Becker's Hospital Review: Kaiser Med School Extends Tuition Waiver
Kaiser Permanente's medical school in Pasadena, Calif., is extending its tuition waiver policy for one year, allowing a sixth cohort to attend tuition-free. (Gooch, 7/10)

Modern Healthcare: ONC Rule To Establish Voluntary Health IT Software Certifications 
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology introduced a proposed rule on Wednesday to improve interoperability between payers, public health organizations and providers. ONC's proposed rule would establish voluntary certifications for health IT software tools used by public health organizations and payers. The proposed rule implements provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act, which was signed into law in December 2016 by President Obama. (Turner, 7/10)

The New York Times: Doctors Use A.I. Chatbots To Help Fight Insurance Denials
At his rehabilitation medicine practice in Illinois, Dr. Azlan Tariq typically spent seven hours a week fighting with insurance companies reluctant to pay for his patients’ treatments. He often lost. There was the 45-year-old man who spent five months in a wheelchair while his insurer denied appeal after appeal for a prosthetic leg. Or the stroke survivor who was rehospitalized following a fall after his insurer determined his rehab “could be done at home.” (Rosenbluth, 7/10)

Modern Healthcare: Doctors Hit With Proposed 2.9% Medicare Pay Cut For 2025
Medicare physician payments would decline 2.9% in 2025 under a proposed rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published Wednesday. The draft regulation provoked sharp criticism from the American Medical Association and other medical societies, which renewed their calls for Congress to come to their aid. The proposed rule also includes significant policies related to the Medicare Shared Savings Program and telehealth reimbursement. (Early, 7/10)

Modern Healthcare: Outpatient Hospitals May Get 2.6% Medicare Pay Bump In 2025
Hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical centers would receive 2.6% reimbursement hikes next year under a proposed rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued Wednesday. The draft regulation also includes a slew of maternal health and health equity provisions hospitals that participate in Medicare would be required to follow to receive the full pay hike, including policies on treatment and transfer protocols for pregnant patients. (Early, 7/10)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Advantage Marketing Ruling Leaves 2025 Enrollment In Flux
A legal victory for Medicare Advantage insurers and marketers ironically may cause some headaches when open enrollment for 2025 rolls around. Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ordered a stay against the final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published in April that prohibits insurers from offering volume-based bonuses to top Medicare Advantage marketers, thereby suspending the regulation's cap on broker fees. (Tepper, 7/10)

Stat: Biden Administration Ignores Calls To Bolster Hospital Price Transparency
The federal government will not modify regulations that dictate how hospitals publish their prices for consumers, ignoring pleas from patient advocates who have said hospitals still are not fully complying with the 3-year-old law. The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed an annual rule that sets payment rates for hospitals. This document is where the government has in the past rolled out changes to the so-called hospital price transparency rule, but the Biden administration did not address the issue in this edition. (Herman, 7/10)

Stat: Medicaid Is Paying Millions For Salty, Fat-Laden ‘Medically Tailored’ Cheeseburgers And Sandwiches
They’re marketed as healthy, “dietitian-approved” meals and delivered directly to the homes of people seriously ill from cancer, diabetes, or heart disease: a Jimmy Dean frozen sausage breakfast sandwich, biscuits and gravy, a cheeseburger. These are among the offerings sold by an Idaho-based company, Homestyle Direct, which is paid millions of dollars each year by taxpayer-funded state Medicaid programs to deliver what the company calls medically tailored meals. The company, which advertises delivering 7.8 million meals annually, has menus catering to customers trying to manage their cancer and diabetes, as well as “heart healthy” and “renal friendly” dishes. (Florko, 7/11)

The Washington Post: Heat Wave Sweeping The U.S. Has Caused At Least 28 Deaths, Reports Show
A searing heat wave that has gripped much of the United States in recent days is suspected of killing at least 28 people in the last week, according to reports from state officials, medical examiners and news outlets. The number, which is based on preliminary reports from California, Oregon and Arizona, is likely to grow as authorities assess the death toll of a heat wave that began last week, delivering record-breaking temperatures throughout the West and scorching East Coast cities. As of Wednesday, more than 135 million people across the Lower 48 were under heat alerts, many of which are expected to continue until the weekend. (Phillips, 7/10)

