Politico: Price Took Military Jets To Europe, Asia For Over $500K
The White House approved the use of military aircraft for multi-national trips by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to Africa and Europe this spring, and to Asia in the summer, at a cost of more than $500,000 to taxpayers. The overseas trips bring the total cost to taxpayers of Price’s travels to more than $1 million since May, according to a POLITICO review. (Pradhan and Diamond, 9/28)

The Associated Press: Price Says He's Reimbursing Costs For His Private Flights
Fighting to keep his job, health secretary Tom Price says he'll write a personal check to reimburse taxpayers for his travel on charter flights taken on government business and pledged to fly commercial — "no exceptions." The repayment — $51,887.31, according to Price's office — covered only the secretary's seat. Price did not address the overall cost of the flights, which could amount to several hundred thousand dollars and is under investigation. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Lucey, 9/29)

The New York Times: Chastened, Tom Price Tries To Deflect Anger Over Chartered Flights
Through intermediaries and the media, Mr. Trump has let it be known that offering reimbursement as repentance was no guarantee that Mr. Price would keep his job. On Thursday, Mr. Price tried anyway. “I look forward to gaining, regaining the trust that the American people, some of the American people, may have lost in the activities that I took,” Mr. Price said in an appearance on “Special Report with Bret Baier” on Fox News. (Rogers, Thrush and Haberman, 9/28)

The Hill: Price Says He's Working To 'Regain' Trump’s Trust 
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price said Thursday evening he looks forward to regaining President Trump's trust after the president said he was not happy about his Cabinet member using pricey private charter jets for official government business. "I work at the pleasure of the president. The president is a remarkable leader. I'm incredibly privileged to serve in his Cabinet and work on behalf of the American people," Price told Fox News's Bret Baier on "Special Report." (Manchester, 9/28)

Politico: Price Chalks Up Jet Travel To Trump’s ‘Very Ambitious Agenda'
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Thursday that his use of federal money to travel on private jets was part of an all-out effort to carry out President Donald Trump’s “very ambitious agenda.” (Lima, 9/28)

Politico: Price Says He’ll Repay Taxpayers For His Private Jet Travel
Many of Price’s flights were between major cities that offered inexpensive alternatives on commercial airlines, including Nashville, Philadelphia and San Diego. On some of those trips, Price mixed official business with personal affairs. (Pradhan, 9/28)

Vox: Tom Price Will (Partially) Pay The Bill For His Expensive Charter Planes
The practice was a sharp departure from his predecessors under the Obama administration, Politico noted, who usually flew commercial. Ethics experts have questioned the propriety of such trips. “This wasteful conduct reflects disdain for the ethical principle of treating public service as a public trust,” Walter Shaub, who ran the US government ethics office under President Barack Obama, told Politico. “Public office isn’t supposed to come with frivolous perks at taxpayer expense.” (Scott, 9/28)

The Hill: Price: 'I Think We've Still Got The Confidence Of The President'
Embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said on Thursday that he thinks he still has the support of President Trump amid an uproar over his use of charter aircraft. "We're going to work through this, and I think we've still got the confidence of the president," Price told reporters as he left an event promoting the flu vaccine at the National Press Club. (Weixel, 9/28)

Politico: Trump Fuming Over Price's Charter Flights
President Donald Trump and his top aides are fuming over Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s use of expensive private jets, with some advisers privately calling for Price’s ouster. Trump rebuked Price in sharp terms Wednesday but declined to bat down speculation that the HHS chief could be fired for his lavish spending of taxpayer dollars. (Dawsey, Restuccia and Nelson, 9/27)

The Washington Post: Tom Price Apologizes For Private-Charter Flights, Pledges To Repay Taxpayers Nearly $52,000
The move came as House and Senate investigators are pressing Price, as well as other Cabinet members, to disclose the extent to which they have relied on noncommercial travel to travel across the United States and overseas. The recent revelations about these costly trips on military and private aircraft, at a time when the same officials have proposed dramatic cuts in the agencies they oversee, has put the administration on the defensive. (Eilperin, 9/28)

The Washington Post: Tom Price Apologizes For Private-Charter Flights, Pledges To Repay Taxpayers Nearly $52,000
House and Senate investigators are pressing Price, as well as other Cabinet members, to disclose the extent to which they have relied on noncommercial transportation to travel across the United States and overseas. The recent revelations about these costly trips on military and private aircraft, at a time when the same officials have proposed dramatic cuts in the agencies they oversee, have put the administration on the defensive. (Eilperin, 9/28)

Bloomberg: Price Plans To Write $51,800 Check For Flights On Private Jets 
Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote Trump Thursday suggesting chartered travel should be halted government-wide and asked the president to detail plans “to ensure that cabinet secretaries use the most fiscally responsible travel.” (Edney, 9/28)

CQ: Price Vows To Reimburse Taxpayers For Private Plane Use
“Considering the many travel options to and from Washington, D.C., I'm urging you to emphasize to cabinet secretaries the necessity of using reasonable and cost-effective modes of travel in accordance with federal restrictions,” Grassley wrote to Trump. (McIntire, 9/28)

The Hill: Democrats Unveil Bills To Ban Cabinet Members’ Private Jet Travel 
House Democrats introduced legislation on Thursday to prevent Trump administration officials from using private jets on the taxpayers’ dime as multiple Cabinet heads come under fire for the practice. Two groups of Democrats unveiled bills with correspondingly flashy titles. ...The Swamp Flyers Act prohibits executive branch officials from using private jets with taxpayer funds unless they certify that no commercial flights were available. The Taxpayers DIME Act, meanwhile, ensures that senior federal officials can’t spend more funds on travel than is necessary and directs the Office of Government Ethics to report on ways to enhance current rules. (Marcos, 9/28)

