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For the first time since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, women provided hours of testimony in front of a judge about the emotional and physical impact of being denied an abortion because of a state ban. (Kusisto and Flores, 7/19)

Samantha Casiano, who gave birth to a baby who lived just four hours, broke down and became physically ill on the witness stand as she told the story of her doomed pregnancy in an Austin, Texas, courtroom on Wednesday. Her husband, Luis Villasana, rushed to the front of the courtroom to help her, during a hearing in a case challenging the abortion bans in Texas. (Simmons-Duffin, 7/19)

A hearing in a lawsuit challenging Texas' abortion ban opened Wednesday with dramatic testimony from three women who experienced serious pregnancy complications but were denied abortions. One of the plaintiffs in the suit, Samantha Casiano, vomited on the stand while discussing her baby's fatal birth defect, which she said also put her life at risk. (Bendix, 7/20)

One woman could barely get words out through her tears. Another ran to the restroom as soon as she was done, wordless, wretched sobs wracking her tiny body. A third threw up on the witness stand. These are believed to be the first women in the country since 1973 to testify in court about the impacts of a state abortion ban on their pregnancies. They almost certainly won’t be the last. (Klibanoff and Schneid, 7/19)

After abortion bans like Texas' take effect, infant mortality spikes —

Texas’ abortion restrictions – some of the strictest in the country – may be fueling a sudden spike in infant mortality as women are forced to carry nonviable pregnancies to term. Some 2,200 infants died in Texas in 2022 – an increase of 227 deaths, or 11.5%, over the previous year, according to preliminary infant mortality data CNN obtained through a public records request. Infant deaths caused by severe genetic and birth defects rose by 21.6%. That spike reversed a nearly decade-long decline. Between 2014 and 2021, infant deaths had fallen by nearly 15%. (Chapman, 7/20)

Meanwhile, in other news on abortion access —

Maine will soon expand abortion access, joining a half dozen states that leave it to doctors and patients to make the decision without restrictions on timing. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed a bill into law Wednesday that allows abortions at any time if deemed medically necessary by a doctor, making the law one of the nation’s least restrictive. The previous law banned abortions after a fetus becomes viable outside the womb, at roughly 24 weeks, but allowed an exception if the patient’s life is at risk. (Sharp, 7/19)

The doctor starts each day with a list of addresses and a label maker. Sitting in her basement in New York’s Hudson Valley, next to her grown children’s old bunk beds, she reviews the list of towns and cities she’ll be mailing to that day: Baton Rouge, Tucson, Houston. A month ago, a phone call was the only thing the doctor could offer to women in states with abortion bans who faced unexpected pregnancies. Hamstrung by the laws, she could only coach them through the process of taking abortion pills they received from overseas suppliers. (Kitchener, 7/19)

The year since the Supreme Court rescinded a constitutional right to abortion by reversing the landmark Roe v. Wade decision has been a time of fear and retrenchment for groups that provide abortion services and support abortion rights. It has been a period of elation and opportunity for those who oppose them. And it has produced widespread confusion as organizations across the ideological spectrum scramble to keep up with legal, political and social fallout from the court decision. (Kelly and Schwartz Taylor, 7/20)

A new study from Virginia Commonwealth University published by the Center for American Progress has reported that the heat wave running rampant across the U.S. is significantly inflating health care costs. The authors of the study — an interdisciplinary group of faculty, staff and students from the university — estimated that heat events each summer are responsible for nearly 235,000 emergency department visits and over 56,000 hospital admissions for heat-related or heat-adjacent illnesses. In total, this is believed to add approximately $1 billion in health care costs across the country each summer. (Boyce, 7/19)

An unrelenting heat wave that has blanketed the the Southwestern U.S. continued to break records Wednesday, inflicting misery in major cities and offering what experts described as a disturbing glimpse into the future as human-caused climate change increases the frequency and duration of extreme heat events. (Herrera, Smith, Lin and Spencer, 7/19)

A deadly heat wave continues across the Southwest, and an often forgotten group of people affected are prisoners. Many inmates struggle to stay cool in aging facilities, including in Texas — where some 100,000 prisoners live in large facilities that lack air conditioning. (Flahive, 7/19)

