First Edition: January 8, 2020

Kaiser Health News: 5 Things To Know As California Starts Screening Children For Toxic Stress
Starting this year, routine pediatric visits for millions of California children could involve questions about touchy family topics, such as divorce, unstable housing or a parent who struggles with alcoholism. California now will pay doctors to screen patients for traumatic events known as adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, if the patient is covered by Medi-Cal — the state’s version of Medicaid for low-income families. (Ostrov, 1/8)

Kaiser Health News: Democrats Press High Court To Make Call On ACA. How It Could Play Out At Polls.
You’re forgiven if in the holiday rush you missed the news last month that a federal appeals court in New Orleans once again put the future of the Affordable Care Act in doubt and ordered a lower court to review its fate. Or if you missed the news last week that a group of Democratic state attorneys general have asked the Supreme Court to hear the case — in this term, which ends in June. That would mean a decision could come right in the middle of the 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns. (Rovner, 1/8)

The Hill: Conservative Group To Spend $4M Attacking Pelosi's Drug Pricing Plan 
A conservative group plans to spend $4 million on an advertising campaign targeting Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) drug pricing plan. The American Action Network — a group aligned with House GOP leadership — will air the ads in 28 House districts, including some where Republicans are running competitive races in 2020, including GOP Reps. David Schweikert (Ariz.), Rodney Davis (Ill.) and Scott Perry (Pa.). (Hellmann, 1/7)

Stat: Conservative Group With Pharma Ties Backs Limited Drug Pricing Reform
It’s a striking show of support for the GOP bill, which party leaders rushed to introduce the same week that the House was set to vote on Pelosi’s bill in December. Until now, the group has focused only on opposing the Pelosi bill — not on pushing for the Republican alternative. Republicans maintain that their bill, which would cap seniors drug costs at $3,100 a year and crack down on certain so-called bad behaviors by the drug industry, is bipartisan and could be signed into law by President Trump — unlike, they say, the Pelosi bill, which includes far more aggressive drug pricing reforms and is almost unanimously opposed by Republicans and the Trump administration. (Florko, 1/7)

The Hill: New Drug Price Hikes Set Stage For 2020 Fight 
Price hikes on hundreds of prescription drugs to start the year are leading to intensifying calls for action from lawmakers and advocates, putting new pressure on Washington. Drug companies kicked off the year by raising prices on a wide range of treatments by an average of about 5 percent, according to the consulting firm 3 Axis Advisors. (Sullivan, 1/7)

Los Angeles Times: U.S. Health System Costs Four Times More To Run Than Canada’s
In the United States, a legion of administrative healthcare workers and health insurance employees who play no direct role in providing patient care costs every American man, woman and child an average of $2,497 per year. Across the border in Canada, where a single-payer system has been in place since 1962, the cost of administering healthcare is just $551 per person — less than a quarter as much. That spending mismatch, tallied in a study published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, could challenge some assumptions about the relative efficiency of public and private healthcare programs. (Healy, 1/7)

The Hill: Medicaid Expansion Improved Health In Southern States: Study
A new study finds that Medicaid expansion improved people’s health in Southern states, resulting in fewer declines in people’s health. The study published in Health Affairs finds that Medicaid expansion made declines in health status 1.8 percentage points less likely in states that expanded the medical coverage. (Sullivan, 1/7)

Stateline: In Reversal, Counties And States Help Inmates Keep Medicaid
More local and state officials are working to ensure that low-income residents stay on Medicaid when they go to jail. Federal law bars Medicaid recipients from accessing their full federal health benefits while incarcerated. But officials from both parties have pushed for two key changes to ensure little or no disruption of health benefits for pretrial detainees who have not been convicted of a crime and make up most of the 612,000 people held in America’s county jails. In recent years, officials have increasingly implemented a stopgap measure to help inmates more seamlessly reactivate their Medicaid coverage upon release from jail or prison. (Blau, 1/8)

The New York Times: Puerto Rico Earthquake: Emergency Declared After 6.4 Magnitude Quake
The auditorium where Lenda Torres Rodríguez and some of her neighbors sought refuge on Tuesday after the latest in a series of earthquakes convulsed Puerto Rico seemed almost as unreliable as the houses they had abandoned. Every time a new aftershock hit, the windows made ominous cracking sounds. So they huddled outside on beach chairs, or hunkered down in their cars, waiting for help from the government that by Tuesday evening had still not arrived. “This is scarier than the water Maria brought,” said Ms. Torres, 44, recalling the last epic disaster that drove her from her home, Hurricane Maria in 2017. (Ayala, Mazzei, Robles and Garcia, 1/7)

Reuters: 'Everyone's Scared'-Puerto Rico Declares Emergency After Earthquakes
Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vazquez declared a state of emergency on Tuesday after a series of earthquakes killed at least one person, toppled buildings and knocked out power to nearly the entire island of more than 3 million people. The largest of the quakes in the U.S. territory registered at magnitude 6.4, the most powerful to hit the Caribbean island in 102 years. (Ortiz, 1/8)