Reuters: Senators Close To Bipartisan Deal On Health Exchanges: Schumer
Two U.S. senators from both parties are close to finalizing a bipartisan deal to shore up the health insurance exchanges created under Obamacare, the chamber's top Democrat said on Thursday. The move, which Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said was "on the verge" of completion, would stabilize the market for individuals who buy their own insurance plans on the federal or state-based exchanges. (Heavey, 9/28)

Politico: Alexander, Murray Inching Toward Deal To Stabilize Obamacare
A pair of deal-making senators is inching toward a bipartisan agreement to fund Obamacare's insurance subsidies and provide some certainty to health insurance markets just two days after the GOP’s latest Obamacare repeal effort failed. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) are moving toward a plan to stabilize Obamacare in the short term after meeting on Wednesday. Though they have not yet clinched a deal, their progress could ignite a new battle over how or whether to improve the law. (Haberkorn and Everett, 9/28)

The Hill: Senators Zero In On Deal To Stabilize ObamaCare Markets 
It’s far from clear that any deal Murray and Alexander work out could win approval from the full Senate, let alone pass the House. Many other Senate Republicans, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), are more skeptical of a deal to stabilize ObamaCare than Alexander is. (Sullivan, 9/28)

Bloomberg: Senators Nearing Bipartisan Deal To Stabilize ACA Markets 
“It’s not a matter of just whether Senator Murray and I can agree,” Alexander said. “It’s a matter of whether she and I can find consensus among Republicans and Democrats that we believe can be enacted into a result.” (Edney and Litvan, 9/28)

Roll Call: Narrow Health Deal Close As Republicans Plot Future Efforts
The panel held a series of hearings this month on ways to stabilize the individual insurance market. Alexander has described a package that would include an appropriation for the law’s disputed cost-sharing payments, additional flexibility for states seeking waivers from health law requirements and perhaps allowances for more people to buy basic catastrophic health plans. He’s cautioned that any plan needs to be able to win the support of Republicans in Congress and the White House. (McIntire, 9/28)

Kaiser Health News: Podcast: ‘What The Health?’ Repeal And Replace Is Dead. What Now?
As predicted, the last-ditch GOP effort to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act ended the way its predecessors did this week — in failure. With a Saturday midnight deadline fast approaching, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) conceded Tuesday that they lacked even the 50 votes necessary to pass their bill using a truncated budget process. (9/28)

The Hill: Graham-Cassidy Sponsors Vow To Press On With Health-Care Reform 
The main sponsors of the last ObamaCare repeal bill committed on Thursday to hold hearings in the coming months in an effort to eventually pass their legislation. “Over the coming weeks and months, we are committed to holding congressional hearings and working with our [nation's] governors who believe returning power to states is a vast improvement over Obamacare,” Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said in a joint statement. (Weixel, 9/28)

The Hill: ObamaCare Repeal Authors Meet With Trump 
The main sponsors of the last ObamaCare repeal bill met Thursday with President Trump to discuss health care, despite the effort appearing dead for the foreseeable future. The bill from Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) had gained momentum last week, but ultimately Republicans decided Tuesday against holding a vote this week after it became clear the legislation wouldn’t pass. (Roubein, 9/28)

The Hill: Trump Repeats Claim That Hospitalized Senator Is Preventing ObamaCare Repeal
President Trump in an interview broadcast early Thursday again maintained that Republicans have enough votes to repeal ObamaCare and repeated his claim that a hospitalized GOP senator is preventing a vote before Friday. ... The lawmaker Trump mentions appears to be Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), who said Wednesday that he is not hospitalized but recovering at home. ... Republican Senate leaders this week chose not to have a vote on the latest ObamaCare repeal bill due to its lack of support among several GOP senators. (Shelbourne, 9/28)

The Hill: White House Seeks To Explain Trump Comments On Senator
President Trump’s top spokeswoman on Thursday sought to explain his false claim that an ObamaCare repeal bill could not pass because a senator was in the hospital. “The point we're making is that we have the votes on the substance, just not necessarily on the process,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. ... Cochran was not a factor in the Senate GOP’s decision to not hold a vote on the ObamaCare measure. (Fabian, 9/28)

The Washington Post: Here’s How The Trump Administration Is Hurting Enrollment In Obamacare
At its heart, the Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — is about figuring out how to pay to provide more people with insurance coverage. Before the policy was enacted, insurers balked at covering those with preexisting conditions for the simple reason that such customers are expensive. Cover a lot of expensive people and you either need to enroll more healthy people (who will pay premiums but use fewer resources) or raise premiums. ... In other words, enrolling those healthy people is central to making Obamacare work. (Bump, 9/28)

The Hill: Dems Urge Price To Change ObamaCare Site Shutdown Planned During Open Enrollment 
A group of nearly 80 Democratic House members is calling on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to shorten the 12 hour-long maintenance shutdowns of the federal ObamaCare exchange website that are planned during the next open enrollment period. HHS officials announced last week that the website will be shut down for maintenance for 12 hours from midnight to noon almost every Sunday of the next ObamaCare enrollment period, which lasts from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15, as well as overnight on the first day of the enrollment period. (Manchester, 9/28)

