First Edition: November 18, 2019

Kaiser Health News: Despite Supreme Court Win, Texas Abortion Clinics Still Shuttered
Over the past few years, abortion providers in Texas have struggled to reopen clinics that had closed because of restrictive state laws. There were more than 40 clinics providing abortion in Texas on July 12, 2013 — the day lawmakers approved tough new restrictions and rules for clinics. Even though abortion providers fought those restrictions all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, and managed to get the restrictions overturned in 2016, most of the affected clinics remain closed. (Lopez, 11/18)

Kaiser Health News: Startup Seeks To Hold Doctors, Hospitals Accountable On Patient Record Requests
When Kelly Shanahan had her OB-GYN practice in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., she was meticulous about providing medical records promptly to all patients who requested them, she said. But since being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2013, an event that forced her into retirement, Shanahan has discovered that not all of her doctors are as attentive to such requests. Getting copies of her records has been, as she puts it, “a colossal pain.” (Basheda, 11/18)

Kaiser Health News: White House Unveils Finalized Health Care Price Transparency Rule
The hospital rule is slated to go into effect in January 2021. It is part of an effort by the Trump administration to increase price transparency in hopes of lowering health care costs on everything from hospital services to prescription drugs. But it is controversial and likely to face court challenges.(Appleby, 11/15)

Kaiser Health News: Listen: How A Wisconsin Senator Is Trying To Prevent A Vape Flavor Ban
Kaiser Health News Midwest Correspondent Lauren Weber joined host Kealey Bultena on Wisconsin Public Radio’s news magazine “Central Time” to discuss Republican Sen. Ron Johnson’s role in the politics of vaping. Weber and fellow KHN reporter Rachel Bluth had reported on how the recent crackdowns on vaping amid a surge of mysterious lung injuries are politicizing vapers. Johnson, who in 2016 thanked vapers for helping him win his reelection bid, has publicly urged President Donald Trump to back away from banning flavored e-cigarette products. (11/15)

Reuters: Democrat Warren Outlines Three-Year Path To 'Medicare For All'
White House hopeful Elizabeth Warren on Friday outlined how she would implement "Medicare for All" during her first term in office, including by passing new legislation in her first 100 days that would give all Americans the option of choosing the government health insurance plan. Warren's timeline envisions a progression that would initially retain many aspects of the current system, including employer-based private insurance, while slowly transferring Americans to the government's Medicare health insurance plan that covers individuals 65 and older. (Becker and Ax, 11/15)

The New York Times: Elizabeth Warren Vows To Expand Health Coverage In First 100 Days
The initial bill she would seek to pass if elected would be a step short of the broader Medicare for all plan she has championed. But it would substantially expand the reach and generosity of public health insurance, creating a government plan that would offer free coverage to all American children and people earning less than double the federal poverty rate, or about $50,000 for a family of four, and that could be purchased by other Americans who want it. Ms. Warren has long endorsed a Medicare for all bill sponsored by one of her rivals for the Democratic nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. But until now, she has not specified how quickly she would move to enact a health care plan. Friday’s proposal amounts to a detailed road map for eventually establishing Medicare for all, a single government-run health insurance program under which private coverage would be eliminated. (Goodnough, Kaplan and Sanger-Katz, 11/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Warren Gives Timeline For Move To ‘Medicare-For-All’ System
The transition plan resembles buy-in proposals backed by other Democratic presidential contenders such as former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Like Mr. Biden, Ms. Warren, of Massachusetts, would also focus on shoring up and expanding the Affordable Care Act. It is also similar to the transition proposal outlined by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, another rival for the presidential nomination. His plan requires passing Medicare for All legislation that also includes a gradual shift into the program by reducing the age of eligibility for Medicare and covers children at no cost. (Armour, 11/15)

