The New York Times: Trump Administration Unveils A Major Shift In Medicaid
The Trump administration said on Thursday that it would allow states to cap Medicaid spending for many poor adults, a major shift long sought by conservatives that gives states the option of reducing health benefits for millions who gained coverage through the program under the Affordable Care Act. Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said states that sought the arrangement — an approach often referred to as block grants — would have broad flexibility to design coverage for the affected group under Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor that was created more than 50 years ago as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society. (Goodnough, 1/30)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration’s Medicaid Block-Grants Option Touches Off Ideological Fight
In announcing changes to a portion of the safety-net program, senior administration officials avoided any mention of “block grants,” a polarizing concept, instead naming the initiative “Healthy Adult Opportunity.” Officials portrayed it as a “groundbreaking opportunity” for states to upgrade care, limit the program’s strain on their budgets and gain more freedom to shape Medicaid to local needs. “Our administration is committed to protecting and improving the lives of Medicaid recipients,” said Seema Verma, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the chief champion of the idea among President Trump’s aides. (Goldstein, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Administration To Give States Wide Latitude In Medicaid Block-Grant Plan
A legal fight over the changes is likely. Democrats say the administration lacks the authority to approve structural changes to Medicaid that they say would hurt enrollment. Consumer advocates say the changes, including the limits on federal funding, will hurt the poor. Lawmakers in Alaska, Georgia, Tennessee and Utah have already shown some interest. Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt on Thursday said his state would be one of the first to pursue a block-grant program with moderate premiums and work requirements. (Armour, 1/30)

Politico: Trump Pushes Forward Conservative Transformation Of Medicaid
CMS Administrator Seema Verma, who’s crafted the politically sensitive and closely guarded plan for over a year, on Thursday encouraged state Medicaid directors to request budgeted federal payments to cover poor adults who enrolled through Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion in recent years. States who voluntarily cover adult populations outside of the Obamacare expansion could also receive capped funding. Some conservative states have expressed interest in block grants in recent years, but it's not clear how many will take up the Trump administration's new offer. (Roubein and Diamond, 1/30)

NPR: Medicaid Block-Grant Option Rolls Out
With the announcement, CMS is inviting states to design Medicaid plans that work with a new capped-funding approach; they have flexibility in how they design these plans and could be exempted from certain Medicaid requirements. For example, the plan would allow states to create a formulary to pick and choose which drugs are covered — normally Medicaid covers all drugs. In her remarks, Verma anticipated critics who might consider this an attack on the safety net. She spoke passionately about the purpose of Medicaid, calling it "a lifeline for millions of Americans." (Simmons-Duffin, 1/30)

Stat: Trump Medicaid Plan Offers States New Drug Pricing Power — With A Catch
The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a powerful new tool for states to rein in prescription drug spending. But there’s a catch: States can only wield their newfound power if they accept a cap on the federal funding they get for their Medicaid program. The new tool on offer would effectively help states negotiate lower prices directly with pharmaceutical companies by denying coverage for certain drugs. Right now, unlike private insurers and some other federal providers, Medicaid programs must cover every single drug — a fact that some states say hampers their ability to get the best deal on pricey medicines. (Facher, 1/31)

Kaiser Health News: 5 Things To Know About Trump’s Medicaid Block Grant Plan
The Trump administration unveiled a plan Thursday that would dramatically revamp Medicaid by allowing states to opt out of part of the current federal funding program and instead seek a fixed payment each year in exchange for gaining unprecedented flexibility over the program. Medicaid, a federal-state health program that covers 1 in 5 Americans, has been an open-ended entitlement since its beginning in 1965. That means the amount of money provided by the federal government grows with a rise in enrollment and health costs. (Pradhan and Galewitz, 1/31)

NBC News: Trump Administration Announces Medicaid Funding Overhaul
In a letter Wednesday, three dozen House Democrats warned that block grants would be detrimental to the viability of Medicaid and patient outcomes because of the negative fallout it would have for Americans who get health care coverage through the "safety-net health program." "Medicaid block grants necessitate cost-cutting measures like restricting enrollment, decreasing provider reimbursement, and limiting eligibility and benefits through managed care," the representatives wrote in the letter, which was organized by Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass. "These actions endanger the lives of the most vulnerable patients, the population Medicaid was created to protect." (McCausland, 1/30)

The Hill: Trump Administration To Allow Medicaid Block Grants
The block grant will apply to the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion population’s “able-bodied” people. Advocates argue this gives an incentive for GOP governors in expansion states to roll back benefits and spending. Anyone who is covered by traditional state Medicaid programs, disabled or eligible for long-term care is excluded. Other low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults, and people with disabilities will also be excluded. (Weixel, 1/30)

Stateline: Trump Administration Announces Shift To Medicaid Block Grants
The American Medical Association immediately announced its opposition, saying that federal caps on Medicaid funding “would increase the number of uninsured and undermine Medicaid’s role as an indispensable safety net.” The bipartisan National Governors Association also tweeted out its concerns, saying that the change “would significantly curtail the longstanding flexibility states have to fund and pay for services in their Medicaid programs, which could negatively impact beneficiaries.” (Ollove, 1/30)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Clears Block Grants For States' Medicaid Expansion
Families USA executive director Frederick Isasi immediately criticized the Trump administration guidance Thursday, warning that it could wreak havoc on Medicaid beneficiaries and state budgets. "With state budgets already stretched thin, accepting Medicaid block grants could likely amount to willful fiscal malpractice and blatant disregard for the needs and interests of states and families," he said. (Brady, 1/30)

Axios: Trump's Health Care Plans Often Target Medicaid
The bottom line: The courts will ultimately decide how much of this agenda survives, but within the administration, it’s been full steam ahead since the beginning. The Medicaid cuts in the repeal-and-replace bills sparked big protests and scared away moderate Republican senators, but CMS is still pursuing block grants. It didn’t stop approving work requirements after work requirements ran into problems In court. And while some of the White House’s ideas on drug pricing or the Affordable Care Act have faltered or been discarded, its push to reframe Medicaid has been consistent. (Baker, 1/31)

Some states are already reacting to the proposal —

North Carolina Health News: CMS Unveils Medicaid Block Grant Program
The block grant proposal, being called Healthy Adult Opportunity, could find some support in North Carolina, one of the 14 states that have so far resisted expanding Medicaid to low-income adults. A standoff between Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, and Republican state lawmakers over Medicaid expansion has left the state without a budget, after Cooper vetoed a proposed budget in June because it didn’t have a path to expansion. (Ovaska and Engel-Smith, 1/31)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Democrats Decry Trump Administration Medicaid Change
Democrats including Ohio’s U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown on Thursday criticized a new Trump administration Medicaid plan as a backdoor way to cut the program’s spending and jeopardize health care for the people it covers. The director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Seema Verma, described her agency’s new Healthy Adult Opportunity initiative as a "groundbreaking new policy” that would provide “an innovative and historical approach to surmounting Medicaid’s structural challenges.” (Eaton, 1/30)

Georgia Health News: Could Federal Medicaid Idea Reshape Ga. Waiver?
A new federal initiative on Medicaid could wind up altering Georgia’s waiver proposal on extending coverage to low-income adults. The Trump administration said Thursday that it’s encouraging states to seek a cap on federal Medicaid funding for covering working-age adults, in exchange for more state autonomy in running that program. (Miller, 1/30)

