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A key cost-saving provision of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) goes into effect in the new year, limiting annual out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs to $2,000 for Medicare beneficiaries. Starting on Jan. 1, 2025, an estimated 19 million Medicare beneficiaries will see their out-of-pocket Medicare Part D spending capped at $2,000 for the year. This annual cap will be indexed to the rate of inflation every year going forward. An interim spending cap of roughly $3,500 was put in place in 2024. (Choi, 12/31)

Drugmakers plan to raise U.S. prices on at least 250 branded medications including Pfizer COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid, Bristol Myers Squibb's cancer cell therapies and vaccines from France's Sanofi, opens new tab at the start of 2025, according to data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors. Nearly all of the drug price increases are below 10% - most well below. The median price increase of the drugs being hiked Jan. 1 is 4.5%, which is in line with the median for all price increases last year. (Erman, 12/31)

The new year ushered in a final slate of updates to the federal rules for how hospitals have to disclose their prices, and experts are optimistic the changes will make the data more helpful in identifying less expensive providers. (Bannow, 1/2)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: In Year 7, ‘Bill Of The Month’ Gives Patients A Voice

In 2024, our nationwide team of gumshoes set out to answer your most pressing questions about medical bills, such as: Can free preventive care really come with add-on bills for items like surgical trays? Or, why does it cost so much to treat a rattlesnake bite? Or, if it’s called an urgent care emergency center, which is it? Affording medical care continues to be among the top health concerns facing Americans today. In the seventh year of �鶹Ů�� Health News’ “Bill of the Month” series, readers shared their most perplexing, vexing, and downright expensive medical bills and asked us to help figure out what happened. (12/30)

The latest piece of the nursing home staffing rule is set to take effect in 2025, but nursing homes are caught between preparing for a rule that may not remain on the books and finding solutions to their immediate workforce shortages. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in April finalized an unprecedented rule setting minimum staffing levels nursing homes must maintain. To comply, facilities will need to have enough staff to provide at least 3.48 hours of nursing care per resident per day, including at least 0.55 hours from a registered nurse. (Early, 12/30)

Artificial intelligence promises to revolutionize health care by predicting illnesses, speeding diagnoses, selecting effective treatments and lightening doctors’ administrative loads — but only if doctors trust that it won’t harm their patients. The government is struggling with oversight of this rapidly evolving technology. But Dr. Brian Anderson, whose experience working long hours as a family doctor for low-income immigrants in Massachusetts inspired him to work on technology to make caring for patients easier, says he can. (Reader, 1/1)

The Food and Drug Administration is on the cusp of deciding whether to ban a controversial bright cherry-red dye used in drinks and snacks but that has been linked to cancer in animals. Food safety advocates for years have pressured the agency to ban the dye used in bubble gum, candy and fruit cocktails, contending it would be safer to use natural coloring derived from plants such as beets and red cabbage. (Roubein, 12/29)

Jimmy Carter’s five decades of leadership in global health brought a hideous disease to the brink of elimination, helped deliver basic health and sanitation to millions of people and set a new standard for how aid agencies should engage with the countries they assist. ... Mr. Carter, the former president who died on Sunday at age 100, saw his health-care work through the prism of a larger effort for basic rights and as a tool for peace building. (Nolen, 12/30)

Former President Jimmy Carter will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol's rotunda at the invitation of congressional leaders, the Carter Center announced Monday. The memorial services and honors for the former president are expected to span several days and include public events in Atlanta and Washington, followed by a private burial ceremony in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. (Tully-McManus, 12/30)

Former President Jimmy Carter recently died in his home in Plains, Ga., at the age of 100. As the 39th president of the United States, he held the distinction as the nation’s longest-living commander-in-chief. Carter, the only centenarian alumnus of the Oval Office, was a naval officer, peanut farmer, and humanitarian. He began receiving hospice care in his home in February. (Mikhail, 12/30)

