First Edition: September 11, 2019

Kaiser Health News: Breaking A 10-Year Streak, The Number Of Uninsured Americans Rises
Chris Pope, a senior fellow with the conservative Manhattan Institute, also said he considered the change “fairly small” and likely due to increasing wages “pushing people above the income eligibility cutoff in Medicaid expansion states.” But he suggested that next year would be a better indicator of how changes in the ACA are playing out. (Galewitz, 9/10)

Kaiser Health News: Investors’ Deep-Pocket Push To Defend Surprise Medical Bills
As proposals to ban surprise medical bills move through Congress and state legislatures with rare bipartisan support, physician groups have emerged as the loudest opponents. Often led by doctors with the veneer of noble concern for patients, physician-staffing firms — third-party companies that employ doctors and assign them out to health care facilities — have opposed efforts to limit the practice known as balance billing. They claim such bans would rob doctors of their leverage in negotiating, drive down their payments and push them out of insurance networks. (Bluth and Huetteman, 9/11)

Kaiser Health News: Virginia Governor And UVA Vow To Revamp Practice Of Suing Patients As CEO Exits
Gov. Ralph Northam and the president of the University of Virginia committed to changing UVA Health System’s collections practices a day after Kaiser Health News detailed its aggressive and widespread pursuit of former patients for unpaid medical bills. At the same time, the health system announced the departure of CEO Pamela Sutton-Wallace, who will leave in November to join New York-Presbyterian Hospital as a senior vice president. (Hancock and Lucas, 9/10)

Kaiser Health News: California Hospitals And Nursing Homes Brace For Wildfire Blackouts
California has seen a relatively slow start to this year’s wildfire season, but Wanda Chaney still frets every time it’s hot and windy in Chico, a college town about two hours north of Sacramento. She’s far less worried about an actual wildfire than the power company shutting off her electricity to prevent one. Chaney, 70, uses an oxygen machine at her apartment to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung disorder that makes it difficult to breathe. (Ostrov, 9/11)

The New York Times: Share Of Americans With Health Insurance Declined In 2018
Fewer Americans are living in poverty but, for the first time in years, more of them lack health insurance. About 27.5 million people, or 8.5 percent of the population, lacked health insurance for all of 2018, up from 7.9 percent the year before, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. It was the first increase since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, and experts said it was at least partly the result of the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine that law. (Casselman, Sanger-Katz and Smialek, 9/10)

The Associated Press: Share Of Uninsured Americans Rises For 1st Time In A Decade
The data suggest that the current economic expansion, now the longest on record at more than 10 years, is still struggling to provide widespread benefits to the U.S. population. Solid gains in household incomes over the past four years have returned the median only to where it was two decades ago. And despite strong growth last year in the number of Americans working full time and year-round, the number of people with private health insurance remained flat. (Rugaber, 9/10)

The Washington Post: More Americans Go Without Health Coverage Despite Strong Economy, Census Bureau Finds Add To List
Taken together, the census numbers paint a portrait of an economy pulled in different directions, with the falling poverty rate coinciding with high inequality and the growing cadre of people at financial risk because they do not have health coverage. As more Americans found jobs, the poverty rate fell last year to its lowest level since 2001, and middle-class income inched marginally higher. Median U.S. income — the point at which half of U.S. families earn more and half earn less — topped $63,000 for the first time, although it was roughly the same level as it was 20 years ago, after adjusting for inflation. (Goldstein and Long, 9/10)

NPR: Fewer Children Had Health Insurance In 2018 Than Year Before, Census Data Shows
For decades, getting more children to have health insurance was a cause with strong bipartisan support, and the uninsured rate has steadily declined. Now that trend is reversing. For the second year in a row, there was an uptick — 5.5% of children under age 19 did not have health insurance last year. "It's a very smart investment to make sure that kids get Medicaid when they need it," says Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, which has been tracking the decline in enrollment for the main health care safety net programs for children. "And that's exactly the opposite of what's happening today." (Simmons-Duffin, 9/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Number Of Uninsured Americans Rises For First Time In Decade
The growth in the uninsured population is bad news for the health-insurance industry. Insurers have benefited from overall expansion in their enrollment under the 2010 law, much of it in Medicaid, because states increasingly turn to private companies to manage the program. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, payments to Medicaid managed-care companies added up to $264 billion in fiscal 2017, or around 46% of total Medicaid spending. (Armour, 9/10)

