First Edition: March 28, 2019

Kaiser Health News: Federal Judge Again Blocks Medicaid Work Requirements
Critics of the work policy hailed the latest ruling, which many expected since Boasberg last June stopped Kentucky from moving ahead with an earlier plan for work requirements. The judge then also blasted HHS Secretary Alex Azar for failing to adequately consider the effects the policy. “This is a historic decision and a major victory for Medicaid beneficiaries,” said Joan Alker, executive director for the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. “The message to other states considering work requirements is clear — they are not compatible with the objectives of the Medicaid program.” (Galewitz, 3/27)

Kaiser Health News: FDA Chief Calls For Release Of All Data Tracking Problems With Medical Devices
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced in a tweet Wednesday that the agency plans to release hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of previously unpublished injury and malfunction reports tied to about 100 medical devices. “We’re now prioritizing making ALL of this data available,” Gottlieb tweeted. (Jewett, 3/27)

Kaiser Health News: Health Officials’ Plug For Next FDA Chief: Go Big On E-Cig Regulation
In an almost uniform response to the impending exit of Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, city and county public health officials are urging the Trump administration to go bigger in its response to adolescents’ growing use of e-cigarettes. The issue, they say, is reaching crisis levels and many worry the FDA’s much-touted efforts are falling short. (Luthra, 3/28)

Kaiser Health News: More Older Adults With Joint Replacements Recover At Home, Not Rehab
Older adults and their families often wonder: Where’s the best place to recover after a hip or knee replacement — at home or in a rehabilitation facility? Increasingly, the answer appears to be home if the procedure is elective, friends and family are available to help and someone doesn’t have serious conditions that could lead to complications. This trend is likely to accelerate as evidence mounts that recuperating at home is a safe alternative and as hospitals alter medical practices in response to changing Medicare policies. (Graham, 3/28)

The New York Times: Judge Blocks Medicaid Work Requirements In Arkansas And Kentucky
A federal judge on Wednesday threw out Medicaid work requirements in two states, a blow to Republican efforts to profoundly reshape a program that has provided free health insurance to the poorest Americans for more than 50 years. In twin rulings, Judge James E. Boasberg of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia rejected for a second time Kentucky’s attempt to require recipients to work or volunteer as a condition of coverage and blocked a similar rule in Arkansas, which has resulted in more than 18,000 people there losing coverage since last summer. (Goodnough, 3/27)

Reuters: U.S. Judge Blocks Medicaid Work Requirements In Kentucky, Arkansas
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services had failed to adequately consider the extent to which the Republican-led states' plans would cause significant numbers of people to lose coverage. The decisions came in separate lawsuits by Kentucky and Arkansas residents enrolled in Medicaid. It marked a setback for efforts by President Donald Trump's administration to scale back the joint federal-and-state healthcare program. (Raymond, 3/27)

The Washington Post: Federal Judge Blocks Medicaid Work Requirements In Kentucky And Arkansas
Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia concluded that in letting Kentucky go forward with its requirements, HHS had been “arbitrary and capricious” — the same criticism he leveled once before. He wrote that he “cannot concur” that Medicaid law leaves the HHS secretary “so unconstrained, nor that the states are so armed to refashion the program Congress designed in any way they choose.” (Goldstein, 3/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Federal Judge Blocks Medicaid Work Requirements
The administration has made state-by-state changes including work requirements a central pillar of its attempt to place a conservative imprimatur on the Medicaid program, after a wholesale revamp of the program sank in 2017 with Republicans’ failed attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The decision blocks Arkansas from continuing to enforce its work requirement, which has resulted in 18,000 residents there falling off Medicaid rolls since the state implemented the work mandates in June. It also prevents Kentucky’s work requirement from taking effect, which it was set to do on April 1. (Hackman, 3/27)

Politico: Judge Strikes Down Medicaid Work Rules In Arkansas, Kentucky
CMS Administrator Seema Verma suggested in a statement the rulings would not dissuade her efforts to approve employment rules in other states. “We will continue to defend our efforts to give states greater flexibility to help low income Americans rise out of poverty,” Verma said. “We believe, as have numerous past administrations, that states are the laboratories of democracy and we will vigorously support their innovative, state-driven efforts to develop and test reforms that will advance the objectives of the Medicaid program.” (Pradhan, 3/27)

