KFF Health News Original Stories
Medical Residents Are Increasingly Avoiding States With Abortion Restrictions
A new analysis shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools were less likely to apply this year for residency positions in states with abortion bans and other significant abortion restrictions. (Julie Rovner and Rachana Pradhan, )
Paid Sick Leave Sticks After Many Pandemic Protections Vanish
The U.S. is one of nine countries that do not guarantee paid sick leave. Since the covid pandemic, advocates in states including Missouri, Alaska, and Nebraska are organizing to take the issue to voters with ballot initiatives this November. (Zach Dyer, )
Political Cartoon: 'An Advanced Version?'
KFF Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Political Cartoon: 'An Advanced Version?'" by Isaiah Legette.
Here's today's health policy haiku:
Concierge care is
swallowing up the doctors.
What the heck went wrong?
– Peter Zicari
If you have a health policy haiku to share, please Contact Us and let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to an original story.
Opinions expressed in haikus and cartoons are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions of KFF Health News or KFF.
Health IT
Ascension Hospitals Report Cyberattack That Is Disrupting Clinical Operations
Nonprofit health system Ascension detected a cyberattack that has impacted hospitals in at least six of the 19 states in which it operates. Clinical operations have been disrupted, and a possible data breach is under investigation.
Modern Healthcare: Ascension Reports Cybersecurity Incident, Possible Data Breach
Ascension has detected a cybersecurity incident that is disrupting its clinical operations, and has advised business partners to disconnect from its systems. The nonprofit health system said Wednesday it had discovered "unusual activity" on select network systems that it believes is due to a cybersecurity event. An Ascension spokesperson did not respond to questions about the extent of the disruption. (Hudson, 5/8)
Becker's Hospital Review: Cyberattack Disrupts Clinical Operations At Ascension
Cybersecurity firm Mandiant is aiding Ascension's investigation. Ascension said if sensitive information was compromised, it will immediately notify affected individuals. News outlets are reporting that the incident is affecting Ascension facilities in Florida, Wisconsin, Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana and Michigan. Ascension includes 140 hospitals and 40 older adult living facilities in 19 states. (Diaz, 5/8)
Pensacola News Journal: Ascension Hospitals Are Experiencing A Cyberattack. What To Know
Ascension confirmed to the News Journal that it had detected “unusual activity on select technology network systems” early Wednesday afternoon. Ascension Florida spokesperson Gary Nevolis told the News Journal in a written statement that the health system responded immediately. Employees report to the News Journal that charting, scheduling and prescription writing systems are down. (Girod and Little, 5/8)
Reproductive Health
Study: Abortion Limitations Linked To Rise In Intimate Partner Homicides
In other news, the fate of a women's health care bill in Missouri could be in jeopardy because of Senate squabbles. And in Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine thinks the 24-hour wait policy for an abortion should remain intact.