Politico Pro: ACA Navigators Adjust To New Reality
"Navigator" groups that help people sign up for Obamacare coverage are scrambling to adapt to a compressed open enrollment period and cutbacks by the Trump administration for outreach support. To adapt, they're forced to look for new funding, shift resources and reorganize scheduled events to maximize the use of staff. (Rayasam, 9/28)

Des Moines Register: Obamacare Enrollment Period And Assistance Cut In Half For Iowans
Iowans who need to buy their own health insurance will have significantly less assistance in signing up this fall — and half the time to do it. One of the two major agencies that helped Iowans enroll in health insurance last year is dropping the service because most of its federal funding was cut. The remaining agency fears that many confused and frustrated consumers will miss their chance to sign up for subsidized insurance by the Dec. 15 deadline. (Leys, 9/28)

Meanwhile, premiums are rising in some states —

New Hampshire Union Leader: Report: Health Care Premiums Would Increase 52 Percent 
Up to half of middle class or higher-income individuals who get no taxpayer subsidy in buying health care under Obamacare will drop coverage once they face average premium increases of 52 percent in 2018, a health insurance expert told a legislative commission Wednesday. The soaring increases are in contrast to lower-income individuals eligible to get tax credits that offset their premium or they face no cost at all for coverage. (Landrigan, 9/27)

Tampa Bay Times: Uncertainty Over Obamacare's Future Sends Premiums Up, Budgets Down
Open enrollment for individual health insurance is still about a month away, but insurance companies and "navigator" programs that help people find coverage are already bracing for what's likely to be a rocky year ahead. (Griffin, 9/29)

The Hill: House Panel To Consider Children's Health Measure 
Legislation to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will get a markup in the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Oct. 4, days after the program’s funding expires. CHIP funding expires Saturday, along with funding for community health centers. The House aims to include both programs in its bill, but Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has said he wants CHIP to stand alone. (Weixel, 9/28)

The CT Mirror: Congress To Miss Deadline To Renew CT Children’s Health Program
Congress will miss a Saturday deadline to renew a program that provides 17,000 Connecticut children with health care coverage, but, in its latest accounting, the state’s Department of Social Services says it has enough money to continue the program into next year. (Radelat, 9/28)

Nashville Tennessean: Community Health Clinics Face Funding Cliff As Congress Fails To Act
Community health centers are girding to keep the fight for Congress to re-authorize funding going deeper into autumn as the funding cliff approaches on Sept. 30 — with no legislation teed up. Clinics, which serve the working poor, uninsured and homeless around the state, are set to lose 70 percent of 2018 funding if Congress doesn't pass legislation to help them. Funds are allocated on a rolling cycle starting Jan. 1. For the cycle starting Feb. 1, Congress would have to act by early December. (Fletcher, 9/28)

The New York Times: Illinois Governor Signs Abortion Bill, Angering Fellow Republicans
Bruce Rauner, the Republican governor of left-leaning Illinois, won praise on Thursday from some unlikely corners. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Chicago Abortion Fund stood behind Mr. Rauner as he announced that he would sign a bill expanding abortion coverage for women on Medicaid. His usual allies were far less pleased. Just outside the state office here where Mr. Rauner announced his decision, the Republican floor leader for the Illinois House of Representatives called the decision “an absolute betrayal” and said he was withdrawing all future support for the governor. (Smith, 9/28)

The Associated Press: Illinois Governor Agrees To Allow Medicaid For Abortions
The Legislature, which is run by Democrats, approved the measure in May but delayed sending it to Rauner until Monday, in part because he has wavered on where he stands. As a candidate, Rauner supported expanding coverage for abortions, but in April said he opposed the legislation and Illinois should focus on economic issues. Rauner's final word came at a news conference Thursday before signing the bill privately. He said while he'd talked to advocates on both sides, he always supported abortion rights and had to take action "consistent" with his views. (O'Connor and Tareen, 9/28)

Politico: Illinois Governor Signs Bill Expanding Public Funding For Abortion
"No woman should be forced to make a different decision than another woman would based purely on her income," Rauner said. “I am personally pro-choice, I always have been. I made no qualms about that when I was elected governor. I have not and never will change my views. I personally believe that a woman must have the right to decide what goes on in her own body.” (Korecki, 9/28)

Chicago Tribune: Rauner Signs Controversial Abortion Bill, Angering Conservatives
The new law expands taxpayer-subsidized abortions for women covered by Medicaid and state employee insurance. The state already covers abortions in cases of rape, incest and when there is a threat to the health and life of the mother. The law expands the Medicaid coverage beyond those limited cases. Illinois Right to Life, which opposed the bill, projected that the measure could mean 12,000 additional abortions per year. Another group, however, put the figure at 3,800 a year. (Geiger and Pearson, 9/28)

Chicago Sun Times: Rauner Pulls Trigger: Signs Bill To Ensure Abortion Remains Legal 
Just as quickly it also sparked outrage from many anti-abortion Republicans, who accused the governor of broken promises, betrayal and lies. The decision was especially surprising after the governor’s recruitment early this year of new top advisors, including Kristina Rasmussen and Michael Lucci, both former members of the conservative think tank the Illinois Policy Institute. (Sfondeles, 9/28)

The Washington Post: Mutation In Zika Virus Caused Birth Defects And Dangerous Outbreak
When the Zika virus became a global terror two years ago — inflicting severe birth defects on the babies of pregnant women who were infected with the virus and alarming health officials worldwide — scientists were mystified. How did such an obscure, relatively harmless pathogen that had been known for more than half a century suddenly blossom into a monster virus? (Wan, 9/28)

