The New York Times: F.T.C. Slams Middlemen For High Drug Prices
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday sharply criticized pharmacy benefit managers, saying in a scathing 71-page report that “these powerful middlemen may be profiting by inflating drug costs and squeezing Main Street pharmacies. ”The regulator’s study signals a significant ramping up of its scrutiny of benefit managers under the agency’s chair, Lina Khan. It represents a remarkable turnabout for an agency that has long taken a hands-off approach to policing these companies. (Abelson and Robbins, 7/9)

The Wall Street Journal: How Drug Middlemen Keep Beating The System 
Drug middlemen, known as pharmacy-benefit managers, have accomplished something rare in Washington: Their business practices have led to a bipartisan consensus of sorts around the need for more regulation. Yet successfully cracking down on the tactics that drive health costs higher won’t be easy. That is because PBMs operate in a highly complex and opaque world where key information is kept from the public. (Wainer, 7/10)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Biotech News: Eli Lilly Inks Deal That Could Lead To $1B Acquisition Of This Local Company 
Radionetics, a San Diego company working on a novel cancer treatment, just signed a big partnership with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. (Rocha, 7/8)

Bloomberg: Generic Viagra, Cialis, Lipitor Safety In Question After FDA Finds False Data
Generic versions of erectile dysfunction drugs Viagra and Cialis, among other medications, were allowed on the US market using potentially problematic data that call into question their safety and efficacy, a Bloomberg analysis found. The US Food and Drug Administration alerted brand-name and generic companies June 18 about a research company in India that had falsified the data used in key studies to gain approval of their medications. Data from the researcher, Synapse Labs Pvt. Ltd., may have been used in hundreds of drugs, which remain available for sale on pharmacy shelves and in Americans’ medicine cabinets. (Edney, 7/9)

CIDRAP: Meningococcal Vaccines Shown To Be Moderately Effective Against Gonorrhea
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 12 studies suggests meningococcal vaccines show moderate effectiveness against gonorrhea infection, researchers reported yesterday in the Journal of Infection. (Dall, 7/9)

Los Angeles Times: In The Fentanyl Crisis, Infants And Toddlers Become Unsuspecting Victims
Ezekiel Xavier Rivera idolized his father. The 2-year-old loved to follow Raul Rivera around the house and ride in the car with him, said Soluna Lora, Ezekiel’s mother. On June 3, 2023, Lora left the little boy with his father in Bakersfield while she took his older brother for a haircut. She and Rivera, who have three children together, are separated. When she returned to drop Ermias off too, Lora said, she spotted a bulge in Rivera’s sock. It was a roll of cash and what she said she later learned was a baggie of drugs. (Gomez, 7/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: Fentanyl Almost Killed Him. Now Sober, He Walked A ‘Miracle’ 500 Miles
As Ben Campofreda set out on a more than 500-mile trek through historic Spanish villages, along rugged cliff sides and past unspoiled beaches, he felt a sense of freedom he hadn’t known for years. ... Just two years ago, Campofreda, 42, was living on the streets of San Francisco in the throes of a fentanyl addiction, unable to walk. His body had withered to an alarming 100 pounds and a spinal infection confined him to a wheelchair. (Angst, 7/9)

Axios: Study: Acupuncture Can Ease Methadone Treatment
Eight weeks of acupuncture was found to reduce the dose of methadone needed to control opioid cravings, which could make patients likelier to stick with their treatment. Why it matters: Methadone is one of the most effective medications for curbing opioid addiction, but uncomfortable side effects can cause people to stop treatment. (Goldman, 7/10)

The Mercury News: Report: California's Extreme Heat Caused Over $7.7B In Hidden Costs
The insurance department’s report, “Impacts of Extreme Heat to California’s People, Infrastructure, and Economy,” examines the financial impacts of extreme heat across the health, energy, economy, and infrastructure sectors for seven extreme heat events over the past decade. It concluded that there are gaps in traditional insurance coverage for losses due to extreme heat events and recommended the creation of new insurance solutions. (Pender, 7/9)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Older Residents At Santa Rosa Apartments Without Air Conditioning Amid Heat Wave 
In June, the air conditioning broke at Santa Rosa’s Bethlehem Tower, a 14-story low-income senior housing community. Now, over a month later, as temperatures have surpassed 100 degrees in recent days and are expected to be in the 90s again this week, residents are still without relief. (Endicott, 7/9)

KQED: Incarcerated Women Plead For Help After Central Valley Prison Death Amid Extreme Heat
The Madera County coroner’s office is investigating the death of a woman imprisoned at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla over the weekend as temperatures continue to reach into the triple digits. California Coalition for Women Prisoners, an advocacy group for incarcerated women, said the woman suffered from heat-related illness after she had become incoherent and collapsed in a shower while trying to cool off. (Krans, 7/9)

CalMatters: A New California Medical School Is Taking Shape At UC Merced
A hospital closure in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley a year and a half ago underscored something that people in the region have long known: They don’t have enough doctors or access to medical care. Madera County’s lone acute care hospital is expected to reopen later this year. But the issues around medical access that patients in this county and neighboring ones experience will likely continue long after Madera Community Hospital reopens.  (Ibarra, 7/8)

