First Edition: July 13, 2018
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
‘Like A Ghost Town’: Erratic Nursing Home Staffing Revealed Through New Records
Most nursing homes had fewer nurses and caretaking staff than they had reported to the government, according to new federal data, bolstering the long-held suspicions of many families that staffing levels were often inadequate. The records for the first time reveal frequent and significant fluctuations in day-to-day staffing, with particularly large shortfalls on weekends. On the worst-staffed days at an average facility, the new data show, on-duty personnel cared for nearly twice as many residents as they did when the staffing roster was fullest. (Rau, 7/13)
Kaiser Health News:
Retooled Vaccine Raises Hopes As A Lower-Cost Treatment For Type 1 Diabetes
For Hodalis Gaytan, 20, living with Type 1 diabetes means depending on an assortment of expensive medicines and devices to stay healthy. Test strips. Needles. A glucose meter. Insulin. The increasing cost of Type 1 diabetes, one of the most common serious chronic diseases, has created heavy financial burdens for families and generated controversy, with insulin prices more than doubling in the past decade. Without her parent’s insurance, “I would not be alive,” said Gaytan, a student at the University of Maryland. (Heredia Rodriquez, 7/13)
The New York Times:
U.S. Says It Has Reunited Half Of All Migrants Under 5, With Rest ‘Ineligible’
The Trump administration said on Thursday that it had reunified all the migrant children under the age of 5 it determined were eligible to be returned to their parents, part of a court order to reunite the children who were separated from their families at the border. Officials said that 57 of the 103 children had been reunited with their families as of Thursday morning. An additional 46 children remain in government custody because they have been found ineligible to be returned to their families for various reasons. (Nixon and Jordan, 7/12)
The Hill:
Trump Administration Says It Has Completed Reunifying Migrant Kids Under 5
“As of this morning, the initial reunifications were completed. Throughout the reunification process our goal has been the well-being of the children and returning them to a safe environment,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a joint statement. (Weixel, 7/12)
Politico:
ACLU Says It Can't Verify Migrant Reunifications
Attorneys seeking to reunify migrant children separated from their parents at the southern border said Thursday that they were not able to verify the Trump administration’s claim that nearly five dozen children had been returned to their parents. (Kullgren, 7/12)
The Wall Street Journal:
Trump Administration Says All Eligible Young Migrant Children Have Been Reunited
Authorities will now move to reunite the more than 2,000 older minors who remain apart from their relatives, a process a judge has said must be completed by the end of the month. The government will take steps to screen parents to determine whether they are eligible for reunification, so it isn’t clear how many children will be reconnected with their families. (Gurman and Campo-Flores, 7/12)
The Associated Press:
US: Nearly Half Of Youngest Children Not Rejoining Families
The U.S. officials said 46 of the children were not eligible to be reunited with their parents; a dozen parents had already been deported and were being contacted by the administration. Nine were in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service for other offenses. One adult’s location was unknown, they said. Of the deported parents, officials said they had chosen to leave their children behind. One deported father, however, told the Los Angeles Times earlier this week that he didn’t realize what he was doing when he signed the paperwork to leave his child behind. It wasn’t clear if he was one of the dozen; no names have been made public. (Long, 7/12)
The Washington Post:
Trump Administration Reunites 57 Of 103 Young Migrant Children, Says The Rest Are Ineligible
