First Edition: February 16, 2018

Kaiser Health News: Pain Hits After Surgery When A Doctor’s Daughter Is Stunned By $17,850 Urine Test
After Elizabeth Moreno had back surgery in late 2015, her surgeon prescribed an opioid painkiller and a follow-up drug test that seemed routine — until the lab slapped her with a bill for $17,850. A Houston lab had tested her urine sample for a constellation of legal and illicit drugs, many of which, Moreno said, she had never heard of, let alone taken. “I was totally confused. I didn’t know how I was going to pay this,” said Moreno, 30, who is finishing a degree in education at Texas State University in San Marcos and is pregnant with twins. (Schulte, 2/16)

Kaiser Health News: FDA Head Vows To Tackle High Drug Prices And Drugmakers ‘Gaming The System’
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said he will do everything “within my lane” to combat high drug prices and that he sees drug companies “gaming the system to try to block competition” in a multitude of ways in the marketplace. In a wide-ranging interview with Kaiser Health News on Thursday, Gottlieb also said that he wants to speed up the U.S. approval process for generic and “biosimilar” versions of biologic drugs, which are drugs comprised of living organisms, such as plant or animal cells. (Tribble and Szabo, 2/15)

Kaiser Health News: In An Effort To Curb Drug Costs, States Advance Bills To Prod Feds On Importation
Norm Thurston is a “free-market guy” — a conservative health economist in Republican-run Utah who rarely sees the government’s involvement in anything as beneficial. But in a twist, the state lawmaker is now pushing for Utah to flex its muscle to spur federal action on ever-climbing prescription drug prices. (Luthra, 2/16)

The New York Times: After Florida Shooting, Trump Focuses On Mental Health Over Guns
President Trump announced on Thursday that he would visit Parkland, Fla., where a gunman killed 17 people this week in the deadliest school shooting in years, and would work with state and local leaders “to help secure our schools, and tackle the difficult issue of mental health. ”The president tweeted his condolences to the families of the victims in the hours after the shooting on Wednesday, and as images of terrified students sprinting frantically away from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School dominated the news, Mr. Trump’s aides urged him to make a public statement. But he opted not to say anything more until Thursday, when he delivered a subdued seven-minute speech at the White House. (Rogers, 2/15)

The Associated Press: Trump Cites Mental Health -- Not Guns -- In Speech On Shooting
Not always a natural in the role of national comforter, Trump spoke deliberately, at one point directly addressing children who may feel "lost, alone, confused or even scared." "I want you to know that you are never alone and you never will be," Trump said. "You have people who care about you, who love you, and who will do anything at all to protect you." (Lucey, 2/15)

Bloomberg: Trump Calls For Action On Mental Health After Shooting, Gives No Specifics
He ignored a question about gun control after his statement, and said nothing about guns or gun laws in his address. He said that the U.S. must “tackle the difficult issue of mental health,” but offered no specifics. “It is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make that difference,” he said. (Epstein, 2/15)

Politico: Advocates Warn Against Linking Mass Shootings, Mental Illness After Trump Tweet
Advocates cautioned Thursday against making assumptions about the links between mental health issues and violence after President Donald Trump said the suspect in a mass shooting at a Florida high school was "mentally disturbed." “So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior,” Trump tweeted Thursday. In televised remarks on the shooting, which resulted in the deaths of 17 people, he said his administration was tackling "the difficult issue of mental health." (Alexander, 2/15)

The Associated Press: Budget Undercuts Trump Focus On Mental Health, School Safety
President Donald Trump is calling for a focus on mental health and school safety in response to shootings like the one that took 17 lives in Florida, but his budget would cut funding in both areas. Trump's latest budget would slash the major source of public funds for mental health treatment, the Medicaid program serving more than 70 million low-income and disabled people. The budget also calls for a 36 percent cut to an Education Department grant program that supports safer schools, reducing it by $25 million from the current level of $67.5 million. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Danilova, 2/16)

