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Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said on Monday that bromazolam, also known as “Designer Xanax,” has received an emergency state designation as a Schedule I controlled substance. As a Schedule I substance, the drug is banned sale in Kentucky, and the move provides law enforcement the ability to make arrests for sales or possession. A release from Beshear’s office said the designation is in response to a growing number of overdose deaths from the drug. Forty-eight overdose deaths were tied to bromazolam in Kentucky in 2024. (Meffert and Martichoux, 8/19)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Optum Rx Invokes Open Meetings Law To Fight Kentucky Counties On Opioid Suits 

UnitedHealth Group’s multibillion-dollar pharmacy benefit manager, Optum Rx, is suing five Kentucky counties in an attempt to force them out of national opioid litigation against the company. Pharmacy benefit managers, often called PBMs, act as middlemen that negotiate prescription drug prices between drug companies, insurance plans, and pharmacies. Some lawyers and advocates say PBMs helped fuel the overdose crisis by failing to restrict the flow of opioid prescriptions. (Pattani, 8/20)

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., called on Connecticut to take a “hard line” and ban private equity ownership of hospitals, citing deteriorating conditions at three facilities owned by Prospect Medical Holdings, a hospital operator formerly backed by private equity investors. (Golvala, 8/20)

Some employers and health systems in North Carolina are looking to change how they manage prescription drug benefits for their employees. More employers are considering alternative pharmacy benefit managers — or PBMs — to run the drug benefits in their employees’ health insurance plan. For the past few years, the market has been dominated by three big pharmacy benefit managers: CVS Caremark, Optum Rx and Express Scripts, which together processed nearly 80 percent of all prescription claims in the U.S. in 2024. (Vitaglione, 8/20)

Two people are dead after a shooting involving police officers at a hospital in Enid, about 100 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. Shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 17, officers with the Enid Police Department responded to a domestic issue at a residence near E. Walnut Avenue and N. 12th Street in Enid. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, now the lead agency on the case, said that police had identified an adult male suspect who had come to Integris Health Hospital, where officers said they'd found the suspect's vehicle. (Smith, 8/18)

Minnesota on Tuesday joined a wave of states suing TikTok, alleging the social media giant preys on young people with addictive algorithms that trap them into becoming compulsive consumers of its short videos. “This isn’t about free speech. I’m sure they’re gonna holler that,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said at a news conference. “It’s actually about deception, manipulation, misrepresentation. This is about a company knowing the dangers, and the dangerous effects of its product, but making and taking no steps to mitigate those harms or inform users of the risks.” (Karnowski, 8/19)

Christina Duarte, 43, is cheerful with long brown hair. She’s glowing at more than six months pregnant with her eighth child. "I have had four during the summertime… I don't know if it's my age or this heat, but it has never felt this hot to me," she said. (Meszaros, 8/20)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Planned Parenthood Bets On Redistricting To Push Back Against GOP Funding Cuts

Abortion rights groups are backing California Democrats in the escalating battle to redraw congressional maps, warning that Republicans are rigging seats on the heels of deeply unpopular cuts to safety net health programs and restrictions on reproductive care. And they worry there’s more to come, including a national abortion ban. (Mai-Duc, 8/20)

For Mohammed "Adeel" Khaleel, MD, leaving the comforts of suburban Dallas for war-ravaged Gaza has always been an easy decision. The hard part is coming home. "When you leave, you have this overwhelming sense of guilt, because you know that a number of these folks are not going to be here on the next trip around," Khaleel told MedPage Today in a video call from Gaza. (McCreary, 8/19)