Salon.Com: Abortion Restrictions Increase Risk Of Intimate Partner Homicide, Study Finds
A new study published by scientists at Tulane University in Louisiana found that pregnant women in anti-abortion states face an increased likelihood of experiencing intimate partner homicide. Since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, which provided Americans with the constitutional right to access abortion care, more states have enacted TRAP laws, which stands for targeted regulation of abortion providers. According to Guttmacher Institute, 23 states in the U.S. have laws or policies that regulate abortion providers. In the study, published in the peer-reviewed health care journal Health Affairs, researchers looked at data from 2014 to 2020 to observe the connection between anti-abortion laws and intimate partner violence before Dobbs. (Karlis, 5/8)
In other news on abortion and birth control —
Missouri Independent: Missouri Senate Holds Fate Of Women’s Health Care Bill
A wide-ranging women’s health care bill that stalled in the House for months over concerns about expanding coverage for birth control is a step away from the governor’s desk — though dysfunction in the Senate could derail its chances of becoming law. (Spoerre, 5/8)
ABC 6: 24-Hour Waiting Period For Abortion Should Remain In Ohio Law, Governor Says
The 24-hour waiting period for abortions in Ohio should stand regardless of November's vote adding abortion rights to the Ohio Constitution, says Gov. Mike DeWine. "Those guardrails are still in effect. They worked well before. So I don't see any reason to change them," the governor told 6 On Your Side after an hour-long question-and-answer session Wednesday with the Columbus Metropolitan Club. (5/7)
The 19th: Democratic State Attorneys General Are Teaming Up To Protect Abortion Access
A group of Democratic attorneys general are working to strengthen state-level protections for abortion, contraception and gender-affirming care. These protections could include expanding the use of so-called “shield laws,” which assert that states where abortion or gender-affirming care are legal won’t cooperate with out-of-state efforts to prosecute anyone who helped provide treatment. (Luthra, 5/8)
The Hill: Doug Emhoff Urges Men To Join Abortion Rights Fight: ‘Women Are Dying’
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff urged more men to advocate for abortion rights on Tuesday, saying the key 2024 election issue is about more than just women, but families and all Americans. “This is an issue of fairness to women. Women are dying,” Emhoff told NBC’s Yamiche Alcindor. “It’s affecting [men’s] ability to plan their lives. And it’s also an issue of what’s next, what other freedoms are at risk. And these freedoms are affecting all Americans, not just women.” (Robertson, 5/8)
KFF Health News: Medical Residents Are Increasingly Avoiding States With Abortion Restrictions
Isabella Rosario Blum was wrapping up medical school and considering residency programs to become a family practice physician when she got some frank advice: If she wanted to be trained to provide abortions, she shouldn’t stay in Arizona. Blum turned to programs mostly in states where abortion access — and, by extension, abortion training — is likely to remain protected, like California, Colorado, and New Mexico. Arizona has enacted a law banning most abortions after 15 weeks. “I would really like to have all the training possible,” she said, “so of course that would have still been a limitation.” (Rovner and Pradhan, 5/9)
On fertility treatments —
American Homefront Project: A New VA Policy Covers Fertility Treatments For More Vets, But Some Are Still Excluded
The VA pays for IVF treatment for unmarried and LGBTQ veterans. But they must prove their fertility problems are service-related. (D'lorio, 5/8)
Elections
Ex-Public Health Officials Implore Voters To Do No Harm, Elect Biden
Letter details why medical officials see Donald Trump as a threat and encourages "anyone concerned about the price, availability, and safety of healthcare to keep Mr. Trump out of the White House." Meanwhile, fallout from the covid pandemic is having an effect on the the 2024 presidential election.
Fox News: Biden Gets Boost From Major Health Care Group Warning Trump Poses 'Threat To Public Health'
President Biden is getting a boost from a major group of former medical officials who say they are concerned about the "threat" former President Trump poses to public health. The group of 48 individuals is led by Dr. Andrew Gurman, former president of the American Medical Association (AMA), and includes six other former AMA presidents, a former U.S. surgeon general, four former acting surgeons general, a number of other former deputy and assistant surgeons general and former representatives of the American College of Physicians. (Gillespie, 5/9)
Los Angeles Times: How COVID-19 Trauma Is Shaping The 2024 Biden-Trump Election
The coronavirus is seldom mentioned by the campaigns of President Biden and Donald Trump, even though its impact on voters and the way the pandemic altered how we live, work, die and mourn has been profound. It accelerated mistrust in government and institutions, emptied downtowns of workers, sparked fights over masks and science, turned school board meetings into political blood sport, hardened the lines between red and blue states and ignited a mental health crisis. (Fleishman, 5/9)
More on RFK Jr.’s brain worm —
Los Angeles Times: What Parasite Might Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Have Had In His Brain?
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made various claims about his health over the years, but the most shocking came Wednesday when it was revealed that Kennedy once insisted that a worm ate a portion of his brain over a decade ago. Kennedy’s assertion, which was reported by the New York Times, was made during divorce proceedings from his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, and was intended to support his claim that health issues had reduced his earning potential. (Fry, Purtill and Kaplan, 5/8)
Boston Globe: Brain Worms: The Science Behind RFK Jr.'s Parasitic Infection
Yes, it’s possible to have a worm living in your brain — in fact, it’s far more common than you might think, said Dr. David Hamer, a professor of global health and medicine at the Boston University School of Public Health, who also directs a travel clinic at Boston Medical Center. (Piore, 5/8)
Government Policy
White House To Invest $46.8 Million In Mental Health Programs
Other health policy news from the Biden administration and Congress relates to telehealth rules, antitrust enforcement, and maternal health.