Court records show that 22 children were not returned because of safety concerns posed by the adults with whom they had been traveling. Eleven of the adults had serious criminal histories, such as kidnapping and murder, said Chris Meekins, chief of staff for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, which is aiding in the reunification effort. One adult was convicted of child cruelty and narcotics charges. For the others, the case outcomes remain unclear: Meekins said one adult has been charged with human smuggling, another faces domestic violence charges, one father has an outstanding drunken driving charge in Florida, and another adult is wanted for murder in Guatemala. Others have similar convictions or charges filed against them, officials said. (Sacchetti, 7/12)
The Associated Press:
Detaining Immigrant Kids Is Now A Billion-Dollar Industry
Detaining immigrant children has morphed into a surging industry in the U.S. that now reaps $1 billion annually — a tenfold increase over the past decade, an Associated Press analysis finds. Health and Human Services grants for shelters, foster care and other child welfare services for detained unaccompanied and separated children soared from $74.5 million in 2007 to $958 million in 2017. The agency is also reviewing a new round of proposals amid a growing effort by the White House to keep immigrant children in government custody. (Mendoza and Fenn, 7/12)
The Associated Press:
States Brace For Abortion Fights After Kavanaugh Nomination
Anticipating renewed fights over abortion, some governors and state lawmakers already are looking for ways to enhance or dismantle the right in their own constitutions and laws. President Donald Trump's nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court has raised both fears and hopes that a conservative court majority could weaken or overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that created a nationwide right to abortion. That could fan an already raging battle in states over what should and should not be legal. (7/12)
The Associated Press:
States With Laws Still On The Books That Would Ban Abortion
Four states — Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota — already have laws designed to prohibit most abortions if the Roe ruling were overturned. Several other states have laws adopted before the Roe ruling that ban many abortions and that have not been removed from their statutes. It's unclear whether those laws automatically would take effect if the Roe precedent were overturned. Some state courts also have ruled that abortion rights are protected under their state's constitution. Here's a look at some states with old abortion laws still on the books or with newer laws that could be triggered if Roe were reversed. (7/12)
The Hill:
Dem Senator: Kavanaugh Would 'Turn Back The Clock' On Women's Health Care
Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) announced Thursday that she will oppose Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court over concerns that he would undercut the Affordable Care Act and a landmark abortion case. “The President vowed to appoint judges to the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v. Wade, and I cannot support a nominee for a lifetime appointment who would turn back the clock on a woman’s constitutional right and freedom to make her own health care choices, including access to birth control," Baldwin said in a statement. (Carney, 7/12)
Politico:
‘Kiss My You Know What’: Schumer Hamstrung In SCOTUS Fight
Chuck Schumer says he’s going to fight Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court with “everything I’ve got.” To do so, he’ll need to get centrist Democrats to hold the line. The minority leader’s problem? Those Democrats say he can’t tell them what to do. “I’ll be 71 years old in August, you’re going to whip me? Kiss my you know what,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) when asked if Schumer can influence his vote. (Everett and Schor, 7/13)
The Hill:
Poll Finds Strong Support For Roe V. Wade
Nearly two-thirds of Americans support Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, according to a new Gallup poll. Sixty-four percent of Americans stand by Roe v. Wade while 28 percent would like to see it overturned, pollsters found. The poll found a wide partisan split, with 81 percent of Democrats supporting the ruling, compared to 41 percent of Republicans. Thirteen percent of Democrats opposed Roe v. Wade, meanwhile, as did 51 percent of Republicans. (Birnbaum, 7/12)
The New York Times:
God Made Andrew Cuomo A Feminist. What Kind?
