The New York Times: Congress Passes Stopgap Bill To Avoid Government Shutdown Against A Friday Deadline
Congress gave final approval on Thursday to legislation to keep the government funded into January, averting a government shutdown this weekend but kicking fights over issues like immigration, surveillance and health care into the new year. The stopgap spending bill extends government funding until Jan. 19 while also providing a short-term funding fix for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, whose financing lapsed at the end of September. (Kaplan, 12/21)

The Hill: GOP Includes $2.8B For Children's Health-Care Funding In Stopgap Bill 
House Republicans have included $2.85 billion to extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in a stopgap spending measure intended to prevent a government shutdown on Saturday. The funding provides money for CHIP through the end of March as the GOP faces criticism from Democrats, who argued Republicans were prepared to leave town without extending a program that provides support for 9 million children across the country. (Roubein, 12/21)

Politico: Children's Health Funding Hangs In The Balance As Congress Leaves Town
Congress is likely to depart Washington this week approving just enough money for children’s health insurance through March and leaving families and governors wondering what's next. Only days after clearing a massive tax reform bill along party lines, Republicans are still trying to figure out how to keep the government open past Friday, with hopes of including funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which covers roughly 9 million low- and middle-income kids. So far, Republican and Democratic sources say they don’t expect to be able to attach more than six months of CHIP funding, with three of those months retroactive to when Congress let funding lapse, on Sept. 30. (Haberkorn and Pradhan, 12/21)

Bloomberg: Poor Kids' Health Program Still In Limbo After Yet Another Patch 
“You can’t run an insurance program this way,” said Sara Rosenbaum, a professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. Lawmakers are forcing health officials who run the program “to go month-to-month.” (Edney and Rausch, 12/21)

The Associated Press: Children's Insurance Program Receives Only Patchwork Funding
Democrats and Republicans agree that finances for the Children's Health Insurance Program should be renewed for five years, but they've clashed over how to pay for it. And while few think Congress would blunder into letting the money completely lapse — which no lawmaker would care to defend with elections approaching — an effort to provide long-term money collapsed as leaders punted a bunch of unresolved issues until early next year. (Fram, 12/22)

Modern Healthcare: Congress Punts CHIP To 2018 As States Reach Panic Mode 
The two leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, which earlier this year agreed to fund CHIP for five years, voiced opposition to the stopgap. "We share a commitment to extend full funding for CHIP as soon as possible," said Senate Finance Committee Chair Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Democrat Ron Wyden (Ore.) a joint statement on Thursday afternoon. "In our view, a long-term, five-year extension of the KIDS Act is essential to providing certainty for families and states. While the proposed short-term patch offers some funding relief, it falls short of providing families and states the certainty they need." (Luthi, 12/21)

The Associated Press: How States Coping With Uncertainty Over Kids' Health Money
Examples of how states have been reacting to the threat of running out of federal money for the Children's Health Insurance Program. It was unclear how their plans might change with the short-term federal funds Congress approved Thursday. (12/22)

The Hill: States Say Short-Term Funding Not Enough For Children’s Health 
State governments are warning that the short-term funding for a critical children’s health program approved by Congress on Thursday may be too little and too late. Warning letters in at least three states have already been sent to families saying they could soon lose coverage for their children come Jan. 31 without new funding from Congress. Even if the new funding keeps their programs afloat, it sends a negative message to enrollees and that could cause long-term implications, experts say. (Roubein and Sullivan, 12/22)

CQ: Senators, Advocates React To Limited CHIP Funding In Stopgap Bill
A state official said the injection of funds is welcome, although a longer-term fix is needed. "Obviously, we would rather have a permanent long-term funding solution than a short-term CHIP funding bill but short-term would allow us to keep running the program as usual and not freeze enrollment January 1 or disenroll children February 1," said Cathy Caldwell, director of the Bureau of Children's Health Insurance at the Alabama Department of Public Health, in an email to CQ. Another state official confirmed temporary funds would prevent immediate action to shut down the program. “A short-term funding solution would delay implementation of the contingency plan we have in place should we exhaust the reallocated federal funding,” said Heidi Capriotti, public information officer for the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, Arizona's Medicaid agency. (Raman, 12/21)

