NYU, Columbia And Other Top Med Schools Face Discrimination Complaints By White, Asian Teens

 Six medical schools in New York state have been hit with civil rights complaints by white and asian teens who say the schools have made it easier for blacks and other races to join their introductory courses.

According to the Daily Mail, Columbia, NYU and other top institutions now face probes by the federal Department of Education, after six letters of complaint were filed with the DoE's civil rights office in New York.

The complaints, filed by the nonprofit Equal Protection Project (EPP), say the state's Science and Technology Entry Program (NY-STEP) makes it easier for some 7-12th graders to get a spot than others.

Under the scheme, students who are black, Latino, Alaskan native or American Indian can seek a place. Others — including whites and Asians — have to also show they're 'economically disadvantaged' to apply.

According to EPP founder William Jacobson, this "additional barrier to eligibility" is illegal.

"Erecting additional barriers for some races and ethnic groups in and of itself is unlawful discrimination," he told the Mail.

"Imagine if the roles were reversed, and these programs explicitly favored Asians and whites — there would be universal outrage and these medical schools would never accept such funding."

According to the report, the discriminatory schemes are designed to give "highly motivated" secondary school students access to the state's top medical schools, where they can learn key skills and obtain a mentor - with the goal to "increase the number of historically underrepresented and economically disadvantaged students" in the medical field, according to Columbia's website.

Jacobson says that the policy unfairly assumes that all asian and white kids have it easy.

"The eligibility guidelines engage in the types of crude stereotypes that presume students of certain racial and ethnic groups are disadvantaged and in need of preference," he said.

Albany Medical College's website features details of the NY-STEP scheme

According to EPP, the schools should face fines or lose federal funding.

The civil rights office is a 'neutral fact-finder' that aims to investigate complaints and propose resolutions, according to its website.

The letters refer to the US Supreme Court's decision in June to strike down affirmative action in college admissions.

The justices declared that race cannot be a factor in the process, forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.

EPP says it is against racial discrimination in college admissions.

Most of its cases and complaints involve discrimination against whites. -Daily Mail

Of note, black students made up one-tenth of those enrolled int he 2022-2023 year according to the report, while Latinos made up 12%.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/nyu-columbia-and-other-top-med-schools-face-discrimination-complaints-white-asian-teens

Recent Mask Mandates Lifted Amid Pushback

by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa, California, on Aug. 24 reversed a recent policy that would require masks in its hospital after it reinstated the mandate days before. A Hollywood studio also said it would do away with its mandate.

Officials for the hospital system told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat that the mask policy applies only to staff, not patients. It said that it is “strongly encouraging masks for patients, members, and visitors in the hospital and medical offices in the Santa Rosa Service Area in response to this latest increase in COVID-19 cases.”

“Our intent was to communicate that as of Tuesday, we have expanded the masking requirement for our employees and physicians to medical offices and clinic settings; we apologize for any confusion among Press Democrat readers,” Kaiser said in its latest statement.

The statement also said that "visitors, patients, and members are strongly encouraged to also wear masks in these settings,” according to the paper. “We have not changed our masking requirements in the hospital, which have been in effect since April: employees and physicians are required to wear masks and we ask visitors to wear masks when in the hospital.”

It doesn't appear that Kaiser Permanente, which operates hospitals across the United States and California, would also attempt to reinstate mask mandates at other locations.

Days before its latest statement, the hospital system said it would be mandating masks for patients, doctors, patients, visitors, and staff members at its hospital and medical offices.

“Kaiser Permanente Northern California is committed to protecting the safety of our members, patients, employees, physicians, and visitors, which includes taking appropriate steps to prevent the spread of transmissible infectious diseases in our facilities," it told local media.

Some Northern California locals weren't happy with the announcement that mask mandates would return, according to local outlets.

"They told us a bunch of [expletive]," Richard Staudinger, a North Sacramento resident, told CBS. "I think most of the people don't believe it now."

