First Edition: April 30, 2018

Kaiser Health News: How A Drug Company Under Pressure For High Prices Ratchets Up Political Activity
Business looked challenging for Novo Nordisk at the end of 2016. As pressure mounted over the pharma giant’s soaring insulin prices, investors drove its stock down by a third on fears that policymakers would take action, limit prices and hurt profits. Then things got worse. A Massachusetts law firm sued the company and two other pharma firms on behalf of patients, claiming that high insulin prices of hundreds of dollars a month forced diabetics to starve themselves to minimize their blood sugar while skimping on doses. At least five states began investigating insulin makers and their business partners. (Hancock and Lucas, 4/30)

Kaiser Health News: Tax-Funded Mental Health Programs Not Always Easy To Find
Back in 2008, Mary Hogden was homeless, living on the streets of Berkeley, Calif. “I got beat up really badly out there,” says Hogden, 62. “It’s not a safe place for women.” She landed in the hospital and then in a boarding home for adults with mental illness. But her big break came when she started volunteering for a mental health program called the Pool of Consumer Champions, run by Alameda County. (Bazar, 4/30)

The Washington Post: Ronny Jackson Won’t Return To Job As Trump’s Physician
Ronny L. Jackson, the Navy rear admiral whom President Trump unsuccessfully nominated to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, will not return to his previous role as the president’s personal physician, a White House official said Sunday. Jackson, who withdrew as Trump’s VA pick last week, will remain on the staff of the White House medical unit, the official added. Sean Conley, a Navy veteran who took over Jackson’s responsibilities after his nomination, will remain in the role as Trump’s personal doctor. (Parker, 4/29)

Politico: Ronny Jackson Won’t Return To Old Job As Trump’s Physician
Jackson bowed out last week after Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the top Democrat on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, released a document summarizing allegations by current and former colleagues that Jackson overprescribed pills, drank on the job and created a hostile work environment. Jackson has denied the allegations and has returned to work in the White House Medical Unit. (Johnson, 4/29)

The Hill: White House: No Evidence Ronny Jackson Crashed Government Vehicle
An investigation did not uncover any evidence that President Trump's former nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) drunkenly wrecked a government vehicle after a Secret Service party, White House officials told The Washington Post. The accusation against Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician, was one of the more serious allegations the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee examined as part of his confirmation process this month. (Greenwood, 4/27)

The Hill: Trump: Tester 'Dishonest And Sick' For Pushing Allegations Against VA Nominee
President Trump lashed out at Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) on Twitter Saturday afternoon, defending his former pick for Veterans Affairs (VA) secretary, Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson. In the tweet, Trump called Tester "dishonest and sick" for pushing an allegation that Secret Service agents had to stop Jackson from drunkenly banging on the door of a female staffer on an overseas trip in 2015, worrying he would wake then-President Obama. (Bowden, 4/28)

Politico: Gowdy: Some Allegations Against Ronny Jackson ‘Warrant' Investigation
House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy on Sunday said some of the allegations against President Donald Trump’s ill-fated pick for secretary of Veterans Affairs should be investigated. Appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” the South Carolina Republican said, “I think some of those allegations do warrant being investigated,” referring to a series of allegations levied against the White House physician and now-withdrawn VA secretary nominee, Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson. (Beavers, 4/29)

The Associated Press Fact Check: Trump Distorts Claims On VA Nominee, Vet Care
President Donald Trump is distorting some of the reasons why his pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, White House physician Ronny Jackson, abruptly withdrew his nomination. Trump casts late-surfacing allegations against Jackson as entirely partisan. He cites an investigation led by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., even though the review involved interviews with military personnel and was conducted with the knowledge and support of Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the committee considering Jackson’s nomination. (Yen, 4/29)

Modern Healthcare: Ascension's Tersigni On Short List For VA Secretary
Ascension President and CEO Anthony Tersigni is among those being considered to lead the Veterans Affairs Department, sources close to the matter say. Other potential candidates include acting Secretary Robert Wilkie and former Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr. Toby Cosgrove. House Speaker Paul Ryan suggested that Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, and former congressman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) should also be considered. (Aguilar, 4/28)