Denver Post: Colorado Lawmakers Approve Using State Money To Keep Health Insurance Program For Kids Running
Colorado lawmakers on Thursday approved emergency funds to keep alive a health insurance program for children and pregnant women, amid concerns that a short-term extension of the program’s funding OK’d by Congress won’t arrive soon enough to help. In a unanimous vote, members of the Joint Budget Committee approved spending $9.6 million of state funds to run the Children’s Health Plan Plus program for an extra month, if necessary. The vote means ominous end-of-coverage letters that Colorado had planned to send next week to more than 75,000 kids and pregnant women covered by the program won’t go out. (Ingold, 12/21)

WBUR: Thousands Of Alabama Children Could Soon Lose Health Insurance
Alabama is first state to announce a freeze in enrollment for the state's Children's Health Insurance Program, because Congress has not yet authorized additional funding for CHIP. (Greene, 12/21)

The Washington Post: McConnell: Entitlement Reform Is A Nonstarter In The Senate In 2018
The Senate’s top Republican on Thursday quashed calls from House leaders to tackle Medicare and Medicaid spending next year, declaring it politically unfeasible and thus off the 2018 agenda. “I think Democrats are not going to be interested in entitlement reform, so I would not expect to see that on the agenda,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said at a breakfast sponsored by Axios. “What the Democrats are willing to do is important, because in the Senate, with rare exceptions like the tax bill, we have to have Democratic involvement.” (Demirjian, 12/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Mitch McConnell Is Unlikely To Push For Social Security And Medicare Changes In 2018
Mr. McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has what amounts to veto power over next year’s agenda because he controls the Senate floor. In the new year, he will lead a Republican caucus with a narrow 51-49 margin in the Senate, where most legislation requires 60 votes to advance. By declining to take on entitlements, Mr. McConnell avoids what would be a tough political sell for Republicans, and could spare candidates heavy fire from Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections. (Hughes and Andrews, 12/21)

The Hill: McConnell: Entitlement Reform Not On 2018 Senate Agenda 
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says entitlement reform is not on the agenda in 2018, despite what Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and senior Trump administration officials say. McConnell, speaking at an event sponsored by Axios on Thursday, said the lack of Democratic support for entitlement reform makes it highly unlikely that it will move through the Senate in an election year. (Bolton, 12/21)

The New York Times: Obamacare Sign-Ups At High Levels Despite Trump Saying It’s ‘Imploding’
The Trump administration said Thursday that 8.8 million people had signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s federal marketplace, a surprisingly large number only slightly lower than the total in the last open enrollment period, which was twice as long and heavily advertised. The numbers essentially defied President Trump’s assertion that “Obamacare is imploding.” (Pear, 12/21)

The Associated Press: 'Obamacare' Surprise: Strong Showing As Nearly 9M Sign Up
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said more than 8.8 million people have signed up in the 39 states served by the federal HealthCare.gov website. That compares to 9.2 million last year in the same states — or 96 percent of the previous total. The level exceeds what experts thought was possible after another year of political battles over the Affordable Care Act, not to mention market problems like rising premiums and insurer exits. On top of that, the Trump administration cut enrollment season in half, slashed the ad budget, terminated major payments to insurers, and scaled back grants for consumer counselors. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/21)

The Washington Post: ACA Enrollment For 2018 Nearly Matches Last Year's, Despite Trump Administration Efforts To Undermine It
For the seventh and final sign-up week ending on Dec. 15, the report said, 4.1 million people had signed up for coverage or been automatically renewed by the government because they had ACA health plans this year and had not selected ones for 2018. However, federal health officials had previously said the automatic renewals would not take place until after the federal marketplace's enrollment deadline. Asked for a breakdown between the active sign-ups and the auto-enrollments, officials refused to provide it. (Goldstein, 12/21)

Kaiser Health News: Despite Compressed Sign-Up Period, ACA Enrollment Nearly Matches Last Year’s
[E]nrollment has not yet closed in 11 states — including California and New York — plus Washington, D.C., that run their own insurance exchanges. Those states are expected to add several million more enrollees. (Rovner, 12/21)

Bloomberg: Obamacare Sign-Ups Stay Strong At 8.8 Million
In many of the 11 states that run their own marketplaces, enrollment so far has exceeded last year’s pace, and people have more time to shop. In New York, California, Minnesota, and Massachusetts, enrollment will continue until the middle or end of January. And millions of people in hurricane-affected areas in the Southeast can continue to buy coverage through the end of December. Others may have extra time if their insurance carrier left the market. (Tozzi, 12/21)