The CT Mirror: CT Rejects Trump's Medicaid Block Grant Proposal
Connecticut will reject an offer from the Trump administration to convert a part of its HUSKY program into block grants, a proposal that would likely limit benefits and enrollment. “This is an ill-conceived and unnecessary change that could fundamentally degrade a critical public health program, “ said Department of Social Services Commissioner Deidre Gifford, whose agency oversees the the state’s Medicaid program, known as HUSKY. (Radelat, 1/30)

Nashville Tennessean: TennCare And Trump Administration Have Very Different Block Grant Plans
Initial Trump administration guidance for states that want to reshape portions of their Medicaid programs with a block grant is far narrower and has a different focus than a proposal being pursued by TennCare. Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, described Tennessee's proposal as “something different” than a block grant model unveiled by her agency on Thursday. Verma, however, said the TennCare plan is still being considered. (Kelman and Ebert, 1/30)

The Associated Press: Wisconsin Seeks To Delay Medicaid Work Requirement Again
Gov. Tony Evers' administration is seeking to delay Wisconsin's work requirement for childless adults on Medicaid until April. The requirement, passed under former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, was originally scheduled to begin Nov. 1. But in September the Democratic Evers administration requested more time. (1/30)

The Associated Press: US Reports 1st Case Of Person-To-Person Spread Of New Virus
For the first time in the U.S., the new virus from China has spread from one person to another, health officials said Thursday. The latest case — the sixth in the country — is the husband of a Chicago woman who got sick from the virus after she returned from the epicenter of an outbreak in China. There have been previous cases in China and elsewhere of the virus spreading between people in a household or workplace. (Stobbe, 1/30)

The Washington Post: U.S. Reports First Person-To-Person Transmission Of New Coronavirus
Officials suspect he picked up the virus in the couple’s home while his wife was symptomatic, according to Jennifer Layden, state epidemiologist for the Illinois Department of Public Health. The woman, who was identified last week as the second U.S. case, has been hospitalized since and is doing well, Layden said. Her husband has not attended mass gatherings, Ngozi Ezike, director of the state health department, said in a news briefing. “The virus is not spreading widely across the community,” she added. Officials are tracing the people who came in contact with the new patient but are not recommending any new precautions by others, Ezike said. (Bernstein, Sun, O'Grady and Abutaleb, 1/30)

Politico: First Case Of Human-To-Human Wuhan Coronavirus Transmission In U.S. Confirmed
Illinois health officials said the man has underlying medical conditions but is in stable condition. Jennifer Layden, the state's chief medical officer, said he was exposed to the virus when his wife was symptomatic. So far, U.S. officials have not seen evidence of asymptomatic transmission of the virus. (Ehley, 1/30)

NPR: 1st Person-To-Person Spread Of Coronavirus Has Occurred In U.S., CDC Says
The CDC says the relatively few people who have been identified as close contacts of people with confirmed coronavirus infections should follow the guidance of their doctors and health departments. The agency is investigating 92 other possible cases across the country. An additional 68 were investigated and tested negative. (Chappell, 1/30)

Politico: Trump Sticks Embattled Health Chief With Coronavirus Response
In the span of a day, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar suddenly became the face of the Trump White House’s public response to the Wuhan coronavirus. He could just as easily become the fall guy if the president grows unhappy with the speed or nature of the virus’ transmission, or the increasingly intense media coverage surrounding the administration’s actions. (Cook and Diamond, 1/30)

The Washington Post: Trump Under Growing Pressure On U.S. Response To Growing Coronavirus Threat
President Trump, a leading critic of the Obama White House’s handling of the Ebola outbreak in 2014, is under increasing political pressure to mount a coordinated federal response to the threat of the new strain of coronavirus — amid fears of a global health crisis with economic ramifications in an election year. The White House has sought to tamp down criticism from Democrats in recent days by projecting an air of confidence and competence, with Trump presiding late Wednesday over an interagency briefing in the Situation Room. (Nakamura, Abutaleb and Dawsey, 1/30)

Roll Call: Lawmakers Fret Over China’s Virus Info As US Local Case Emerges
House lawmakers briefed by the Trump administration Thursday expressed confidence in the United States government’s approach to the spread of coronavirus, although not necessarily China’s response, as officials confirmed the first person infected in the U.S. who had not traveled to China. (Siddons, 1/30)

The Associated Press: American Evacuated From China Still Wary Of Deadly Virus
Jarred Evans, a professional football player in China, is used to wearing safety gear: a helmet and shoulder pads. But in the wake of a deadly viral outbreak, he's switched to a mask and medical gloves. “When you're dealing with life and death, it's a whole different ball game," he said in a telephone interview Thursday. (1/31)

The New York Times: Deaths Surpass 200, And State Department Urges Against Travel To China
The State Department on Thursday night issued a travel advisory telling Americans not to travel to China because of the public health threat posed by the coronavirus. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed the travel advisory on Twitter. The department set the new advisory at Level 4, or Red, its highest caution, which is reserved for the most dangerous situations. (1/30)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Deaths Surge As U.S. Warns On China Travel; Hong Kong Shuts Schools Until March
The travel advisory, analysts say, represents a strong reaction from the United States amid rivalry with China and pressure from the Trump administration for businesses to shift production back home. The step is likely to have substantial implications for the Chinese economy, even though the warning is not mandatory for travelers to observe, and has already been followed by similar appeals from Japan to its citizens to defer travel to China. (Mahtani, 1/31)

The Washington Post: Here Are The U.S. Airports Where Health Officials Are Screening For The Coronavirus
U.S. health officials are expanding screening for the coronavirus to 20 U.S. ports of entry, including Washington Dulles International, Boston Logan International and airports in Detroit, Dallas, Philadelphia, Miami and Seattle. (Aratani and Berger, 1/30)

The New York Times: Inside A Coronavirus Evacuation: How 195 Americans Got Out Of Wuhan
This week, a group of strangers came together under a warm Southern California sun. They played ball with their children. They took jogs down tree-lined paths. They watched movies in the afternoon. They also had their temperatures taken several times a day by medical personnel. And they are not allowed to leave the premises. (Jordan, 1/30)

The Hill: American Airlines Pilots Union Sues To Stop Flights To China Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
The pilots union at American Airlines filed a lawsuit to immediately stop all flights to and from China amid the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 200 people in China. The Allied Pilots Association filed the suit in Dallas County, Texas, requesting the halt of all flights to China due to the “serious, and in many ways still unknown, health threats posed by the coronavirus.” (Coleman, 1/30)

The New York Times: Masks Are On. Games Are Canceled. Fear Of The Coronavirus Comes To U.S. Colleges.
At the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, two undergraduates from Wuhan, China, were moved to a special dorm room and told to regularly take their temperatures. At Arizona State University, a student-led petition called for classes to be canceled after a confirmed case of coronavirus. Basketball games were postponed at Miami University in Ohio after two students who had recently returned from China displayed possible symptoms. (Bogel-Burroughs, 1/31)

The Associated Press: Klobuchar Proposes Plan To Prevent, Address Global Outbreaks
Democratic presidential hopeful Amy Klobuchar released a plan Thursday to prevent and respond to global outbreaks like the new virus that has sickened people in China and spread to more than a dozen countries, including the U.S. The World Health Organization has declared a global emergency, saying the number of cases spiked more than tenfold in a week. China, which first informed WHO of cases of the new virus in December, has reported more than 7,800 cases including 170 deaths. Eighteen other countries have reported cases. (Burnett, 1/30)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Tests Come Back Negative On Possible Coronavirus Cases In N.H.
Two people in New Hampshire who were being monitored for coronavirus have both tested negative and have fully recovered, according to state health officials. The two people being monitored had recently traveled to China before developing fever and respiratory symptoms. (Moon, 1/30)

