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Adults under age 50 have been developing breast cancer and colorectal cancer at increasingly higher rates over the last six decades, and alcohol use may be one factor driving the trend, according to a scientific report published on Wednesday. (Rabin, 9/18)

A new report says that 13 percent of cancers are linked to bacteria or viruses. Vaccines and treatments offer powerful protection. (Agrawal, 9/18)

Black women are more likely than white women to die from even the most treatable types of breast cancer, a study published Tuesday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found. The findings, experts say, underscore that it’s racial disparities, not biology, driving the biggest differences in death rates between Black and white women. While Black women and white women are diagnosed with breast cancer at similar rates, Black women are 40% more likely to die from the disease. (Sullivan, 9/17)

The Food and Drug Administration expanded the approval of Kisqali, a drug for metastatic breast cancer, to also treat patients with earlier stages of the disease, drugmaker Novartis said Tuesday. The approval means that tens of thousands of women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer will have access to a medication that can help prevent their cancer from coming back. (Fattah, Kopf and Park, 9/17)

Mass General Brigham and Tampa General Hospital have bolstered their partnership with the addition of new programs and services, the organizations announced Tuesday. Several services have been added in Florida, including a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, a type of cancer treatment that uses a patient's own immune system to fight the disease, and a bone marrow transplant program. The partnership, which began in 2021, has also expanded healthcare services for veterans and service members in Florida. (DeSilva, 9/17)

For the first time in decades, public health data shows a sudden and hopeful drop in drug overdose deaths across the U.S. "This is exciting," said Dr. Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute On Drug Abuse [NIDA], the federal laboratory charged with studying addiction. "This looks real. This looks very, very real." National surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already show an unprecedented decline in drug deaths of roughly 10.6 percent. That's a huge reversal from recent years when fatal overdoses regularly increased by double-digit percentages. (Mann, 9/18)

In Baltimore, Black residents tend to be hit the hardest by public health crises, but results from a community survey released Tuesday by Johns Hopkins University show that income level and educational attainment are more powerful than race at predicting whether a Baltimorean has lost someone close to them from a drug overdose. (Roberts, 9/17)

Inside the unbelievable tale of James “Jimbo” Robinson: His family held a funeral, spread his ashes, got memorial tattoos, only to learn he was alive. (Gafni, 9/17)

It was hard enough for Stephanie to get methadone treatment when she moved from Indiana to Florida last year. The nearest clinic, north of Tampa, was almost an hour away, and she needed help with transportation. But at least Stephanie didn't have to worry about affording it. Medicaid in Florida covers methadone, which reduces her opioid cravings and prevents withdrawal symptoms. (Colombini and Krisberg, 9/16)

In 2019, Brandon McDowell was contacted by a sophomore in college who asked to buy Percocet, a prescription painkiller. What the 20-year-old sold her instead were counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that can be lethal in a dose as small as 2 milligrams. Hours later, Alexandra Capelouto, also 20, was dead in her Temecula, California, home. McDowell has been behind bars since 2022 with a fentanyl possession conviction. But the Capeloutos have now won an additional $5.8 million judgment against him for the death of their daughter. (Ding, 9/18)

A U.S. Senate bill aimed at enshrining federal protections and expanding insurance coverage for fertility treatments failed on Tuesday, as Republicans voted against it days after Donald Trump surprised supporters by voicing support for such a policy. The bill failed 51-44, falling short of the required 60-vote threshold after most Republicans voted against it for the second time. Democrats control the chamber by a slim 51-49 margin. (Warburton, 9/18)

Democrats on Tuesday blocked an attempt by Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Katie Britt (Ala.) to pass a GOP in vitro fertilization (IVF) access bill through unanimous consent, repeating a similar showdown that occurred earlier this year. Cruz sought unanimous consent for the IVF Protection Act, which was blocked by Democrats in June at the same time their own IVF access bill, the Right to IVF Act, was blocked by Republicans. (Choi, 9/17)

Nicole and Agustin Alarcon began to worry they were doing something wrong after their third attempt at in vitro fertilization once again ended without a pregnancy. Then a doctor called them with a startling admission. The couple learned the embryos used in all three IVF cycles had been damaged earlier this year, but that a Houston fertility clinic opted to move forward with the transfers anyway, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Harris County District Court. (MacDonald, 9/17)

