The New York Times: Kamala Harris And Michael Bloomberg Clash On Medicare For All
A day after Senator Kamala Harris of California endorsed ending private health insurance in favor of a “Medicare for all” government plan, Michael R. Bloomberg, a possible rival of hers for the Democratic presidential nomination, said the proposal would “bankrupt us for a very long time.” Mr. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor who is considering a 2020 bid on a centrist Democratic platform, rejected the idea of “Medicare for all,” which has been gaining traction among Democrats. (Astor, 1/29)

The Hill: Bloomberg On 'Medicare For All': 'You Could Never Afford That'
"You can have Medicare for all for people who are uncovered," he continues, "But ... to replace the entire private system where companies provide health care for their employees would bankrupt us for a very long time." Bloomberg's comments come as former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, a fellow billionaire, expressed interest this week in running as an independent presidential candidate in 2020, citing what he said was the Democrats' shift too far to the left. (Bowden, 1/29)

The Associated Press: Key Takeaways From Kamala Harris' Big 2020 Campaign Rollout
Moderator Jake Tapper questioned her on whether the "Medicare for All" health plan, which she said she feels "very strongly" about, would mean eliminating private insurers for those who would prefer to keep them." The idea is everyone gets access to medical care," Harris responded, noting situations where patients have had to wait for insurers to approve treatments, despite the fact that their physicians have deemed them necessary. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said Tuesday that Harris wants to "abolish the insurance industry," something he called "not American." (Summers, 1/29)

The Washington Post: Democratic Candidates Face Political Risks And Policy Challenges When Pressed On Health-Care Specifics
In a single flourish, Harris drew attention to the fact that the Medicare-for-all plans backed by 16 senators — including five potential candidates for the Democratic nomination — would in effect remove private health insurance from the estimated 251 million Americans who use it, broadly disrupting the industry and the way Americans experience the medical system. The concept drew quick rebukes from Republicans — and billionaire coffee magnate Howard Schultz, who is considering an independent presidential bid — showing how easily the idea can be weaponized politically, especially as candidates are increasingly pressed for specifics. (Linskey, 1/29)

The Hill: Dems Hit GOP On Pre-Existing Conditions At Panel's First Policy Hearing
The powerful House Ways and Means Committee used its first policy hearing of the new Congress to hammer Republicans on pre-existing conditions, an issue that helped propel Democrats into the majority during the 2018 midterm elections. Democratic panel members highlighted actions by the Trump administration that they argue have hurt people with pre-existing conditions, like the expansion of non-ObamaCare plans that could draw healthy people from the markets, raising premiums for those left behind. (Hellmann, 1/29)

CQ: Hearing Reveals Health Care Goals, But Old Grudges An Issue
Essentially every committee Republican expressed support for guaranteeing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and called on Congress to lower health care costs. Democrats on the panel pushed back on that, criticizing Republicans for a previous lack of support for pre-existing conditions protections that were in the 2010 health care law (PL 111-148, PL 111-152). In between partisan comments, lawmakers mentioned health policies the panel could consider this year. Those include efforts to lower health care costs, improve association health plans or allow people to buy into the Medicare program. (McIntire, 1/29)

Politico: Congress Takes On Unexpected Medical Bills, Sparking Industry Turf War
A bipartisan fix for surprise medical bills that are socking even well-insured Americans could be one of the few issues uniting Democrats and Republicans this year, but only if lawmakers find a way to contend with competing factions of the health industry, none of whom want to pick up the entire tab. The political appeal of the issue is such that even President Donald Trump last week hosted a roundtable of patients who shared stories of jaw-dropping medical costs — like a $16,000 charge for one emergency room visit. (Roubein and Cancryn, 1/29)

Reuters: U.S. Senator Asks J&J For Documents On Talc, Baby Powder Safety
U.S. Democratic Senator Patty Murray sent a letter to Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday seeking information related to allegations in a Reuters Special Report that the healthcare company knew about the presence of asbestos in its talc-based baby powder. The letter addressed to J&J Chief Executive Alex Gorsky asks for documents and information related to testing of its talc products for the presence of carcinogens and "how it presented that information to regulators and consumers." (1/29)

The New York Times: Frostbite And Hypothermia: Tips To Stay Safe In Extreme Cold Weather
Here’s how to stay safe as a polar vortex puts the Midwest into a deep freeze this week: Do. Not. Go. Outside. Experts warn that even a short time in the blistering cold can be extremely dangerous, with the risk of hypothermia and frostbite increasing every minute. Of course, many of us have no choice: We have to go to work, take care of others, clear snow, get supplies. If you’ll be outside for any amount of time, you should dress warmly and cover any exposed skin. (Zraick, 1/29)

The New York Times: ‘I’m Cold And I’m Afraid’: Across Midwest, Homeless Await Deep Freeze
As temperatures in Midwestern cities plunged to levels colder than parts of Antarctica and officials warned people not to step outside even for a few minutes, Tony Neeley stood on a downtown Chicago street corner Tuesday, wearing wet sneakers and clutching a hand warmer packet in each of his bare hands. He had already been there for hours. “I’m cold and I’m afraid,” Mr. Neeley said, adding that he was trying to raise enough money from the bundled commuters rushing past to pay for a $45 motel room on a night that weather forecasters warned would send the Midwest into a deep freeze unlike anything even this region has seen in years. (Bosman and Davey, 1/29)

The Associated Press: Deep Freeze Envelops Midwest, Even Stops The Mail
The bitter cold is the result of a split in the polar vortex that allowed temperatures to plunge much further south than normal. Officials throughout the region were focused on protecting vulnerable people from the cold, including the homeless, seniors and those living in substandard housing. (Nicholson, 1/30)

Detroit Free Press: Cold Urticaria Allergy Can Be Deadly: Symptoms To Watch For
For some people, exposure to cold temperatures can cause a life-threatening allergic reaction called cold urticaria. As near-record low temperatures grip the region, Dr. Earlexia M. Norwood, service chief for family medicine at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital and the director of practice development for the Henry Ford Medical group, explains what cold urticaria is, and lays out what she wishes patients knew about surviving the deep freeze. (Shamus, 1/29)

