benefits. Hospitals, health systems and other provider organizations have struggled to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, battling the financial impacts of rising prices and historically high labor costs. The organizations have pledged to reduce reliance on contract labor and normalize pay increases for workers, but an ongoing staffing shortage is forcing providers to keep hiking wages and bonuses and/or look outside the industry to fill gaps. (Hudson, 7/24)

The five largest U.S. pharmaceutical companies by market cap — Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, AbbVie and Pfizer — reported combined earnings of $81.9 billion in 2022, an $8 billion increase from 2021, according to a new analysis by Accountable.US. The left-leaning corporate watchdog found the firms’ combined stock buybacks and dividends increased by $4.4 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively, from 2021 to 2022. (Giorno, 7/24)

Vital Biosciences Inc. plans to unveil new technology on Monday that it says can use a few drops of blood for 50 lab-grade tests in 20 minutes. The idea will give cold sweats to any investor familiar with Theranos Inc. That company, too, aimed to run large numbers of tests on small amounts of blood. It didn’t work, and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, is currently serving 11 years in prison for fraud after the company rode a $9 billion valuation down to zero. (McBride, 7/24)

Shares of Becton Dickinson hit an all-time high on Monday and were last up 6.1% after the medical device maker received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance late on Friday for the market return of its drug infusion system. (7/24)

Also —

Kodiak Sciences will abandon further development of its lead drug to treat a type of eye disease after it failed in two late-stage studies, the company said on Monday, sending its shares tumbling more than 50%. The decision comes after the drug, tarcocimab tedromer, failed to improve vision in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) — the most common diabetes-related cause of vision loss — in two late-stage studies. (Sunny, 7/24)

Biofourmis, a digital health and technology company, announced it had trimmed its global workforce by 18 percent or 120 employees. The company said the largest impact will be on its international operations outside of the United States. According to a written statement, most of the roles were operational and administrative. Of those employees laid off, 48 of them were based in the United States. (7/24)

Jefferson Health, the largest health system in the Philadelphia region by number of hospitals, this week is reducing its workforce by 1%, or about 400 positions, in a bid to curb its financial losses by eliminating duplication in the not-for-profit system that grew rapidly though acquisitions before the pandemic. (Brubaker, 7/24)

A study of more than 1.4 million Danish adults found those diagnosed with depression were more than twice as likely to get dementia later in life, a link that suggests depression may increase dementia risk, researchers said. The study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Neurology reported the risk of dementia more than doubled for men and women diagnosed with depression, even if diagnosed as young or middle-aged adults. (Alltucker, 7/24)

Currently, diagnosing Alzheimer’s is slow. The standard confirmation test is an amyloid-PET scan, but by the time the disease is evident on the PET scan, the disease has already progressed, said Valerie Daggett, a bioengineering professor at the University of Washington. “A lot has to happen before you get there and you see those deposits,” she said. Enter: blood tests. A glut of these tests — some used in clinical trials for Leqembi and donanemab — have received FDA breakthrough device designation, though none have been authorized yet. Newer tests and biomarkers are even trying to diagnose patients before they develop Alzheimer’s symptoms. (Trang, 7/25)

In other research, innovation developments —

Beer is rich with organic chemicals, called purines, that can crystalize and accumulate in the blood, which could lead to gout and cardiovascular disease. A study estimated that between 2015 and 2016, 9.2 million people in the United States experienced gout. And cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of death for people over 45. But don’t say goodbye to your favorite craft beer just yet. (Truong, 7/24)

Older people who take a low-dose aspirin daily may be 20 percent more likely to develop anemia than those who do not, according to research published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. Anemia develops when a person has an inadequate number of healthy red blood cells, which are needed to carry oxygen to tissues throughout the body. People with anemia often feel tired and out of breath. (Searing, 7/24)

The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection during pregnancy increased 16-fold between 1998 and 2018, fueled by the opioid epidemic, which has increased the odds of poor fetal outcomes, researchers from Johns Hopkins University recently reported in JAMA Network Open. The group's goal was to gauge how common HCV infections in pregnancy are and flesh out maternal and fetal outcomes to help with health policy decisions against the backdrop of rising opioid use, including in younger women of childbearing age. (Schnirring, 7/24)

While the common fruit fly is typically viewed as an inconvenience, buzzing around your ripened fruit, these lowly insects share the majority of the genes that cause diseases in humans and have long been a crucial tool to scientific studies. As the most studied organism in genetic research, fruit flies are now becoming useful to local researchers who are looking for ways to better understand how alcohol addiction occurs from the perspective of the brain. (Gogosz, 7/24)

Dr. Alfonso Sabater pulled up two photos of Antonio Vento Carvajal’s eyes. One showed cloudy scars covering both eyeballs. The other, taken after months of gene therapy given through eyedrops, revealed no scarring on either eye. Antonio, who’s been legally blind for much of his 14 years, can see again. (Ungar and Frisaro, 7/24)