The New York Times: Trump Sided With Mulvaney In Push To Nullify Health Law
The Trump administration’s surprise decision to press for a court-ordered demolition of the Affordable Care Act came after a heated meeting in the Oval Office on Monday, where the president’s acting chief of staff and others convinced him that he could do through the courts what he could not do through Congress: repeal his predecessor’s signature achievement. Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff and former South Carolina congressman, had spent years in the House saying that the health law should be repealed, and his handpicked head of the Domestic Policy Council, Joe Grogan, supported the idea of joining a Republican attorneys general lawsuit to invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act. (Haberman and Pear, 3/27)

The Washington Post: Mulvaney Pushes The Health-Care Fight Trump Wants Despite GOP’s Misgivings
[Mulvaney] pitch came during scheduled “policy time” with Trump on Monday and spanned several meetings throughout the day. It was met with resistance from some on the president’s legal team and his Justice Department, as well as with skepticism from Vice President Pence, who favors overturning President Barack Obama’s namesake health-care law but only if Republicans are ready with an alternative, according to White House officials familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private talks. But Trump — fresh off a victory lap following the conclusion of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation — agreed with Mulvaney and was eager to forge ahead into dismantling his predecessor’s health law. (Dawsey, Parker and Paletta, 3/27)

The Associated Press: Trump Turns To Health Care With An Eye On 2020
Buoyed by word that the special counsel didn't find collusion with Russia, President Donald Trump is voicing new interest in policymaking, including a fresh effort to repeal and replace "Obamacare." But Trump has few detailed policy proposals to back up his words, suggesting he's as focused on highlighting issues that appeal to his political base as actually enacting legislation. Trump stressed his desire to revive his failed effort to kill the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, a pivot to health care that both broadens and complicates the administration's agenda. Many in the GOP remain skeptical that Trump can notch many policy wins in the divided Congress. (Lucey, Miller and Mascaro, 3/27)

The Washington Post: Trump Pressures Wary Republicans To Produce Replacement For Health-Care Law
President Trump is pressuring Republicans to produce a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, a request the GOP considers unrealistic in a divided Congress and politically perilous ahead of the 2020 elections. Hours after meeting with Senate Republicans at the Capitol on Tuesday, Trump spoke on the phone with a handful of senators, urging them to write a new law — even though the party failed to coalesce around a plan when it controlled the House and Senate for two years. The White House has no proposal in the works, according to administration officials, but Trump wants Republicans to pass a bill before his reelection effort that would do what Obamacare does — provide coverage to millions of Americans. (Bade, Dawsey, Kim and Wagner, 3/27)

The Hill: GOP Senators Blindsided By Trump On ObamaCare 
Republican lawmakers were caught completely off guard by President Trump’s renewed push to repeal and replace ObamaCare and privately complain it’s a dumb political strategy heading into the 2020 election. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), whose panel has jurisdiction over health care, said he received no heads-up from Trump or the White House that the president would call Tuesday for the GOP to become “the party of health care.”  (Bolton, 3/27)

Politico: ‘We Need A Plan’: GOP Shaken By Trump’s Healthcare Demands
“We’re going to be involved in health but most of it is going to be very, very bipartisan, unlike the issue you’re bringing up, which would not be very bipartisan,” said Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the leader of the Senate Finance Committee. That could include addressing “surprise” medical bills that hit insured people who end up with an out-of-network doctor even when they’ve chosen an in-network hospital, as well as more steps to address high drug costs and opioids. (Ollstein and Everett, 3/27)

The Hill: House GOP Leader Urged Trump To Hold Off On Latest ObamaCare Assault 
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) recently told President Trump he didn't agree with the administration's effort to have the Affordable Care Act deemed invalid in federal court, according to a source familiar with the conversation. McCarthy discussed with fellow GOP leaders how he voiced his disapproval to the president, the source said. (Brufke, 3/27)

The Wall Street Journal: White House, Congressional GOP At Odds Over 2020 Health-Care Message
Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), facing a competitive challenge in 2020, said she is “vehemently opposed” to the White House efforts to dismantle the ACA in the courts. “The president is very clear that he understands the importance of health care,” said Ms. Collins, who cast a key vote against the GOP effort to kill the ACA in 2017. “In order to do that, he has to have a detailed plan that is going to be an improvement over the ACA.” (Armour and Peterson, 3/27)