Miami Herald: Coronavirus: 30 Students, 3 Teachers In FL Told To Stay Home
Thirty high school students and three teachers from a Palm Beach County school were given the “all clear” to return to campus after a potential coronavirus scare that started with a visit to Yale University over the weekend. School officials say the group has not shown any signs of sickness following the four-day conference in Connecticut. (Marchante, 1/30)

Texas Tribune: Will Coronavirus Hit Texas? What The State Is Doing And More
The World Health Organization on Thursday declared the deadly coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency — the sixth declaration of its kind in the past decade. About 170 people have died overseas from the pneumonia-like illness, and last week Texas had its first scare with four suspected cases — all of which turned out to be false alarms. (Fernandez, 1/30)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Paramedics, EMTs Advised To Screen Patients For Coronavirus
Ohio’s emergency medical responders have been told to screen patients displaying flu-like symptoms for possible exposure to coronavirus.In a Thursday memo to local EMS providers, Carol Cunningham, the state’s medical director, said first responders should triage patients showing fever, cough and difficulty breathing by asking them if they’ve traveled to Wuhan, China within the past 14 days. (Tobias, 1/30)

CBS News: Coronavirus Updates: UC Berkeley Deletes Post Saying Xenophobia Is "Common Reaction" To Coronavirus
The University of California, Berkeley has apologized Thursday after a now-deleted Instagram post listed xenophobia as a common reaction to the spread of coronavirus. The images from the campus' University Health Services explained how to "manage fears and anxiety" about the fast-spreading and highly contagious illness, which listed common reactions — including xenophobia — that people may have as more information unfolds. (Cohen, 1/30)

The New York Times: W.H.O. Declares Global Emergency As Wuhan Coronavirus Spreads
The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency on Thursday as the coronavirus outbreak spread well beyond China, where it emerged last month. The move reversed the organization’s decision just a week ago to hold off such a declaration. Since then, there have been thousands of new cases in China and clear evidence of human-to-human transmission in several other countries, including the United States. All of which warranted a reconsideration by the W.H.O.’s emergency committee, officials said. (Wee, McNeil and Hernandez, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Is Declared A Global Health Emergency As Threat Rises Outside China
The WHO designation, pointing to an increase in the number of cases, indicates that international public-health authorities now consider the respiratory virus a significant threat beyond China, where it originated last month. The move could further heighten the global response to the outbreak. The agency made the declaration after a meeting of its emergency committee, which declined to do so last week. Since then, China, other governments and multinational businesses have taken emergency steps to limit the virus’s spread, including halting some travel to China. (Abbott, CAmero and Mendell, 1/30)

Washington Post: WHO Declares ‘Public Health Emergency’ Over Coronavirus
The designation gives the global health agency the ability to ramp up the responses of governments and organizations around the world as they try to control the outbreak. In making the announcement in Geneva, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the decision was made to prevent the further spread of the virus to countries with weak health systems that are ‘‘ill-prepared to deal with it.’’ (Denyer, Schemm and Taylor, 1/30)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Outbreak Is Now A 'Public Health Emergency,' WHO Says
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organization is not recommending any measures that would limit travel or international trade. Those are some of the most potent tools at his agency’s disposal, but they are not necessary at this time, he told reporters in Geneva. Health experts who have been tracking the virus’ spread said the WHO’s declaration was more than justified. (Healy, 1/30)

Politico: Coronavirus: WHO Declares Global Emergency
"Let me be clear: This declaration is not a vote of no confidence in China. On the contrary, the WHO continues to have confidence in China’s capacity to control the outbreak," Ghebreyesus said, thanking the country for the "extraordinary measures" it had taken to control the disease, which originated in the central city of Wuhan. (Mischke, 1/30)

Modern Healthcare: WHO Declares Wuhan Coronavirus A Global Health Emergency
There have been 7,834 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus since December 2019, with 99% of all reported cases coming from China. All 170 deaths that have been reported globally have been in China. This is the sixth time the WHO has declared a global health emergency since the agency established the designation in 2005 following the 2003 SARS outbreak. The last WHO global health emergency occurred in 2019 in response to the Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Johnson, 1/30)

The New York Times: As Coronavirus Spreads, So Does Anti-Chinese Sentiment
In Japan, the hashtag #ChineseDon’tComeToJapan has been trending on Twitter. In Singapore, tens of thousands of residents have signed a petition calling for the government to ban Chinese nationals from entering the country. In Hong Kong, South Korea and Vietnam, businesses have posted signs saying that mainland Chinese customers are not welcome. In France, a front-page headline in a regional newspaper warned of a “Yellow Alert.” And in a suburb of Toronto, parents demanded that a school district keep children of a family that had recently returned from China out of classes for 17 days. (Rich, 1/30)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Anger Boils Over In China And Doctors Plead For Supplies
One week into a lockdown, anger and anxiety deepened in China on Thursday as the central province at the center of the coronavirus outbreak endured shortages of hospital beds, medical supplies and doctors. In a sign of growing frustration, a relative of a patient infected with the virus beat up a doctor at a hospital in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, the state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday, citing the police. The man was accused of pulling and damaging the doctor’s mask and protective clothing — potentially exposing him to the virus — after his father-in-law died in the hospital. The man was later detained. (Buckley and Qin, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: How China Can Build A Coronavirus Hospital In 10 Days
Chinese authorities are rushing to build two new hospitals in Wuhan, the city at the heart of the coronavirus outbreak, in a matter of days to help combat the fast-spreading virus. The outbreak is straining the resources of Wuhan’s front-line hospital staff, who have been forced to turn patients away because of a lack of beds and basic medical supplies. The 1,000-bed Huoshenshan facility is expected to be in operation Feb. 3, while the second, a 1,600-bed hospital called Leishenshan, is supposed to be ready by Feb. 5, just 10 to 12 days after plans for their construction were first announced. (Wang, Zhu and Umlauf, 1/30)

Los Angeles Times: Why China Can't Recover Quickly From The Coronavirus Outbreak Like It Did With SARS
Buoyed by Lunar New Year bonuses, Chinese consumers are supposed to be spendthrift this time of year — splurging on gifts, trips to the movies and lavish foreign vacations. But the spread of a deadly coronavirus in recent days has brought the world’s No. 2 economy to a virtual standstill, raising fears of a serious economic slowdown that could ripple across the globe. (Pierson and Chang, 1/30)

Bloomberg: Carmakers Brace For Crisis As Virus Wreaks Havoc In China
Forget about clinging to hopes that China, the world’s largest car market, will recover from its unprecedented two-year slump anytime soon. Though concrete estimates on the financial toll of the coronavirus outbreak are still scarce, signs are emerging that the final cost will far outweigh that of the 2003 SARS epidemic, when China’s auto market was one-sixth the size it is today and smaller than that of Japan. Companies from Tesla Inc. to Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Corp. have warned they anticipate disruptions, while a top parts supplier predicted automakers will cut China production 15% this quarter. (Patel, Horie and Dawson, 1/31)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Vaccine Research Is Moving At Record Speed
In a suburb south of Boston, robots have already started manufacturing a potential vaccine against the fast-spreading coronavirus. Another candidate vaccine — developed when a similar virus terrified the world — sits in deep freeze in a repository in Houston, ready to be thawed and formulated into thousands of vials for further testing. Yet another is being put together at facilities in San Diego and Houston, with projections that it could be tested in people by summer. (Johnson, 1/30)