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services: Biden-Harris Administration Announces $46.8 Million In Behavioral Health Funding Opportunities
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), announced $46.8 million in notices of funding opportunities to promote youth mental health, grow the behavioral health workforce, improve access to culturally competent behavioral care across the country, and strengthen peer recovery and recovery support. President Biden made tackling the mental health crisis and beating the opioid epidemic key pillars in his Unity Agenda for the nation. Today’s announcement will help communities transform how they address behavioral health. (5/8)
Modern Healthcare: Telehealth Rules Extension Passes House Committee
Congress took the first step Wednesday to extend expiring telehealth rules, hospital at home services and other programs aimed at rural hospitals. The House Ways and Means Committee passed the Preserving Telehealth, Hospital, and Ambulance Access Act of 2024 by a vote of 31-0, setting it up for passage by the full House later this year. (McAuliff, 5/8)
Bloomberg: US Justice Department Calls For More Antitrust Enforcement In Health Care
The US hasn’t enforced its antitrust laws enough in the health care industry, top Justice Department officials said, voicing particular concern about consolidation among groups of doctors and nurses. “We are becoming more lucid to under-enforcement in healthcare,” Doha Mekki, the No. 2 official in the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said during a Bloomberg roundtable on Wednesday. The US has roughly 2,000 fewer hospitals today than existed in 1998, she said. (Nylen and Willmer, 5/8)
Roll Call: ‘Birthing Friendly’ Label Requires Little Effort By Hospitals
Six months after the launch of the Biden administration’s “birthing friendly” designation for hospitals, advocates are questioning the next steps for the tool aimed at incentivizing better care for patients. (Hellmann, 5/9)
Health Industry
Officials Blast Steward Healthcare For Overcomplicated Bankruptcy Plans
Meanwhile, in other news, Highmark Health has laid off 47 employees; nursing home merger and acquisitions are heating up in states where Medicaid pay is better; Connecticut lawmakers target better nursing home oversight; and more.
The Boston Globe: Steward Can’t Even Get Bankruptcy Right, State Says
Massachusetts officials said bankrupt hospital operator Steward Healthcare has created an overly complicated plan to sell its eight facilities in the state at a time when the system is rapidly running out of money. Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office complained in a new filing in the bankruptcy proceeding that Steward has separate sales processes for its hospitals that preclude a bidder from offering to buy all in one transaction, and had even excluded some potential buyers from participating. (Pressman and Weisman, 5/8)
Modern Healthcare: Highmark Health Layoffs Hit 47 Employees In Latest Round Of Cuts
Highmark Health has laid off 47 employees in its latest round of job cuts. The Pittsburgh-headquartered organization owns Highmark Inc., which provides health insurance plans to 6.9 million policyholders in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware and New York. It also operates Allegheny Health Network, which comprises 14 hospitals. A Highmark spokesperson declined to answer questions about the types of roles or specific locations affected. (Berryman, 5/8)
Modern Healthcare: Nursing Home Mergers Targeted In States With Better Medicaid Pay
Mergers and acquisitions activity is heating up in the skilled nursing industry as higher labor costs and other challenges are sending some small to mid-sized operators to the exits. Staffing costs, the federal staffing mandate, uncertainty over interest rates and low Medicaid reimbursements are creating a buyer’s market for large nursing home operators and real estate investment trusts that own nursing homes or lease properties to skilled nursing facility operators. (Eastabrook, 5/8)
The CT Mirror: CT Lawmakers Pass Bill Aimed At Improving Nursing Home Oversight