Vice President Kamala Harris said Tuesday that the death of a young Georgia mother who died after waiting 20 hours for a hospital to treat her complications from an abortion pill shows the consequences of Donald Trump’s actions. Amber Thurman’s death, first reported Monday by ProPublica, occurred just two weeks after Georgia’s strict abortion ban was enacted in 2022 following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn nationwide abortion rights. Trump appointed three of the justices who made that decision and has repeatedly said he believes states should decide abortion laws. (Seitz, 9/17)

A Georgia committee of experts in maternal health recently deemed Candi Miller’s death “preventable,” ProPublica has learned. The group, which includes 10 doctors, directly blamed the state’s abortion ban. (Surana, 9/18)

Staff in some Louisiana hospitals are doing timed drills, sprinting from patient rooms and through halls to the locked medicine closets where the drugs used for abortions, incomplete miscarriages and postpartum hemorrhaging will have to be kept — as newly categorized controlled substances — starting Oct. 1. That’s hardly the only preparation taking place across the state as a law targeting mifepristone and misoprostol, the first of its kind in the country, goes into effect in two weeks. (Wax-Thibodeaux, 9/17)

California’s surgeon general has unveiled an initiative to reduce maternal mortality and set a goal of halving the rate of deaths related to pregnancy and birth by December 2026. Health officials say that more than 80% of maternal deaths nationwide are preventable. California has achieved a much lower rate of such deaths than the U.S., but maternal mortality resurged in recent years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, state data show. (Alpert Reyes, 9/17)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Arkansas’ Governor Says Medicaid Extension For New Moms Isn’t Needed

Arkansas is the only state that has not taken the step to expand what’s called postpartum Medicaid coverage, an option for states paid for almost entirely by the federal government that ensures poor women have uninterrupted health insurance for a year after they give birth. Forty-six states now have the provision, encouraged by the Biden administration, and Idaho, Iowa, and Wisconsin either have plans in place to enact legislation or have bills pending in their legislatures. (Varney, 9/18)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is launching a program to help hospitals reduce diagnostic errors and provide more safe, accurate patient care, the agency announced Tuesday. Missed, delayed or wrong diagnoses can occur due to a variety of factors, including communication breakdowns and technological issues, said Dr. Preeta Kutty, deputy associate director for science in the division of healthcare quality promotion at the CDC. (Devereaux, 9/17)

New Hampshire’s attorney general is demanding answers from Exeter Hospital about its plans to cut services. The Portsmouth Herald reported Monday that Core Physicians, an affiliate of Exeter Hospital, has informed patients it will stop offering neurology, podiatry and pediatric dentistry as of Oct. 11. The hospital also plans to close its occupational health program in the coming weeks. And last week, Exeter Hospital said it plans to end a paramedic intercept service that many area towns rely on to fill gaps in their emergency services, angering local officials. (Cuno-Booth, 9/17)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Tennessee Tries To Rein In Ballad’s Hospital Monopoly After Years Of Problems

Ballad Health, an Appalachian company with the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly, may soon be required to improve its quality of care or face the possibility of being broken up. Government documents obtained by �鶹Ů�� Health News reveal that Tennessee officials, in closed-door negotiations, are attempting to hold the monopoly more accountable after years of complaints and protests from patients and their families. (Kelman, 9/18)

Community Health Systems' Northwest Healthcare signed an agreement to acquire 10 urgent care centers in Arizona from Carbon Health. The acquisition, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, would increase capacity in the Tucson, Arizona, area and grow Northwest's network to more than 80 care sites, according to a Monday news release. (Hudson, 9/17)

Multispecialty care provider Summit Health is expanding its footprint in New Jersey this fall. New York-based Summit, part of Walgreens-backed VillageMD, opened a 78,000-square-foot hub facility in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, this week and plans to open another 34,000-square-foot location in Bridgewater in late October, according to a Tuesday news release. Details of the financial investment were not disclosed. (Hudson, 9/17)

Minnesota State University, Mankato announced a five-year agreement with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota in opening The Rural Behavioral Health Clinic later this year. It will be adjacent to the campus. Blue Cross and Blue Shield pledged $5 million for the project. This is in addition to the state Legislature allocating $1.5 million in spring 2023 to establish the clinic. Another $1 million in federal money was recently approved. (Yang, 9/17)