The Hill: Insurance Figures Give Democrats New Line Of Attack Against Trump
“Trump and Republicans sabotaged the Affordable Care Act at every turn,” Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), another White House hopeful, tweeted on Tuesday. “They played politics with health care and now Americans are paying the price.” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who regularly polls in the top three among Democratic presidential candidates, said Trump has “lied” about strengthening the health care system. “Instead, he has done everything he can to sabotage the Affordable Care Act,” Sanders tweeted Tuesday. (Hellmann, 9/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Health-Insurance Consumers To Get $743 Million In Rebates Under ACA Rule
Health insurers are expected to pay out a record $743 million to consumers this month under an Affordable Care Act rule that requires refunds if the companies don’t spend a big enough share of premium dollars on health care. The sum, which will go to about 2.7 million consumers who bought individual health policies from insurers, will be more than four times the amount paid out last year. The payout also dwarfs the next-highest total, $399 million in 2012, the first year of the refunds, according to a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which calculated the total rebate payments by reviewing federal filings. (Wilde Mathews and Armour, 9/10)

The New York Times: Bloomberg Takes On Vaping After Giving $1 Billion To Fight Tobacco
Michael R. Bloomberg, who has committed nearly $1 billion to aid anti-tobacco efforts, is now stepping into the campaign to combat vaping, announcing a $160 million push to ban flavored e-cigarettes. Mr. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, said that his Bloomberg Philanthropies would aim to ban the flavored e-cigarettes in at least 20 cities and states. His announcement on Tuesday was among a series of developments meant to heighten pressure and scrutiny on the vaping industry, amid a sudden and largely unexplained public health scare that has linked vaping to six deaths and hundreds of illnesses. (Wang, 9/10)

The Washington Post: Bloomberg To Spend $160 Million To Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes
The vaping initiative is Bloomberg’s first anti-tobacco effort aimed at the United States, according to officials of Bloomberg Philanthropies. They said the money will be used to press local, state and federal governments to ban flavored e-cigarettes; to push the Food and Drug Administration to be more aggressive in reviewing vaping products and imposing standards on e-cigarette products; and to back local and state governments that might face industry opposition or lawsuits for supporting e-cigarette bans. (McGinley, 9/10)

The Associated Press: Kansas Confirms State's First Death Linked To Vaping
Kansas health officials have confirmed the first death in the state related to an outbreak of a lung disease linked to vaping. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said in a news release Tuesday the recent death involved a Kansas resident over the age of 50 who had a history of underlying health issues. The unidentified patient was hospitalized with symptoms that progressed rapidly. (9/10)

Reuters: 'It Is Time To Stop Vaping': Kansas Reports Sixth U.S. Death Linked To Mystery Illness
"It is time to stop vaping," Kansas State Health Officer Dr. Lee Norman Norman said in a statement. "If you or a loved one is vaping, please stop." U.S. public health officials are investigating 450 cases of vaping-related lung illness across 33 states and one U.S. territory. The nationwide investigation led by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not linked the illnesses to any specific e-cigarette product. (Lavietes, 9/10)

The Hill: Sixth Person Dies From Vaping-Related Illness
More than 450 people have fallen ill across 33 states, and officials are focusing on possible contaminants and counterfeit products. New York health officials said they’re focusing their investigation on vitamin E acetate after they found high levels of it in nearly all of the cannabis-containing vapes tested. (Weixel, 9/10)

The Washington Post: Kansas Patient Dies In Sixth Vaping-Related Illness
The Kansas death is at least the fourth reported in a middle aged or older person. Minnesota and Los Angeles county officials also reported deaths in older persons last week. The Minnesota patient was over 65 years old and died in August after a long and complicated hospitalization. (Sun, 9/10)

The Wall Street Journal: What We Know About Vaping-Related Lung Illness
Health officials think that the majority of cases have occurred within the past several months. It is possible the condition has occurred before and is only now being recognized as related to vaping, but many investigators believe it is likely caused by something new, such as an additive or toxin in the products or devices. (Abbott, 9/11)