The Washington Post: Warren Tries To Sell Her Medicare-For-All Shift To Iowa Voters
Her new pitch also seems designed to assuage voters worried that her earlier approach would force 150 million people off their private insurance. Her ability to sell this new plan — and refocus her campaign on her larger message of reform — will be a key test for her candidacy. The toll on her campaign is particularly apparent here in Iowa, where a new poll by the Des Moines Register and CNN released Saturday night showed Warren in a three-way tie for second place with former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), while South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg surged ahead of the pack. The poll shows Buttigieg with 25 percent support and Warren, Biden and Sanders all with about 15 percent support. (Linskey, 11/16)

The Hill: Warren 'Fully Committed' To 'Medicare For All' 
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a 2020 White House hopeful, reportedly said Saturday that she remains “fully committed” to "Medicare for All" after her implementation plan drew criticism. “My commitment to Medicare for All is all the way,” Warren told reporters in Iowa, according to The Associated Press. She also defended provisions of her plan that call for building on existing health care programs before implementing Medicare for All because “people need help right now.” (Budryk, 11/17)

The New York Times: Elizabeth Warren’s Backup Backup Health Plan
The Democratic presidential candidates have been fighting over whether they should try to replace the health insurance system with a single government-run plan or create a government-run plan that Americans could choose to join. But hidden outside this big debate is a harsh reality: If Democrats fail to retake control of the Senate, neither plan has much of a chance to become law. ... So what would Warren do? Her regulatory agenda can be divided into a few broad categories. But over all, she views executive authority in the same broad way that Trump does. Several of her proposals are likely to end up in court — as several of his have. (Sanger-Katz, 11/16)

The Associated Press: Warren Pushes Back On Critics Of Her Health Care Plan
Elizabeth Warren pushed back against critics of her newly released plan to phase in implementation of a single-payer health care system, insisting Saturday that she is “fully committed” to Medicare for All and that she plans to first build on existing health care programs because “people need help right now.” “My commitment to Medicare for All is all the way,” Warren told reporters, responding to critics who’ve questioned the timing behind the release of her implementation plan. (Jaffe, 11/16)

The New York Times: How Elizabeth Warren Got To ‘Yes’ On Medicare For All
Two days before Senator Elizabeth Warren rolled out a fundamental reimagining of America’s health care and tax system — a $20.5 trillion package that would dwarf all her previous plans combined — she was working the phones to personally preview her proposal and sell it to a select group of political influencers. One was Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist, who had written skeptically days earlier that her plan to pay for “Medicare for all” was a “make-or-break moment” for her, if not the whole 2020 race. Another call was to Representative Pramila Jayapal, the lead sponsor of Medicare for all legislation in the House and a leading liberal as the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “Pramila,” Ms. Warren told her, “we’re gonna do this.” (Goldmacher, Kliff and Kaplan, 11/17)

The Washington Post: Obama Tells Democratic Candidates To Ease Off Talk Of Revolution
Former president Barack Obama on Friday urged Democrats running for the White House not to lurch too far left in their pursuit of the nomination, while at the same time seeking to quell concerns in the party about its 2020 hopefuls and the messy primary season to come. The comments — made in Washington at a meeting of the Democracy Alliance, a powerful network of liberal donors — marked some of Obama’s most pointed words yet about a fluid primary in which he is not picking sides. They echoed previous comments in which he warned about the dangers of pursuing purity and rigidity in politics. (Sullivan, 11/15)

The Associated Press: Democrats Hold On To Louisiana Governor’s Seat Despite Trump
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has stunned Republicans again, narrowly winning a second term Saturday as the Deep South’s only Democratic governor and handing Donald Trump another gubernatorial loss this year. In the heart of Trump country, the moderate Edwards cobbled together enough cross-party support with his focus on bipartisan, state-specific issues to defeat Republican businessman Eddie Rispone, getting about 51% of the vote. ... Edwards expanded Louisiana's Medicaid program, lowering the state's uninsured rate below the national average. (Deslatte, 11/16)