Politico: School Safety Money Would Be Slashed In Trump Budget
Two days before the school shooting in Florida that left 17 dead, the Trump administration proposed cutting millions in federal education programs meant to help prevent crime in schools and assist them in recovery from tragedies. Funds targeted for reduction or elimination in the Trump administration's fiscal 2019 request have helped pay for counselors in schools and violence prevention programs. (Hefling, 2/15)

The New York Times: Focus Turns To Gun Access By The Mentally Ill After Florida Shooting
Gov. Rick Scott of Florida said on Thursday that he would call on state lawmakers and law enforcement authorities to keep firearms away from the mentally ill. “How do we make sure that individuals with mental illness do not touch a gun?” the Republican governor said at a news conference, taking an unusually strong stance on a gun control issue. Scott Israel, the Broward County, Fla., sheriff, called on lawmakers in Washington and Tallahassee to expand police powers by allowing officers to detain people for a mental health evaluation on the basis of worrisome social media posts or “graphic threats.” (Mueller, 2/15)

The Hill: Trump Health Chief Supports CDC Research On Gun Violence
Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said Thursday that he would allow his department to conduct research into the causes of gun violence, a major Democratic priority. Democrats on Thursday pushed for lifting a provision that restricts the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from conducting research into gun violence as part of their response to the mass shooting at a Florida school on Wednesday. (Sullivan, 2/15)

Politico: Trump’s New Health Chief Backs CDC Research On Gun Violence
Azar told an Energy and Commerce subcommittee that a provision passed two decades ago limiting the CDC's work on gun violence only prevents it from taking an advocacy position — not from doing research. "My understanding is that the rider does not in any way impede our ability to conduct our research mission," he said. "We're in the science business and the evidence-generating business, and so I will have our agency certainly working in this field, as they do across the broad spectrum of disease control and prevention." (Cancryn, 2/15)

The Hill: GOP Chairman: Congress Should Rethink CDC Ban On Gun Violence Research
Congress should reexamine a policy that bars the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from studying gun violence as a public health issue, the GOP chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Thursday. “If it relates to mental health, that certainly should be done,” Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), a staunch Second Amendment advocate, said Thursday during an appearance on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers." (Wong, 2/15)

The Washington Post: Mnuchin Calls On Congress To Look Into Gun Violence Issue After School Shooting, Breaking With Rest Of White House
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday called on Congress to look into issues related to gun violence less than 24 hours after 17 people were killed in a school shooting in Florida. “I will say, personally, I think the gun violence — it’s a tragedy what we’ve seen yesterday, and I urge Congress to look at these issues,” Mnuchin said at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing. (Paletta, 2/15)

The Associated Press: Lots Of Talk, Little Action In Congress After Shootings
For a brief moment after the Las Vegas massacre last fall, Republicans and Democrats in Congress talked about taking a rare step to tighten the nation’s gun laws. Four months later, the only gun legislation that has moved in the House or Senate instead eases restrictions for gun owners. The October deaths of 58 people in Las Vegas and other mass shootings have sparked debate but have had scant impact on the march toward looser gun laws under the Republican-controlled Congress. There’s little sign that the shooting deaths of 17 people at a Florida high school Wednesday will change that dynamic. (Daly, 2/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Missed Warnings In The Florida School Shooting
The teenager accused of killing 17 people at a Florida high school had alarmed authorities, neighbors and classmates, who recounted such behavior as obsessing over weapons, shooting small animals with a pellet gun and harassing neighbors’ pets. (Kamp, Calvert, Campo-Flores and de Avila, 2/15)

Politico: How The Alleged Florida Shooter Escaped Years Of Warnings
Despite the fact that [Cruz] was well known to local police, school and mental health officials, he legally purchased the AR-15 that he used to gun down his former classmates. Cruz slipped through the gaps in a dysfunctional mental health system and a gun background check setup not designed to stop mentally ill people who haven’t been incarcerated or court-ordered into treatment. (Emma, Ehley and Ducassi, 2/15)

