First Edition: April 1, 2019

Kaiser Health News: CMS Ignores Federal Judge Ruling To Approve Medicaid Work Rules In Utah
CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in her approval letter that requiring Medicaid enrollees to work was allowed because it helps make them healthier. “Therefore we believe an objective of the Medicaid program, in addition to paying for services, is to advance the health and wellness needs of its beneficiaries, and that it is appropriate for the state to structure its demonstration project in a manner that prioritizes meeting those needs,” she wrote. (Galewitz, 3/29)

Kaiser Health News: Suicide Risk Grew After Missouri Medicaid Kids Shifted To Managed Care, Hospitals Say
After more than 2,000 Missouri children diagnosed with mental illness were shifted from traditional Medicaid into three for-profit managed-care companies, the state’s hospitals noticed an alarming trend: a doubling in the percentage who had thoughts of suicide or attempted suicide. Additionally, the average length of stay for these children in psychiatric hospitals dropped from 10 days to seven following the Medicaid change in May 2017, according to a study released this month by the Missouri Hospital Association. (Galewitz, 4/1)

California Healthline: Heavy Rains, End Of Drought Could Help Keep West Nile Virus Subdued — For Now
The end of California’s drought, announced earlier this month amid one of the rainiest winters in memory, could offer a surprising benefit: reduced transmission of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus. Longer term, however, more severe droughts associated with climate change could contribute to an increase in the number of infections in the state and nationally. Drought is the most important weather-related factor that affects the rate of West Nile infection, researchers say. Even though mosquito eggs need water to hatch, dry conditions tend to spur greater transmission of the virus. (Rowan, 3/29)

The New York Times: Trump Administration Approves Medicaid Work Requirements In Utah
Just two days after a federal court struck down work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries in Arkansas and Kentucky, the Trump administration approved similar requirements in Utah on Friday. The administration acknowledged that some Utah residents might lose coverage, but said that others would become healthier and gain financial independence because they were working. In approving a Medicaid waiver for Utah, the Trump administration is reaffirming its conservative priorities, defying critics and inviting another round of litigation. (Pear, 3/29)

Modern Healthcare: Utah Gets CMS Waiver For A Partial Medicaid Expansion
Utah won an unusual CMS waiver Friday to implement a partial expansion of Medicaid to adults with incomes up to 100% of the federal poverty level, starting April 1. The waiver also allows the state to cap enrollment in the expansion program if the state lacks sufficient funds to match the federal payments. No other state has been allowed to do that. The state will receive its standard federal match rate of about 70% for the partial expansion population, rather than the current 94% rate for a full Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion to adults up to 138% of poverty. (Meyer, 3/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Utah Allowed To Limit Voter-Approved Medicaid Expansion
Voters in the November midterm elections had approved a full expansion under the Affordable Care Act that was projected to result in more than 120,000 people gaining coverage. But state lawmakers in the Republican-led legislature asked the federal government to let Utah pursue a more scaled-back expansion that would cover an estimated 50,000 fewer people. The program approved Friday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will serve as a bridge for one year, when the federal government could increase its share of costs for the expansion, per request from the state. Utah also got approval to impose work requirements but state officials said that won’t begin until 2020. (Armour, 3/29)

Politico: Trump Administration Approves Partial Utah Medicaid Expansion To Replace Voter-Approved Plan
The Utah plan will initially cost the state tens of millions of dollars more and was spearheaded by Republican leaders critical of Obamacare's Medicaid expansion. Liberal groups caused an uproar earlier this year as the legislature quickly moved to override the ballot initiative, saying the GOP lawmakers were blatantly defying the will of the people. (Pradhan, 3/29)

The Associated Press: Arkansas' Medicaid Plan In Jeopardy After Work Rule Decision
An effort to keep Arkansas' Medicaid expansion failed Friday in the state House, leaving the future of coverage uncertain for thousands of low-income residents two days after a judge blocked the state's work requirement on the program. The majority-Republican House voted 52-28 in favor of the budget bill for Medicaid and the expansion program, nearly two dozen votes shy of the 75 needed in the 100-member chamber to send the legislation to GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson. (DeMillo, 3/29)

The Hill: Trump's Health Overhaul Efforts Hit Legal Roadblocks 
Key aspects of President Trump's health care agenda are struggling to overcome legal challenges in the courts. The administration, unable to repeal ObamaCare or enact conservative changes through Congress, has used its regulatory authority to try to push through changes to the Medicaid program and private insurance. (Weixel, 3/30)