Colorado Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon and his wife, Natalie, said Tuesday they were donating $1 million to the Children’s Hospital of Colorado. McMahon, whose six-year, $70 million contract runs through 2027, said he and his wife, who recently became parents, liked the idea of helping children in need. (9/17)

Technology giant Amazon is expanding a program aimed to help consumers navigate their insurance benefits. Amazon announced on Tuesday it was partnering with virtual therapy provider Talkspace on its Health Condition Programs. Amazon, which first announced the program in January, allows its users to input information about their insurance plan and potentially identify covered services such as Talkspace's virtual therapy. (Turner, 9/17)

Ozempic, the blockbuster diabetes shot made by Novo Nordisk A/S, is “very likely” to be one of the next drugs targeted for a price cut in bargaining with the US government’s Medicare program, a company executive said. The Inflation Reduction Act, which allows the US to directly negotiate drug prices with manufacturers for the first time, last month slashed the cost of 10 of the world’s biggest medicines by 38% to 79% for 2026. (Smith and Muller, 9/17)

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., renewed his criticism of drugmaker Novo Nordisk on Tuesday, claiming that the CEOs of major generic pharmaceutical companies have told him that they can produce and sell its blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic for less than $100 a month. Sanders made the remark at an expert roundtable event on Capitol Hill, which served as a preview to Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen's testifying before the Senate ​​Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee next week. (Lovelace Jr., 9/17)

Jared Holz thought about taking one of the new GLP-1 drugs for weight loss for months before he actually filled the prescription. And even when he got the drug, he waited a month before using it. Part of his hesitation: He dislikes needles, and all the drugs in this class that have been approved for weight loss come as shots that users give themselves once a week. (Tirrell, 9/17)

The CEO of Novartis said Wednesday that the Swiss pharmaceutical giant does not plan to enter into the “frenzy” of weight loss drugs, preferring instead to focus on areas where it can build a “unique position.” (Gilchrist, 9/18)

All seven independent directors of DNA-testing company 23andMe resigned Tuesday, following a protracted negotiation with founder and Chief Executive Anne Wojcicki over her plan to take the company private. (Winkler, 9/18)

A respiratory virus that sometimes paralyzes children is spreading across the U.S., raising concerns about another possible rise in polio-like illnesses. Wastewater samples have detected a significant escalation in an enterovirus called D68, which, in rare cases, has been linked to acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM. The illness affects the nervous system and causes severe weakness in the arms and legs. This most often occurs in young children. (Edwards, 9/17)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week reported two more pediatric flu deaths for the 2023-24 season, which matched the previous record high of 199 fatalities in kids during the 2019-20 flu season. Among the fatal cases, 73 were younger than 5 years old and 126 were ages 5 to 17. Roughly half involved influenza A. Of those with known subtypes, 43 had H1N1 and 16 had H3N2. Three children died from coinfections involving both influenza A and influenza B. (Schnirring, 9/17)

Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials on Monday said that they are currently investigating the discovery of two humans cases of a rare infection called "raccoon roundworm." While no information about either of the patients was provided, officials say that both were in the South Bay area. Raccoon roundworm, known as Bylisascaris procyonis, is an intestinal parasitic infection that can affect the human spinal cord, brain and eyes, officials said. (Fioresi, 9/17)

The Kalalau Trail is closed until at least Thursday because of a norovirus outbreak, according to state officials. At least 50 people fell ill. (Kaur, 9/17)

Vaccine access of Americans, especially for children and the elderly, is “critically important,” Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN) said Tuesday.  “We need to get back to a normal place where we understand that vaccination has really changed the world,” Bucshon said during “Boosting the Status Quo: Vaccinating America’s Most Vulnerable,” a panel event hosted by The Hill and sponsored by the American Society for Clinical Pathology.  “Access to vaccination is really critically important for both children and seniors.” (O'Connell-Domenech, 9/17)

Vice President Kamala Harris said that she would seek to cap child care costs for working families at 7% of their income, her latest effort to assure voters that she will address the high prices and broad economic anxiety that has threatened her bid for the White House against Republican Donald Trump. “My plan is that no family, no working family, should pay more than 7% of their income in child care,” Harris said Tuesday at an event in Philadelphia with the National Association of Black Journalists. (Lowenkron and Woodhouse, 9/17)