Fierce Healthcare: Blue Shield Of California Adds 4 Programs In Wellvolution Platform
Digital health platform Wellvolution by Blue Shield of California has expanded its offerings to include four new programs. The additions, which launched in mid-May, are Ciba Health, Digbi Health, Wondr Health and an expansion of the DarioHealth platform. Wellvolution announced it would include Dario in September for English and Spanish speakers to reduce and track hypertension. (Tong, 7/9)

Bay Area News Group: Oakland Nursing Home Allegedly Drugged Resident To Stop His Wandering, Death Came Soon
Alando Williams, a fixture for years selling the Street Spirit newspaper outside the Berkeley Bowl supermarket on Oregon Street, was admitted to Oakland nursing home Brookdale Wellness in December 2022. Less than a month later, he was dead, aged 64. Now his daughter is suing the facility on Fruitvale Avenue and its owner, claiming the drugs used to keep Williams from wandering contributed to his death. (Baron, 7/9)

Fierce Healthcare: Physician Burnout Drops Below 50% For First Time Since 2020, AMA Poll Finds
The portion of physicians surveyed by the American Medical Association (AMA) who report at least one symptom of burnout has dropped below 50%, a first since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The group’s annual survey shows consistent declines in doctor burnout in the wake of an all-time high of 62.8% in 2021. Reported burnout dropped to 53% in 2022 and, as of the most recent 2023 survey, now sits at 48.2%. (Muoio, 7/9)

Los Angeles Times: LGBTQ Healthcare Workers Fight To Provide Gender-Affirming Care
Nico Olalia had just finished her initial nurse training in the Philippines when she realized her aspirations were growing bigger than her home archipelago. “There are a lot of trans Filipinos, but they’re always known in the beauty industry, and they’re very seldom found in the professional side,” Olalia said. So she moved back to the United States, where she was born, for better career prospects. Today, she is a clinical nurse at Cedars-Sinai, one of the largest hospitals in Southern California, where she assists new hires and cares for patients in the neurology division. (Deng, 7/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID Hospital Visits Are Rising In California. Are Symptoms Changing?
California’s COVID-19 emergency room visits and test positivity rate are rising sharply as the summer coronavirus wave gains momentum with some people reporting more severe symptoms than in previous encounters with the illness. However, there are signs of hope. Current figures remain far lower than in previous years, and health officials have now recommended an updated fall vaccine to protect against the latest coronavirus variants during the anticipated winter surge. (Vaziri, 7/9)

Los Angeles Times: Orange County Mosquito Samples Are West Nile-Positive
Another county in Southern California has confirmed finding mosquitoes that carry the West Nile virus. (Deng, 7/10)

Axios: Health Officials Pitch Anonymous Bird Flu Testing
Public health officials seeking a better view of how bird flu is spreading in cows have a new pitch for resistant dairy farmers: anonymized testing. Many farmers are refusing to test their herds, fearing the economic consequences, while concern builds that the relatively benign virus could morph into a much bigger risk to humans. (Reed, 7/10)

Stat: Debate: Is Bird Flu Virus In Cows Adapted To Better Infect Humans?
A study published Monday provides new evidence that the H5N1 virus currently causing an outbreak of bird flu in U.S. dairy cattle may be adapted to better infecting humans than other circulating strains of the virus, a result that is already courting controversy among the world’s leading flu researchers. (Molteni, 7/8)

ScienceNews: Bird Flu Viruses May Infect Mammary Glands More Commonly Than Thought
The new study finds that the H5N1 virus currently circulating in U.S. cows also charts a path to mammary glands, suggesting that the tissue unique to mammals is a more common target for the virus than originally thought. (de Jesus, 7/8)

LAist: Mental Health 'Without Shame': How Filipino American Teens Got A Program Made Just For Them
Growing up in Santa Clarita, Ellie Magsaysay was one of the few Asian American kids in her neighborhood, and certainly one of the few Filipino Americans. Some people seemed confused by her background, she says, and assumed she wasn’t Asian. It’s affected her sense of identity and, at times, her self-esteem. Was being Filipina or having darker skin, she wondered, why boys didn’t seem interested? “I remember just vividly experiencing not being the ideal type as an Asian and not being an ideal type as a white person or anything else,” Magsaysay said. “It’s like where do you really fit in?” (Huang, 7/10)

The Atlantic: Fighting To Breathe In Los Angeles County
Jo Franco still remembers the moment she realized that her nose worked. Growing up in Wilmington, a Los Angeles neighborhood dotted with oil refineries and next to one of the largest port complexes in the country, she’d always assumed she had a fever, or allergies: “I could never breathe through my nose at all,” she told me. But when she moved away from the city for college, her breathing suddenly got easier. “It was this wonderful surprise,” she said. “I could smell lemons.” (Unzueta, 7/9)

San Diego Union-Tribune: A Safe Parking Lot For Homeless People By The Airport? Coastal Commission Staffers Are OK With That.
Members of a powerful state agency are on board with a plan to create nearly 200 spots for homeless people near the San Diego airport as long as local officials keep pollution from running into the North Bay. (Nelson, 7/9)