Another, Craig Roberts, said, "I think it's more political than anything, just think they're trying to do what they did in 2020."

But some said they don't mind the mandates. "I don't have a problem if they reinstate the masks," Kiona Cooper, of Northern California, said.

Other Mandates

Meanwhile, the Lionsgate film studio in Santa Monica also said it would not be implementing a mask mandate, days after the media company said it would force workers to put on masks again on certain floors. It claimed that it never changed its mask policy.

“The LA County Department of Public Health notified us yesterday that we could lift the mask requirements, effective immediately, and we have," the firm told news outlets over the weekend.

The statement also said: "Lionsgate never changed its own mask policy. The LA County Department of Health ordered us to institute the temporary masking requirement after we reported a cluster of COVID cases to them and we have an obligation to comply with their orders."

Last week, a Lionsgate memo stated that employees on only certain floors have to wear surgical masks, KN95 masks, or N95 masks "except when alone in an office with the door closed, actively eating, actively drinking at their desk or workstation, or if they are the only individual present in a large open workspace.”

Earlier in the month, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that COVID-19 hospitalizations rose across the country. Hospitalizations rose by 21.6 percent, to 12,612 new admissions from 10,370, according to the data ending Aug. 12.

Despite the increase, it’s among the lowest levels of hospitalization recorded since the start of the pandemic in early 2020.

“An upswing is not a surge; it’s not even a wave,” Dr. Shira Doron, the chief infection control officer for Tufts Medicine, told ABC News. “What we’re seeing is a very gradual and small upward trajectory of cases and hospitalizations, without deaths really going along, which is great news.”

At the same time, several hospitals, including some in upstate New York, and Morris Brown College in Atlanta reimplemented mask mandates, prompting concerns about a broader effort to force masks on people, three years after the start of the pandemic in the United States. Media coverage around the small increase in COVID-19 cases has also focused on whether masks should be worn, with mainstream outlets such as CNN interviewing doctors who say people should start wearing them again.

But some politicians and commentators, in response, called on supporters to resist the mandates.

“It’s alarming that the mandates are kicking in again,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said in a recent interview. “It’s like, OK, we noticed masks didn’t work, particularly for children. We always knew they didn’t work for kids.”

It also comes as President Joe Biden on Aug. 25 told reporters in Lake Tahoe that he signed off on a proposal "to present to Congress a request for additional funding for a new vaccine that is necessary, that works."

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/recent-mask-mandates-lifted-amid-pushback

Half Of Transgender Prison Inmates Convicted Of Sex Crimes: Wisconsin Data

 Half of the transgender inmates in the Wisconsin prison system were convicted of at least one count of sexual abuse or assault, according to data provided by the Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project.

Obtained via a public records request to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections in April 2022, the data - provided more than a year later and reported by the Daily Caller, indicates that 81 of the 161 transgender inmates at female prisons had a record of sexual abuse.

Details were not disclosed by the DOC regarding how many transgender inmates applied to a women’s facility and the number of requests granted, according to the documents. The prison system also did not provide how many had transferred with sex crimes on their record or how many were charged while in prison. -Daily Caller

More via the Oversight Project:

The records don't show which other crimes the transgender inmates may have committed, including whether they have multiple sex crime convictions. 

"The transgender issue isn’t just about women in sports, which seems to be the context people are most comfortable talking about the transgender contagion in," according to Mike Howell, director of the Heritage Foundation Oversight Project, in a statement to the Caller. "This data shows a much uglier truth, that sexual crime and transgenderism are linked."

The Caller also notes that in June, the Supreme Court affirmed a previous ruling by a lower court that sided with a transgender inmate - biological male Kesha Williams - who successfully sued Fairfax County jail for discrimination after sticking him in an all-male jail. According to the Fourth Circuit, the jail discriminated against Williams under the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide treatment for "gender dysphoria," and for allowing other inmates to harass him.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/half-transgender-prison-inmates-were-convicted-sex-crimes-wisconsin-data

Obamacare's (Really) High Deductible Option

 Democrats decry Health Savings Accounts (HSA) as a tax haven for the rich that simultaneously provides unaffordable coverage for average Americans. Many Democrats specifically target the HSA requirement to have a minimum deductible – currently set at $1,500 in 2023 – as burdensome on the middle class and poor. They say it is difficult, if not impossible, for low-income families to put away several hundred dollars a month to finance their out-of-pocket costs.

