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First Edition

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: Complaints About Gaps In Medicare Advantage Networks Are Common. Federal Enforcement Is Rare Along with the occasional aches and pains, growing older can bring surprise setbacks and serious diseases. Longtime relationships with doctors people trust often make even bad news more tolerable. Losing that support — especially during a health crisis — can be terrifying. That's why little-known federal requirements are supposed to protect people with privately run Medicare Advantage coverage when contract disputes lead their health care providers and insurers to part ways. (Jaffe, 11/20)

KFF Health News: Waning Immunity And Falling Vaccination Rates Fuel Pertussis Outbreaks Rates of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, are surging in Texas, Florida, California, Oregon, and other states and localities across the country. The outbreaks are fueled by falling vaccination rates, fading immunity, and delays in public health tracking systems, according to interviews with state and federal health officials. Babies too young to be fully vaccinated are most at risk. (Gounder, 11/20)

VACCINES

The Wall Street Journal: CDC Changes Webpage To Say Vaccines May Cause Autism, Revising Prior Language A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage that previously made the case that vaccines don't cause autism now says they might. The contents of the webpage came up during Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Senate confirmation process. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) in February said Kennedy had assured him that, if he was confirmed, the CDC would "not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism." (Essley Whyte and Siddiqui, 11/19)

Politico: RFK Jr. Is In A Power Struggle A top aide to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is locked in a power struggle with his boss and the White House over vaccine policy and personnel, according to two senior administration officials. For now, the head of the Food and Drug Administration, Marty Makary, still has his job, but the dispute — which centers on how the agency will examine vaccine side effects — is unresolved, the officials said. Both were granted anonymity to discuss confidential deliberations. (Röhn, 11/19)

The New York Times: Early Signs Point To A Harsh Flu Season In The U.S. The United States may be headed for a rough flu season, with a virus that causes more severe symptoms than the one last year and seems to be spreading more rapidly and earlier than usual. On Friday, one day after they returned to work from the government shutdown, scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted data suggesting that flu infections are still low but rising in 39 states. Even so, the flu vaccine will help prevent hospitalizations, with an effectiveness of 70 to 75 percent in children and 30 to 40 percent in adults, according to data from the Health Security Agency in Britain. (Mandavilli, 11/19)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County's First Flu Death Confirmed; Season Could Be Severe L.A. County has had its first flu death in a season that health officials have warned could be severe. The county Department of Public Health confirmed the influenza-associated fatality on Wednesday. The death occurred in an elderly individual with underlying health conditions who had not received a flu vaccination this season, according to the Department of Public Health. (Flores and Lin II, 11/19)

CIDRAP: Experimental MRNA Flu Vaccine Is More Effective Than Conventional Flu Shot, But Causes More Side Effects Recent mutations in circulating influenza viruses could make flu shots less effective this year, leading to an especially brutal flu season. It's not a new problem. Flu viruses are infamous for their ability to evolve quickly and without warning, creating a mismatch between the shots already on the market and the viral strains spreading from person to person. Over the past 15 years, the effectiveness of seasonal flu vaccines has ranged from 19% to 60%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Szabo, 11/19)

MORE FROM HHS

Bloomberg: HHS Proposes New CDC Programs, Including Hepatitis B Screening The Health and Human Services Department is proposing new initiatives for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including a program to increase hepatitis B screening for pregnant women, as part of a broader push to restructure the agency, according to an internal document viewed by Bloomberg News. Leading five of the 16 initiatives is Sam Beyda — a carryover from the Department of Government Efficiency — who was recently named deputy chief of staff at the CDC, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak on the subject. (Nix, 11/20)

Stat: HHS Re-Releases Gender Dysphoria Report With Names, Peer Review The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday re-released its controversial report on gender dysphoria in children, and this time it named the previously anonymous authors and published a handful of peer review comments after the initial study had been faulted for a lack of transparency. (Gaffney and Merelli, 11/19)

AP: Senate Committee Advances Thomas March Bell For HHS Watchdog A U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday voted to advance a candidate openly supportive of President Donald Trump to be inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services, a role that is traditionally viewed as nonpartisan. The 14-13 vote in the Republican-led Senate Finance Committee sends Thomas March Bell's nomination to the full, Republican-controlled Senate, where he is expected to be confirmed to lead the office charged with investigating fraud, waste and abuse in the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs. (Swenson, 11/19)