The Associated Press: Last US-Wide Block On Trump Immigrant Policy Under Appeal
A federal appeals court is considering whether to lift the final nationwide temporary injunction against a Trump administration policy that would deny green cards to immigrants over their use of public benefits. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan heard arguments Tuesday over keeping or lifting the injunction issued in October by a federal district court in New York that prevented the policy from going into effect across the country while a lawsuit against it is proceeding. (1/7)

The Associated Press: Pharmacies Say Prescribers Bear Opioid Crisis Responsibility
Doctors and other healthcare practitioners who write prescriptions bear ultimate responsibility for improper distribution of opioids to patients, not pharmacists who are obliged to fill those prescriptions, a series of pharmacy chains argued in federal court. The filings, which were submitted Monday to the federal judge in Cleveland who has been overseeing the national opioid lawsuits, asked the judge to rule in the pharmacies' favor and reject claims brought by some Ohio counties. The judge has scheduled an October trial for claims against CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, HBC and Discount Drug Mart. (Welsh-Huggins, 1/7)

The Washington Post: Major Drugstore Chains Sue Doctors In Sprawling Federal Opioid Case
“In a misguided hunt for deep pockets, without regard to actual fault or liability, plaintiff has elected not to sue any of these other parties,” attorneys for drugstore chains said in the papers. Drug manufacturers and distributors agreed or were ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and one court verdict reached in state and federal courts last year. But the big pharmacy chains have not been held liable so far. (Bernstein, 1/7)

The New York Times: Judge Signals Approval Of U.S.C.’s $215 Million Settlement With Ex-Gynecologist’s Patients
A federal judge in Los Angeles said this week that he was inclined to give final approval to the University of Southern California’s $215 million class-action settlement with former patients of Dr. George Tyndall, the campus gynecologist accused of sexual misconduct involving hundreds of patients during his decades-long tenure. The judge, Stephen V. Wilson of United States District Court, said in court on Monday that he was “inclined to accept” the settlement, which would clear the way for the university to start writing checks to more than 18,000 women who saw Dr. Tyndall during their time at the university, according to lawyers involved in the case. (Padilla, 1/7)

The Associated Press: Judge To OK $215 Million Settlement For USC Gynecologist's Patients
In a statement, USC said it was pleased with the decision, calling it a settlement that “provides respectful and confidential relief to Tyndall patients at the student health center and formalizes a broad array of campus reforms.” Tyndall will not contribute to the settlement, under its terms, nor will he admit liability or wrongdoing. His attorney said Monday that her client continues to deny wrongdoing. (1/7)

Los Angeles Times: Judge Signals His Approval Of Landmark USC Settlement To Ex-Gynecologist's Patients
Finalizing the settlement closes the door to a large portion of USC’s legal exposure, but it does not end the institution’s mounting costs related to the Tyndall scandal. The university’s handling of the student health doctor, first exposed by an investigation by The Times, sparked a Department of Education probe and prompted more than 600 plaintiffs to file state court lawsuits that are still pending. (Hamilton, 1/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Who Wins In A Personal-Injury Lawsuit? It Can Be The Doctor
One day in 2011, Dave Pebley and his wife were in their motor home on the side of the highway with a flat tire when a big rig slammed into them. The jolt sent Mr. Pebley to the hospital with injuries to his face, neck and lower back. The California resident sued the driver and his employer. But instead of using his Kaiser health insurance to continue treatment, Mr. Pebley enlisted medical specialists who treated him for no upfront cost. Instead, they agreed to recoup their fees only once his lawsuit resolved. The arrangement paid off for Mr. Pebley, his lawyers and his doctors when a jury awarded him $3.6 million in damages, including $644,000 in past and future medical costs. The defendants challenged the verdict, arguing the medical bills were excessive. (Randazzo, 1/8)

The Wall Street Journal: A New Approach To Cancer Treatment Draws Lessons From Darwin
A nascent approach to cancer treatment is using lessons from Darwin’s theory of evolution. Called adaptive therapy, the treatment stems from the recognition that cancerous cells, just like other forms of life, mutate and evolve in response to a changing environment. Traditional cancer treatment—continuously bombarding cancer cells with drugs—can encourage drug-resistant cells to multiply, eventually creating an untreatable tumor. Adaptive therapy doesn’t try to eradicate the entire cancer. (Abbott, 1/7)

The Associated Press: Big Study Finds No Strong Sign Linking Baby Powder & Cancer
U.S. government-led research found no strong evidence linking baby powder with ovarian cancer in the largest analysis to look at the question. The findings were called “overall reassuring” in an editorial published Tuesday with the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The analysis involving 250,000 women isn't definitive but more conclusive research probably isn't feasible because a dwindling number of women use powder for personal hygiene, the editorial said. (Tanner, 1/7)

NPR: Study Finds Talcum Powder Not Likely A Risk For Ovarian Cancer
Researchers from NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute conducted the largest study to date of genital powder use and ovarian cancer. The study, published Tuesday in JAMA, used data from 252,745 women who answered questions about whether they used powder on their genitals. This was a pooled analysis of four large studies gathering data about the frequency and length of time women used the powder. (Neighmond, 1/7)

