• District of Columbia: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a case regarding a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming medical care for minors. According to the Associated Press, there are 25 states currently banning gender-affirming care for minor patients. The Tennessee law, which was enacted last year, bans hormone therapy and puberty blockers for minor patients. It also imposes civil penalties on physicians who violate the law. Although lower courts blocked the law, a federal appeals court in Cincinnati allowed the Tennessee law and a similar law in Kentucky to take effect. The Biden administration has challenged the Tennessee law, with the Justice Department telling the Supreme Court that its input was "urgently needed" to determine whether bans on gender-affirming care are discriminatory. "These laws, and the conflicting court decisions about their validity, are creating profound uncertainty for transgender adolescents and their families around the nation," said Solicitor General Prelogar. Arguments in the case are expected to be presented to the Supreme Court in the fall. (Sherman, Associated Press, 6/24; Parks/Marimow, Washington Post, 6/24; Fritze, CNN, 6/24; Groppe, USA Today, 6/24)
• Maryland: According to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a small but detectable amount of the bird flu virus survived a standard method to pasteurize milk infected with high concentrations of the virus. For the study, NIH researchers placed samples of the H5N1 virus, which had been isolated from a dead mountain lion in Montana, into unpasteurized cow milk. They then heat treated the milk at 63 degrees Celsius and 72 degrees Celsius for different periods of time. Overall, the researchers found that the 63-degree process resulted in a marked decrease in infectious virus levels within 2.5 minutes, but there were still small amounts of virus in milk flash-pasteurized at 72 degrees Celsius for 15 seconds. Because the findings used experimental conditions, researchers will need to replicate real-world conditions with actual pasteurization equipment to see how the bird flu will perform. So far, evidence still suggests that the commercial milk supply is safe, with the researchers saying that "standard bulk pasteurization of 30 minutes at 63℃ has a large safety buffer." (Bettelheim, Axios, 6/17)
• New York: In a recent study published in BMJ, researchers found that people with no history of heart problems who regularly took fish oil supplements had an increased risk of atrial fibrillation. For the study, researchers analyzed data from 415,000 people who provided health records and answered questions for the UK Biobank. Overall, around a third of participants reported using fish oil supplements. For participants with a history of heart disease, using fish oil was associated with a 15% lower risk of progressing to more severe heart problems. However, people without a history of heart disease who took fish oil supplements actually had a 13% higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation and a 5% greater risk of stroke compared to those who didn't take supplements. According to Alice Lichtenstein, director and senior scientist at the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at Tufts University, the risk of atrial fibrillation associated with fish oil supplementation, especially at high doses, is not new. Because of this risk, the American Heart Association does not recommend taking fish oil supplements to prevent heart disease. Instead, Lichtenstein recommends eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and minimizing stress to reduce the risk of heart disease. (Park, TIME, 5/21)

Inequities in care delivery and patient outcomes is a moral issue that can impact the functioning and outcomes of hospitals and health systems. Health disparities in a provider's patient population can result in legal risks, accreditation failures, lower quality and HCAHPS scores, avoidable utilization, and increased total cost of care. And damaged consumer confidence and brand equity. Access our resource library to learn what you can do to ensure equitable biopsychosocial care for all patients.