Politico: How The Feds Missed Their Chance At A Coronavirus Vaccine
Vaccine researchers Peter Hotez and Maria Elena Bottazzi were waiting for their phone to ring in Houston on Thursday so they could plead with federal scientific agencies to fund their vaccine, which they think could protect against the Wuhan coronavirus. The two scientists from the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development had developed the vaccine against another coronavirus, SARS — but that epidemic ended before their vaccine was ready. And once the crisis was over, most of their funding dried up. (Allen, 1/31)

Stat: Study Documents First Case Of Coronavirus Spread By A Person Showing No Symptoms
People showing no symptoms appear to be able to spread the novel coronavirus that has caused an outbreak in China and led world health authorities to declare a global emergency, researchers reported Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine. If confirmed, the finding will make it much harder to contain the virus. The case described — from Germany — could help resolve one of the major unknowns about the virus, which as of Thursday night had infected nearly 9,700 people in China and killed 213. About 100 more infections have been reported in 18 other countries, but no deaths. (Joseph, 1/30)

The New York Times: How Bad Will The Coronavirus Outbreak Get? Here Are 6 Key Factors
As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across China, a flurry of early research is drawing a clearer picture of how the pathogen behaves and the key factors that will determine whether it can be contained. (Sheikh, Watkins, Wu and Grondahl, 1/31)

The Washington Post: Facebook Cracks Down On Coronavirus Fake Cures
Facebook will remove posts, photos and videos that peddle harmful misinformation about the coronavirus, the company announced Thursday, seeking to crack down on a wave of content pitching false cures to the fast-spreading global health crisis. The social-networking giant said in a blog post that its efforts, building off its policies that prohibit users from causing real-world harm, would result in the removal of dangerous claims, such as those that suggest drinking bleach cures the coronavirus, as well as hashtags that promote falsehoods on its photo-sharing site Instagram. (Romm, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Facebook To Ban Posts About Fake Coronavirus Cures
The willingness of Facebook to take down false content about the coronavirus stands in contrast to the way the company has handled misinformation about politics and other issues. Facebook said the move was in accordance with existing company rules requiring removal of content that might spark physical harm. Facebook most recently removed misinformation under this policy in Pakistan last year, when the company and local partners determined that online rumors about the polio vaccine were putting health workers at the risk of physical violence, a company spokeswoman said. (Seetharaman, 1/31)

CNN: Coronavirus Hoaxes Are Spreading In The US As The Outbreak Grows Worldwide
As the coronavirus outbreak grows after killing hundreds in China, officials in several US states are cracking down on false information about the spread of the disease locally. Most of the false information is originating online, spreading fear about the virus that has sickened thousands worldwide. (Karimi and Moon, 1/31)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Fears Drive Demand For Face Masks, But Some Experts Doubt Them
As fear about the deadly new coronavirus spreads in China, face masks have disappeared from store shelves and sold out online. At least two Chinese provinces now require them to be worn in public. Factories that make the masks in China are operating 24 hours a day to meet the demand. But medical experts say the effectiveness of masks at preventing the spread of the coronavirus is limited. Many of the masks people are wearing do little to protect them, and even the most effective have to be fitted and worn properly to have any benefit. (Wernau and Xie, 1/30)

Kaiser Health News: No Masking The Best Way To Avoid The Scary Coronavirus: Wash Your Hands
Americans are watching with alarm as a new coronavirus spreads in China and cases pop up in the United States. They are barraged with information about what kinds of masks are best to prevent viral spread. Students are handing out masks in Seattle. Masks have run out in Brazos County, Texas. Hang on. (Rosenthal, 1/31)

California Healthline: Masks Reveal Cultural Disconnect As L.A.’s Chinese Community Braces For Coronavirus
Several staff members of a small community health clinic in L.A.’s historic Chinatown spoke on the phone with patients Tuesday while wearing face masks that muffled their voices. The masks are a recent phenomenon at the clinic, located inside the Chinatown Service Center, a nonprofit community assistance organization that serves mainly Chinese immigrants. (Almendrala, 1/30)

Stateline: Rural America's Health Crisis Seizes States' Attention
Rural residents are in poorer health than those living elsewhere and have less access to treatment, partly because so many rural hospitals and health clinics have shuttered in recent years. As state legislatures begin their 2020 sessions, many lawmakers are struggling to find answers. Brock Slabach, senior vice president of the nonprofit National Rural Health Association, said big ideas are needed to truly change the trajectory of rural health. The good news is that because of scale, rural areas are promising places to test out innovations in the delivery and financing of health care. (Ollove, 1/31)

ProPublica: 'Women To One Side, Men To The Other': How The Border Patrol’s New Powers And Old Carelessness Separated A Family
Mirza had a sense of foreboding soon after she crossed into the U.S. with her two children and their father, David. A Border Patrol agent ordered the family from Honduras and the rest of their group to divide into two lines: “Women to one side, men to the other.”Mirza held 19-month-old Lia and joined the women’s line. David took their 6-year-old son Sebastian and lined up with the men. An agent told them not to worry, everyone was going to the same place. A bus took them in two trips to a collection of tents and trailers where they would be processed. (Lind, 1/31)

Modern Healthcare: Cardinal Voluntarily Recalls More Products Amid Contamination Scare
Cardinal Health voluntarily recalled more than 2.5 million packs that contained potentially contaminated surgical gowns, the wholesale distribution giant announced Thursday. The recall comes about a week after Cardinal recalled 9.1 million surgical gowns that may have been exposed to bacteria and other contaminants at unauthorized manufacturing sites in China, which may have infected patients. While Cardinal sterilizes the products after they are manufactured, it could not verify that they were sterile because it could not quantify their exposure to bacteria. (Kacik, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Weight Loss Is Harder Than Rocket Science
We all have different ways to judge whether or not we need to lose weight. Some of us are always happy the way we are; some worry that our clothes are getting too tight or notice changes in the mirror; and others, especially doctors, pay attention to body-mass index or BMI. BMI is given by a straightforward mathematical formula: weight (technically mass) divided by height squared, where weight is in kilograms and height in meters. The idea is that taller people should naturally weigh more, so we need some sort of ratio between weight and height. But why is height squared? (Cheng, 1/30)

Los Angeles Times: Across The U.S., States Are Bracing For More Climate-Related Disasters
State lawmakers across the country are calling for huge investments to mitigate the effects of wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, droughts and other natural disasters made more devastating and frequent by climate change. Following the hottest decade on record, which saw record-breaking wildfires in the West, extreme weather events like Superstorm Sandy, a years-long drought in California, and severe flooding in the Midwest, legislators in many states say it’s long past time to treat such events as the new normal — and invest accordingly. (Brown, 1/30)