WBUR: 'Life-Threatening Arctic Blast' Surges Into Midwest, Barreling Toward Eastern U.S.
Record-shattering cold, heavy snow and howling winds are descending on a broad swath of the U.S., the National Weather Service says. It's the result of one of the coldest arctic air masses to hit the country in recent memory, the agency says, forecasting bitter conditions in areas from the Upper Midwest to many Eastern states. (Chappell and Romo, 1/29)

MPR: 'Emergency Situation' For Twin Cities Homeless People As Deadly Cold Sets In
Homeless people in the Twin Cities are being forced to sleep in light rail trains or on the streets during this week's stretch of deadly cold temperatures as most shelters are full in Minneapolis and St. Paul. ...Many shelters are open extended hours this week, but there still aren't enough beds available for people who want them, said Chris Knutson, street outreach team lead at St. Stephen's Human Services. (Nelson, 1/29)

The Washington Post: Gone In A Generation: How Climate Change Is Disrupting American Lives
The continental United States is 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it was a century ago. Seas at the coasts are nine inches higher. The damage is mounting from these fundamental changes, and Americans are living it. These are their stories. (Murphy and Mooney, 1/29)

The Associated Press: Witness: Exec Gave Lap Dance To Doctor In Drug Bribes Scheme
A former pharmaceutical executive accused of joining in a scheme to bribe doctors into prescribing a powerful painkiller once gave a lap dance to a doctor the company was pressuring to get his patients on the drug, her onetime colleague said Tuesday. Jurors heard the testimony on the second day of the closely watched federal trial in Boston against Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor and four other former executives. They include Sunrise Lee, whom prosecutors have described as a former exotic dancer who was hired to be a regional sales manager even though she had no experience in the pharmaceutical world. (Richer, 1/29)

Bloomberg: Insys ‘Closer’ Lap-Danced To Boost Opioid Sales, Jury Told 
Holly Brown, a former Insys sales representative in Chicago, said in 2012 she, her boss Sunrise Lee, and another Insys sales rep took Dr. Paul Madison to The Underground -- a high-end nightclub near the Chicago River. She then spotted Lee, a former stripper, and the physician in an intimate moment, Brown told the jury. “She was sitting on his lap, kind of bouncing around, and he had his hands all over her chest,’’ Brown said. Lee was hired to be a “closer’’ with doctors targeted in the Subsys marketing program, according to a government witness who prosecutors are expected to call in the case. (Feeley and Lawrence, 1/29)

Stateline: Opioid Money Has Helped, But States Want More
More than a decade into an opioid overdose epidemic that’s costing the nation at least $78 billion a year, emergency federal dollars have kindled local victories. But state and local officials say they need sustainable funding for what they expect to be a long-term struggle to provide effective treatment for legions of people addicted to opioids. Many officials are counting on settlements in civil cases against the drugmakers and distributors that state and local governments blame for the epidemic. Other states are considering an annual assessment against drug companies or a tax on painkillers. (Vestal, 1/30)

And in more news on the crisis —

The Associated Press: More Staff On Leave As Hospital Reviews Deaths, Drug Doses
An Ohio hospital said Tuesday it has put more employees, including managers, on leave amid allegations that an intensive-care doctor ordered potentially fatal doses of pain medication for dozens of patients. Mount Carmel Health System, which fired the doctor in December, said 23 staff members are on leave pending further investigation. It previously had said 20 employees — six pharmacists and 14 nurses — were on leave. (1/29)

Columbus Dispatch: Son Of Mount Carmel Patient Who Received High Painkiller Dose Wants Systemic, Legislative Changes
A son of a 65-year-old woman who received a potentially fatal dose of painkiller at Mount Carmel West hospital in early 2015 expressed grief and distress Tuesday that such an error was not immediately caught, but allowed to continue for almost four years. Chris Thomas said he felt his mom, Jan Thomas, was used as a guinea pig or crash-test dummy when she died on March 1, 2015. She was one of 34 intensive-care patients whom Mount Carmel has said were given excessive doses of painkiller, the vast majority of them potentially fatal, all ordered by the same doctor. (Viviano, 1/29)

Boston Globe: Boston Sees Outbreak Of HIV Among Boston Drug Users
Public health officials are scrambling to contain a new cluster of HIV cases among people who inject drugs, this time based in Boston and involving six people so far. The new cluster follows an HIV outbreak in Lawrence and Lowell that involved 153 cases from 2015 through 2018. (Freyer, 1/29)

Bloomberg: Bill De Blasio's NYC Healthcare-For-All Meets Strained Hospitals 
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says he’s turning the city into a model for how the nation can provide health care to all, including the poor, the uninsured and undocumented immigrants. In doing so, he boasts he’s saved the city’s public hospitals from bankruptcy and can provide universal care for just $100 million by steering New Yorkers away from emergency rooms and into managed-care clinics. Yet he may have promised more than he can deliver. (Goldman, 1/29)

Modern Healthcare: Fewer Hospital Infections Help Save $7.7 Billion 
The rate of hospital-acquired conditions declined by 13% from 2014 to 2017, saving the providers $7.7 billion and preventing 20,500 hospital deaths, according to preliminary data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In the report released Tuesday, AHRQ said hospitals reported 2.55 million hospital-acquired conditions, or HACs, in 2017 for all inpatients 18 years and older, which is down from the 2.94 million HACs reported in 2014. From 2010 through preliminary 2017 data, the average annual reduction in the overall rate of HACs is about 4.5%, the report said. (Castellucci, 1/29)

Other hospital news comes out of Illinois, Nevada, California, Texas and Louisiana —

Chicago Tribune: Obama Friend To Work On Turning Around Chicago-Area Hospitals After $70 Million Sale
The new owner of three money-losing Chicago-area hospitals plans to work on turning them around after buying the facilities for $70 million this week. Los Angeles-based Pipeline Health hopes to make Louis A. Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park and West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park more sustainable, said Jim Edwards, CEO of Pipeline and also a part-owner of the for-profit company. (Schencker, 1/29)