A measure that would reduce the number of people who can reside in a nursing home room, add consumer protections at assisted living centers and beef up oversight of nursing home management companies, among other reforms, cleared the Senate with unanimous support Wednesday. (Carlesso, 5/8)
Stateline: You’ve Covered Your Copayment; Now Brace Yourself For The ‘Facility Fee’
Even if you have health insurance, you might expect to be charged a copayment for some routine care, like office-based exams and consultations. But you probably don’t expect to receive a bill a few weeks later charging you an extra $100 or more. (Vollers, 5/8)
On health workers —
Modern Healthcare: Hospital CEO Pay Rises But Burnout Persists As Roles Grow: Survey
Executive search firms say their healthcare clients are generally offering leaders higher pay as they take on more responsibilities at increasingly complex organizations. But those running hospitals and health systems also continue to struggle with burnout. A Modern Healthcare survey of 30 executive search firms found that growth in C-suite compensation is due in part to consolidation and health systems’ heightened competition for talent, especially in financial and operational roles. (Devereaux, 5/8)
Axios: Nurses Push For A STEM Designation
As the country struggles with nursing shortages, some in the field are pushing for a federal solution: a new STEM designation. Classifying nursing as a STEM field would unlock millions in federal funding for recruitment programs and expand opportunities for international students. (Goldman, 5/9)
Fortune Well: Meet The Death Doulas Who Bring Comfort To People At The End Of Their Lives
Erin Collins is an Oregon-based end-of-life doula—a person who, as part of a growing field, essentially guides another through their journey of dying. Recently, she worked with a 91-year-old man who was suffering from Parkinson’s and dementia who was anxious about how long it might take for him to die. Collins told him it would be about 10 days. “He died in 10 days after taking his nap,” she says. “He just needed somebody that he … trusted who he could ask that question without any judgment or alarm. And he finally got the answer to the question that was clearly giving him the most distress.” (Seegert, 5/7)
Covid-19
FDA Delays Discussions Over Which Covid Strains To Put In Shots This Fall
The panel pushed back its date from May 16 to June 5 amid the gaining dominance of a new set of covid variants called FLiRT.
CIDRAP: FDA Postpones Advisory Committee Meeting On Next COVID Vaccines
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday announced that it has changed the date of its upcoming Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) from May 16 to June 5, during which the group will discuss and make recommendations on the strain or strains to include in 2024-25 COVID vaccines. (Schnirring, 5/8)
Axios: New Variants A Reminder Of COVID Reality
To most Americans, COVID-19 now ranks with everyday risks like reckless driving, smoking and drinking too much. But the emergence of new variants called FLiRT is a fresh reminder that the coronavirus still is circulating and evolving, even with hospitalizations at record lows. (Bettelheim, 5/9)
CIDRAP: NIH Announces Long-COVID Trials To Examine Treatments For Sleep, Exercise Disruptions
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced the launch of four more long-COVID clinical trials, which will examine sleep disturbances, exercise intolerance, and post-exertional malaise. The studies add to six earlier investigations that are part of the NIH's Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative. The newly announced trials will assess potential treatments for the symptoms and will enroll about 1,660 people across 50 study sites, the NIH said. (Schnirring, 5/8)
Also —
Bloomberg: Moderna’s MRNA Dreams Meet Reality With First Post-Covid Shot
The biotech’s lackluster new RSV vaccine undercuts the promise of mRNA to revolutionize health care. (Smith, 5/9)
Outbreaks and Health Threats
To Curb Rabies, US Makes It Tougher For Dogs To Enter The Country
For most dog owners, it's as simple as verifying that Fido has an up-to-date rabies vaccination. But for animals from high-risk nations, it could potentially mean a 28-day quarantine.