CNN: Tapeworms Infected A Man's Brain, Causing Years Of Headaches. His Doctor Said It Could've Killed Him
After years of splitting headaches, a Texas man's long-awaited diagnosis was something out of a Google symptoms search nightmare: The aches were caused by tapeworm larvae that had taken up space in his brain. The cyst of tapeworms could've killed him if he had waited any later to seek help, said Dr. Jordan Amadio, a neurosurgeon at Austin's Ascension Seton Medical Center. Luckily, Amadio's patient, Gerardo Moctezuma, finally sought that help when his headaches sent him into dizzy fainting spells. (Andrew, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: In Supreme Court Abortion Case, Louisiana Goes On The Offensive
Facing lawsuits over its abortion laws, Louisiana decided the best defense was offense. Lawyers for the state attorney general’s office devised an unusually aggressive legal strategy to defend itself in a series of lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the state’s regulation of abortion providers, with one of the cases to be argued before the Supreme Court in March. (Gershman, 1/30)

In other abortion news —

Vox: How Abortion In Virginia Went From A Trump Talking Point To A Winning Issue For Democrats
This time last year, Virginia was at the center of a nationwide firestorm. The state legislature was considering a bill that would remove some restrictions on third-trimester abortions, and in an interview about the bill, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam made confusing comments that some took as an endorsement of infanticide. (North, 1/30)

The New York Times: How Chaos At Chain Pharmacies Is Putting Patients At Risk
For Alyssa Watrous, the medication mix-up meant a pounding headache, nausea and dizziness. In September, Ms. Watrous, a 17-year-old from Connecticut, was about to take another asthma pill when she realized CVS had mistakenly given her blood pressure medication intended for someone else. Edward Walker, 38, landed in an emergency room, his eyes swollen and burning after he put drops in them for five days in November 2018 to treat a mild irritation. A Walgreens in Illinois had accidentally supplied him with ear drops — not eye drops. (Gabler, 1/31)

The New York Times: Pharmacists Make Mistakes. You Can Protect Yourself. 
Lynne Calloway had been taking a newly refilled arthritis prescription for a few days when she mentioned she wasn’t feeling well. So her husband, Joseph Calloway, did some investigating. When he looked up her medication in a book detailing prescription drugs, he said, he discovered that she had been given the wrong one. A CVS in New Jersey had mistakenly dispensed a chemotherapy drug, he said, that could be used to treat arthritis, but only when taken at limited frequencies — commonly a single dose a week. (Gabler, 1/31)

Stat: U.S. Officials Will Let Novartis Pay Expenses For Some Kymriah Patients
In an unexpected move, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will allow Novartis (NVS) to pay for travel, lodging, and meal expenses for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries who must leave home to be administered the Kymriah gene therapy. The HHS OIG issued a so-called advisory opinion in response to a request from the drug maker, which wanted to avoid sanctions that would normally be levied against a pharmaceutical company that sought to reimburse Medicare and Medicaid patients. Under federal law, such payments would normally be considered the equivalent of a kickback. (Silverman, 1/30)

The Hill: Conservative Groups Call On Trump Administration To Scrap Looming Drug Price Move
Opponents of a controversial Trump administration move to lower drug prices are ramping up their messaging efforts against the proposal as they brace for its possible release. Sources told The Hill that the administration is ramping up efforts to release a proposal for an International Price Index in an executive action that would lower certain Medicare drug prices to be more in line with prices in other countries. (Sullivan, 1/30)

Stat: As Biogen Gets Squishy On Timing For Aducanumab Filing, The Clock Is Ticking
There are few things in this world more squishy than Wonder Bread. Exception: Biogen’s answers to the question of when it will submit aducanumab to the Food and Drug Administration. On Thursday, Biogen said a filing for the controversial Alzheimer’s drug would be completed “as soon as possible.” That’s slightly different but no more definitive than the company’s previous guidance for an aducanumab submission in “early 2020.” (Feuerstein, 1/30)

Stat: Most Innovative Cancer Drugs Take Too Long To Reach Patients In The U.K.
Despite giddy advances in treating cancer, a new analysis finds needed medicines have been reaching patients in the U.K. more slowly, and that both drug makers and government agencies are to blame. After reviewing 97 cancer drugs authorized by the European Medicines Agency from 2000 to 2016, the researchers found that drug makers generated an insufficient number of new treatments for cancers with the highest unmet medical need and that clinical trials took longer before regulatory approval was sought, according to the analysis published in Drug Discovery Today. (Silverman, 1/30)

WBUR: Biogen Seeks FDA Approval For Alzheimer's Treatment 'As Soon As Possible'
Local biotech giant Biogen says it plans to seek FDA approval for its Alzheimer's treatment "as soon as possible."That was the word from Biogen's CEO, Michel Vounatsos, in a statement on Thursday announcing the company's financial results for 2019. The drug, aducanumab, has shown promise in slowing the progression of Alzheimer's, though its effectiveness came into question last year when the company abruptly stopped trials. (Ma, 1/31)

Kaiser Health News: Warren Is Right. Presidents Have The Power To Bypass Congress On Drug Pricing.
On the presidential primary campaign trail in Iowa, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) brought out a favorite talking point: ways the president can bring down drug prices without waiting for Congress. It’s not the first time Warren and other candidates have referenced this alleged power. In this case, she pointed to insulin, EpiPens and HIV/AIDS drugs as possible targets. (Luthra and Knight, 1/31)

The New York Times: Altria Takes A $4.1 Billion Hit On Juul Stake
Altria reported a $4.1 billion write-down on its Juul Labs investment on Thursday, another sizable charge as the vaping crisis continues to roil the e-cigarette industry. The company now values its 35 percent stake in the e-cigarette company at $4.2 billion, a significant drop from the $12.8 billion it paid in December 2018. Three months ago, Altria, one of the world’s largest tobacco sellers, devalued its investment in Juul by $4.5 billion. (Robertson, 1/30)

Reuters: Altria Takes Another $4 Billion Hit On Juul Investment, Revises Deal Terms
Overall, Altria has recorded $8.6 billion in impairment charges after it took a 35% stake in Juul for $12.8 billion in December 2018. Those charges brought down the value of its investment to $4.2 billion as of the end of 2019, Altria said. "I'm highly disappointed in the financial performance of the Juul investment," Altria Chief Executive Officer Howard Willard said on a post-earnings call. (Venugopal, 1/31)

The Wall Street Journal: Altria Takes $4.1 Billion Charge On Juul Investment
“I’m highly disappointed in the performance of our Juul investment,” said Altria Chief Executive Howard Willard. He cited a number of surprises, including a vaping-related lung illness that prompted U.S. health officials to warn consumers last year not to use e-cigarettes before they determined the illnesses were linked not to e-cigarettes but to vaping devices containing marijuana extracts and vitamin E oil. Facing an accelerating decline in cigarette sales, Altria in 2018 paid $12.8 billion cash for a 35% stake in Juul, making it one of Silicon Valley’s most valuable startups. (Maloney, 1/30)

Axios: Altria Lost $8.6 Billion On Its Juul Investment In Just 14 Months
The big picture: Altria and Juul also amended certain non-financial parts of their agreement, including giving Altria an option to exit a non-compete agreement if Juul either gets banned from selling e-vaping products in the U.S. for a year, or if Altria writes down the carrying value of its investment to 10% of the original $12.8 billion price. (Primack, 1/20)

In other vaping news —

The Washington Post: FDA’s Hahn Vows Tougher Action On Youth Vaping If Needed
Stephen Hahn, the new head of the Food and Drug Administration, defended the Trump administration’s impending partial e-cigarette ban, which has been sharply criticized by Democratic lawmakers and public health groups as too weak. But he also vowed to take tougher steps if needed to reduce teen vaping. The administration’s vaping plan, which will take effect Feb. 6, bars sales of most flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes. Menthol- and tobacco-flavored pods won’t be affected, nor will single-use disposable vapes or bottled e-liquids for the open-tank systems typically sold in vape shops. Those exemptions mean young people will be able to simply switch to products that remain on the shelves, critics predict. (McGinley, 1/30)