The Associated Press: Hospital Ordered To Pay Nearly $43M To Family Of Dead Woman
A Las Vegas hospital has been ordered to pay nearly $43 million to the family of a woman who died while in the hospital’s care. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports jurors ruled in favor of plaintiffs Dwayne Murray and his 7-year-old daughter, Brooklynn, and ordered Centennial Hills Hospital to pay more than $10.5 million in compensatory damages and $32.4 million in punitive damages. The jury ruled the hospital and its staff breached standards of care by administering a drug that killed Murray’s wife, 29-year-old LaQuinta Whitley Murray. (1/29)

San Jose Mercury News: Judge Rejects Attorney General's Attempt To Block Sale Of O'Connor And St. Louise Hospitals
A Los Angeles bankruptcy judge has tentatively denied a request by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to block the sale of O’Connor Hospital and St. Louise Regional Hospital to the county of Santa Clara, ruling Becerra doesn’t have the authority to regulate the deal. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ernest Robles, who ruled in December that the attorney general doesn’t have the authority to regulate the sale of private hospitals to public entities, wrote that Becerra’s attorneys have made the same argument they did when he ruled against them in December. (Vo, 1/29)

California Healthline: California Attorney General And Santa Clara County Face Off Over Sale Of Two Hospitals
When U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris approved the sale of six nonprofit California hospitals in 2015 as the state attorney general, she imposed strict conditions on the new corporate owners, requiring them to continue to provide critical health services to area residents. Now her successor, fellow Democrat Xavier Becerra, is asserting his authority in court to enforce those conditions on Santa Clara County, which wants to buy two of the hospitals out of bankruptcy. County officials warn that the attorney general’s stance could force the closure of the hospitals, limiting health care access for hundreds of thousands of people. (Young and Feder Ostrov, 1/29)

Dallas Morning News: California-Based Pipeline Health Expands In Dallas Area, Buys 22 Stand-Alone Emergency Rooms 
A Los Angeles-based hospital management company is expanding its North Texas presence by acquiring 22 freestanding emergency rooms. Pipeline Health LLC announced Tuesday that it had bought Texas Health Resources' majority stake in the freestanding emergency rooms. Texas Health is the Arlington-based hospital network. Pipeline Health will own the emergency rooms with Adeptus Health, a Lewisville-based company that was acquired by a hedge fund after filing for bankruptcy. (Repko, 1/29)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: University Medical Center Begins Search For New CEO 
University Medical Center is searching for a new CEO after promoting its current one to the second highest ranking executive role in the LCMC Health system. UMC’s former CEO Bill Masterton has been promoted to LCMC Health’s market CEO, according to a press release. There he will oversee the operational and financial performance of the system’s four adult hospitals: West Jefferson Medical Center, UMC, Touro Infirmary and New Orleans East Hospital. (Clark, 1/29)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare May Extend Value-Based Pay Models To Other Insurers 
CMS Administrator Seema Verma on Tuesday said the agency is exploring ways to apply its value-based payment models beyond Medicare and encourage more providers to buy in to the programs. Currently, only 14% of Medicare providers participate in value-based arrangements, Verma said at the CMS Quality Conference in Baltimore. But the agency hopes its new cadre of models will change that. (King, 1/29)

In other industry news —

Bloomberg: CVS Dangles Apple Watch As Lure To Keep Eye On Customers' Health 
CVS Health Corp. has a new deal for its customers: In return for letting the company keep track of their activity, send them notices about refilling prescriptions and remind them to stay healthy, they might just earn an Apple watch. The partnership with Apple Inc. is a part of the drugstore, pharmacy-benefits and insurance conglomerate’s effort to keep a closer eye on its customers, managing their health while making sure they keep using CVS’s services. For Apple, it’s a way to add new functions and customers for the popular wristwatch as the tech company touts its potential as a wellness tool. (Armstrong, 1/29)

The Washington Post: New Planned Parenthood Head Leana Wen Goes On Offensive Against Trump Administration
Planned Parenthood’s new president, Leana Wen, is gearing up for the battle of her life. With the Trump administration expected to announce its final plan for the $260 million in Title X family-planning funding any day, the organization is likely to take a huge hit. But Wen said the fight is far from over. Under the proposal announced in May, clinics that provide abortion services or referrals alongside family planning — such as Planned Parenthood — would be barred from receiving any money. Health centers are allowed to use nonfederal funds for abortions, but the new rule would require a “bright line” of physical and financial separation. Planned Parenthood serves about 41 percent of Title X patients and receives about $60 million from the program to provide basic services such as cancer screenings, birth control, screenings for sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy tests and well-woman exams. (Cha, 1/29)

CNN: Coca-Cola And CDC: Paper Reveals Controversial Emails
Private emails between employees at the Coca-Cola Co. and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been exposed in a new research paper, raising questions about just how extensive of a relationship the soda company has had with the nation's public health agency. The paper, published Tuesday in the journal The Milbank Quarterly includes excerpts from emails and suggests that current and former Coca-Cola staff tried to influence the CDC by attempting to frame the debate around whether sugar-sweetened beverages play a role in America's obesity epidemic, as well as trying to lobby decision-makers. (Howard, 1/29)

The Associated Press: Food Industry Sway Over Public Health Gets New Scrutiny
The Milbank report says such exchanges underscore the need for greater transparency and conflict-of-interest guidelines at organizations involved in public health. It says there's still relatively little known about the extent of the food industry's influence, but that there is growing understanding of such dynamics. Gary Ruskin, one of the report's authors, said the increased awareness is partly the result of "the sheer enormity of the obesity epidemic." (1/29)

