First Edition: October 16, 2018

Kaiser Health News: Drugmakers Funnel Millions To Lawmakers; A Few Dozen Get $100,000-Plus
Before the midterm elections heated up, dozens of drugmakers had already poured about $12 million into the war chests of hundreds of members of Congress. Since the beginning of last year, 34 lawmakers have each received more than $100,000 from pharmaceutical companies. Two of those — Reps. Greg Walden of Oregon, a key Republican committee chairman, and Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican majority leader — each received more than $200,000, a new Kaiser Health News database shows. (Huetteman and Lupkin, 10/16)

KHN's Campaign Contributions Tracker: Pharma Cash To Congress
Use this tool to explore the sizable role drugmakers play in the campaign finance system, where many industries seek to influence Congress. (Lucas and Lupkin, 10/16)

Kaiser Health News: TV Ads Must Trumpet Drug Prices, Trump Administration Says. Pharma Tries A Plan B. 
A drug’s list price — the metric HHS wants to emphasize — often bears little relationship to what a patient pays at the drugstore. Insurance plans and pharmacy benefit managers often negotiate cheaper prices than the list price. Some patients qualify for other discounts. And often patients pay only what their copay or deductible requires at any given time. (Luthra and Tribble, 10/15)

Kaiser Health News: Influential Leapfrog Group Jumps In To Rate 5,600 Surgery Centers 
The influential Leapfrog Group, which grades nearly 2,000 U.S. hospitals, is launching a national survey to evaluate the safety and quality of up to 5,600 surgery centers that perform millions of outpatient procedures every year. The group now issues hospitals an overall letter grade and evaluates how hospitals handle myriad problems, from infections to collapsed lungs to dangerous blood clots — helping patients decide where to seek care. (Jewett, 10/16)

Kaiser Health News: Listen: Health Care Issues Reverberate In The States
Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent for Kaiser Health News, joined “1A” host Joshua Johnson, Scott Greenberger, the executive editor of Stateline, and Reid Wilson, national correspondent for The Hill, to discuss health policy initiatives in the states. (10/15)

The New York Times: Trump Rule Would Compel Drug Makers To Disclose Prices In TV Commercials
Over vehement objections by drug companies, the Trump administration proposed on Monday a new federal regulation that would require them to disclose the list prices of prescription drugs in their television advertisements. The proposal sets the stage for a battle with the pharmaceutical industry, which said the requirement would be a form of “compelled speech” in violation of the First Amendment. (Pear, 10/15)

The Associated Press: US Wants Drug Prices In TV Ads: 'Patients Deserve To Know'
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar unveiled a proposal that would apply to all brand-name drugs covered by the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which is most medicines. "Patients deserve to know what a given drug could cost when they're being told about the benefits and risks it may have," Azar said in prepared remarks. "They deserve to know if the drug company has pushed their prices to abusive levels. And they deserve to know this every time they see a drug advertised to them on TV." (Johnson, 10/15)

Politico: Trump Issues Rule To Require Drug Prices In TV Ads, Rejecting Industry Plan
HHS said its proposed rule fulfilled another prong of the president's blueprint to address pharmaceutical costs and would help Americans make more informed decisions that could lower out-of-pocket costs and those of government health programs like Medicare and Medicaid. The move came with polls showing significant voter outrage about drug costs, which also are comprising an ever larger share of the federal budget. (Karlin-Smith, 10/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Pharma Industry Pushes Back Against Required Listing Of Drug Prices In TV Ads
Drugmakers oppose the mandate, saying that providing only the list price would confuse and mislead consumers, who may think they have to pay more than they actually would. The list price is the figure initially set by the drugmaker. But it is different than what consumers generally pay, because it doesn’t take into account rebates, discounts and insurance payments. Critics also say the rule runs afoul of the First Amendment free-speech protections, and that a legal challenge is likely. (Armour, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Drugmakers May Have To Disclose Prices Of Medicine In Television Ads
While some health policy researchers are skeptical that disclosing drug prices in television ads would change consumer behavior and doctors’ prescribing habits, the proposal drew immediate praise from unlikely bedfellows. Health insurers’ main trade group commended the administration “for taking such bold action” to combat “out-of-control” drug prices. The American Medical Association lamented the existence of direct consumer advertising of medicine but said in a statement that “as long as the practice is allowed, the ads should come with at least a small dose of transparency.” (Goldstein and Johnson, 10/15)