The New York Times: To Lower Costs, Trump To Force Hospitals To Reveal Price Of Care
The Trump administration on Friday announced it would begin forcing hospitals to publicly disclose the discounted prices they negotiate with insurance companies, a potentially bold move to help people shop for better deals on a range of medical services, from hip replacements to brain scans. “For decades, hospitals, insurance companies, lobbyists and special interests have hidden prices from consumers, so they could drive up costs for you, and you had no idea what was happening,” President Trump said Friday afternoon in the White House’s Roosevelt Room. “You’d get bills that were unbelievable and you’d have no idea why.” (Abelson, 11/15)

The Washington Post: New Trump Rule To Make More Health Care Rates Public
In a new twist, the administration is also proposing to require most health plans that Americans get through their jobs to disclose the rates they negotiate with hospitals and doctors in their insurance networks, as well as the amounts they pay to doctors out-of-network. Taken together, the pair of actions — one a final rule, the other in draft form — is part of President Trump’s 2020 electoral strategy to capi­tal­ize on polls that show health care ranks among Americans’ top domestic concerns. Public opinion surveys consistently show that consumers are looking to government especially to ease the burden of escalating out-of-pocket costs. (Goldstein, 11/15)

NPR: Trump Seeks Health Care Price Transparency From Insurers And Hospitals
"Our goal is to give patients the knowledge they need about the real price of health care services," said Trump. "They'll be able to check them, compare them, go to different locations, so they can shop for the highest-quality care at the lowest cost." Administration officials heralded both rules as historic and transformative to the health care system. (Simmons-Duffin, 11/15)

The New York Times: Trump Retreats From Flavor Ban For E-Cigarettes
It was a swift and bold reaction to a growing public health crisis affecting teenagers. Seated in the Oval Office in September, President Trump said he was moving to ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes as vaping among young people continued to rise. “We can’t have our kids be so affected,” Mr. Trump said. The first lady, Melania Trump, who rarely involves herself publicly with policy announcements in the White House, was there, too. “She’s got a son,” Mr. Trump noted, referring to their teenager, Barron. “She feels very strongly about it.” (Karni, Haberman and Kaplan, 11/17)

The Washington Post: Trump Reverses Course On Flavored Vape Ban, Leaving It Unclear Whether The Government Will Act
One last thing was needed: Trump’s sign-off. But on Nov. 4, the night before a planned morning news conference, the president balked. Briefed on a flight to a Lexington, Ky., campaign rally, he refused to sign the one-page “decision memo,” saying he didn’t want to move forward with a ban he had once backed, primarily at his wife’s and daughter’s urging, because he feared it would lead to job losses, said a Trump adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal deliberations. As he had done so many times before, Trump reversed course — this time on a plan to address a major public health problem because of worries that apoplectic vape shop owners and their customers might hurt his reelection prospects, said White House and campaign officials. (Dawsey and McGinley, 11/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Delays Decision On Possible E-Cigarette Restrictions
A policy is still expected to emerge, but the president is less adamant than he had been when he said in September that he would seek to bar sales of sweet, fruit-flavored e-cigarettes aimed at young people. Already, the administration has softened its original stance to make an exception for menthol flavors. Mr. Trump has also said he favors raising the minimum purchase age for e-cigarettes nationwide to 21 years old from 18, a position that has been pushed by the vaping industry and is supported by e-cigarette powerhouse Juul Labs Inc. (Leary, 11/18)

The New York Times: Apple To Ban Vaping Apps From Its Store
Apple removed 181 vaping apps from its online store on Friday, following the lead of federal, state and local regulators, which in recent months have cracked down on e-cigarette products. The prohibition affects apps that help people find vape stores or flavors, allow them to control their vape pens, or gain access to games, news or social networks that promote vaping. Apple’s vaping app ban is the second significant step the iPhone maker has taken to distance itself from e-cigarettes. (Nicas and Tsang, 11/15)

