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Not a subscriber? Sign up | | | | Daily Edition | | | Latest From California Healthline: Patients Are Relying on Lyft, Uber To Travel Far Distances to Medical Care Uber and Lyft have become a critical part of the nation's infrastructure for transporting ailing people from their homes — even in rural areas — to medical care sites in major cities such as Atlanta. (Michael Scaturro, 10/17) More News From Across The State The Washington Post: San Francisco Sewage Lawsuit Against EPA Argued Before Supreme Court
The environmental fight that played out inside the Supreme Court on Wednesday was unusual in many ways: It featured poop, a whopping $10 billion fine and one of the nation's greenest cities — San Francisco — battling the Environmental Protection Agency over water pollution rules in a case that could reverberate beyond the Bay Area. (Jouvenal and Joselow, 10/16) The Hill: Imperial Beach Residents Sue Wastewater Treatment Plant Operators Over Sewage Crisis
Residents of Imperial Beach in southern San Diego County filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the operators of an international wastewater treatment plant — alleging that the site has failed to contain a cross-border crisis that has long contaminated their community. The plaintiffs said they are seeking to hold the plant's managers accountable for severe environmental and public health effects that have resulted from an influx of untreated sewage, heavy metals and other toxic chemicals. (Udasin, 10/16) San Diego Union-Tribune: CDC Set To Launch Door-To-Door Health Survey In South County Communities Impacted By Sewage Crisis
On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will launch a face-to-face survey with 210 randomly selected households near where sewage and other pollutants spill into the Tijuana River Valley from Mexico. More than 80 people from the CDC, San Diego County and local universities will visit homes sometime between 2-7 p.m. from Thursday to Saturday. (Murga, 10/16) San Francisco Chronicle: Whooping Cough Cases Are Spiking In California: What To Know
California is grappling with a substantial whooping cough outbreak, primarily among school-age children. The state's Department of Public Health recorded 1,498 cases as of August, the most recent data, noting the number has been consistently "higher during the first several months of 2024 than in the prior several years." (Vaziri, 10/16) LAist: More Local Dengue Is Popping Up In LA County. Here's A Look At The Treatments Being Done To Curb It
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is reporting two more cases of locally-acquired dengue this week, bringing our total in the county to eight. The new cases of the mosquito-borne disease were found in Baldwin Park, bringing the total number in that area to five. Officials only discovered the first case of locally-acquired dengue last month. And until last year, the state never had a local case, making this small outbreak a concern. (Hernández, 10/17) San Francisco Chronicle: Invasive Mosquitoes Prompt Inspections In Alameda County
The discovery of several mosquitoes in Pleasanton that can spread dengue fever and other diseases has prompted Alameda County officials to mount an aggressive abatement campaign that will send inspectors into people's yards. Four Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were discovered this week after a single mosquito from the same invasive breed was found last week in the Amador Valley neighborhood east of Interstate 680 and surrounding the Alameda County Fairgrounds. (Cabanatuan, 10/16) Stat: Vaccine Veteran Adds To Criticisms Of Response To Bird Flu In Cows
Barney Graham, who for decades helped lead U.S. vaccine development efforts, said Wednesday that the lack of cooperation among U.S. agencies is hindering the country's response to the H5N1 bird flu outbreak among dairy cattle, echoing criticisms that have been building over the past six months. (Joseph, 10/16) Reuters: US FDA Pauses Novavax's Trial Of Combo COVID-Flu Shot On Safety Concerns
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has put on hold a trial of Novavax's COVID-influenza and its standalone flu vaccines after a participant who took the combination shot reported nerve damage, the company said on Wednesday. (Satija, 10/16) Axios: Native Healing Practices To Get Medicaid Coverage
Several state Medicaid programs will soon cover Indigenous healing practices used by American Indians and Alaska Natives under waivers granted Wednesday by the Biden administration. Arizona, California, New Mexico and Oregon each received waivers from the Biden administration, it was announced Wednesday. (Reed, 10/17) Stat: Medicare Advantage Insurers Used Tech To Help Deny Claims: Senate Report
The nation's three largest Medicare Advantage insurers increasingly refused to pay for rehabilitative care for seniors in the years after adopting sophisticated technologies to aid in their coverage decisions, a Senate investigation found. (Herman and Ross, 10/17) Becker's Hospital Review: Shuttered California Hospital Targeting December Reopening
A California hospital is aiming to reopen just shy of two years after it closed its doors, ABC affiliate KFSN reported Oct. 16 Madera (Calif.) Community Hospital, a 106-bed acute care hospital, closed in January 2023 and filed for Chapter 11 protection in March 2023. Madera CEO Steve Stark told KFSN they are aiming to reopen the hospital by mid-December. (Cass, 10/16) Becker's Hospital Review: AHA Issues Community Violence Interventions For Hospitals