The Hill: Five Major Court Battles Over Trump's Health Agenda 
The Trump administration has found itself in court time and time again defending the president’s efforts to overhaul the American health care system. Here’s a rundown of where the major lawsuits stand, from cases challenging the administration’s approval of Medicaid work requirements to a lawsuit arguing the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. (Hellmann, 3/31)

The Washington Post: Fractious Democrats Band Together To Defend Health-Care Law From Trump’s Attack
House Democrats have spent several weeks battling over some of the most divisive policies, from support for Israel to combating climate change. But no issue has the potential to sharply split the new majority quite like health care, with more than 100 of the caucus’s most liberal lawmakers advocating a sweeping proposal for universal coverage that would eventually eliminate the employer-provided insurance plans that cover 80 percent of Americans. Medicare-for-all has also been dominating the nascent 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, serving as an ideological fault line to determine a candidate’s liberal bona fides. (Kane, 3/30)

Politico: House Democrats Move To Condemn Trump's Obamacare Flip
House Democrats introduced a resolution today condemning President Donald Trump's support for a lawsuit that would strike down Obamacare, according to text shared first with POLITICO. "Americans are facing higher health care costs than ever, but this administration’s lawsuit would drive up prices and put coverage out of reach for thousands of Texas families," said Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), who introduced the resolution with the backing of House leadership. Democrats are planning to vote on it as soon as Tuesday, a spokesperson for Allred told POLITICO. (Diamond, 3/29)

The Washington Post: For Trump’s ‘Party Of Healthcare,’ There Is No Health-Care Plan
Republicans have no intention of heeding President Trump’s urgent demands for a new health-care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, fearing the potential political damage that such a proposal could cause in 2020 and hoping he will soon drop the idea, according to interviews with numerous GOP lawmakers, legislative staffers and administration aides. Not only is there no such health-care overhaul in the works on Capitol Hill — there are no plans to make such a plan. (Kim and Dawsey, 3/30)

The Washington Post: Republicans Maintain That They Are ‘Working On A Plan’ To Replace Obamacare
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway maintained Sunday that Republicans are “working on a plan” for replacing the Affordable Care Act, days after President Trump surprised members on both sides of the aisle when he declared that the Republican Party “will soon be known as the party of health care.” In an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Conway told host Chris Wallace, “The Republican plan is manifold.” But she did not provide specifics, instead going on to attack Democrats over the Medicare-for-all ideas that some in their party have embraced. (Sonmez, 3/31)

The Associated Press: Senate GOP Wary In Trump's Revived Health Care Battle
President Donald Trump's decision to revive the fight over the Affordable Care Act has stirred a political and policy debate among Republicans on how best to approach the divisive issue heading into the 2020 election. Failing to repeal and replace the ACA, otherwise known as Obamacare, is one of the biggest shortcomings of the president's first term in meeting its goals. It left Republicans with a broken campaign promise, dismal approval ratings and a narrative they haven't been able to shake — that they don't support protecting those with pre-existing medical conditions from high-cost care. In some races, it cost Republican seats last fall, flipping House control to Democrats. (Mascaro and Lucey, 3/30)

Politico: Collins Urges Barr Not To Work To Kill Obamacare
Sen. Susan Collins wants Attorney General Bill Barr to reverse the Justice Department's aggressive move seeking to obliterate the Affordable Care Act. In a letter to Barr sent Monday, the Maine Republican argues that if the Trump administration wants to change the health care law, it should come to Congress and ask. Otherwise Barr's department should be defending the law from a lawsuit seeking to cripple it, she says. (Everett, 4/1)

Politico: Killing Obamacare Kills Trump’s Health Agenda, Too
President Donald Trump wants to eliminate HIV in the U.S., contain the opioid crisis and lower the cost of prescription drugs — but all of those need Obamacare to be successful. And Trump just promised to kill it. His HIV plan relies on key pieces of Obamacare to expand access to prevention and treatment services for Americans at risk of contracting the deadly virus. Expanding opioid prevention relies heavily on Medicaid, which expanded under Obamacare. And Trump’s push to lower drug prices would use an innovation program that tests drug cost modeling — and was created by Obamacare. (Karlin-Smith and Ehley, 4/1)