The Washington Post: The Trump Administration’s Immigration Jails Are Packed, But Deportations Are Lower Than In Obama Era
It has been nearly 700 days since Bakhodir Madjitov was taken to prison in the United States. He has never been charged with a crime. Madjitov, a 38-year-old Uzbek national and father of three U.S. citizens, received a final deportation order after his applications to legally immigrate failed. He is one of the approximately 50,000 people jailed on any given day in the past year under the authority of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the most foreigners held in immigration detention in U.S. history. (Hauslohner, 11/17)

NPR: Mentally Ill And Undocumented: At Higher Risk Of Deportation
When José moved his family to the United States from Mexico nearly two decades ago, he had hopes of giving his children a better life. But now he worries about the future of his 21-year-old-son, who has lived in central Illinois since he was a toddler. José's son has a criminal record, which could make him a target for deportation officials. We're not using the son's name because of those risks, and are using the father's middle name, José, because both men are in the U.S. without permission. (Herman, 11/17)

Reuters: Gunman Opens Fire At California Backyard Party, Four Killed: Police
Police in the California city of Fresno were investigating a mass shooting at a football game party on Sunday in which at least 10 people were shot, killing four, with five others left in critical condition and another wounded, police said. Three men died at the scene and another died at a hospital, Fresno Deputy Police Chief Michael Reed said in a late night news conference. Six more were hospitalized, he said. (McKay, 11/18)

The New York Times: Fresno Mass Shooting Kills 4 And Wounds 6, Police Say
About 35 friends and family at the home were watching a football game in the backyard when an unknown number of gunmen opened fire into the crowd, said Michael Reed, a deputy chief of the Fresno Police Department. The gunmen fled the scene. The authorities received reports of the shooting around 8 p.m. local time. Mr. Reed said all 10 of the victims were Asian men between 25 and 30 years old, but several children were at the party. “Thank God that no kids were hurt,” he said. (Zaveri, 11/18)

Los Angeles Times: Shooting At Fresno Backyard Party Kills Four, Wounds Six Others, Police Say
Fresno Police Deputy Chief Michael Reid said in a televised interview that three men were found dead in the backyard in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, and a fourth man died at the hospital. All of those shot were men 25 to 30 years old. Six others are expected to survive and are recovering at the hospital, police said. (Newberry, 11/17)

The New York Times: Fearing A Mass Shooting, Police Took His Guns. A Judge Gave Them Back.
The authorities in the Seattle area came across an alarming photo on social media at the beginning of October. It showed a man holding two AK-47-style rifles. The caption above read: “one ticket for joker please.” With only a couple of days left before the opening of the “Joker” movie, law enforcement agencies scrambled to assess the threat level of the message. As detectives waded through the man’s online history, they encountered additional troubling posts: Charels Donnelly, 23, talked about threatening his mother with a gun and described fantasies about hurting women. (Baker, 11/18)

The Associated Press: Sandy Hook Lawsuit Could Force Remington To Open Books
A recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court has upended a longstanding legal roadblock that has given the gun industry far-reaching immunity from lawsuits in the aftermath of mass killings. ... Remington is widely expected to win the case, but critics of the gun industry are eyeing what they see as a significant outcome even in the face of defeat: getting the gunmaker to open its books about how it markets firearms. (Pane, 11/16)

The Associated Press: Planned Parenthood Awarded $2.3 Million For Secret Videos
A federal jury found Friday that an anti-abortion activist illegally secretly recorded workers at Planned Parenthood clinics and is liable for violating federal and state laws. The jury ordered him, the Center for Medical Progress and other parties to pay nearly $2.3 million in damages. The jury awarded $1 million in damages, but offenses under the federal Racketeer and Corrupt Organizations Act are considered acts of organized crime and penalties awarded for them are automatically tripled. (Williams, 11/15)