The New York Times: ‘It’s Rampant’: Disposable Flavor Pods Are The New Thing In Vaping
The Food and Drug Administration is banning most flavored e-cigarettes, but that isn’t keeping banana ice, sour gummy or cool mint out of the hands of McCracken County High School students. Blame a policy loophole. When the Trump administration decided to prohibit fruit, mint and dessert flavors in refillable cartridge-based e-cigarettes like Juul, it carved out a few exceptions to mollify the vape shop owners and adult consumers who complained. The much-publicized exemption allows menthol and tobacco flavors. (Kaplan, 1/31)

The New York Times: Johnson & Johnson Is Told To Pay $344 Million In Pelvic Mesh Suit 
Johnson & Johnson should pay $344 million in damages because the company deceptively marketed transvaginal pelvic mesh implants to tens of thousands of women in California, a judge ruled Thursday. Johnson & Johnson said it intended to appeal the ruling, which it said “disregards” the company’s compliance with federal regulations. The judgment was framed as a civil penalty against the company related to sales practices for its pelvic mesh products, which have been the subject of years of personal injury litigation from women who used them to treat a condition called organ prolapse. (Goldstein, 1/30)

The Associated Press: Johnson & Johnson Ordered To Pay $344M In Pelvic Mesh Case
“Johnson & Johnson knew the danger of its mesh products but put profits ahead of the health of millions of women," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. The products, also called transvaginal mesh, are a synthetic surgically implanted through the vagina of women whose pelvic organs have sagged or who suffer from stress urinary incontinence when they cough, sneeze or lift heavy objects. (1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Judge Orders J&J To Pay $344 Million In Pelvic Mesh Lawsuit
San Diego Superior Court Judge Eddie Sturgeon on Thursday ordered the company to pay the penalty, after a trial in 2019. “J&J knew the dangers but put its profits ahead of the health of millions of women,” California’s current attorney general, Xavier Becerra, said in a statement. “Today we achieved justice for the women forever scarred by this dishonesty.” (Loftus, 1/30)

The Hill: Johnson & Johnson Ordered To Pay $344M Over Surgical Mesh Claims
The pelvic mesh products are permanent surgical implants designed to treat stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse in women. A spokeswoman said Johnson & Johnson will appeal, and noted that the process can take up to three years. “Ethicon responsibly communicated the risks and benefits of its transvaginal mesh products to doctors and patients, and the decision disregards the Company’s full compliance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration laws on medical device communications and the appropriateness of its actions,” Mindy Tinsley said in a statement to The Hill. (Weixel, 1/30)

Modern Healthcare: Forced Rate Disclosure Goes Too Far, Healthcare Industry Argues
Hospitals and insurers insist they support healthcare price transparency—just not to the extent the Trump administration envisions. A CMS proposed rule to force employer health plans and insurance companies to post in-network and out-of-network rates they negotiate with providers would confuse patients and do little to lower costs, insurer and hospital groups argued in comments published this week. (Lingston, 1/30)

Modern Healthcare: U.S. Senator Demands Answers From Rennova On Its Tennessee Hospitals
U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn is demanding answers from the Florida lab test company that bought three rural Tennessee hospitals in recent years only to close one and reportedly miss payroll at two others. Blackburn cited local media reports that West Palm Beach-based Rennova Health has been late in paying employees at both Big South Fork Medical Center in Oneida, Tenn. and Jellico (Tenn.) Community Hospital. Rennova shuttered Jamestown (Tenn.) Regional Medical Center in June, just a year after purchasing the hospital. (Bannow, 1/30)

Modern Healthcare: GAO Rejects Protest Over VA's $19 Million Cerner Task Order
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied Nuance Communications' protest of the Veterans Affairs Department's $19 million task order awarded to Cerner Corp. to develop clinical documentation improvement tools. Nuance, which currently provides the VA with tools for health information coding under a contract that expires this year, in October filed a protest arguing that awarding the task order to Cerner denied Nuance the opportunity to submit proposals for the services, and should have been subject to a separate competition. (Cohen, 1/30)

Kaiser Health News: Preeminent Hospitals Penalized Over Rates Of Patients’ Injuries
Hundreds of hospitals across the nation, including a number with sterling reputations for cutting-edge care, will be paid less by Medicare after the federal government pronounced that they had higher rates of infections and patient injuries than others. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Wednesday identified 786 hospitals that will receive lower payments for a year under the Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Program, a creation of the Affordable Care Act. The penalties are designed to encourage better care without taking the extreme step of tossing a hospital out of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which would drive most hospitals out of business. (Rau, 1/31)

Look Up Your Hospital: Is It Being Penalized By Medicare?

The Washington Post: Gun Control Measures Pass Virginia House
Democrats in the House of Delegates on Thursday passed seven of the eight gun-control measures advocated by Gov. Ralph Northam, a significant step for an issue that Republicans had blocked for decades. In debate ahead of the votes, lawmakers showed flashes of the emotion that has supercharged the gun-control issue in Virginia in recent weeks. (Schneider, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Gun-Control Bills Move Forward In Virginia
The gun-control debate has been a fiery one since Mr. Northam’s party won majorities in both Virginia legislative chambers this month. About 22,000 people, many armed, attended a pro-gun rally outside the state capitol last week to protest new restrictions. In addition, many counties and communities in the state pre-emptively declared themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries” that won’t follow laws they say violate the federal or state constitutions. (Kamp, 1/30)

Colorado Sun: Hospitals Are Backing Off A Budget Fight Over Colorado’s Reinsurance Program. Is A Deal Possible?
The association that represents Colorado hospitals says it is talking with lawmakers about a potential budget deal over the state’s new, multimillion-dollar reinsurance program. The program, which is expected to spend half a billion dollars over two years, is one of Gov. Jared Polis’ biggest achievements from his first year, dramatically lowering health insurance premiums for some people who buy coverage on their own. But its budget and funding sources have hit potholes. (Ingold, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Alabama Panel Recommends Broad Prison Reforms
A panel created by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to study the state’s violent and overcrowded prison system delivered a range of recommendations Thursday, from boosting corrections department funding to expanding educational programs for inmates. The proposals are aimed at focusing discussion among Ms. Ivey and state lawmakers ahead of the legislative session that begins next Tuesday. Addressing the prison crisis is expected to be a priority for lawmakers, who have said they plan to consider a number of bills in the coming session. (Campo-Flores, 1/30)

Miami Herald: FL Lawmakers Investigate Top Domestic Violence Nonprofit
Sandra Barnett, COO of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, came before the House Public Integrity & Ethics Committee and said that despite spending a decade as former CEO Tiffany Carr’s second in command, she bears little responsibility for what has gone on inside the nonprofit and that she will comply with a House and ongoing Department of Children and Families investigation. Lawmakers Thursday embarked on an investigation into the coalition, which has come under fire for its former CEO’s high salary and its disregard of a state audit that has been underway for over a year. (Gross, 1/30)