The Wall Street Journal: One Of 15 New York City Middle-School Students Has Vaped Recently
One in 15 middle-school students in New York City public schools report having recently used an e-cigarette, according to a new report released Tuesday by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The report also shows nearly 15% of middle-school students reported having tried e-cigarettes, including one in five eighth-grade students. (West and Vielkind, 9/10)

The Associated Press: What We Know So Far About The US Vaping Illness Outbreak
A look at what we know so far about the outbreak as the investigation continues. (Johnson, 9/10)

The Hill: Romney Urges HHS To Consider Recall Of E-Cigarettes
Federal health authorities should strongly consider recalling e-cigarettes in the wake of a vaping-linked illness that’s killed at least six people and sickened hundreds, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said. In a letter sent Wednesday to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Romney expressed concern that experts don’t know what’s been causing people to become ill — aside from e-cigarettes. (Weixel, 9/11)

The Associated Press: Wisconsin Man Accused Of Making Illegal Vaping Cartridges
A Wisconsin man is accused of manufacturing thousands of counterfeit vaping cartridges a day with THC oil for almost two years, running the operation with 10 employees, authorities said. Kenosha County prosecutors said the 20-year-old had employees make cartridges that were packaged to look professionally done. Authorities said the employees filled about 3,000 to 5,000 cartridges per day and were sold for $16 each. (9/10)

The New York Times: Pelosi Energizes Battle To Lower Drug Prices
A draft proposal by Speaker Nancy Pelosi would empower the federal government to negotiate lower prices for hundreds of prescription drugs, not only for Medicare but for the private market as well, injecting new urgency into Washington’s efforts to control the soaring price of pharmaceuticals. The plan would revive an idea loathed by most congressional Republicans but long embraced by Democrats; President Trump expressed support for it during his 2016 campaign. (Goodnough, 9/10)

The Hill: Pelosi Woos Progressives On Prescription Drug Pricing Plan
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is floating a plan to lower drug prices aimed at winning over progressives, a move to shift the debate to the left. Progressives who had pressured Pelosi to go bolder for months reacted with cautious praise to a leaked version of her signature plan to lower drug prices, even as they warned they still had concerns. (Sullivan, 9/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Drug Prices Get Washington’s Attention Ahead Of 2020 Election
Concern over high drug prices is driving proposals this fall from both Republicans and Democrats on an issue likely to be near the top of the 2020 election agenda. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) is preparing to reveal a bill likely to allow Medicare to negotiate hundreds of drug prices. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), meanwhile, is pushing a bipartisan drug-pricing bill that seeks to lower drug costs in Medicare and Medicaid. (Armour and Duehren, 9/10)

The Associated Press: Congress To Hold Hearing On End Of Immigrant Medical Relief
Congressional lawmakers are holding an inquiry into the Trump administration's decision to stop considering requests from immigrants seeking to defer deportation for medical treatment and other hardships. A subcommittee of the House Oversight and Reform Committee has called an emergency hearing Wednesday on the Aug. 7 decision. Immigration officials and medical and legal experts are scheduled to testify. (9/11)

The Wall Street Journal: White House, Congress Struggle To Find Common Ground On Gun Legislation
Lawmakers remained divided on Tuesday over a legislative path to reduce mass shootings, with Republicans looking to the White House for guidance, and Democrats pledging to press ahead with their own measures. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) emphasized that he would only take up gun legislation that he knew President Trump would sign. “I’m going to wait and assess the proposal that actually could become law,” Mr. McConnell told reporters, declining to go into specifics on what he would support. (Andrews, Wise and Lucey, 9/10)

The New York Times: After String Of Mass Shootings, Democrats Begin New Push For Gun Control
House Democrats, seeking to seize the momentum after recent mass shootings and to pressure Republicans to embrace gun safety measures, will push forward on Tuesday with a new package of restrictions, including a bill that would ban the manufacture and sale of large-capacity magazines. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to approve the package, the first step toward bringing it to the floor for a vote. It includes a so-called red flag law aimed at making it easier for law enforcement to take away guns from those deemed dangerous by a judge; a measure barring people convicted of hate crimes from buying guns; and legislation barring, for civilian use, magazines that can accept more than 10 rounds. (Stolberg, 9/10)