CNN: How To Talk To Kids About Tragic Events
After horrific events like shootings or attacks by terrorists, parents are faced with this dilemma: What do I tell my kids? How can I talk to them about something so senseless and indiscriminate? About something that we can't make sense of ourselves? "It's important to explain to children the rarity of these events," said Dr. Gail Saltz, who has been in private practice as a psychiatrist for more than 20 years and serves as a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill-Cornell School of Medicine. (Wallace, 2/15)

The Washington Post: Psychologists Warn Of Dangers Of ‘Excessive And Intrusive’ Media Coverage Of School Shootings
The National Association of School Psychologists is holding its annual meeting in Chicago this week, an event given new urgency by shootings at a Florida school on Wednesday that left at least 17 people dead. On Thursday, it released guidance on how the media should cover the shootings, warning of the “dangers of intrusive or excessive coverage.” (Strauss, 2/15)

The Hill: GOP Negotiators Meet On ObamaCare Market Fix
Top Republican negotiators on a bill to stabilize ObamaCare markets met on Thursday to discuss a way to bridge the gap between House and Senate measures. GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) and Susan Collins (Maine) met with House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) to discuss an effort to get ObamaCare stability measures included in a coming long-term government funding bill due in March, known as an omnibus. (Sullivan, 2/15)

The New York Times: New Health Secretary Faces First Test As Idaho Skirts Federal Law
Alex M. Azar II, the new secretary of health and human services, said Thursday that he would closely scrutinize a plan by Idaho to allow the sale of insurance that does not comply with the Affordable Care Act, an early test of how he will enforce a law he opposes. But he said it was too early to know what action he might take. “We’ll be looking at that very carefully and measure it up against the standards of the law,” Mr. Azar said at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee. (Pear, 2/15)

The Wall Street Journal: White House Sidesteps Idaho Dispute On Health Insurance
The dispute has put the new HHS secretary in the political crosshairs, caught between an administration that is seeking to dismantle the ACA and Democrats who insist the health law must continue to be enforced as long as it is still in force. Mr. Azar said the decision last month by the Idaho Department of Insurance to let insurers offer consumer plans that could charge higher premium rates to people with pre-existing conditions was a sign that too many people can’t afford coverage under the ACA. (Armour, 2/15)

Stat: Azar Defends Trump Drug Pricing Proposals, Pushing Back Against Criticism
Alex Azar defended the drug pricing proposals in the Trump administration’s latest budget request Thursday, pushing back on criticism that none of the ideas would lower the list prices for prescription drugs. The new health and human services secretary, when pressed on the matter by both a Democratic and a Republican senator at a budget hearing, pointed to two concrete proposals by the administration. Both take aim at Medicare’s prescription drug benefit. One would put insurers, rather than the federal government, on the hook for more of the cost; another aims to encourage insurance companies to push cheaper generic drugs instead of costly brand drugs to their patients. (Swetlitz, 2/15)

The New York Times: Intrigue At V.A. As Secretary Says He Is Being Forced Out
The secretary of veterans affairs, David J. Shulkin, for a year enjoyed rare bipartisan support in Washington as he reformed his department, but now officials in the Trump administration are trying to replace him. An email sent in December by Jake Leinenkugel, the White House senior adviser on veterans affairs, expressed frustration with Dr. Shulkin and listed ways to topple the leadership of his department once key legislation was passed. (Philipps and Fandos, 2/15)

Politico: Lawmakers Give VA Secretary A Pass On Travel Scandal
House Veterans Affairs Committee members largely gave VA Secretary David Shulkin a pass over a scathing inspector general's report on his visit to Europe last summer after Shulkin promised to repay the VA for his wife's airfare and other trip expenses. At a hearing on the administration's $198 billion VA budget proposal, members on both sides tut-tutted over the $122,000 cost of the trip but treated it as a distraction that they urged Shulkin to clear away so he could deal with substantial problems like paying for veterans care by community providers, EHR modernization, unused VA assets and streamlining benefit appeals. (Allen, 2/15)