On an infernal afternoon this week, hundreds of women gathered in Union Square in the name of protecting reproductive rights and in protest, implicitly, of a flimflam progressivism that allows New York to market itself to the country as a polestar of liberal sanctity. The immediate impetus for the rally was the nomination of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to fill Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s seat on the Supreme Court, a move that could bring the reversal of Roe v. Wade closer to reality. But the real news for anyone who might have wandered into the event, exiting from Whole Foods with locally grown strawberries and little knowledge of the state’s legal code, is that New York’s own abortion laws place it nearer to the sentiments of the “Handmaid’s Tale” than many would imagine. (Bellafante, 7/13)
The Washington Post:
Democrats Say Kavanaugh Could Help End Obamacare, But Court Likely To Deal With Narrower Issues
Senate Democrats and their allies are casting Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh as a grave danger to Americans’ ability to afford health care as a central theme of their high-decibel campaign to block his ascension to the Supreme Court. But after a half-dozen years in which the high court has repeatedly upheld the essence of the Affordable Care Act, Kavanaugh, if confirmed, would be less likely to help decide cases threatening the law’s survival than a mosaic of narrower issues, often arising from the Trump administration’s eagerness to chip away at parts of the law. (Goldstein, 7/12)
The New York Times Fact Check:
Democrats Overstate Kavanaugh’s Writings On The Affordable Care Act
Judge Kavanaugh has written two dissenting opinions in the legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act while serving on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In both cases, he refrained from making broad pronouncements about the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, said Wendy Parmet, a professor of health law at Northeastern University. (Qiu, 7/12)
The Hill:
Trump Health Chief Defends Suspending ObamaCare Payments
The Trump administration is bound by a federal court decision to suspend billions of dollars in ObamaCare payments, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma said Thursday. “We really are in a tough spot,” Verma told reporters. “I think that there’s been a lot of discussion about whether the Trump administration is making a decision. We’re not making a decision. The court has told us what to do here … at the end of the day, we have to abide by the court’s ruling.” (Weixel, 7/12)
The Hill:
House Panel Advances Bill That Would Temporarily Halt ObamaCare's Employer Mandate
The House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday approved legislation that would chip away at ObamaCare, including a measure that would temporarily repeal the law's employer mandate. The bill sponsored by GOP Reps. Devin Nunes (Calif.) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) would suspend penalties for the employer mandate for 2015 through 2019 and delay implementation of the tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health plans for another year, pushing it back to 2022. (Hellmann, 7/12)
Stat:
How Pfizer’s CEO Kept On Raising Prices — Until Trump's Tweet
As the CEO of Pfizer, the world’s largest drug maker, Ian Read followed a years-long pricing strategy that reaped billions for his company. It was like clockwork: jack up prices every six months. The moves did not go entirely unnoticed, but Pfizer generally escaped much flak because other pharma companies did the same thing. But Read’s pricing game plan didn’t seem so shrewd when President Trump entered the picture last week. Days earlier, Pfizer was virtually alone in raising prices for dozens of drugs — many by more than 9 percent — and it prompted a raging tweet from Trump. In a brief phone call with the president that Read sought on Tuesday night to defuse the uproar, the CEO backed down and deferred the hikes. (Silverman and Sheridan, 7/13)
Stat:
Novartis Is The Latest Big Drug Maker To Exit Antibiotic Research
Amid rising concern over drug-resistant superbugs, Novartis (NVS) is ending research into antibiotics and antivirals because these programs are not a “long-term strategic fit.” As a result, the company will eliminate 140 jobs from the San Francisco Bay area, where the work is based, although a Novartis spokesman noted the company will continue to research tropical diseases, such as malaria. And he added that the company’s Sandoz generic unit continues to manufacture and supply many such medicines. (Silverman, 7/12)
Stat:
Hugin Comes Under Fire In N.J Senate Campaign Ad For Hiking Drug Prices
“The guy who made a killing” — that’s how a patient advocacy group fighting high drug prices refers to former Celgene CEO Bob Hugin in a television ad set to air Friday. Hugin, who is challenging Sen. Bob Menendez (D) for his seat in New Jersey, has been criticized for price increases that occurred at Celgene under his leadership. Patients for Affordable Drugs, an advocacy group of rising prominence here, said in a statement it spent $1.5 million to air the ad for several weeks across New Jersey. (Facher, 7/12)