The Washington Post: China Virus: Specter Of New Illness Emerging From Wuhan Raises Alarms Across Asia
An outbreak of an unidentified and possibly new viral disease in central China is prompting officials across Asia to take heightened precautions ahead of the busy Lunar New Year travel season. Officials in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines said in recent days they will begin setting up quarantine zones or scanning passengers from China for signs of fever or other pneumonialike symptoms that may indicate a new disease possibly linked to a wild animal market in Wuhan. (Shih and Sun, 1/8)

The New York Times: How To Pack A Go Bag For Extended Hospital Stays
When an ambulance came to rush Amy Goyer’s mother to the hospital one night in 2012, there wasn’t time to pack a bag. Ms. Goyer grabbed a few essentials and tailed the emergency vehicle in her car. A previous stroke had left Ms. Goyer’s mother mostly uncommunicative, and her father’s dementia made it hard for him to recall important details. They were both counting on their daughter to field questions from her mother’s doctors. (Witman, 1/7)

The Associated Press: Male Infertility Got No Boost From Zinc, Folic Acid In Study
A rigorous U.S. government-led study found that zinc and folic acid supplements don't boost men’s fertility, despite promotional claims that they do. The mineral and the vitamin are important for sperm production and are found in many common foods. Previous studies on whether over-the-counter supplements might boost sperm health have had conflicting results. (1/7)

The New York Times: How ‘Muscle Confusion’ Might Help Your Workouts
Here are a few questions to consider as you plan your 2020 exercise routines: Are your muscles confused? Should they be? And just how do we confuse our muscles, anyway? These concerns are at the heart of a timely new study of what happens when we add variety to our gym workouts and, in the process, “confuse” our muscles. The study finds that shifting, quicksilver workouts can yield some benefits that more rote regimens do not, but the benefits may not be the ones that most of us would expect. (Reynolds, 1/8)

NPR: 'Boys & Sex' Author Peggy Orenstein Investigates The Secret Lives Of Young Men
Author Peggy Orenstein knows that talking to your son about sex isn't easy: "I know for a lot of parents, you would rather poke yourself in the eye with a fork than speak directly to your son about sex — and probably he would rather poke himself in the eye with a fork as well," she says. But we don't have "the luxury" to continue avoiding this conversation, she says. "If we don't talk to our kids, the media is going to educate them for us, and we are not going to love the result." (Gross, 1/7)

The Washington Post: Man Had Open-Heart Surgery Because Of Popcorn Stuck Between Teeth
An Englishman underwent open-heart surgery, and it all started with a piece of popcorn firmly lodged between his teeth. Adam Martin, a 41-year-old who lives in the fishing village of Coverack, Cornwall, is still recovering from multiple surgeries, after an infection carried through his blood targeted his heart, his wife said. It began when Martin irritated his gums while trying to pry out the husk of a popcorn kernel. (Beachum, 1/7)

The New York Times: Man Charged With Throwing Lit Incendiary Device At Planned Parenthood
The authorities have charged an 18-year-old accused of lighting an incendiary device and throwing it at a Planned Parenthood building in Delaware. The teenager, Samuel James Gulick, of Middletown, Del., was charged on Monday with three counts: maliciously damaging a building used in interstate commerce through the use of fire or destructive device; intentionally damaging a facility that provides reproductive health services; and possession of an unregistered destructive device under the National Firearms Act, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware. (Diaz, 1/7)

ProPublica/Chicago Tribune: Educators Push To Ban Seclusion Of Students And Shift School Culture
Educators testifying before Illinois lawmakers Tuesday urged an end to the practice of secluding students inside small rooms but said it would take a cultural shift as well as a new law to end years of misuse. At the first legislative hearing on two reform bills — one in the House, one in the Senate — educators and advocates also pointed to the need for state officials to hold schools accountable and require robust training for employees. (Cohen and Richards, 1/7)

ProPublica: Lawmakers Refused To Increase An Infamous Prison’s Funding. Then, Chaos Erupted.
One prisoner strangled another to death while other inmates cheered the killing. Two convicts escaped a dilapidated building by walking out an open door. Maximum-security detainees freely roamed hallways, beating and threatening others. Violence has roiled the Mississippi prison system for more than a week, with state corrections officials imposing a statewide lockdown and a county coroner declaring that gangs in the prisons have launched an all-out war against one another. (Mitchell, 1/8)

The Associated Press: Health Center Employee Accused Of Raping Disabled Woman
A North Carolina man who worked at a behavioral health center raped a 19-year-old with disabilities, authorities said. Timothy Lynn Alford, 53, of Burlington was arrested Monday and charged with second-degree forcible rape and misdemeanor sexual battery, according to a news release from the Alamance County Sheriff's Office. The sheriff's office said it received a sexual assault complaint involving a disabled female on Aug. 21, 2018. (1/7)