CQ: Trump Drug Proposal Relies On Health Care Law He Wants To End
President Donald Trump's support for the wholesale repeal of the 2010 health care law could undermine his own plan on prescription drug prices and his messaging on an important issue ahead of the 2020 election: the climbing cost of medicines. Less than two weeks before the midterm elections last year, Trump delivered a proposal to rein in the costs of outpatient drugs by pegging them to the lower prices paid by foreign countries. (Kopp, 3/29)

The Associated Press: Trump's Battle With 'Obamacare' Moves To The Courts
After losing in Congress, President Donald Trump is counting on the courts to kill off "Obamacare." But some cases are going against him, and time is not on his side as he tries to score a big win for his re-election campaign. Two federal judges in Washington, D.C., this past week blocked parts of Trump's health care agenda: work requirements for some low-income people on Medicaid, and new small business health plans that don't have to provide full benefits required by the Affordable Care Act. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/31)

The Hill: Mulvaney: No One Will Lose Health Care Coverage If Courts Rule Against ObamaCare
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that he could guarantee no Americans would lose health care coverage if President Trump eliminates ObamaCare. “Yes,” he said when asked by ABC's "This Week" host Jon Karl if he could guarantee that those with  current health coverage under ObamaCare would keep their coverage even if the administration is successful at getting a court to rule the health law unconstitutional. (Rodrigo, 3/31)

The Hill: Sanders: 'Thousands Of People Will Literally Die' If Trump 'Gets His Way' On Health Care 
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday that "thousands of people will literally die" if President Trump does away with the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare. "If Trump gets his way, the cost of health insurance ... will be so high that many people literally will not be able to afford it. Thousands of people will literally die. That’s Trump’s health insurance plan," Sanders said during an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation." (Burke, 3/31)

Politico: Millions In Family Planning Grants Given To Groups And States Fighting Trump's Policy Changes
The Trump administration announced Friday that it's awarding about $250 million in Title X federal family planning grants to states and providers across the country. The providers include an anti-abortion chain of clinics, as well as several states and provider groups that are threatening to drop out of the program if conservative-led changes go into effect in a few weeks. The new rules — designed largely to partially achieve conservatives' long-sought goal of cutting off public funding for Planned Parenthood — would block Title X grants from going to groups that make abortion referrals, potentially leaving gaps in care for low-income women. It's already illegal to use federal taxpayer dollars for abortion, with very limited exceptions. (Roubein and Ollstein, 3/29)

The New York Times: Trump Administration Gives Family Planning Grant To Anti-Abortion Group
The Trump administration took an important step on Friday in its push to restrict access to abortion and contraception, announcing that it would give as much as $5.1 million in family planning funds to a nonprofit organization funded by allies of the Catholic Church. The grant from the Department of Health and Human Services went to the Obria Group, a Southern California-based nonprofit that describes itself as being “led by God” and that aims to siphon patients — and money — away from Planned Parenthood. (Vogel and Pear, 3/29)

Politico: States Struggle To Replace Planned Parenthood As Trump Rules Loom
President Donald Trump’s sweeping changes to federal family planning policy may not hit anywhere harder than Utah, which has $2 million at stake and would be hard pressed to Planned Parenthood if the organization makes good on a threat to pull out of the state rather than operate under the new rules. “We’re the only game in town,” said Planned Parenthood Association of Utah President and CEO Karrie Galloway. “We’re a unique and challenging state, and people don’t have a lot of options for comprehensive, non-judgmental reproductive health care.” (Ollstein and Roubein, 3/29)

The New York Times: Georgia Is Latest State To Pass Fetal Heartbeat Bill As Part Of Growing Trend
Tensions over a growing movement to ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected intensified this week as lawmakers in Georgia passed a bill that stands to become one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. The bill, which narrowly passed in the Republican-controlled legislature on Friday, is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican. The measure generally prohibits the procedure after doctors can discern a fetal heartbeat, a milestone that happens around six weeks of pregnancy — before some women know they are pregnant. (Mervosh, 3/30)

The New York Times: Migrant Girl’s Autopsy Shows She Would Have Been Visibly Sick For Hours, Doctors Say
A 7-year-old Guatemalan girl who died in United States custody last December was suffering from a bacterial infection that was so advanced she probably would have been visibly sick for many hours, said several physicians who reviewed a newly released autopsy report of her death. By the time the girl, Jakelin Caal Maquin, arrived at a children’s hospital in El Paso with seizures and difficulty breathing, she already had severe blood abnormalities, according to a part of the report that summarized her condition in the emergency room of the Children’s Hospital at the Hospitals of Providence Memorial Campus. (Fink, 3/29)