Nobel Prize-winning peacemaker Jimmy Carter spent nearly four decades waging war to eliminate an ancient parasite plaguing the world’s poorest people. Rarely fatal but searingly painful and debilitating, Guinea worm disease infects people who drink water tainted with larvae that grow inside the body into worms as much as 3-feet-long. The noodle-thin parasites then burrow their way out, breaking through the skin in burning blisters. (Bynum and Mednick, 12/31)

The CDC told Newsweek Monday that while bird flu's current risk to the general public remains low, the agency is carefully monitoring for several red flags that could indicate that the virus could be on the verge of becoming a pandemic. Those red flags include any outbreaks of bird flu that are spread from person-to-person, as well as evidence that the virus has mutated, making it easier for it to spread between humans. (Parry, 12/30)

After someone in southwest Louisiana was hospitalized with a severe case of bird flu, the first such illness reported in the United States, health workers swabbed the person’s nose and throat, looking for genetic clues about the virus. On Thursday, federal health officials reported some unsettling results. Some of the genetic samples contained mutations that in theory might help the bird flu virus, H5N1, infect people more easily. (Mueller, 12/27)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will begin collecting samples of raw cow’s milk cheese from across the U.S. to test for the presence of bird flu, spurred on by the ongoing outbreaks of H5N1 in multiple states. In the announcement published Monday, the FDA said the goal of testing will be two-fold: detecting the H5N1 virus and taking the necessary follow-up actions to protect consumers. (Choi, 12/31)

Two groups of investigators today fleshed out fuller clinical understanding of North American patients recently infected with H5N1 avian influenza, one of them describing a Canadian teen who had a severe infection and the other reviewing illness features of 46 US patients, most of whom had mild infections following exposure to sick dairy cows or poultry. The teams published their reports today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). (Schnirring, 12/31)

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today confirmed 12 more H5N1 avian flu detections in dairy cattle, all from California, as more outbreaks were confirmed in poultry across four states. The newly confirmed detections in California’s dairy cattle, where outbreaks have been under way since late August, push the state’s total to 697 and the national total to 912 across 16 states. (Schnirring, 12/30)

New Hampshire is gearing up to join a federal program testing dairy cattle for virulent strains of bird flu, which so far has been detected here only in some wild birds in early 2024. In other parts of the country, concern about Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza is spreading. At least 875 dairy cattle herds in 16 states have tested positive; some zoos are reporting fatalities among birds and animals that became infected by wild birds in their enclosures; and at least two housecats on the West Coast have died after getting infected with the virus in pet food based on raw turkey meat. (Brooks, 1/1)

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife is working with other agencies to monitor the suspected presence of bird flu, also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, in the state. In recent months, the virus has been detected in several states, according to the division. The Division of Wildlife has submitted several dead birds to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory for testing. (Krouse, 1/1)

A winter wave of COVID infections is cresting as 2025 begins, one that started to swell before Christmas cookies were left out for Santa Claus and Hanukkah menorahs and Kwanzaa kinaras were lit. Nationwide test positivity was projected to be 7.5% the week ended Dec. 21, according to Dec. 30 estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Infections have ticked up consistently since the agency recorded a rate of 4.1% the week ended Nov. 16. (Leake, 12/31)

The emergence of Covid-19 five years ago marked one of the worst public health crises in modern history. During the pandemic’s first two years, life expectancy in the US plummeted by about 2.7 years — the steepest decline since World War II. Here’s a closer look at these grim numbers. (Gale, 12/29)

The number of Florida resident deaths this year linked to COVID-19 will be significantly lower than in past years. Data posted on the Florida Department of Health website Monday morning showed that 5,896 resident deaths had been tied to COVID-19 this year. This year’s pace of deaths is lower than during the past four years. (12/30)

