First Edition: Nov. 29, 2022

KHN:
An Unexplained Injury Discovered After Eye Surgery. What Should Happen Next? 

When Jerry Bilinski, a 67-year-old retired social employee, scheduled cataract surgical procedure with Carolina Eye Associates close to his residence in Fayetteville, North Carolina, he anticipated no drama, only a future with higher imaginative and prescient. Cataract procedures are among the many commonest surgical procedures within the U.S. — practically 4 million happen yearly — and customarily take about half-hour below gentle sedation. On the identical time, the surgeon scheduled the position of a little bit stent inside Bilinski’s eye to alleviate strain from his diabetes-related glaucoma, additionally a routine process to protect his eyesight. (Clasen-Kelly, 11/29)

KHN:
Rural Colorado Tries To Fill Health Worker Gaps With Apprenticeships

Throughout her 12-hour in a single day shift, Brianna Shelton helps residents at BeeHive Properties Assisted Residing go to the toilet. Lots of them have dementia, and a few can’t get away from bed on their very own. Only some can bear in mind her identify, however that doesn’t matter to her. “They’re anyone’s mother, anyone’s grandma, anyone’s great-grandmother,” Shelton mentioned. “I need to maintain them like I might maintain my household.” (Ruder, 11/29)

Stat:
WHO To Phase Out The Name ‘Monkeypox’ For ‘Mpox’

The World Well being Group mentioned Monday it would part out the identify of the illness monkeypox over the following yr, changing it with the time period mpox. The choice follows widespread requires altering the identify for the reason that present worldwide outbreak of the illness was first detected final Might. (Branswell, 11/28)

The Hill:
WHO Renames Monkeypox As ‘Mpox’

The 2 phrases can be used concurrently for one yr whereas “monkeypox” is phased out, WHO mentioned in an announcement. The company over the summer time mentioned it could think about solutions for a reputation change.  … Assigning names to present illnesses is uncommon, however it’s the duty of WHO below the Worldwide Classification of Illnesses (ICD). Often, the ICD updating course of takes as much as a number of years, however the WHO mentioned the method was accelerated on this case.(Weixel, 11/28)

The Atlantic:
The Future Of Monkeypox

In america, the request appears to be arriving late. The outbreak right here has been in gradual retreat for months—and has already left many Individuals’ minds. (Wu, 11/28)

Reuters:
Factbox: Mpox Cases And Deaths Around The World

Round 100 international locations the place mpox isn’t endemic have reported outbreaks of the viral illness, which the World Well being Group has declared a worldwide well being emergency. (11/28)

Politico:
Crunch Time For Democrats Is Holding Up Bipartisan Bill To Protect Pregnant Workers 

Laws that may give pregnant staff extra job protections has all of the substances for fulfillment in a narrowly divided Congress — strong bipartisan assist, momentum in each chambers, backing from enterprise and unions — besides essentially the most essential one: a agency plan to go it earlier than Democrats’ time is up. Senate management has so far declined to deliver the Pregnant Employees Equity Act — which has already handed the Home — to the ground, imperiling the laws, infuriating its supporters and illustrating simply how a lot Democrats should juggle of their waning hours of controlling the Home, Senate and White Home. (Mueller, 11/28)

The 19th:
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Could Offer Relief From Extreme Heat

In Minnesota, a pregnant letter service mentioned she had to make use of sick time to keep away from working outdoors on sizzling days, draining her time without work earlier than her child was even born. A Missouri retail employee give up her job after she mentioned she was denied entry to water, fearing that warmth may impression her being pregnant. (Kutz, 11/28)

Axios:
Republicans Face Thorny Path Ahead On Fertility Policy

Former Vice President Mike Pence’s latest assist for fertility therapies like IVF in addition to a nationwide abortion ban surfaced what may develop into a dilemma for 2024 Republican hopefuls staking out reproductive well being platforms. Republicans have largely insisted that fertility therapies aren’t in danger from the proliferation of recent state abortion restrictions. However anti-abortion teams stay deeply involved with using embryos in IVF and again tighter rules on suppliers. (Owens and Gonzalez, 11/29)

Axios:
HHS Moves To Overhaul Privacy Rules For Substance Abuse Patients

The federal well being division is making an attempt to harmonize privateness protections overlaying the data of sufferers being handled for substance use dysfunction. Syncing the landmark 1996 privateness regulation HIPAA with more durable requirements Congress handed within the CARES Act greater than two years in the past may stop situations through which suppliers unknowingly prescribe opioids as therapy for somebody with a historical past of habit. (Moreno, 11/28)

