�鶹Ů��

An amendment that would create a right to an abortion in Arizona’s constitution will appear on the state’s ballot this November. Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition supporting the amendment, announced on Monday night that the measure would appear on the state’s November ballot as Proposition 139, allowing voters in the swing state to decide on the issue this election cycle. ... If passed in November, the measure would establish a fundamental right to an abortion in the state. It would protect access to abortion up until viability, which is generally around 24 weeks, with exceptions after that if a “healthcare provider determines an abortion is needed to protect the life or physical or mental health of the patient.” Arizona law currently bans abortions after 15 weeks and includes exceptions in cases of medical emergencies. (Demissie and Oppenheim, 8/12)

Two women have filed complaints with the federal government alleging that Texas hospitals denied them abortion care necessary to treat their ectopic pregnancies. The complaints were filed August 6 by Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz and Kyleigh Thurman against Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital and Round Rock-based Ascension Seton Williamson Hospital, respectively. Both women are represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights. (Luthra, 8/12)

Wisconsin Capitol Police have declined to investigate the leak of a state Supreme Court abortion order in June citing a conflict of interest, but the court’s chief justice told The Associated Press she is pursuing other options. Chief Justice Annette Ziegler told AP via email on Thursday that she continues “to pursue other means in an effort to get to the bottom of this leak.” She did not respond to messages last week and Monday asking what those other means were. Other justices also did not return a request for comment Monday. (Bauer, 8/12)

More than 40,000 abortions had been reported this year in Florida as of Aug. 1, but the number being performed is down after a law took effect preventing abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, according to newly released state data. (Saunders, 8/12)

The women huddling around the conference table shuttled the small cardboard boxes along, assembly-line style. Into each went medical-information paperwork and a handwritten note proclaiming, “We wish you the best!” Then came the critical addition, a two-drug regimen that ends a pregnancy. This tiny Boston-area office represents a new bulwark in America’s abortion battle. Volunteers are mobilizing with growing frequency for pill-packing parties to help strangers in faraway states circumvent strict laws. On a recent Monday evening, the group filled 350 boxes—in-home abortion kits ready for mailing to women in states such as Texas and Florida with near-total or six-week abortion bans. (Calvert, 8/12)

Since Roe v Wade was overturned by the US supreme court in 2022, 14 states have passed near-total abortion bans. Ten of those states, including Texas, have no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. A study published earlier this year estimated that 65,000 rape-related pregnancies probably occurred in states with abortion bans since Roe fell. While there are no studies on the numbers of rape-related pregnancies in minors since Roe was overturned, young people in states with abortion bans face unique barriers, according to doctors and advocates who spoke with the Guardian. (Cincurova and Williams, 8/11)

One morning in 2012, eight weeks into her pregnancy, Shannon Withycombe woke up bleeding: She was having a miscarriage. In the emergency room, however, no doctor or nurse uttered that word. Instead, she had to wait to read her discharge papers, which read “incomplete abortion.” Dr. Withycombe, a medical historian at the University of New Mexico, knew the term from her research on 19th-century medical journals; it was doctorspeak for a miscarriage that had not fully exited the uterus. But it was jarring to see it on her own 21st-century medical notes. (Gross, 8/13)

An emerging movement against in vitro fertilization is driving some doctors and patients in red states to move or destroy frozen embryos. The embryo migration is most striking in Alabama, where the State Supreme Court ruled in February that embryos were “unborn children.” Since then, at least four of Alabama’s seven fertility clinics have hired biotech companies to move the cells elsewhere. A fifth clinic is working with a doctor in New York to discard embryos because of concerns about the legality of doing so in Alabama. (Ghorayshi and Kliff, 8/12)

More than two dozen commonly available lab tests couldn't help diagnose long COVID in a study of more than 10,000 adults, leaving doctors still having to rule out other health conditions to confirm whether someone has the condition. (Bettelheim, 8/13)

New survey data from the landmark Women's Health Initiative (WHI) reveal that 34% of postmenopausal women [ages 50 to 79] infected with COVID-19 had symptoms lasting at least 8 weeks, while a separate 2-year telemedicine study shows that 84% and 61% of all infected patients still had symptoms 1 and 2 years later, respectively. (Van Beusekom, 8/12)