Reuters: Guatemalan Migrant Girl In U.S. Custody Died Of Sepsis: Autopsy Report
The release of Caal's autopsy and the pinpointing of her cause of death are unlikely to resolve the larger questions about how migrants are treated in the hands of authorities. "The clinical course and autopsy findings are those of a rapidly progressive infection, with prompt systemic bacterial spread and substantial clinical deterioration," the report said. The strep bacteria were found throughout Caal's major organs, including her lungs, adrenal gland, liver, and spleen, the report said. (3/29)

The Associated Press Fact Check: Trump Twists Facts Of A Migrant Girl's Death
President Donald Trump is misrepresenting the circumstances of a 7-year-old migrant girl's death as he seeks to steer any potential blame for it away from his administration. Trump, after mockingly painting asylum seekers as a "con job" in a rally the previous night, asserted on Friday that Jakelin Caal Maquin was given no water by her father during their trek to a remote border area and that the dad acknowledged blame for his daughter's death on Dec. 8. Those assertions are not supported by the record. (3/29)

The Associated Press: 24 Immigrants Go On Hunger Strike To Protest US Detainment
Two dozen immigrants detained in Louisiana are on a hunger strike to protest being locked up as many seek asylum in the United States. Immigrant advocates say the strike started last week with about 150 people, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says only 24 people have continuously denied meals. (Galvan, 3/29)

Politico: Bennet, Kaine Set To Introduce ‘Medicare X’ Plan To Expand Health Care
As Democrats debate how best to expand health coverage, Tim Kaine and Michael Bennet are trying to ensure the party doesn’t swing too far to the left. The Virginia and Colorado senators next week will reintroduce their “Medicare X” plan, which would create a new public option for health insurance — an idea that was originally part of Obamacare but was jettisoned for being seen, at the time, as too progressive. (Levine, 3/29)

Bloomberg: Democrats Urge HHS Watchdog To Probe Verma’s Use Of Funds 
House and Senate Democratic committee leaders ask the Health and Human Services’ inspector general to review if Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma followed federal rules when it came to awarding millions of dollars in “questionable CMS contracts to Republican communications consultants for her own benefit.” The request was made in a March 29 letter from House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, House Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings, Senate Finance top Democrat Ron Wyden and Senate Health top Democrat Patty Murray, according to a statement. (Chipman, 3/29)

The Associated Press: Senate Barrels Toward Showdown Vote On Disaster Relief
A fight between President Donald Trump and Democrats over hurricane relief for Puerto Rico is imperiling a widely backed disaster aid bill that is a top priority for some of Trump's Southern GOP allies. The amount of money in dispute is relatively small, but Trump feels antipathy toward the U.S. territory's government and Senate Republicans are taking a hard line — for now — in denying Democratic demands for more aid for Puerto Rico, which was devastated by back-to-back hurricanes in 2017. (Taylor, 4/1)

The Associated Press: Puerto Ricans Struggle To Buy Food Amid Funding Shortfall
Iraida Vargas can no longer afford the two kinds of insulin her aging mother needs and has stopped buying fresh fruit and vegetables as billions of dollars in federal funds that help Puerto Ricans buy food, get medical treatment and recover from Hurricane Maria dwindle despite pleas from the U.S. territory that Congress take action. Vargas and her family are among the hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans feeling the sting of what the territorial government says are insufficient federal funds to help the island recover from the Category 4 storm amid a 12-year recession. (Coto, 3/29)

The New York Times: Lawsuits Lay Bare Sackler Family’s Role In Opioid Crisis
The Sacklers had a new plan. It was 2014, and the company the family had controlled for two generations, Purdue Pharma, had been hit with years of investigations and lawsuits over its marketing of the highly addictive opioid painkiller OxyContin, at one point pleading guilty to a federal felony and paying more than $600 million in criminal and civil penalties. But as the country’s addiction crisis worsened, the Sacklers spied another business opportunity. They could increase their profits by selling treatments for the very problem their company had helped to create: addiction to opioids. (Hakim, Rabin and Rashbaum, 4/1)