The New York Times: The Zika Virus Grew Deadlier With A Small Mutation, Study Suggests
An intriguing study in mice, which has prompted some skepticism among experts, suggests that a single genetic mutation helped transform the Zika virus into a devastating force in Latin America. The report was published on Thursday in the journal Science. The mutation, called S139N, first arose in an Asian strain of the Zika virus in 2013, just before a small outbreak in French Polynesia — the first linked to an increase in babies born with microcephaly. (Belluck and McNeil, 9/28)

Los Angeles Times: Once Harmless, The Zika Virus Became Lethal After A Single Genetic Mutation Took Hold Around 2013
In a new round of genetic sleuthing, Chinese researchers have pinpointed the single genetic change that has made the Zika virus a fearsome plague to pregnant women and their babies across the Americas, responsible for thousands of cases of microcephaly and other grievous brain abnormalities that sometimes result in death. (Healy, 9/28)

Stat: Can Marijuana Wean The Nation Off Opioids? This Doctor Wants To Know
Dr. Chinazo Cunningham has treated thousands of chronic pain patients over the past two decades. Many of them have asked for opioids; they sometimes even request a specific kind of prescription painkiller. But the ones who don’t seek out opioids have intrigued the primary care physician. There’s a common refrain among those patients: Marijuana helped. ...But with thousands of fatal opioid overdoses each year, she started to wonder: Does marijuana work well enough to lower the amount of painkillers prescribed? (Blau, 9/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Washington State Joins Legal Challenges Over Opioids
Lawsuits seeking to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable for widespread opioid addiction are mounting, with Washington state and Louisiana joining more than half a dozen other states that already have filed actions against drugmakers and distributors. Washington state sued Purdue Pharma L.P. on Thursday for allegedly misrepresenting the addiction risk of opioid painkillers including OxyContin. (Randazzo, 9/28)

The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly.com: In Philly, Finding A Place For The Homeless On Heroin
The Housing First model has been used for years to get chronically homeless people off the street. Many are seriously mentally ill, and quite a few are on drugs. Suburbs in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey have embraced it. But Philadelphia’s experiment is unusual: a team of professionals devoted exclusively to opioid users, set up in advance of the city’s crackdown on the homeless heroin encampment along the Conrail tracks, and expanded since. The concept: First provide housing, not in a shelter but a real apartment or a house. Then surround the newly housed with an intensive array of services — regular medical and psychiatric care, help with benefits, education, even showing them how to shop and do laundry. And treatment to stay off drugs. (Sapatkin, 9/29)

WBUR: A Refuge Or A 'Warehouse'? Boston Opens A Day Center For Drug Users
By some accounts, there are more heroin users clustered near the Mass. Ave. exit off Interstate-93 in Boston than anywhere else in the state. ... But community leaders, business owners, drug users and the city are divided over whether a new engagement center is the right something — whether it will relieve congestion, help people get off the streets, stay safe, and get into recovery. (Bebinger, 9/28)

Boston Globe: Dorchester Doctor Indicted For Illegally Charging MassHealth Patients For Addiction Treatment
A doctor who owns a Dorchester clinic was indicted Thursday on charges stemming from his alleged illegal demand for cash payments from patients for an opioid addiction treatment, state Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement. (Fox, 9/28)

Los Angeles Times: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Has Breast Cancer: 'Today, I'm The One'
Just when we thought she was invincible, Julia Louis-Dreyfus dropped a bombshell on Thursday. The "Veep" star has breast cancer. "1 in 8 women get breast cancer. Today, I'm the one," the actress shared in a post on Instagram and Twitter. The iconic "Seinfeld" alum spun the announcement into a political statement on healthcare, which has remained a hot-button national issue. (Saad, 9/28)

The New York Times: They Swallowed Live Typhoid Bacteria — On Purpose
“I was curious.” That’s how James M. Duggan, an Oxford University medical student, explains why he agreed to swallow a big dose of live typhoid bacteria. “This may sound odd,” he continued, “but as a medical student, it’s quite interesting to go through the process of being very ill. It does help to create empathy for your patients.” (McNeil, 9/28)

The Washington Post: Genetically Modified Approaches To Fighting Malaria Succeed In New Tests
In the annals of deadly diseases, few have plagued humankind as viciously as malaria. In ancient times, Hippocrates attributed malarial fevers to bad air. At one point, the Roman Empire directed those suffering from fever to wear amulets inscribed with “abracadabra” to ward off the disease. (Wan, 9/28)

Sacramento Bee: Study: Get A Flu Shot When You're In A Good Mood For The Most Effective Vaccination
The flu shot, of course, is not perfect, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says getting vaccinated reduces the chance of catching the flu by 40 to 60 percent. ... But now, researchers from the University of Nottingham have another tip that might make your next flu shot work even better — get the shot while you’re in a good mood. (Magness, 9/28)

Kaiser Health News: Years After Silently Combating Sexual Trauma, Female Veterans Seek Help
Sheila Procella joined the Air Force in 1974 to “see the Earth,” she said. She enlisted at the tail end of the Vietnam War, shortly after graduating from high school. Although she never left her home state of Texas during eight years of service, her office job proved to be its own battlefield. “Some of us actually went to war, some of us had war right here in the States, going to work every day knowing we are going to be harassed,” said Procella, now 62 and living in Plano, Texas. (Casey, 9/29)