The New York Times: Planned Parenthood Awarded $2 Million In Lawsuit Over Secret Videos
The ruling was an important victory for Planned Parenthood, which had been buffeted by the political fallout from the videos, whose release in the summer of 2015 incited widespread outrage. The videos gave new strength to the conservative drive to defund Planned Parenthood. Missouri called a special legislative session to do so after their release. The organization was forced to apologize for the casual tone that one of its officials had used in a video to discuss a possible transfer of fetal tissue to what she believed was a legitimate medical company. Planned Parenthood said the fees being discussed were to cover costs and were legal. Abortion opponents claimed that the videos revealed that Planned Parenthood was engaged in the illegal sale of body parts. (Tavernise, 11/15)

The Associated Press: Drug Cost Legislation Gets A Push From White House
The White House is ramping up its push to get a bill through Congress that curbs prescription drug costs, feeling a new urgency as the impeachment investigation advances amid the 2020 election campaign. The effort has progressed beyond anything seen in years, says President Donald Trump’s top domestic policy adviser. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to confront these issues in a nonideological fashion,” adviser Joe Grogan said in a recent session with reporters. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/17)

Reuters: Trump Says U.S. States Will Be Able To Buy Prescription Drugs Abroad
President Donald Trump said on Friday he would be giving U.S. states the right to buy prescription drugs from other countries, as part of a bid to boost consumer access to cheaper medicines. "I'm going to be giving governors the right very shortly to buy ... their prescription drugs from other countries," Trump said at a White House event accompanied by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, among other officials. (11/15)

The New York Times: Trump Went For A Medical Checkup That Was Not On His Public Schedule
President Trump underwent a two-hour doctor’s examination on Saturday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which the White House said was part of a routine annual physical and included lab work. The appointment was not on the president’s schedule, in contrast to a previous physical that Mr. Trump had in February, also at Walter Reed outside Washington. (Vigdor, 11/17)

Reuters: Trump Touts His 'Very' Good Health After Unscheduled Medical Check
"Anticipating a very busy 2020, the President is taking advantage of a free weekend here in Washington, D.C., to begin portions of his routine annual physical exam at Walter Reed," White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement. Asked on Sunday about rumours the president was visiting for reasons other than a routine checkup, Grisham said: "Absolutely not. He is healthy as can be." (11/17)

The Washington Post: Trump Is ‘Healthy As Can Be,’ White House Press Secretary Says After Doctor Visit
Trump mentioned his visit to Walter Reed in a tweet on Saturday. “Visited a great family of a young man under major surgery at the amazing Walter Reed Medical Center,” he said. “Those are truly some of the best doctors anywhere in the world. Also began phase one of my yearly physical. Everything very good (great!). Will complete next year.” (Sonmez and Bernstein, 11/17)

The New York Times: Whoops. Judge Reduces J&J Opioid Fine After Mistaking Thousands For Millions
In a mortifying mistake destined to be cited by gleeful math teachers everywhere, an Oklahoma judge acknowledged that he was three decimal places off — mistaking thousands for millions — when he originally calculated the amount Johnson & Johnson should pay for its role in the state’s opioids crisis. As a result, Judge Thad Balkman announced on Friday a new fine, reduced by about $107 million. The total is now $465 million, down from the $572 million he assessed in August. (Hoffman, 11/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Johnson & Johnson’s Oklahoma Opioid Penalty Reduced To $465 Million
State court Judge Thad Balkman said on Friday that Johnson & Johnson must pay $465 million to help alleviate the damage caused by opioid addiction in Oklahoma. Judge Balkman in August had ordered the drug company to pay $572 million after finding it contributed to an opioid-addiction crisis that has killed more than 6,000 Oklahomans since 2000. In his ruling, the judge said the updated amount, which reflects a mathematical error he previously said he made, is an estimate of one year’s worth of treatment and other programs. He rejected a request from Oklahoma to allocate money for 20 years or more of treatment. (Randazzo, 11/15)