NPR: The CDC Issues New Rules For Bringing Dogs Into The U.S., Aimed At Keeping Out Rabies
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new rules Wednesday aimed at preventing dogs with rabies from coming into the United States. Under the new regulations, all dogs entering the U.S. must appear healthy, must be at least six months old, must have received a microchip, and the owner must verify the animal either has a valid rabies vaccine or has not been in a country where rabies is endemic in the last six months. Dogs coming from a country that is considered at high risk for rabies and who received a rabies vaccine from another country must meet additional criteria. (Stein, 5/8)
KPAX: Cow Tests Positive For Rabies In Montana
The Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) reports a cow in Powder River County has tested positive for rabies. The DOL says the cow was tested after showing neurological symptoms consistent with rabies. The animal is the first confirmed case of rabies in Montana in 2024 and is the first case not in a bat in Powder River County since 2022. (5/8)
On bird flu —
Stat: Bird Flu In Milk Supply Is Likely Coming From Asymptomatic Cows
Since March, when the first reported cases of H5N1 bird flu began showing up in dairy cattle in Texas, the Food and Drug Administration has been asking farmers to discard any milk from infected animals. Initially, spotting tainted milk was believed to be fairly easy because cows that get sick with H5N1 begin producing milk that is thick and yellowish. (Molteni, 5/8)
Stat: Bird Flu Outbreak In Cows Is Latest Avian Flu Curveball
Twenty-seven years ago today, a 3-year-old boy in Hong Kong developed a sore throat, spiked a fever, and started to cough. Six days later, he was hospitalized; six days after that, he died of acute respiratory distress caused by viral pneumonia. Testing showed the toddler, who’d had contact with sick chickens before becoming ill, had been infected with H5N1 bird flu. (Branswell, 5/9)
The Boston Globe: What Is The Risk Of Bird Flu Spillover In Humans?
Nichola Hill has been studying bird flu for more than a decade, but it wasn’t until last month that she truly came to fear it. The University of Massachusetts Boston researcher was standing on a spit of windswept beach on Nantucket, surrounded on three sides by the North Atlantic and swathed head to toe in protective gear. Dead birds lay along the stretch of shoreline. … The virus had arrived in her own backyard. And it suddenly felt unstoppable. (Piore, 5/8)
Public Health
People, Plants, Animals Suffering Worse Diseases Due To Climate Change
Several large studies point to the impact that environmental changes are having on infectious diseases. Also in the news: colon cancer rates in younger people, decaf coffee's health risks, and the Army's expansion of food kiosks.
The New York Times: Environmental Changes Are Fueling Human, Animal And Plant Diseases, Study Finds
Several large-scale, human-driven changes to the planet — including climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the spread of invasive species — are making infectious diseases more dangerous to people, animals and plants, according to a new study. Scientists have documented these effects before in more targeted studies that have focused on specific diseases and ecosystems. For instance, they have found that a warming climate may be helping malaria expand in Africa and that a decline in wildlife diversity may be boosting Lyme disease cases in North America. (Anthes, 5/8)
In other health and wellness news —
NBC News: Colon Cancer Rates Have Been Rising For Decades In Younger People, Study Finds
Colorectal cancer rates have been rising for decades among people too young for routine screening, new research finds. Routine screening is recommended every 10 years starting at age 45; the new study focused on rates of the disease in children and adults ages 10 to 44, using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases of colorectal cancer were on the rise in all age groups, the researchers found. (Sullivan, 5/9)
USA Today: Is Decaf Coffee Bad For You? Why Some Want To Ban Methylene Chloride
Health advocacy groups are petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to ban a chemical sometimes used in the process of decaffeinating coffee. Lawmakers in California also recently reportedly proposed a bill to ban the use of the compound in coffee statewide. … The Clean Label Project, a nonprofit that fights for food labeling transparency, found that several popular coffee brands … included traces of methylene chloride, a liquid sometimes used for paint stripping that in large doses can cause a slew of health issues. (Yasharoff, 5/8)
Military.com: Army Pumping Millions Into Food Kiosks, But They May Soon Be Obsolete
The Army is spending at least $4 million to expand its so-called food kiosks on bases this year. But that new method of feeding soldiers does not have to follow the service's own nutrition rules and may quickly be out of date as Army officials eye allowing meal cards to be used at commissaries. Kiosks are effectively small snack stands providing soldiers with sandwiches, candy, chips and soda — offerings that hold little nutritional value and a selection akin to what's found at a typical gas station. By this time next year, most major installations will have at least one kiosk, with many high-profile bases having several. Fort Campbell, Kentucky, is set to have four of them. (Beynon, 5/8)
State Watch
Appeals Court Rules That Researchers Can Access California Gun Owner Data
A federal appeals court backed a state law supporting research into gun and ammunition data, concluding the law doesn't violate gun owners' privacy or ownership rights. Meanwhile, in Connecticut, a bill to shorten wheelchair repair times advances.