The New York Times: A Novel Gun Control Strategy: Pressure Banks And Retailers
New Jersey intends to stop doing business with gun manufacturers and retailers that fail to adopt policies, like conducting background checks, to stop guns from falling into the wrong hands, becoming the first state to take such stringent action against the firearms industry. The state will also apply pressure on major financial institutions, seeking information from banks that do business with New Jersey about their relationships and policies involving gun makers and sellers. (Corasaniti, 9/10)

Los Angeles Times: Even Gun Owners Agree On Measures That Would Reduce Gun Violence
Substantial majorities of Americans — both those who own firearms and those who do not — support measures that would require first-time gun buyers and those wishing to carry a concealed weapon to demonstrate they can safely own and handle a gun, according to a new study. In a national survey conducted in January, researchers from Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Gun Policy and Research found that 84% of all respondents believe that first-time gun buyers should be required to pass a safety course on the safe handling and storage of a firearm. Close to three-quarters of gun owners surveyed shared this view. (Healy, 9/10)

The New York Times: In Texas, A Lone House Democrat Has An ‘A’ Rating From The N.R.A. Can He Survive?
In this gun-friendly border city, where Tuesdays are “ladies’ nights” at the shooting range and pistols in hip holsters are a common sight, Representative Henry Cuellar is a proud defender of the Second Amendment, the lone House Democrat from Texas with an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association. “This is not New York, this is Texas,” Mr. Cuellar said in an interview. “So you talk about guns, you talk about God, you talk about trucks.” (Stolberg, 9/9)

The Washington Post: Trump Officials Get Look At Los Angeles Homeless Crisis
Members of the Trump administration visited Los Angeles Tuesday to get a firsthand look at the city’s sprawling homeless encampments and efforts to control them, while President Donald Trump directed his staff to develop policy options to address the national crisis of people living on the streets. The visit by a delegation from several federal agencies came about two months after the Republican president called the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other big cities disgraceful and faulted the “liberal establishment” for the problem. (Blood, 9/10)

The Washington Post: Trump Pushing For Major Crackdown On Homeless Camps In California, With Aides Discussing Moving Residents To Government-Backed Facilities
President Trump has ordered White House officials to launch a sweeping effort to address homelessness in California, citing the state’s growing crisis, according to four government officials aware of the effort. The planning has intensified in recent weeks. Administration officials have discussed using the federal government to get homeless people off the streets of Los Angeles and other cities and into new government-backed facilities, according to two officials briefed on the planning. (Stein, Jan, Dawsey and Parker, 9/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Administration Weighs Action To Combat Homelessness In California
“The spike in homelessness we are seeing in places like L.A. and San Francisco is alarming,” a spokesman for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “While there are many state and local issues at play here, we’re looking at a range of options available to us at HUD—as well as other agencies—for possible federal action, if and where appropriate,” a spokeswoman said. (Lazo, 9/10)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Officials Visit L.A. To Study Homeless Crisis
Local and state officials were skeptical. The offices of Garcetti and Gov. Gavin Newsom put out statements listing steps they said the administration could take right away if it truly intended to help solve the crisis. As he pursues reelection, Trump has used homelessness to bash leaders in California, where he remains deeply unpopular. (Oreskes, Smith and Queally, 9/10)

Politico: Trump's Reported California Homeless Takeover Bewilders State, Local Leaders
Newsom has sparred with President Donald Trump before over homelessness, and a spokesperson assailed the president's record in a statement that California "stands ready to talk" if Trump is willing to discuss "real investment" in housing. Newsom's first budget, passed earlier this year, committed billions of dollars to housing and homelessness." [Trump] could start by ending his plans to cut food stamps, gut health care for low-income people, and scare immigrant families from accessing government services," spokesperson Nathan Click said. (White and Marinucci, 9/10)