The American Hospital Association released its last Hospitals Against Violence Advisory Group guidelines. The guidelines focus on community-based violence interventions. The guidelines, titled "Building a Safe Workplace and Community", are designed to prevent and mitigate violence in the hospital and the community, according to an Oct. 15 news release. The framework provides strategies on culture of safety, violence intervention, trauma support and risk mitigation. (Taylor, 10/16) Modern Healthcare: American Cancer Society Names Dr. Wayne Frederick As Interim CEO
The American Cancer Society named Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick as interim CEO, effective Nov. 2. Frederick will replace Karen Knudsen, who is stepping down Nov. 1 after more than three years in the role. In his new position, Frederick will oversee the cancer society and the affiliated American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, according to a Tuesday news release. (Hudson, 10/16) AP: Kidney Transplants Are Safe Between People With HIV, New US Study Shows
People with HIV can safely receive donated kidneys from deceased donors with the virus, according to a large study that comes as the U.S. government moves to expand the practice. That could shorten the wait for organs for all, regardless of HIV status. The new study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at 198 kidney transplants performed across the U.S. Researchers found similar results whether the donated organ came from a person with or without the AIDS virus. (Johnson, 10/16) FiercePharma: With Gilead Coming Fast, GSK Bolsters Case For Long-Acting HIV PrEP Drug Apretude
With Gilead Sciences sprinting to a likely approval next year for its long-acting pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drug for HIV, the California company has a chance to one-up GSK. While the British company's long-acting Apretude is injected every two months, Gilead's answer is dosed just twice a year. Later this decade, GSK hopes to launch PrEP options that have four and six months of staying power. But, until then, it will do battle with Apretude (cabotegravir long-acting), which has just excelled in several real-world studies. (Dunleavy, 10/16) Axios: Alchemy Raises $31 Million To Close The HIV Pharmacy Gap
Alchemy, a developer of in-house pharmacy programs for clinics with large HIV and hepatitis C patient populations, raised $31 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Why it matters: Antiretrovirals are one of biotech's greatest success stories, but there still are disparities in who receives the drugs. (Primack, 10/16) Los Angeles Times: A New Wave Of Trendy Products Want To Help Gen Z Quit Vaping
A rush of aesthetically minded products with Instagram-approved branding have flooded the NRT market over the last few years, including companies with nicotine replacement products like BLIP and Jones and nicotine-free devices like Luvv and Ripple. They have a new audience in mind: vapers. In 2021, 4.5% percent of all Americans over 18 used vapes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while 10% percent of high schoolers vaped, according to a 2023 study. As younger nicotine consumers confront the health downsides of their habits, these companies are advertising photogenic solutions that dress up versions of an old formula by catering to both young vapers' consumption habits and style. (Abascal, 10/16) Stat: FDA Signals Flexibility In Evaluating Smoking Cessation Therapies
Food and Drug Administration leaders are signaling new flexibility in the agency's approach to evaluating new therapies to help people stop smoking. In a perspective paper published with the National Institutes of Health this week, the agency labeled the effort to help Americans quit smoking a top priority and said it was willing to consider broader endpoints in clinical trials of smoking cessation products. (Lawrence, 10/16) Forbes: New Cervical Cancer Treatment Regimen Cuts Risk Of Death By 40%
Giving people with cervical cancer a short course of chemotherapy before radiation therapy dramatically improves survival according to the results of a new clinical trial. The data published in The Lancet is being heralded as a big breakthrough in the treatment of cervical cancer and uses readily available chemotherapy drugs, given to patients before they receive the standard treatment of radiotherapy plus other chemotherapy. (Forster, 10/16) CNN: Immunotherapy Improves Survival In People With Advanced Hodgkin Lymphoma, Study Shows
An immunotherapy approach to treating advanced Hodgkin lymphoma may drastically increase patients' chances of survival, including those as young as 12, according to a new clinical trial. (Howard, 10/16) Reuters: Novartis Loses Latest Bid To Block Generic Version Of Blockbuster Heart Drug
Novartis has lost a bid to keep a generic version of its top-selling heart failure drug Entresto off the U.S. market by blocking regulators from approving it, though the generic's launch faces other legal roadblocks. U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington, D.C., in an order made public on Tuesday, said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not overstep its authority in approving MSN Pharmaceutical's generic of Entresto, despite a slightly different label and alleged differences between the drugs. (Pierson, 10/16) Bay Area News Group: Debate Over Gender Identity Instruction Sparks Controversy In Bay Area School District