USA Today: Domestic Violence: Children Who See Abuse Suffer As Much As Those Abused
Latrelle Huff says her twins were conceived by rape. Now she blames domestic violence for her children's health problems. The Georgia woman says she had been in an abusive, on-and-off relationship for six years when she became pregnant. While pregnant, she says, the conflict continued. Huff spent 25 of 37 weeks on bed rest, she says, due in part to rectal bleeding her doctors said was caused by stress. (O'Donnell and Quarshie, 1/29)

The Washington Post: These Moms Are Building A Forever Home For Their Adult Autistic Children
Susan Wallitsch is the primary caregiver for her 27-year-old son Frank, who is autistic and functionally nonverbal. A few years ago, when she had a health crisis and was temporarily unable to care for him, the solutions she found were limited — and troubling. She could look for a group home — but most have long waiting lists and would likely not accept Frank because he has behavior problems. (Bahrampour, 1/29)

NPR: Anger And Aggression In Animals And Humans
For comedian Lewis Black, anger is a job. Black is famous for his rants about stuff he finds annoying or unfair or just plain infuriating. Onstage, he often looks ready for a fight. He leans forward. He shouts. He stabs the air with an index finger, or a middle finger. To a scientist, Black looks a lot like a belligerent dog, or an irritated gerbil. (Hamilton, 1/29)

The New York Times: Can Low-Impact Sports Like Cycling Be Putting Your Bones At Risk?
Could competitive cyclists be putting their bone health at risk? A disquieting new study of bone density in elite cyclists and runners suggests that the answer might be yes. The study found that the cyclists, both male and female, had thinner bones than the runners, even though all of the athletes were young, healthy and enviably fit, and many of the cyclists lifted weights. (Reynolds, 1/30)

Kaiser Health News: Boot Camp After 60: 10 Steps To Turn Around Unhealthy Habits 
It takes moxie to flip an unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy one — particularly for folks over 60. Most baby boomers approach retirement age unwilling to follow basic healthy lifestyle goals established by the American Heart Association, said Dr. Dana King, professor and chairman of the department of family medicine at West Virginia University, referencing his university’s 2017 study comparing the healthy lifestyle rates of retired late-middle-aged adults with rates among those still working. (Horovitz, 1/30)

CNN: Some States Allow Parents To Get Out Of Vaccinations. Then This Happens
Two states experiencing a measles outbreak, Washington and Oregon, allow parents to opt out of vaccines simply because they want to. And while they hate to say "I told you so," pediatricians, well, told them so. "I've been saying now for the last couple of years [that] it's only a matter of time before we see a horrific measles outbreak in the Pacific Northwest," said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. (Cohen and Bonifield, 1/29)

The Oregonian: Vancouver-Area Measles Outbreak Adds Church, One More Case To Count
The Vancouver-area measles outbreak grew again Tuesday with one more confirmed case. The number of people with suspected cases continues to be high. On Tuesday, it was 12 -- an indication that the rate of spread is still high. The suspected cases number is determined by how many people have symptoms that match measles but their blood has not yet been tested, the bar that local and state government officials use to measure the spread of the disease. (Harbarger, 1/29)

PBS NewsHour: Measles Patients Are Mostly Children. Here’s Why
Last week, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee declared a public health emergency after confirming more than two dozen cases of measles. By Tuesday, the number rose to 37 — most of them affecting children. ...Here’s a look into how this epidemic started, why children may face the worst of it, and how it is no surprise that the outbreak hit this part of the country. (Leventhal, 1/29)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Three Confirmed Cases Of Measles In Georgia
Georgia health officials on Tuesday confirmed three cases of measles, all within the same metro Atlanta family. No additional information was released about the family, including the ages of those affected, which county they lived in or where they could have contracted the disease. (Poole, 1/29)

Los Angeles Times: California Has Mismanaged Its Veterans Home Properties, Audit Finds
California has “mismanaged” properties where its state-run veterans homes are located, failing to charge market rents to private users and shortchanging programs that should benefit from the leases, a state audit concluded Tuesday. The head of the California Department of Veterans Affairs agreed with the findings and said changes would be made, while a leading state lawmaker said Tuesday she was pursuing legislation to make sure the properties were handled properly. (McGreevy, 1/29)

The Wall Street Journal: New York Lawmakers Pass Tough Gun-Control Bills
New York lawmakers on Tuesday approved a package of gun-control measures, including a provision designed to keep firearms from people considered a risk of hurting themselves or others that is expected to spark a legal challenge. The so-called red flag bill, approved along largely party lines by both the state Senate and Assembly, would allow law-enforcement officials, family members and educators to seek an extreme-risk protection order that would prevent the purchase or possession of firearms by someone “likely to engage in conduct that would result in serious harm to himself, herself or others.” (Vielkind, 1/29)

The New York Times: ‘I’m Going To Die Here,’ She Told The Guards. They Didn’t Listen.
“Offender Dockery stated to me around 0800 at the front counter that she was having stomach pains for 2 days and wanted to go to the hospital,” read the first entry in a corrections officer’s log. It was the first of what became multiple pleas for help by a newly arrived inmate, Lamekia Dockery. The response? “I advised her to stop over-talking me.” (Nir, 1/30)

The New York Times: Baltimore Will Stop Prosecuting Marijuana Possession Cases
Baltimore has both the highest murder rate among the nation’s big cities and one of the most broken relationships between its police and its citizenry. Only one out of four homicides were solved last year. And the city’s enforcement of marijuana laws has fallen almost exclusively on African-Americans. (Dewan, 1/29)

MPR: Legalizing Marijuana: Can Minnesota Learn From Other States?
Minnesota could be the next state to consider legalizing recreational marijuana. Bills to legalize and tax marijuana were introduced Monday in the state House and Senate, and DFL Gov. Tim Walz has said he supports legalization. Getting there, though, means state lawmakers must first confront some hard issues, including how to license growers and how to treat people previously convicted of crimes involving marijuana. (Collins, 1/29)