Politico: ‘Who The Hell Is This Person?’ Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Pal Stymies VA Project
A West Palm Beach doctor’s ties to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago social circle have enabled him to hold up the biggest health information technology project in history — the transformation of the VA’s digital records system. Dr. Bruce Moskowitz, an internist and friend of Trump confidant Ike Perlmutter, who advises the president informally on vet issues, objected to the $16 billion Department of Veterans Affairs project because he doesn’t like the Cerner Corp. software he uses at two Florida hospitals, according to four former and current senior VA officials. Cerner technology is a cornerstone of the VA project. (Allen, 4/30)

The Washington Post: Top Democratic Senator Questions CDC Director’s $375,000 Salary
A top Democratic senator is raising questions about the $375,000 salary of Robert Redfield, the new leader of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who is getting almost twice what his predecessor earned and more than other past directors. In a letter Friday to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) asked for the justification for offering Redfield “a salary significantly higher” than that of his predecessors and other leaders at HHS. (Sun, 4/27)

The New York Times: New C.D.C. Director’s $375,000 Salary Under Scrutiny
The high salary set for the newly appointed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has come under criticism from Senate Democrats and watchdog groups who questioned the use of an exemption to pay him nearly twice as much as his predecessors. Dr. Robert R. Redfield, who became the director in March, is receiving $375,000 a year, a substantially higher salary than the heads of many other government agencies. It was granted under a provision known as Title 42, which gives the department the authority to pay staff more than the approved government rate if the personnel provide a specific scientific need that cannot otherwise be filled. (Kaplan, 4/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Weapons Training Likely Causes Brain Injury In Troops, Study Says
Thousands of U.S. troops are likely suffering traumatic brain injury not just from battlefield explosions but from repeated exposure to trauma while training on their own weapons, according to a new study. Service members, even those who may not have seen combat but specialize in using high explosives or weapons such as rocket launchers, could have lasting brain damage from the pounding on their necks and heads, researchers at the Center for a New American Security said in a report released Monday. The defense think tank is a nonprofit organization funded by the federal government and public- and private-sector donors. (Kesling, 4/30)

NPR: Shoulder-Fired Weapons May Pose Concussion Risk To The Shooter, Army Finds
"When you fire it, the pressure wave feels like getting hit in the face," says Paul Scharre, a former Army Ranger who directs the technology and national security program at the Center. Scharre is a co-author of the center's report: Protecting Warfighters from Blast Injury. The report looks at a range of injuries caused by blast waves — pulses of high pressure air that emanate from an explosion and travel faster than the speed of sound. (Hamilton, 4/30)

The Associated Press: Struggle For Transgender Rights Shifts To Health Care
Military service. Bathroom use. Job bias. And now, health care. The Trump administration is coming under fire for rewriting a federal rule that bars discrimination in health care based on "gender identity." Critics say it's another attempt to undercut acceptance for transgender people. The Health and Human Services Department rule dates to the Obama administration, a time when LGBT people gained political and social recognition. But a federal judge in Texas said the rule went too far by concluding that discrimination on the basis of gender identity is a form of sex discrimination, which is forbidden by civil rights laws. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 4/30)

The Hill: Groups Working To Stop Teen Pregnancy Alarmed By Trump Shift 
Groups working to cut teen pregnancy rates in the United States say they would have to scrap programs they’ve been working on for years to meet new guidelines for funding from the Trump administration. The administration is shifting the focus of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP) more toward abstinence education, and groups will have to get onboard if they want to continue receiving financial support from the federal government. (Hellmann, 4/28)

The New York Times: The Golden State Killer Is Tracked Through A Thicket Of DNA, And Experts Shudder
Genetic testing services have become enormously popular with people looking for long-lost relatives or clues to hereditary diseases. Most never imagined that one day intimate pieces of their DNA could be mined to assist police detectives in criminal cases. Even as scientific experts applauded this week’s arrest of the Golden State Killer suspect, Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, some expressed unease on Friday at reports that detectives in California had used a public genealogy database to identify him. Privacy and ethical issues glossed over in the public’s rush to embrace DNA databases are now glaringly apparent, they said. (Kolata and Murphy, 4/27)