The Wall Street Journal: VA Secretary Says He’ll Reimburse U.S. For Disputed European Travel Costs
Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin said Thursday he would reimburse the U.S. government for costs associated with a trip to Europe that was the subject of a critical internal-watchdog report, and added that he wouldn’t resign. Dr. Shulkin told reporters that he would pay back the government for his wife’s travel costs for the summer 2017 trip to Copenhagen and London and make a contribution to the U.S. treasury equal to the cost of tickets to the Wimbledon tennis tournament in July. (Nicholas, 2/15)

The Hill: Top Dems Seeks Answers From HHS On Ethics Lapses
A top House Democrat wants answers from the head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about how he plans to combat repeated ethical lapses throughout the agency. In a letter, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) asked HHS Secretary Alex Azar to commit to “performing a top-down review of HHS and each of its operating divisions to determine the extent to which the Department is abiding by all applicable federal ethical regulations and policies.” (Weixel, 2/15)

Stateline: Trump’s Historic Medicaid Shift Goes Beyond Work Requirements
Requiring able-bodied adults to work for their Medicaid is just part of the Trump administration’s drive to remake the decades-old health insurance program for the poor. The administration signaled late last year that it welcomes state-based ideas to retool Medicaid and “help individuals live up to their highest potential.” At least 10 states have requested waivers that would allow them to impose work requirements and other obligations. (Ollove, 2/16)

The Hill: HHS Chief: No Decision Yet On Lifetime Limits For Medicaid
Under fire from Democrats, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Thursday said the department has not yet taken a position on whether it will allow states to put lifetime caps on how long people can be enrolled Medicaid. At least five states have asked the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to approve proposals that would put a cap on how long beneficiaries of Medicaid — the health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans — can receive coverage. (Roubein, 2/15)

Los Angeles Times: Countering Trump Administration, A California Legislator Wants To Ban Work Requirements For Medicaid
As states led by Republicans prepare to impose tough new conditions for Medicaid recipients with the Trump administration’s blessing, a California legislator wants to ensure no such requirements would be enacted here. State Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-Azusa) has introduced a bill that would bar the state from asking the federal government’s permission to impose work or volunteer requirements in order for low-income residents to be eligible for Medicaid, known in California as Medi-Cal. (Mason, 2/14)

The Hill: Va. Republican Opens Door To Medicaid Expansion
A legislator from a rural district in Virginia on Thursday became the first Republican in the state to explicitly call for Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare. The support of Del. Terry Kilgore (R-Scott), chairman of the House Commerce and Labor Committee, boosts the chances that Virginia could become the latest state to accept federal money to expand Medicaid coverage. (Weixel, 2/15)

The Associated Press: Key GOP Lawmaker Backs Medicaid Expansion In Virginia
Kilgore said his change of heart was due partly to President Donald Trump's embrace of work requirements for low-income people on Medicaid. The Trump administration recently announced that it will approve state proposals requiring "able-bodied adults" to work, study, or perform some kind of service. The move has helped prompt lawmakers in other conservative states to resurrect expansion plans and has already been approved in Kentucky. (Suderman, 2/15)

The Washington Post: Rural Legislator From Southwest Va. Breaks The ‘Republican Dam’ For Medicaid Expansion
“For my district, for my part of the state, it’s the right thing to do,” Kilgore said. “At the end of the day, I think you’ll see a lot of folks feeling that way.” Kilgore’s announcement came a few weeks after House Speaker M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights) began signaling a willingness to expand Medicaid if work requirements could be imposed on able-bodied recipients. Cox’s party nearly lost control of the chamber in the November elections in an anti-Trump wave, with many Democrats running on the issue of health care. (Vozzella, 2/15)

The Hill: House Votes To Add Requirements For Americans With Disabilities Act Lawsuits
The House on Thursday passed legislation that would create additional requirements for filing lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The legislation, which passed 225-192 largely along party lines, would prevent people from filing lawsuits alleging violations of the ADA unless business owners are given written notice and fail to offer a written response describing improvements or to make substantial progress in removing the barrier by the end of a six-month period. (Marcos, 2/15)