Congressman Doggett, the Ranking Member of the Health Subcommittee on Ways and Means put it clearly, “There are data showing that the majority of U.S. households have less than $3,000 in their checking and savings accounts, but the average deductible for an HSA is about $2,500. So, for many who have an HSA, an emergency can still wipe out families' savings ... Having an account doesn't mean you have much -- or any -- money in it.” His solution? Everyone should get an Obamacare plan or a new government-run health policy.

There’s just one problem – average deductibles on Obamacare’s exchanges are $2,000 more for the typical plan than the HSA average.

Pursuing an agenda to put more people in a program where they pay more (and get less access to doctors and drugs) isn’t compassionate – it’s dogmatic adherence to ideology.

HSAs have been a staple of the health plan market for 20 years, with about 35 million accounts covering 67 million people. The average account holds $3,725, far from being a tax haven for the wealthy, but enough to pay for a typical plan’s deductible. Seventy-eight percent of health savings accountholders have a household income of less than $100,000.

But no matter your income, high deductibles are coming for all Americans. The question is, will Congress help all HSA account owners with smart policies that allow people to use tax-free dollars to pay for their health coverage obligations? Congress could pursue several ideas.

The first option is reforming outdated rules around deductibles. The point of having a deductible is to encourage insured people to be more careful in accessing care. In practice, high deductible health plans may discourage access to predictable, necessary care, like insulin for diabetics, as costs may be front-loaded and unaffordable. Congress should amend 20-year-old rules that set minimum HSA deductibles ($1,500 in 2023) in regulation by separating the HSA from the high deductible health plan requirement. If a plan provides a minimum value (70 percent paid in medical claims, for example), it can escape the minimum deductible requirement. Plans could provide zero-dollar coverage for preventive care, insulin for diabetics, telehealth services, etc.

Another option Congress should pursue is creating new gig worker HSAs by allowing multiple employers (DoorDash, Walmart, etc.) to deposit funds into an HSA, and allow the gig worker to buy an individual policy without triggering reclassification as an employee. This helps the millions of gig workers who may go without coverage because they are ineligible for a full-time employee plan.

Additionally, Congress should provide HSA options for people who qualify for Medicaid, Indian Health Service, or Veterans Affairs benefits, including a government deposit to help with out-of-pocket costs. For low-income people, Congress should allow government subsidies to be deposited into new HOPE accounts if patients engage in value-based care arrangements, similar to the Healthy Indiana Plan that rewards Medicaid enrollees for taking better care of their health.

The health care coverage system and its funding in this country is a hybrid – consisting of a wide range of funding sources – the federal government, state funding, unions, large and small employers, and, ultimately, individuals through premiums or tax dollars. 

Some argue the government (i.e., taxpayers) should be the only source of funding and the only choice. Others want to see options that build on options for the individual, employers, and those that don’t want to be forced into one government model. In other words, building on the ‘choice’ model which has worked to provide coverage for 90 percent of Americans in Medicare and employer coverage.

Now, with tens of millions of Americans benefiting, it’s time for Democrats to decide whether they want to support people where they are with what they have or force them into a program where they will pay more.

Joel White is the President of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage (CAHC). CAHC promotes policies that lower health costs through increased competition, informed consumers, and more choices to help promote access to affordable coverage.

https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2023/08/28/obamacares_really_high_deductible_option_975692.html

Why Is Esperion Therapeutics Stock Trading Higher

 Esperion Therapeutics Inc 

ESPR+14.5%+ Free Alerts

 announced the presentation of results from two CLEAR Outcomes Study Late-Breakers at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2023.