China has shared the most COVID-19 data and research results in the international community, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, after the World Health Organization repeated its call for more information and access. China is also the only country that organised experts to share traceability progress with the WHO on many occasions, Mao Ning, spokesperson at the foreign ministry, told a regular news conference. (12/31)

Nearly 900 people aboard cruise ships were sickened from gastrointestinal disease in December amid an escalation in both the frequency and severity of outbreaks, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far this year, there have been 16 outbreaks on cruise ships, from norovirus, salmonella, e. coli or other unidentified pathogens that cause gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea or vomiting. That's the largest number of cruise ship outbreaks in 12 years. (Noguchi, 1/1)

A common stomach bug is surging, according to new data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the week of December 5, there were 91 outbreaks of norovirus reported, up from 69 the previous week. In the same period in recent years, there generally were 65 or less outbreaks per week. (It might not seem like a lot, but many more cases probably go unreported.) (Hetter, 12/31)

Like most doctors, Nicholas Jones prefers to diagnose patients after examining them. When he worked for UnitedHealth Group, though, the company frequently prepared him a checklist of potential diagnoses before he ever laid eyes on them. UnitedHealth only did that with the Eugene, Ore., family physician’s Medicare Advantage recipients, he said, and its software wouldn’t let him move on to his next patient until he weighed in on each diagnosis. (Weaver, Wilde Mathews, and McGinty, 12/29)

An outpouring of public rage against health insurers in the wake of the killing of a top UnitedHealth Group executive has drawn scrutiny to the country’s largest healthcare company. UnitedHealth recorded $372 billion in revenue last year—making it about the same size as Apple. It owns the biggest U.S. health insurer, and has expanded into almost every corner of the medical field. (Maremont, Dougherty and Wilde Mathews, 12/31)

A federal bankruptcy judge has approved Steward Health Care’s plan to close Sharon Regional Medical Center in Pennsylvania Jan. 6. Judge Christopher Lopez, of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston, signed off on the Dallas-based health system’s request to close the Pennsylvania hospital, according to a Dec. 27 court filing. Steward can sell or abandon any personal property left at Sharon Regional Medical Center, the filing said. (Tepper, 12/30)

Pfizer has abandoned development of a hemophilia A gene therapy it licensed from Sangamo Therapeutics, a move that could imperil Sangamo’s future. It’s a sudden turnabout for Pfizer, which had indicated it would bring the experimental treatment to regulators, albeit not one that is likely to have a significant impact on the pharma giant or patients. Another gene therapy for the rare bleeding disorder was approved last year but has mustered little interest, largely because standard-of-care is already high and gene therapies aren’t yet curative. (Mast, 12/30)

Evernorth Health Services sees expanding opportunities in the $400 billion specialty pharmacy market, said Matt Perlberg, president of pharmacy and care delivery for the Cigna subsidiary. Cigna identified specialty pharmacy as a target for accelerated growth this year, and the future is bright as more of these high-cost drugs reach the market to meet rising patient demand, Perlberg said. (Berryman, 12/31)

British researchers have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can identify people at risk of a serious heart condition before symptoms appear, potentially preventing thousands of strokes, the BBC reported. The AI system, developed by scientists at the University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, analyzes electronic health records to detect warning signs of atrial fibrillation (AF), a condition causing irregular and abnormally fast heart rates, per the BBC. (Menezes, 12/31)

Work by device manufacturers to improve the performance of pulse oximeters on people with darker skin has progressed little since the Food and Drug Administration asked manufacturers in 2013 to voluntarily test the devices on more diverse skin tones, according to a study published Monday in JAMA. The study and a related editorial suggest clearer guidance, enforcement, and possibly legal action may be necessary to ensure the devices work well on all skin tones. (McFarling, Lawrence and Oza, 12/30)

They don’t get fruitcakes or Christmas cards from grateful patients, but for decades robots have been helping doctors perform gallbladder removals, hysterectomies, hernia repairs, prostate surgeries and more. ... Now, a team of Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University researchers has reported a significant advance, training robots with videos to perform surgical tasks with the skill of human doctors. (Johnson, 12/30)