Stat: Questions Loom As Pharma Hints At Suing Over New Trump Drug Pricing Policy 
Even before it was announced, drug makers threatened to sue the Trump administration over a new policy that would require them to include prices in their TV ads. Now that the proposal is official, the better question about a lawsuit may be “When?” Already on Monday, drug makers doubled down on their argument that the government is violating their First Amendment rights by compelling them to disclosure their prices. (Florko, 10/16)

The New York Times: Republicans Are Suddenly Running Ads On Pre-Existing Conditions. But How Accurate Are They?
For months, Democratic candidates have been running hard on health care, while Republicans have said little about it. In a sign of the issue’s potency, Republicans are now playing defense, releasing a wave of ads promising they will preserve protections for Americans with pre-existing health conditions. The ads omit the fact that the protections were a central feature of the Affordable Care Act and that the Republican Party has worked unceasingly to repeal the law, through legislation and lawsuits. (Sanger-Katz, 10/16)

The Hill: Trump Attacks ‘Crazy Bernie’ Sanders Over Medicare Plans 
President Trump on Monday attacked Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a supporter of single-payer "Medicare for all," over health care, claiming that Sanders "and his band of Congressional Dems" would outlaw Medicare Advantage. "Open enrollment starts today on lower-priced Medicare Advantage plans so loved by our great seniors. Crazy Bernie and his band of Congressional Dems will outlaw these plans. Disaster!" Trump tweeted. (Burke, 10/15)

Modern Healthcare: 4,100 More Arkansans Lose Medicaid Over Work Requirements
More than 4,100 Medicaid expansion enrollees in Arkansas will lose coverage for the rest of 2018 because they did not comply with the state's work requirement policy, state officials announced Monday. That's on top of the 4,353 people who were dropped from Medicaid rolls last month. (Meyer, 10/15)

The Associated Press: Arkansas Drops 4,100 More From Medicaid Over Work Rule
The figures released by the state Department of Human Services show another 4,800 people will lose coverage if they don't meet the work requirement by the end of this month. Arkansas' rule, which was implemented earlier this year, requires some beneficiaries to work 80 hours a month. Those beneficiaries lose coverage if they don't meet the requirement for three months in a calendar year. The state last month announced more than 4,300 people lost coverage because of the requirement. More than 76,000 people on the program were subject to the requirement. (Demillo, 10/15)

The Hill: 4,000 More People Lose Medicaid Coverage In Arkansas Under New Work Requirements 
Opponents of Arkansas's work requirements have worried that it would lead to coverage losses, not because people weren't working, but because they weren't filing reports. It's unclear why so many people aren't meeting the monthly reporting requirements, but experts think it could be due to lack of awareness or confusion over the new program, although the state says it has conducted an extensive outreach campaign. (Hellmann, 10/15)

Politico: Scott Walker, In Fight For Political Life, Slow-Walks Medicaid Work Rules
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker sought for years to put Medicaid recipients to work. Now federal officials have given him most of what he wanted, but he‘s delaying the process for fear the changes will doom his flailing reelection bid, say three federal officials familiar with the deliberations. “Wisconsin’s been stalling,” said one official, adding the Trump administration has been ready to formally approve and announce the state’s new work requirements for weeks. “It’s ended up being a lot of hurry-up-and-wait.” (Diamond, 10/16)

The Associated Press: Trump Taps Maine Official To Be In Charge Of Medicaid
President Donald Trump has tapped a Maine official who battled Medicaid expansion for a position that puts her in charge of the national program, the federal agency confirmed Monday. Mary Mayhew's role of deputy administrator and director of the U.S. Center for Medicaid and the CHIP Services will place her in charge of the federal health care program for low-income people. (10/15)