NPR: Breakthrough Pain Treatment Or Snake Oil? You Decide.
Let's say you're a scientist, and you've invented what you think is a useful treatment for pain. But you have a problem. You don't have the money to go through the regulatory approval process. Should you try to sell it to consumers anyway, and run the risk of being accused of selling snake-oil? That's the dilemma Ted Price and his colleagues faced. Price is a researcher at the University of Texas, Dallas. His work focuses on solving a vexing question about pain: why does pain persist even after injuries heal? (Palca, 9/28)

The New York Times: Older Siblings A Risk Factor For Serious Flu Infections In Infants
Having older brothers and sisters puts infants at higher risk for being hospitalized with the flu. Researchers studied 1,115 hospital admissions of children under 2 born in Scotland from 2007 to 2015. (Bakalar, 9/28)

NPR: Many Teen Moms In Labor Can't Choose An Epidural In Some States
In Ohio, people under 18 who are in labor cannot consent to their own health care. They can receive emergency services, but nothing considered to be elective. For the many Ohio minors who become pregnant, it's a painful gap in coverage. It's also complicated by the fact that in Ohio, there is no legal process for emancipation: A minor's parents must be deceased, or the minor must be married or enlisted in the armed forces to be granted independent legal status. (Honig, 9/28)

NPR: A New Approach To Postpartum Depression: Mom Mentors
Becoming a mother is often portrayed as a magical and glorious life event. But many women don't feel joyful after giving birth. In fact, according to the American Psychological Association, almost 15 percent of moms suffer from a postpartum mood disorder like anxiety or depression, making maternal mental health concerns the most common complication of childbirth in the U.S. And even though these mental illnesses affect millions of women each year, new research shows 20 percent of mothers don't disclose their symptoms to healthcare providers. (Fraga, 9/29)

Miami Herald: Hurricane Irma: First Search Warrants In Hollywood Nursing Home Case
In the days after several residents died in sweltering heat at a Hollywood nursing home after Hurricane Irma, questions abounded – as did blame. Two search warrants filed by the Hollywood Police Department with the Broward Clerk of Court’s office the week after the tragedy suggest detectives are casting a wide net for the answers: demanding visitor and patient logs, medical documentation and servers and hard drives from the Rehabilitation Center of Hollywood Hills, which tried and failed to control rising temperatures with spot coolers and fans before it finally called 911 days after Irma hit. (Koh and Ostroff, 9/28)

Health News Florida: For Dialysis Patients, Hurricanes Are A Race Against The Clock For Survival
When Hurricane Irma slammed into the U.S. Virgin Islands, Alvin Joseph was home in St. Thomas with his wife, his oldest granddaughter and four of his great-grandkids. ... People like Joseph, whose lives depend on dialysis, are especially vulnerable during a hurricane. The machines that act as their artificial kidneys need reliable electricity and water to operate. (Mack, 9/28)

NPR: In Puerto Rico, Relying On Luck And Enough Gas To Get Medical Care
A week after Maria, many hospitals are still shut down and the few that are open are operating with just emergency generator power. With a scarcity of fuel, dwindling supplies and disruptions to their employees' lives, hospitals say they are in crisis, laboring to provide care at a time when it's needed most. (Allen and Peñaloza, 9/28)

The Associated Press: San Diego Increases Homeless Citations In Hepatitis Outbreak
The city of San Diego issued citations and cleared a downtown street where hundreds of homeless people regularly camp during ongoing efforts to sanitize neighborhoods to control the spread of hepatitis A. Officers are asking homeless people to leave the street and nearby blocks where tarps and tents have regularly lined sidewalks and an area near a freeway onramp, police Lt. Scott Wahl said Wednesday. Those who refuse are given citations and those who resist further are arrested. Police over the past two weeks have been issuing about 50 citations a week — up from 30 a week before the crackdown, Wahl said. (Watson, 9/28)

The CT Mirror: Plan To Leverage Big Federal Aid For CT Hospitals In Limbo
The fate of a complex new taxing arrangement that would leverage hundreds of millions of federal dollars for the state and Connecticut hospitals to share hung in legal limbo Thursday. (Phaneuf, 9/28)

Denver Post: Colorado Spends The Most On Out-Of-Pocket Health Care But That Could Be A Good Sign
Colorado spends the most on out-of-pocket health care costs, according to a JPMorgan Chase Institute healthcare spending study. But that’s not necessarily a bad sign. The study, examining anonymous data from 2.3 million Chase customers across 23 states from 2013-16, found that families increased their health care spending when they came into more income or assets. (Worthington, 9/28)

Stat: West Nile Virus Cases Are Spiking In LA. The First Line Of Defense: Chickens
More than six dozen sentinel chickens, living in coops dotted around Los Angeles, make up one of the first lines of defense in this sprawling county’s fight against West Nile virus. The disease has been a background threat for years here, but cases have spiked this fall to worrisome levels. Six deaths have been reported by Los Angeles County this year — including three just last week. And the cases are alarmingly severe: Of 98 reported infections here this year, 79 have led to serious neurological side effects, and 87 have required hospitalization. Because it’s still peak mosquito season, more deaths are expected. (Maxwell, 9/29)