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

Fierce Healthcare: Republicans Press For HSAs, ACA Subsidy Reform In Senate Hearing The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a political football through much of its history, and the landmark healthcare law was back in the center spotlight at a hearing in the Senate on Wednesday. The Senate Finance Committee hosted a session to dive into "meaningful solutions" to address the rising cost of healthcare, though the discussion was largely a bipartisan referendum on the ACA and the impact it has had on affordability. (Minemyer, 11/19)

Politico: Cassidy's Obamacare Plan Will Not Lower Skyrocketing Premiums, Democrats And Policy Experts Say It's too little, too late for Sen. Bill Cassidy's (R-La.) Obamacare subsidy compromise. That's the message from health policy experts and Democrats on Cassidy's proposed middle ground over Congress' stalemate on expiring enhanced Obamacare subsidies. (King, 11/20)

Becker's Hospital Review: 'A Health Cost Freight Train Is Hurtling Into View': 5 Takeaways From The Senate Finance Committee Hearing The Senate Finance Committee led a high-stakes hearing Nov. 19 on the affordability crisis unfolding across the U.S. healthcare system. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle warned that Americans are facing staggering premium hikes, shrinking coverage options and escalating out-of-pocket costs as Congress remains divided on how to respond. (Condon, 11/19)

MORE FROM CAPITOL HILL

CNN: New Jersey Organ Procurement Organization Under Congressional Investigation After 'Alarming' Whistleblower Claims The US House Ways and Means Committee said Wednesday that it is investigating the organ procurement organization for the New Jersey region for what it called "extreme abuse of public trust" and possible illegal activity, including trying to procure organs from people who didn't volunteer to be donors and, in at least one case, trying to continue with the organ recovery process in a patient who had "reanimated." (Christensen, 11/19)

AP: Florida Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick Charged With Stealing Disaster Funds U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida has been indicted on charges accusing her of stealing $5 million in federal disaster funds and using some of the money to aid her 2021 campaign, the Justice Department said Wednesday. The Democrat is accused of stealing Federal Emergency Management Agency overpayments that her family health care company had received through a federally funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, federal prosecutors said. A portion of the money was then funneled to support her campaign through candidate contributions, prosecutors allege. (11/20)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

NJ.com: N.J. Hospital Says It Can't Pay Employees, Must Close After 152 Years A Jersey City hospital will close its doors after 152 years of service after failing to get millions in support from the government, its parent company announced last week. Heights University Hospital will operate only as a standalone emergency department and support services starting on Saturday, said Dr. Nizar Kifaieh, president and chief executive officer of Hudson Regional Health. (Roman, 11/14)

Chicago Tribune: State Board Approves Closure Of Obstetrics Unit Ascension Alexian Brothers will soon close its inpatient obstetrics unit after a state board voted Tuesday to allow the move, despite outcry from nurses and community members. The state Health Facilities and Services Review Board voted 6-3, after a lengthy discussion, to approve the hospital's application to close the unit. (Schencker, 11/19)

Modern Healthcare: Providence Swedish Cuts To Affect 296 Positions Two Providence organizations announced plans Tuesday to cut more than 400 positions. Providence Swedish plans to cut 296 positions early next year, and Providence Oregon is eliminating more than 150 roles this week. The cuts affect clinical and administrative roles. (DeSilva, 11/19)

Modern Healthcare: WVU Health To Acquire Independence, Invest $800M In Upgrades West Virginia University Health System announced an agreement Wednesday to acquire Independence Health. Morgantown-based WVU Health System, branded as WVU Medicine, would invest $800 million over five years to upgrade Greensburg, Pennsylvania-based Independence's facilities, according to a news release. The deal is expected to close in fall 2026, pending regulatory approval and bondholder consent, a WVU Medicine spokesperson said. (DeSilva, 11/19)

Chicago Tribune: Northwestern Medicine Gets $25 Million For Behavioral Health Northwestern Medicine has received a $25 million donation from Kent and Liz Dauten and their family foundation to create a new behavioral health institute. (Schencker, 11/19)

Modern Healthcare: Function Health's $298M Series B Backed By Matt Damon, Zac Efron Function Health, a health tech company offering lab testing and imaging scans to patients, raised $298 million in a Series B funding round. The round was led by venture capital firm Redpoint Ventures. Other investors included venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures, as well as actors Matt Damon and Zac Efron, more than a dozen professional athletes and numerous other angel investors. (Perna, 11/19)

Chicago Tribune: Saint Anthony Hospital Investigating Breach Of Email System St. Anthony Hospital is investigating a breach of its email system that may have exposed the personal information of 6,679 people. (Schencker, 11/19)