The Hill: 8.8 Million Sign Up For ObamaCare, Nearly Matching Last Year
In a tweet, CMS administrator Seema Verma said her agency had done a great job to “make this the smoothest experience for consumers to date.” (Weixel, 12/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Health-Law Insurance Sign-Ups Decline
Several major ACA insurers, including Centene Corp., Health Care Service Corp. and Medica, said their own sign-ups appeared on track to meet internal projections. “We’re almost exactly on our expectations,” said Steve Ringel, president of the Ohio market for CareSource, which sells ACA plans in four states. “It’s playing out exactly as we had hoped.” Of the 8.8 million consumers who were signed up for plans on HealthCare.gov during the federal exchange’s enrollment period, which started Nov. 1, about 2.4 million were new consumers, while 6.4 million were returning enrollees, including people automatically re-enrolled in plans. (Wilde Mathews, 12/21)

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare Sign-Ups Surge, Despite Trump's Calls For Repeal
"It's incredible how many people signed up for coverage this year with record-setting demand for affordable health coverage," said Lori Lodes, a spokeswoman for Protect Our Care, a non-governmental advocacy group that stepped in to publicize the marketplaces when the Trump administration slashed outreach efforts. "The demand for affordable coverage speaks volumes — proving, yet again, the staying power of the marketplaces," Lodes said. (Levey, 12/21)

Politico: Obamacare Sign-Ups Surge, Despite Trump’s Declaration On ‘Repeal’
The looming repeal of the individual mandate as part of the GOP’s tax overhaul, which would take effect in 2019, will likely leave the Obamacare insurance marketplaces on shakier ground. Without a requirement to purchase insurance, fewer people are expected to sign up, particularly the younger and healthier customers who help insurers offset the costs of covering the sick. (Demko, 12/21)

The Baltimore Sun: Open Enrollment In Obamacare In Maryland Ends Today 
Open enrollment for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act comes to a close in Maryland today even as the law faces continuing threats. About 150,000 Marylanders have signed up for insurance in 2018 under the law known as Obamacare, which provides coverage to those who do not get coverage through work. That’s about the same number as last year. (Cohn, 12/22)

Health News Florida: Surge In Obamacare Enrollment Has Florida Near Last Year’s Level
More than 700,000 Floridians selected or were automatically re-enrolled in Obamacare plans during the final week of regular enrollment, bringing the state’s six-week enrollment total to 1.73 million. That’s nearly equal to last year’s 12-week total of 1.76 million enrollees. (Ochoa, 12/21)

Georgia Health News: Stunning Increase In Enrollment For Georgia’s Insurance Exchange
Georgia’s insurance exchange showed an astonishing surge in the last scheduled week of Open Enrollment, roughly doubling the total enrolled to 482,904. That’s very close to the 493,880 in Georgia who signed up for coverage for the current year. (Miller, 12/21)

The CT Mirror: Friday Is Deadline To Buy Health Insurance Through Access Health
With one day left of open enrollment, 106,000 Connecticut residents were enrolled in health insurance through Access Health CT, the state’s exchange, and officials reminded residents that they still will face a federal tax penalty if they don’t have insurance in 2018. Access Health CEO Jim Wadleigh and Lt. Gov Nancy Wyman hoped to clear up any confusion caused by Congress’s approval of the GOP tax bill, which included a repeal of the individual mandate tax penalty that takes effect in 2019. (Rigg, 12/21)

The Associated Press: Senate GOP Leader Skeptical About Another Run At Health Law
The top Senate Republican is skeptical at best about revisiting the Senate's botched efforts to dismantle Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act despite one GOP lawmaker's insistence the health care law will be scrapped. In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pointed out that the GOP-controlled Senate was "unable to go forward with 52 Republican senators. Whether it's possible to go forward with 51 Republican senators is an open question." Republicans have lost a seat with the election of Alabama Democrat Doug Jones. (Taylor, 12/21)

Politico: McConnell: ‘We’ll Probably Move On’ From Obamacare Repeal In 2018
"Well, we obviously were unable to completely repeal and replace with a 52-48 Senate," McConnell said referring to the partisan split in the chamber. "We'll have to take a look at what that looks like with a 51-49 Senate [once Alabama Democratic Sen.-elect Doug Jones is seated]. But I think we'll probably move on to other issues. "McConnell’s comment drew a sharp rebuke from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is hoping to revive a bill next year repealing Obamacare in favor of block grants to states. (Lima and Haberkorn, 12/21)