AP:
Letter: ‘Nothing To Suggest’ Alito Violated Ethics Standards 

The Supreme Court docket mentioned Monday in a letter to Congress that there’s “nothing to recommend” that Justice Samuel Alito violated ethics requirements following a report {that a} 2014 choice he wrote was leaked upfront of its announcement. The letter was in response to an inquiry from lawmakers following a New York Occasions report earlier this month. That report mentioned {that a} former anti-abortion chief was instructed upfront the end result of the Burwell v. Passion Foyer Shops case involving well being care protection of contraception. In a 5-4 choice, Alito wrote that some firms with non secular objections can keep away from the contraceptives requirement in President Barack Obama’s well being care laws. (11/28)

The New York Times:
Supreme Court Defends Alito After Breach Allegation

The Supreme Court docket on Monday defended Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. towards allegations {that a} former anti-abortion chief had been tipped off in 2014 to a landmark contraception ruling written by the justice. The court docket additionally sidestepped questions from lawmakers about whether or not the declare can be investigated additional. (Kantor and Becker, 11/28)

Stateline:
Supreme Court Case Could Curtail Rights Of Medicaid Patients

Gorgi Talevski didn’t reside lengthy sufficient to see his case argued earlier than the U.S. Supreme Court docket this month. A Macedonian-born resident of Indiana, Talevski operated a crane for 3 many years, raised a household and beloved to bounce earlier than his dementia deepened, and he died final yr. (Ollove, 11/28)

The Washington Post:
Scientists Identify Biomarkers That Could Help Diagnose Lyme Disease 

Researchers say they’ve recognized a set of biomarkers that might make early prognosis of Lyme illness simpler, a doable first step for extra successfully treating the estimated 476,000 folks identified with, and handled for, the tick-borne sickness yearly in america. In a research in Cell Studies Medication, researchers clarify how they pinpointed a selected set of genes which are activated in folks with long-term Lyme illness. As much as 20 % of sufferers undergo long-term signs. (Blakemore, 11/28)

NBC News:
Common Treatment For Joint Pain May Be Linked To Faster Arthritis Progression, Research Suggests

Two small unpublished research, to be introduced Tuesday on the Radiological Society of North America’s annual assembly, discovered that on common, knee arthritis superior extra rapidly amongst sufferers who obtained corticosteroid injections than those that didn’t. Against this, hyaluronic acid injections had been related to slower development of the illness relative to a management group. (Yang, 11/29)

The New York Times:
Organ Donations Rise Around Motorcycle Rallies 

This summer time, when half one million bikers clogged the streets of tiny Sturgis, S.D., for one of many nation’s largest bike rallies, there may need been a small surprising profit for close by sufferers desperately awaiting organ transplants. Main bike rallies are related to will increase in organ donors concerned in motorized vehicle crashes, in line with a research revealed this week in JAMA Inside Medication. (Alcorn, 11/28)

The Boston Globe:
Organ Donations Increase During Huge Motorcycle Rallies, Harvard Researchers Find

“The size of those occasions is admittedly fairly huge,” mentioned Dr. David Cron, a Harvard Medical College scientific fellow in surgical procedure at Massachusetts Common Hospital, and the research’s lead writer. “Sturgis, South Dakota, which isn’t the biggest city, attracts about 500,000 folks over the course of the eight-day-long occasion. So you possibly can think about the impression that may have on visitors programs and the inhabitants density throughout a brief time period.” (Freyer, 11/28)

The Washington Post:
Nearly 9 Out Of 10 Covid Deaths Are People Over 65 

President Biden could have declared the coronavirus pandemic “over,” however from John Felton’s view because the Yellowstone County well being officer in Billings, Mont., it’s not over, simply completely different. Now, greater than ever, it’s a plague of the aged. In October, Felton’s group logged six deaths because of the virus, lots of them amongst vaccinated folks. Their ages: 80s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 90s. (Cha and Keating, 11/28)

San Francisco Chronicle:
Lower Sperm Count Seen In Men Who Have Had COVID Than In Those Never Infected

Males who had been contaminated with COVID-19 skilled a 53% decrease sperm rely three or extra months after testing constructive for the coronavirus in comparison with males who had not been contaminated, in line with a research revealed within the Medical Journal of Virology. (Vaziri and Beamish, 11/28)

CIDRAP:
Survey: Stigma, Discrimination Add To Long-COVID Hurdles 

Folks experiencing lengthy COVID usually expertise job or relationship repercussions attributable to their situation, and lots of really feel a way of disgrace, in line with new survey findings revealed in PLOS One. The numbers of individuals experiencing long-term COVID problems is excessive and rising as excessive an infection charges persist. For instance, the UK’s Workplace for Nationwide Statistics estimated that 2.3 million residents reside with lengthy COVID. (Schnirring, 11/28)

Bloomberg:
Fauci Says Covid Shows Endless Threat Of Infectious Disease

The worldwide Covid-19 disaster exhibits that infectious illnesses current a “perpetual problem,” and officers should be higher ready for them, outgoing presidential adviser Anthony Fauci mentioned in an opinion piece. (John Milton, 11/28)

