The New York Times: Supreme Court Blocks Louisiana Abortion Law
The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a Louisiana law that its opponents say could have left the state with only one doctor in a single clinic authorized to provide abortions. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court’s four-member liberal wing to form a majority. That coalition underscored the pivotal position the chief justice has assumed after the departure last year of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who used to hold the crucial vote in many closely divided cases, including ones concerning abortion. (Liptak, 2/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Divided Supreme Court Blocks Louisiana Regulations On Abortion Providers For Now
The court’s action, which split the justices 5 to 4, wasn’t a ruling on the merits of the case but a preliminary order that prevents Louisiana from enforcing the restrictions while abortion-rights advocates challenge a lower-court ruling that sided with the state. (Kendall and Bravin, 2/7)

The Associated Press: Supreme Court Blocks Louisiana Abortion Clinic Law
Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s four liberals in putting a hold on the law, pending a full review of the case. President Donald Trump’s two Supreme Court appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, were among the four conservative members of the court who would have allowed the law to take effect. Kavanaugh wrote a dissenting opinion in which he said the court’s action was premature because the state had made clear it would allow abortion providers an additional 45 days to obtain admitting privileges before it started enforcing the law. (Sherman, 2/8)

Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court Blocks Restrictive Louisiana Abortion Law By 5-4 Vote As Roberts Joins Liberals
Three years ago, the Supreme Court struck down the Texas law that added new restrictions on abortion clinics and did so by a 5-3 vote with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy in the majority. The court’s opinion said the Texas regulations were unconstitutional because they would not improve the quality of medical care and would sharply limit access to abortion for hundreds of thousands of women who lived outside a major urban area. The decision in the Texas case was handed down a few months after Justice Antonin Scalia died. Dissenting then were Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. Since then, they have been joined by Trump’s two appointees, Justices Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh. (Savage, 2/7)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court On 5-To-4 Vote Blocks Restrictive Louisiana Abortion Law
The majority, as is custom, did not give a reason for granting the stay. But it seems likely the full court will now grant the case a full briefing and review, and perhaps reexamine its earlier decision, which was made by a very different Supreme Court. In the court’s 2016 decision, it said the admitting-privileges requirement “provides few, if any, health benefits for women, poses a substantial obstacle to women seeking abortions, and constitutes an ‘undue burden’ on their constitutional right to do so.” (Barnes, 2/7)

Politico: Supreme Court Blocks Restrictive Louisiana Abortion Law
The earliest the Supreme Court could hear arguments on the law's merits would be in October, though the case could be pushed into 2020. Abortion providers say the lengthy wait would have devastated abortion access in the state, even if the Supreme Court eventually overturned the Louisiana law. "Clinics forced to close for a year or more don't have the financial wherewithal to spring back into business if the Supreme Court says the law is unconstitutional.“ said Travis Tu, the lead attorney on the case for the Center for Reproductive Rights. “By then, many doctors will have gotten other jobs or moved out of state." (Ollstein, 2/7)

Meanwhile —

The New York Times: With Abortion In Spotlight, A Flurry Of Legislation Across The Country
Louisiana’s law, which requires that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, was enacted in 2014. But in recent days and weeks, there has been a flurry of new state legislation that could prove important if the nation’s highest court rules on more abortion-related cases. Since the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in July, abortion rights groups have warned of a threat to Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that made abortion legal nationwide, prompting some states to try to shore up access to the procedure. Anti-abortion groups have been pushing for more restrictions. (Jacobs and Stevens, 2/8)

The Washington Post: ‘It Woke A Sleeping Giant’: Republicans Challenge Democrats Over N.Y. Abortion Law, Northam’s Comments
Republicans are moving aggressively to force Democrats to answer for legislation to ease restrictions on late-term abortions and the recent controversial comments by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, sensing a new opening on a divisive issue that could be a factor in the 2020 elections. President Trump criticized New York Democrats and the embattled Virginia governor in his State of the Union address this week, accusing lawmakers of allowing “a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth” and Northam (D) of basically stating that “he would execute a baby after birth.” (Sullivan, Gearan and DeBonis, 2/7)

The New York Times: John Dingell Jr., A House ‘Bull’ Who Served The Longest, Is Dead At 92
John D. Dingell Jr., a powerful and tenacious Michigan Democrat who pushed landmark legislation, exposed corruption in government and became the longest-serving member of Congress in American history, died on Thursday at his home in Dearborn, Mich. He was 92. His wife, Representative Debbie Dingell, announced the death in a statement. Ms. Dingell, who won election to his seat after he announced his retirement in 2014, said this week that she was at home with Mr. Dingell, whose health had been failing. (Schneider and Seelye, 2/7)