Politico: Controversial Former Aide To Maine’s LePage To Run Medicaid
Mayhew served as Maine's health commissioner for six years under LePage, leading efforts to tighten the state's Medicaid eligibility standards, add work requirements to the food stamp program and implement other conservative reforms. She supported LePage as he rejected efforts to expand the state's Medicaid program — repeatedly vetoing legislation and then resisting after nearly 60 percent of Maine voters approved expansion on a ballot measure in 2017. LePage is spending his final months in office fighting a court order to expand the program. (Diamond and Ehley, 10/15)

The New York Times: Harvard Calls For Retraction Of Dozens Of Studies By Noted Cardiologist
A prominent cardiologist formerly at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston fabricated or falsified data in 31 published studies that should be retracted, officials at the institutions have concluded. The cardiologist, Dr. Piero Anversa, produced research suggesting that damaged heart muscle could be regenerated with stem cells, a type of cell that can transform itself into a variety of other cells. (Kolata, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Harvard Investigation Finds Fraudulent Data In Papers By Heart Researcher
Piero Anversa and his colleagues were credited with finding a population of cells in the heart that suggested the organ has the ability to regenerate. His work, underwritten by millions of dollars in federal funding, helped lay the groundwork for clinical trials, and cardiologists continue to study ways to repair the heart with stem cells. But the cells Anversa described, so-called “c-kit” stem cells, don’t appear to work in the way he suggested, and subsequent research has raised doubt that they can regenerate heart tissue. (Johnson, 10/15)

The Associated Press: Insurer Anthem Will Pay Record $16M For Massive Data Breach
The nation's second-largest health insurer has agreed to pay the government a record $16 million to settle potential privacy violations in the biggest known health care hack in U.S. history, officials said Monday. The personal information of nearly 79 million people — including names, birthdates, Social Security numbers and medical IDs — was exposed in the cyberattack, discovered by the company in 2015. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/15)

The Associated Press: 7 Companies, 4 Men Charged In $1B Telemedicine Fraud Scheme
Seven companies and four men are facing charges, accused of roles in a $1 billion telemedicine fraud scheme that deceived tens of thousands of patients and more than 100 doctors, federal prosecutors announced Monday. The eastern Tennessee U.S. attorney's office said six Florida companies, a Houston firm and four Florida men are named in a 32-count indictment charging them with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce and mail fraud. (10/15)

The New York Times: The Results Of Your Genetic Test Are Reassuring. But That Can Change.
The results of a genetic test may seem final — after all, a gene mutation is present or it is not. That mutation increases the risk of a disease, or it does not. In fact, those findings are not as straightforward as they might seem, and the consequences may have grave implications for patients. While a person’s genome doesn’t change, the research linking particular bits of DNA to disease is very much in flux. Geneticists and testing labs constantly receive new information that leads them to reassess genetic mutations. (Kolata, 10/16)

The Washington Post: Elizabeth Warren's DNA Test: Kellyanne Conway Called It 'Junk Science.' Is It?
After news that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released DNA results showing that she had a distant Native American ancestor — something President Trump had dared her to do — White House counselor Kellyanne Conway dismissed the DNA test, calling it “junk science.” “I haven’t looked at the test,” Conway told reporters Monday morning. “I know that everybody likes to pick their junk science or sound science depending on the conclusion, it seems some days.” But is it junk science? (Bever, 10/15)

Stat: How The Navy Brought A Once-Derided Scientist Out Of Retirement — And Into The Virus-Selling Business
What was being requested was a sample from the Navy’s collection of viruses. The word virus, to most of us, implies disease, but in this case the Navy wasn’t stockpiling pathogens. Instead, these viruses were potential cures. Called bacteriophages — literally, eaters of bacteria — they could inject themselves inside germs, reproduce like crazy, and cause the buggers to explode. To the military, that image was alluring. Bacteriophage therapy had long been abandoned in the U.S., but as more and more antibiotics had stopped working, biodefense experts, Navy doctors — and just about anyone else with a stake in protecting human health — were wondering about other treatments. (Boodman, 10/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Babies’ Sleep Linked To Lower Obesity Risks Years Later
Combating high childhood obesity rates is a vexing problem: Diets and other interventions often don’t work, and when they do the effects aren’t long-lasting. Now, some researchers are attacking the problem at the newborn stage with an unlikely target: sleep. Newborns whose parents received advice and hands-on education about sleep had about half the risk of developing obesity by ages 3½ and 5, compared with children whose parents didn’t get the sleep instruction, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in August. (Reddy, 10/15)