San Francisco Chronicle: 9th Circuit Upholds California Law Providing Gun Data To Researchers
A California law allowing researchers to obtain records of all guns and ammunition bought in the state does not violate gun owners’ privacy or their right to keep and bear arms, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The law, AB173, was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021 but blocked in November 2022 by a San Diego judge in a privacy-rights suit by gun advocacy groups. It was reinstated a year later by a state appeals court, which said the studies provide valuable information on reducing deaths and violence from firearms. (Egelko, 5/8)
The CT Mirror: CT Bill To Lower Wheelchair Repair Wait Times Gets Full Passage
A bill aimed at curbing wait times for wheelchair repairs won final approval at the General Assembly on Tuesday. Lawmakers in the House unanimously passed House Bill 308, An Act Implementing Task Force Recommendations For Wheelchair Repair. It goes to Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk for final signature. (LeMaster, 5/8)
CBS News: Colorado Lawmakers Approve Millions Of Dollars To Address Youth Mental Health Crisis
On the last day of the legislative session, state lawmakers approved one of the biggest investments in child welfare in years. The legislation comes as hundreds of kids with severe behavioral health needs are forced to seek care out of state because Colorado doesn't have enough residential treatment. The lack of treatment is primarily due to a lack of providers. The bill will help recruit and retain more providers and give hope to families who feel their kids have been failed by the state. (Boyd, 5/8)
WFSU: New Florida Law Can Help Make Police Aware Of Drivers With Disabilities
The law will be part of the motor vehicle registration process. Sponsors say it will make officers mindful of possible medical conditions of someone in the vehicle who may not respond to commands as expected. (Andrews, 5/8)
North Carolina Health News: Parents Push To Expand Good Samaritan Law
As North Carolina continues to lose more people to overdoses every year — a record 4,339 in 2022 — parents and families are calling for a change in state laws that they say would encourage people to call for help, even if they had used drugs themselves or had supplied the potentially fatal dose. (Fernandez, 5/9)
Houston Chronicle: Cy-Fair ISD Board Removes Vaccines, Cultural Diversity From Textbooks
More than a dozen chapters including content on vaccines, cultural diversity, climate change, depopulation and other topics deemed controversial by conservative Cypress-Fairbanks ISD trustees will be removed from textbooks in the state's third largest school system for the 2024-2025 school year. Trusteed voted 6-1 late Monday to omit the material, after an hourslong discussion about a $138 million budget deficit that is forcing the district to eliminate 600 positions. (Sander, 5/8)
Also —
Stateline: Many States Are Eager To Extend Medicaid To People Soon To Be Released From Prison
A new policy that allows states to provide Medicaid health care coverage to incarcerated people at least a month prior to their release has drawn bipartisan interest and a slew of state applications. (Hassanein, 5/8)
Stateline: More Addiction Patients Can Take Methadone At Home, But Some States Lag Behind
Matt Haney’s home in San Francisco isn’t far from a methadone clinic. … His neighbors wait for the daily dose of methadone that relieves their cravings and minimizes opioid withdrawal symptoms. Despite methadone’s effectiveness, a labyrinth of state and federal rules — meant to guard against its misuse — keeps it inaccessible to many people who desperately need it, Haney said. (Claire Vollers, 5/8)
KFF Health News: Paid Sick Leave Sticks After Many Pandemic Protections Vanish
Bill Thompson’s wife had never seen him smile with confidence. For the first 20 years of their relationship, an infection in his mouth robbed him of teeth, one by one. “I didn’t have any teeth to smile with,” the 53-year-old of Independence, Missouri, said. Thompson said he dealt with throbbing toothaches and painful swelling in his face from abscesses for years working as a cook at Burger King. He desperately needed to see a dentist but said he couldn’t afford to take time off without pay. (Dyer, 5/9)
Science And Innovations
Neuralink Implant Trial Encounters Setback In First Human Patient
Some of the "threads" that connect the Neuralink to Noland Arbaugh's brain have withdrawn from the tissue, but the company has adjusted the system to compensate for reduced data going to the device. Separately, Google reveals an AI tool for biomolecule prediction.