Stat: Purdue’s New Subsidiaries Raise Questions In Potential Bankruptcy
As Purdue Pharma grapples with thousands of lawsuits blaming the company for contributing to the opioid crisis, the drug maker has signaled it may file bankruptcy. If that happens, some newly created subsidiaries are likely to come under scrutiny. Over the past several months, Purdue has launched two limited partnerships that are now marketing or developing drugs that were previously listed as part of the Purdue product portfolio. Several former Purdue executives run these companies, both of which the drug maker refers to as operating subsidiaries. And a Purdue entity holds trademark rights for their names. (Silverman, 4/1)

USA Today: Addiction Seeps Into The Office As Workers Abuse Opioids, Pot, Alcohol
After Chris Tullock got promoted from washing dishes to busing tables at a restaurant in Northampton, Massachusetts, she got a second offer that was hard to turn down: smoking weed. It wasn't something she'd done often, she says. “I walked in a circle with a pie plate for, like, 15 minutes on a busy night,” says Tullock, 47, a 30-year veteran of the restaurant industry. “One of the waitresses said, ‘Please don’t ever smoke pot at work again.’" (Jones and O'Donnell, 3/29)

The Washington Post: An Overdose And A Mother’s Search For Truth
She had spent the past 13 months retelling the story of her daughter to anyone who would listen, and now Susan Stevens, 53, sped down the highway, needing to tell it again. Thirty people were gathered at a Cracker Barrel restaurant to hear a local sheriff discuss the opioid epidemic. Maybe, Susan thought, she could talk to the sheriff about her daughter, Toria. Maybe this would be the time when the pieces fit together and the ending finally made sense. The car had belonged to Toria, and as Susan pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot, she could hear Toria’s lip gloss rattling around under the front seat. Her anti-overdose medication was still in the glove box, unused. (Saslow, 3/31)

The Associated Press: DC To Distribute 76K Anti-Overdose Drug Kits By Fall 2019
Officials of Washington, D.C., say the city plans to distribute 76,000 kits to help counter area opioid overdoses by the end of September. The Washington Post reports the distribution would drastically increase the availability of the anti-overdose drug naloxone, as the city distributed only about 2,400 kits during the last nine months of 2017. (4/1)

The Associated Press: China To Regulate All Fentanyl Drugs As Controlled Substance
China said Monday it would begin regulating all fentanyl-related drugs as a class of controlled substances, in a change U.S. officials had long advocated as a way to stem the flow of lethal opioids from China. The sweeping change in the way China regulates drugs that mimic fentanyl takes effect May 1 and could help end the game of regulatory whack-a-mole with chemists who can manufacture novel opioids faster than they can be banned. (McNeil and Kinetz, 4/1)

The New York Times: Where There’s Rarely A Doctor In The House: Assisted Living
The patient moved into a large assisted living facility in Raleigh, N.C., in 2003. She was younger than most residents, just 73, but her daughter thought it a safer option than remaining in her own home. The woman had been falling so frequently that “she was ending up in the emergency room almost every month,” said Dr. Shohreh Taavoni, the internist who became her primary care physician. “She didn’t know why she was falling. She didn’t feel dizzy — she’d just find herself on the floor.” At least in a facility, her daughter told Dr. Taavoni, people would be around to help. (Span, 3/29)

The New York Times: Med Students Get An Extra Match On ‘Match Day’
Match Day at the University of Mississippi Medical Center is always a big deal. It’s the day medical students in their final year learn where they will be doing their residencies for the next three to five years. The nationwide system works a little like rushing for a college sorority or fraternity. Medical institutions rank their preference of medical students, and the students do the same. An algorithm determines “a match,” which the students are contractually obligated to abide by. (Krueger, 3/30)

The New York Times: Nurses Strike In New York: Threat Increases Over ‘Safe Staffing’ Levels
At Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in New York City, the 58 tiny beds for sick newborns are almost always filled. But nurses who work there say there are often too few of them to provide all of the care the babies, and their worried families, need. One of those neonatal intensive care nurses, Shanna Murphy, says she has not forgotten the new mother who got upset when she felt her crying infant was being ignored. Ms. Murphy, 28, said she wanted to soothe the baby, but she had her hands full with another patient whose condition had become unstable and required near-constant monitoring. (McGeehan, 3/30)

