American Pediatricians Assert Unregulated and Unnecessary Nature of So-Called Toddler Milks
Powdered drink mixes that are widely promoted as “toddler milks” for older babies and children up to age 3 are unregulated, unnecessary and “nutritionally incomplete,” the American Academy of Pediatrics warned Friday. The drinks, which are touted to parents on TikTok, in television ads and on other sites, often contain added sugar and salt. The manufacturers make unproven claims that the drinks boost kids’ brains or immune systems, said Dr. George Fuchs, a member of the AAP’s nutrition committee, which released the new report. (Aleccia, 10/20)
Child Poverty Rate in California Experienced Over a 100% Increase in the Past Year: Poverty has increased dramatically in California and the nation, a surge that new studies attribute to the expiration of pandemic-era federal relief programs such as the expanded Child Tax Credit. Read more from The Sacramento Bee.
NPR: Increasing Myopia Rates in Children - Insufficient Outdoor Time and Excessive Screen Exposure Blamed
The World Health Organization warns that by 2030, 40% of the world's population will be nearsighted. In the U.S. alone, myopia rates have soared over the past 50 years, from 25% in 1971 to nearly 42% in 2017. Many of these myopia cases are in children—who are going nearsighted at increasingly younger ages. In China, where they specifically track early onset myopia, over 80% of teens and young adults are now nearsighted. (Zomorodi, Monteleone, Meshkinpour, and Faulkner White, 10/17)
Understanding How Social Factors Influence the Health of Children
Children who grow up in different environments tend to have distinct physical health, mental health and cognitive outcomes, according to a new study in JAMA Pediatrics. The study offers a comprehensive view of how dozens of social determinants of health interact with one another and affect a child's development — and also could serve as a guide for policymakers to better target policies to address glaring health disparities. (Owens, 10/17)
WMFE: AdventHealth Inaugurates the First Lifespan Down Syndrome Clinic in the Southeast, Located in Orlando
Adults with Down syndrome in the Southeast now have a one-stop shop for specialty treatments in Orlando. AdventHealth is expanding its services for children and adults by opening the Stella Tremonti Down Syndrome Clinic (SMILE, for short). The clinic is named after the 2-year-old daughter of one of the founding donors — the lead guitarist of the band Creed, Mark Tremonti. (Pedersen, 10/19)
The Washington Post: Post-Weaning Depression Can Pose a Significant Concern for New Mothers
While postpartum depression is relatively well studied, with the Food and Drug Administration recently approving a new drug for its treatment, a similar condition that affects new mothers — known as postweaning depression — has almost no research dedicated to it. Postweaning depression occurs during or after the cessation of breastfeeding and is thought to result from a subsequent drop in hormone levels. Symptoms can include anxiety, hopelessness, irritability and insomnia. It is unclear how many women may have or be at risk of postweaning depression because research is limited. (Kim, 10/19)
Los Angeles Times: Excessive Use of Restraints on Psychiatric Patients at this Los Angeles Hospital
L.A. General's locked psychiatric unit has restrained patients at a higher rate than in any other in California, a Times analysis has found. (Poston and Reyes, 10/19)
Los Angeles Times: The Surprisingly Low Alarm Response to High Psychiatric Patient Restraint Rates at L.A. General
Los Angeles General Medical Center restrains inpatients in its psychiatric unit at a rate higher than any other hospital in California — and more than 50 times the national average for inpatient psychiatric facilities, a Times analysis of federal data from 2018 to 2021 found. So why haven’t regulators raised alarms over these sky-high restraint rates? (Poston and Reyes, 10/19)
Los Angeles Times: A Comprehensive Examination by The Times on the Excessive Application of Restraints at L.A. General Medical Center
Hospitals are forbidden under federal law from restraining psychiatric patients except to prevent them from harming themselves or others. Restraints can be used only when other steps have failed and are widely discouraged by psychiatric professionals, who see them as a measure of last resort that frays trust and can traumatize patients. At Los Angeles General Medical Center — a public hospital formerly known as L.A. County-USC Medical Center that serves some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the nation’s largest county — the locked psychiatric unit has restrained patients at a higher rate than in any other in California, a Times analysis has found. (Poston and Reyes, 10/19)
NPR: Colleges Wrestle with Their Responsibility as Teen Fentanyl Fatalities Increase
Test strips and naloxone are becoming more and more common on college campuses, and at least one health department has recommended they be added to school packing lists. For students who didn't bring their own, many campuses are handing them out at welcome fairs, orientation events or campus health centers. ... "If you are in the position where you have had to give someone naloxone, they've almost died." "Naloxone is what I call an anti-funeral drug," explains Nabarun Dasgupta, a research scientist at UNC-Chapel Hill's school of public health. ( Nadworny and Schlemmer, 10/18)