ProPublica: We Asked Prosecutors If Health Insurance Companies Care About Fraud. They Laughed At Us.
Like most of us, William Murphy dreads calling health insurance companies. They route him onto a rollercoaster of irrelevant voice menus, and when he finally reaches a human, it’s a customer service rep who has no idea what he’s talking about. Then it can take days to hear back, if anyone responds at all. The thing is, Murphy isn’t a disgruntled patient. He prosecutes medical fraud cases for the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office in Oakland, California. And when he calls insurers, he’s in pursuit of criminals stealing from them and their clients. But, he said, they typically respond with something akin to a shrug. “There’s no sense of urgency, even though this is their company that’s getting ripped off.” (Allen, 9/10)

ProPublica: How To Make Health Insurers Take Fraud Seriously
In most states, laws require private health insurers to submit information to regulators about suspected fraud in their networks. Such reporting helps everyone by highlighting scammers and their schemes. For instance, a doctor could be billing several insurers for services that weren’t provided, a hospital could be uniformly gaming billing codes to pad profits or a fraudster could be targeting several insurers pretending to be a medical professional. (Allen, 9/10)

Stat: BIO’s New Board Chair On The Industry’s Bad Reputation: ‘That’s Ridiculous’
The sprawling trade association for companies making everything from weed killer to CAR-T cancer therapies, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, has new leadership. But it’s still not apologizing for the toxic reputation many of its member companies have on Capitol Hill, and in the minds of Americans, more generally. BIO elected Dr. Jeremy Levin, CEO of Ovid Therapeutics (OVID), to be its new board chair in June. (Florko, 9/10)

Colorado Sun: As Polis Touts Price Drops From Summit County Health Insurance Alliance, Hospitals Are Skeptical It Can Work Statewide
Gov. Jared Polis, standing before a crowd in Keystone, unveiled an eye-popping number on Monday. $14,000. That is how much he said a family of four in Summit County will be able to save on their health insurance next year through the new Peak Health Alliance, compared with what they’re paying now. ... he used the announcement on Monday to again talk about taking the idea statewide, fundamentally changing the leverage points in the Colorado health insurance market. ... Hospitals, which have been supportive publicly of the Peak Health Alliance’s work, say they’re not sure people across the state can get the same kind of deal the folks in Summit County are getting. (Ingold, 9/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Blood Test Could Help Identify Troops Suffering From PTSD
A team of researchers from top medical schools is moving closer to developing a blood test that promises to quickly and accurately help diagnose combat troops with post-traumatic stress disorder, even those who try to hide the effects, the team said in a journal article released Monday. The Pentagon-funded effort has pinpointed a handful of telltale indicators at the molecular level that the body produces when soldiers have been exposed to battlefield trauma and are likely to have problems coping with lingering stress, according to the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Molecular Psychiatry. (Kesling, 9/10)

The Associated Press: Veterans With PTSD, Anxiety Turn To Beekeeping For Relief
Gently lifting a wooden frame containing dozens of Italian honeybees, Vince Ylitalo seemed transfixed as he and several other veterans inspected the buzzing insects. "This is really cool," he said, pointing to a bee with blobs of orange pollen on its hind legs. Ylitalo, who has battled PTSD after serving nearly 40 years in the military including two tours in Iraq, didn't seem bothered by the bees swarming around his head or crawling all over the entrance to their hive. (Casey and Householder, 9/11)

The Washington Post: Congress Wants To Know More About An Impaired VA Doctor In Arkansas Charged In Three Deaths
The House will hold a hearing this fall to investigate how Veterans Affairs awards credentials to its doctors amid concerns that the agency failed to stop an Arkansas pathologist who is alleged to have misdiagnosed thousands of veterans while impaired, lawmakers said Tuesday. House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.) said lawmakers will “do oversight on a bipartisan basis” to scrutinize both the Arkansas case and VA’s broader system of giving credentials and hospital privileges to physicians in its vast heath-care system, which has come under growing scrutiny in recent weeks. (Rein, 9/10)