The Hill: McConnell: Senate Probably Moving On From ObamaCare Repeal 
McConnell said the Senate would shift its focus next year to stabilizing the insurance markets. He noted the commitments he made to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to support passage of two bipartisan bills aimed at shoring up ObamaCare early next year. "There will be some adjustments that have to be made. I’ve committed to Sen. Collins, for example, that we can figure a way forward to help her. And she was a supporter of getting rid of the individual mandate, but we want to steady the insurance markets if we can," he said. (Sullivan, 12/21)

Roll Call: Senate GOP Leans Away From Obamacare Repeal, Toward Stabilization
Senate Republicans appear unlikely to attempt a complete overhaul of the 2010 health care law next year and instead have shifted their focus toward stabilizing the insurance markets. Members say the repeal of the penalty for not having insurance that was included in the GOP tax plan removes a crucial aspect of the law, rendering it largely unworkable. Now, they say a bipartisan fix will be necessary. And Republicans are focusing more on “reform” than “repeal,” at least in their rhetoric. (Williams, 12/21)

Politico Pro: Alexander And Murray Say They’ll Keep Talking; ACA Bill Could Expand
Sens. Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in separate interviews Thursday that they want to resume their talks on a bipartisan Obamacare package and that the legislation may expand. President Donald Trump called Alexander on Thursday morning to “reaffirm his interest in a bipartisan health care bill and [to] get it done in January,” the Tennessee Republican told POLITICO. (Haberkorn, 12/21)

Modern Healthcare: Calls For Obamacare Market Stabilization Intensify As Individual Mandate Penalty Is Axed 
With President Donald Trump poised to sign a tax bill that would effectively kill off the mandate requiring most Americans to buy health insurance coverage or pay a fine, calls for federal legislation to stabilize the individual insurance market are intensifying. But some experts doubt that federal help for 2018 is on the way, and wonder if states would be better off taking action on their own to prop up their markets. The House and Senate this week voted in favor of a $1.5 trillion tax proposal that included a provision zeroing out the individual mandate penalty. (Livingston, 12/21)

Roll Call: White House Reiterates Support For Bipartisan Health Measures
The White House on Thursday signaled it is aligned with Senate Republicans who are moving away from repealing and replacing the 2010 health law in favor of stabilizing insurance markets. A senior administration official on Thursday listed President Donald Trump’s goals for 2018. Absent was something on which Trump campaigned hard and continued to push after taking office: getting rid of Barack Obama’s health law and replacing it with a GOP-crafted plan. (Bennett, 12/21)

The Associated Press: AP-NORC Poll: Health Care Is The Issue That Won't Go Away
As President Donald Trump completes his first year in office, Americans are increasingly concerned about health care, and their faith that government can fix it has fallen. A new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 48 percent named health care as a top problem for the government to focus on in the next year, up 17 points in the last two years. (12/21)

Politico: Second Federal Judge Halts Trump's Birth Control Rule
A second federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration rule that makes it easier for employers to deny contraceptive coverage on moral or religious grounds — a requirement under Obamacare. Judge Haywood Gilliam, Jr., of the the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, issued a preliminary injunction suspending the president's directive, which allowed virtually any employer to claim a religious or moral objection to covering birth control. (Colliver, 12/21)

The Hill: Second Judge Halts Trump Rollback Of ObamaCare Birth Control Rule
Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. granted the injunction Thursday in the District Court for the Northern District of California. The ruling comes on the heels of a similar injunction made by a federal judge in Pennsylvania last Friday. (Weixel, 12/21)

Politico: Trump Administration Sought To Block Abortion For Undocumented Teen Who Alleged Rape
The Trump administration attempted to block an abortion for an undocumented teen in federal custody despite her statements that she was a rape victim, the Justice Department revealed Thursday — in a sweeping departure from the policies of the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. DOJ lawyers made the disclosure in a memo filed in federal court in Washington, a day after the girl obtained the abortion with help from private donors. (Rayasam and Gerstein, 12/21)

The Associated Press: US Official Says Rape And Abortion Both Forms Of Violence
The U.S. government official who oversees the agency sheltering immigrant minors says abortion and rape are both forms of "violence" in a memo released Thursday that explains why he won't allow abortions even for teenagers who have been sexually assaulted. Scott Lloyd heads the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which faces an ongoing lawsuit over its refusal to allow teens in its care to have abortions. (12/21)