Capital & Main: Kaiser's Enormous Settlement in Mental Health Care Sends a Powerful Message to Providers Neglecting Patient Needs
Kaiser Permanente’s $200 million settlement with the State of California for its repeated failures to provide patients with adequate and timely mental health care was a long while coming. The deficiencies themselves? Kaiser’s own employees say they’ve been hiding in plain sight. (Kreidler, 10/13)
Stat: NIH Confirmation Hearing Reveals Politicization of Scientific Research
Monica Bertagnolli, President Biden’s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health, spent her confirmation hearing Wednesday stuck in the middle of Republicans’ and Democrats’ bickering over her agency’s role in high drug costs, ultimately refusing to commit to either party’s approach. (Owermohle, 10/18)
Nature: NIH Director Confirmation Hearing Spotlights the Politicization of Science in the Post-COVID Pandemic Era
Monica Bertagnolli, US President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH), hinted today during a long-awaited Senate committee hearing what her priorities will be for the biomedical agency if she is confirmed. At the top of the list is improving the diversity of clinical-trial participants, enhancing collaboration among the NIH’s 27 institutes and centers and restoring public trust in scientists and the agency. (10/19)
AP: Concerns Arise Over the Creation of New 'Pharmacy Deserts' due to Rite Aid's Bankruptcy Plan
Rite Aid’s plan to close more stores as part of its bankruptcy process could hurt access to medicine and care, particularly in some majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods and in rural areas, experts say. ... When drugstore chains shutter stores, they often target locations in lower-income, Black and Latino neighborhoods with people covered through government-funded insurance programs like Medicaid, said Dima Qato, a University of Southern California associate professor who studies pharmacy access. (Murphy, 10/17)
CNN: The Reasons Behind the Closure of Thousands of CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid Stores
Drugstore chains for decades saturated US cities, suburbs and small towns with new stores. Now, they are closing thousands of stores, leaving gaps in communities for medicines and essentials. Researchers find pharmacy closures lead to health risks such as older adults failing to take medication. (Meyersohn, 10/17)
The Wall Street Journal: This Year's Substantial Surge in Health Inflation Illustrated through Charts
Inflation came for your healthcare this year. Next year is looking to be just as bad. The cost of employer health insurance rose this year at the fastest clip since 2011, according to an annual survey from KFF, a healthcare research nonprofit. The 7% jump in the cost of a family plan brought the average tab to nearly $24,000—more than the price for some small cars. Workers’ average payment of $6,575 for those plans was nearly $500 more than last year. (Mathews and Ulick, 10/18)
Bloomberg: Survey Reveals Annual Cost of US Health Insurance Premiums Has Reached $24,000
Health insurance premiums jumped this year amid a post-pandemic spike in costs of care, adding to the burden on employers and workers as inflation erodes broader buying power. The average employer-sponsored health insurance premium for US families rose 7% to almost $24,000 this year, according to an annual KFF survey of more than 2,000 US companies, compared with a 1% increase last year. Premiums for individual employer coverage rose at the same rate. (LaPara, 10/18)
Modern Healthcare: Rollout of Medi-Cal Expansion for Undocumented Immigrants Set for January 2024
Starting in January, California will accept Medicaid enrollments from all low-income undocumented immigrants who qualify for benefits, and 700,000 people are projected to sign up. California gradually has been opening Medi-Cal, as Medicaid is known in the state, to undocumented immigrants since 2016, starting with low-income children and adults younger than 26 or older than 49, and is poised to lift age restrictions next year. The full expansion will cost an estimated $2.1 billion a year. (Hartnett, 10/17)
Becker's Hospital Review: Readying Healthcare Systems for California's Upcoming Minimum Wage Adjustment
Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health said the legislation would affect about 8% of its employees. "Adventist Health has been actively working to develop a systemwide wage grade structure that responds to market changes for all of our associates," the 35-hospital system said in a statement provided to Becker's. "As leaders in California's rural health care, we hope that this legislation will encourage and inspire healthcare associates to look to our organization to join, improving staffing and access to care in these critical areas of the state." (Gooch and Thomas, 10/16)
Modern Healthcare: Recent Data Reveals Healthcare Professionals Exiting the Industry
More than 145,000 healthcare practitioners left the industry from 2021 through 2022, threatening access and quality, according to a report published Monday. Physicians accounted for roughly half of the healthcare workers who retired or changed professions over the two-year span, according to an analysis of all-payer claims data from Definitive Healthcare, a healthcare commercial intelligence company. More than 71,000 physicians left the workforce from 2021 to 2022. (Kacik, 10/16)
Stat: Is the United States Truly Facing a Nursing Shortage?