The Associated Press: Former Rep. Dingell, US’s Longest-Serving Lawmaker, Dies
He was a longtime supporter of universal health care, a cause he adopted from his late father, whom he replaced in Congress in 1955. He also was known as a dogged pursuer of government waste and fraud, and even helped take down two top presidential aides while leading the investigative arm of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, which he chaired for 14 years. “I’ve gotten more death threats around here than I can remember,” Dingell told The Associated Press in a 1995 interview. “It used to bother my wife, but oversight was something we did uniquely well.” (Householder and Eggert, 2/7)

The Wall Street Journal: John Dingell, Longest-Serving Member Of Congress, Dies At 92
In the 59 years and 21 days Mr. Dingell served, he made a cause of universal health care, and, following in the footsteps of his father, introduced a bill at the beginning of every new Congress to provide universal health care to all Americans. The closest Congress ever came to that goal was passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, which required insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions and expanded the Medicaid program for the poor. Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) ended the House vote on that bill using the same gavel Mr. Dingell wielded to preside over the House passage of the Medicare program in 1965. (Benkelman, 2/7)

Kaiser Health News: Former Rep. John Dingell Dies; Longest-Serving Congressman Was A Force In Health Policy
As a young legislator, he presided over the House during the vote to approve Medicare in 1965. As a tribute to his father, who served before him and who introduced the first congressional legislation to establish national health insurance during the New Deal, Dingell introduced his own national health insurance bill at the start of every Congress. And when the House passed what would become the Affordable Care Act in 2009, leaders named the legislation after him. Dingell sat by the side of President Barack Obama when he signed the bill into law in 2010. (Rovner, 2/7)

The Washington Post: John Dingell: Colleagues, Friends Remember The Longest Serving Congressman From Michigan
President Obama reflected on Dingell’s role in landmark legislation such as Medicare, the Civil Rights Act and the Affordable Care Act. Dingell was especially passionate about ensuring access to health care, Obama wrote in a tribute shared on Twitter. “He had a long tradition of introducing legislation on the first day of each new Congress to guarantee health care for every single American,” Obama wrote. “Because of him, we’ve come closer to that vision than ever before. And when we finally achieve it — and we will — we’ll all owe him our gratitude.” (Brice-Saddler, 2/8)

Politico: Presidents, Lawmakers Pay Tribute To John Dingell
“Today, we have lost a beloved pillar of the Congress and one of the greatest legislators in American history," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of Dingell, who died Thursday at 92, in a statement. "John Dingell leaves a towering legacy of unshakable strength, boundless energy and transformative leadership." (Griffiths, 2/7)

The Hill: Poll: Just 13 Percent Want 'Medicare For All' If It Means End Of Private Insurance
A new poll finds that about only one in 10 registered voters want the equivalent of Medicare for all if it means abolishing private health insurance plans. In a Hill-HarrisX survey released Thursday, 13 percent of respondents said they would prefer a health care system that covers all citizens and doesn't allow for private plans, an approach that is sometimes referred to as "single-payer." (2/7)

Modern Healthcare: New Medicare For All Draft Bill Sets A Global Budget Model
A draft version of House Democrats' upcoming Medicare for All bill proposes a national system that would pre-pay hospitals with lump sums while keeping a fee-for-service model for individual physicians. The 127-page draft, obtained by Modern Healthcare and dated Jan. 14, in many ways tracks with the system laid out in the 2017 bill from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who brought Medicare for All to the forefront of progressive Democratic policy. But where the Sanders bill sidestepped the question of how the system would be funded by leaving it to the executive branch, the proposal from Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) lays out specific details of a nationalized global budget system. (Luthi, 2/7)

The Associated Press: White House Says No 'Sabotage' Of Health Law
Borrowing a word from Democrats, a new White House report says changes made to the Affordable Care Act under President Donald Trump didn't amount to "sabotage." Due out Friday, the report from the Council of Economic Advisers says Obama-era subsidies that help low- and middle-income customers pay their premiums will keep HealthCare.gov afloat even if some healthy people drop out or seek other coverage because of Trump's changes. Nearly 90 percent of customers get taxpayer-provided assistance. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 2/8)

Meanwhile, in other news on the health law —

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin GOP Signals It Will Keep State In Obamacare Lawsuit
The heads of the Legislature's budget committee telegraphed Thursday they will keep Wisconsin in a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act. ... Nygren and the Senate co-chairwoman of the committee, Republican Alberta Darling of River Hills, told reporters they continue to talk to their GOP colleagues but had not yet made a final decision on what to do. (Marley, 2/7)