"The most surprising discovery was that participants often perceived information produced by AI as more likely to come from a human, more often than information produced by an actual person. This suggests that AI can convince you of being a real person more than a real person can convince you of being a real person, which is a fascinating side finding of our study," Germani said. With the rapid increase of chatbot use, tech experts and Silicon Valley leaders have sounded the alarm on how artificial intelligence can spiral out of control and perhaps even lead to the end of civilization. One of the top concerns echoed by experts is how AI could lead to disinformation to spread across the internet and convince humans of something that is not true. (Colton, 7/25)

Also —

Those with long COVID symptoms for months or years after becoming infected may also face significant cognitive decline, a new study suggests. A group of researchers with King’s College London studied the impact of COVID-19 on brain function through a series of cognitive tests on people who had COVID-19 and recovered quickly or had COVID-19 and are still dealing with symptoms years later. (Wright, 7/24)

Cognitive deficits equivalent to a 10-year increase in age were more common in COVID patients who still had symptoms 3 months or more after infection, according to a study published late last week in eClinicalMedicine. A King's College London-led team evaluated performance on 12 tasks that tested working memory, attention, reasoning, processing speed, and motor control among previously infected participants and never-infected controls with and without persistent symptoms (eg, psychological distress, fatigue, functional impairment) in the UK COVID Symptom Study Biobank. (Van Beusekom, 7/24)

If you are in need of help —

The Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine recently released six new informed consent forms that will be required for transgender people to sign in the next six months to continue gender-affirming care like puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy and surgeries. Critics say the forms are inaccurate, intentionally vague and full of transphobic language that could scare patients from getting care — and doctors from providing it. (Miller, 7/24)

Meanwhile, in California —

California Republican members of Congress want the state to kill its tax on health savings accounts. Led by Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Seal Beach, six Republican members of California’s congressional delegation, including Rep. Young Kim, this week sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, urging him to end the state tax on health savings accounts. (Kang, 7/24)

California is poised to become the first state in the country to adopt special measures to protect workers who make kitchen and bathroom countertops out of a popular kind of artificial stone known as "quartz." That's because more and more countertop workers, almost all Latino men, are coming down with an irreversible lung disease after breathing in dangerous dust while cutting and grinding quartz and other stone materials. (Greenfieldboyce, 7/24)

Under a tent pitched in a darkened parking lot in Los Angeles, a 21-year-old man handed pills to Ruby Romero. “Can you test all of them?” he asked. “I’d rather be safe than sorry.” Romero, a UCLA project director, started to ask questions for an ongoing study as the young man shifted in the evening cold from foot to foot in his sandals. He told Romero that the vividly orange pills, which were shaped like rounded triangles, had been sold to him as ecstasy. (Alpert Reyes, 7/24)

A Florida man was arrested and identified as the third suspect involved in the 2022 firebombing of a Costa Mesa Planned Parenthood clinic along with a U.S. Marine and another accomplice, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday. (Winton, 7/24)

San Francisco Suicide Prevention (SFSP) has seen about a 30% increase in call volume since a new helpline went live last year, the organization told Axios. That 30% increase in San Francisco call volume is consistent with the increases seen in other Bay Area crisis centers that answer 988 calls, an indication that the new hotline is working as intended, Van Hedwall, SFSP's director of programs, said via email. (Dickey and Moreno, 7/24)

In other health news from across the country —

A new poverty report from the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies (OACAA) indicates that Ohio’s poverty rate has increased for the first time in years. Produced with the Columbus-based Strategic Research Group and released on July 10, the study found that the state’s poverty rate jumped to 13.4% in 2021 from 12.7% in 2020 — marking the first time these poverty numbers have increased year-to-year in over a decade. (Tucker and Thompson, 7/24)

A proposal to reopen the city’s mental health clinics and expand non-police responses to 911 calls received a symbolic boost Monday during a long-awaited hearing on the signature plank of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s progressive platform that faced roadblocks under previous administrations. (Yin and Pratt, 7/24)

The state wants a federal judge to put on hold a ruling aimed at keeping children with complex medical conditions out of nursing homes, saying a shortage of nurses would make it “impossible” to comply with a key part of the decision. (Saunders, 7/24)

Moffitt Cancer Center will open a $400 million inpatient surgical hospital on July 31 in Tampa. Construction began on the Moffitt McKinley Hospital in July 2020 in anticipation of an increase in the number of patients and cancer surgeries over the next 10 years. Physicians at the new hospital will treat all types of cancer, but focus on solid tumors requiring surgery said President and CEO of Moffitt Dr. Patrick Hwu. (Bowman, 7/24)

Alfredo Islas stepped into the George R. Brown Convention Center in May, wearing a crisp, white shirt and black suit jacket. Clutching a blue folder brimming with program certificates, the 49-year-old headed toward the first job fair of his life. Having served a 30-year sentence from the age of 16, Islas was released in 2020 into a world that felt almost alien, he said. In April, after struggling for three years to find a path forward, he sought help from the Community Reentry Network Program, a city initiative designed to support formerly incarcerated individuals as they adapt to life beyond bars. (Cheng, 7/24)