Also —

The World Health Organization on Wednesday urged governments and local authorities to set up a strong surveillance system for people who are most at risk of severe symptoms from a heatwave that is baking the northern hemisphere. People with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and diabetes, as well as pregnant women, children and homeless people, are seen as the most vulnerable to heatwaves that have scorched parts of Europe, Asia and the United States this week. (7/19)

On poor air quality in Portland —

Air quality levels in Portland, Ore., reached “unhealthy” levels and were among the worst in the nation on Wednesday. Although wildfires in the region and beyond have been behind some of the recent spikes in air quality levels, this time the culprit was a factory fire an hour north of the city. A paper mill, Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview, Wash., caught fire on Tuesday night and was still burning as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Longview Fire Department. (Carballo, 7/19)

On other news relating to the environment and health —

A tornado heavily damaged a major Pfizer pharmaceutical plant in North Carolina on Wednesday, while torrential rain flooded communities in Kentucky and an area from California to South Florida endured more scorching heat. Pfizer confirmed that the large manufacturing complex was damaged by a twister that touched down shortly after midday near Rocky Mount, but said in an email that it had no reports of serious injuries. A later company statement said all employees were safely evacuated and accounted for. (Finley and Schoenbaum, 7/19)

The Biden administration formally halted the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s access to US funding, citing unanswered safety and security questions for the facility at the center of the Covid lab leak theory. The Department of Health and Human Services notified the institute about the suspension on Monday and told the lab it’s seeking to cut it off permanently, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg News. An HHS review that started in September raised concern that the facility based in Wuhan, where Covid first emerged, is violating biosafety protocols and isn’t complying with US regulations. (Griffin, 7/19)

The action was taken on Monday following a months-long review that led the HHS to find that "WIV is not compliant with federal regulations and is not presently responsible", according to a memo from the department." The move was undertaken due to WIV's failure to provide documentation on WIV's research requested by NIH related to concerns that WIV violated NIH's biosafety protocols," an HHS spokesperson said in a statement. (7/19)

In other news —

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday lashed out at “groups with vested interests” who he claimed were spreading false assertions about the pandemic treaty and endangering the health of future generations.“ Groups with vested interests are claiming falsely that the accord is a power grab by WHO, and that it will stymie innovation and research. Both claims are completely false,” said Tedros. (Furlong, 7/19)

CMS has already ordered several states to pause redeterminations to address their failure to adhere to federal standards and is working with about a half dozen states to correct ongoing violations, Tsai said. The agency has required some states to pause so-called procedural terminations not related to eligibility and to reinstate coverage for those affected by policy, operational or compliance violations, he said. CMS is monitoring an additional dozen states to determine if they are in violation of Medicaid regulations. One state failed to provide some enrollees with renewal forms, and another didn’t implement required auto-renewal mitigation strategies, according to a CMS fact sheet. The agency continues to monitor states, intervene when necessary and offer technical assistance. (Berryman, 7/19)

The Biden administration knows thousands of Americans eligible for Medicaid are losing their health insurance because of paperwork problems — but CMS said Wednesday it isn’t ready to penalize states where it is happening. Instead, CMS leaders told reporters Wednesday they are working with several states in which a large number of eligible recipients have seen their coverage terminated. (King, 7/19)

• (Updated 7/19)

One of the nation’s largest health insurance companies is seeing a big boost in individual enrollment under the Affordable Care Act in part from consumers who had been covered by Medicaid during the Covid-19 pandemic. Elevance Health, which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in 14 states, is seeing thousands of Americans formerly covered by Medicaid shift to individual coverage on the ACA’s exchanges as states unwind the “continuous coverage requirement” implemented at the beginning of the pandemic to ensure people retained health benefits. (Japsen, 7/19)

On next year's ACA premiums —

Inflation may be cooling, but high medical costs could still make consumers pay more for Affordable Care Act health insurance in 2024. Why it matters: President Biden has launched an offensive focused on lowering consumers' medical costs. Higher premiums for ACA marketplace plans could throw a wrench in the administration's messaging as Biden's re-election campaign takes off. (Goldman, 7/20)

And on Medicare —

Medicare Advantage plans could end up getting too much money from the government — by as much as $1.6 trillion — over the next decade, putting pressure on the trust fund that supports Medicare. This forecast comes from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which looked at the intricacies of insurance coding, as well as the demographics of who signs up for different types of Medicare plans. Medicare Advantage is the private-plan alternative to traditional Medicare. (Hall, 7/19)