USA Today: Death Rates, ER Waits: Where Every VA Hospital Lags, Leads Other Care
When 66-year-old Navy veteran Phyllis Seleska arrived at the emergency room at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Loma Linda, California, in August 2017, the waiting room was crowded with dozens of veterans, some in wheelchairs lined up to the entrance. Seleska was suffering throbbing pain after shattering her wrist but received no medication and had to wait more than seven hours to see a doctor, records show. By then, the orthopedics staff had gone home. So a nurse strapped a Velcro splint on her wrist and told her to come back in the morning. “I don’t know why it took so long to get back there to be told we can’t do anything to help you,” said Seleska, who worked on the flight deck of aircraft carriers in both Gulf Wars. (Slack, Kelly and Sergent, 2/7)

In other military and health news —

Reuters: Senators Warren, Warner Question Contractors, Military On Unsafe Housing
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has become the latest congressional leader to press for answers from military contractors over Reuters reports describing unsafe housing conditions on U.S. bases, sending letters this week to five large real estate firms seeking detailed information about their operations and profits. “A series of disturbing news reports have raised serious questions about the quality of privatized, on-base housing for military personnel,” the Democratic presidential contender wrote in the letters, sent Wednesday. “It would be profoundly troubling if your company, or your subcontractors, were maximizing short-term profit by providing military personnel with subpar housing.” (2/7)

The Washington Post: Parking Lot Suicides At Veterans Hospitals Prompt Calls For Better Staff Training, Prevention Efforts
[Justin Miller's] death is among 19 suicides that occurred on VA campuses from October 2017 to November 2018, seven of them in parking lots, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. While studies show that every suicide is highly complex — influenced by genetics, financial uncertainty, relationship loss and other factors — mental-health experts worry that veterans taking their lives on VA property has become a desperate form of protest against a system that some veterans feel hasn’t helped them. The most recent parking lot suicide occurred weeks before Christmas in St. Petersburg, Fla. Marine Col. Jim Turner, 55, dressed in his uniform blues and medals, sat on top of his military and VA records and killed himself with a rifle outside the Bay Pines Department of Veterans Affairs. (Wax-Thibodeaux, 2/7)

The New York Times: Trump Will Have His Yearly Physical On Friday, Without Dr. Ronny Jackson
President Trump is scheduled to undergo the second physical of his presidency on Friday, an annual checkup for a commander in chief who has maintained that he is the picture of stamina. But the Navy doctor who has been crucial to reinforcing that idea will be missing: Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, who mused about Mr. Trump’s “great genes” while delivering the results of last year’s physical, is no longer the White House physician. (Rogers, 2/7)

The Associated Press: Open Up And Say 'Ahh': Trump Getting Annual Medical Exam
Trump was traveling to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington on Friday for a follow-up to his first annual medical checkup as president. His personal physician declared him to be in "excellent health" in January 2018 after a battery of tests on his heart, lungs, gastrointestinal system and other areas. Dr. Ronny Jackson, a Navy rear admiral, then presided over an extraordinary White House news conference in which he said of Trump: "He has incredibly good genes, and it's just the way God made him." (Superville, 2/8)

CNN: Ahead Of Annual Physical, Trump Has Not Followed Doctor's Orders
President Donald Trump was less than thrilled last year when his personal physician recommended he get on a diet, start exercising and set a goal of losing a dozen pounds. The President famous for his love of fast food was reluctant to change his eating habits or use the White House fitness room that his most recent predecessors had used to stay in shape. But then he tasted the Dover sole prepared by the White House chefs. "He was like, 'Sh**, I have to eat healthy?' And then he had this delicious Dover sole prepared at the White House and he really liked it," one White House official said. (Diamond and Liptak, 2/7)

The Associated Press: Official Who Oversaw Migrant Kids: Separation Causes Trauma
The Health and Human Services official responsible for helping to reunite families separated by the Trump administration said Thursday he had warned colleagues that separating children from their parents would cause lasting, serious psychological trauma. Commander Jonathan White of the U.S. Public Health Service testified before a House subcommittee looking into the "zero-tolerance policy" last April that resulted in the separation of more than 2,700 children. (Long, 2/7)

The Hill: Trump Health Official Says Agency Would Never Have Supported Family Separations
“Neither I nor any career person ... would ever have supported such a policy proposal,” Jonathan White, a commander in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, said during a House subcommittee hearing. (Weixel, 2/7)