The Washington Post: As Extreme Heat Bakes The West, Emergency Helicopters Struggle To Fly
The call came at 2 p.m. Sunday: A driver suffered a brain injury in a traffic accident and needed to be flown to a different hospital as soon as possible. Lead helicopter pilot Douglas Evans noted the 116.6-degree temperature in Redding, Calif., where he would need to land. The tarmac was probably even hotter. In 27 years of operating medical helicopters around California, Evans had never had to cancel a flight because of excessive heat — until now. (Mellen, 7/10)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Summer Covid Surge In North Bay Attributed To Low Vaccine Rates, New Contagious Variant 
The North Bay is experiencing a summer surge in COVID-19 infections, in part driven by highly contagious FLiRT subvariant and low vaccination rates, local health experts on Wednesday said. (Espinoza, 7/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: California COVID Cases Are Rising. Here’s When To Get Another Vaccine
“This is a situation where one size does not fit all,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, a clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. (Ho, 7/11)

CIDRAP: GAO Report Critical Of FEMA's Handling Of Pandemic
A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has yet to identify lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. The report examined the status of obligations and expenditures related to COVID-19 and how FEMA estimated spending from January 2020 to March 2024. For fiscal years 2020 through 2024, Congress passed both annual and supplemental appropriations for the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) totaling $97 billion, the GAO said. (Soucheray, 7/10)

CIDRAP: Salmonella Outbreak Tied To Raw Milk Products From Often-Implicated Firm May Have Sickened 165
A four-state Salmonella outbreak linked to raw (unpasteurized) milk products has infected at least 165 people—many of them children—from fall 2023 to June 2024, Food Safety News (FSN) reported today based on data it obtained from the California Division of Communicable Disease Control (CDCDC) and the California Department of Health. The median age of patients is 7 years. (Van Beusekom, 7/10)

AP: Dozens Were Sickened With Salmonella After Drinking Raw Milk From A California Farm
Dozens of salmonella illnesses have been linked to raw milk from a California farm, a far wider outbreak than previously known, according to newly released state records. As of February, at least 165 people were sickened with salmonella infections tied to products from Raw Farm, of Fresno, California, according to the records. It is the largest reported salmonella outbreak linked to raw milk in the U.S. in the past decade, according to health officials. (Aleccia, 7/10)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: North Bay Public Health Experts Offer Guidance For Avoiding Respiratory Virus Infection This Summer 
As the North Bay experiences a summer surge in COVID-19 infections, in part driven by highly contagious FLiRT subvariant and low vaccination rates, local health experts with Sonoma County Public Health Division are offering ways to avoid infection. (7/10)

KVPR: A New Human Case Of West Nile Virus Identified In Fresno County
The number of human cases of West Nile Virus this year has now risen to three, according to the Fresno County Department of Public Health. The cases were identified through routine testing of blood donors. Infections are expected to increase as mosquito season continues this summer. (Quintanilla, 7/10)

Los Angeles Times: FTC Preparing Suit Against Drug Middlemen Over Insulin Rebates
The Federal Trade Commission is preparing a lawsuit against the three largest drug intermediaries over their use of rebates for insulin and other drugs, according to a person familiar with the probe. The agency has been investigating whether the rebate practices of insulin manufacturers and three pharmacy benefit managers — units of CVS Health Corp., Cigna Group and UnitedHealth Group Inc. — violate federal law, said the person, who asked not to be named discussing an ongoing probe. (Nylen and Tozzi, 7/10)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Pharmaceutical Giant Novartis Shutting Down A San Diego Research Site 
Pharmaceutical giant Novartis is shutting down a San Diego research facility as part of a broader restructuring of the company’s drug development segment. (Rocha, 7/10)

Bloomberg: Abbott Accused At Trial Of Hiding Fatal Risk Of Infant Formula
Abbott Laboratories hid the risks of its premature-infant formula causing a potentially fatal bowel disease from parents even though company officials acknowledged the peril in internal documents, a lawyer told a Missouri jury. The company was accused of putting profits over safety by an attorney for the mother of a premature baby girl who developed necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, and suffered brain damage after being fed Abbott’s Similac Special Care 24, a cow’s milk-based formula. (Feeley, 7/10)

Fox News: What Are Tanning Pills? Dermatologists Warn That Bronzing Your Skin Orally Is 'Not Safe'
Some people are trading UV rays for tanning pills, as numerous social media influencers have raved about how these supplements have given their skin a tan glow. But are they safe? These pills contain a variety of ingredients – including L-tyrosine, beta-carotene and astaxanthin – that could potentially have a color-changing effect on the skin. Doctors are warning that this alternative means of bronzing the skin can come with risks. (Stabile, 7/10)