GOP vice presidential-hopeful JD Vance made some confusing comments over the weekend about deregulating health insurance. Democrats are using that to their advantage by characterizing the Trump-Vance ticket as being against a popular insurance protection. (Wilkerson and Owermohle, 9/17)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long voiced doubts about vaccine safety, has hopes of influencing federal health policy. Could he finally get the chance? (Baumgaertner, 9/18)

The House will vote Wednesday on the plan by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to fund the government, the speaker announced Tuesday — though the proposal lacks even enough Republican votes to pass and could deal the GOP a setback in government funding negotiations as a shutdown deadline nears. (Bogage, 9/17)

Republicans are not planning to force a vote on a resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s plan mandating minimum staffing levels in nursing homes, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said.  A resolution under the Congressional Review Act isn’t subject to the 60-vote filibuster and needs only a simple majority of votes. The CRA is a fast-track legislative tool that allows lawmakers to nullify rules even after the executive branch has completed them. (Weixel, 9/17)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Listen To The Latest '�鶹Ů�� Health News Minute'

“Health Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from the �鶹Ů�� Health News newsroom to the airwaves each week. (9/17)

President Joe Biden secured the record for the highest number of openly LGBTQ judges appointed to the bench by any president when the U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted in favor of a military vet who spent years working as a prosecutor becoming a life-tenured judge in Philadelphia. The Democratic-led Senate voted 52-41 to confirm Mary Kay Costello to serve as a district court judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, becoming the 12th openly LGBTQ judicial nominee under Biden to win confirmation. (Raymond, 9/17)

Federal health officials wrestling with when and how to use artificial intelligence will on Wednesday host an invitation-only meeting of AI leaders across industry, academia, and government. Called “AI in Action: Transforming Health and Human Services,” the three-hour event is hosted by the federal health department. Its agenda illustrates a department excitedly working through how AI fits into its mission — as well as into the United States’ broader health care system. (Aguilar and Ross, 9/17)

Kratom leaves appear safe even at high doses when taken in capsule form, US regulators found in their first preliminary study of the popular botanical compound that they’ve targeted as a potential public health threat. The US Food and Drug Administration research is intended to help fill a void surrounding the compound that’s been used for centuries in Southeast Asia, where people chew the leaves to get their mind-altering effects. Important questions remain about its impact in drinks and concentrates — more common in the US — which contain higher levels of kratom and could pose greater danger to consumers. (Rutherford and Milton, 9/17)

As early as 2020, 1.7 million Americans were estimated to have used kratom. These days, thousands of metric tons of the herbal extract are shipped to the US every month, according to the Indonesian government. While industry lobbyists have said they support fulsome labeling of kratom products, they also argue that in many cases deaths associated with its abuse involved other substances or causes. (Rovella, 9/10)

Every day, 12 people die waiting for a kidney donation. Living donations, where someone donates one of their kidneys, are more effective but aren't as common. However, there is a proposal to change that with a financial incentive. ... Central Valley Congressman Josh Harder says a fix could be financial. He's introduced a bill that would give living donors $50,000 in tax credits over five years. (Garcia, 9/17)

Last year, a Springer Nature journal published a study surveying 1,700 parents of adolescents and young adults with gender dysphoria. Just a few months later, the study was retracted because there had been no formal process for those parents to consent to the study. But the story didn’t end there. Ongoing fallout from the paper and its retraction has opened up an internal rift among academic editors and journal staff that led to one editor’s resignation, as first reported by Retraction Watch. (Oza, 9/18)

People of color, low-income populations and other marginalized groups are disproportionately affected by certain health risks, yet remain underrepresented in clinical trials and studies that shape medical practices. The disparity can create inequities in care — something Chris Shank, president and CEO of the North Carolina Community Health Center Association, has experienced firsthand. (Baxley, 9/18)