The Washington Post: Nine Organizations Sue Trump Administration For Ending Grants To Teen Pregnancy Programs
Planned Parenthood has joined forces with eight other local government, health care, and advocacy organizations to take the Trump administration to court over the defunding of a national teen pregnancy program. On Thursday, the groups filed four separate lawsuits in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Washington, in Maryland and the District of Columbia, arguing that approximately $220 million in grants was wrongfully terminated. The Obama-era Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPP) was created by Congress to conduct rigorous scientific research into what approaches work to lower teen pregnancy rates and try to provide the best ones to at-risk youths. (Cha, 2/15)

The Hill: Groups Sue Over Trump Cuts To Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program
"The lawsuits ask that the funding for the program be reinstated to serve the 1.2 million young people that would benefit from the program," Planned Parenthood said in a press release. In August, an office within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified 81 institutions across the U.S. that the five-year grants they were awarded would end two years sooner than planned. (Hellmann, 2/15)

The Associated Press: Lawsuits Challenge US Cuts To Anti-Teen Pregnancy Grants
The lawsuits — filed in federal courts in Washington, Maryland, and the District of Columbia — say the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services unlawfully plans to end the five-year Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program grants in June after three years. The funding, which offers about $100 million annually, provides sex education, youth development and abstinence education. (2/15)

CNN: Aetna Inquiry Widens Over Ex-Medical Director's Comments
Three more states announced this week that they are opening investigations of Aetna after a former medical director for the insurer admitted under oath that he never looked at patients' medical records when deciding whether to approve or deny care. Colorado, Washington and Connecticut -- where Aetna is headquartered -- have joined California in looking into the statement, which came during a sworn deposition in a lawsuit against Aetna. California began its investigation recently after being told of the statement by CNN. (Drash, 2/15)

Bloomberg: Amazon Bets On Band-Aids As Health Industry Braces For Shakeup
Amazon.com Inc. may have big ambitions to shake up health care, but it is starting small. The Internet giant is angling to become the go-to source for basic medical supplies such as latex gloves, bandages and sutures. While that’s not the sort of splashy entrance into the U.S. health sector that some investors have braced for, it could be a sounder route for Amazon to set itself up as a long-term player. (Langreth, Tracer and Soper, 2/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Roche To Acquire Healthcare-Software Company Flatiron For $1.9 Billion
Pharmaceuticals firm Roche Holding AG has agreed to buy the shares it doesn’t already own of Flatiron Health Inc., an oncology software company, for $1.9 billion, the companies said Thursday.Switzerland-based Roche said the deal is part of an effort to accelerate its development and delivery of medicines for cancer patients. Roche already owns 12.6% of New York City-based Flatiron Health, which was launched in 2012. (Al-Muslim, 2/15)

The Washington Post: This Season's Flu Vaccine Is Only 36 Percent Effective, But Experts Say You Should Still Get It
This season’s flu vaccine offers limited protection against the viruses sweeping the country, with its overall effectiveness of 36 percent falling to 25 percent against the most virulent and predominant strain, according to a government report released Thursday. (Sun, 2/15)

The New York Times: The Flu Vaccine Is Working Better Than Expected, C.D.C. Finds
This year’s vaccine is about 25 percent effective against the H3N2 strain of flu that is causing most illnesses and deaths, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.In a bigger surprise, the vaccine is about 51 percent effective in children, according to the C.D.C.’s preliminary analysis. In Australia, the same vaccine was rated about 10 percent effective overall against H3N2, and a recent Canadian analysis found it to be about 17 percent effective there. (McNeil, 2/15)

Stat: Flu Shot Didn't Protect Three-Quarters Of People Against Most Common Strain
While the vaccine was more effective against influenza B viruses (42 percent protection) and H1N1 viruses (67 percent protection), that is cold comfort given that those viruses have been much more minor players this flu season, at least to date. That is especially true of H1N1; only about 8 percent of people who had a positive flu test this season were infected with viruses from that influenza A family. (Branswell, 2/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Flu Vaccine Less Effective Than Earlier Estimates
During a briefing on Thursday, officials from the Department of Health and Human Services urged Americans to get flu shots, saying flu activity would likely remain intense for several more weeks. The main illness-causing strain of flu this season is the influenza A strain H3N2, known for its severity, according to the CDC, but both the A and B strains have proven serious and even deadly in past weeks. (Toy, 2/15)