The New York Times: An Outbreak Spreads Fear: Of Measles, Of Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Of Anti-Semitism
Erica Wingate was working at a clothing store in town this week when a male customer, with the black hat and sidelocks typically worn by ultra-Orthodox Jews, started coughing. Another shopper standing next to him suddenly dropped the item she had been holding and clutched her child. “She was buying something, and she just threw it down,” Ms. Wingate recalled. “She said, ‘Let’s go, let’s go! Jews don’t have shots!’” (Nir and Gold, 3/29)

NPR: Mumps Outbreak: MMR Vaccine's Protection Against Mumps Can Fade
A mumps outbreak that began at Philadelphia's Temple University in February has snowballed, with the city's health department now reporting 106 cases associated with the flare-up. University officials say the vast majority of students involved had been immunized previously with the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella. So why are so many still appearing on campus with the mumps' signature swollen cheeks? (Ellis, 3/28)

NPR: Training A Computer To Read Mammograms As Well As A Doctor
Regina Barzilay teaches one of the most popular computer science classes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And in her research — at least until five years ago — she looked at how a computer could use machine learning to read and decipher obscure ancient texts. "This is clearly of no practical use," she says with a laugh. "But it was really cool, and I was really obsessed about this topic, how machines could do it." (Harris, 4/1)

NPR: Black-Box Algorithms: Ready For Medical Use?
Some computer scientists are enthralled by programs that can teach themselves how to perform tasks, such as reading X-rays. Many of these programs are called "black box" models because the scientists themselves don't know how they make their decisions. Already these black boxes are moving from the lab toward doctors' offices. The technology has great allure, because computers could take over routine tasks and perform them as well as doctors do, possibly better. But as scientists work to develop these black boxes, they are also mindful of the pitfalls. (Harris, 4/1)

Bloomberg: Birth Control App Natural Cycles Is More Effective Than The Pill 
With $38 million in funding, Natural Cycles has outraised many of its women-focused tech peers. It’s still a bit player in terms of active users, though, counting only a few hundred thousand, primarily in the U.K., U.S., and Sweden. While there’s no standard definition for “active user,” and thus no accurate way to compare, free fertility apps tend to boast many times more. (Deprez, 4/1)

Stat: How Patients In Alzheimer's Trials Are Coping With Treatment's Failure 
When Biogen and its partner Eisai announced that they were stopping two phase 3 trials of the Alzheimer’s treatment aducanumab because the drug did not appear to be working, it shattered the faith that a truly effective therapy — one that could decelerate the descent that came with the disease — was finally in reach. It ignited reckonings both for Massachusetts-based Biogen and for the underlying scientific theory of Alzheimer’s on which aducanumab was constructed. (Joseph, 4/1)

The New York Times: Inside America’s Black Box: A Rare Look At The Violence Of Incarceration
The contraband is scary enough: Homemade knives with grips whittled to fit particular hands. Homemade machetes. And homemade armor, with books and magazines for padding. Then there is the blood: In puddles. In toilets. Scrawled on the wall in desperate messages. Bloody scalps, bloody footprints, blood streaming down a cheek like tears. (Dewan, 3/30)

The Washington Post: DNA Testing Is Being Used To Help Prescribe Antidepressants.
Grit alone got Linda Greene through her husband’s muscular dystrophy, her daughter’s traumatic brain injury, and her own mysterious illness that lasted for three years and left her vomiting daily before doctors identified the cause. But eventually, after too many days sitting at her desk at work crying, she went to see her doctor for help. He prescribed an antidepressant and referred her to a psychiatrist. When the first medication didn’t help, the psychiatrist tried another — and another and another — hoping to find one that made her feel better. Instead, Greene felt like a zombie and sometimes she hallucinated and couldn’t sleep. In the worst moment, she found herself contemplating suicide. (Marcus, 3/31)

NPR: Deep Brain Stimulation For Depression, Mood Disorders Could Be Ethically Fraught
Our thoughts and fears, movements and sensations all arise from the electrical blips of billions of neurons in our brain. Streams of electricity flow through neural circuits to govern these actions of the brain and body, and some scientists think that many neurological and psychiatric disorders may result from dysfunctional circuits. As this understanding has grown, some scientists have asked whether we could locate these faulty circuits, reach deep into the brain and nudge the flow to a more functional state, treating the underlying neurobiological cause of ailments like tremors or depression. (Spiegel and Lambert, 3/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Walgreens Isn’t Ready To Quit Cigarette Sales Yet
Under pressure from federal regulators and some investors, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. is testing tobacco-free stores in the U.S., but the pharmacy chain’s leader has no plans to quit selling cigarettes entirely. “The safety of our patients is very important, but we also have to do what our customers are requiring us to do,” Walgreens Boots Chief Executive Stefano Pessina said in a recent interview. “We see that when we don’t sell tobacco, we have a lot of [negative] reactions.” (Al-Muslim, 3/31)

