First Edition: December 12, 2019

Kaiser Health News: Battling The Bullets From The Operating Room To The Community
Dr. Laurie Punch plunged her gloved hands into Sidney Taylor’s open chest in a hospital’s operating room here, pushing on his heart to make it pump again after a bullet had torn through his flesh, collarbone and lung. His pulse had faded to nothing. She needed to get his heart beating. She couldn’t let the bullet win. (Ungar, 12/12)

Kaiser Health News: The Health Care Promises We Cannot Keep
It was a promise Matt Perrin wasn’t able to keep. “I’ll never take away your independence,” he’d told his mother, Rosemary, then 71, who lived alone on Cape Cod, Mass., in a much-loved cottage. That was before Rosemary started calling Perrin and his brother, confused and disoriented, when she was out driving. Her Alzheimer’s disease was progressing. (Graham, 12/12)

Kaiser Health News: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Can They Freaking Do That?!?
A woman gets a bill from a medical testing lab she’s never heard of, for $35. Not long after, a follow-up bill arrives. This one says if she doesn’t pay right away, the price is going up — way up ― to nearly $1,300. This raises a question that comes up a lot with medical billing: Can they freaking do that?!? (Weissmann, 12/12)

The Washington Post: Infighting Between Alex Azar, Seema Verma Stymies Trump Health Agenda
Bitter infighting among President Trump’s top health officials — as well as his own shifting demands on signature policies — have undermined key planks of the president’s health-care agenda as he girds for a tough reelection campaign, according to current and former administration officials. Though polls show the issue is critically important to voters, Trump has failed to deliver on his most important health-care promises. His plan to dramatically lower the prices consumers pay for prescription drugs has been stalled by internal disputes, as well as by technical and regulatory issues, said six people with knowledge of the process. And an administration plan to replace the Affordable Care Act has not materialized even as the administration seeks to strike down the law in federal court. (Abutaleb, Dawsey, Winfield Cunningham and Goldstein, 12/11)

Politico: Azar, Verma Battle For Trump’s Favor Amid White House Showdown
Even after Donald Trump had urged them to end their feud, the president’s top two health deputies couldn’t resist competing for his attention — and undermining each other on Twitter and cable TV. Seema Verma, who runs Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare, last Tuesday heaped praise on Trump’s recent order that requires hospitals and health insurers to post their prices. "The federal agency I lead, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is taking swift action to implement it," Verma wrote in an accompanying Chicago Tribune op-ed that day. But on Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar went on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” — one of Trump’s favorite TV shows — and claimed credit for driving the same initiative. (Diamond, Cancryn and Pradhan, 12/11)

Politico: White House Moves Up Meeting With Warring Health Officials
President Donald Trump's top two health officials have been called to a White House meeting Wednesday evening with acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, in the latest attempt to quash their escalating feud, according to four individuals with knowledge of the gathering. HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CMS Administrator Seema Verma were originally planning to meet with Mulvaney on Thursday, and it's not clear why the meeting has been moved up or if Trump will attend. (Pradhan and Cancryn, 12/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Confirmation Hearing Is Smooth For Nominee To Lead Indian Health Agency
President Trump’s nominee to lead the Indian Health Service breezed through a Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, facing few tough questions from the handful of lawmakers who were present. Rear Adm. Michael Weahkee, a career IHS official who has served as the agency’s acting director since June 2017, has in recent weeks gained the support of many Native American tribes. That made him a shoo-in for senators taking signals from their constituents. (Weaver, 12/11)

The New York Times: Suspect In Rampage At N.J. Kosher Market Wrote Anti-Semitic Posts
After first saying that a deadly rampage at a New Jersey kosher market was random, the authorities disclosed on Wednesday that one of the two attackers had published anti-Semitic posts online and had, in fact, targeted the site. He was also a follower of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, a fringe religious group that has expressed hostility to Jews, officials said. A rambling religious manifesto was found inside the suspect’s rental van. (Barron, Gold and Watkins, 12/11)

Politico: Grewal Won’t Call Jersey City Attack A Hate Crime; Fulop Says ’No Other Way To Interpret It’
State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and federal officials refused during a Wednesday afternoon press conference to say whether investigators believe the attackers — a man and woman who are also suspected of fatally shooting a police detective — were motivated by hate against the Jewish community. (Hutchins, 12/11)

