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The likely arrival of a new kind of pain pill—one that doesn’t carry the risk of addiction — feels like a rare moment of lightness amid the relentlessly heavy news about opioids in the US. (Lisa Jarvis, 2/3)

Recently, California surprised the public-health world by easing the state’s recommendations for asymptomatic people who test positive for COVID. The state previously urged them to isolate for five days to avoid infecting others. In a January memo, though, California Public Health Officer Tomás Aragón declared that “there is no infectious period for the purpose of isolation or exclusion.” (Juliette Kayyem, 2/4)

The Supreme Court of the United States ruling last year that colleges and universities can no longer take race and ethnicity into consideration as a specific basis for granting admission delivered a significant blow to diversity efforts on campuses nationwide. This ruling applies to medical education, where the lack of a diverse physician workforce is a known factor that leads to health care inequalities. (Cesar Padilla and Michael Galvez, 2/2)

In February 2021, Oregon decriminalized possession of small amounts of all drugs, via a ballot initiative known as Measure 110. The idea was to treat addiction as a public health problem, based on overwhelming evidence that jailing people for having small amounts of drugs for personal use is both ineffective and counterproductive. (Maia Szalavitz, 2/5)

Nearly one year ago, we came together to tell Americans that "protecting America's medical supplies is a bipartisan national security priority." We highlighted America's overreliance on China for life-saving drugs and the need to act quickly in the interest of national security. That idea has come to fruition, as we are pleased to announce the United States-Abraham Accords Cooperation and Security Act of 2024 (H.R. 7155). (Rep. Juan Vargas and Rep. Diana Harshbarger, 2/2)

The Biden administration’s proposed minimum staffing standard is likely the most important nursing home reform measure in decades. If finalized, the rule would establish detailed federal nursing home staffing standards for the first time, requiring facilities to always have a registered nurse onsite and to meet explicit levels for RN and nurse aide staffing. Following the release of the proposed rule in September, however, the administration has received intense criticism from both industry and advocacy stakeholders. (David C. Grabowski and David G. Stevenson, 2/5)

Mission Health should not have been sold to HCA. What is less obvious, but more important for the future of healthcare in western North Carolina, is that the purchase of Mission has not been good for HCA, is unlikely to get better, and that HCA can, and should, sell Mission sooner rather than later. For proponents of locally governed, not-for-profit health care in western North Carolina — of which I am one — that might be good news. (Jonathon Yeatman, 2/1)