It’s easy to forget that we live in an age of medical wonders. Cancer tumors can be slowed or shrunk in ways previous generations couldn’t imagine, with everything from pills to genetically engineered white blood cells. Surgeons can transplant a face, or replace a heart valve without cracking a chest. These are outcomes that would not have been possible 20 years ago. So what changed this year? (Herper, 12/30)

The surging popularity of GLP-1 drugs is beginning to obscure the health consequences if people stop taking them, physicians warn. While many patients can shed up to 20% of their body weight using the injectables, the cost of the drugs and side effects like nausea and vomiting lead many to quit. In most of those cases, their weight returns. (Goldman, 1/2)

If you’re thinking about making a New Year’s resolution to quit smoking, it might help to know that new research says it could extend your life expectancy. Each cigarette someone smokes, on average, can take about 20 minutes off their life expectancy overall, according to new research based on British smokers. (Howard, 1/1)

After large drops during the pandemic, life expectancy in the United States should recover to 2019 levels this year nationally and in 26 states — but not as fast as it should compared with similar countries, according to a new study. Bad habits such as junk food, smoking and illicit drug use are preventing longer lifespans, even as technology brings major progress in diseases such as cancer and heart disease, according to a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. (Henderson, 1/1)

A report that is intended to shape the next edition of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines has broken sharply with an emerging scientific consensus that alcohol has no health benefits. The evidence review, by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in December, revived a once-dominant hypothesis that moderate drinking is linked to fewer heart attack and stroke deaths, and fewer deaths overall, compared with never drinking. Many scientists now take issue with that view. (Caryn Rabin, 1/1)

Drinking coffee and tea might reduce the risk of developing head and neck cancers, including cancers of the mouth and throat, according to recent research. Scientists at the University of Utah's Huntsman Cancer Institute analyzed the results of 14 studies by scientists all over the world associated with the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology consortium. In total, their analysis included information from nearly 10,000 patients with head and neck cancers, and nearly 16,000 controls who did not have the disease. (Willmoth, 12/31)

Between November 1, 2022 and May 15, 2023, paper mill workers in Michigan were part of the largest blastomycosis outbreak in US history, with 162 cases of the fungal disease identified among 645 mill workers. This outbreak was the largest documented blastomycosis outbreak in the United States, and the first associated with a paper mill or an industrial setting. ... The team published the findings yesterday in the latest issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Soucheray, 12/31)

Broccoli sold at Walmart stores in 20 states has been recalled. Braga Fresh last week issued a voluntary and precautionary advisory for 12-ounce bags of Marketside Broccoli Florets that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which posted the advisory Tuesday, the pathogen can cause “serious and sometimes fatal infections” in young children, elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. (Lee, 1/1)

Although case numbers remain low, average annual US incidence of a rare bacterial zoonotic disease rose by more than half from 2011 to 2022, according to new surveillance data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In a report published yesterday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, CDC investigators said 2,462 tularemia cases were reported over the period, ... a 56% increase compared with the previous surveillance period (2001 to 2010). (Dall, 12/31)

Mango, cherry and lemonade-flavored vapes — they’re delivered by mail carriers like any letter, pamphlet or package. One problem: It’s illegal in most cases to ship those products. Still, vapes arrive regularly on the doorsteps of homes across the nation as companies flout laws regulating online sales of the products, including a ban on shipping e-cigarettes through the U.S. Postal Service. (Ovalle and Roubein, 12/26)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Trash Incinerators Disproportionately Harm Black And Hispanic People

Across the country, trash incinerators disproportionately overburden majority-Black and -Hispanic communities. Though the number of incinerators has declined nationwide since the 1980s, Florida offers financial incentives to waste management companies that expand existing facilities or build new ones. (Chang, 12/23)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Caseworkers Coax Homeless People Out Of Las Vegas’ Tunnels For Treatment