Los Angeles Times: Paging Dr. Facebook: How The Social Network Could Help Doctors Screen Patients For Depression
More than half of Americans who suffer from depression never get any treatment, and in many cases that’s because their symptoms are never diagnosed. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force advises primary care physicians to screen all of their patients for depression and make sure proper care gets to those who need it, but this is a big job and doctors could use some help. Paging Dr. Facebook, stat! (Kaplan, 10/15)

The Associated Press: AP-NORC Poll: Many Caregivers Neglecting Their Own Health
Skipping your checkup but not grandma's? Caring for an older loved one is a balancing act, and a new poll shows that too often it's the caregivers' health that's neglected. The survey, by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found about a third of caregivers have gone without a routine physical or dental care, skipped or didn't schedule a test or treatment or even forgot to fill a prescription or failed to see a doctor for their own illness or injury because they were too busy with their caregiving duties. (10/15)

The Associated Press: Officials Say A Child Is First To Die In Florida Flu Season
Florida health officials say a child is the first to die during this year's flu season. The Florida Department of Health's Bureau of Epidemiology said in a report the unidentified child tested positive for influenza B and died between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6. The report did not say where the child died but did say the child was otherwise healthy. The child had not been vaccinated. (10/15)

The Hill: Florida Officials Confirm First Flu Death Of The Season 
The child had no underlying medical conditions, officials said. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 80,000 people in the United States died of the flu and its complications last winter, the most deaths in at least four decades. That included almost 200 children. (Burke, 10/15)

The Associated Press: South Dakota Board To Hear First 'Compassionate Parole' Case
A South Dakota man sentenced in 1999 to nearly 60 years in prison for molesting boys while working as a counselor at a juvenile correctional center will be the first person to have a hearing after the state, facing rising prison health care costs, launched a new "compassionate parole" system for seriously ill and elderly inmates earlier this year. (10/15)

Stat: UCSF Settles Sexual Harassment Suit Involving Star Researcher For $150,000 
The University of California, San Francisco, has agreed to pay a former postdoc $150,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit involving a prominent tobacco researcher on its faculty. In the settlement, dated last month, Stanton Glantz, director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, and UCSF “deny and dispute” the allegations by the former postdoc, Dr. Eunice Neeley, who now is a resident in family medicine at Emory University in Atlanta. (Oransky and Marcus, 10/16)

The Associated Press: Jurors: Don't Throw Out $289M Weed Killer Cancer Verdict
Jurors who found that agribusiness giant Monsanto's Roundup weed killer contributed to a school groundskeeper's cancer are urging a San Francisco judge not to throw out the bulk of their $289 million award in his favor, a newspaper reported Monday. Juror Gary Kitahata told Judge Suzanne Bolanos in a letter that the jury was convinced by the evidence, the San Francisco Chronicle said. (10/15)

The Associated Press: Supreme Court Won't Take Up Lead Paint Issue From California
The Supreme Court is leaving in place a decision that required paint companies to fund the removal of lead paint from California homes. The Supreme Court on Monday said it wouldn't take up the issue. Courts previously ruled in favor of 10 California cities and counties that argued ConAgra, NL Industries and Sherwin-Williams knowingly endangered public health by advertising and selling lead paint. (10/15)

The Associated Press: Firefighters Sue California Gas Company Over Massive Leak
Firefighters who worked in and around the site of a massive natural gas leak sued the Southern California Gas Co. on Monday, saying the utility knowingly let them be exposed to dangerous levels of toxic chemicals. A blowout in a well at the underground Aliso Canyon storage field about 40 miles north of Los Angeles was discovered on Oct. 23, 2015, and took nearly four months to cap after spewing immense amounts of methane into the air. It was the largest known natural gas leak in United States history. (10/15)