The Star Tribune: Minnesota Health Dept. Gets Tougher On Elder Abuse 
The state’s unusually swift and vigorous discipline of a northern Minnesota care facility where a vulnerable adult is believed to have been subjected to a fatal beating signals a larger effort by the Minnesota Department of Health to follow through on promises of tighter scrutiny over the senior care industry. ...Under pressure from families and legislators, new Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm overhauled the agency’s system for responding to and investigating allegations, eliminating a vast backlog of never investigated cases while speeding up the pace of new investigations. (Serres, 1/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Mother’s Agonizing Wait Ends In SF: She’s Reunited With Baby Taken From Father By U.S. Officials At Border
A Honduran mother in San Francisco was reunited with her 17-month-old daughter on Tuesday night after spending a month desperately pleading with federal immigration authorities for the return of her baby who was separated from her father at the U.S.-Mexico border. The baby, Juliet, was sent to a shelter for migrant children in Texas after immigration officials took her from her father, whom they arrested Dec. 28 near Calexico. (Sanchez, 1/29)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan Child Dies Of Flu — It's The Second Death Of Season
A second Michigan child has died from flu complications this season, the state Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Tuesday. The school-age child was from Alpena County, said Dr. Joshua Meyerson, medical director for District No. 4 Health Department, which includes Alpena, Montmorency, Cheboygan and Presque Isle counties. (Shamus, 1/29)

Wyoming Public Radio: Additional Tax On Tobacco Dies In Committee
The House Revenue Committee voted not to adopt an additional tax on tobacco products including e-cigarettes. It would have attached one more dollar on the end of tobacco sales. Those for the tax argued it would boost state revenue while improving public health. (McKim, 1/29)

Dallas Morning News: More Than 300 Middle-Schoolers Out Sick With Flulike Symptoms In Coppell ISD 
More than 300 students at a Coppell middle school were absent or left early Monday because of the flu or flulike symptoms, KXAS-TV (NBC5) reported. Coppell Middle School West told the state that 235 students were out Monday and at least 115 more went home early, according to Coppell ISD. The district sent a letter to parents Monday informing them of the flu cases and health attendance guidelines. (Cardona, 1/30)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Shaheen To Highlight PFAS Contamination In N.H. With Guest At The State Of The Union
The Environmental Protection Agency will reportedly not issue hard limits on two likely toxic industrial chemicals that have contaminated parts of New Hampshire. The report from Politico is drawing criticism from advocates and lawmakers. (Ropeik, 1/29)

St. Louis Public Radio: WashU Engineers Use Bacteria And Nanotechnology To Purify Dirty Water
Engineers at WashU are combining bacteria and tiny engineered particles to create a filter that can kill harmful bacteria. The United Nations expects that by 2025, about half of the world’s population will be living in areas where water is scarce. (Chen, 1/30)

KQED: California Approves Plan To Clean Up Central Valley's Toxic Air
The California Air Resources Board on Thursday announced it's moving forward with a plan to clean up the toxic air that plagues the San Joaquin Valley.The region, which stretches from roughly Stockton to Bakersfield through the middle of the state, suffers some of the most dangerous air quality in the country. (Arcuni, 1/29)

Boston Globe: David Torchiana, Chief Executive Of Partners HealthCare, Unexpectedly Announces Departure
Dr. David Torchiana, the chief executive of Partners HealthCare, has unexpectedly announced his departure, after his push to integrate the sprawling health system encountered rising tensions from other Partners leaders. Torchiana, 64, told the Partners board Monday night that he will retire at the end of April, after four years leading an organization that is also the state’s largest private employer. (Dayal McCluskey and Kowlaczyk, 1/29)

WBUR: CEO Of Powerful Partners HealthCare Unexpectedly Opts To Step Down
Dr. David Torchiana, a cardiologist who since 2015 has been CEO of the powerful Partners HealthCare, the state's largest private employer, is stepping down. In a statement, Partners said Torchiana, 65, plans to retire effective April 29. (Bebinger, 1/29)

Miami Herald: Heart Surgery Technology Developed At Baptist In FL Debuts
The result of [Barry] Katzen’s work with Philips debuted on Monday with the unveiling of the Azurion with FlexArm — an X-ray machine capable of rotating around an operating table like a gyroscope around an axis at various angles, giving clinicians access to the patient’s whole body at any time during a procedure. ...X-ray imaging is key to the growing number of diseases that can be treated with minimally invasive procedures, and he envisions the machine being useful for image-guided oncology treatment for cancer patients. (Chang, 1/29)

Sacramento Bee: Camp Fire: As Last Shelter Closes, Where Will Survivors Go?
Camp Fire survivors Lisa Butcher and Randy Viehmeyer remember waking up one night to the screams of a nearby shelter resident reliving the nightmare of watching her dog burn alive. Having bounced from one chaotic and sometimes dangerous shelter to another, the couple said they’ve experience a kind of volatile “hell” since their Paradise home burned down last November during the Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. (Yoon-Hendricks, 1/30)

Boston Globe: State, Mass. Biotech Leaders Team Up To Offer Up Paid Internships
A new program unveiled by Massachusetts biotech leaders and government officials on Tuesday, Project Onramp will provide up to 50 paid internships to college students at life sciences companies this summer. All of the recipients will be the first generation in their families to attend a four-year college. (Saltzman, 1/29)

The Washington Post: District Leaders Urge Comprehensive Approach To Reducing Homicides
Amid a violent January in which 18 people have been killed in the District, city leaders on Tuesday pressed for additional resources for crime prevention, including a new effort to help find jobs for inmates nearing release from the city jail. Speaking at the monthly breakfast for the mayor and D.C. Council, authorities discussed a wide range of strategies to address a spike in killings in 2018 that has not abated with the start of the new year. (Hermann, 1/29)

Health News Florida: Judge Pokes Hole In ‘Dry Needling’ Rule
Administrative Law Judge Lawrence P. Stevenson issued an order rejecting a proposed rule by the Florida Board of Physical Therapy that set minimum standards for physical therapists to use dry needling. Stevenson said the proposal exceeded the Board of Physical Therapy’s “grant of rulemaking authority because it would expand the scope of physical therapy practice, not merely establish a standard of practice.” (Sexton, 1/29)