Miami Herald: Broward Nursing Home Death Defendants Say Evidence Destroyed
Two healthcare workers charged with aggravated manslaughter last year in connection with the deaths of 12 people at a stifling hot Hollywood nursing home are asking a judge to dismiss the cases against them, claiming former Gov. Rick Scott destroyed evidence that would have helped their defense. Residents of the nursing home began dying three days after Hurricane Irma made landfall in South Florida on Sept. 10, 2017, with the power knocked out and the facility sweltering in temperatures that reached 99 degrees. (Conarck, 1/30)

Associated Press: Attempt To End Transgender Right In Iowa Law Quashed; Key Committee Chair Says The Bill Is 'Dead'
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Wednesday night that he will not advance a bill proposed by Republican lawmakers to amend the Iowa Civil Rights Act by removing protections against discrimination for transgender people, calling it "dead." Iowa law currently prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, ancestry and disability. Gender identity was added by lawmakers in 2007 when Democrats regained control of the Iowa Legislature and held the governor's office with the election of Gov. Chet Culver. (Pitt, 1/29)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Hospitals Must Report When They Turn Away Ambulances Under New Bill
All hospitals across the country would have to report when they close their doors to ambulances or may eventually face federal funding cuts, under a bill introduced Thursday in Congress. The bill, authored by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., would also direct federal health officials to study ambulance diversion and report back to Congress on ideas to reduce the practice. (Diedrich, 1/30)

Associated Press: Family Of Oregon Man Who Died Of Flu In Prison Sues For $15 Million
A $15 million lawsuit filed by the family of a man who died at the Oregon State Penitentiary accuses prison staff of failing to treat the 54-year-old inmate for flu and then covering up his flu-related death. The Statesman Journal reports that Michael Barton, of Medford, Oregon, was already experiencing mental illness and dementia when he came down with the flu in January 2018. (The Associated Press, 1/30)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Advocates Rally To Get Philadelphia School District To Publicize Mental Health Resources For Students
Mental health advocates rallied outside a meeting of the Philadelphia Board of Education on Thursday, protesting what they see as a broken promise to help students find mental health resources. The nonprofit organizations involved — Youth United for Change and the National Women’s Law Center — expressed frustration with the lack of action from the School District, which they said verbally committed to a multiplatform rollout of a list of existing mental health resources for students on the first day of school during a meeting in June. The conversation followed months of meetings with district officials, school board members, and city councilmembers. (Ao, 1/30)

Health News Florida: Health Spending Plans Favor Nursing Homes, Drug Importation
House and Senate budget writers have rolled out health-care spending plans for the coming year that would set aside money in key areas such as nursing homes and drug importation but still have wide differences. It’s early in the annual legislative session, with plenty of time to work out deals, but the initial budget proposals included a spending gap between the House and Senate. (Sexton, 1/30)

Detroit Free Press: A Tiny Mosquito Bite Took Away Michigan Teen Savanah DeHart's Ability To Talk, Walk
The virus, also known as EEE or Triple E, causes severe swelling and inflammation in the brain. It robbed Savanah DeHart of the ability to walk and talk, stealing her distinctive laugh, the carefree, loving personality her family so loved and — possibly — even keeping her from recognizing her own father. There is no vaccine for EEE, no treatment and there's no cure. Doctors can only offer supportive therapy to help patients breathe, get fluids and nutrition and prevent other infections. (Jordan Shamus, 1/29)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Hospital Network Seeking $400,000 In Restitution From Former Baltimore Mayor Pugh, Chairman Testifies
The University of Maryland Medical System is seeking to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to disgraced former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh for her “Healthy Holly” books, top officials of the hospital network testified Thursday in Annapolis.“ We have recovered $100,000 of the $500,000,” James C. “Chip” DiPaula Jr., the new chairman of the system’s board, told the House of Delegates’ Health and Government Operations Committee. “We are working with the U.S. prosecutors to recover the balance.” (Broadwater, 1/30)

Seattle Times: Planning Group Recommends $1.7 Billion In Upgrades For King County-Owned Harborview Medical Center
A Harborview Medical Center planning group has recommended $1.74 billion in upgrades for the Seattle hospital, laying the groundwork for a King County bond measure later this year. In a vote Wednesday night, the planning group’s members unanimously backed the plan. Harborview is owned by the county and managed by the University of Washington. (Beekman, 1/30)

Charlotte Observer: Mecklenburg Outlines Violence Prevention Plan At Retreat
Charlotte’s record homicide rate in 2019 constitutes a public-health crisis, Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris told commissioners at their annual retreat Wednesday. But the public health community violence prevention plan that Harris presented — which she acknowledged was drafted within a “very short time frame” — drew scrutiny from commissioners, who questioned if the proposals were urgent or effective enough. (Kuznitz, 1/29)

Boston Globe: Fund To Create Long-Term Housing For Homeless In Boston Reaches $10 Million Goal
Boston’s Way Home Fund, which funds long-term housing for the city’s homeless, has reached its $10 million fund-raising goal two years early, Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced in a statement Wednesday. Walsh unveiled the fund in January 2018 with the goal of raising $10 million by 2022, the statement said. The money will be used to create “hundreds of new units of supportive, sustainable, long-term housing for chronically homeless men and women.” (Berg, 1/30)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Legalize Weed? Missouri Marijuana Backers Will Try To Get Question On 2020 Ballot
Proponents of recreational marijuana legalization in Missouri have launched a campaign to place a question on the state’s November ballot. Backers will have to move fast. To make the November ballot, the campaign Missourians for a New Approach will have to turn in more than 160,000 signatures by May. (Suntrup, 1/30)

Undark: Does Science Support The 'Wilderness' In Wilderness Therapy?
Katherine Gibbons' life turned upside down on the day in October 2018 when she skipped school, stole a liter of vodka, and drank much of it on the walk back from the grocery store. Her mother, who had been worried about Katherine’s erratic behavior for months, saw the 17-year-old was off campus through a phone-tracking app. She arrived at the school as her daughter stumbled in and was losing consciousness on the floor of the assistant principal’s office. In 2018, Katherine Gibbons of suburban Chicago was abusing alcohol and skipping school. Her parents sent her to a wilderness therapy program in Oregon, and now the 18-year-old is back home and, her parents say, doing better.Visual: Alyssa Schukar for UndarkThe school called 911. It was Katherine’s fifth emergency room visit over the preceding year. “It was clear that whatever we were doing here for her was not working,” said her father Mike, an executive at an infrastructure construction company with a thick crop of graying brown hair. (Kaplan, 1/29)

Wired: An AI Epidemiologist Sent The First Warnings Of The Wuhan Virus
On January 9, the World Health Organization notified the public of a flu-like outbreak in China: a cluster of pneumonia cases had been reported in Wuhan, possibly from vendors’ exposure to live animals at the Huanan Seafood Market. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had gotten the word out a few days earlier, on January 6. But a Canadian health monitoring platform had beaten them both to the punch, sending word of the outbreak to its customers on December 31. BlueDot uses an AI-driven algorithm that scours foreign-language news reports, animal and plant disease networks, and official proclamations to give its clients advance warning to avoid danger zones like Wuhan. (Niiler, 1/25)

Politico: Donald Trump Is Not A Doctor. But He Plays One On Twitter.
President Donald Trump has long claimed to be an expert on everything from airplanes to horse racing. Lately, he’s been playing doctor, and it’s giving some real health professionals indigestion. Last week, as news broke that doctors were treating 34 U.S. troops for concussionlike injuries after a missile strike in Iraq, Trump brushed off the wounds as minor “headaches and a couple of other things.” That same day, Trump shared his thoughts on the fast-moving coronavirus outbreak, telling CNBC that the U.S. had the deadly virus “totally under control.” Since then, the death toll in China has climbed to more than 100, with more than 4,500 confirmed cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday said roughly 110 people in 26 U.S. states were being investigated as possible cases. (Muller, 1/29)