The Wall Street Journal: New Jersey Shooters Targeted Kosher Grocery Store, Jersey City Mayor Says
Anderson, 47 years old, and Graham, 50, used high-powered rifles to kill three people inside the Jersey City Kosher Supermarket on Tuesday afternoon after pulling up to the store in a stolen U-Haul van, officials said. The shooters had earlier killed a police officer during a confrontation at the Bay View Cemetery about a mile away, Mr. Grewal said. Investigators also recovered a pipe bomb from the stolen van, he said, as well as digital and documentary evidence. (De Avila and Blint-Welsh, 12/11)

The New York Times: ‘I’ve Cried My Eyes Out’: Victims Of N.J. Shooting Are Mourned
For the dozens of Hasidic Jewish families who had settled in Jersey City over the past few years, the JC Kosher Supermarket served as a community hub. It was the sole kosher grocery store in the area, stocking Kedem grape juice, canned vegetables and candy. The store’s popular deli counter was run by a young couple — among the first to relocate to Jersey City from the Satmar Hasidic neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in search of more affordable housing and a bit of open space. (Otterman, 12/11)

The Associated Press: As Newtown Students Grow Up, Some Turn To Activism
They were children themselves when they lost siblings, friends, and schoolmates in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Too young to comprehend the massacre, they spent years in shock and denial. Seven years later, some young people in Newtown, still struggling with the trauma, are emerging as new voices for school safety and gun violence prevention. The activism, they say, has been a way to turn something horrific into something positive. (Collins, 12/11)

Politico: How Trump And The Democrats Parted Ways On Lowering Drug Prices
It was supposed to be one place President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could strike a deal. But Pelosi and House Democrats are going it alone on drug pricing, pushing through sweeping legislation this week to bring down the cost of medicines. The White House, infuriated by impeachment, won’t be joining the victory parade, although drug prices — a major voter concern — were one of Trump’s top domestic priorities. The administration instead threw its weight behind a bipartisan Senate drug plan that — like Pelosi’s bill, after leaving the House — is probably going nowhere. (Karlin-Smith, 12/11)

NPR: How The House Prescription Drug Plan Would Try To Lower Drug Prices
Practically everyone is frustrated by high prescription drug prices. Voters have made clear they want Congress to do something about them. The House of Representatives is voting Thursday on a bill that tries to deliver on that. It's highly unlikely to get through the Senate, and the White House has announced that President Trump would veto it if it came to his desk. (Simmons-Duffin, 12/12)

Stat: It’s A Bonanza: With Drug Pricing Bill Up For A Vote, D.C. News Outlets Are Drowning In Advocacy Ads
The almost comical onslaught of ads in Wednesday’s newspapers represents drug makers’ last stab at sinking Democrats’ signature drug pricing bill. All of them — some more explicitly than others — urge lawmakers to vote against Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s sweeping drug pricing package, which is set for a House vote this week. The bill would direct Medicare to negotiate the price of certain high cost drugs. STAT counted nearly 20 ads across the papers. (Florko, 12/11)

Politico: Impeachment Committee’s Rancor Forged By Decades Of Abortion Battles
The personal attacks, shouting matches and made-for-TV stunts on full display in the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment proceedings this week were actually decades in the making. Tasked on paper with overseeing the federal courts, the committee — now in the midst of debating, then voting out articles of impeachment — has long been at the heart of the nation’s culture wars. Its stage draws partisans eager for star turns — and is radioactive for more moderate or vulnerable lawmakers from swing districts. (Ollstein, 12/12)

The Associated Press: Doctors End Protest To Demand Flu Vaccines For Migrants
A group of doctors on Wednesday ended a three-day protest against the U.S. government's refusal to allow the flu vaccine be administered to migrants, following the arrests of six demonstrators outside a Border Patrol regional headquarters in San Diego. Dr. Bonnie Arzuaga said Customs and Border Patrol officials met briefly with her and other protest leaders and vowed to pass her organization's request to start a pilot program to inoculate migrants in detention facilities in San Diego up their chain of command. (Watson, 12/11)

Los Angeles Times: U.S. Officials Won't Let Doctors Give Flu Shots To Migrant Children
Dr. Mario Mendoza, a retired anesthesiologist, said it would take less than half an hour to administer the vaccines to more than 100 children via the free mobile flu clinic they set up directly outside the CBP facility. “We have the team here. We have the vaccines. It would not take 72 hours to do,” said Mendoza, adding that denying children the basic healthcare being offered was intentionally cruel and inhumane. (Fry, 12/10)