Cigna Group’s Express Scripts sued the US Federal Trade Commission over a recent report that the company said demonizes pharmacy benefit managers and asked the court to order the agency to retract it. The lawsuit escalates the conflict between drug middlemen and one of the top US antitrust enforcers, which has been scrutinizing the industry. Cigna’s Express Scripts unit called the FTC’s July report “unfair, biased, erroneous, and defamatory” in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Missouri. (Tozzi, 9/17)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: California May Regulate And Restrict Pharmaceutical Brokers 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom will soon decide whether the most populous U.S. state will join 25 others in regulating the middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, whom many policymakers blame for the soaring cost of prescription drugs. PBMs have been under fire for years for alleged profiteering and anticompetitive conduct, but efforts to regulate the industry at the federal level have stalled in Congress. (Thompson, 9/18)

Cuban, the founder of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug mail-order pharmacy, said the main rebate funding mechanism is the sick employee, in a recent webinar. (Bell, 9/17)

A U.S. government agency has threatened Johnson & Johnson with sanctions if the company proceeds with plans to alter payment methods for some hospitals that participate in a federal drug discount program. In a letter sent on Tuesday, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration maintained that a J&J plan to issue rebates for two widely prescribed medicines instead of offering discounted prices would violate federal law. (Silverman, 9/17)

According to Capital Blue Cross, the integration of prescription drug coverage with medical plans is key in managing healthcare costs effectively. With nearly half of Americans on at least one prescription and a quarter on three or more, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the financial impact on both employees and employers is significant. (9/17)

A new report from A-A-R-P Iowa predicts thousands of seniors on Medicare ‘Part D’ in the state will save money on their prescriptions, thanks to a cap on out-of-pocket expenses set to take effect next year. (9/16)

Amid debate over potential abuse of the U.S. patent system by the pharmaceutical industry, moves by some drugmakers to expand their patent claims appear to be delaying the arrival of lower-cost generic medicines to the marketplace, according to a STAT analysis. (Silverman and Nolan, 9/18)

For many Americans, their confidence in the future of U.S. healthcare is low and their insecurity due to the cost of medicine is high. (Grace Han, 9/13)

On August 8, Benjamin Oldfield, MD, posted an opinion about the need to stand up against Big Pharma’s war on health centers.  I would like to address a different perspective on the issue, and how it affects patients in Connecticut. (Dawn Holcombe, 9/17)

Health insurance premiums are a direct reflection of the cost of health care goods and services. Over two dozen state reports have found that the prices hospitals and doctors charge along with the cost of prescription drugs are the key drivers of high health care premiums. (Lora Pellegrini, 9/14)

PBM profits have exploded from $6.3 billion in 2012 to $27.6 billion in 2022. Meanwhile, patients have seen their out-of-pocket costs for brand-name drugs increase by 50% between 2014 and 2022. Americans are footing the bill for PBMs' soaring profits. (Rep. Joanne Ferrary, 9/15)

I agree with the opening line of Tabitha Mueller’s Indy Explains: Are pharmacy benefit managers to blame for high drug prices – Nevadans do pay too much for prescription drugs. But I whole-heartedly disagree with Jared Whitley’s pro-pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) opinion piece. I haven’t experienced the health care system he outlined in my daily life. (Kjerstin West, 9/12)

The 2024 election still has big implications for health-care access and affordability. Yet both parties are moving away from their past extremes on the ACA. After a decade and a half of partisan wrangling, Obamacare won. (9/17)

Inquiring minds ask, first, whether religious beliefs that conflict with science should trump the risk of unvaccinated kids infecting their peers. Answering that question careens into another uncomfortable fact for anti-vaxxers and the vaccine-hesitant: No major religion opposes vaccination. (Rich Barlow, 9/16)

In 2017, at the age of 42, Susan Whitehead was diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer after discovering a lump in her breast. She embarked on a challenging path of treatment, including a recurrence with stage 2 cancer four years later. (Lisa Bailey, 9/18)

At the recent annual International AIDS Conference, a startling presentation about the newest wonder drug in HIV prevention brought a raucous standing ovation. Lenacapavir, a novel drug given as an injection under the skin every six months, was 100% successful in preventing HIV in adolescent girls and young women in two countries in Africa. (Mark Siedner and Rochelle Walensky, 9/18)

According to a growing body of re­­search, the health problems associated with sitting—heart disease and diabetes, to name two—aren’t simply the result of these extensive periods on our keisters. (Lydia Denworth, 9/17)