The Washington Post: Oklahoma Judge Lowers Johnson & Johnson Payment In Opioid Verdict
Balkman’s order appears to close, for now, the first state trial of the opioid era. Johnson & Johnson has appealed the verdict, reached in a nonjury trial. The company issued a statement saying it is “moving forward with our appeal of this judgment because it is neither supported by the facts nor the law. We recognize the opioid crisis is a tremendously complex public health issue and have deep sympathy for everyone affected. We do not believe litigation is the answer and are continuing to work with partners to find solutions.” (Bernstein, 11/15)

The Wall Street Journal: J&J Rapidly Tested Its Baby Powder After Asbestos Finding—And The Results Were Complicated
Johnson & Johnson rushed to test its famous baby powder last month after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found asbestos in a bottle and triggered a recall. The company announced 11 days later that independent testing had found no trace of the contaminant. But J&J’s push for a rapid turnaround contributed to results that were more complicated, a review of lab reports released by the company shows. (Loftus, 11/17)

The Washington Post: The Most Remote Emergency Room: Life And Death In Rural America
A flashing red light summoned Dr. Brian Skow to his third emergency of the afternoon, and he hurried to a desk in a suburban office building. He sat in front of an oversize computer monitor, which showed a live video feed from inside a hospital room in eastern Montana. Two nurses were leaning over a patient on a stretcher, checking for a pulse, and squeezing oxygen out of a bag and into the patient’s lungs. “I’m Doctor Skow,” he said, waving into a camera attached to his computer, introducing himself as the presiding emergency physician even though he was seated more than 700 miles away. “How can we help you today?” (Saslow, 11/16)

Reuters: Novartis Sickle-Cell Drug Gets U.S. FDA Approval
Novartis AG on Friday won U.S. approval for its experimental sickle cell disease drug, Adakveo, making it the first of several proposed new therapies designed to offer lasting relief for patients with the debilitating blood disease to get U.S. regulatory clearance. The drug will be priced between $84,852 and $113,136 per year for most patients, who will typically infuse themselves with between three and four vials each month, Novartis said. (11/15)

The Associated Press: US Approves New Drug To Manage Sickle Cell Disease
Sickle cell disease is one of the most common inherited blood disorders, affecting about 100,000 Americans, most of them black, and about 300 million people worldwide. Its hallmark is periodic episodes in which red blood cells stick together, blocking blood from reaching organs and small blood vessels. That causes intense pain and cumulative organ damage that shortens the lives of people with the disease. (Johnson, 11/15)

The Associated Press: Big Study Casts Doubt On Need For Many Heart Procedures
People with severe but stable heart disease from clogged arteries may have less chest pain if they get a procedure to improve blood flow rather than just giving medicines a chance to help, but it won’t cut their risk of having a heart attack or dying over the following few years, a big federally funded study found. The results challenge medical dogma and call into question some of the most common practices in heart care. They are the strongest evidence yet that tens of thousands of costly stent procedures and bypass operations each year are unnecessary or premature for people with stable disease. (Marchione, 11/16)

The New York Times: Surgery For Blocked Arteries Is Often Unwarranted, Researchers Find
The findings of a large federal study on bypass surgeries and stents call into question the medical care provided to tens of thousands of heart disease patients with blocked coronary arteries, scientists reported at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association on Saturday. The new study found that patients who received drug therapy alone did not experience more heart attacks or die more often than those who also received bypass surgery or stents, tiny wire cages used to open narrowed arteries. (Kolata, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Drugs Are As Effective As Stents For Stable Heart Disease, ISCHEMIA Trial Finds
The $100 million trial, presented Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association ahead of publication in a peer-reviewed journal, is the latest entry into a long and contentious argument over how to treat artery blockages, one that has pitted powerful factions of American heart specialists against each other. It echoes a similar study 12 years ago that was critiqued by interventional cardiologists, the doctors performing the invasive procedures. “This is a milestone study that people will talk about and write about for years to come,” said Elliott Antman, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who was not involved in the study and praised it for the wealth of information gathered and the rigor and sophistication of the analyses. (Johnson, 11/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Study Finds Limited Benefits Of Stent Use For Millions With Heart Disease
“You won’t prolong life,” said Judith Hochman, chair of the study and senior associate dean for clinical sciences at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. But stents or bypass surgery work better than medicine and lifestyle changes alone in relieving symptoms for people who have frequent angina, or chest pain, the researchers found. (McKay, 11/16)