The Wall Street Journal: What Was Going Wrong With My Pregnancy?
After 29 weeks of an unremarkable pregnancy, I woke up one morning and could not get the baby to move. I tried all the tricks: orange juice to wake her up, lying on my side to better feel her kicks. Still, nothing. My husband and toddler son headed to day care drop-off. A repairman arrived to check our furnace. I forced myself to eat an Oreo—what kid doesn’t like sugar? She stayed quiet. I canceled my 9 a.m. work call and got in the car. By the time I arrived at my obstetrician’s office on that day in the autumn of 2018, I was shaking with adrenaline. (Feintzeig, 1/24)

The New York Times: She Was Prescribed Three Antibiotics But Only Got Worse. Why?
The young woman suddenly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk in New Haven, Conn.; her backpack felt strangely heavy. The weight on her shoulders seemed unbearable, as if the bag were filled with bricks rather than the usual notebooks, pens, computer and water bottle. She swung the bag to the ground as the flow of pedestrian traffic streamed around her. Her shoulders throbbed, and her back felt sore. Her legs trembled from the effort of walking. Still, she couldn’t just stand there on the street. She was in her last semester of college, and she had to get to a lecture. She heaved her backpack onto her shoulders and slowly made her way across campus. (Sanders, 1/29)

Politico: ‘They Did Not Realize We Are Human Beings’
The half-dozen Marshall Islanders wandering this outdoor farmer’s market in a tight pack, more than 6,000 miles from their tropical, nuclear-scarred homeland, stick out with their colorful dresses, their banter in a foreign language, even their flip-flops on this cold, rainy morning. They’re among about 800 Marshallese who have found their way to this Midwestern city of 60,000 people. Some of the islanders are still learning English. Many are working low-wage jobs in local factories, restaurants and hotels. Most say they never planned to come here. (Diamond, 1/26)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Offers The Wrong Fix For Medicaid's Shortcomings
Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor, is one of the costliest, if not the costliest, program that states operate. Total Medicaid spending by states and the federal government, which covers more than 60% of the claims, neared $600 billion in fiscal 2018; in California alone last year, Medicaid spending topped $100 billion. (1/31)

The Wall Street Journal: Pharma To The Rescue
The World Health Organization on Thursday declared China’s novel coronavirus a global health emergency, though governments and businesses have already been mobilizing against the contagion. And look who’s on the front lines—evil U.S. drugmakers. ...Several U.S. drugmakers including Johnson & Johnson, Moderna Therapeutics and Inovio Pharmaceuticals are already working with the National Institutes of Health on vaccines. ...All of this is worth pointing out as politicians on both sides of the aisle denounce drugmakers as parasites on society. While hard to estimate, the public health dividends from drugmakers’ research and development often exceed their commercial profits. (1/30)

Bloomberg: Coronavirus: Battling A Pandemic Is A Job For The Military
Even with China taking extreme measures to contain the spread of coronavirus — effectively quarantining 50 million people in the center of the country — at least 130 Chinese have died and it is beginning to pop up around the globe, including at least five cases in the U.S. This is one of the few times when there are advantages to being an authoritarian society where people are used to immediately obeying commands from higher authority; imagine the reaction if the U.S. government shut all transportation in and out of Chicago, a step the Chinese government has taken in a similarly sized metropolis, Wuhan. (James Stavridis, 1/29)

The New York Times: Coronavirus And The Panic Epidemic
The absurdity of the situation hit me on Wednesday when I was coming home from a local bar at 8 p.m. I had ridden my bike a few hours earlier to a park for a walk and then to meet a friend — my first human contact in five days, excluding the cashier at the grocery store. But the side gate I’d used to leave the enormous Communist-era compound was now chained shut. What? A notice in Chinese said it was locked to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. (Ian Johnson, 1/30)

The Hill: Warren's Health Care Plan Would Be A Win For Small Businesses — Here's Why So Many Oppose It 
I think some sort of a universal health care system (or "Medicare for All”) would be good for this country. A health care system where there are no premiums, no copays and no deductibles would be nice. Particularly so if it includes coverage for everything, including prescription drugs. So, if you're a believer in that – and who wouldn’t be? – then you can't get a better option than Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) health care plan. That’s particularly so if you’re a small business owner. (Gene Marks, 1/30)

Stat: Abortion Advice Should Be As Safe As Abortion Itself
Medication abortion is safe and effective, with a serious complication rate of only 0.4%. Despite this safety record, the FDA still employs strict guidelines that allow only certified providers to dispense this medication regimen in a clinical setting — a physician can’t send a prescription to a pharmacy, for example, and have the patient pick it up there and take the medication at home. Experts say this is overregulation. (Tracey Allyson Wilkinson, 1/31)

Newsweek: Abortion Isn't Slavery. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Should Know Better
As a black woman who had an abortion, I am disgusted and seething. Last week, as the United States commemorated the anniversary of the legalization of abortion nationwide, the Trump administration made headlines for its despicable opposition to abortion access. Donald Trump became the first sitting president to attend the anti-abortion March for Life rally, and in remarks praising his efforts to restrict access to health care worldwide, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos had the nerve to compare abortion to slavery. ... I am not sure DeVos is able to comprehend just how powerfully racist her words are. Perhaps the secretary's own education failed to convey to her the horrors enslaved black people endured, or perhaps her abstinence-only sex education failed to teach her what happens during an abortion. Either way, the comparison demonstrates that she has utter disregard for basic science, refuses to learn about the history of slavery and is wholly unfit to lead our nation's educational system. (Renee Bracey Sherman, 1/29)

The New York Times: Starving For Justice In ICE Detention 
On Jan. 29, Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported to India an asylum-seeker who had spent nearly eight months in ICE detention. He was one of five asylum-seekers of South Asian origin who went on a hunger strike in October at the LaSalle Detention Center, an ICE processing facility in Jena, La, operated by the for-profit prison company GEO Group. All five had exercised their legal right to claim asylum, after escaping religious or political persecution. (Sarah Gardiner, 1/30)

Tulsa World: Tulsa World Editorial: Gov. Kevin Stitt's Medicaid 2.0 Proposal Is Less Than Oklahomans Deserve And Less Than We're Paying For
We were disappointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt’s announcement that he was buying into a Medicaid block grant program that will give working poor Oklahomans less than they deserve, less than people in other states are getting and less than Oklahoma taxpayers are paying for. Stitt announced his SoonerCare 2.0 program Thursday at a Washington news conference with key Trump administration health policy leaders. There is a better option. (1/31)

Colorado Sun: It’s Time For Our Federal And State Lawmakers To Get Serious About Fentanyl
Just last year, the General Assembly increased to four grams the amount of most illicit drugs, including fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, that a person can possess before it becomes a felony crime. Four grams of fentanyl, however, is enough to kill thousands, and one particularly strong analogue (Carfentanil) is even 100 times more powerful than that. And yet a person can now rest assured that if caught with up to that amount of either drug in Colorado, he or she will likely face only misdemeanor charges. As the chief federal law enforcement officer in Colorado, I know this sends the wrong message to drug traffickers and dealers, as well as to victims and their families. (Jason R. Dunn, 1/30)