Los Angeles Times: In California, Opioid Settlement Money Helps Fund Lifesaving Drugs And Police Projects
Sonja Verdugo lost her husband to an opioid overdose last year. She regularly delivers medical supplies to people using drugs who are living — and dying — on the streets of Los Angeles. And she advocates at Los Angeles City Hall for policies to address addiction and homelessness. (Pattani and Thompson, 7/11)

Military.com: Navy Had Record High Suicides So Far This Year Amid Reports Of High Stress, Quality-Of-Life Issues 
The Navy reported a record number of suicides in the first quarter of 2024, again drawing attention to the myriad issues revealed about the quality of life for sailors and the service's ability to prevent such deaths. According to recently released Pentagon data on suicide across all the services, the Navy reported 24 suicides among its sailors for the first three months of 2024. That is the highest-ever quarterly figure for the service going back to 2018, when data first started being released. (Toropin, 7/10)

Military.com: Disabled Veterans To Congress: Move Out On Stalled Bill To Allow Payment Of Both Retirement And Disability Benefits
Veterans with combat-related injuries rallied near the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to finally act on a long-stalled proposal to allow all veterans full access to military retirement pay and Department of Veterans Affairs disability benefits. Despite wide bipartisan backing, the Major Richard Star Act has languished for years, increasingly frustrating the veterans who are losing thousands of dollars in benefits that could help them support themselves and their families. (Kheel, 7/10)

Military Times: Bill Would Expand Military Death Benefits For Families Of ROTC Cadets
Parents of young officers in training and incoming recruits who died in connection with military activities want Congress to approve death benefits that others in the armed forces already receive. “It’s just been an absolute nightmare. There’s no aspect of our lives that are the same,” said Jessica Swan. Swan’s daughter, Mackenzie Wilson, 19, a student at Oregon State University and an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet, died in a vehicle accident in June 2022, while at an Air Force base in Idaho for a development program. (Lehrfeld, 7/10)

NBC News: Senate Republicans Block Democratic Bill Codifying Roe V. Wade Abortion Protections
Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked legislation led by Democrats to revive the protections of Roe v. Wade in the wake of the Supreme Court eliminating the nationwide right to abortion. The vote was 49-44, falling short of the super-majority needed to defeat a filibuster due to broad opposition from Republicans, who dismissed it as a political stunt. (Kapur and Thorp V, 7/10)

Axios: Biden Plan Requires Hospitals To Improve Maternal Care
The Biden administration on Wednesday rolled out its latest election-year initiative on women's health, proposing standards that would require the hospital industry to invest billions in maternity care improvements to remain in Medicare. Why it matters: Maternal health has proven to be a winning issue for Democrats as restrictive abortion laws and insufficient care draw attention to poor access and outcomes. (Goldman, 7/11)

Los Angeles Times: He Lost His Lungs And Had To Fight For Workers' Comp 
By the time that Dennys Rene Rivas Williams had fallen so ill that he needed new lungs, physicians at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center expressed little doubt about what was to blame for his sickness. (Reyes and Hernandez, 7/11)

Los Angeles Times: Bye Bye Botox! L.A. Anti-Aging Medspas Go Natural Amid Injectables Backlash
When Ali Weiss, 30, shares a selfie on Instagram, she often adds a disclaimer: This is a face that hasn’t had any work done. “The most punk thing you can do in 2024 is not f— with your face,” the New York City-based on-air host and podcaster writes via email. Surrounded by peers who got fillers early and often, she believes her choice puts her in “the minority,” especially for those working in front of the camera. “The fact that people seem to be more shocked by a-30-year old who hasn’t gotten work done than a 30-year-old whose entire face is frozen is bonkers,” she says. (Abascal, 7/11)

NBC News: Scientists Say They Have Identified A Root Cause Of Lupus
Researchers at Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital say they’ve discovered a root cause of lupus, a disease that affects hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. Scientists have long suspected that a person’s genetics or hormones may predispose them to lupus, and that the disease may be triggered by environmental factors like a previous viral infection or exposure to certain chemicals. Now, a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature outlines a clear pathway for how the disease likely develops, pointing to abnormalities in the immune systems of people with lupus. (Bendix, 7/10)