The Hill: Pence Aide Says Trump Will Submit A Healthcare Plan To Congress 'This Year'
Former White House aide Marc Short said Wednesday that President Trump plans to submit a healthcare plan to Congress "this year." “The president will be putting forward plans this year that we hope to introduce into Congress,” Short, who now serves as Vice President Pence's chief of staff, said on CNN's "The Situation Room." (Rodrigo, 3/27)

The Hill: Democrats Aim To Block DOJ Funds Supporting ObamaCare Lawsuit 
Senate Democrats are moving to try to block the Department of Justice (DOJ) from using federal funds to support a lawsuit targeting ObamaCare. Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that Democrats are offering an amendment to an unrelated disaster relief bill that would prevent the DOJ from spending money on the case, which is being litigated in an appeals court. (Carney, 3/27)

Politico: Senate Dems To Try To Stop DOJ's Funding For Obamacare Lawsuit Support
"It will very simply prohibit the Department of Justice from using any funding to litigate the downfall of the ACA in the Circuit Court. Let's see if all of our Republican colleagues who have said they don't want to take away protections for preexisting conditions," Schumer said on Wednesday. "Let's see how our Republican colleagues will vote on this." (Everett, 3/27)

Politico: The New GOP Senator Who Wants To Be A Leader On Health Care
Just a year ago, Mike Braun was an underdog in the Republican primary for an Indiana Senate seat. Now he's a freshman senator, installed on the Senate's key health care committee — and pushing his own package of health reforms. Braun joined POLITICO's Dan Diamond to explain his frustration over how Washington regulates the U.S. health system, his criticism of the latest effort to strike down the ACA and why he thinks more Republicans need to make health care a policy priority. (3/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Pedophile Doctor Could Get U.S. Pension Of More Than $1.8 Million While In Prison
A U.S. government pediatrician convicted of sexually abusing Native American boys under his care is still receiving his government pension, officials said, and records indicate he is due more than $1.8 million during his prison term. The government likely can’t stop the pension payments to Stanley Patrick Weber, unless Congress changes federal law. Mr. Weber worked at federal Indian Health Service hospitals for about 30 years. (Weaver and Frosch, 3/27)

Politico: Pushing For 'Heartbeat' Abortion Bills, More States Try To Force Supreme Court To Revisit Roe
More state lawmakers are pushing "heartbeat" bills that ban abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy in a bid to trigger a Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Four states have enacted such prohibitions — nearly all blocked by the courts — and the number is poised to grow in the coming days, with Georgia expected to sign a bill shortly. (Pradhan, 3/27)

The Associated Press: US Seeks More Time On How To Address Separated Children
The Trump administration wants more time to say how it will address potentially thousands of children who were separated from their families at the border. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego had ordered the government to propose next steps by Wednesday on what to do about children who were separated on or after July 1, 2017. His previous order to reunify families applied only to children in custody on June 26, 2018. (3/27)

The Washington Post: U.S. Has Hit ‘Breaking Point’ At Border Amid Immigration Surge, Customs And Border Protection Chief Says
The nation’s top border official warned that the U.S. immigration enforcement system along the nation’s southern boundary is at “the breaking point” and said Wednesday that authorities are having to release migrants into the country after cursory background checks because of a crush of asylum-seeking families with children. Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said that for the first time in more than a decade, his agency is “reluctantly” performing direct releases of migrants, meaning they are not turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they are not detained, they are not given ankle bracelets to track their movements and they are allowed to leave with just a notice to appear in court at a later date. (Miroff and Sacchetti, 3/27)

The Associated Press: US Will Reassign Border Inspectors As Illegal Crossings Rise
The Trump administration said Wednesday it will temporarily reassign several hundred border inspectors as beleaguered forces already stationed along the U.S.-Mexico border struggle to keep pace with the growing number of migrant families who are showing up at the border in poor health and turning themselves in to agents to request asylum. (Attanasio, 3/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Border Patrol Stops Prosecuting First-Time Border Crossers In Texas Region
The Trump administration has curtailed a key component of its “zero tolerance” immigration policy, no longer charging first-time illegal border crossers with a crime along a busy stretch of West Texas. Prosecutions of single migrant adults caught crossing the border for the first time in and around Del Rio, Texas, were suspended in February amid lack of jail space, a U.S. Border Patrol official. The policy change hasn’t been previously reported. (Caldwell, 3/28)