Bempedoic acid is indicated as an adjunct to diet and maximally tolerated statin therapy for heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia or established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease who require additional lowering of LDL-C.

Treatment with bempedoic acid is associated with a risk reduction of 20% in total MACE-4 events (composite of major adverse cardiovascular events including non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, coronary revascularization, and cardiovascular death), 17% in total MACE-3 events (composite of major adverse cardiovascular events including non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke and cardiovascular death), 31% in total myocardial infarctions, and 22% in total coronary revascularizations.

Composite of major adverse cardiovascular events including non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, coronary revascularization, and cardiovascular death.

Of the 13,970 patients included in CLEAR Outcomes, 45.6% had diabetes, 41.5% were pre-diabetic, and 12.9% had normoglycemia. 

In this pre-specified analysis, bempedoic acid demonstrated a benefit in patients with diabetes at baseline, showing a 17% reduction in the risk of MACE-4 and a 20% reduction in the risk of MACE-3. 

In addition, bempedoic acid did not increase rates of new-onset diabetes in patients without diabetes and was generally comparable to placebo (11.1% vs. 11.5%, respectively). 

Finally, bempedoic acid did not increase HbA1c levels at 12 months or the end of the study in patients with pre-diabetes or normoglycemia.

https://www.benzinga.com/general/biotech/23/08/34072793/why-is-esperion-therapeutics-stock-trading-higher-today

Deprescribing efforts failing dementia patients, study finds

 Researchers led by the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, have examined how a dementia diagnosis impacts medication use patterns in older adults.

In a paper, "Changes in the Use of Long-Term Medications Following Incident Dementia Diagnosis," published in JAMA Internal Medicine, a large cohort study revealed several unexpected findings, including increased overall medication use in the year following an incident dementia diagnosis.

Despite the recognized importance of simplifying medication regimens and reducing the risk of adverse drug events in individuals with dementia, the study found that deprescribing guidelines and efforts are not effectively implemented at the expected levels. This suggests a potential gap in clinical practice, where deprescribing guidelines and efforts may not be effectively implemented in the care of patients with dementia.

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias affect millions of individuals in the US, leading to significant challenges in managing medications and treatment decisions. Older adults with dementia often have multiple chronic conditions, complicating their medication regimens. Existing clinical guidelines recommend tailoring treatments based on comorbidities, potential benefits, and patient goals. The impact of a dementia diagnosis on medication use patterns and deprescribing is not understood.

The study analyzed 266,675 adults with incident dementia and 266,675 as a control from a national sample of Medicare Part D beneficiary pharmacy claims from 2010 to 2019. New incident dementia cases were identified using validated diagnosis codes. Patients with dementia were matched with controls based on various demographic and medication-related factors. Medication use patterns were assessed before and after dementia diagnosis, and analysis was conducted to evaluate changes in medication use over time.

Specific prescription trends

Patients with dementia showed an increase in anti-dementia medications, which is expected as these drugs are prescribed explicitly for dementia management.

There was an unexpected increase in central nervous system-active medications following a dementia diagnosis. This contradicts professional guidelines and raises concerns, as these medications can adversely affect cognitive function and are not typically recommended. Many CNS-active medications have been identified as potentially inappropriate due to their association with increased risk of falls, worsening cognitive function, and other adverse drug events.

Some cardiometabolic medications, like antihypertensives and insulins, immediately increased use following diagnosis.

While anticholinergic medication use decreased slightly in the cohort with dementia, it was still being prescribed, even though these drugs are known to have potential adverse cognitive effects.

The authors conclude, "The findings suggest missed opportunities to reduce burdensome polypharmacy by deprescribing long-term medications with high safety risks or limited likelihood of benefit or that may be associated with impaired cognition."

More information: Timothy S. Anderson et al, Changes in the Use of Long-Term Medications Following Incident Dementia Diagnosis, JAMA Internal Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.3575

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-08-deprescribing-efforts-dementia-patients.html