NPR: Eating More Fish Might Mitigate Pollution's Effects On Asthma
It's long been known that air pollution influences the risk — and severity — of asthma. Now, there's emerging evidence that diet can play a role, too. A new study finds that higher consumption of omega-3 fatty acids, found in oily fish such as salmon, sardines and lake trout, and in some plant sources such as walnuts and flaxseed, is linked to reduced asthma symptoms in city kids who are exposed to fairly high levels of indoor air pollution. (Aubrey, 3/30)

The Associated Press: Immune System Therapy Shows Wider Promise Against Cancer
A treatment that helps the immune system fight deadly blood cancers is showing early signs of promise against some solid tumors, giving hope that this approach might be extended to more common cancers in the future. The treatment, called CAR-T therapy, involves genetically modifying some of a patient's own cells to help them recognize and attack cancer. Richard Carlstrand of Long Key, Florida, had it more than a year ago for mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the lining of the lungs. (3/31)

The Associated Press: Emails Show FDA Worry After Romaine Outbreaks
After repeated food poisoning outbreaks tied to romaine lettuce, a U.S. food safety official shared his concerns in an internal email, saying the produce industry's water testing "failed in an epic and tragic way." How the industry tests water to grow leafy greens is "unacceptable" and needs to change, James Gorny, a senior adviser for produce safety at the Food and Drug Administration, wrote to agency leaders. (3/29)

The New York Times: Brain Booster In A Bottle? Don’t Bother
Attention all consumers seeking to protect brain health: You can save hundreds of dollars a year and enhance the health of your brain and body by ignoring the myriad unproven claims for anti-dementia supplements and instead focusing on a lifestyle long linked to better mental and physical well-being. How many of these purported brain boosters have you already tried — Ginkgo biloba, coenzyme Q10, huperzine A, caprylic acid and coconut oil, coral calcium, among others? The Alzheimer’s Association says that, with the possible exception of omega-3 fatty acids, all that were properly tested thus far have been found wanting. (Brody, 4/1)

The Washington Post: Burnout Caused By Chronic Stress Is Widespread
A common ailment is going around, and you probably know someone plagued by it. Caused in part by social media, the 24-hour news cycle and the pressure to check work email outside of office hours, it could hit you, too — especially if you don’t know how to nip it in the bud. Burnout is everywhere. (Rough, 3/30)

The Washington Post: Why Many Shy Away From Hearing Aids And Over-The-Counter Devices
Jen Durgin’s dad once ordered a pair of $20 hearing aids through the mail but gave up on the devices when they did not work well without getting them adjusted by an audiologist. Durgin, who has two deaf children, tried to persuade her dad to see an audiologist for testing and fitting, but to no avail. “I think he just views hearing loss as a normal part of aging,” said Durgin about her 77-year-old father, who lives in New England. “For someone who never went to the doctor as a child and almost never as an adult, he just doesn’t view it as necessary.” (Neumann, 3/30)

Los Angeles Times: In Gentrifying Echo Park, The VA Is Forcing These Homeless Veterans To Leave
For six years, dozens of homeless veterans have recovered from trauma in nine cottages along a winding residential road in Echo Park. The Billets — military jargon for civilian quarters — has been a model. The 72-bed program places as much as 70% of its chronically homeless veterans — male and female — in permanent housing, according to Volunteers of America, which operates the program. It’s based in a tranquil, leafy and gentrifying neighborhood of families and young professionals a short walk from a doughnut shop, a grocery store and multiple bus lines. (Holland, 3/31)

The New York Times: With Guns Drawn, Officers Raided Home To Get Feverish Child
With guns drawn, the police officers broke down the door of the suburban Phoenix home in the early hours of a February morning. “Come out with your hands up!” an officer yelled, with the dark front porch and foyer inside suddenly flooded with light from the officers’ flashlights. The target of the raid: an unvaccinated 2-year-old boy with a high fever. (Hassan, 3/29)