Street medicine providers and homeless outreach workers who travel into Las Vegas’ drainage tunnels have noticed an uptick in the number of people living underground, and it can be difficult to persuade them to come aboveground for medicine and treatment. (Hart, 12/23)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: ‘Waiting List To Nowhere’: Homelessness Surveys Trap Black Men On The Streets

Homelessness experts and community leaders say vulnerability questionnaires have worsened racial disparities among the unhoused by systematically placing white people in front of the line ahead of Black people. Now places like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Austin, Texas, are developing alternative surveys to reduce bias. (Hart, 12/23)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: LGBTQ+ People Relive Old Traumas As They Age On Their Own

The generation that faced discrimination, ostracism, and the AIDS epidemic now faces old age. Many struggle with isolation along with a host of pressing health problems. (Graham, 12/24)

The Maryland Department of Health has extended a pause on new provider enrollments in Medicaid for certain mental health and addiction treatment facilities. The pause will now last until July 2025, a statement from the department said last week. First instituted in July, it affects four kinds of providers: Psychiatric rehabilitation programs; psychiatric rehabilitation programs, health home; Level 2.5 partial hospital program; and Level 2.1 Intensive outpatient treatment programs. (Bazos, 12/31)

The Massachusetts Legislature approved a bill Monday aimed at closing loopholes in the state’s health care market regulatory process exposed by the collapse of Steward Health Care. The bill is also designed to increase financial transparency by gathering more information about hospital finances and assist in maintaining a more stable and sustainable health care system, according to legislature supporters. The measure would bolster the reporting authority of the state’s Center for Health Analysis and Information and the scope of the oversight of the Health Policy Commission by adding reporting requirements for hospitals. (12/31)

Replacing federal pandemic relief funding critical to community programs could top Texas lawmakers' to-do list for mental health next year as they also address understaffing of the 988 suicide hotline, mental health in schools and reviving the workforce. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar projected the state will have a $20 billion surplus at the start of the 2025 session on Jan. 14. Although the state has plenty of cash, competing priorities like school vouchers, campus security and fixing Medicaid enrollment issues might diminish what’s available for mental health. (Simpson, 1/2)

In the aftermath of the 2024 hurricanes, Florida community health centers proved indispensable in disaster response and recovery, providing far more than medical care. The back-to-back blows of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton left many counties reeling, testing the resilience and adaptability of health care providers. (12/31)

Pregnant New Yorkers will be entitled to at least 20 hours of paid leave to attend prenatal medical appointments under a law that took effect Wednesday. Gov. Kathy Hochul said the policy makes New York the first state in the country to offer paid leave for prenatal care. All pregnant workers in the private sector are eligible for the paid time off. Workers can schedule the paid leave for pregnancy-related medical appointments such as physical examinations, end of pregnancy care and fertility treatments, among other things. (1/1)

Planned Parenthood is asking a Kansas City judge to reconsider an order that left some abortion restrictions in place after she temporarily struck down a Missouri ban on the procedure. Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang earlier this month ruled several of the state’s restrictions on abortion providers were unlawful now that a constitutional right to receive an abortion in Missouri has gone into effect. But Zhang’s Dec. 20 order left other rules for providers in place, including licensing requirements that apply to abortion facilities in the state. (Fentem, 1/2)

States with restrictive abortion laws generally have more porous safety nets for mothers and young children, according to recent research and an analysis by The Associated Press. Tennessee is an example of how this plays out. Tennessee residents of childbearing age are more likely to live in maternal care deserts and face overall doctor shortages. Women, infants and children are less likely to be enrolled in a government nutrition program known as WIC. And Tennessee is one of only 10 states that hasn’t expanded Medicaid to a greater share of low-income families. (Ungar and Kruesi, 12/27)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: For Many Rural Women, Finding Maternity Care Outweighs Concerns About Abortion Access