More than half of U.S. states are reporting "very high" levels of COVID activity as the virus continues to spread and increase in many parts of the country, according to the latest wastewater data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 27 states are reporting "very high" levels and 17 states are reporting "high" levels of wastewater viral activity. The western region continues to see the highest levels followed by the South, Midwest and Northeast, respectively. (Benadjaoud, 8/12)

Connecticut, Hawaii and Nevada were the only states with rates declining or likely declining. Southern states — including Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina — had some of the highest probabilities that the outbreak is spreading, the CDC estimated. (Bettelheim, 8/13)

A new study in Open Forum Infectious Diseases analyzed the clinical features of and outcomes of pediatric and adult hospitalized COVID patients at five US sites, and found that teens were at greatest risk for severe disease among all children, and those 50 to 64 years old were at greatest risk among all adults. (Soucheray, 8/12)

U.S. nonprofit hospitals and health systems’ median days of cash on hand hit a 10-year low in 2023, falling below 200 days for the first time in a decade, according to a report from S&P Global Ratings. Cash flow did not meaningfully improve from 2022 to 2023, the report said. However, operating expenses grew only modestly at 5%, following a steep 17% growth rate in 2022. (Vogel, 8/12)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is making changes to its largest accountable care organization experiment to ensure it’s actually saving money. In a notice published on its website Aug. 1, CMS outlines a slew of planned updates to the ACO Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health, or ACO REACH, model in 2025. (Early, 8/12)

Hiring in home health and home care is bouncing back from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic when thousands of workers left the industry. The turnaround in hiring comes as demand for in-home care is rising and hospitals struggle to discharge patients to home health or skilled nursing facilities due to staffing shortages. Still, uncertainty over Medicare pay rates next year could make it harder for companies to raise wages that are helping attract workers. (Eastabrook, 8/12)

�鶹Ů�� Health News and InvestigateTV: Watch: How Patients Get Charged Hospital Prices For Doctor’s Office Care 

For five years, Caren Blanzy received the same treatment at the same medical office in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The regular injections gave her relief from involuntary muscle contractions caused by a neurological disorder, she said. Her insurance picked up the tab. Then, the health system that owns her doctor’s office changed how it billed for her treatment — no longer coding it as an office visit, but instead as outpatient hospital services. That change meant Blanzy owed more than $1,100 for one treatment. She said she stopped receiving injections because she could no longer afford them. (Jackman, 8/13)

Even if you don’t qualify for charity care or you’re not sure your bills are covered by the No Surprises Act, you may be able to reduce the charges. Medical billing is notoriously byzantine and rife with errors. Anytime you receive a bill, ask the hospital or healthcare provider for an itemized bill that includes the billing codes of all the care you received. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) mandates that providers share this information. (Lewis, 8/12)

Two days into a cyberattack on his hospital system, Nate Couture reached the end of his cyber incident plan. “We make these incident response plans and we feel great about them,” Couture, the University of Vermont Health Network chief information security officer, told other heath care cyber professionals at a recent conference. “At the end of them, they have a box that usually says something like, ‘And then IT recovers the systems.’” But it would be 24 more days from where the plan ended until the Vermont health system was able to bring its electronic medical record system back online. It would be 110 days until they finished restoring software applications. And more than 200 days later, they’d still be dealing with the backlog of paper records. (Trang, 8/13)

In the absence of federal guardrails on artificial intelligence in health care, state governments are figuring out their own rules of the road. Artificial intelligence is health care's biggest wild card. But it's drawing hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, and health providers and drug developers are already using it — essentially without oversight. (Goldman, 8/12)

Every eligible hospital in North Carolina has opted in to Gov. Roy Cooper’s medical debt relief initiative, which promises extra payments to hospitals that agree to forgive old medical debt and beef up their charity care policies, state officials said Monday. The program calls for hospitals to wipe out about $4 billion in medical debt for nearly 2 million low- and middle-income patients across the state, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. (Crouch, 8/13)