The New York Times: Why Border Patrol Refuses To Offer Flu Shots To Migrants
Since last December, three migrant children have died from influenza in facilities along the southwestern border, where migrants routinely complain that cold temperatures sicken children, and where physicians have reported that crowded conditions spread illnesses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, concerned that infectious respiratory illnesses were spreading in congested border facilities, this year recommended flu vaccinations “at the earliest point of entry” for migrants who are 6 months or older. (Jordan, 12/11)

ProPublica: Despite Audit, Doctors With Checkered Records Can Still Decide Fate Of Green Card Seekers
Last year, government investigators found that the federal program for vetting the health of green card applicants included scores of doctors with histories of professional misconduct. Physicians who had been disciplined by state medical boards for abusing patients, and in some cases had faced criminal charges, had the government’s blessing to conduct screenings that can decide the fate of an immigrant’s petition for permanent residency. (Chou and Medina, 12/12)

ProPublica: Your Doctor Might Have A Disciplinary Record. Here’s How To Find Out.
Patients often select doctors based on recommendations from family and friends, distance from their house or participation in their health insurer’s network. ProPublica also provides helpful resources for researching doctors, and knowing whether a doctor has been sanctioned by a professional licensing board should be another essential part of your search. Doctors can be disciplined for criminal convictions, medical negligence, wrongly prescribing controlled substances and other wrongdoing. (Ornstein, Waldman and Ojiaku, 12/11)

The Washington Post: FDA Warns Company Over Ad That Leaves Out Information On Risk Of Overdose
The Food and Drug Administration has warned the manufacturer of a long-acting anti-addiction medication that its printed advertisement does not include one of the most serious risks of using the product: the increased chance of an opioid overdose. In a Dec. 2 letter to Alkermes that was posted to the FDA’s website Wednesday, the agency said a company ad for Vivitrol does not warn users that they are more vulnerable to a “potentially fatal” overdose if they resume use of opioids after the medication wears off. (Bernstein, 12/11)

The Wall Street Journal: E. Coli Outbreaks In Lettuce Point To Gaps In Food Safety
E. coli illnesses linked to romaine lettuce show how U.S. regulators continue to struggle with identifying which farms spark an outbreak and stopping it from spreading. An outbreak involving a romaine-based salad kit has sickened at least eight people in three states, health officials said this week. Those cases could be connected to an outbreak in romaine last month that sickened more than 100 people in 23 states even though the strains of E. coli are different, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Gasparro, 12/11)

The Hill: Ways And Means Committee Announces Rival Surprise Medical Billing Fix 
The House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday put out its own, rival proposal to protect patients from surprise medical bills. The proposal from Reps. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and Kevin Brady (R-Texas), the chairman and ranking member of the panel, comes on top of the deal announced by a different panel on Sunday. That panel, the Energy and Commerce Committee, on Sunday announced a bipartisan deal on surprise medical bills that included the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).  (Sullivan and Hellmann, 12/11)

Los Angeles Times: Congress To Halt Military Use Of Toxic Foam Contaminating Drinking Water
Congress has reached a deal on a spending bill that would require the military to stop using firefighting foam containing toxic chemicals linked to cancer, but would abandon efforts to place stronger regulations on the chemicals. The bill, called the National Defense Authorization Act, has been the focus of intense negotiations for months. (Phillips, 12/11)

The Associated Press: More Americans Are Dying At Home Rather Than In Hospitals
For the first time since the early 1900s, more Americans are dying at home rather than in hospitals, a trend that reflects more hospice care and progress toward the kind of end that most people say they want. Deaths in nursing homes also have declined, according to Wednesday's report in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Marchione, 12/11)

The New York Times: More Americans Are Dying At Home Than In Hospitals
The gap may be small, but it had been narrowing for years, and the researchers believe dying at home will continue to become more common. The last time Americans died at home at the current rate was the middle of the last century, according Dr. Haider J. Warraich, a cardiologist at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and a co-author of the new research. (Kolata, 12/11)

The Associated Press: Tips For Using Flexible Spending Dollars Before Year's End
Still have money set aside for medical expenses that you need to spend by the end of the year? There are plenty of ways to meet the deadline for flexible spending accounts, and you don't need to buy big-ticket items. You can use up the balance on everyday purchases like bandages and items you've already bought. (12/11)