PHARMACEUTICALS

San Francisco Chronicle: Two S.F. Telehealth Execs Convicted Of Fraud In Adderall Scheme Two San Francisco telehealth company executives have been convicted of felony charges for what prosecutors described as a $100 million scheme to distribute Adderall and other stimulants over the internet for no legitimate medical purpose. After a week-long trial, Ruthia He, CEO of Done Global, and David Brody, a physician who was the company's clinical president, were found guilty Tuesday by a federal jury in San Francisco of six charges of illegal drug distribution and defrauding their customers, and He was also convicted of conspiracy to obstruct justice. (Egelko, 11/19)

Stat: Pfizer, Tris Agree To $41.5M Settlement With Texas Over ADHD Drug Pfizer and Tris Pharma have agreed to pay $41.5 million to settle allegations by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that they provided an ADHD medicine to children on Medicaid while knowing about "flawed" manufacturing practices. (Silverman, 11/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Millions Of Kids Are On ADHD Pills. For Many, It's The Start Of A Drug Cascade. Danielle Gansky was 7 years old when an administrator at her upscale private girls' school in suburban Philadelphia flagged problems with her academic performance. She was a bubbly and creative kid, but she was easily distracted in class and her schoolwork was sloppy. The school told Gansky's mother that the girl should see a psychiatrist, who diagnosed her with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, and prescribed a stimulant. Concerned that Danielle might get kicked out if her focus didn't improve, her mother broke into tears and agreed. But the pills made Gansky agitated, moody and angry. So another doctor put her on Prozac. (Ramachandran, McKay and McGinty, 11/19)

Bloomberg: Bayer Wins US Approval For New Drug Hyrnuo In Lung Cancer Bayer AG won US approval for its new medicine Hyrnuo to treat a common form of lung cancer as the German company works to bolster its drug pipeline. The US Food and Drug Administration cleared the treatment for adults with non-squamous non-small-cell lung cancer whose tumors are advanced or have spread and carry mutations of HER2 — a gene often associated with breast cancer. The medicine got an accelerated approval, meaning the company may need to perform another clinical trial to confirm its benefits. (Wind, 11/20)

Bloomberg: Abbott Weighs Takeover Of Cancer Test Maker Exact Sciences Abbott Laboratories is nearing a potential acquisition of cancer screening company Exact Sciences Corp., people familiar with the matter said, in what could be the biggest deal of the year in the global health-care sector. The US medical-device maker is discussing the terms of a transaction with Madison, Wisconsin-based Exact Sciences, according to the people. A deal may be announced in the coming days, they said. (Davis and Nair, 11/19)

The Guardian, El Tecolote: The FDA Has Warned Against This 'Natural Remedy' For Joint Pain. San Francisco Immigrants Still Trust It In San Francisco, doctors say, a growing number of Latinos who work physically demanding jobs have turned to Artri Ajo King and related supplements, such as Artri King, AK Forte and Ortiga Ajo Rey, to relieve chronic pain. The supplements are marketed as natural remedies for pain relief. But there's a dark side to the pills that has doctors in the city worried. They contain hidden pharmaceuticals that can lead to serious medical conditions, including liver toxicity and death. Quitting them abruptly can also be very dangerous. And, though the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked people to avoid the pills, the message of their harms doesn't seem to be getting across to Spanish-speaking immigrants, or to the many small businesses in the Mission District that cater to them. (Duran, 11/19)

STATE WATCH

AP: Missouri Seeks Help Taking China's Assets In A Legal Battle Over COVID Missouri has escalated its attempt to seize Chinese government-owned property across the United States, asking the Trump administration for help collecting on a roughly $25 billion court judgment related to the COVID-19 pandemic that Beijing has flatly rejected. Missouri is asking the U.S. State Department to formally notify China that the state intends to pursue assets with full or partial Chinese government ownership to satisfy the judgment, state Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said Wednesday. (Lieb, 11/20)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Moves Ahead With Regulating Hemp Industry As Federal Ban Looms The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission moved forward on Tuesday with its efforts to regulate the sale of consumable hemp products as questions swirled around the future of the industry due to federal restrictions on the products approved by Congress last week. A provision of the funding bill for the U.S. Department of Agriculture that ended the longest government shutdown on record also undid a provision of the 2018 farm bill that first allowed Texas' $8 billion hemp industry to thrive. (Cobler, 11/19)