The Wall Street Journal: Neuralink’s First Brain-Chip Implant In A Human Appeared Flawless. There Was A Problem
Neuralink encountered a problem with the implant in its first human patient, Noland Arbaugh, that reduced the amount of data it could capture from his brain, according to a blog post the company published on Wednesday. Some data was lost because a number of the implant’s threads that had been placed in Arbaugh’s brain came out. The company, owned by Elon Musk, didn’t disclose the reason why some threads retracted unexpectedly. (Winkler and Corse, 5/8)
Stat: Google Says AlphaFold 3 Can Map A Vast Universe Of Biomolecules
Google on Wednesday unveiled an artificial intelligence tool capable of predicting the structure and interaction of a vast universe of biomolecules, a fundamental advance that may help scientists unravel poorly understood aspects of biology and disease. (Ross, 5/8)
Medical device updates —
Stat: Software Glitch Causes Tandem Insulin Pump To Shutdown, FDA Warns
At least 224 diabetes patients have been harmed by a software error causing their insulin pumps to spontaneously shut down, the Food and Drug Administration announced in a recall notice on Wednesday. (Lawrence, 5/8)
Reuters: US FDA Advises Healthcare Facilities To Switch From Getinge's Heart Devices
The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday advised healthcare facilities to move away from using Getinge's heart devices in patients as they faced safety and quality concerns despite a string of recalls. The recommendation is based on concerns that the company has not sufficiently addressed the problems and risks with the recalled devices, it added. (5/9)
In pharmaceutical news —
Stat: Cell Therapy Fails To Slow Type 1 Diabetes, But Safety Is Established
Tolerance is the holy grail in calming autoimmune disease, a truce in the immune system’s faulty battle against the body’s own fabric. In type 1 diabetes, immune fighters attack beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, the hormone that controls glucose levels in the blood. (Cooney, 5/8)
Stat: Getting Alzheimer's Drug Leqembi To Patients Can Be A Challenge
A host of hurdles are slowing the adoption of the new Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi, experts involved in the treatment of patients said Wednesday, from complicated logistics to the fact that many people don’t recognize that their memory loss is a disease soon enough. (Herper, 5/9)
Stat: Cholera Vaccine Supply Gets Boost As Demand Surges Globally
Weeks after the global public health community sounded the alarm on the shortage of cholera vaccine, the World Health Organization moved to prequalify a new cholera vaccine last month. The vaccine is a simplified version of the two existing oral vaccines, both produced by Korean vaccine manufacturer EuBiologics Co. (Merelli, 5/9)
Health Policy Research
Research Roundup: Bacterial Vaginosis; Leukemia; and Covid
Each week, KFF Health News compiles a selection of health policy studies and briefs.