A major roadblock has long stood in the way of older Americans getting treatments for obesity: Medicare. The federal program that provides health coverage for people 65 and older is prohibited by a 2003 law from paying for weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy — the expensive injection that's taken the world by storm. And without insurance, most people can't afford the shots, which can cost upwards of $1,000 a month. (Livingston, 7/20)

Credit Congress for Medicare’s recent move to fill a gaping hole in its behavioral health coverage next year.Section 4124 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 required Medicare to start covering “intensive outpatient” mental health and substance use disorder services in 2024. The coverage—which entails nine to 19 hours of treatment services per week—is part of a “continuum of care” developed by the American Society of Addiction Medicine. (Pugh, 7/20)

First lady Jill Biden on Wednesday welcomed a new proposal to have Medicare pay for navigation services for cancer patients, saying it will make “an enormous difference in people’s lives.” She joined other Biden administration officials on a conference call to discuss a proposal by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to pay for “principal illness navigation services,” which help patients make decisions about treatment for cancer and other serious illnesses and overcome barriers to quality care. (Superville, 7/19)

In other Biden administration news —

The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday released draft merger guidelines designed to crack down on deals that constrain labor markets and those that allow organizations to control services that rivals may use to compete, among other types of transactions. The draft includes more than a dozen guidelines that would impact merger oversight across all sectors of the economy, including healthcare. (Kacik, 7/19)

An effort to get the FDA to pull a widely used prescription drug monitoring software package off the market is stoking a broader debate over how much technology is influencing opioid prescribing. Driving the news: The Center for U.S. Policy says Bamboo Health's NarxCare should be classified a medical device and subject to regulation, because of the way it helps doctors and other providers decide if a patient should get painkillers. (González and Moreno, 7/19)

On newsworthy resignations —

A top U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official has resigned from his office after reporting from the Associated Press on his previous work for the pharmaceutical industry. Louis Milione, the former principal deputy administrator for the DEA, previously worked for four years as a consultant to large pharmaceutical companies including Perdue Pharma, according to the AP’s reporting. (Suter, 7/19)

Following months of intense scrutiny of his scientific work, Marc Tessier-Lavigne announced Wednesday that he would resign as president of Stanford University after an independent review of his research found significant flaws in studies he supervised going back decades. The review, conducted by an outside panel of scientists, refuted the most serious claim involving Dr. Tessier-Lavigne’s work — that an important 2009 Alzheimer’s study was the subject of an investigation that found falsified data and that Dr. Tessier-Lavigne had covered it up. (Saul, 7/19)

The Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act, sponsored by Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), the chair of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, would renew programs that will otherwise run out of funding by the end of September, such as opioid recovery centers and training for providers who treat people with substance use disorder. It also would allow the use of federal funding to pay for test strips that can detect drugs like fentanyl and the horse tranquilizer xylazine that dealers often mix with it to deadly effect. (Paun, 7/19)

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday approved legislation meant to ensure the U.S. is prepared for pandemics and other emergencies in a party-line vote in which all Democrats voted against it. The GOP-led House markup is the first time that reauthorization of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act — first signed into law in 2006 — has not moved on a bipartisan basis, with disagreements over the scope of the bill and whether to address drug shortages unresolved. (Wilson, 7/19)

The Energy and Commerce Committee advanced legislation largely on party lines Wednesday that would permanently allow employers to offer telehealth as a tax-free benefit separate from their group health insurance plans. The legislation by Tim Walberg (R-Minn.) aims to encourage employers to offer some health coverage to workers not otherwise eligible for their companies’ insurance plans — such as part-time and seasonal workers — by permitting employers to offer telehealth plans that don’t meet minimum federal standards for comprehensive coverage. (Leonard, 7/19)

The Senate HELP Committee will consider a sweeping package from Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would reauthorize a number of federal health programs and expand primary care. Sanders said the legislation — to be marked up July 26 — pushes for investments in health care services and would bolster the provider workforce. He added that it would save the health system money over time by increasing access to preventive, primary and mental health care, keeping Americans healthier. (Wilson, 7/19)