Crozer Health, the four-hospital system in Delaware County, will shutter all operating room services at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park by Sept. 1. A spokesperson for the financially distressed health system did not respond to a request for comment. The decision to end operating room services comes as Crozer’s parent company, Prospect Medical Holdings, scrambles to offload the system to New Jersey-based CHA Partners. In February, Prospect agreed to a court-approved deal to sell Crozer within 270 days. (Cooper, 8/12)

Steward Health Care, the hospital system entangled in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, has announced the postponement of a sales hearing for its Florida hospitals from Aug. 22 to Sept. 10. Attorneys for Steward filed documents to delay that hearing and two more involving hospitals in other states its hopes to shed as part of bankruptcy proceedings. (Mayer, 8/13)

Vermont's Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) fired a warning shot across the bow of the state's IV therapy clinics and medical spas in a public statement last week, saying what they do "indisputably constitutes the practice of medicine," and requires them to follow strict rules governing prescriptions, drug compounding and the administering of IVs. The OPR and Board of Medical Practice said they have recently received "reports of inappropriate activities occurring at IV therapy clinics/spas, including out-of-scope practice and unlicensed practice of medicine." (D'Ambrosio, 8/13)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: California Bill Would Require State Review Of Private Equity Deals In Health Care 

A bill pending in California’s legislature to ratchet up oversight of private equity investments in health care is receiving enthusiastic backing from consumer advocates, labor unions, and the California Medical Association, but drawing heavy fire from hospitals concerned about losing a potential funding source. The legislation, sponsored by Attorney General Rob Bonta, would require private equity groups and hedge funds to notify his office of planned purchases of many types of health care businesses and obtain its consent. It also reinforces state laws that bar nonphysicians from directly employing doctors or directing their activities, which is a primary reason for the doctor association’s support. (Wolfson, 8/13)

On a recent Wednesday morning, a man who goes by the nickname Spraq was packing his belongings onto a bike trailer, preparing for the sweep he thought might come later that day on Coral Street. Spraq, who ended up on the streets after the truck he was living in got repossessed about 10 years ago, was camping in the park until police kicked everyone out. He and his ex-girlfriend moved to a nearby street, and two days later, police found them, threw away his ex’s clothes and other possessions, and forced them to move on, Spraq said. So they moved into a parking spot on the street outside Costco – a place where they’d camped without issue many times before, he said. Again, police found them, said they couldn’t be there, and threw away their belongings, Spraq said. “They kept doing that until we had nothing,” he said.  (Kendall, 8/12)

New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. is once again in the hospital, just days after being discharged following a lengthy stay and less than three months before Election Day, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. Pascrell, 87, was discharged from St. Joseph’s in Paterson Wednesday following a three-week stay for a respiratory infection and fever, at one point being placed on breathing assistance. He checked out and entered a rehabilitation facility but checked into St. Barnabas in Livingston on Sunday evening, according to one of the people. Both people were granted anonymity to discuss Pascrell’s health in advance of an official announcement. (Friedman, 8/12)

Even light drinking was associated with an increase in cancer deaths among older adults in Britain, researchers reported on Monday in a large study. But the risk was accentuated primarily in those who had existing health problems or who lived in low-income areas. The study, which tracked 135,103 adults aged 60 and older for 12 years, also punctures the long-held belief that light or moderate alcohol consumption is good for the heart. The researchers found no reduction in heart disease deaths among light or moderate drinkers, regardless of this health or socioeconomic status, when compared with occasional drinkers. (Rabin, 8/12)

Cancer cases and deaths among men are expected to surge by 2050, according to a study published Monday, with large increases among men 65 and older. For the study, published in the journal Cancer, researchers from Australia analyzed cases and deaths from 30 types of cancer in 185 countries and territories in 2022 to make projections for 2050. (Gumbrecht, 8/12)

While it may seem like the only difference between extended-release Mucinex and its generic store-brand counterpart is the price tag, the latter potentially exposes users to a deadly cancer-causing chemical. Millions of Americans who buy the store-brand option at various major US chains are unknowingly choosing a drug that risks containing a potent carcinogen called benzene, according to a Bloomberg analysis of government data. Benzene can cause blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma. And while the inactive ingredients differ, benzene isn’t listed among them. It instead lurks in an inactive ingredient, a white powder called a carbomer. (Edney, 8/12)