The New York Times: ‘You Can’t Put It Behind You’: School Shootings Leave Long Trail Of Trauma
Kelly Plaur is still having nightmares almost every night. In the mornings, she recounts them to her mother, though the theme is usually the same: the horror she witnessed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year when a gunman opened fire in her classroom, killing two students and injuring four others. A few weeks ago, Ms. Plaur, 18, had to withdraw from the paramedic training program she had started after she was overcome with anxiety while transporting a gunshot victim. Even the sight of certain window blinds can put her on edge, reminding her of the bullet holes that pierced the classroom blinds on the day of the rampage. (Mazzei and Jordan, 3/28)

Los Angeles Times: Suicides Highlight The Toll Of School Shootings And The Role Of ‘Complicated Grief’
After three suicides in 10 days involving people directly affected by school shootings, there’s renewed interest in a condition that psychologists call “complicated grief.” Long after a mass-casualty event, roughly 10% of people experience the enduring or chronic depression and distress that are hallmarks of the condition. Scientists are still trying to understand whether, or by how much, the circumstances of a loved one’s death raise the risk of complicated grief. (Healy, 3/27)

The Associated Press: Parkland Parents, Teachers Seek To Help Teens After Suicides
Days after the suicides of two student survivors of the Parkland school shooting, parents and teachers packed a town hall Wednesday night, anxiously wondering out loud how to get students to seek therapy as many have been unwilling — despite a barrage of offerings since the 2018 massacre. On Wednesday night, anxious parents in the standing-room only crowd spoke of fears and frustration in trying to get their children help after the Valentine's Day massacre that February, which killed 17 people. (3/27)

The New York Times: The Measles Emergency: What Are Religious Exemptions?
Measles cases have spread across the country this year, with the state of New York now facing its worst outbreak in decades. Since last fall, more than 150 measles cases have been recorded in Rockland County, a New York suburb home to a large ultra-Orthodox Jewish community where there has been some resistance to vaccinations. (Dias, 3/27)

The Associated Press: Kids Get Measles Vaccine After County Declares Emergency
Some parents who had resisted having their children vaccinated reluctantly brought them in for a measles shot Wednesday as a state of emergency took effect in a county in New York City's northern suburbs. Rockland County enacted the emergency order Tuesday night to fight a measles outbreak that has infected more than 150 people since last fall. The order bans unvaccinated children under 18 years old from public places such as schools, stores and churches. (3/27)

The Associated Press: Whooping Cough Case At Texas Capitol Leads To Vaccinations
Nearly 50 people who work at the Texas Capitol have been vaccinated this week because a page contracted whooping cough, a health scare that comes as legislatures around the country grapple with rising immunization exemptions and recent measles outbreaks. Texas health officials have been offering the vaccinations since Monday, three days after lawmakers were notified that a page had come down with the highly infectious disease. (3/27)

The New York Times: Monsanto Ordered To Pay $80 Million In Roundup Cancer Case
A federal jury on Wednesday ordered Monsanto to pay more than $80 million in damages to a California man whose cancer it determined was partly caused by his use of the popular weedkiller Roundup. The six-member jury found that Monsanto should be held liable for the man’s illness because it failed to include a label on its product warning of the weedkiller’s risk of causing cancer. (Jacobs, 3/27)

Reuters: U.S. Jury Says Bayer Must Pay $80 Million To Man In Roundup Cancer Trial
The jury in San Francisco federal court said the company was liable for plaintiff Edwin Hardeman's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It awarded $5 million in compensatory damages and $75 million in punitive damages to Hardeman after finding that Roundup was defectively designed, that Monsanto failed to warn of the herbicide's cancer risk and that the company acted negligently. (3/27)