In other congressional news —

A Pentagon briefing on the Defense Department’s abortion travel policy on Wednesday did little to sway Republicans, dimming hopes of progress on breaking a single senator’s blockade on more than 200 senior military promotions. Senator Armed Services Committee members who emerged from a closed-door briefing with Pentagon officials were still dug in on the issue as Sen. Tommy Tuberville's (R-Ala.) monthslong blockade of hundreds of military promotions over the policy continues. The Senate is scrambling to both pass its $886 billion Pentagon policy bill before August and also loosen the logjam. (Gould, O'Brien and Everett, 7/19)

Seven months after furor erupted over a federal safety commissioner’s proposed ban on gas stoves, the fight over how Americans cook their meals shows no sign of letting up. Democrats and Republicans are squaring off in Congress over new efficiency standards proposed by the Department of Energy, which federal officials say would reduce stoves' gas consumption by a third while rendering half of the gas-stove models currently on the market obsolete. (Osborne, 7/19)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Congress Considers Easing Regulations On Air Transport Of Donated Organs
What do kidney and pancreas transplants have to do with airplane regulations? Tucked into the hundreds of pages of legislative language to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration is a provision to change the life-or-death process by which human organs are flown commercially from donor to recipient. (DeGuzman, 7/20)

About 1 in 5 people who contract the coronavirus exhibit no symptoms. Now, researchers at UCSF have uncovered a genetic mutation potentially responsible for the phenomenon of coronavirus super dodgers. (Vaziri, 7/19)

About 20% of people who caught Covid-19 only knew they had it because it showed up on a routine screening test. They never had any symptoms. Others got it and couldn’t shake its aftereffects for months, going on to be diagnosed with long Covid. There are myriad factors that may determine how people fare after they catch Covid-19, including their viral dose; where the virus first entered the body — the nose or maybe mouth or eyes; their age and underlying health; and the genetic characteristics of the variant that infected them, to name a few. (Goodman, 7/19)

Scientists have found a version of a particular gene that may explain why some people who test positive for the coronavirus never develop any covid-19 symptoms. The discovery could help scientists open new avenues for developing vaccines and treatments. On average, studies have found, at least 20 percent of people who contract the SARS-CoV-2 virus are asymptomatic. Scientists say these people might have quicker immune responses that fight the virus before symptoms can set in and lead to health complications. (Yarber, 7/19)

In news on sleep apnea and covid —

Yesterday in PLOS One, Israeli researchers report that a high risk of obstructive sleep apnea is associated with severe COVID-19 and longer hospitalization. The study was based on medical records and outcomes seen among 119 COVID-19 patients who were given questionnaires about sleep quality in the 6 to 8 weeks following hospitalization for the novel coronavirus. (Soucheray, 7/19)

Juul Labs is seeking U.S. authorization for a next-generation vaporizer, while the e-cigarette maker waits for word on whether its current products can stay on the market. (Maloney, 7/19)

Juul Labs said on Wednesday it was seeking U.S. authorization for a new e-cigarette that has age-verification capabilities and prevents the use of unauthorized refill cartridges. The vaporizer, which has a unique Pod ID chip to prevent the use of counterfeit cartridges and an app to restrict underage access, is already on sale in Britain after its launch in 2021 as JUUL2 System. In its latest premarket tobacco product application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration submitted on Tuesday, Juul Labs said it was seeking to sell tobacco-flavored pods at a nicotine concentration of less than 2%. (7/19)

On health insurance denials for the poor —

Private health insurance companies paid by Medicaid denied millions of requests for care for low-income Americans with little oversight from federal and state authorities, according to a new report by U.S. investigators published Wednesday. Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor that covers nearly 87 million people, contracts with companies to reimburse hospitals and doctors for treatment and to manage an individual’s medical care. About three-quarters of people enrolled in Medicaid receive health services through private companies, which are typically paid a fixed amount per patient rather than for each procedure or visit. (Abelson, 7/19)

On other public health matters —

After fears of a “she-cession” during the pandemic, women have returned to the workforce at unprecedented rates. Much of the gain reflects a boom in jobs traditionally held by women, including nursing and teaching.  Many good-paying jobs in fields such as construction and tech management are still dominated by men, a continuing challenge for states trying to even the playing field for women workers. (Henderson, 7/19)