Stat:
Zogenix To Submit Anti-Seizure Drug For Approval After Trial Shows Benefit
Zogenix has confirmed the efficacy of its experimental epilepsy drug in a second, late-stage clinical trial, paving the way for a marketing submission by the end of the year. The small biotech company, based in Emeryville, Calif., said its lead drug, ZX008, reduced by more than half the average monthly convulsive seizures compared with a placebo in children and teenagers with Dravet syndrome, a rare and severe type of epilepsy. (Feuerstein, 7/12)
The Associated Press:
FDA To More Aggressively Tackle Disruptive Drug Shortages
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it wants to more aggressively fight medication shortages that have led to rationing of some drugs and disrupted patient care. The agency announced plans for a task force to find ways to improve the supply of crucial drugs. It’s a new approach for the drug regulator, which has very little control over drug makers’ operations. It generally can’t act until drug makers tell the agency that shortages are imminent or that it will stop making a drug. (7/12)
CNN:
Drug Shortages Prompt FDA To Form Task Force
"It's a patient safety issue," said Dr. James Augustine, chairman of the national clinical governance board for US Acute Care Solutions, a physician group that provides staffing for emergency rooms and hospitals across the country. Some patients, he said, are "scared to death for their life." (Nedelman, 7/12)
The Associated Press:
Medicare Proposes To Pay Docs For Analyzing Texted Photos
Doctors would also be able to bill separately for brief video consultations with patients. Medicare may count phone calls as well. Additionally, Medicare would expand the range of telehealth services already covered, important in rural areas. The proposals are part of a 1,500-page physician payment rule released Thursday that would take effect in 2019. (7/12)
The Associated Press:
Federal Prosecutors To Focus On Synthetic Opioids
Federal prosecutors in eight states with high drug overdose death rates will pursue even seemingly small synthetic opioid cases under a program announced Thursday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sessions announced Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge in New Hampshire, which Republican President Donald Trump has called a "drug-infested den." The program is modeled after a successful effort in Manatee County, Florida, and will involve prosecutors each choosing one county in which to pursue every "readily provable" case involving the sale of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, regardless of the quantity involved. (Ramer, 7/12)
The Associated Press:
‘It Keeps Us Safe’: An NYC Bathroom Set Up To Stem Overdoses
At an unassuming storefront on a busy Brooklyn street, people sign up to use a bathroom outfitted to try to curb an overdose crisis. Waiting his turn, a man named Robert is frank about why he’s there, instead of one of the stairwells, parks, rooftops or porches where he has used heroin in the past. “It keeps us safe. It keeps us from getting arrested. You feel secure here,” says Robert, who discussed his drug use on condition that his last name not be used because he fears arrest and damage to family relationships. “You know that someone’s paying attention if you fall out in there. ... You know they’re not going to let nothing happen to you.” (Peltz, 7/13)
The New York Times:
Secret Service Issues Guide To Help Prevent School Shootings
Mock-shooting drills. Metal detectors. Bulletproof classroom shelters. As deadly school shootings continue to be a fixture in headlines and an everyday fear for districts and students, schools across the country have resorted to “hardening” their campuses. But a federal report released Thursday backs another model that school safety experts have for years supported as a way to save lives: the formation of “threat assessment teams” that employ mental health, law enforcement and education professionals to help identify and support troubled youths. (Yoon-Hendricks, 7/12)
The Washington Post:
How Adoption And Support Programs Failed The Hart Siblings And Ushered Them To Their Deaths
One day, she thought, the three kids would come back and find her. They would return to Houston and reunite with the woman who fought to keep their family together. Priscilla Celestine held on to that dream for years, long after the state of Texas took the children — all younger than 6 at the time — and sent them 1,300 miles away to live in a Minnesota town she didn’t know, in a home she didn’t know with a family she didn’t know. The interstate adoption, finalized in 2009, was in Devonte, Jeremiah and Ciera’s best interest, the state determined. They would be safe and cared for.The state was wrong. (Heim and Tate, 7/12)
The New York Times:
Did Flawed Data Lead Track Astray On Testosterone In Women?