The New York Times: To Catch A Killer: A Fake Profile On A DNA Site And A Pristine Sample
To solve a decades-old serial rape and murder case that had gone cold, investigators used DNA gathered at a crime scene and created a fake profile and pseudonym on a genealogy website several months ago, according to law enforcement officials. An investigator with the Contra Costa County district attorney’s office and an F.B.I. lawyer worked together for several months, submitting the genetic profile of a DNA sample recovered from a 1980 murder to a genealogy website, which then delivered several matches of individuals who were distant relatives of the suspect. From there, in consultation with several genealogists, they were led to the doorstep of the man whom they believed carried out a spree of rapes and murders across California in the 1970s and 1980s. (Arango, Goldman and Fuller, 4/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Use Of Genealogy Data To Track Golden State Killer Raises Privacy Questions
The use of DNA information in criminal investigations isn’t new, but what makes the case noteworthy, according to legal experts and bioethicists, is the use of a nonstate-owned DNA database, where individuals who share their genetic code are essentially sharing information about family members who may not have consented to reveal such data. State-owned databases contain DNA data of convicted criminals and, in some instances, people arrested. Sites like GEDmatch contain data of people who may not have had run-ins with law enforcement. (Hernandez, Kanno-Youngs and Elinson, 4/28)

Los Angeles Times: From Golden State Killer To Grim Sleeper, DNA Helping Break Serial Killer Mysteries From 1970s And 1980s
Crime sprees on the scale of the Golden State Killer's are more difficult to pull off nowadays, some experts say: The same technology that helps solve such cold cases can thwart a modern-day criminal before he accumulates enough victims to earn a nickname. In recent years, serial killers who make headlines are more likely to be long retired than actively on the hunt. "It's a lot harder to be a serial killer or rapist now than it used to be — they get ID'd sooner," said former Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley. (Chang and Queally, 4/29)

The Associated Press: AP Explains: A Look At DNA-Sharing Services And Privacy
The use of a genealogy website to track down a suspected California serial killer illustrates both the extraordinary power of DNA-sharing services and the broad privacy concerns that surround the fast-growing commercial market for genetic analysis. TV commercials for companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com pitch their services as simple and fun ways of learning about family heritage and health. And while those companies on Friday sought to distance themselves from the free GEDmatch website used by police, the California case exposed broader questions about what happens after consumers mail their saliva away for DNA analysis and upload the results to the internet. (4/27)

The New York Times: Injecting Drugs Can Ruin A Heart. How Many Second Chances Should A User Get?
Jerika Whitefield’s memories of the infection that almost killed her are muddled, except for a few. Her young children peering at her in the hospital bed. Her stepfather wrapping her limp arms around the baby. Her whispered appeal to a skeptical nurse: “Please don’t let me die. I promise, I won’t ever do it again.” Ms. Whitefield, 28, had developed endocarditis, an infection of the heart valves caused by bacteria that entered her blood when she injected methamphetamine one morning in 2016. Doctors saved her life with open-heart surgery, but before operating, they gave her a jolting warning: If she continued shooting up and got reinfected, they would not operate again. (Goodnough, 4/29)

Stateline: In Rural Areas Hit Hard By Opioids, A New Source Of Hope
Six months after President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national emergency, some health officials say the federal government has not provided enough new money to combat it. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture this month announced it will offer help to some communities using the resources it already has.The agency this year says it will dedicate at least $20 million of a $49 million rural telehealth and distance learning fund for projects related to opioid addiction. It also has committed to spending $5 million of a $30 million grant program that pays for buildings and equipment in rural areas for projects related to opioids. (Fifield, 4/30)

The Associated Press: Drugmakers Push Back Against Lawmakers' Calls To Tax Opioids
Facing a rising death toll from drug overdoses, state lawmakers across the country are testing a strategy to boost treatment for opioid addicts: Force drug manufacturers and their distributors to pay for it. Bills introduced in at least 15 states would impose taxes or fees on prescription painkillers. Several of the measures have bipartisan support and would funnel millions of dollars toward treatment and prevention programs. In Montana, state Sen. Roger Webb, a Republican, sees the approach as a way to hold drugmakers accountable for an overdose epidemic that in 2016 claimed 42,000 lives in the U.S., a record. (Mulvihill and Potter, 4/28)