NPR: Flu Vaccine Is More Protective Of Kids Than Older Adults This Year
"Even with current vaccine effectiveness estimates, vaccination will still prevent influenza illness, including thousands of hospitalizations and deaths," scientists from the CDC reported in the issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published Thursday. And health officials say it's still not too late to get vaccinated — they expect flu season will last at least another few weeks. (Harris, 2/15)

NPR: H7N4 Bird Flu Infects Chinese Woman
On Christmas Day last year, a 68-year-old woman in southern China came down with the flu. A week later she was hospitalized. The woman eventually recovered, but she spent three weeks in the hospital.The culprit? H7N4, a new type of bird flu. (Doucleff, 2/15)

Bloomberg: Nasty Flu Season Makes Things Worse For Health-Insurance Stocks
Health-insurance stocks have been taking a beating since Amazon.com, JPMorgan and Berkshire Hathaway announced an alliance to address the health-care needs of their workers late last month. A particularly nasty flu season isn’t helping any. Traders have been buying hospital stocks and selling insurers in a rotation that has become increasingly pronounced as this year’s strain of influenza proves unusually resilient, and the latest vaccine less effective than usual. (Flanagan, 2/15)

The Washington Post: One Small Town, Two Drug Companies And 12.3 Million Doses Of Opioids
Two of the nation’s biggest drug distributors shipped 12.3 million doses of powerful opioids to a single pharmacy in a tiny West Virginia town over an eight-year period, a congressional committee revealed Thursday. The Family Discount Pharmacy in Mount Gay-Shamrock received the drugs from McKesson Corp. and Cardinal Health between 2006 and 2014, according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The committee is investigating the sale of pills in West Virginia by wholesale drug distributors, which are required by law to monitor and report to the Drug Enforcement Administration suspicious purchase orders for opioids. When they do not, millions of pills can be diverted to users and dealers from a single pharmacy. (Bernstein and Zezima, 2/15)

The Associated Press: Bill Gives Parents ‘New Tool’ To Fight Child’s Addiction
One more day without treatment for a person struggling with opioids — as a Maryland delegate, a recovery expert and parents of children mired in addiction have said — could be the difference between life and death. A relatively recent spike in deaths related to the synthetic opioid fentanyl, its cousin carfentanil and ever-emerging variations of the two has emphasized the importance of getting addicts into treatment immediately, said Delegate Nic Kipke, R-Anne Arundel. (Mann, 2/15)

The New York Times: Diplomats In Cuba Suffered Brain Injuries. Experts Still Don’t Know Why.
A group of American diplomats stationed in Havana appear to have symptoms of concussion without ever having received blows to their heads, medical experts have found. The diplomats originally were said to have been victims of a “sonic attack,” a possibility that the Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly ruled out in January. The experts’ report, published late Wednesday in the journal JAMA, does not solve the mystery, instead raising even more questions about what could have caused the brain injuries. (Kolata, 2/15)

CNN: Study: US Personnel Suffered 'Symptoms Resembling Brain Injury' In Cuba
According to the study, published in the medical journal JAMA, 21 workers sought medical attention beginning in late 2016 after suspected exposure to "auditory and sensory phenomena in their homes or hotel rooms." These findings have left doctors wondering whether this pattern of symptoms can occur in a previously unseen way, without head trauma. (Nedelman and Tinker, 2/14)

Stat: With New CRISPR Inventions, Its Pioneers Say, You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet
No one would be surprised if scientists announced tomorrow that CRISPR had leapt tall test tubes in a single bound, but until that happens, fans of the superhero genome-editing system will have to be content with a trio of almost-as-flashy (but potentially more useful) new tricks, all unveiled on Thursday. (Begley, 2/15)