Hospitals are frustrated with a nationwide nursing shortage that’s only gotten worse since the pandemic. In 2022, the American Hospital Association quoted an estimate that half a million nurses would leave the field by the end of that year, bringing the total shortage to 1.1 million. At the same time, National Nurses United insists there isn’t a nurse shortage at all. There are plenty enough nurses for the country, they say — merely a shortage of nurses who want to work under current conditions. (Trang, 10/16)
KFF Health News: The Significance of One-Third of Schools Lacking a Nurse
Jodi Bobbitt, the school nurse at William Ramsay Elementary in Alexandria, Virginia, is always ready to see children with a wide range of injuries and illnesses. One day during the first week of school, the parade started before the first bell when a little girl walked in with red, irritated eyes. Then it got busy. A student fell from the monkey bars and another tripped while playing tag. Two kids hit each other’s heads with lunchboxes and needed ice packs. A young boy had a stomachache. Bobbitt also saw her regular kiddos: one who has special needs and uses a wheelchair and another who has diabetes and gets his blood sugar checked daily before lunch. (DeGuzman, 10/16)
Vox: The Impact of the Doctors' Mental Health Crisis on Patients
Twice a week, Boston-area psychiatrist Elissa Ely volunteers at a US anonymous help line for physicians in crisis. The calls she takes are often from people in deep distress — physicians having panic attacks, abusing substances or alcohol, facing divorce or alienation from family and friends. A typical call, she said, could be from “an ER doctor who vomits before she goes in for her shifts; despair and depression; suicidality.” But despite her callers’ high levels of mental distress, they’re often very resistant to her suggestions that they seek mental health care, said Ely. When she suggests doctors consider even just a “tincture” of an antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication, or find a therapist, she inevitably gets the same response, a long pause followed by a question: “Is this call really anonymous?” (Landman, 10/18)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Study Finds Transcendental Meditation Can Alleviate Nurse Burnout
According to a recent study published in the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, transcendental meditation is/ effective at reducing burnout and enhancing the overall well-being of nurses. The study is a response to increasing levels of burnout within the heath care industry, largely exacerbated by the pandemic. According to another recent study, by market research and consulting company PRC, 15.6% of U.S. nurses surveyed reported feeling burnout. (Boyce, 10/17)
KFF Health News: Emergency Room Delays Can Pose Life-Threatening Risks for Individuals with Sickle Cell Disease
Heather Avant always dresses up when she goes to the emergency room. “I’ve been conditioned to act and behave in a very specific way,” said Avant. “I try to do my hair. I make sure I shower, have nice clothes. Sometimes I put on my University of Michigan shirt.” It’s a strategy to combat discrimination the 42-year-old photographer in Mesquite, Texas, has developed over a lifetime of managing her sickle cell disease, a rare blood disorder that affects an estimated 100,000 Americans. The hereditary condition can affect a person of any race or ethnicity, but Black patients, like Avant, make up the majority of those afflicted in the U.S. (Hutchinson, 10/17)