Researchers have found flaws in some of the data that track and field officials used to formulate regulations for the complicated cases of Caster Semenya of South Africa, the two-time Olympic champion at 800 meters, and other female athletes with naturally elevated testosterone levels. Three independent researchers said they believed the mistakes called into question the validity of a 2017 study commissioned by track and field’s world governing body, the International Federation of Athletics Associations, or I.A.A.F., according to interviews and a paper written by the researchers and provided to The New York Times. (Longman, 7/12)
NPR:
Citizen Scientists Collect 16,000 Ticks For Research
Could the tick that just bit you carry a pathogen that causes Lyme disease or another ailment? If you're worried, you could ship the offending bug to a private testing service to find out. But between August 2016 and January 2017, you could have gotten a free analysis by sending it to Nathan Nieto's lab at Northern Arizona University. You'd get back info on the critter that bit you and, if applicable, a pathology report. (Blakemore, 7/12)
The New York Times:
Mice Don’t Know When To Let It Go, Either
Suppose that, seeking a fun evening out, you pay $175 for a ticket to a new Broadway musical. Seated in the balcony, you quickly realize that the acting is bad, the sets are ugly and no one, you suspect, will go home humming the melodies. Do you head out the door at the intermission, or stick it out for the duration? Studies of human decision-making suggest that most people will stay put, even though money spent in the past logically should have no bearing on the choice. (Goode, 7/12)
The New York Times:
Don’t Be Afraid Of Pain
Learning a bit of neuroscience may provide some relief from pain. In a randomized clinical trial, researchers assigned 120 men and women with chronic back or neck pain to one of two treatments. The first group received the commonly recommended program of physical therapy and general exercises. (Bakalar, 7/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Though He Lived 5,000 Years Ago, Otzi The Iceman Was Not A Strict Adherent To The Paleo Diet
If you were thinking that the ancient Alpine traveler known as Otzi — and often known simply as Iceman — scraped by on a diet of foraged grasses and berries, you’d be very wrong. A comprehensive new study of his stomach contents reveals that Otzi, who perished roughly 5,300 years ago on a mountain in the Eastern Alps of Italy, died with a belly full of fatty meat, some whole seeds from the einkorn wheat plant, and maybe a bit of goat’s milk or cheese — all eaten just a couple of hours before he died. (Healy, 7/12)
The Associated Press:
Illinois, Iowa Officials Look Into Rise In Parasitic Illness
Health officials in Illinois and Iowa are investigating an increase in people becoming sick from a parasite that causes intestinal illness. The Illinois Department of Public Health said in a news release Thursday that it has received confirmation of about 90 cases of cyclosporiasis, which is caused by the Cyclospora parasite. The Iowa Department of Public Health, in its own release, said it has identified 15 cases linked to the same illness and parasite. Both departments say there appears to be a link to consumption of McDonald's salads. (7/13)
The Washington Post:
CDC Honey Smacks Warning: 'Do Not Eat This Cereal'
A salmonella outbreak linked to a popular Kellogg's cereal has infected 100 people, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday. The agency is urging consumers to avoid Honey Smacks, a sugary puffed wheat cereal which has been the subject of a recall by the company since mid-June. At least 30 of the 100 have been hospitalized, while no deaths have been reported, the CDC said. (Rosenberg, 7/12)
The Associated Press:
Oregon's Medical Marijuana Program Admits To Problems
The agency overseeing Oregon's legal medical marijuana industry conceded in a report Thursday it has not provided effective oversight of growers and others in the industry, creating opportunities for weed to be diverted to the black market. The blunt internal review echoes complaints from federal authorities that Oregon hasn't adequately controlled its marijuana businesses, and that overproduction of pot is feeding a black market in states that haven't legalized it. (7/12)
The New York Times:
Legionnaires’ Disease Sickens 11 In Upper Manhattan
An outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease has sickened 11 people in Upper Manhattan, 10 of whom have been hospitalized, according to city health officials. Eight people remained in the hospital on Thursday. “This disease is very treatable with antibiotics,” Dr. Mary Bassett, the city’s health commissioner, said in a statement. “I encourage anyone with symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease to seek care early.” (Greenberg, 7/12)