In what has become a routine event in rural America, a hospital maternity ward closed in 2023 in this small Oregon town about an hour from the Idaho border. For Shyanne McCoy, 23, that meant the closest hospital with an obstetrician on staff when she was pregnant was a 45-mile drive away over a mountain pass. (Mongeau Hughes, 1/2)

Ryan Chrapko ate some psilocybin half an hour ago. He’s been staring at the same tree now for 10 minutes. It wasn’t a lot of mushrooms, only about a quarter of a gram. It’s just enough to unlock a sense of childlike wonder in his psyche at this particular moment. (Roch, 12/30)

As Colorado becomes the second state to legalize psychedelic therapy this week, a clash is playing out in Colorado Springs, where conservative leaders are restricting the treatment over objections from some of the city’s 90,000 veterans, who’ve become flagbearers for psychedelic therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Colorado residents voted to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin, the chemical compound found in psychedelic mushrooms, in a 2022 ballot measure, launching two years of rulemaking before it could be used to treat conditions such as depression and PTSD. (Bedayn, 1/1)

In more than a decade since Colorado voters legalized recreational marijuana for adults, state officials have come up with a ton of ideas for delivering cannabis-cautious public health messages to the public. They tried stoner humor. They tried high-concept art installations. They tried … hoedown music? The results have been decidedly mixed. (Ingold, 12/31)

Two groups of investigators today fleshed out fuller clinical understanding of North American patients recently infected with H5N1 avian influenza, one of them describing a Canadian teen who had a severe infection and the other reviewing illness features of 46 US patients, most of whom had mild infections following exposure to sick dairy cows or poultry. (Schnirring, 12/31)

An observational study of community-dwelling older adults in Canada found that longer antibiotic courses were not associated with a greater risk of harm than shorter courses, researchers reported today in Clinical Infectious Diseases. (Dall, 12/30)

The estimated effectiveness of at least one dose of the influenza vaccine against emergency department (ED) visits or hospitalization was over 50% across disease severity levels among nearly 16,000 US children during five respiratory illness seasons, finds a study published late last week in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 12/30)

A systematic review and meta-analysis of data from 28 countries shows rising Helicobacter pylori antibiotic resistance in children, an international team of researchers reported last week in BMC Medicine. (Dall, 12/30)

When I started my training as an emergency room physician, my mind revolved around answering one fundamental question: What does this patient have? Every interaction was a diagnostic puzzle, an attempt to fit a patient’s symptoms together into a cohesive picture. (Helen Ouyang, 12/27)

The U.S. Food and Drug Agency is not really a singular agency. In practice, it operates more like five or more “FDAs” — each covering drugs, devices, food, cosmetics, or tobacco — combined into one.  A mother looking for safe baby formula and fresh vegetables might associate the FDA with various food safety crises. A biologist seeking to turn her breakthrough into a medicine might associate it with global leadership in regulatory science. This divergence leads to misunderstandings of where trust and blame ought to fall. (Lee D. Cooper, 1/2)

With uncertainty in Washington as the new year brings a new Congress and a new administration, it is easy to be concerned and confused about what’s ahead for public health and health care. However, no matter what the federal government does, five trends will meaningfully impact our health. (Ashish K. Jha, 12/30)

Two major bills — one on health care market oversight and another on prescription drug costs — landed on Governor Maura Healey’s desk Monday. Although neither is perfect, Healey should sign the bills into law. (1/2)

Last month, a bungled health warning over black plastic spatulas didn’t help faltering trust in science. (F.D. Flam, 12/31)

A lack of medical coverage is hurting the quality of life for millions of people in America, and Latinos have been disproportionately affected. They are among the least likely to have health insurance, they are more likely to die from diabetes than non-Hispanic white Americans, and they are less likely to have routine medical examinations or get treatment for debilitating conditions, a disparity that was exacerbated during the Covid pandemic. (12/27)