In other news from the administration —

Stat: NIH Asks Watchdog To Investigate Allegations Of Foreign Influence
The National Institutes of Health has referred 12 allegations relating to foreign influence over U.S.-funded research to a federal oversight office, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Wednesday. Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has repeatedly demanded information from the NIH after the agency revealed in August it was investigating a half-dozen academic institutions — specifically, researchers who may have failed to disclose financial ties to foreign governments. (Facher, 2/7)

The Hill: FDA Says Nearly 1,400 Walgreens Stores Sold Tobacco Products To Minors
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is putting Walgreens on notice over the sales of tobacco products to minors. The FDA said on Thursday that 22 percent of the 6,350 stores it has inspected — or 1,397 locations — sold tobacco products to minors, making Walgreens the top violator among pharmacy chains. (Hellmann, 2/7)

Reuters: U.S. FDA Pulls Up Walgreens For Violating Tobacco Sale Laws By Selling To Minors
Walgreens is currently the top violator among pharmacies that sell tobacco products, with 22 percent of its inspected stores having illegally sold tobacco products to minors, the U.S. health regulator said in a statement. "I will be writing (to) the corporate management of Walgreens and requesting a meeting with them to discuss whether there is a corporate-wide issue related to their stores' non-compliance," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said. (2/7)

Politico: FDA Blocks Walgreens And Circle K Tobacco Sales
Some pharmacy giants such as CVS have banned tobacco sales entirely, and Walgreens shareholders have increasingly questioned the practice. Walgreens, in a statement, said it was training store employees on tobacco sale requirements and strengthening disciplinary actions against those who violate the policy. The company also said it would welcome a meeting with Gottlieb. (Owermohle, 2/7)

Bloomberg: FDA Targets Walgreens As Biggest Youth Tobacco Sale Violator
Walgreens said it takes the matter “very seriously” and has enacted a number of steps to address the problem, including requiring store clerks to ask anyone purchasing tobacco for identification, regardless of age, and imposing tougher disciplinary actions against employees who don’t follow its policies. “We recognize the seriousness of this issue and welcome the opportunity to meet with the FDA Administrator to discuss all of the steps we are taking,” Walgreens spokesman Jim Cohn said in an emailed statement. (Langreth and Edney, 2/7)

In related news —

The Hill: Arizona Proposal Would Hike Tobacco Tax To Fund College Scholarships
An Arizona state lawmaker has proposed a resolution to hike the tax consumers pay on cigarettes and similar tobacco products in order to fund college scholarships in the state. Arizona state Sen. Heather Carter (R) on Wednesday introduced the proposal that would increase the current $2-a-pack on cigarettes by an additional $1.50, tucson.com reported. (Gstalter, 2/7)

CNN: Juul Ramped Up Nicotine Levels, And Competitors Followed, Study Says
Leading e-cigarette company Juul Labs spurred a "widespread rush" of companies seeking to boost their own nicotine concentrations in order to mirror Juul's success, according to a paper published Thursday in the BMJ journal Tobacco Control. When Juul released its original 5% nicotine pods in the United States in 2015, the majority of competing products came in 1% to 2% concentrations, according to study author Dr. Robert Jackler, founder of Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising. Now, a number of competing brands reach into the 5% to 7% range. (Nedelman and Selig, 2/7)

The CT Mirror: Lawmakers Seek To Curb Youth Access To E-Cigarettes, Tobacco
Connecticut lawmakers are sounding the alarm on teen vaping and tobacco use with a wave of legislation that would impose further restrictions on the products and attempt to curb youth access as states across the country are taking up similar measures. Bills introduced from both sides of the aisle or with bipartisan support include raising the minimum age for buying electronic cigarettes and tobacco products from 18 to 21, banning flavored vapor products, and taxing vapor delivery systems and related goods. (Silber, 2/7)

Stat: Scientists Have Ideas To Spend Trump's Money For Childhood Cancer
Any other cancer where more than three-quarters of patients are cured might seem to be a low research priority — compared to, say, cancers with an approximately 0 percent cure rate, such as adult glioblastoma. But childhood cancers are, well, childhood cancers. “Today’s overall cure rate of 80 percent means than 1 in 5 children will die of their disease,” said Dr. James Downing, president and CEO of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. “So there is still a lot of work to be done.” (Begley, 2/8)