The Associated Press: Same As It Ever Was: Worker Health Benefit Costs Rise Again
In the ever-shifting world of company-provided health insurance, here’s a constant: It keeps getting more expensive. Workers may learn that their doctor will no longer be covered or they might have to pay a higher deductible before most coverage begins. Meanwhile, the employer paying most of the insurance bill faces the same big concern every year: The cost will probably rise higher than wages and inflation. (Murphy, 11/17)

The Washington Post: Study Finds Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s World Mercury Project And Larry Cook’s Stop Mandatory Vaccinations Bought 54 Percent Of The Ads
The majority of Facebook advertisements spreading misinformation about vaccines were funded by two anti-vaccine groups, including one led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to a study published this week. The World Mercury Project, headed by Kennedy, and a California-based organization called Stop Mandatory Vaccination bought 54 percent of the anti-vaccine ads on Facebook, the study found. (Sun, 11/15)

The New York Times: A Small Town Gave Up Tackle Football. It Came Storming Back.
One evening last spring, a retired doctor named James Harris carried a pickle jar filled with bright red Jell-O to Marshall’s school board meeting. He shook it up so the Jell-O sloshed against the glass, a representation, he told the school board members, of what happens to the brain during a hard hit in football and what can happen to those who are allowed to play the sport at a young age. “The brain is like this Jell-O in the bottle,” he told them. “When the head hits the ground, it hits front and back, and swishes, twists, sloshes and stretches inside the skull.” (Belson, 11/16)

The New York Times: Prison’s Tips For Inmates In Solitary: ‘Plant A Tree’ Or ‘Go On A Picnic’
As Joey Pedersen made his way to solitary confinement last month, Washington State prison officers handed him a roll of toilet paper, a bar of soap and a pack of documents including a flier titled “101 Ways to Relieve Stress.” He reviewed the suggestions in his new cell, where he would spend 23 hours a day alone. “Plant a tree.” “Go on a picnic.” “Put air freshener in your car.” “Avoid negative people.” “Relax,” the document concluded, “you have the rest of your life.” (Baker, 11/16)

The Washington Post: When Undergoing Chemo Or Radiation, Cancer Patients Need To Avoid Diseases. CDC Provides Vital Tips.
About 650,000 cancer patients receive outpatient chemotherapy every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although chemo and radiation can extend cancer patients’ lives and help stamp out the disease, the treatments can put their lives at risk. Chemo and radiation kill cancer cells, but they can also wipe out patients’ immunity. As a result, even seemingly benign infections can become threats to people being treated for cancer. (Blakemore, 11/16)

Stat: A Controversial New Treatment Promises To Make Little People Taller
Scientists have come up with a drug, injected once a day, that appears to make children’s bones grow. To many, it’s a wondrous invention that could improve the lives of thousands of people with dwarfism. To others, it’s a profit-driven solution in search of a problem, one that could unravel decades of hard-won respect for an entire community. In the middle are families, doctors, and a pharmaceutical company, all dealing with a philosophically fraught question: Is it ethical to make a little person taller? (Garde, 11/18)