CIDRAP: Trial Data Support Non-Antibiotic Treatment For Bacterial Vaginosis
The results of a randomized controlled trial conducted in Europe indicate that a common bacterial infection in women could be treated without antibiotics. The trial investigated the efficacy of the broad-spectrum antiseptic dequalinium chloride for treating bacterial vaginosis (BV), which affects an estimated 25% of reproductive-age women and has a high recurrence rate attributed to bacterial biofilm. The results, published yesterday in JAMA Network Open, showed that when compared with metronidazole, dequalinium chloride was not only noninferior but also had better tolerability and fewer adverse events. (Dall, 5/3)
ScienceDaily: New Target For Potential Leukemia Therapy
Investigators discovered that a subset of myeloid and lymphoid leukemias depend on a molecular complex called PI3Kgamma for survival. The study provides both mechanistic and preclinical evidence supporting the rapid initiation of clinical trials for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) to test an existing medicine that inhibits the complex, called eganelisib, both alone and in combination with the most used AML chemotherapy, cytarabine. (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 5/8)
CIDRAP: Study: US Children At Times Received Ineffective COVID-19 Treatments
US children were prescribed ineffective and potentially harmful drugs to treat COVID-19, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), according to a study published today in Pediatrics. (Soucheray, 5/8)
CIDRAP: Long-COVID Symptoms In Kids Appear To Differ By Age
Symptoms associated with long COVID in children differ based on the child's age, according to a nationwide, multisite study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2024 Meeting late last week in Toronto. School-age children, adolescents, and young adults all reported more fatigue, headaches, and trouble concentrating and focusing. Change in smell or taste was more commonly described by adolescents and young adults. Chest pain and palpitations were more common in young adults, but not in the younger age groups, the authors said. (Soucheray, 5/7)
Editorials And Opinions
Viewpoints: Loneliness Is To Blame For Mental Health Crisis; We Must Prevent Pigs From Contracting H5N1
Editorial writers examine America's mental health, bird flu, covid, and caregiving.
USA Today: Mental Health Is Bad For Americans. Depression And Isolation Are Why.
We all know this crisis exists. After the COVID-19 pandemic, record numbers of people have reported mental health challenges. About 20% of U.S. adults − nearly 60 million Americans − have a diagnosable mental illness. (Evan Feinberg, 5/9)
Bloomberg: If Pigs Get Bird Flu, We Could Be In For A Real Nightmare
The bird flu outbreak among dairy cows continues to generate alarm, despite reassuring news that pasteurized milk is unlikely to infect anyone with H5N1. Scientists can’t stop worrying about a nightmare scenario: that the virus will get into pigs and, from there, spark a human pandemic. (F.D. Flam, 5/8)
Stat: H5N1 Communication Has Been Strictly For The Birds
In the wake of pointed criticism about its failure to release new information about the growing H5N1 outbreak in livestock, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on April 21 — four weeks after the outbreak first hit the media — “data dumped” genetic information from cattle on its public database. The posted material further confused the public. (Sara Gorman, Scott C. Ratzan and Kenneth H. Rabin, 5/9)
Chicago Tribune: Did Sweden Do Better Than The US In COVID-19 Approach?
COVID-19 cases and deaths internationally have fallen to their lowest levels in four years. The data now permits a comparison between the controversial laissez faire strategy of Sweden and the more restrictive approach of the United States, which emphasized lockdowns, a strategy also adopted by most of Western Europe. (Cory Franklin, 5/7)
Stat: Unpaid Burden Of Caregiving Increasingly Falls On The Young
The intersection of the mental health crisis among young Americans and the growing burden of unpaid caregiving is generating an expanding, particularly vulnerable, and unacknowledged population: young people who act as caregivers for siblings with special health care needs, physically or mentally ill parents, ailing grandparents, or other loved ones. (Kimia Heydari and Romila Santra, 5/9)
We want to hear from you: Contact Us
Indiana Weighs Hospital Monopoly as Officials Elsewhere Scrutinize Similar Deals
California Lawmakers Preserve Aid to Older, Disabled Immigrants
Biden’s on Target About What Repealing ACA Would Mean for Preexisting Condition Protections
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': SCOTUS Rejects Abortion Pill Challenge — For Now
© 2024 KFF. All rights reserved.
Powered by WordPress VIP
Thank you for your interest in supporting Kaiser Health News (KHN), the nation’s leading nonprofit newsroom focused on health and health policy. We distribute our journalism for free and without advertising through media partners of all sizes and in communities large and small. We appreciate all forms of engagement from our readers and listeners, and welcome your support.
KHN is an editorially independent program of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). You can support KHN by making a contribution to KFF, a non-profit charitable organization that is not associated with Kaiser Permanente.
Click the button below to go to KFF’s donation page which will provide more information and FAQs. Thank you!