As they struggle to reduce drug overdose deaths, policymakers across the United States are embroiled in a heated debate over creating and increasing criminal penalties related to fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that’s up to 100 times more potent than morphine. Legislators pushing the new wave of criminal penalties say the laws will deter drug distributors and hold offenders accountable. But opponents — including some public health officials — warn of potential consequences such as worsening the opioid crisis and pushing users toward more dangerous synthetic alternatives. (Hernández, 7/20)

The evolving overdose crisis in the United States is making another lethal turn, federal disease trackers reported Wednesday: Increasingly, people dying from opioids are also using stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine. An analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that between 2011 and 2021, the age-adjusted rate of overdose deaths involving opioids and cocaine nearly quintupled, far outpacing the rate of deaths involving only cocaine. In 2021 alone, nearly 80 percent of the 24,486 cocaine overdose deaths recorded in the United States also involved an opioid. (Ovalle, 7/19)

Even as the nation moves beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, about half of U.S. adults don’t get enough aerobic activity and fewer than 1 in 4 adults do enough aerobic and strength exercises. According to the latest fitness ranking of the nation's 100 largest cities, about 51% of adults get American College of Sports Medicine's recommended 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity every week. Such routine physical activity helps stave off chronic disease and reduces or prevents symptoms of anxiety and depression. (Alltucker, 7/19)

During a national news conference held Tuesday, members of the Water Coalition Against PFAS underscored concerns around the financial realities of remediation, along with the industry's precarious position. They argued that cost estimates from Congress and EPA vastly underestimate the burden on water utilities, which the coalition asserted will wind up being passed to consumers if something is not done to address the issue. (Crunden, 7/19)

The risk of suicide for kids and teens rises during the school year, researchers said, reflecting the impact of its social and learning pressures on young people’s mental health. Children from the ages of 10 to 18 are more likely to appear at hospitals for suicidal thoughts or attempts in the spring and fall than during summer vacation, according to a study from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston released Wednesday. The pattern paused in the beginning of 2020, when many schools emptied during the early days of Covid-19. (Griffin, 7/19)

According to the research, published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open, nearly 66% of the cases were girls, and the average age was 15. The study also revealed seasonal trends: ER visits and hospitalizations were 15% higher in April and 24% higher in October than the January rate, which the study used as a baseline because it was close to the annual average. However, 2020 was an exception both to the seasonal fluctuations and the increase in suicidality over time. (Pandey, 7/19)

On loneliness —

This week, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) introduced national legislation to address the loneliness epidemic. “Loneliness is one of the most serious, misunderstood problems facing America today. It may not sound like a problem government should care about, but I believe it’s irresponsible for policymakers to continue ignoring this epidemic,” Murphy said in a press release on the legislation released Tuesday. (Mikhail, 7/19)

In news on cognitive decline, dementia —

Post-retirement cognitive declines were almost three times more acute among White Americans compared with their Black peers, and twice as large for men as for women. That’s according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. It found that immediately after retirement, white adults tended to experience a significant worsening of cognitive function, whereas for Black retirees the decline was minimal. (Tanzi, 7/19)

Americans who live in neighborhoods with less socioeconomic advantage may have a higher risk of dementia, according to a new study published Wednesday in JAMA Neurology. This can be true regardless of an individual’s background, according to the study, which found that people living in areas of the U.S. with the lowest levels of income, education, employment, and housing quality had a 1.17 times higher risk of developing dementia compared to residents of the least disadvantaged areas. (Castillo, 7/20)

Also —

�鶹Ů�� Health News: A Mom Owed Nearly $102,000 For Hospital Care. Her State Attorney General Said To Pay Up
Bridget Narsh’s son, Mason, needed urgent help in January 2020, so she was offered the chance to send him to Central Regional Hospital, a state-run mental health facility in Butner, North Carolina. The teen, who deals with autism and post-traumatic stress and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders, had started destroying furniture and running away from home. His mother worried for the safety of Mason and the rest of the family. (Clasen-Kelly, 7/20)

COVID relief funds helped almost 75% of U.S. hospitals post positive operating income during the height of the pandemic, according to a new analysis that questions if the federal aid was too generous or misdirected. Why it matters: The findings counter the industry narrative that the pandemic left many facilities in the red and grappling with surging costs of care and supply chain and labor shortages. (Dreher, 7/20)