Kaiser Health News: Trump’s Pediatric Cancer Crusade A Drop In Bucket Compared With Past Presidential Pitches
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday during his State of the Union address that he was asking Congress to allocate $500 million over the next 10 years for pediatric cancer research. Organizations such as the American Cancer Society viewed the investment as a positive step.“Any increase in current funding levels is a good thing,” said Keysha Brooks-Coley, the vice president of federal advocacy at the Cancer Action Network, the advocacy arm of the American Cancer Society. “We have to start someplace, and the president’s announcement puts us there.” (Knight, 2/8)

NPR: Women Should Consider Truvada For PrEP Too, HIV Prevention Advocates Say
In 2013, not quite a year after the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Truvada for HIV prevention, a coalition of 50 experts in HIV and women's health called on U.S. public health agencies to promote the pill and its approach, called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, explicitly to women. Not much happened. (Boerner, 2/8)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Trump’s HIV Eradication Plan Includes Cuyahoga County
Cuyahoga County is among three counties in Ohio targeted in President Donald Trump’s initiative to eradicate HIV in the U.S. by 2030. The initiative would focus on clusters of infection in certain regions where rates of new infection have grown, make HIV testing a routine part of doctor visits, and create of a workforce to help with HIV elimination efforts in targeted areas, among other steps. (Washington, 2/7)

The New York Times: A High-Tech Pill To End Drug Injections
Here was the challenge for bioengineers: Find a way to for patients to take drugs — like insulin or monoclonal antibodies used to treat cancers and other diseases — without injections. The medicines are made of molecules too big to be absorbed through the stomach or intestines; in any event, the drugs would be quickly degraded by the body’s harsh digestive system. Now, a team of scientists may have found a solution that delivers these drugs in a capsule a person can swallow. Their inspiration? A tortoise that always rights itself after rolling over. (Kolata, 2/7)

The Associated Press: Pea-Sized Pill Delivers Insulin Shot From Inside The Stomach
The new invention, reported Thursday by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-led research team, has been tested only in animals so far. But if it pans out, it might offer a work-around to make not just insulin but a variety of usually injected medicines a little easier to take. "It's like a miniaturized rocket launcher" for insulin, said Willem Mulder of Mount Sinai's Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, who wasn't involved in the new research. (2/7)

NPR: Insulin 'Pill' Could Replace A Shot Someday, Researchers Say
"We chose the stomach as the site of delivery because we recognized that the stomach is a thick and robust part of the GI tract," Traverso says. Once the device gets into the stomach, the humidity there allows the spring to launch the insulin dart. So far so good, but Traverso says there was a problem the team had to overcome: "How do we get these devices to self-orient such that the end that is doing the injecting part is in direct contact with a tissue?" (Palca, 2/7)

In other health and technology news —

Stat: Once Just For Insiders, HIMSS Conference Embraces Consumer Tech Giants
Health care’s digital transformation will take center stage in Orlando, Fla., next week at the industry’s most influential technology conference, a gathering whose exponential growth is a metaphor for the change sweeping through one of America’s biggest economic sectors. Once a meeting of a few thousand health technology insiders, the annual conference of the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) now attracts more than 40,000 attendees and some of the world’s biggest companies. (Ross, 2/8)

Bloomberg: Senators Borrow From Baseball To Fix Surprise Medical Bills
In most markets, when a buyer and a seller can’t settle on a price, they walk away. Medicine is different. Doctors and insurance companies often sort out who owes what only after a patient has been treated, especially in emergencies. When they disagree, patients can end up with unexpected bills they can’t pay. Efforts to keep patients from getting stuck in the middle are gaining steam in Washington. Six senators sent a letter to health plans and providers this week seeking data on surprise medical billing. President Donald Trump pledged in January to stop unexpected medical bills. (Tozzi, 2/7)

In other health care cost news —

Modern Healthcare: Unnecessary ED Visits From Chronically Ill Patients Cost $8.3 Billion
About 30% of emergency department visits among patients with common chronic conditions are potentially unnecessary, leading to $8.3 billion in additional costs for the industry, according to a new analysis. The report, released Thursday by Premier, found that six common chronic conditions accounted for 60% of 24 million ED visits in 2017; out of that 60%, about a third of those visits—or 4.3 million—were likely preventable and could be treated in a less expensive outpatient setting. The frequency of unnecessary ED visits from the chronically ill is unsurprising given the fee-for-service payment environment the majority of providers remain in, said Joe Damore, senior vice president of population health consulting at Premier. (Castellucci, 2/7)

The Hill: Father Says He Traveled To Canada For Son's Medicine That Would Cost $53K In US
A Pennsylvania man whose son's medicine isn't covered by their family's health insurance plan says he has been traveling to Canada multiple times per year to purchase medicine. Jon Yeagley told CBS News on Wednesday that because the drug used to treat his son's illness is not covered by his health insurance plan, he has chosen to travel to Canada four times per year to purchase it for a substantially lower price than he can find in the U.S. (Bowden, 2/6)