The Associated Press: Man Awarded $80M In Lawsuit Claiming Roundup Causes Cancer
Hardeman said he used Roundup products to treat poison oak, overgrowth and weeds on his San Francisco Bay Area property for years. The same jury previously found that Roundup was a substantial factor in Hardeman's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. "Today, the jury sent a message loud and clear that companies should no longer put products on the market for anyone to buy without being truthful, without testing their product and without warning if it causes cancer," said Jennifer Moore, one of Hardeman's attorneys. (3/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Jury Awards Over $80 Million In Roundup Exposure Case
Jurors heard competing narratives in the second phase on whether Monsanto did enough to test the safety of glyphosate and pass that information to customers. “A responsible company would test its product. A responsible company would tell consumers if they knew that it caused cancer,” Jennifer Moore, an attorney for Mr. Hardeman, said during closing arguments. “And Monsanto didn’t do either of those things.” Ms. Moore said Monsanto was driven by greed and urged the jurors to stop “the lying, the ghostwriting, the manipulation” with its verdict. (Bender and Randazzo, 3/27)

The New York Times: Mammogram Centers Must Tell Women If They Have Dense Breasts, F.D.A. Proposes
Centers that provide mammograms to screen for breast cancer will have to tell women whether they have dense breast tissue, which can increase the risk of cancer and mask tumors, the Food and Drug Administration announced in a proposed rule on Wednesday. Dense tissue can hide cancer from X-rays, making mammography less reliable. Women with dense tissue are often advised to have other screening tests in addition to mammograms, such as ultrasound or M.R.I. scans. (Grady, 3/27)

The Associated Press: US To Require Breast Density Information After Mammograms
More than half of women over age 40 have dense breasts, with less fatty tissue and more connective and glandular tissue. That tissue appears white on X-rays, the same color as growths in the breast, making mammograms harder to read. Dense breast tissue is one of the factors that can increase a woman's chances of developing cancer. Under the FDA's proposal, all women would receive a short summary about their breast density. For those with dense breasts, the letter would note that their tissue "makes it harder to find breast cancer," and could require additional testing. The letter would also recommend that they speak with a doctor about their "individual situation." (3/27)

The Washington Post: FDA Proposes Mammography Rule To Provide Women With Information About Breast Density
Three dozen states, including California, already have laws involving breast-density notifications but the new FDA language would establish a minimum standard that would apply nationwide. The proposal would modernize the agency’s oversight of mammography services “by capitalizing on a number of important advances in mammography, like the increased use of 3-D digital screening tools and the need for more uniform breast density reporting,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement. In addition, the changes would allow the FDA to directly notify patients and their healthcare providers if a facility did not meet quality standards and a repeat test might be needed, the agency said. (McGinley, 3/27)

The Associated Press: Local Jurisdictions Pay The Price For Nation's Opioid Crisis
As the nation's opioid crisis has devastated thousands of families, it also has taken a crippling financial toll on cities, small towns and counties around the country. Packed jails, increased ambulance runs and overworked coroners, sheriff's deputies and public defenders are just some of the consequences of the massive epidemic that has forced localities to divert millions of dollars to overdose-related emergencies and addiction treatments. (3/27)

The Associated Press: Centene To Buy WellCare For $15B, Create Medicaid Powerhouse
Centene is spending more than $15 billion on rival WellCare to dive deeper into government-funded health coverage in the same week that President Donald Trump's administration renewed its attack on the Affordable Care Act. The insurer said Wednesday that its cash-and-stock deal to buy WellCare will create an insurer that manages Medicaid coverage for more than 12 million people and covers several million more in the federal government's Medicare program for people age 65 and older. (3/27)

Reuters: U.S. Health Insurer Centene To Buy Smaller Rival WellCare For $15.3 Billion
The announcement comes days after the Trump administration stepped up its opposition to former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law. The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday said it believes the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as Obamacare, violated the U.S. Constitution and that the law should be struck down. Centene relies on its Obamacare business for about 40 percent of its earnings, making it among the most vulnerable companies should the law be overturned, according to SVB Leerink analyst Ana Gupte. (3/27)