Boise State Public Radio News: Researchers Find 'Concerning' Protein Changes Among Firefighters Who Responded To L.A. Blazes The tragic Los Angeles fires were a historically destructive disaster, but they also presented a unique opportunity to study the toxic exposures faced by firefighters. New findings point to a heightened risk for serious diseases like lupus. (Woodhouse, 11/19)

PolitiFact: Florida AG Says 1 In 25 People Who Take The Abortion Pill Are Hospitalized. Here's The Fact-Check Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is suing Planned Parenthood for what he called deceptive marketing practices involving abortion pills. In a November 6 video on X, Uthmeier said Planned Parenthood "falsely marketed to women" that abortion pills are safer than over-the-counter medications. (Putterman, 11/19)

AP: Are Medicaid Cuts Responsible For This New England Health Care Center Closing? For more than two decades, Susan Bushby, a 70-year-old housekeeper from a rural ski town in New Hampshire's White Mountains, took comfort in knowing she only had a short drive to reach the community health center. ... But last month, the Ammonoosuc Community Health Services location in Franconia, a town of around 1,000 people, closed for good. (Casey, Swinhart and Shastri, 11/19)

PUBLIC HEALTH

Bloomberg: Infant Botulism Cases Up With Recalled Formula Still On Shelves ByHeart said testing found the bacteria that can lead to botulism in cans of its infant formula, as US health officials identified additional babies who have been hospitalized with the illness. Samples of the formula were examined by a third-party testing company based in Washington state, ByHeart said in a statement on its website. The number of babies who have been hospitalized since earlier this year with suspected or confirmed botulism linked to a recall of the formula swelled to 31 on Wednesday, according to US health officials. (Edney and Muller, 11/19)

NBC News: Measles Outbreak In Arizona And Utah Could End U.S. Elimination Status A measles outbreak in Arizona and Utah shows no sign of slowing, putting the United States dangerously close to losing its elimination status for the vaccine-preventable disease. With holiday travel and gatherings approaching, doctors worry that transmission could escalate. If measles continues to spread through Jan. 20, that will mark a year of sustained transmission in the United States. At that point, the disease would no longer be considered eliminated and it would instead revert to being endemic, or constantly present. (Bendix and Edwards, 11/20)

CIDRAP: WHO Warns Of Rising, Worrisome Levels Of Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea New data released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) highlight rising levels of drug-resistant gonorrhea. ... Rising resistant to ceftriaxone and cefixime are especially concerning given that the two antibiotics are the last remaining recommended treatment options for gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that has quickly developed resistance to every antibiotic that's been used for treatment. But there's hope that two new antibiotics that have shown promise in clinical trials (zoliflodacin and gepotidacin) could soon provide more options. (Dall, 11/19)

ABC News: Global Rise In Ultra-Processed Foods Is Major Public Health Threat, Experts Say The global rise of ultra-processed foods in diets worldwide poses a major public health threat, according to experts who published a series of papers in medical journal The Lancet. The authors cite studies that show ultra-processed diets are linked to chronic health conditions like increased risk of becoming overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, chronic kidney disease and overall higher death rates. (Benadjaoud, Abramoff and Salzman, 11/19)

MENTAL HEALTH

Axios: Common Sense Media: Chatbots "Fundamentally Unsafe" For Teen Mental Health All major chatbots are "fundamentally" unsafe for teen mental health support, children's advocacy group Common Sense Media said Thursday in a report showing systemic issues across the board. (Curi and Morrone, 11/20)

The New York Times: When People in Distress Deny Being Suicidal, Should They Be Believed? Clinicians often rely on patients to disclose thoughts of self-harm, but some are lobbying for a new diagnosis to better assess the risk. (Caron, 11/19)

CNN: Fluoride In Drinking Water Does Not Negatively Affect Cognitive Ability — And May Actually Provide Benefit, Study Finds The longstanding public health practice of adding fluoride to community drinking water is facing heavy scrutiny in the United States over questions about whether the benefits outweigh the potential risks. But new research challenges recent claims about the risks of fluoride in drinking water — and instead suggests that it may have additional positive effects. (McPhillips, 11/20)

MedPage Today: Dementia Risk Intertwined With Exercise At Two Life Stages Physical activity in both midlife and late-life was linked to substantially less dementia risk, a long-term analysis of a large cohort showed. Compared with the lowest quintile of midlife physical activity, the top two quintiles were associated with 40% lower all-cause dementia risk over 26 years ... reported Phillip Hwang, PhD, MPH, of Boston University, and colleagues. (George, 11/19)

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