Guardian Flight has stopped its emergency helicopter services in Williston, and first responders in North Dakota’s sixth largest city say they’re noticing longer wait times for people with time-sensitive injuries who need quick care. The company’s helicopter had been primarily used to pick up patients up at the scene of emergencies on locations ranging from farms to oil fields, the city fire department’s assistant chief, Corey Johnson, told The Bismarck Tribune. (7/24)

Gunfire erupted in a maternity unit of an Oregon hospital over the weekend, fatally wounding an unarmed security guard and leading to renewed calls Monday to protect health care workers from increasing violence. Gun violence in America has hit supermarkets, churches, a synagogue, schools — and now a birthing center. (Selsky, 7/25)

The proposed merger between two of Missouri’s largest health care systems could result in higher prices for patients, according to researchers and health economists. St. Louis-based BJC Healthcare and Kansas City-based St. Luke’s Health System announced the merger earlier this year but plan to maintain their own headquarters, location and branding. The Federal Trade Commission will need to approve the $10 billion merger for it to go through. (Fentem, 7/25)

At 60 public beaches in Massachusetts, tests have determined that swimming is unsafe and can cause illness, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on Monday. That includes 53 that have exceeded bacterial levels, six where warnings have been posted for algae/cyanobacteria, and one beach closed as a precaution due to “rainfall/severe weather”, according to the DPH website. It might seem harmless just to jump in on one of these hot days. (Finucane, 7/24)

Recent research by the National Diaper Bank Network reports that nearly half — 47% — of U.S. families with young children struggle to afford diapers. That’s up from 34% when the first study was conducted in 2010. Officials with the St. Louis Area Diaper Bank, which distributes free diapers to local agencies serving families in need, say they are trying to keep up. (Munz, 7/24)

Gov. Roy Cooper has state agencies, nonprofits and businesses working on a new aging plan, “All Ages, All Stages NC,” that, if adopted, could result in positive change for many of the 1.8 million North Carolinans who are 65 and older. That would be markedly different from the slow progress that Democrat Cooper and the Republican leadership of the General Assembly have made in proposing, establishing and paying for some of the broad range of services benefiting this population over the past decade. (Goldsmith, 7/25)

After decades of unchecked mergers, health care is the land of giants, with one or two huge medical systems monopolizing care top-to-bottom in many cities, states and even whole regions of the country. Reams of economic research show that the level of hospital consolidation today — 75 percent of markets are now considered highly consolidated — decreases patient choice, impedes innovation, erodes quality and raises prices. (Elisabeth Rosenthal, 7/25)

Everyone knows that the United States is the only high-income country without universal health insurance. According to the standard narrative, this is the inevitable result of U.S. exceptionalism — our different values, culture, and institutions. Not so. The impetus for universal coverage is as strong in the United States as in any other country. (Liran Einav and Amy Finkelstein, 7/25)

Since May, at least eight cases of locally transmitted malaria have been reported — the first such instances in the United States in 20 years. Although a relatively small number of U.S. residents contract malaria abroad each year, the individuals recently affected in Texas and Florida did not leave their states before falling ill, suggesting they got sick from mosquitoes in this country. (Saad B. Omer, 7/25)

To understand the scale of America’s current drug problem, look backward. In 1999, 16,849 people died of overdoses. If that number had grown in line with the population, in 2021, we would have lost 20,048 people. (Megan McArdle, 7/25)

The Connecticut legislature has just enacted a law that will require school systems to make feminine hygiene products available in all public schools starting in September 2024. This is a big step that begins to address the difficulty some women in our state – especially younger women – face because of their inability to pay for these products. (Lindsey Carlisle, 7/24)

As a practicing, board-certified endocrinologist for 28 years, I’ve counseled thousands of patients with diabetes. And in the course of my experience, I’ve arrived at some key observations. Patients’ knowledge and literacy about this disorder vary widely. Certain terms and concepts about the condition are more frequently misunderstood than others. Wrong ideas /occasionally prevail. (Elizabeth Holt, 7/25)

In 1997, Oregon enacted the first death with dignity law in the U.S., providing terminally ill people who are experiencing unbearable suffering the option to seek medical aid in dying. The Oregon law, which contains numerous safeguards to prevent abuse, permits patients to obtain a lethal pharmaceutical to end their lives. (Michael Swearingen and Ginger Clarkson, 7/23)

Primary health care (PHC) is a critical aspect of health care delivery in Tennessee and around the world. Nevertheless, despite efforts made in recent years to improve PHC, there are still several challenges that affect the effectiveness of PHC in under-served and under-resourced communities in Tennessee and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). (Muna Muday, 7/24)

When healthcare executives think about the growing demand for high-quality care during a time of economic uncertainty, most of them likely worry about how to build a strong talent pipeline for the future. But the demand for effective nursing leadership is equally as pressing. (Kate Fitzpatrick, 7/24)