Stat: Researchers Use Of Stem Cells Could Open Another Door To Immunotherapy
With a special type of stem cell that can be spun from skin or blood, researchers have developed a vaccine that helped stave off cancer in mice, opening up another branch in the booming field of immunotherapy. Cancer cells and stem cells share some of the same molecules on their surfaces. In the new research, which was described Thursday in the journal Cell Stem Cell, scientists injected mice with their own stem cells, essentially training their immune systems to launch attacks when they identified those molecules — called antigens — elsewhere, including on cancer cells. (Joseph, 2/15)

Stat: A Microbiome Connoisseur Becomes A Reluctant Entrepreneur
Outside of Emma Allen-Vercoe’s office is a bulletin board pinned with her team’s scientific papers since 2013. It’s the academic’s answer to a military uniform grown heavy with medals. But all of that research has come with a side effect: an impressive intimacy with the smells of human digestion. “This is what we formally call the poopy lab,” she said one morning at the end of January. “Every donor that we use has a distinct aroma, because they have a different profile of microbes in the gut, so it’s like a fine wine — just not quite so fine. I guess this is Eau de Ulcerative Colitis … which smells different from Eau de Obesity, and Eau de Healthy Person.” (Boodman, 2/16)

The Associated Press: Abortion-Rights Supporters Push Back Against Gains By Foes
Foes of abortion have pushed through several hundred state laws restricting access to the procedure over the past decade. This year, as never before, abortion-rights supporters are fighting back nationwide with proposals to protect and expand access to abortion and contraception. Successes are most likely in the dozen or so states where Democrats control policymaking. But the initiatives unfolding this year aspire to at least raise the issue of reproductive rights even in conservative states that have passed the toughest anti-abortion laws. (Crary, 2/15)

The Washington Post: Immigrant Rights Group In Email Says It Was Warned Not To Mention Abortion To Teens
A major legal services group for immigrant children told its lawyers nationwide not to discuss abortion access, even if minors in custody ask for help understanding their legal rights, for fear it would jeopardize a multimillion-dollar contract with the Department of Health and Human Services. The constraints on what government-funded lawyers can say to young detainees was contained in an email from the nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice, which said it acted after a phone call with an HHS employee. Vera’s instruction to lawyers comes as the Trump administration has tried in court to block access to abortion procedures for undocumented teens in federal custody. (Marimow and Sacchetti, 2/15)

The Hill: ACLU Sues To Block Ohio Law Banning Down Syndrome Abortions
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio, along with the ACLU Foundation, is suing to block a recently passed law that will ban abortions in the state on the basis of a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome. The ACLU on Thursday filed the lawsuit requesting a temporary restraining order, calling the law "unconstitutional." (Hellmann, 2/15)

Reuters: Rights Group Sues To Block Ohio Down Syndrome Abortion Ban
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Cleveland abortion provider Preterm, seeks to delay enforcement of the law, which is scheduled to go into effect March 23.The law was passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor John Kasich last December. Kasich had previously called the law "appropriate." Down syndrome is a genetic disorder caused when abnormal cell division results in an extra full or partial copy of chromosome 21. (Palmer, 2/15)

The Washington Post: Julian Craig, Former UMC Doctor, Files Whistleblower Lawsuit
The former chief medical officer of D.C.’s only public hospital has filed a lawsuit against the hospital and its management consultants, alleging that he was fired in retaliation for testifying before District lawmakers about problems at the facility. Julian Craig, who until December oversaw all clinical operations at United Medical Center in Southeast Washington, said in a complaint filed Thursday in D.C. federal court that he acted as a whistleblower to expose “malfeasance affecting patient health and safety” and “submission of fraudulent statements to Medicare and Medicaid.” (Jamison, 2/15)

The Associated Press: Family Of Woman Who Died After Surgery Blunder Gets No Money
An 81-year-old woman with a sore jaw died just weeks after a breathtaking mistake: Doctors at a Detroit-area hospital performed brain surgery on her because of a records mix-up. A jury awarded $20 million to Bimla Nayyar’s estate, but family members won’t see a dime. The verdict won by Geoffrey Fieger’s law firm was thrown out on very technical grounds that had nothing to do with the incredible blunder in 2012 at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn. (White, 2/15)