Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Florida Demands Personal Information In Drug Prescription Data Probe
Florida鈥檚 insurance regulator has demanded an unusually intrusive trove of data on millions of prescription drugs filled in the state last year, including the names of patients taking the medications, their dates of birth and doctors they鈥檝e seen. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation in January sought this information from pharmacy benefit managers like UnitedHealth鈥檚 Optum Rx and CVS Health鈥檚 Caremark, companies that oversee prescription drugs for employers and government programs. (Abelson and Robbins, 3/5)
It was a punishment for mutiny in colonial times, a way to discourage desertion during the Civil War and a dose of frontier justice in the Old West. In modern times, some consider it a more humane alternative to lethal injection. The firing squad has a long and thorny history in the U.S. South Carolina on Friday is scheduled to put the first person to death by firing squad in the U.S. in 15 years. Brad Sigmon, who was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend鈥檚 parents in 2001, chose it over the two other methods in South Carolina 鈥 the electric chair and lethal injection. The state鈥檚 Supreme Court rejected what will likely be his final appeal Wednesday. (Johnson, 3/5)
A bill filed in the Texas House co-authored by a majority of the chamber is aiming to restrict the use of bathrooms by transgender people in public spaces and may potentially go further than previous iterations of similar bills to outline restrictions and penalties. (Runnels, 3/5)
Lifesaving training is now available to the Hispanic and Latino community in North Philadelphia. At Wednesday's ribbon cutting event, the Maria de los Santos Health Center welcomed a new lifesaving training device aimed at helping people who speak Spanish learn how to perform CPR. It's a Spanish-speaking, hands-only CPR kiosk that teaches people how to help someone in cardiac arrest. (Stahl, 3/5)
麻豆女优 Health News: For Seniors With Hoarding Disorder, A Support Group Helps Confront Stigma And Isolation
A dozen people seated around folding tables clap heartily for a beaming woman: She鈥檚 donated two 13-gallon garbage bags full of clothes, including several Christmas sweaters and a couple of pantsuits, to a Presbyterian church. A closet cleanout might not seem a significant accomplishment. But as the people in this Sunday-night class can attest, getting rid of stuff is agonizing for those with hoarding disorder. (Boden, 3/6)
On measles and bird flu 鈥
A Miami Palmetto Senior High School student has been diagnosed with measles, Miami-Dade County Public Schools confirmed on Tuesday. Parents of students at the school in Pinecrest told WLRN that they received an email blast and automated voicemail on Tuesday from the school鈥檚 principal, Victoria Dobbs, who also confirmed the measles case. (La Roche Pietri, 3/5)
A retrospective聽analysis reveals that H5 avian flu surfaced in Oregon wastewater weeks before the state's first outbreak in poultry and wild birds and 2 years before the first outbreak in US cattle. (Van Beusekom, 3/5)
The bird flu outbreak that has been ripping through California farms since August is starting to abate, state health and agriculture officials said Wednesday, heralding 鈥済ood news鈥 in a health crisis that has sent egg prices soaring nationwide. 鈥淭hankfully, we do see here in California the flu outbreak is slowing down,鈥 said Dr. Erica Pan, the director of the California Department of Public Health, during a committee hearing at the state Senate. (Bluth, 3/5)