In other news —

The Associated Press: Planned Parenthood: Arkansas Faces Having 1 Abortion Clinic
A Planned Parenthood subsidiary told the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday that Arkansas' restrictions on how abortion pills are administered could effectively end medication abortions in the state and leave Arkansas with only one clinic where women can end their pregnancies. (12/21)

USA Today: VA Policy For Hiring Doctors Has Violated Law For Last 15 Years
The Department of Veterans Affairs has allowed its hospitals across the country to hire health care providers with revoked medical licenses for at least 15 years in violation of federal law, a USA TODAY investigation found. The VA issued national guidelines in 2002 giving local hospitals discretion to hire clinicians after “prior consideration of all relevant facts surrounding” any revocations and as long as they still had a license in one state. (Slack, 12/21)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Unveils Updated Hospital Star Ratings Formula 
The CMS announced Thursday it has added updated star ratings to its Hospital Compare site using a new methodology after a five-month delay. The agency had postponed the release of the star ratings since July as it worked to change the methodology and gather stakeholder feedback. The new methodology was designed in response to criticism—particularly from hospitals—that the previous formula was flawed and provided inaccurate information about providers. (Castellucci, 12/21)

In other quality news —

Kaiser Health News: Medicare Penalizes Group Of 751 Hospitals For Patient Injuries
The federal government Thursday lowered a year’s worth of Medicare payments to 751 hospitals to penalize them for having the highest rates of patient injuries. More than half also were punished last year through the penalty, which was created by the Affordable Care Act and began four years ago. The program is designed as a financial incentive for hospitals to avoid infections and other mishaps, such as blood clots and bed sores. (Rau, 12/21)

Kaiser Health News: Infection Lapses Rampant In Nursing Homes But Punishment Is Rare
Basic steps to prevent infections — such as washing hands, isolating contagious patients and keeping ill nurses and aides from coming to work — are routinely ignored in the nation’s nursing homes, endangering residents and spreading hazardous germs. A Kaiser Health News analysis of four years of federal inspection records shows 74 percent of nursing homes have been cited for lapses in infection control — more than for any other type of health violation. In California, health inspectors have cited all but 133 of the state’s 1,251 homes. (Rau, 12/22)

ProPublica: Severe Complications For Women During Childbirth Are Skyrocketing -And Could Often Be Prevented
For every U.S. woman who dies as a consequence of pregnancy or childbirth, up to 70 suffer hemorrhages, organ failure or other significant complications, amounting to more than 1 percent of all births. The annual cost to women, their families, taxpayers and the health care system runs into billions of dollars. (Ellison and Martin, 12/22)

Stat: Can We Get Better At Treating Chronic Illness? 3 Ways To Do It
Roughly half of all adults in the U.S. have one or more chronic illnesses, with 25 percent suffering from two or more such conditions. These people navigate a medical system of widely variable quality, an ever-shifting insurance landscape, and real-world considerations like broken cars, broken marriages, and bad jobs that can shape the patient journey as much as the latest medical discoveries. (Tedeschi, 12/22)

The New York Times: Greater Access To Donated Livers Promised To Transplant Patients
With Manhattan skyscrapers as a backdrop, Roscoe and Sharon Fawcett celebrated their 29th anniversary with a meal of steak, corn and baked potatoes. “She finally got a New York skyline wedding anniversary dinner,” said Mr. Fawcett, a firefighter in Stamford, Conn. “But I’d rather not have had to give it to her that way. ”That’s because Ms. Fawcett, 53, has end-stage liver disease, and the celebration took place in a ninth-floor family lounge at Mount Sinai Hospital, though she was too sick to eat very much. (Alcorn, 12/22)

The New York Times: A Better Kind Of Nursing Home
Lots of things look different when you step into a small Green House nursing home. The bright living and dining space, filled with holiday baubles at this season. The adjacent open kitchen, where the staff is making lunch. The private bedrooms and baths. The lack of long stark corridors, medication carts and other reminders of hospital wards. (Span, 12/22)

The New York Times: For Sore Throat, Xylitol And Probiotics Offer No Benefits Over Placebo
Xylitol, a popular sweetener in sugarless gum, and probiotics are sometimes recommended as remedies for sore throat, but a randomized trial has found that neither works better than a placebo. Researchers assigned 1,009 people with sore throats to one of three groups: no chewing gum, xylitol gum, or sorbitol gum without xylitol. Half of each group was also given capsules containing either probiotics (lactobacilli and bifidobacteria) or a placebo. (Bakalar, 12/21)