Johnson & Johnson has cleared a key threshold of support for its proposed $6.5-billion settlement of tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its baby powder and other talc products caused cancer, according to a Bloomberg report. More than 75% of claimants voted in favor of the proposal, according to Bloomberg, a hurdle J&J set for a third attempt at placing a subsidiary in bankruptcy protection to resolve the litigation. (Knauth, 8/13)

President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to Louisiana on Tuesday to announce up to $150 million in federal awards for research projects focused on improving cancer surgeries. The president and first lady will participate in a tour at Tulane University and deliver remarks on how funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is being used to treat and detect cancer as part of the White House’s Cancer Moonshot effort. (Samuels, 8/13)

Virtually every parent of young children has experienced outbursts of anger and frustration from their toddlers, whether it’s time to get up, go to bed or eat a sandwich without the crusts cut off. According to a new study, there’s another possible reason for the frequency of their outbursts: tablet use. The new study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, shows that child tablet use at 3.5 years old was associated with a higher number of expressions of anger and frustration a year later. (Hetter, 8/12)

Five people who were recently in the area near a resort hotel in New Hampshire have been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease, health officials announced Monday. All five people may have been exposed to contaminated water droplets from a cooling tower behind the RiverWalk Resort at Loon Mountain in downtown Lincoln in June and July, according to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. (O'Laughlin, 8/12)

A warmer climate means mosquito season is getting longer, prompting not only an increase in the pesky insects but also greater potential for them to spread diseases like West Nile virus. To help reduce the risk In New York City, expert "insect hunters" track the summer pests among the trees and marshes of parks that residents use to escape the summer heat. (Gounder, Winick and Moniuszko, 8/12)

The idea for Todd Wagner’s new advocacy organization FoodFight USA, he says, came to him after visiting George Clooney in Lake Como. He’s recruited Morgan Freeman, who is “obviously” a friend. He personally lobbied Arnold Schwarzenegger and current California Gov. Gavin Newsom to support food makers’ nightmare scenario — a first-in-the-nation law banning certain food additives in the state, which was signed into law last year. (Florko, 8/13)

Today a woman in her 30s faces higher odds of a cancer diagnosis than her grandmother did at her age two generations ago. Cancer incidence and mortality are rising in millennials and even younger populations, according to American Cancer Society (ACS) data, while rates among older Americans are declining. (Karen E. Knudsen and Othman Laraki, 8/12)

At a time when fewer people carry cash — let alone loose coins — free access to menstrual products eliminates these absurdities, normalizes a bodily function that has been treated as dirty or shameful, and allows children, whatever their gender identity, to tend to a fundamental health need on their own terms. As panicky Republicans concoct insults and false accusations to puncture the rapid rise of the Harris-Walz ticket, they remain out of step with most Americans on menstrual equity. (Renee Graham, 8/11)

In its upcoming term, the Supreme Court will once again hear a case that involves a highly contentious question that lies at the heart of personal liberty: Who should decide what medical care a person receives? Should it be patients and their families, supported by doctors and other clinicians, using guidelines developed by the leading experts in the field based on the most current scientific knowledge and treatment practice? Or does the Constitution permit lawmakers to place themselves, and courts, in the middle of some of the most complex and intimate decisions people will make in their lives? (Lydia Polgreen, 8/13)

This week, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft is expected to certify Missourians for Constitutional Freedom’s proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution. If approved by voters in November, this would enshrine a “right to reproductive freedom” in the Missouri Constitution. As a high school social studies teacher in St. Louis, this raises fascinating issues of law and policy that are as relevant to my advanced placement U.S. government and politics students, as they are to Missourians generally. It is important to appreciate the historical context for the initiative. (Robert P. Barnidge Jr., 8/13)

There are few things more exciting for researchers than to mount and complete a clinical trial that could change the practice of medicine and save lives. That’s what we experienced when The New England Journal of Medicine published our findings in January 2023 that aspirin was as effective at preventing life-threatening blood clots after surgery as was a far more expensive and more painful injectable blood thinner. (Deborah M. Stein and Robert V. O'Toole, 8/13)