Also —

Hospitals for years have complained that Medicare pays so little for CAR-T cancer treatments that they sometimes lose money administering the incredibly expensive treatments. But that could soon change: if drug companies succeed in making the cancer treatments safer, hospitals could provide them more often in outpatient departments, where payment is higher. CAR-T uses the body’s own immune system to kill cancerous cells. (Wilkerson, 7/20)

While health systems' margins dropped in 2022, most provider organizations are wrapping up the first half of 2023 on a more positive note. But analysts warn new threats to bottom lines may be on the horizon. “Margins have begun to recover, but they’re not where they were pre-pandemic,” said Matt Wolf, director and healthcare senior analyst at the consultancy RSM US. (Broderick, 7/19)

On diagnostic errors —

Misdiagnosis of disease or other medical conditions leads to hundreds of thousands of deaths and permanent disabilities each year in the United States, according to a report published this week. About 371,000 people die and 424,000 sustain permanent disabilities – such as brain damage, blindness, loss of limbs or organs or metastasized cancer – each year as a result. (McPhillips, 7/19)

In other industry news —

A group of St. Louis nurses protested Wednesday evening against what they described as chronic short-staffing at one of the area's largest hospitals. More than 50 people lined the sidewalk in front of SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital Wednesday evening, waving signs calling for changes. Multiple nurses described working in units that are primarily staffed by short-term contract nurses. (Merrilees, 7/19)

Charlotte-based StarMed Healthcare is closing two of its three locations and laying off 15 to 20 workers as the independent medical practice consolidates operations to battle rising costs, its president said Wednesday. StarMed will no longer provide urgent care services but focus solely on primary care, President Michael Estramonte told The Charlotte Observer. (Marusak, 7/19)

In a state dominated by health care giants, Tufts Medicine has struggled to compete. Amid operating losses, it announced the elimination of more than 200 positions earlier this year. Now, the system is asking the state for funding as it confronts some of its most serious financial challenges yet — an urgent need to improve its operations to avoid defaulting on an $800.8 million agreement with bond holders. If the system fails to meet required metrics by the end of September, bondholders could bring in a third party to restructure the health system, analysts say. (Bartlett, 7/19)

Elevance Health exceeded Wall Street expectations for the second quarter as executives sought to reassure investors that medical costs do not remain higher than anticipated. The posture differs from rival UnitedHealth Group's announcement last week that pent-up demand for surgeries from Medicare Advantage members was dragging margins at its insurance and provider arms. Competitor Humana has also reported higher-than-expected Medicare Advantage utilization. (Tepper, 7/19)

Elevance Health (ELV.N) said higher premiums and a limited hit from increased surgeries kept costs under control for the health insurer that on Wednesday raised its full-year profit forecast above estimates, sending its shares up 5%. The company kept its outlook for medical costs unchanged and reported a better-than expected second-quarter profit, despite a warning from industry bellwether UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N) last month that a spurt in non-urgent surgeries, especially among older patients, would push up costs. (Sunny and Mandowara, 7/19)

TPG Inc (TPG.O) said on Wednesday it has agreed to buy healthcare IT platform Nextech for $1.4 billion to increase the private equity firm's presence in the healthcare services market. The deal gives TPG access to Nextech's network of over 11,000 physicians and more than 60,000 clinics, to which it provides services. (7/19)

Activist investor Elliott Investment has built a significant stake in Catalent (CTLT.N) and is pushing for a shake-up on the contract drug manufacturer's board, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Elliott has been talking to potential director candidates about joining a slate of nominees to run in a proxy contest, WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter. (7/20)

UnitedHealth Group has named Dr. Amar Desai CEO of Optum Health effective immediately, the insurance giant said Wednesday. Desai returns to Optum following a brief tenure as president of healthcare delivery at CVS Health, a position he took in October. Desai led Optum's Pacific West region before departing. (Hudson, 7/19)

As Elon Musk’s Neuralink gears up for the first clinical trial implanting chips into people’s brains to treat diseases, the United Nations is developing an ethical framework for neurotechnology’s use. On the plus side: The field, which encompasses electronic devices or methods to read or modify how neurons function in the nervous system, holds promise that was until recently seen as science fiction, said Gabriela Ramos, assistant director-general for social and human sciences at UNESCO. (Paun, Peng, Schumaker and Leonard, 7/19)