KQED: Sonoma County Spills Spewed Nearly 3 Million Gallons Of Sewage Into Creeks And Bay
Sonoma County water officials, under order from the state to improve the capacity of their sewage system, say a valve malfunction and leaky pipes resulted in a string of spills this month that released 2.7 million gallons of waste and stormwater, some of which flowed into local creeks and San Pablo Bay. The largest spill occurred Jan. 12, when a faulty valve at a Sonoma County Water Agency treatment plant caused sewage to run backward in a pipeline that handles waste from homes and businesses in the Sonoma Valley. (Goldberg, 1/29)

The Associated Press: Disney World Worker Has Hepatitis A, No Others Ill
Health officials in Florida say a worker at a Walt Disney World restaurant has been diagnosed with Hepatitis A, but no other colleagues or visitors have gotten sick. Authorities said that the virus was confirmed last week in a food service worker at the Hoop-Dee-Doo musical revue at the resort's Fort Wilderness Campground. The health department has been vaccinating co-workers this week and last week. (1/29)

Bloomberg: Big Pharma’s Drug Studies Are Getting A NASA-Style Makeover 
Discoveries of new cancer-fighting and antiviral medicines grab headlines and sometimes win Nobel Prizes. But after the breakthroughs and backslapping are over, Big Pharma’s grunt work is just beginning. Companies carry out years of costly studies to prove treatments are safe and effective: finding hospitals and clinics to participate, hunting down patients who fit precise descriptions, tracking their health in minute detail for years while ensuring they take their medications, and then combing through heaps of data that will determine whether doctors can prescribe them. It’s the unsexy side of the industry, and it’s a big reason it can take more than $2 billion and 12 years to launch a new treatment. (Paton, 1/24)

Stat: Here's How Massachusetts Officials Hope To Lower Medicaid Drug Spending
Once again, Massachusetts is trying to find a way to lower its Medicaid prescription drug bill, but this time, state officials hope to negotiate supplemental rebates — and potentially cite drug makers for violating consumer protection laws if they fail to play ball. The effort is the latest by state lawmakers to find a way to constrain drug spending, an issue that is stretching budgets across the U.S. amid rising prices, especially for some newer medicines. The move also comes after Massachusetts officials last year failed to win federal government approval to exclude some drugs from the state Medicaid program, which was an earlier attempt to reduce costs. (Silverman, 1/29)

Boston Globe: Drug Costs Plague Seniors, But Legislative Relief May Be Elusive
Lowering the cost of prescription drugs is a perennial issue in Congress and on Beacon Hill. But in the face of industry opposition and divided government, older Americans like Hogan — covered mainly by private Medicare drug plans — may have to wait until after the next election for relief. (Weisman, 1/28)

Stat: Drug Prices Forecast To Grow Slowly Over Next Five Years, But Some Will Feel Pain 
As debates over rising medicine costs escalate, a new analysis forecasts that the growth of prices in the U.S. for prescription drugs will range from 0 to 3 percent over the next five years. At the same time, drug makers will collectively register sales growth anywhere from 3 percent to 6 percent. By 2023, U.S. spending is expected to top $600 billion, up from nearly $500 million this year, although this is before factoring in the rebates and discounts that drug makers pay to pharmacy benefit managers to win favorable insurance coverage on lists of medicines called formularies. (Silverman, 1/29)

The Star Tribune: Tough Choices Over A Pricey But Effective Drug For Hepatitis C 
Hepatitis C is one of the most common infectious diseases, with the potential to cause serious liver damage, so patients were thrilled when a set of revolutionary new medications became available five years ago. But at $90,000 per treatment course, the drugs were pricey, and many states, including Minnesota, balked at covering them under their taxpayer-funded Medicaid programs. (Howatt, 1/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer Pivots To Cancer Drugs For Growth
Twenty years ago, Pfizer Inc. didn’t sell any drugs treating cancer. Now, it sells 17, including four that were approved in the U.S. at the end of last year, more than any other pharmaceutical company. The new lineup is projected to generate $8.3 billion in sales this year, according to EvaluatePharma. For the first time, Pfizer in 2019 expects oncology products to outsell the heart and other primary-care medicines the company was long known for. (Hopkins, 1/27)

Bloomberg: Pfizer's Outlook Disappoints As Drugmaker Focuses On Pipeline
Pfizer Inc. issued a weaker financial forecast for 2019 than Wall Street expected, becoming the latest large drugmaker to warn about the ripple effects of a strong dollar. The pharmaceutical giant said it expects 2019 adjusted earnings per share of $2.82 to $2.92 -- short of the average Wall Street analyst estimate of $3.04. Unfavorable foreign-exchange effects are expected to diminish sales by about $900 million this year, while cutting adjusted earnings per share by about 6 cents. (Griffin, 1/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer Results Hurt By Pricing Challenges
Pfizer Inc. said Tuesday its new medicines in development will increase sales, even though one of its biggest-selling drugs is expected to face generic competition this year. The New York-based drugmaker, the largest in the U.S. by revenue, said fourth-quarter sales increased 2% from a year earlier to $14 billion, slightly above analyst estimates. The company reported a loss of $394 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with a profit of $12.27 billion, or $2.02 a share, a year earlier, partly due to an impairment charge. Analysts polled by Refinitiv were expecting the company to earn 49 cents a share. (Hopkins and Chin, 1/29)

Asbury Park Press: Drug Prices: Can A Lakewood Company Save Independent Pharmacies?
To the 27-year-old Green, who was raised in the digital age, it looked out of place. And when the pharmacist told him what it was — sales offers from drug wholesalers — his mind started racing."I said, 'Hold on a second. We’re in the 21st century. Is there no simple way of really finding the cheapest price on all these drugs at once?'" Green said. Ezriel Green was standing in line at a Brooklyn pharmacy two years ago, trying to order a prescription, when he noticed a giant stack of papers on the counter. (Diamond, 1/29)