The Associated Press: Mistakes Made Before Hospital ER Shooting, Vegas Police Say
Mistakes were made in leaving a suicidal man alone in a hospital emergency room, where he wielded a stun gun pilfered from a jail guard’s unattended equipment bag before a patrol officer shot him dead, a police official said Thursday. One policy was changed immediately, Assistant Clark County Sheriff Todd Fasulo told reporters, and the arresting officer, Thomas Rybacki, could face departmental discipline after internal affairs reviews of the killing early Monday of Cody Leighland O’Bryan, 31, at University Medical Center. (Ritter, 9/28)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: People With Dementia: Atlanta Police Being Trained To Empathize
A certified dementia trainer, Cateau recently hosted officers and civilian crime prevention inspectors with the Atlanta Police Department’s Community Oriented Policing Section to help them better understand and react to those living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. (Berrios, 9/28)

California Healthline: Imagining A Single-Payer Health System In California
With the crumbling of the latest GOP plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, many Americans seem more willing to discuss what a single-payer system might look like and whether it is desirable — or even possible. This story can be republished for free (details).U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) recently introduced a Medicare-for-All Act, which would gradually expand the government-financed system to the general population while eliminating private insurance companies and consumer cost sharing, such as copays and deductibles. (9/28)

Sacramento Bee: UC Davis Awarded $7.9 Million For Stem Cell Clinic
The California stem cell agency Thursday awarded UC Davis $7.9 million to create an “Alpha” stem cell clinic that will serve patients in a 33-county area in Northern California. ... The primary function of the clinic is to support and conduct clinical trials testing the safety and effectiveness of potential stem cell therapies. (Jensen, 9/28)

Modern Healthcare: Macy's, Hot Topic ... Dermatology? Providers Eye Malls For One-Stop Healthcare Shopping 
Vanderbilt University Medical Center transformed about half of a struggling shopping center into an outpatient hub, much to the delight of its growing patient base and the city of Nashville. By the mid-2000s, Vanderbilt had outgrown its main hospital campus at 1211 Medical Center Drive in a dense area of midtown Nashville. The provider decided to renovate the nearby One Hundred Oaks Mall and move more than 20 of its clinics to the shopping center at a fraction of the cost required to build out its campus. It opened its new center in 2009, moving predominantly wellness-oriented clinics from its main campus. (Kacik, 9/28)

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Hospital Association Trying To Reduce Sepsis Deaths By 30 Percent By 2018
The hospital association launched a statewide sepsis initiative in June 2015 in an effort to reduce the number of sepsis deaths by 30 percent by 2018, Abrams said. Through the first 18 months, the initiative saw a 13.4 percent reduction in sepsis mortality, saving an estimated 1,486 lives. (Viviano, 9/28)

California Healthline: Bringing Former Hospitals Back To Life – Ghosts And All
When Juana Monroy moved into Hollenbeck Terrace in 2015, she learned that the towering senior apartment building was once a busy hospital that had appeared in dozens of movies and television shows. Then she heard the rumors that the old Linda Vista Community Hospital building was haunted. “I was a little scared,” said Monroy, 60. But she hasn’t seen a ghost yet, and now she loves living in a building with such history. “It’s gorgeous,” she said. (Gorman and Galewitz, 9/28)

Denver Post: Children Were Underfed, Abused At Pueblo Treatment Center, According To State Document
A mental health and substance abuse treatment center for children was shut down by state authorities this week following complaints that children were abused and underfed. El Pueblo Boys & Girls Ranch, with 12 cottages on 56 acres in Pueblo, was ordered to “immediately desist” caring for children by the Colorado Department of Human Services. The ranch, which treated children with severe behavioral or psychiatric needs, could lose its child care licence permanently. (Brown, 9/28)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: State Official: Without Action, Virginia's Public Mental Hospitals Will Overflow By 2024
State-run mental hospitals will overflow by 2024 if Virginia does not change how it funds and administers public mental health treatment, the state’s behavioral health czar told lawmakers on Thursday. (Burnell Evans, 9/28)

Dallas Morning News: Freestanding Emergency Room Operator Adeptus May Soon Emerge From Bankruptcy 
Just five months after filing for bankruptcy, the company that operates the largest chain of freestanding emergency rooms in the U.S. says it will soon return as a privately held company. A North Texas judge has confirmed Adeptus Health’s restructuring plan, and the company could emerge from Chapter 11 in the coming days, it said in a press release Wednesday. (Rice, 9/28)

Arizona Republic: Construction Of $70 Million Bond-Funded Clinic In Peoria Gets Green Light
The Maricopa Integrated Health System district board's vote allows construction of a 127,000-square-foot clinic at Grand Avenue and Cotton Crossing, several blocks east of Peoria's municipal center. The facility will house a dental clinic, dialysis clinic, lab services, operating and procedure rooms, pharmacy and urgent care. (Alltucker, 9/28)

Oregonian: Laid-Off Hewlett-Packard Employee Accused Of Shutting Down Oregon's Medicaid Computers
A man who was laid off after working 16 years for Hewlett-Packard Enterprise is accused of shutting down Oregon's Medicaid system computers for a day as a last act of retaliation. Hossein Heydari entered a not guilty plea Thursday to a federal indictment charging him with computer fraud. (Bernstein, 9/28)

Miami Herald: Coral Gables No Longer Planning To Ban Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
After previously planning to ban medical marijuana dispensaries, Coral Gables leaders are changing their stance and going back to the drawing board to decide how to regulate the businesses. (Dixon, 9/28)

Health Affairs: Medicaid Expansion For Adults Had Measurable ‘Welcome Mat’ Effects On Their Children
Before the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), most children in low-income families were already eligible for public insurance through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Welcome-mat effects were largest among children whose parents gained Medicaid eligibility under the ACA expansion to adults. Public coverage for these children increased by 5.7 percentage points. (Hudson and Moriya, 9/1)