The head of the U.S. agency responsible for animal welfare has told lawmakers that it did not find any violations of animal research rules at Elon Musk's Neuralink beyond a 2019 incident the brain implant company had already reported. Officials with the Department of Agriculture (USDA) conducted a "focused" inspection in response to a complaint about the company's handling of animal experiments, but identified no compliance breaches, the agency's secretary Thomas Vilsack wrote to Congressman Earl Blumenauer in a July 14 letter reviewed by Reuters. (Taylor, 7/19)

On the future of AI —

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has today published a draft reflection paper assessing the risks, benefits and opportunities that AI presents to the entire life cycle of medicines development and regulation, from the pre-clinical stage to marketing authorization. (Furlong, 7/19)

On a Friday morning in July, an internal medicine resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center stood up in front of a crowded room of fellow trainees and laid out a case for them to solve. A 39-year-old woman who had recently visited the hospital had felt pain in her left knee for several days, and had developed a fever. Zahir Kanjee, a hospitalist at Beth Israel, flashed the results of the patient’s labs on the screen, followed by an X-ray of her knee, which had fluid buildup around the joint. (Trang and Palmer, 7/20)

As many as 55% of older adults fail to take their prescribed medications, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. Now a new artificial intelligence app aims to change that. "Together," a free iPhone app built on generative AI, is designed to help aging adults and their caregivers manage medications and other health care tasks. (Rudy, 7/20)

In other science news —

A new Italian study finds that estimated relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) was 49.3% for the bivalent (two-strain) booster and 26.9% for the monovalent (single-strain) booster, with protection lasting at least 4 months for the bivalent booster and waning fast for the monovalent version. The study appears in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. (Soucheray, 7/19)

Today in JAMA Network Open, two studies detail long COVID and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), with Swedish researchers reporting that long COVID is rare in this group—but hospitalization or having a parent with long COVID dramatically increases the risk—and another finding that a significant proportion of US and Canadian youth who had MIS-C have persistent neurologic and psychological symptoms. (Van Beusekom, 7/19)

A modeling study estimates that scaling up preventive tuberculosis (TB) treatment for people with HIV/AIDS and household contacts of newly diagnosed TB patients could save nearly 850,000 lives by 2035, researchers reported yesterday in The Lancet Global Health. (Dall, 7/19)

A “criminal group” stole confidential information of about 1.2 million Tampa General Hospital patients, including Social Security numbers, the hospital announced Wednesday. The theft of information came to light after the hospital detected “unusual activity” on its computer systems on May 31. (O'Donnell, 7/19)

Cayden Armour has lived most of his life in a Florida nursing home, where his father said the disabled 9-year-old was often left alone in his room, sitting in soiled diapers for hours. Cayden, who has multiple medical complications after nearly drowning as an infant, is one of many children in Florida who have been separated from their families and institutionalized rather than getting state-provided at-home care. (Morris, 7/19)

Prosecutors called the Grenons “con men” and “snake-oil salesmen” and said the Bradenton family’s Genesis II Church of Health and Healing sold $1 million worth of their so-called Miracle Mineral Solution. In videos, it was pitched as a cure for 95% of known diseases, including COVID-19, Alzheimer’s, autism, brain cancer, HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis, prosecutors said. What the Grenons were selling was actually chlorine dioxide, officials said. When ingested, the solution becomes a bleach that is typically used for such things as treating textiles, industrial water, pulp and paper, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Authorities said it is the same as drinking bleach and can be fatal. (7/20)

Branden Petro can never be left alone. He was 8 when mitochondrial disease began affecting his body’s capacity to convert sugar and oxygen into the energy his organs need to function. The hereditary condition makes breathing, swallowing and sleeping a struggle. He has lost the ability to talk and is dependent on diapers. Branden, 21, also has up to five seizures a day. Each one brings the risk of cardiac arrest, so a family member always sleeps by his side. (O'Donnell, 7/20)

In news from California —

Two San Francisco Democrats were at the center of a chaotic school board meeting in Southern California on Tuesday: Gov. Gavin Newsom and slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk. During the nine-hour Temecula Valley Unified meeting, which ran past midnight, some parents spoke in support of the conservative majority on the school board and its bucking of state standards for inclusive and diverse education. (Mays, 7/19)