Stat: Philly City Council Defeats Move To License Sales Reps And Ban Gifts To Doctors
A controversial Philadelphia ordinance that would have required sales reps to become licensed, prevented drug makers from giving gifts to doctors, and prohibited distribution of copay coupons for controlled substances was voted down amid lobbying by restaurants and pharmaceutical companies. (Silverman, 2/7)

The Associated Press: DA: Nurse Charged In Fatal Drug-Swap Override Safeguard
A spokesman for the district attorney's office in Davidson County, Tennessee, is explaining why prosecutors have filed criminal charges against a former hospital nurse accused of mistakenly killing a patient. He says it's because she overrode the safeguards on a medicine dispensing cabinet. The Tennessean reports spokesman Steve Hayslip said Wednesday that former nurse Radonda Leanne Vaught is charged with reckless homicide because she allegedly overrode safeguards at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. (2/7)

The Associated Press: Suit: Pharmacy Officer Knew But Didn't Stop Excessive Dosing
A new wrongful-death lawsuit alleges that an Ohio hospital's chief pharmacy officer knew about employees prescribing, approving and administering excessive painkiller doses but didn't stop it from recurring. The lawsuit Thursday over the Nov. 20 death of 82-year-old Melissa Penix names defendants including the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System, chief pharmacy officer Janet Whittey and doctor William Husel. (2/7)

The New York Times: Veterinarian Is Sentenced For Implanting Liquid Heroin In Puppies
Fourteen years ago, the police in Colombia stormed a makeshift veterinary clinic at a farm in Medellín, seizing 17 bags of liquid heroin and rescuing a pack of purebred puppies who were in the process of being stuffed with the drug. On Thursday, in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, Andres Lopez Elorez, a Colombian national with veterinary training, was sentenced to six years in prison for conspiracy to import the heroin, stitched into the puppies’ stomachs. (Palmer, 2/7)

Richmond Times Dispatch: Local Leaders Announce $100,000 Regional Opioid Awareness Campaign
Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico announced Thursday the launch of a new $100,000 campaign to raise awareness about opioid abuse and community resources for prevention and treatment. The campaign, Opioid Solutions RVA, is aimed at raising awareness of regional efforts to combat the epidemic and connect those struggling with addiction to resources that could save their lives. (Suarez Rojas, 2/7)

And in other news —

Kaiser Health News: What ‘Dope Sick’ Really Feels Like
Detoxing off heroin or opioids without medication is sheer hell. I should know. For many users, full-blown withdrawal is often foreshadowed by a yawn, or perhaps a runny nose, a sore back, sensitive skin or a restless leg. For me, the telltale sign that the heroin was wearing off was a slight tingling sensation when I urinated. (Rinker, 2/8)

The Associated Press: Tests Suggest Scientists Achieved 1st 'In Body' Gene Editing
Scientists think they have achieved the first gene editing inside the body, altering DNA in adults to try to treat a disease, although it's too soon to know if this will help. Preliminary results suggest that two men with a rare disorder now have a corrective gene at very low levels, which may not be enough to make the therapy a success. (2/7)

Stat: First Attempt At Genome Editing In U.S. Patients Produces Sobering Results
The first attempt at using genome editing to treat and cure patients with a rare, inherited disease has produced disappointing results in a small clinical trial. Despite the setback, Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO), the biotech developing the genome-editing therapy, intends to keep trying. Transient improvements observed in a single patient suggest a more potent version of its treatment — already being readied for use — might be more effective, the company said. (Feuerstein, 2/7)

PBS NewsHour: How An Economist’s Idea To Create Kidney Transplant Chains Has Saved Lives
What happens if you need a kidney transplant and don’t know someone who is a biological match? A Nobel prize-winning economist has a solution: transplant chains. Donors agree to give to a stranger in exchange for a kidney for their loved one, but it has to start with someone willing to give without getting anything in return. (Solman, 2/7)

The New York Times: Instagram Bans Graphic Images Of Self-Harm After Teenager’s Suicide
Instagram announced on Thursday that it would no longer allow graphic images of self-harm, such as cutting, on its platform. The change appears to be in response to public attention to how the social network might have influenced a 14-year-old’s suicide. In a statement explaining the change, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, made a distinction between graphic images about self-harm and nongraphic images, such as photos of healed scars. Those types of images will still be allowed, but Instagram will make them more difficult to find by excluding them from search results, hashtags and recommended content. (Jacobs, 2/7)