Morbidity and Mortality: Rural And Urban Differences In Passenger-Vehicle–Occupant Deaths And Seat Belt Use Among Adults
Seat belt use prevented an estimated 64,000 deaths in the United States during 2011–2015. Although self-reported levels of seat belt use reached 86.9% in 2014, a marked increase in recent decades, the small percentage who still do not always use seat belts represent almost half of all occupant deaths in the United States, and rural residents are disproportionately affected. Despite differences in how rural and urban areas are defined in various studies, rurality is consistently shown to be associated with increased crash-related death rates and lower seat belt use. (Beck, Downs, Stevens, and Sauber-Schatz, 9/22)

Kaiser Family Foundation: The Effects Of Medicaid Expansion Under The ACA: Updated Findings From A Literature Review
This issue brief summarizes findings from 153 studies of the impact of state Medicaid expansions under the ACA published between January 2014 (when the coverage provisions of the ACA went into effect) and June 2017. With ACA repeal and replacement remaining a priority for the Trump Administration and Congress, this research shows that gains in coverage, improvements in access and families’ financial security, as well as economic benefits to states and providers are at stake if the Medicaid expansion is repealed. (Antonisse, Garfield, Rudowitz, and Artiga, 9/25)

Brookings: A Better Approach To Regulating Provider Network Adequacy
As health insurers become more price-competitive, they more often are selling health plans that cover fewer hospitals, and many fewer physicians, in an effort to provide greater consumer value. The federal government currently defers to states to regulate provider networks, but no clearly-preferred model has yet emerged among states. ... What is required to complement these substantive standards is a more layered regulatory approach that includes a suitable form of dispute resolution. (Hall and Ginsburg, 9/1)

The Washington Post: Trump’s Cabinet Loves Living Large
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price seems to have been the most egregious abuser. According to Politico, Price took at least 24 flights on private chartered aircraft since early May, at a total cost of more than $400,000. He also took military jets to Africa, Asia and Europe at an additional cost of more than $500,000, Politico reported. Until all the scrutiny, Price wasn’t picking up the tab. We the taxpayers were. On Thursday, Price said he would write a check to the Treasury Department for about $52,000 to cover the cost of his seat on those chartered domestic flights. (Eugene Robinson, 9/28)

The New York Times: Private Emails, Private Jets And Mr. Trump’s Idea Of Public Service
But wait, there’s more: Americans have been learning over the past week about Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s habit of flying private jets to official meetings, with occasional detours to luxury resorts where he owns property, or for outings with his family. Mr. Price and Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, have even used private jets on what a White House aide called “a national listening tour … to learn from the heroes on the front lines” of the opioid crisis — all while pushing for a replacement of the Affordable Care Act that would drain billions from Medicaid and addiction treatment. When asked if he would, wisely, fire Mr. Price, the president said on Wednesday, “I’m looking at that very closely.” Mr. Price said on Thursday that he’d reimburse a portion of the cost. Mr. Price — a multimillionaire orthopedic surgeon who as a congressman took actions that benefited his personal stock portfolio — isn’t the only Trump cabinet member polluting the public trough. (9/28)

Miami Herald: HHS Secretary Tom Price Needs To Get Off The Private Jets
During the past five months, as congressional Republicans were making five separate efforts to gut health care for low-income Americans, the man in charge of administering Obamacare was flying around the country, Europe and Asia on private jets at a cost to taxpayers of more than $400,000. By Thursday night, the figure had jumped to nearly $1 million. The “optics in some of this don’t look good,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price conceded to Fox News on Saturday. (9/29)

The Des Moines Register: This Health-Care Program Has Bipartisan Support — Seriously
As we’ve witnessed over the last couple of months, health care can be one of the more divisive political issues that any policymaker has to address. As Congress continues to debate ways to move our system to one that’s focused on patient needs — with greater access, higher quality and lower costs — there’s one program that works and has had bipartisan support for nearly 50 years: the Community Health Centers program, or CHCs. With critical CHC funding set to expire at the end of September, Congress needs to prioritize action to maintain and build on this success story. (Theodore J. Boesen Jr., 9/27)

Detroit Free Press: Where Does Washington's Health Care Standoff Leave Michigan?
So it's official: The latest version of Nobamacare is dead. I speak of the Graham-Cassidy bill (also known as the Repeal Obamacare Now or So Help Us God We'll Shoot John McCain's Dog Act), which failed to gain the backing of Republican holdouts after a Congressional Budget Office analysis pointed out that that it would leave medical coverage of some low-income Americans intact. (Brian Dickerson, 9/28)

Bloomberg: Trump, Health Care And A Violation Of Ethics
There are basically two points to make here. One is that deliberate actions by the administration to dissuade people from getting the health insurance available by law, or to make it more difficult, are monstrous, and essentially without precedent. Barack Obama, upon inheriting a war he didn't support, did not choose to deliberately lose it. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush inherited plenty of liberal programs they didn't support, but they didn't try to undermine them at the expense of the American people. ... The other point is that this remains a kind of politics that is, on a practical level, unlikely to have the effect the administration wants. Of course, the strongest Republicans will be eager to blame Democrats for anything that goes wrong (just as the strongest Democrats will blame Republicans). But for weak partisans -- for swing voters, that is -- bad news will almost always lead to reduced support for the incumbent party. (Jonathan Bernstein, 9/28)