Stat: Google, Mayo Clinic Strike Sweeping Partnership On Patient Data
Mayo Clinic, one of medicine’s most prestigious brands, announced Tuesday that it has struck a sweeping partnership with Google to store patient data in the cloud and build products using artificial intelligence and other technologies to improve care. The 10-year partnership is a testament to Google’s expanding role in the U.S. health care system and gives Mayo greater access to the engineering talent and computing resources it needs to embed its expertise in algorithms and commercial devices. (Ross, 9/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Google, Amazon And Microsoft In Battle To Store Health Data In The Cloud
Some hospital-system and company officials said they expect to jointly develop new software by combining data and expertise of health-care companies with tech giants’ computing power and engineering know-how. “Google can’t do this alone. We can’t do this alone,” said Cris Ross, Mayo’s chief information officer. The terms weren’t disclosed. Patient records will be kept private and access will be controlled by Mayo, Mr. Ross said. Data used to develop new software will be stripped of any information that could identify individual patients before it is shared with the tech giant. (Evans, 9/10)

The New York Times: She Fled The 68th Floor. She’s Finally Dealing With 9/11 Trauma. 
Kayla Bergeron can still describe that morning in matter-of-fact detail: She was dutifully working at her desk on the 68th floor when the building lurched. Someone ran in and said that a plane had hit — a small plane, she assumed. She realized it must not have been just a Cessna. And then how she began a harrowing descent in a stairwell that was dark and wet because pipes had burst as the twin towers collapsed. (Barron, 9/11)

Stateline: Jeffrey Epstein’s Death Highlights Inmate Suicide Problem
One afternoon in August, six days after Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell, Christi Phillips received a troubling message. Her husband, Mike, who is serving time at a state prison in Valdosta, Georgia, overheard his cellmate talk about killing himself. Mike watched his cellmate inform an officer that he was suicidal. When that officer apathetically replied, “So am I,” Mike asked Christi to call a prison supervisor. “I’ll have somebody check on it,” the supervisor said. (Blau, 9/10)

Reuters: Facebook Bans Self-Harm Images In Fight Against Suicide 
Facebook Inc will no longer allow graphic images of self-harm on its platform as it tightens its policies on suicide content amid growing criticism of how social media companies moderate violent and potentially dangerous content. The social network also said on Tuesday self-injury related content will now become harder to search on Instagram and will ensure that it does not appear as recommended in the Explore section on the photo-sharing app. (9/10)

The Washington Post: Jarrid Wilson, A Megachurch Pastor Known Widely For His Mental Health Advocacy, Dies By Suicide
Jarrid Wilson, a California church leader, author and mental health advocate, died by suicide Monday evening at age 30. Wilson, known as a passionate preacher, most recently was an associate pastor at megachurch Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif. A co-founder of the mental health nonprofit Anthem of Hope, Wilson was open about his depression, often posting on his social media accounts about his battles with the mental illness. (Stone, Miller and Molina, 9/10)

The Washington Post: Opioid Crackdown Forces Pain Patients To Taper Off Drugs They Say They Need
Carol and Hank Skinner of Alexandria, Va., can talk about pain all day long. Carol, 77, once had so much pain in her right hip and so little satisfaction with medical treatment she vowed to stay in bed until she died. Hank, 79, has had seven shoulder surgeries, lung cancer, open-heart surgery, a blown-out knee and lifelong complications from a clubfoot. He has a fentanyl patch on his belly to treat his chronic shoulder pain. He replaces the patch every three days, supplementing the slow-release fentanyl with pills containing hydrocodone. (Achenbach and Bernstein, 9/10)

NPR: Opioid Crisis: Medical Schools Rethink How To Teach Students About Pain
The next generation of doctors will start their careers at a time when physicians are feeling pressure to limit prescriptions for opioid painkillers. Yet every day, they'll face patients who are hurting from injuries, surgical procedures, or disease. Around 20% of adults in the U.S. live with chronic pain. That's why some medical students felt a little apprehensive as they gathered recently for a mandatory, four-day course at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore — home to one of the top medical schools in the country. (Greenfieldboyce, 9/11)

The New York Times: Lasker Awards Honor Advances In Modern Immunology
Since 1945, the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation has recognized scientists and physicians who have contributed to fundamental biological discoveries, clinical research and improvements in public health. This year, the Lasker Awards were given to two researchers who discovered key cells of the immune system, a team that engineered the first antibody for breast cancer treatment and a nonprofit that helps get vaccines to the world’s poorest children. (Sheikh, 9/10)