NBC News:
Flu Continues To Spread Across The U.S., Infecting Millions, CDC Reports

The floodgates have opened on flu, with hundreds of thousands of individuals throughout the U.S. reporting sickness and practically 3,000 deaths from influenza for the reason that starting of October, in line with the newest statistics from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. (Edwards, 11/28)

CNBC:
Flu Hospitalizations Increase Nearly 30% As U.S. Enters Holiday Season

Flu hospitalizations have elevated practically 30% in per week because the unfold of respiratory sicknesses stays excessive throughout many of the U.S. Greater than 11,200 folks had been hospitalized with the flu in the course of the week ending Nov. 19, in comparison with about 8,700 sufferers admitted in the course of the prior week, in line with information from the Well being and Human Companies Division. (Kimball, 11/28)

Los Angeles Times:
RSV Straining Children’s Hospitals Across California

The per capita RSV hospitalization charge this month was the very best for the reason that 2018-19 chilly and flu season, Ruel mentioned at a latest campus city corridor. And whereas scientists are monitoring indicators that RSV hospitalization charges could have peaked, it would take extra time to make sure. (Lin II and Cash, 11/28)

USA Today:
Experimental Flu Shot Could Target 20 Viruses With A Single Vaccine

For a half-century, scientists have been making an attempt to develop a vaccine that may shield towards essentially the most harmful flu viruses. Now, researchers on the College of Pennsylvania have a brand new method, based mostly on the mRNA expertise that proved so efficient towards COVID-19. Their concept is to goal all 20 several types of influenza viruses in a single shot. (Weintraub, 11/28)

Bloomberg:
Biogen Stock Falls On Report That Patient Died In Eisai’s Alzheimer Trial

The case concerned a 65-year-old lady who died of a large mind hemorrhage after struggling a stroke and a kind of mind swelling and bleeding in an Eisai trial, in line with a report in Science journal. The bleeding started after the affected person acquired an anti-clotting drug, the report mentioned. Mind swelling and bleeding have beforehand been linked to medicines that work just like the Biogen-Eisai therapy. (Kresge, 11/28)

Stat:
Axsome Drug Reduces Agitation In Alzheimer’s Patients, Data Show

A drug developed by Axsome Therapeutics considerably decreased a typical aspect impact of Alzheimer’s illness — agitation — the corporate introduced Monday. The remedy, AXS-05, met its major purpose of delaying time to relapse and stopping sufferers from relapsing. Sufferers taking the drug had a 3.6-fold decrease danger of relapse total, in comparison with placebo. (DeAngelis, 11/28)

CNBC:
How To Fund Home Health Care If You Want To ‘Age In Place’

Some 70% of individuals need to age at residence, but solely 10% have long-term care insurance coverage, a latest HCG Safe/Arctos Basis research discovered. Moreover, about half of respondents had no concept how a lot in-home care would value. With the median annual value of a house well being aide nationally estimated at $61,776, how are people going to fund this? (Nason, 11/28)

Reuters:
The Caregiver’s Lament: How To Handle The Costs Of Care

You may know P.J. Byrne from the flicks, most definitely as one of many fast-living brokers alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Road.” However nowadays Byrne’s most essential position is nearer to residence: that of son and caregiver. His 79-year-old father has suffered from dementia for about 10 years, which presently requires 24/7 residence care from not only one however usually two well being aides. It provides as much as about $200,000 a yr in prices for the household. (Taylor, 11/29)

Stat:
PhRMA, Once Invincible In Washington, Has Lost Its Edge

PhRMA has a popularity in Washington for may, for cash, for scorched-earth ways, and for combating even the tiniest of coverage adjustments. The pharmaceutical business’s lobbying arm raised hell, for instance, when lawmakers requested it to cowl a barely bigger share of seniors’ drug prices. It spent years refusing to concede even minimal tweaks to an obscure invoice associated to generic competitors. During the last yr, nevertheless, one thing modified. PhRMA, as soon as a titanic lobbying powerhouse, misplaced its edge. (Cohrs, 11/29)

Stat:
‘Skinny Labels’ On Biosimilars Saved Medicare $1.5 Billion In 5 Years

A hotly contested provision of a federal regulation designed to hurry copycat medication to market and foster competitors saved Medicare $1.5 billion from 2015 to 2020 — or practically 5% of the $30.2 billion spent by the well being care program — on simply 5 medicines throughout that interval, in line with a brand new evaluation. (Silverman, 11/28)