Reuters: Undeterred By Sanofi's Stumble, Takeda Takes Similar Path With Dengue Shot
A new vaccine for the dengue virus is taking a potentially risky road to prevent the mosquito-borne disease that infects nearly 400 million people each year. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd plans to seek approval for the experimental vaccine first in countries where the virus is endemic, rather than starting with the United States or Europe, whose rigorous reviews are often used as a benchmark worldwide, company executives told Reuters. (Steenhuysen, 1/30)

Reuters: Botox Maker Allergan's Revenue Forecast Misses Estimates, Shares Drop
Allergan Plc on Tuesday forecast 2019 revenue below expectations on looming competition for some of its top drugs, and shelved plans to sell its women's health business.The Botox maker's shares fell 6 percent to $149.20 in early trading. (Mishra, 1/29)

Stat: CEO Emma Walmsley Takes GlaxoSmithKline On A Quest For Identity
Emma Walmsley became the chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline 22 months ago, looking like the opposite of a pharma insider: She was, instead, steeped in the business of selling toothpaste and Tums. Appearances may have been deceiving — because she’s betting on drugs. Walmsley had run Glaxo’s consumer business for five years, and had previously worked for 17 years at L’Oréal. But if her tenure at the helm of Glaxo so far makes one thing clear, it’s that she is now all-in on pharma. In three years she plans to spin off the same consumer business she ran after merging it with Pfizer’s unit that sells Listerine and ChapStick, and, by the way, larding the new company with accumulated debt she’s sure it can quickly pay off. (Herper and Silverman, 1/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Novartis Seeks Growth In Newer Drugs Amid Pricing Challenges
Novartis AG is counting on strong sales of its newer medicines to offset mounting pressure on drug prices this year. The Swiss health-care giant said Wednesday it expected sales to grow by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2019, even though it is likely to have to cut the prices of its drugs. Chief Executive Vas Narasimhan said on a call with reporters that he expected Novartis’s net prices to decline by a low-single-digit percentage this year. (Roland and Mancini, 1/30)

Stat: How Realistic Is An ‘Off-The-Shelf’ CAR-T Drug? 
It’s the ultimate example of personalized medicine — for some cancer patients who have run out of options, scientists can extract their immune cells and genetically re-engineer them to fight against the tumors. But there are only two companies in the U.S. approved to make these medicines, known as CAR-T therapies, and it costs both money and time — the therapies list for $373,000 and $475,000 and take two to three weeks to produce for each patient. (Swetlitz, 1/30)

Stat: Lyndra Therapeutics Raises $55 Million From Gilead And Gates 
Lyndra Therapeutics just raised $55 million from big-name investors like Gilead Sciences and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — both of which have strong connections to HIV research and drug development. But the company, which is developing once-a-week pills for a variety of diseases, cautions that HIV drugs aren’t necessarily next on its list. (Sheridan, 1/29)

Stat: It's Time For Drug Prices To Stop Going Up. We Can Achieve That
Two years ago this month, President Trump promised the American people that he would stop drug companies from “getting away with murder” with their annual ritual of price increases. Since then, his historic actions on drug pricing have produced historic results. One official measure of drug price inflation was actually negative in 2018, for the first time in almost 50 years. But many problems remain. This January, drug companies once again announced large price increases — by one analysis averaging around 6 percent per drug. This annual practice of large price hikes must stop, and prices must come down. (Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, 1/29)

Arizona Republic: Both Parties Want Lower Drug Prices But Gridlock Prevents Reform
Why do the pharmaceutical companies raise prices? Not because of increased manufacturing costs. And not because they have to cover additional research expenses, the excuse they trot out at every opportunity. They raised prices for only one reason: They could. (Ted Kaufman, 1/27)

The Hill: To Lower Drug Prices, We Should Pursue Price Transparency 
Today, both the House Oversight Committee and Senate Finance Committee are holding hearings on prescription drug prices. This is welcome action to address a major national problem. According to Kaiser Health, about one-quarter of Americans say they or their family have not filled a prescription or skipped doses because of cost. At my private practice in Louisiana, I hear complaints from my patients almost daily about how high drug costs impact their pocketbooks, retirement savings and even health. (Gerard Gianoli, 1/29)

The Hill: Proposed Drug Importation Bill Would Expose Americans To Counterfeit Meds
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) just introduced legislation to legalize the importation of prescription drugs. The "Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act of 2019" would enable Americans to purchase cheap medicines from Canadian pharmacies for their own personal use. The lawmakers believe the bill would reduce patients' spending at the pharmacy counter.Lowering drug costs is a noble goal, but importation is not the answer. At best, the bill would yield little savings. At worst, it could endanger American lives by opening the floodgates to harmful counterfeit drugs. (Peter J. Pitts, 1/23)

Stat: It's Time To Get Serious About The Economics Of Expanded Access
As the winds of change blow away the lingering odors of the “right to try” miasma, it’s time to get serious about expanded access 2.0. Last week, more than 500 people from industry, academia, government, and patient advocacy groups convened at the National Press Club in Washington to discuss, debate, and develop what comes next for expanded access, also known as compassionate use. The first voice to be heard was Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a “fireside chat” I had the honor to moderate. Woodcock shared her belief that expanded access programs are only an iterative step towards more regular and robust use of platform trials. (Peter J. Pitts, 1/30)

Roll Call: A Patient’s Perspective: 3 Ways Congress Can Tackle Our Drug Pricing Crisis
Cancer literally broke my back. It also taught me a powerful lesson: The prescription drug pricing system in the U.S. is rigged against patients. I have an incurable blood cancer called multiple myeloma. I was diagnosed when the cancer ate through one of my vertebra, and I couldn’t move. Every four weeks, I have a cocktail of drugs infused into my body. It takes five hours, and the price is more than $325,000 a year. (David Mitchell, 1/29)