The Washington Post: Bill Gates Calls On U.S. To Lead Fight Against A Pandemic That Could Kill 33 Million
Bill Gates says the U.S. government is falling short in preparing the nation and the world for the “significant probability of a large and lethal modern-day pandemic occurring in our lifetimes.” In an interview this week, the billionaire philanthropist said he has raised the issue of pandemic preparedness with President Trump since the 2016 presidential election. In his most recent meeting last month, Gates said he laid out the increasing risk of a bioterrorism attack and stressed the importance of U.S. funding for advanced research on new therapeutics, including a universal flu vaccine, which would protect against all or most strains of influenza. (Sun, 4/27)

Stat: Bill Gates Moves To Boost The Campaign For A Universal Flu Vaccine
Bill Gates is putting his shoulder into the push to develop a universal flu vaccine. The billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder announced Friday that his charity — the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — is offering $12 million in seed money to spur innovative thinking on a scientific challenge that has stumped the influenza research community for decades and is considered the holy grail of flu research. (Branswell, 4/27)

Stat: Bill Gates Says He Got Trump Fired Up About A Universal Flu Vaccine
Bill Gates was talking to President Trump in the Oval Office last month when the conversation turned to the notion of a universal flu vaccine — probably, as Gates recalled in an interview, “the longest conversation about universal flu vaccine that the president’s ever had.” “You should associate yourself with American innovation. Wouldn’t you love to have the universal flu vaccine be something that really got kicked off and energized by you?” Gates recalled asking Trump. (Branswell, 4/30)

Stat: Bill Gates Glad Amazon Is Taking On Health Care — But Says It's Complicated
Bill Gates is glad his fellow billionaires Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, and Jamie Dimon are getting into health care. He’s not so sure their new effort will help unlock solutions for the entire U.S. health care system. Their plan to form an independent health care company for employees of their companies — Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase — has been hailed as a way to “disrupt” health care. In an interview with STAT, Gates said that while the industry titans might be able to curb costs and improve the health of their own employees, the broader U.S. health care system is “super complex” and rife with misincentives. (Thielking, 4/30)

The Washington Post: Miracle Cures Or Modern Quackery? Stem Cell Clinics Multiply, With Heartbreaking Results For Some Patients.
Doris Tyler lay on the examining table as the doctor stuck a long, thin tube into her belly. The doctor pulled back a plunger, and the syringe quickly filled with yellow blobs tinged with pink. “Look at that beautiful fat coming out. Liquid gold!” one of the clinic’s staff exclaimed in a video of the procedure provided to The Washington Post. Hidden in that fat were stem cells with the amazing power to heal, the Stem Cell Center of Georgia had told Tyler. The clinic is one of hundreds that have popped up across the country, many offering treatments for conditions from Parkinson’s disease to autism to multiple sclerosis. (McGinley and Wan, 4/29)

The Washington Post: Stroke Symptoms And Prevention, In Time For Stroke Awareness Month
How stroke-aware are you? Perhaps you know the warning signs — sudden numbness on one side of the body, trouble speaking, sudden blurred vision, trouble walking — or know someone who has experienced a stroke. There’s never a bad time to brush up on stroke awareness, and May — National Stroke Awareness Month — is a good time to get up to speed. (Blakemore, 4/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Banks, Credit-Card Companies Explore Ways To Monitor Gun Purchases
Banks and credit-card companies are discussing ways to identify purchases of guns in their payment systems, a move that could be a prelude to restricting such transactions, according to people familiar with the talks. The discussions are preliminary but could be deeply controversial. Gun-rights groups have long resisted any effort to monitor which Americans own guns; there are federal laws limiting the government’s use of electronic databases of gun sales. (Andriotis, Demos and Glazer, 4/30)

NPR: Gaps In Emergency Care For Patients With Mental Health Issues
A viral video from Baltimore is drawing attention to a crisis that's unfolding in emergency rooms across the country: Surging numbers of patients with psychiatric conditions aren't receiving the care they need. On a cold night in January, a man walking by a downtown Baltimore hospital saw something that shocked him. He started recording the incident on his phone. Imamu Baraka's video, which has been viewed more than 3 million times, shows security guards walking away from a bus stop next to the emergency room of University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus. (Kennedy, 4/29)