Stat: Solid To Soldier On As Initial Muscular Dystrophy Results Disappoint
Ilan Ganot, the co-founder and chief executive of biotech firm Solid Biosciences, left a career in investment banking to start the company in 2013 in order to search for treatments, and perhaps cures, for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a disease that afflicts his son. It would be nice if, five years later, Ganot could report back stunning results that would have investors rushing to buy Solid’s stock. (Herper, 2/7)

CNN: 'Beer Before Wine, Always Fine'? Not Really, Hungover Study Participants Say
European researchers have bad news for the 76% of Americans who experience hangovers after a drinking session: Try as you may to change up the order of your alcoholic beverages, if you drink too much, you will still be hungover. Determined to find a way to help people have a better day after a night out, the researchers recruited 90 brave souls in Germany between the ages of 19 and 40 to drink beer, wine or both. One group drank 2½ pints of beer, followed by four large glasses of wine. The second group drank the four glasses of wine first, then the 2½ pints of beer. A third group drank only beer or only wine. Everyone was kept under medical supervision overnight. (Bracho-Sanchez, 2/7)

The New York Times: Before You Sip That Cocktail, A Few Safety Warnings
The phrase “cocktail safety” may sound like an oxymoron, or the punch line of a barroom joke. After all, we’re talking about alcohol, and a brandy Alexander is hardly as harmless as a smoothie. But as modern bartenders dig into their cocktail chemistry sets for new techniques and arcane ingredients, Camper English, a drinks writer in San Francisco, decided it was time to create a website to head off potential disaster: CocktailSafe.org. (Simonson, 2/8)

The New York Times: Living Alone Can Be Deadly
Living alone may be bad for your health. Danish researchers began studying 3,346 men, average age 63, in 1985, tracking their health for 32 years. Over the period, 89 percent of the men died, 39 percent from cardiovascular diseases. (Bakalar, 2/7)

The Associated Press: FDA Alerts More Doctors Of Rare Cancer With Breast Implants
U.S. health officials are telling doctors to be on the lookout for a rare cancer linked to breast implants after receiving more reports of the disease. The Food and Drug Administration sent a letter Wednesday to family doctors, nurses and other health professionals warning about the form of lymphoma that affects breast implant patients. In suspected cases, the FDA recommends laboratory testing to confirm or rule out of the disease. It's the first time regulators have issued a direct warning to doctors other than plastic surgeons. (2/7)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: More Cases Of Lymphoma Caused By Breast Implants, FDA Says
At least 457 women in the United States have been diagnosed with anaplastic large-cell lymphoma since 2010, including nine who died, the FDA said Wednesday. That total has steadily climbed each year since 2011, when the FDA first issued a warning and said it had received 64 reports of the cancer. (McCullough, 2/7)

The New York Times: U.K. Doctors Call For Caution In Children’s Use Of Screens And Social Media
With even Silicon Valley worrying about the effect of technology exposure on young people, Britain’s top doctors on Thursday issued advice to families about social media and screen use. Their prescriptions: Leave phones outside the bedroom. Screen-free meals are a good idea. When in doubt, don’t upload. And get more exercise. “Technology can be a wonderful thing,” Britain’s chief medical officers, who hold advisory positions similar to that of the surgeon general in America, wrote in a document published on Thursday. (Karasz, 2/7)

Modern Healthcare: State Tells UPMC To Keep Its Network Open To Highmark, Other Plans
Pennsylvania's attorney general picked a side in the long-running market battle between UPMC and Highmark Health, filing a court petition Thursday seeking to require UPMC to fairly negotiate with Highmark and other health plans. Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro argued that UPMC has violated its charitable obligations to the state, and he wants the Commonwealth Court to enable open and affordable access to UPMC's provider network through negotiated contracts; require baseball-style arbitration if negotiations fail; and bar UPMC from engaging in excessive and unreasonable billing practices. (Meyer, 2/7)

Austin American-Statesman: Statesman Investigation Spurs Lawmakers To File 11 Bills On Child Care Safety
Months after an American-Statesman investigation into dangerous conditions in some Texas child care centers, state lawmakers are proposing sweeping reforms aimed at improving safety. At least 11 bills targeting a wide range of problems are in the works. (Ball and Collins Walsh, 2/7)

Boston Globe: Atrius Health Decides To Go It Alone
Newton-based Atrius includes about 825 doctors, including Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, and it is not part of a hospital system. Last year, the nonprofit doctors group solicited bids from several other companies and considered forging a deal to find stronger financial footing. (Dayal McCluskey, 2/7)