Forbes: Big Pharma Should Accept Cap On Drug Price Increases
The biopharmaceutical industry has made stunning progress in discovering and developing breakthrough medications. Last year proved phenomenal with 59 FDA approvals – an all-time best.  But the industry’s success is more than numbers as the quality of these drugs is impressive. The drugs approved in 2018 cover a broad range of diseases including various cancers (breast, lung, prostate, thyroid), infectious diseases (small pox, malaria, flu, HIV) and many rare diseases. Past predictions of the coming of a golden age of miraculous medicines seems finally to have been realized. (John LaMattina, 1/28)

Stat: Biosimilars And Interchangeability: FDA's Approach Makes Sense
The old adage “haste makes waste” usually makes sense. The Food and Drug Administration is following that adage in its thorough and thoughtful approach to building the ground rules for a successful biosimilars market in the United States.Some in the pharmaceutical industry are calling for a faster solution to bringing biosimilars into the market. I think that would be a mistake. (Richard Markus, 1/23)

Austin American-Statesman: HHS' Solution To Drug Prices? Sabotaging Patient Access
To drive down drug costs, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar proposed sweeping changes to Medicare.The proposal isn’t the solution patients have been waiting for. The reform would lower drug costs, but only by making it harder for underserved communities, including minority and low-income patients, to secure the best treatments. (Mario Lopez, 1/21)

The Washington Post: Kamala Harris Doesn’t Waver On Single Payer
On Monday night, Sen. Kamala D. Harris — whose presidential campaign rollout is going extremely well, you have to admit — did a town hall on CNN, answering all kinds of questions from a studio audience. At one point, someone asked about her position on health care and she said that she supports “Medicare-for-all,” then talked in general terms about why health care has to be a right and not a privilege. But as we know, candidates can mean different things when they say Medicare-for-all. Most importantly, they might mean something like Bernie Sanders’s true single-payer plan, in which there would be only one insurer and private insurance would essentially cease to exist, but they might also mean something that would better be termed Medicare Access For All, in which people could choose to keep their private insurance or buy into Medicare (or Medicaid). (Paul Waldman, 1/29)

The Washington Post: Kamala Harris Just Set The Litmus Test For Democrats In 2020 On Health Care, Climate Change And Guns
Universal health care. A Green New Deal. An assault-weapons ban. These are the progressive issues that most Democrats running for president in 2020 will not only unapologetically endorse but be expected to support if they have any chance of winning the Democratic primary. Call it the Bernie Sanders effect. Or the AOC influence. (Colby Itkowitz, 1/29)

The Lund Report: Anesthesiologists Work To Stem Opioid Abuse
For one in 10 surgical patients, surgery is the gateway to long-term opioid abuse. Oregon has one of the highest rates of prescription opioid misuse in the nation. As doctors who care for you in the operating room as well as in the pain management clinic, physician anesthesiologists are uniquely poised to help combat Oregon’s opioid crisis. (Kate Ropp, 1/24)

The New York Times: If A Government Can’t Deliver Safe Vaccines For Children, Is It Fit To Rule?
Earlier this month, hundreds of aggrieved parents gathered outside the government office in Jinhu County, in the eastern province of Jiangsu, demanding an explanation for why 145 infants had been administered expired doses of the polio vaccine. It was China’s fifth vaccine scandal in less than seven years, and yet another blow to the country’s drug industry, its national immunization program, its regulatory authorities — and to the very legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party (C.C.P.). (Yanzhong Huang, 1/30)

Stat: Combating Cancer Around The World Means Keeping Patients At The Center
An important first step is a more intense focus on prevention. It offers a truly cost-effective solution, as somewhere between one-third and one-half of all cancers are preventable. Tobacco smoking, physical inactivity, excess weight, unhealthy eating habits, and heavy alcohol use — all of which are modifiable — contribute to the development of a wide range of cancers. (Julie L. Gerberding, 1/29)

The New York Times: Why Couldn’t My Ebola Treatment Center Save This Baby? 
BENI, Democratic Republic of Congo — A young mother stepped out of the ambulance into the triage area of our Ebola Transit Center, here in the northeast of the country. She moved slowly, careful not to wake the sick baby, swathed in layers of linens, that she carried in her arms. They had been brought here for testing because health workers suspected the baby might have Ebola. (Karin Huster, 1/30)

Boston Globe: Safe Injection Sites Aren’t Safe Or Legal
The opioid epidemic is the greatest public health crisis facing the United States since the Spanish influenza of 1918. But while federal and state authorities continue to battle this threat, others work to effectively legalize opioid abuse by opening supervised injection sites in Boston and surrounding towns. Injection sites give addicts a “safe” place to inject themselves with heroin and fentanyl — “safe” meaning with medical supervision but without the risk of arrest. These sites are a terrible idea and, more important, they are illegal. (Andrew Lelling, 1/28)

Chicago Sun Times: Chiberia Jokes Aside, Subzero Chicago Is No Laughing Matter
The elderly can be especially vulnerable to extremes of temperature. A 93-year-old woman from Harvey, an 82-year-old woman in Beverly, an 88-year-old woman from Burbank and other seniors were among this winter’s cold victims, according to the medical examiner. And remember that most of those who died during the infamous 1995 heat wave were elderly residents who couldn’t afford air conditioning. Take a minute to check on friends and neighbors, especially seniors. You can also call 3-1-1 and request a wellness check. (1/28)

The Star Tribune: Be Warm. Be Safe. But Tougher, Too? 
“No matter how resilient the people of Minnesota may be, this weather should be taken seriously,” Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday. He’s new on the job, but we expected a little more of a pep talk from the former high school football coach. Something like, “Suck it up!” This newspaper advised its readers to watch “Rear Window” and eat soup. That’s always a good call, and advice many of us followed long before we had windchill and black ice. All kidding aside, be safe Minnesota — this is seriously dangerous weather. And turn up those bun warmers. (1/29)

San Jose Mercury News: New Family Planning Rules Hurt Families, Economy
Any day now, the Trump administration is expected to finalize new rules attacking the Title X family planning program that will make birth control and other preventive reproductive health care inaccessible for millions of Americans. This is an obvious calamity for the women and families that rely on Title X, but it would also weaken the economy President Trump claims to care so much about. (1/29)