Modern Healthcare: Repeal And Replace Isn't Dead Yet
Don't kid yourself. We haven't heard the last of repealing and replacing Obamacare. The GOP's latest attempt to undermine the law failed because three Republicans, the bare minimum, had enough sense to oppose legislation that would create chaos throughout one-sixth of the U.S. economy. ... You can't scream "repeal and replace" for seven years and then fail to deliver. It makes every Republican incumbent vulnerable to extremist challengers in next year's primaries. (Merrill Goozner, 9/26)

The Charlotte Observer: A New Tax Is Coming That Will Hike Your Health Care Premium
It’s possible that you haven’t heard much about the Health Insurance Tax (HIT) that was passed as part of the Affordable Care Act, but you will unless Congress acts. On behalf of our state’s leading business and trade groups, we are raising the alarm about this imminent threat, which is set to return in 2018 and which insurance companies will have to account for in a few weeks when they begin announcing premiums for 2018. (Dave Simpson, Lew Ebert, Larry Wooten, Gary Harris, Tim Kent, Lynn Minges and Andy Ellen, 9/28)

Bloomberg: MassHealth Drug Waiver Plan Could Shake Up Pricing 
Massachusetts' Medicaid program MassHealth earlier this month asked the federal government for permission to refuse to pay for some drugs, potentially reducing its costs and improving its negotiating position with drugmakers. This is just one Medicaid program in one state. But other states could follow suit. And this suggests the pharma industry shouldn't assume its drug-pricing worries are over. (Max Nisen, 9/28)

Chicago Tribune: GOP Backers Abandon Rauner After Broken Promise On Abortion
Is Gov. Bruce Rauner political burnt toast after he signed a controversial bill expanding taxpayer-funded abortion? ... Sad-faced, surrounded by pro-abortion rights advocates who praised him, Rauner kept saying that he loves Illinois, that he ran for office to fight the state's decline and crush the corruption that strangles it. But right now it's his political future that's being strangled, and he's doing it with his own two hands. (John Kass, 9/28)

Chicago Tribune: Does Rauner's Abortion Decision Mean He Won't Run Again?
So far, no one from the GOP has made a move to challenge Rauner’s renomination. He has a dauntingly large campaign war chest — $67.8 million at last look — and an impressive personal fortune to draw on should those funds run dry. But money isn’t everything. Just look at Alabama. There, radical conservative Roy Moore handily won Tuesday’s Republican U.S. Senate primary despite reportedly being outspent byTrump-endorsed incumbent Luther Strange by a more than 10-to-1 ratio. Whether base Republican voters in Illinois are as riled and hungry for disruption of the political order as voters in Alabama is uncertain, but hostile responses from the right during and after Rauner’s announcement suggests that they might well be. (Eric Zorn, 9/28)

Chicago Tribune: Don't Blame Big Soda For The Beverage Tax Backlash
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle keeps trying to frame the fight over her toxic beverage tax as Big Soda vs. our children. Big Government vs. the taxpayers is more like it. (9/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Autism Research Should Be Financed Like Venture Capital
We still don’t know what autism is, despite decades of research and billions of dollars spent. We don’t know what causes it or how to treat it. This lack of progress is partly the result of structural deficiencies in how autism research is funded. Fortunately, lessons from financial markets and the venture-capital industry can help solve these problems and accelerate the pace of discovery—for autism and perhaps other medical conditions. (John Rodakis, 9/28)

Los Angeles Times: Take It From A Former Addict, A Lot More Could Be Done To End The Opioid Crisis
Americans are dying. Entire towns are being destroyed. Local economies are crippled by addiction. Yet this epidemic can be stopped, it’s solvable. Trump’s opioid commission quickly submitted an interim report that spells out the right approach: It emphasizes treatment, education about pain management for doctors, research and data collection, and rational “supply reduction.” It spells out policy goals based on facts and science. The president should listen to his own experts. Now. (Nikki Sixx, 9/29)

The New England Journal Of Medicine: Lost In Thought — The Limits Of The Human Mind And The Future Of Medicine
In the good old days, clinicians thought in groups; “rounding,” whether on the wards or in the radiology reading room, was a chance for colleagues to work together on problems too difficult for any single mind to solve. Today, thinking looks very different: we do it alone, bathed in the blue light of computer screens. (Ziad Obermeyer and Thomas H. Lee, 9/28)

The New England Journal Of Medicine: When Ancillary Care Clashes With Study Aims
In medical and health care studies, “ancillary care” refers to any burden or cost that researchers may take on to address study participants’ medical needs in ways not required for the study’s safety or validity. Providing ancillary care is sometimes obligatory. Its provision may, however, collide with achievement of a study’s aims. How should researchers respond when that happens? (Henry S. Richardson, Nir Eyal, Jeffrey I. Campbell and Jessica E. Haberer, 9/28)

The New England Journal Of Medicine: The Paradox Of Coding — Policy Concerns Raised By Risk-Based Provider Contracts
The medical claims that health care providers submit to insurers generally include a Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code, which describes the medical, surgical, or diagnostic service provided to the patient, as well as a series of International Classification of Diseases diagnostic codes. Under fee-for-service reimbursement, health care organizations and insurers have traditionally focused on accurate CPT coding to ensure that reimbursement matches the services provided. In recent years, however, the medical diagnoses listed in claims have taken on increasing importance as capitated and risk-based payment systems have begun to use these codes to adjust the payments made to health plans and providers. (Bruce E. Landon and Robert E. Mechanic, 9/28)