Good morning. STAT reporter Andrew Joseph here filling in for Liz for the day. We hope you're enjoying a quiet late August, but we've got news here about the fight against monkeypox and a suspected Ebola case.

DRC investigating suspected Ebola case

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are investigating a suspected case of Ebola, in the province of North Kivu, the WHO said this weekend. The case, a 46-year-old woman, died Aug. 15 in Beni, after developing Ebola-like symptoms. As researchers work to verify whether this was an Ebola case, health officials are already tracking down the woman's contacts.

“While the analysis is ongoing, WHO is already on-the-ground supporting health officials to investigate the case and prepare for a possible outbreak,” Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in a statement. North Kivu has seen Ebola outbreaks before, including one from 2018 to 2020 that was the second longest and second deadliest outbreak in history.

Europe endorses fractional dosing strategy for monkeypox vaccines

European health officials have given the green light for countries to administer smaller doses of the monkeypox vaccine, a move that could stretch the limited supply and that follows a similar decision from U.S. health officials earlier this month. The strategy involves injecting one-fifth of the usual dose directly into the skin — intradermally — instead of under it, which some research has shown can generate a comparable immune response to the standard method. Some experts have questioned fractional dosing, saying it needed more study before being implemented and noting that delivering shots intradermally requires additional training. But health officials, facing rising case counts and strained vaccine supplies, argue that the approach could protect more people.

Separately, U.K. health officials said Friday the country was seeing a decline in new monkeypox cases, though they noted there was uncertainty around the trend. Cases continue to largely be spreading among men who have sex with men.

As hospitals' budgets struggle, more are turning to funding from FEMA

The main federal funding sources for hospitals struggling through the pandemic have been depleted, so now health systems are increasingly turning to money from FEMA, STAT’s Bob Herman writes. For many hospitals, the FEMA dollars could be a lifeline, covering expenses like overtime budgets and contract labor that have drained coffers. But other hospitals — typically the large and wealthy systems — have faced far less of a strain, meaning the funding is just padding their incomes.

“Hospitals see this program as incredibly important … because it’s not like there’s an arbitrary date where they stopped incurring costs related to their [Covid] response. It continues,” said one attorney who has assisted hospitals with getting FEMA funds. Read on for glimpses at which hospitals have received millions of FEMA dollars.

Closer look: Mobile clinics touting their roles

(edward chen/stat)

Mobile health units have been around for decades, trying to reach people who are not connected to care. During the pandemic, these units became all the more important, when health services were interrupted and people avoided health centers out of fear of being exposed to the coronavirus. Now, as a new story from STAT’s Edward Chen shows, those mobile units are making the case that their work is not only good for communities, but for business, too.

One mobile health unit, the Family Van in Boston (above), argued in a recent report that clinics-on-wheels can boost staff morale, are a cheaper way to provide services than brick-and-mortar sites, and can improve the perception of health providers. Edward has more here.

Naloxone costs prove to be a barrier for uninsured

Out-of-pocket costs for naloxone are proving to be a barrier for uninsured people who are trying to get the opioid overdose reversal medication, a new study shows. The JAMA Health Forum study, which relied on hundreds of thousands of pharmacy claims from 2010 to 2018, found that out-of-pocket costs started taking off around 2016 — but not for all patients. From 2014 to 2018, the out-of-pocket costs of naloxone dropped 26% for insured people, but rose more than 500% for uninsured people.

Health officials have made the widespread accessibility of naloxone, also known as Narcan, one of their core strategies to stemming the overdose crisis. Though the study only looked through 2018, advocates continue to say shortages and the price of different naloxone formulations are limiting how many lives are being saved.

Opinion: Biden administration needs to address threats from crisis pregnancy centers

As the Biden administration considers ways to protect abortion access, it should address the threat posed by crisis pregnancy centers, argues attorney Susannah Baruch in a new STAT First Opinion. These centers “divert, delay, and deceive people seeking abortion care,” often masquerading as abortion or women’s health clinics but not providing such services or referrals, Baruch writes. To counter them, she says the Biden administration should educate the public about what crisis pregnancy centers really are, close loopholes that allow the centers to market themselves as providers, and expand access to reproductive care. Read the full piece here.

What to read around the web today

Amid Covid surge, Iran cut corners to approve yet-unproven vaccine, Washington Post
Biden administration largely stands firm on its method for resolving surprise billing disputes, STAT
Variant-targeted Covid-19 boosters test the promise of mRNA technology, Wall Street Journal
Opinion: The Inflation Reduction Act: One step closer to pharmacoequity? STAT
Pickleball, sport of the future injury? New York Times