Stat: Purdue, Maker Of OxyContin, Begins Major Ad Campaign To Counter Critics
Facing a barrage of lawsuits for its alleged role in seeding the opioid crisis, Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, is countering with a public outreach campaign meant to show it is doing its part to stem the epidemic. The company last week launched an advertising campaign in national newspapers, Washington publications, and local papers in its home state of Connecticut. In a statement, Purdue said the ads were part of a broader “long-term initiative,” but declined to provide details about what else would be included beyond the advertisements. (Joseph, 12/22)

Pioneer Press: Leech Lake Band Of Ojibwe Sues Drug Companies Over Opioids 
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe filed a lawsuit Tuesday against a group of opioid manufacturers and distributors, alleging that the companies are responsible for high levels of addiction and overdose deaths on the reservation. A suit names 23 defendants including manufacturers Purdue Pharma Inc., Cephalon Inc., and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., as well as distributors The McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health, Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. (Pastoor, 12/21)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: DeKalb County Sues Opioid Makers Over Costs Of Addiction, Deaths
DeKalb County on Wednesday filed suit against opioid manufacturers, distributors and others who allegedly helped mislead the public about the dangers of the drugs. Deaths from opioids have skyrocketed in the county, as they have across Georgia. From 1999 to 2013, deaths in the state tripled. (Sharpe, 12/21)

In other news on the epidemic —

New Hampshire Public Radio: N.H. Has Third Highest Drug Overdose Death Rate In The U.S.
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control shows that New Hampshire had one of the highest drug overdose death rates in the country last year. The state saw an overdose death rate of 39 people per 100,000 in 2016. That’s up from 34 people per 100,000 the previous year. (Sutherland, 12/21)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio's Overdose Deaths Soar Again, As State Ranks 2nd Worst In US
Overdose deaths are accelerating in the nation, and Ohio is ahead of the curve. Not only did the state rank 2nd in the number of such deaths in 2016 behind only West Virginia, the deadly trend is continuing and possibly accelerating in 2017, early reports show. (DeMio, 12/21)

Pediatrics: Weapon Carrying Among Victims Of Bullying 
The issues of school violence and peer bullying continue to pose serious threats to the well-being of children and adolescents. ...Victims of bullying who experienced 1, 2, or 3 additional risk factors (fighting at school, being threatened or injured at school, and/or skipping school out of fear for their safety) were successively more likely to carry weapons at school. (Pham, Schapiro, John and Adesman, 12/1)

Health Affairs: Only One In Twenty Justice-Referred Adults In Specialty Treatment For Opioid Use Receive Methadone Or Buprenorphine 
We used 2014 data from the national Treatment Episode Data Set to examine the use of agonist treatment among justice-involved people referred to specialty treatment for opioid use disorder. Only 4.6 percent of justice-referred clients received agonist treatment, compared to 40.9 percent of those referred by other sources. (Krawczyk, Picher, Feder et. al, 12/1)

JAMA: Cervical Pessaries For Spontaneous Preterm Birth In Women With Short Cervixes 
Does use of a cervical pessary reduce the rate of spontaneous delivery before 34 weeks of gestation among women with singleton pregnancies, short cervical length, and no prior spontaneous preterm birth? In this randomized trial of 300 women, the rates of spontaneous preterm birth at less than 34 weeks were 7.3% with a cervical pessary compared with 15.3% without cervical pessary use, a significant difference. (Saccone, Maruotti, Giudicepietro et. al., 12/19)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Emergency-Only Vs Standard Hemodialysis Among Undocumented Immigrants With ESRD 
Do mortality and health care use differ between undocumented immigrants with end-stage renal disease treated with emergency-only hemodialysis vs standard hemodialysis (3 times weekly)? In this cohort study, mean 5-year mortality for patients who received emergency-only hemodialysis was more than 14-fold higher than for those who received standard hemodialysis. (Cervantes, Tuot, Raghavan et. al., 12/18)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento’s Sutter Fined $18,000 In Failure To Report Lobbying
The Fair Political Practices Commission voted 3-0 Thursday to impose an $18,000 fine against Sacramento-based Sutter Health because it failed to report paying $270,000 for lobbying services between April 2015 and June 2017. The commission could have imposed a penalty up to $45,000, but investigators found no evidence that the health care giant intended to conceal its violations. (Anderson, 12/21)