More than 34,000 households in Los Angeles County have had their Medi-Cal coverage discontinued this month as California joins other states in beginning to cut off people from Medicaid programs who no longer meet income requirements or whose paperwork was not submitted in time. (Alpert Reyes, 7/19)

In news on gender care —

A ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender children is due to take effect in Louisiana on Jan. 1, after the state legislature overrode Governor John Bel Edwards' veto of the bill, according to state officials. The legislature, which acted late on Tuesday, becomes the latest Republican-led state to ban trans-focused healthcare. Louisiana's House Bill 648 - called the "Stop Harming Our Kids Act" - bans hormone treatments and puberty-blocking drugs, gender-affirming surgeries and other related care for anyone under the age of 18. (Nostrant, 7/19)

A Colorado children’s hospital has stopped offering transition-related operations for transgender patients 18 and older, a hospital spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. The hospital said it never provided such surgery for minors. Rachael Fowler, a spokesperson for Children’s Hospital Colorado, said in a statement that, because of "unprecedented referrals," the hospital "made the difficult decision to no longer provide gender-affirming surgical procedures for adult patients 18 years of age and older." (Espadas Barros Leal, 7/19)

On other health news from across the country —

Texas Children’s Hospital announced last week that its surgeons had performed a complex operation to separate conjoined twin sisters. This week, the hospital revealed it had pulled off a similar procedure just 10 months earlier. (MacDonald, 7/19)

During Gov. Roy Cooper’s final full year in office, his administration will make a first-time, major push to benefit North Carolina’s fast-growing older population through new funding and changes in state operations according to interviews with principals and state documents. Cooper’s legislative initiative will emerge during 2024 as the result of a public-nonprofit-business collaboration called “All Ages, All Stages NC: A Roadmap for Aging and Living Well,” which is set forth in an executive order on the topic. (Goldsmith, 7/20)

The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer this week published a deep dive into the increasing number of North Carolina women dying from pregnancy complications – and the toll on families left behind. The investigation revealed that pregnancy and childbirth is riskier in North Carolina than it is in the United States overall. (Dukes, Rosenbluth and Sparks, 7/20)

This month marks a year since 988 launched. That’s the new, easier-to-remember number for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and it comes at a time when the demand for mental health support is increasing across the country. What is 988? 988 is the new, easy to remember number for the national suicide prevention lifeline, which had been a 10-digit number. The number started back in 2020 when President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan bill creating the three-digital hotline for mental health emergencies. It launched on July 16 of last year. (Krebs and Masters, 7/19)

This is the story of our medical system — quick, massive, powerful, able to assemble a team in under an hour and willing to spend thousands of dollars when a patient is sick.This is also the story of a medical system that didn’t think my patient was worth a $12 medication to prevent any of this from happening. (Chavi Karkowsky, 7/20)

An estimated 7 in 10 Americans are overweight or obese. The combination, according to the National Institutes of Health, results in an estimated 300,000 preventable deaths per year with extreme obesity lowering life expectancy by 14 years on average. (Robert Pearl, 7/19)

The pandemic is over, and the resumption of Medicaid eligibility reviews this spring has been anything but smooth. Nearly 405,000 recipients in Texas were bounced from Medicaid rolls for procedural reasons, such as missing paperwork deadlines. Another 96,000 people lost benefits when they were deemed ineligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. (7/20)

This past winter, one of us, Alister, was speaking with the daughter of an elderly patient at a community health center in Boston. Her mother had recently been admitted to a local hospital for pneumonia, and doctors believed that she was an ideal candidate for an innovative “home hospital” program, which leverages remote care through the use of internet-enabled devices, video conferencing, and in-person home visits so the patient can receive care in the comfort of her own home. But the plan fell apart. (Sammer Marzouk, Alister Martin and Alessandro Hammond, 7/20)

While medical marijuana use has been legal in Maryland since 2013 and recreational possession became legal on July 1, federal laws classify marijuana (both medical and recreational) as an illegal Schedule I drug. Because of this, qualified individuals who seek employment in the federal government, and who reside and work in jurisdictions where marijuana use is legal, are prohibited from obtaining certain positions — even if their cannabis use is medically prescribed for physical or mental health conditions. (Tiahna Pantovich, 7/19)