A teacher for a transitional kindergarten students in the Cupertino Union school district was placed on leave after discussing gender identity in the classroom, sparking outrage among parents and embroiling the district in a national debate over the instruction of gender and sexuality in public schools. (Gibbs, 10/17) The Hill: 1,500 Physicians Demand Trump's Health Care Plan Before Election
More than 1,500 physicians around the country are calling on former President Trump to release his health care plan with three weeks until election day. In the new letter authored by the Committee to Protect Health Care PAC, which has endorsed Vice President Harris, more than 1,500 physicians urge the GOP nominee to clarify his plans for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) following his remarks on the topic during his debate against Harris last month. (Timotija, 10/16) Axios: Doctors Shouldn't Push Voting On Patients, GOP Says
An effort to get doctors to register their patients to vote during office visits is drawing the ire of national Republicans as Election Day nears and threatening to again make health care facilities partisan battlegrounds. The big picture: Vot-ER, a nonprofit spearheading health care-related voting efforts, likens the initiatives to nonpartisan voter registration at local motor vehicle departments. Conservatives contend they're exploitive and stretch the boundaries of physician freedom. (Goldman, 10/17) AP: Trump Would Be The Oldest President And Isn't Providing Health Details
If he wins next month's election, Donald Trump would be the oldest person in U.S. history to be elected president. Yet the 78-year-old Republican nominee refuses to disclose new details about his physical or mental well-being, breaking decades of precedent. (Peoples and Neergaard, 10/16) The Hill: Omarosa Says Donald Trump 'Dictated' Medical History To Doctors
Omarosa Manigault Newman claimed former President Trump "dictated" what doctors wrote about his medical history, making the allegation during a Tuesday evening CNN appearance. "Let's recall that Donald Trump dictated the letters that went out about his medical history, but doctors weren't free to write what they want," Manigault Newman said in a clip highlighted by Mediaite. The former Trump White House aide endorsed Vice President Harris for the 2024 election and has been adamant about publicly chronicling her interactions with her former boss. (Fields, 10/16) The Atlantic: What Is This 'Post-Birth Abortion' Donald Trump Keeps Talking About?
As a debate moderator once noted, killing a baby after birth is illegal in all states. What Donald Trump appears to have in mind, and to be disparaging, is perinatal palliative care (PPC)—a crucial medical service aimed at improving quality of life for women and their babies after a severe fetal diagnosis or extreme prematurity. (Donley and Lens, 10/17) Military.com: Supreme Court Weighs Arguments In Lawsuit Over Veterans Getting 'Benefit Of Doubt' In Claims Decisions
The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case that could determine how the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims considers decisions on veterans' requests for disability compensation. For more than an hour Wednesday, the justices peppered attorneys for the plaintiffs and the federal government on whether the Veterans Court is obligated to determine whether the Veterans Board of Appeals -- the VA's deciding panel on denied claims -- must always consider, when there is equal evidence supporting and against a claim, the VA decided in favor of the veteran. (Kime, 10/16) San Francisco Chronicle: 113 Members Of Congress Want A Controversial Alcohol Study To Stop
Members of Congress are calling for a suspension of a controversial committee that could recommend that Americans reduce their alcohol consumption. For months, alcohol industry voices have expressed concerns that scientists on this committee — part of the review process for the upcoming revision of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines — have demonstrated biases against alcohol, which they say could render any recommendations they make untrustworthy. Now, it appears that a sizable number of U.S. representatives agree. (Mobley, 10/17) The New York Times: In a Bid to Feed More Families, WIC Diversifies Its Menu
The program, which provides free groceries to millions of women and children nationwide, now covers naan, soy milk, teff and more. (Schmall, 10/17) Los Angeles Times: Are Baby Food Pouches Healthy? Here's What Experts Say
While the occasional pouch can be part of a healthy diet, doctors and nutritionists are raising concerns that an overreliance on pouches can interfere with nutrition, long-term food preferences, dental hygiene and even speech and language development. And marketing practices can leave parents confused about what's actually inside the packages. "Pouches are highly processed foods," said Dr. Steven Abrams, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School. "They certainly serve as a quick snack, but we need to make sure that pouches don't make up too much of a toddler's diet. We want kids to learn to chew and eat foods like meat, and fruits and vegetables that are not processed." (Gold, 10/17) | | | | | |
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