Denver Post: Michael Conway Named Interim Colorado Insurance Commissioner
Gov. John Hickenlooper has named an interim insurance commissioner for Colorado amid uncertainties with the Obama-era Affordable Care Act — known as Obamacare — following the passage this week of the Republican tax overhaul. Michael Conway will be the state’s insurance commissioner starting Jan. 1, the Department of Regulatory Agencies announced Wednesday. (Paul, 12/21)

Chicago Tribune: Illinois Hospitals' Financial Struggles Likely To Continue Into 2018
The list reads like a who’s who of hospital systems in the Chicago area: Advocate Health Care, Edward-Elmhurst Health, Centegra Health System. But it’s a list of hospitals systems that cut jobs this year to deal with financial pressures — not a list any hospital is eager to join. Hospitals in Illinois and across the country faced financial stresses this year and are likely to continue feeling the squeeze into 2018 and beyond, experts say. Those pressures could fuel more cuts, consolidation and changes to patient care and services. (Schencker, 12/21)

The Oregonian: FamilyCare To Operate Through January, Delaying Planned Shutdown
A Medicaid provider that was poised to sever ties with the state at the end of the year has agreed to a 30-day contract extension, its chief executive said Thursday, giving its 113,000 Portland-area clients more time to transfer to another health carrier. FamilyCare president and CEO Jeff Heatherington said the coordinated care organization had reached an agreement with the Oregon Health Authority, the agency that oversees the state's Medicaid program, to continue operating until Jan. 31. (Njus, 12/21)

The Baltimore Sun: Gov. Hogan Appoints Robert Neall As Health Secretary, Makes Schrader Chief Operating Officer 
Gov. Larry Hogan has appointed Robert L. Neall, a veteran public official who has held many roles in government, to run the Maryland Department of Health. Neall, 69, replaces Dennis R. Schrader, who failed to win state Senate confirmation as health secretary. Schrader will take on the role of the department’s chief operating officer, the Governor’s Office announced Thursday. (Dresser, 12/21)

The Star Tribune: Health Officials Expect Minnesota Flu Cases To Rise
Over the past several weeks, federal health officials have reported that some Southern states have been the hardest hit and that cases were picking up in several others, including Wisconsin. Travel to and from the affected regions will spread the flu bug, and Minnesota health officials in the past few weeks have seen several signs that more people are getting sick. (Howatt, 12/21)

Denver Post: As Colorado’s Rural Sheriffs Struggle On Front Lines Of Mental Health Care, They Will Stop Throwing Mentally Ill In Jail Without Charges 
The state’s law enforcement officers, particularly those in rural counties, find themselves on the front lines of mental health care. When a family can’t handle a person or when the crisis plays out in a public place such as a school, grocery store or park, law enforcement officers are called. It’s one more responsibility for rural sheriffs and deputies who already must provide a long list of services mandated by the state, including courthouse security, fire protection and issuance of concealed-carry permits. The work is expensive, and counties still struggling to recover from the recession can be challenged to pay for it. Those same deputies find themselves working long hours, patrolling alone and far from any backup. (Phillips, 12/21)

Nashville Tennessean: Nashville General Hospital Board Meets Amid Plans To End Inpatient Care
As a shutdown of inpatient care at Nashville General Hospital looms, its governing board voted Thursday to extend CEO Joseph Webb's contract through June 2018, with the option of renewing the contract for an additional year. Webb's contract was due to expire Jan. 4. Its extension will include the same terms: a $350,000 annual salary and car allowance. It wasn't immediately clear if Webb would accept the contract. (Wadhwani and Boucher, 12/21)

California Healthline: Near Incineration Of Psychiatric Hospital Highlights Gaping Need For More Beds
As fire raged in Ventura, Calif., earlier this month, Gracie Hartman made her way to the county fairgrounds to look for her friend, Fernando. She found him there at the evacuation center, among 69 patients from the Vista del Mar acute psychiatric hospital, one of two such facilities in the county. They had been removed with little time to spare as the hospital was overtaken by flames. Over the next couple of days, Fernando was transferred to one general hospital as a stopgap, then to another, because, unlike the first, it would accept his insurance. (Feder Ostrov, 12/21)