Bloomberg:
Nestle May Sell Allergy Unit In Health-Strategy U-Turn

Nestle SA put its Palforzia peanut-allergy therapy up on the market solely two years after shopping for it, as Chief Government Officer Mark Schneider reverses course on one in every of his largest acquisitions past the Swiss firm’s conventional meals and beverage operations. (Afanasieva, 11/29)

Modern Healthcare:
Blue Cross Transgender Care Lawsuit Tests ACA Anti-Discrimination Policy

A authorized combat between a affected person and Blue Cross and Blue Protect of Illinois may drastically improve third-party directors’ potential legal responsibility below the Reasonably priced Care Act’s anti-discrimination provisions. (Tepper, 11/28)

AP:
Landmark Trial Over Arkansas Youth Gender Care Ban Resumes

A psychiatrist referred to as to the stand by Arkansas because the state defends its ban on gender-affirming care for kids mentioned Monday he was involved concerning the impression the regulation may have on some transgender youth who would see their therapies lower off. Dr. Stephen Levine, a psychiatrist at Case Western Reserve College College of Medication in Ohio, testified because the nation’s first trial over such a ban continued earlier than a federal decide after a five-week break. (DeMillo, 11/29)

Modern Healthcare:
Trans Care, Abortion Bans Recast Debate On Provider And Patient Rights

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) took the stage on the “Rally to Finish Baby Mutilation” in Nashville, Tennessee, final month in entrance of demonstrators, together with far-right Proud Boys, to endorse the message that Vanderbilt College Medical Heart was maiming kids and wanted to be stopped. (Hartnett, 11/28)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Children’s Wisconsin Putting Therapists In All Pediatrician Offices

Matthew Duncan, 12, sat in an room at his pediatrician’s workplace someday in mid-October, sifting by a small heap of colourful suction toys piled up on the desk in entrance of him. His physician was not the rationale he was there. Bodily, Matthew was advantageous. However mentally, he’d been rattled. (Shastri, 11/28)

Houston Chronicle:
Houston Hospitals Mostly Unaffected By Boil Water Notice

The Harris Well being System — which incorporates Ben Taub Hospital, Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, neighborhood well being facilities and same-day clinics — retains a provide of bottled water for emergencies, mentioned John Martinez, a senior public and media relations specialist for the system. The hospital presently has sufficient water to maintain working as regular for about one week, he mentioned. (MacDonald, 11/28)

Houston Chronicle:
Why Is Houston Under A Boil Water Notice? Texas Rules Require It

State guidelines based mostly on federal regulation require boil water advisories to be issued if the water drops under 20 psi for even a second, TCEQ spokesman Ryan Vise mentioned. A drop within the system for any size of time mechanically triggers the requirement. (Foxhall, Satija and Cheng, 11/28)

Stat:
Resistance To Opioid-Disposal Plan Raises Questions About CADCA

At its floor, it looks like a easy downside with a easy answer. Throughout the nation, drugs cupboards are suffering from unused, probably addictive opioids. So the federal authorities desires to distribute pay as you go envelopes alongside new painkiller prescriptions, permitting Individuals to mail again their leftovers. (Facher, 11/29)

WGCU:
Here Are Some Ways To Protect Sobriety During The Holidays

The vacations could be a problem for folks in restoration from medication or alcohol. Dr. Alta DeRoo, chief medical officer of the Hazelden Betty Ford Basis, says it’s essential to guard sobriety this time of yr. (Barbor, 11/28)

AP:
Fentanyl’s Scourge Plainly Visible On Streets Of Los Angeles 

In a dirty alley behind a Los Angeles doughnut store, Ryan Smith convulsed within the grips of a fentanyl excessive — lurching from moments of slumber to bouts of violent shivering on a heat summer time day. When Brandice Josey, one other homeless addict, bent down and blew a puff of fentanyl smoke his means in an act of charity, Smith sat up and slowly opened his lip to inhale the vapor as if it was the remedy to his issues. (Hong and Melley, 11/28)

Pensacola News Journal:
Hotel Chain Is Training Workers In Escambia To Help Reduce Veteran Suicides

Veterans are 1.5 occasions extra probably than the final inhabitants to die by suicide, with 20 veterans on common taking their very own lives every day. To assist fight this disaster, Innisfree Inns has began its personal in-company initiative to coach staff working with veterans or people experiencing psychological well being issues with the assistance of Hearth Watch’s Watch Stander program in Northwest Florida. (Morgan, 11/28)

Los Angeles Times:
Los Angeles County Health Officials Issue Cold Weather Alert

“Youngsters, the aged, and other people with disabilities or particular medical wants are particularly susceptible throughout chilly climate. Additional precaution must be taken to make sure they don’t get too chilly when they’re outdoors,” Dr. Muntu Davis, the county’s well being officer, mentioned in an announcement. “There are locations the place folks can go to remain heat, equivalent to shelters or different public amenities.” (Newberry, 11/27)