Reuters: U.S. Watchdog Finds $6.7 Billion In Questionable Medicare Payments To Insurers
A U.S. government watchdog is raising fresh concerns that health insurers are exaggerating how sick Medicare patients are, receiving billions of dollars in improper payments as a result. Health insurers selling Medicare Advantage plans to seniors and the disabled received an estimated $6.7 billion in 2017 after adding diagnoses to patients' files that were not supported by their medical records, according to a report released on Thursday by the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector General's Office. (12/12)

The Associated Press: Fewer Kids Report Sex Abuse In US Juvenile Detention Centers
A new federal report has found the number of kids who say they have been sexually victimized in juvenile detention centers has dropped across the U.S. compared with past years. But remarkably high rates of sexual abuse persist in 12 facilities stretching from Oregon to Florida, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report released Wednesday. The report analyzed data collected during more than 6,000 anonymous interviews last year at nearly 330 juvenile detention facilities. (12/11)

The Hill: House Democrats To Vote On Flavored E-Cigarettes Ban Next Year 
A bill aimed at curbing youth vaping rates by banning flavored e-cigarettes will not get a vote in the House until next year, one of the measure’s co-sponsors said. Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.), who co-sponsors the bill with Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), told The Hill on Wednesday that she has a “promise” from House leadership for a vote on the floor “early” next year. (Hellmann, 12/11)

The Associated Press: New York Could Try To Keep Alive Flavored E-Cigarette Ban 
New York's ban on flavored e-cigarettes is still held up in court but the state may try to keep it alive and expand it to include menthol. The state's Public Health and Health Planning Council is set to vote Thursday to keep the emergency ban on the books for another 90 days. The council had approved the ban in September but a state appeals court blocked the state from enforcing it in October. (Villenueve, 12/12)

The New York Times: This Helmet Will Save Football. Actually, Probably Not.
Walk between a colonnade of palm trees and push through a door at Stanford University and find a sorcerer’s apprentice lab where prospective Ph.D. sorts beaver away at bioengineering programs. This is CamLab, where David Camarillo, a nationally respected bioengineer and former college football tight end, and his students are in pursuit of that American El Dorado: They seek a helmet that will make it safe to play tackle football. Dr. Camarillo, 40, insisted they could soon crack the case. (Powell, 12/12)

The New York Times: Why Women On The Pill Still ‘Need’ To Have Their Periods
In the 1960s, manufacturers of the new birth-control pill imagined their ideal user as feminine, maternal and forgetful. She wanted discretion. She was married. And she wanted visible proof that her monthly cycle was normal and that she wasn’t pregnant. In 2019, the user of the pill is perceived as an altogether different person. She’s unwed, probably would prefer to skip her period and is more forthright about when it’s that time of the month. As such, many birth-control brands now come in brightly colored rectangular packs that make no effort to be concealed. (Gross, 12/11)

NPR: In Construction, Suicide Prevention Becomes Part Of The Toolbox
It has been five years, but the memory still haunts construction superintendent Michelle Brown. A co-worker ended his workday by giving away his personal cache of hand tools to his colleagues. It was a generous but odd gesture; no one intending to return to work would do such a thing. The man went home and killed himself. He was found shortly afterward by co-workers who belatedly realized the significance of his gifts. (Noguchi, 12/12)

The Washington Post: A Genetic Mutation Is Associated With Increased Risk Of Heart Failure In Black People, Study Finds
An underdiagnosed genetic mutation in people of African descent carries an increased risk for heart failure, according to a study. When present in those patients, a genetic variant, TTR V122I, could lead to a higher risk of hereditary transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy — a potentially fatal disease caused by a protein buildup in the heart. (Beachum, 12/11)

The Associated Press: New Drugs Show Rare Promise Against Advanced Breast Cancer
Doctors on Wednesday reported unusually good results from tests of two experimental drugs in women with an aggressive form of breast cancer that had spread widely and resisted many previous treatments. One drug showed particular ability to reach tumors in the brain, which are notoriously tough to treat. (Marchione, 12/11)