The Associated Press: UCLA’s Dennis Slamon Wins Lasker Award For Developing Herceptin
Five scientists have won prestigious medical awards for creating an innovative breast cancer treatment and discovering key players of the disease-fighting immune system. They will share two $250,000 awards from the Lasker Foundation, to be presented this month in New York, the foundation announced Tuesday. One prize honors the invention of Herceptin, a breast cancer treatment. The award will be shared by Dr. Dennis Slamon, director of Clinical/Translational Research at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, and by H. Michael Shepard and Axel Ullrich, who were with the biotech company Genentech when they did the research. (9/10)

The Associated Press: Scientists Rethink Alzheimer's, Diversifying The Drug Search
When researchers at the University of Kentucky compare brains donated from people who died with dementia, very rarely do they find one that bears only Alzheimer's trademark plaques and tangles — no other damage. If they do, "we call it a unicorn," said Donna Wilcock, an Alzheimer's specialist at the university's aging center. Contrary to popular perception, "there are a lot of changes that happen in the aging brain that lead to dementia in addition to plaques and tangles." (Neergaard, 9/10)

Boston Globe: National Institute On Aging Awards Large Federal Grant For Dementia Care
The National Institute on Aging has awarded a five-year grant worth up to $53.4 million to Boston’s Hebrew SeniorLife and Brown University to find ways to improve the hodgepodge of care now available for people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. (Weisman, 9/10)

Stat: ‘There’s No Such Thing As Anonymity’: With Consumer DNA Tests, Sperm Banks Reconsider Long-Held Promises To Donors
For generations, it was a basic tenet of donating sperm: Clinics could forever protect their clients’ identities. But, increasingly, donor anonymity is dead. The rise of consumer genetic tests — which allow people to connect with relatives they never knew they had, including some who never intended to be found in the first place — is forcing sperm donation clinics to confront the fact that it is now virtually impossible to guarantee anonymity to their clients. Instead, sites like 23andMe and Ancestry.com are giving customers the genetic clues they need to identify biological parents on their own. (Keshavan, 9/11)

Stat: New Evidence Shows Why The HPV Vaccine Is As Important For Boys As Girls
Earlier this year, the biotech community mourned the loss of Michael Becker, a former pharmaceutical industry executive who turned his cancer into a teaching moment. In 2018, we watched on his blog as cancer drugs failed him, as he became hale and hearty as he stopped chemo, and then as the cancer returned. The tumors invaded his bones, so he needed a cane. In July, his cancer killed him. (Herper, 9/11)

The Wall Street Journal: FTC Warns CBD Companies About Treatment Claims
The Federal Trade Commission is taking aim at certain companies that sell cannabidiol, or CBD, and have claimed their products can treat or cure serious diseases and health conditions. The FTC said on Tuesday that it sent warning letters to three companies that sell CBD oils, tinctures, capsules, gummies and creams. The letters warned that it is illegal to advertise a product that can prevent or cure a disease without reliable scientific evidence to support such claims. (Thomas, 9/10)

The New York Times: Study Shows Income Gap Between Rich And Poor Keeps Growing, With Deadly Effects
The expanding gap between rich and poor is not only widening the gulf in incomes and wealth in America. It is helping the rich lead longer lives, while cutting short the lives of those who are struggling, according to a study released this week by the Government Accountability Office. Almost three-quarters of rich Americans who were in their 50s and 60s in 1992 were still alive in 2014. Just over half of poor Americans in their 50s and 60s in 1992 made it to 2014. (Fadulu, 9/10)

The New York Times: What Painting With Your Feet Does To Your Brain
Ask Tom Yendell how he learned to eat, use a computer, place phone calls or do anything else with his feet, and he’ll turn the question around. “How did you figure out how to do things with your hands?” he said recently. “You don’t need to be shown how to do it. You just do it naturally.” Mr. Yendell, 57, is a painter in Hampshire, England. He was born without arms, after his mother was prescribed the drug thalidomide during her pregnancy, which was later found to cause birth defects. (Diep, 9/10)