The Wall Street Journal: What Science Tells Us About Preventing Dementia
When it comes to battling dementia, the unfortunate news is this: Medications have proven ineffective at curing or stopping the disease and its most common form, Alzheimer’s disease. But that isn’t the end of the story. According to a recent wave of scientific studies, we have more control over our cognitive health than is commonly known. We just have to take certain steps—ideally, early and often—to live a healthier lifestyle. (Tergesen, 11/17)

The Washington Post: Bittersweet Photos Of How Dementia Tests An Elderly Couple's Bond
Sofie Mathiassen’s grandparents — Poul and Else — always kept a journal, jotting down in a sentence or two — sometimes more — the small joys of each of their days together. Eight years ago, Poul was diagnosed with dementia and Parkinson’s disease, and, for the past four years, their granddaughter has been photographing their daily lives in Denmark, creating a record of Poul’s last moments on earth. The work has won the Bob and Diane Fund grant, a cash prize dedicated to raising awareness through photography of the medical crisis around Alzheimer’s and dementia. (Laurent and Mathiassen, 11/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Urinary Incontinence Is Common, Often Treatable—But Hard To Discuss
If the many health issues that come with aging, one of the most vexing is also among the hardest to talk about, even with a doctor: a troublesome bladder. Now, researchers and doctors are mounting new efforts to erase the stigma, inform patients about the best treatment options—and prevent problems from starting in the first place by promoting better bladder health. (Landro, 11/17)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Struggles To Stem Chinese Efforts To Recruit Scientists
National security officials say universities are at the leading edge of a plan by Beijing to illicitly gain scientific expertise and leapfrog the technology gap with the West, but prosecutors face challenges proving wrongdoing in court, as new allegations in a criminal case in Kansas underscore. The Chinese government pays thousands of scientists around the world to moonlight at Chinese institutions through arrangements where they often spend months in China without disclosing the work to their primary employers, officials say. (Viswanatha and O'Keeffe, 11/17)

The Washington Post: Suffering From Bad Knees, Some Look For Alternatives To Surgery
The burning in his kneecaps was what Richard Bedard noticed first. Then came the tenderness and pain. Sitting for 10 hours a day as a financial editor in Hong Kong was agonizing. So was walking short distances or just standing in the elevator. Neither doctors nor physical therapists could offer any lasting relief. Surgery loomed. But Bedard tried a different approach: a personal experiment to try to repair the cartilage in his knees with special exercises. It wasn’t easy and it took more than a year to accomplish, but he sidestepped a knee operation. (Squires, 11/17)

The Washington Post: Doctor Implicit Bias Can Lead To Misdiagnoses
Doctors, like the rest of us, make mistakes. Every year, upward of 12 million Americans see a physician and come away with a wrong diagnosis. The top cause? Bad judgment, says David Newman-Toker, director of the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality’s Center for Diagnostic Excellence. Newman-Toker found that judgment errors accounted for 86 percent of 55,377 medical malpractice claims he evaluated where misdiagnosis led to death or disability. (Glicksman, 11/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Hospital System Uses AI To Boost Surgery Outcomes, Cut Costs
A homegrown artificial-intelligence system has helped Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare significantly improve the results of its surgeries, while also eliminating more than $90 million in costs over the past four years. The AI system was created in response to a cost-cutting effort that began in 2011, when Intermountain embraced value-based pricing. The network of 22 hospitals and 180 clinics in Utah and Idaho has switched to a system where it is longer compensated for each procedure performed, but instead gets paid for achieving certain measurable outcomes. (Kass, 11/18)

The Wall Street Journal: New Stanford Hospital Takes Holistic Approach To Technology
The new Stanford Hospital that opens Sunday borrows ideas about user experience from its neighbor down the road, Apple Inc. The goal is to use technology in a way that makes the hospital more hospitable. The $2.1 billion facility, more than 10 years in the making, is incorporated into Stanford Health Care’s hospital campus in Palo Alto, Calif. Ron Johnson, a former senior vice president of retail operations at Apple, based in nearby Cupertino, advised on the project. (Rosenbush, 11/16)