The New York Times: Centene To Buy WellCare For $15.3 Billion, Creating Health Care Giant
If the deal goes through, the acquisition of WellCare will cement Centene’s dominance in Medicaid coverage, the state-federal program for the poor, as well as in the Obamacare market, where it is the largest player. (Abelson and de la Merced, 3/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Centene To Buy WellCare For Around $15.3 Billion
Together, the companies would achieve substantial scale, an important goal, as the biggest health-insurance players have consolidated to form ever-larger conglomerates that bring together multiple different businesses, from pharmacy benefits to clinics and drugstores. Centene also supplies coverage for members of the military and health care for prison populations. Michael Neidorff, chief executive officer of Centene, said getting to greater scale was a major reason for the deal. “It gets your overhead down, so you can be more efficient,” he said. “When you talk to government, the fact that you have that kind of scale is important.” He also said Centene would benefit from WellCare’s Medicare platform, while WellCare could use Centene’s technology. (Wilde Mathews and Prang, 3/27)

The New York Times: EPA: No Toxic Releases At Superfund Sites In Flooded Midwest
Flooding in the Midwest temporarily cut off a Superfund site in Nebraska that stores radioactive waste and explosives, inundated another one storing toxic chemical waste in Missouri, and limited access to others, federal regulators said Wednesday. The Environmental Protection Agency reported no releases of hazardous contaminants at any of eight toxic waste sites in flooded parts of Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. It has not issued any public health advisories or alerts, nor has it tested any of the soil and water at those sites. (3/27)

The New York Times: Flu Tied To Heart Failure Worsening
When the number of reported flu cases goes up, so does the number of hospitalizations for heart failure. A study in JAMA Cardiology used data on 451,588 people, ages 35 to 84, in four geographic areas over four flu seasons, from 2010 to 2014. The researchers randomly sampled 2,042 hospitalizations for heart failure and 1,599 for heart attack. To track flu activity, they used surveillance data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Bakalar, 3/27)

The New York Times: ‘Swat The Kaiser’, Stork Stands And Grenade Throws: The History Of Army Physical Fitness
Few tasks in American soldiers’ lives are judged as deeply as their performance on the Army’s required semiannual physical-fitness test: Push-ups, situps and a timed two-mile run are used to gauge physical readiness and also, supposedly, readiness for combat. But that long-predictable standard will soon change — radically. By October 2020, all soldiers will instead take the new Army combat-fitness test — a six-event exam that includes heavy deadlifting, a backward medicine-ball toss and dragging a 90-pound sled. (Lowe, 3/28)

NPR: Assaying Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria In Raw Sewage Pinpoints Hot Spots
Humanity is rapidly approaching a post-antibiotic era. Overuse of these miracle drugs has contributed to the emergence of many bacterial strains that are resistant to once-effective treatments. Our interconnected world and bacteria's ability to quickly swap genes that confer resistance with distant relatives make mapping hotbeds of resistance especially important. Where should we look? (Lambert, 3/27)

The New York Times: Air Pollution Tied To Mental Health Issues In Teenagers
Urban air pollution is associated with an increased risk for psychotic experiences in teenagers, researchers report. A study published in JAMA Psychiatry included 2,063 British teenagers whose health had been followed from birth through age 18. Almost a third of them said they had at least one psychotic experience, ranging from a mild feeling of paranoia to a severe psychotic symptom, since age 12. (Bakalar, 3/27)

The New York Times: Can What We Eat Affect How We Feel?
The patient, a 48-year-old real estate professional in treatment for anxiety and mild depression, revealed that he had eaten three dozen oysters over the weekend. His psychiatrist, Dr. Drew Ramsey, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, was impressed: “You’re the only person I’ve prescribed them to who came back and said he ate 36!” (Schiffman, 3/28)

The Associated Press: Study: Many In Ebola Outbreak Don't Believe Virus Is Real
One out of four people interviewed in eastern Congo last year believed Ebola wasn't real, according to a new study, underscoring the enormous challenges health care workers are facing in what has become the second-deadliest outbreak in history. The survey released late Wednesday found that a deep mistrust of the Ebola response resulted in those people being 15 times less likely to seek medical treatment at an Ebola health center, according to the study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal. (3/27)

Stat: North Dakota Has Too Few Psychiatrists. Telemedicine Is Helping 
Until recently, when the North Dakota human services agency had an opening for a mental health provider, months might go by before a single application came in. But that’s started to change as the state boosts telemedicine as an option for mental health care. The department has started allowing providers who serve patients through its health centers to live in some of the state’s bigger cities — or even move out of state — and deliver mental health care to rural areas through video calls. The University of North Dakota’s medical school has started training its psychiatry residents to treat rural patients by computer. (Thielking, 3/28)