The New York Times: Sleeping 9 Hours A Night May Raise Stroke Risk
Sleeping a lot may increase the risk for stroke, a new study has found. Chinese researchers followed 31,750 men and women whose average age was 62 for an average of six years, using physical examinations and self-reported data on sleep. They found that compared with sleeping (or being in bed trying to sleep) seven to eight hours a night, sleeping nine or more hours increased the relative risk for stroke by 23 percent. Sleeping less than six hours a night had no effect on stroke incidence. (Bakalar, 12/11)

The New York Times: Questioning ‘The Newer The Better’ For Blood Transfusions
For critically ill children, fresh blood transfusions may be no better than blood that has been stored for several weeks. Transfusions in seriously ill children are usually given to improve oxygen delivery and prevent organ failure, and some studies have suggested that newer blood is better. Now a blinded, randomized trial has found it is not. (Bakalar, 12/11)

The Washington Post: Planned Parenthood To Open Centers At 50 Los Angeles High Schools
Planned Parenthood is pioneering a new model of reproductive health services for Los Angeles County teens by opening 50 clinics at area high schools. The program — announced Wednesday and launched in partnership with the school district and county health department — is believed to be the most ambitious effort in the country to bring these types of services to at-risk students in public schools. The program, funded by an initial investment of $10 million from Los Angeles County and $6 million from Planned Parenthood over three years, will offer a full range of birth control options, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and pregnancy counseling, but not abortion, for an estimated 75,000 teens. (Cha, 12/11)

The New York Times: ‘They Saw Him Hanging And Did Nothing’: A Teen’s Agony In Rikers
Nicholas Feliciano was hauled into a holding pen at Rikers Island on the night before Thanksgiving, after a brawl broke out among detainees at the jail. His lip had been gashed and his friend, Alfonso Martinez, had been stabbed. As Mr. Martinez was being taken to an infirmary, he recalled his friend saying, “If they separate us, I’m going to kill myself.” It was no idle threat. Mr. Feliciano, 18, had tried to take his own life several times before, most recently at a juvenile detention center, his grandmother, Madeline Feliciano, said. (Ransom and Sandoval, 12/12)

The Associated Press: Arkansas Judge Denies Students' Appeal To Vaccination Policy
A judge has denied two University of Arkansas students' request to block a public health decree that has barred them from attending classes during a mumps outbreak because they don't have the proper vaccinations. The Arkansas Department of Health issued the public health directive in a Nov. 22 letter that stated students without at least two doses of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine either be vaccinated immediately or be barred from classrooms and school activities for at least 26 days. (12/11)

The Associated Press: Woman Accidentally Calls DA Investigator, Gets Needed Walker
An 84-year-old New Mexico woman's misdial meant for a medical supply store went to an investigator in a district attorney's office — and led to a new walker. KOB-TV reports Bernice Weems mistakenly called Kyle Hartsock with the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque, New Mexico, seeking a new walker. She left a voicemail. It turns out Hartsock's number is just one digit off from the medical supply store she was trying to call. (12/12)

ProPublica/Chicago Tribune: 'None Of The Children At The School Are Safe'
Since mid-May, DCFS has opened a total of 21 abuse investigations involving students at Gages Lake. Citing evidence from surveillance video, agency reports describe workers grabbing children by the wrists, shoving them into walls and throwing them to the ground in a cluster of four seclusion spaces — some with lockable doors, others open — that the school calls “the office.” Two aides at the center of the investigations resigned from the school. One of them is facing criminal charges; Lake County prosecutors allege he used excessive force on students. (Cohen and Richards, 12/12)

The Associated Press: Company To Pay $245M Toward Cleanup Of Kalamazoo River PCBs
One of the companies responsible for polluting an 80-mile stretch of river and floodplains in southwestern Michigan with toxic chemicals will pay at least $245.2 million to advance a cleanup effort that began more than 20 years ago, federal officials said Wednesday. NCR Corp. will fund the dredging of contaminated sediments and removal of an aging dam in the Kalamazoo River under an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice and the state of Michigan, officials told The Associated Press ahead of an official announcement. (12/11)

The Washington Post: Season’s First Cold-Related Death Reported In Baltimore
Maryland health officials said Wednesday that a man in Baltimore died of “cold-related illness,” the first such recorded death of this winter season. State health officials released few details about the circumstances of the death, only describing the man as being in the “45-64 age range,” according to a statement released Wednesday. No information was provided about when or where in the city he died. (Williams, 12/11)