The Washington Post: Is Banking A Newborn's Umbilical Cord Blood A Good Idea?
How should parents decide whether to put their baby’s blood on ice, either for their own family’s future use or as a donation for the greater good? It’s a tricky calculation, one that changes based on a family’s risk threshold, dreams for the future and, of course, money. In 2015, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists put out an opinion that, at this point, the science doesn’t support routine cord blood banking. “The routine storage of umbilical cord blood as ‘biologic insurance’ against future disease is not recommended,” the authors of that opinion write. (Sanders, 4/28)

The Washington Post: Some People Do Better Exercising At A Low-Intensity Pace
Liz Wolfert seemed a picture of health. The Denver-based financial consultant rode her bike to work, climbed “14ers” — mountains that rise more than 14,000 feet above sea level — took kung fu lessons and swam. But in 2015, at age 32, she learned that she had elevated blood glucose levels, a possible sign of ­pre-diabetes. Wolfert’s first instinct was to work out harder and faster. But she soon learned that she needed to do the opposite: slow down and exercise at a much easier pace. (Loudin, 4/29)

The Washington Post: Tumor On Her Baby's Heart Forced Pregnant Mom To Make Risky Choice
Alysha Kellner was 23 weeks pregnant when she learned last year that her baby had a rare, fast-growing tumor on her heart that might require surgery while still inside the womb. It was earth-shattering news that didn’t stop there. Fetal surgery to remove this type of tumor had been done successfully just three times in the world and had never even been attempted by Kellner’s doctors at Children’s Minnesota. (Sohn, 4/29)

The Washington Post: A Mother Was Diagnosed With A Deadly Rodent-Borne Virus, Family Says. Months Later, She Died.
No one seemed to know what was wrong with Kiley Lane. For weeks, the 27-year-old had been suffering severe pain and swelling in her abdomen, telling doctors, nurses and loved ones that she felt as if she had a seat belt stretched across her stomach. Lane, from Aztec, a small town in New Mexico not far from the Four Corners, went to a nearby emergency room again and again and again. (Bever, 4/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Regulators Hunt For Source Of Lettuce-Borne E.Coli Outbreak
Federal officials discovered one source of a growing nationwide E.coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce that has revived concerns over a leafy green industry that has long grappled with how to produce safe food. But questions still remained over the origins of most U.S. illnesses. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday said it has traced the whole-head romaine lettuce that sickened eight inmates in an Alaska jail to Harrison Farms in Yuma, Ariz., but that it is still looking for the source of chopped lettuce that sickened dozens more Americans. (Newman, 4/27)

Reuters: Ninety-Eight Now Sick From Romaine Lettuce-Linked E. Coli: CDC
Fourteen more people fell ill from an E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce, U.S. health officials said on Friday, bringing the number of people affected to 98 across 22 U.S. states. The reported strain of E. coli, which produces poisonous substances known as Shiga toxins, can cause severe abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea and vomiting. (Mishra, 4/27)

The Washington Post: 22 States Now Affected By Dangerous Outbreak Of E. Coli Illness From Romaine Lettuce
The latest numbers make this the biggest multistate outbreak involving E. coli since 2006, when contaminated baby spinach was the culprit. Three more states have now reported ill people: Mississippi, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. Forty-six people out of 87 on which information is available — or 53 percent — have been hospitalized. Ten of those  developed severe kidney failure, including three children. (Sun and Achenbach, 4/27)

The Hill: Illinois House Approves Plan To Replace Armed Officers In Schools With Mental Health Professionals
The Illinois House of Representatives on Friday approved a plan to replace armed police officers in schools with unarmed mental health professionals. The Democratic-led Illinois House voted 64-25 in favor of setting up a grant program that would reward schools for hiring social workers, according to the Associated Press. (Anapol, 4/29)

The New York Times: She Died After Collapsing On A Plane The Pilot Refused To Divert. Now Her Family Is Suing.
Brittany Oswell suddenly felt ill about three hours into her flight from Hawaii to Texas. She was dizzy, disoriented and slurring her speech. Then she briefly fainted. A flight attendant on the American Airlines flight in April 2016 tracked down a doctor on board who examined her. She may have had a panic attack, the doctor said. But it soon became clear her condition was far worse. About an hour later, Ms. Oswell, 25, collapsed in a lavatory, defecated and vomited on herself, and threw up on flight attendants who had come to check on her. The doctor returned and this time issued an urgent request to the flight crew: The pilot must land the plane immediately. (Haag, 4/27)