Becker's Hospital Review: CMS Launches Dementia Care With Alternative Medicare Payments
CMS has launched a dementia care program that will be piloted by 400 organizations. The Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience Model focuses on comprehensive, coordinated care that is designed to improve the lives of people with dementia, reduce strain on their unpaid caregivers and enable people with dementia to remain in their homes, according to the agency's website. It is a voluntary, nationwide model that began July 1 and will run for eight years. (Taylor, 7/9)

McKnight's Senior Living: Report: Most Federally Funded Clinical Trials For Dementia Have Racially Excluding Criteria  
A team of investigators looked at possible dementia clinical trial requirements that could exclude people based on race and ethnicity. Overall, 82% of the trials they examined had criteria that weren’t well-defined and could reduce diversity, according to a July 1 report in Scientific Reports. The authors said that the analysis was the first overview of eligibility criteria currently used in trials funded by the US federal government. (Fischer, 7/10)

VCU Health: 13 Percent Of Patients With Dementia May Instead Have Cognitive Decline From Cirrhosis 
About 13% of individuals diagnosed with dementia may suffer instead from reversible cognitive decline caused by advanced liver disease, according to researchers from the Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine and the Richmond VA Medical Center. Published recently in the American Journal of Medicine, the new analysis of nonveteran patients corroborates and extends the research group’s earlier work showing that about 10% of U.S. veterans diagnosed with dementia may suffer instead from cirrhosis. Those findings appeared in the journal JAMA Network Open in January. (Hostetler, 7/9)

CBS News: Credit Score Decline Can Be An Early Warning For Dementia, Study Finds 
Credit scores — used to gauge a person's ability to fulfill their financial commitments — can also be an early warning sign of cognitive decline, according to research from the New York Federal Reserve and Georgetown University. A person's credit score, on average, starts to weaken in the five years ahead of a dementia diagnosis, while mortgage delinquencies start increasing three years prior, researchers found in an analysis of a nationally representative sample of credit reports and Medicare data on more than 2.4 million people spanning 2000-2017. (Gibson, 7/10)

The Washington Post: What Cognitive Tests Measure And Could Tell Us About Biden And Trump
Doubts about the mental fitness of President Biden and Donald Trump to hold the White House in their 80s have highlighted tests that could reveal whether an older adult is experiencing cognitive decline. Biden has not taken a cognitive test during his presidency and dismissed calls to take one arguing during his recent ABC News interview that leading the country amounts to a daily test. Trump has bragged about passing a short screening test in 2018, and his personal physician said last year that his cognitive exams were “exceptional” but did not explain what those exams entailed and when they were conducted. (Ortega and Nirappil, 7/9)

Military.com: Restrictions On Transgender Health Care Slipped Into Senate's Must-Pass Defense Bill 
The military would not be able to pay for surgeries for transgender troops under the Senate's version of the must-pass annual defense policy bill, legislative text released Monday evening revealed. Transgender military kids could also lose access to hormone therapy, puberty blockers and other medication if the treatment "could result in sterilization" under another provision that was also added to the bill during the Senate Armed Services Committee's closed-door consideration of the measure last month. (Kheel, 7/9)

Military.com: VA Dropping Mandatory Overtime For Most Claims Processors As Work Proceeds At Faster Clip
The Department of Veterans Affairs has ended a seven-year-old policy that required claims processors to work mandatory overtime, a move enabled by increased hiring and efficiency, according to the VA's top benefits executive. Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs announced Tuesday that most staff will no longer be required to work up to four hours extra each week, although they still may volunteer to work up to 20 hours of overtime each week. (Kime, 7/9)

Modern Healthcare: How Virtual Reality Helps VA Patients In Clinical, Group Therapy 
Dr. Shereef Elnahal has gone all in on virtual and augmented reality since joining the Veterans Health Administration. ... In his two years running the nation's largest integrated health system, Elnahal has championed the use of immersive technology. The system has deployed more than 3,500 virtual and augmented reality headsets at more than 170 medical centers, a 250% increase from around 1,000 headsets deployed in 2023. (Perna, 7/9)

Military Times: Russian Hackers Infiltrate Veterans Affairs Via Microsoft Account
A Microsoft-based Veterans Affairs account was accessed in January by Russian hackers, but no personal information or other data was compromised, an agency official confirmed. The Russian state-sponsored hacker infiltrated a Microsoft platform called Microsoft Azure Government, which provides storage, databases and other services to the VA and other government agencies. (Perez, 7/9)

The Washington Post: Navy Sailor Sought Access To Biden’s Medical Records, Military Says 
A U.S. sailor has been disciplined by the Navy for attempting unsuccessfully to access President Biden’s medical records without authorization, officials disclosed Tuesday amid ongoing scrutiny of the president’s health and fitness for office. The incident occurred in late February, well before Biden’s halting performance during last month’s presidential debate set off a panic among Democrats, and it was not immediately clear whether the actions were politically motivated. (Lamothe, 7/9)