Politico: No, Trump Hasn’t ‘Essentially Repealed Obamacare’
In July and again in September, Republicans narrowly failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. But their newly passed tax legislation included a provision getting rid of Obamacare’s mandate requiring Americans to buy insurance, and President Donald Trump immediately declared victory in the partisan health care wars. “When the individual mandate is being repealed, that means Obamacare is being repealed,” he crowed at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. “We have essentially repealed Obamacare.” Well, no. The individual mandate is only part of Obamacare. (Michael Grunwald, 12/20)

The Washington Post: FEMA Says Most Of Puerto Rico Has Potable Water. That Can’t Be True.
The weeks after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico brought remarkable images of people desperate to find clean water, drinking from hazardous Superfund sites and thrusting containers under makeshift spigots on the sides of mountains. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, this particular problem has subsided now, more than three months after the storm: FEMA’s official statistics on Puerto Rico, which rely on data provided by the territory, suggest that 95 percent of Puerto Ricans now have access to potable water. That just isn’t possible. (Mekela Panditharatne, 12/21)

JAMA: What This Computer Needs Is A Physician
The nationwide implementation of electronic medical records (EMRs) resulted in many unanticipated consequences, even as these systems enabled most of a patient’s data to be gathered in one place and made those data readily accessible to clinicians caring for that patient. The redundancy of the notes, the burden of alerts, and the overflowing inbox has led to the “4000 keystroke a day” problem and has contributed to, and perhaps even accelerated, physician reports of symptoms of burnout. ... The lessons learned with the EMR should serve as a guide as artificial intelligence and machine learning are developed to help process and creatively use the vast amounts of data being generated in the health care system. (Abraham Verghese, Nigam H. Shah and Robert A. Harrington, 12/20)

PBS NewsHour: Is Your Doctor Happy? Here’s Why It’s Worth Finding Out
When you think about what makes a good doctor, a number of factors likely come to mind: bedside manner, a doctor’s availability, where they did their training, and how well they are able to address your concerns and treat your illnesses. You probably don’t think about physician burnout, a syndrome characterized by exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced effectiveness, that has risen significantly over the past decade and has been experienced by almost half of all physicians sometime during their career. (Nisha Mehta, 12/21)

JAMA: Is Single Payer The Answer For The US Health Care System?
[A] single-payer system could easily provide for universal coverage, but so could less-comprehensive reforms, if the public would support subsidies and compulsion. Single payer might improve health outcomes by providing more equal access to medical care, but attention to the social determinants of health might be a more effective way to improve health. The strongest case for single payer is its potential to control the cost of care. The current fragmented system of financing care precludes such control. (Victor R. Fuchs, 12/18)

JAMA: Canada As Single-Payer Exemplar For Universal Health Care In The United States
Perhaps because of Canada’s adjacency and close relationship with the United States, many policy makers and health care advocates in both nations still seem preoccupied with each other’s systems. Canadians of all political persuasions affirm the superiority of their health care systems by drawing comparisons with the costs and inequities of the US health care system. US opponents of single-payer reforms often demonize Canadian health care, even as US proponents extol their northern neighbor’s approach. This Viewpoint argues that the constant overemphasis on Canada is unhelpful to advancing the cause of universal and equitable access to health care for US citizens. (C. David Naylor, 12/18)

Los Angeles Times: Marijuana Businesses Are Awash With Cash. California Wants To Help Get That Money Into Banks
One of the biggest problems facing California cannabis businesses, regulators and law enforcement officials once recreational marijuana sales become legal on Jan. 1 is what to do about all the cash that is expected to change hands. With marijuana still illegal under federal law, most marijuana businesses can’t open bank accounts or accept credit card transactions — financial services companies refuse to serve them for fear being penalized by federal regulators for handling money from drug sales. That means marijuana transactions are typically done in cash. (12/22)

The New England Journal of Medicine: The Regulatory Accountability Act Of 2017 — Implications For FDA Regulation And Public Health
Last spring, Congress took a substantial step toward making regulation by federal agencies more difficult in all areas, including health. The Regulatory Accountability Act — which passed through the committee phase in the Senate in May, after the House of Representatives passed a similar bill — has been described by proponents as a way to reverse the increasing volume of regulatory requirements. ... But the bill would pursue its deregulatory aims by imposing onerous requirements on rulemaking, which we believe could have potentially disastrous consequences for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies that protect public health and safety. (Jonathan J. Darrow, Erin C. Fuse Brown and Aaron S. Kesselheim, 12/20)