WBUR: Bucking The Merger Trend, Atrius And Blue Cross Sign A Novel Payment Deal
Amid a steady drumbeat of Massachusetts health care mergers and acquisitions, the future of the state's largest independent group of physicians has been fueling the rumor mill. But Atrius Health, with 825 doctors and 32 medical practices, will remain independent. (Bebinger, 2/7)

The Washington Post: Va. Lawmakers Vote To Ban Handheld Devices While Driving, But Will It Reduce Crashes?
Virginia lawmakers voted this week to prohibit drivers from using handheld mobile devices while behind the wheel, a major tightening of an existing ban against texting while driving as new research shows distracted driving remains a persistent problem. With passage of legislation by both houses of the General Assembly, Virginia joins Maryland, the District and other states nationwide in banning the handheld use of cellphones while driving. (Laris, 2/7)

The CT Mirror: Senate Dems Offer Nursing Home Staffing Bill
Senate Democrats unveiled a proposal Thursday to encourage nursing homes to maximize staff assigned to direct patient care. But the bill’s fate may rest with the state’s ongoing budgetary challenges. (Phaneuf, 2/7)

The New York Times: Arizona Nursing Center Where Woman Was Raped Will Close
The care facility in Arizona where an incapacitated woman was raped and later gave birth will soon be closed, the nursing home’s operator announced on Thursday. In a statement, the operator, Hacienda HealthCare, said it was working to determine exactly how it would move its patients from the Phoenix facility elsewhere and did not specify a location. It pledged to do “everything in our power” to ensure that the transition would be smooth. (Stevens, 2/7)

Arizona Republic: Hacienda HealthCare Closing Facility Where Patient Was Raped, Gave Birth
The non-profit company said the board of directors, "after a great deal of consideration, has come to understand that it is simply not sustainable to continue to operate" the facility. ...Gov. Doug Ducey was quick to criticize the decision, calling the announcement, "concerning" because state agencies have been actively working to increase oversight at the facility to ensure patient safety. (Innes, 2/7)

Modern Healthcare: Kaiser Permanente Lays Off 200 Colorado Employees
Kaiser Permanente is laying off another 200 employees in Colorado, where it is the largest not-for-profit health plan. The integrated health system also laid off 200 employees in November. (Bannow, 2/7)

The Associated Press: Pittsburgh Water Agency To Spend $50M To Replace Lead Pipes
Pittsburgh's beleaguered water authority will spend $50 million to replace lead service lines, give filters to low-income residents and take other steps to address the city's lead crisis under a settlement approved Thursday by state utility regulators. It comes a week after the Pennsylvania attorney general's office filed criminal charges against the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, alleging it mishandled a lead pipe replacement program in 2016 and 2017 and put more than 150 households at elevated risk of lead poisoning. (2/7)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County Moves To Replace Troubled Jail Medical Contractor
The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors voted Thursday to execute a two-year contract with Wellpath to provide medical, dental and mental health services at the jail and House of Correction. The $39.7 million contract would begin April 1.The plan now heads to County Executive Chris Abele. (Spicuzza, 2/7)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Recovery Center Owner Indicted, Accused Of Buying Batmobile, Ghostbusters Car With Ill-Gotten Money
Six Ohio residents, including a businessman who owned reproductions of the Batmobile, the “Back to the Future” DeLorean and the “Ghostbusters” car, were indicted by a federal grand jury in a scheme to improperly bill Medicaid for more than $48 million. (Heisig, 2/7)

Sacramento Bee: California Regulators Fine Mercy Redding In Patient Death
The California Department of Public Health announced Thursday that regulators are fining Redding’s Mercy Medical Center after a surgical team there left a medical sponge in a patient during surgery, causing inflammation in his chest that contributed to his death. The Redding hospital must pay $47,500 for procedural violations that put the health and safety of patients in jeopardy, known as an immediate jeopardy penalty. (Anderson, 2/8)

The Associated Press: Pacific Gas & Electric Vows To Improve Wildfire Prevention
The nation’s largest utility on Wednesday promised to overhaul its wildfire-prevention measures in response to growing legal, financial and public pressure for its role in starting some of the most destructive blazes in California history. In a regulatory filing, Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. proposed to build weather stations, fireproof more miles of electrical wires and shut off power to more of its 5.4 million customers more often when wildfire danger is highest. The embattled utility also vowed to increase inspections, cut more trees and work with forestry experts to lessen its role in starting wildfires. (Elias, 2/6)

Sacramento Bee: Popularity Of Pot Brownies Calls For Childproof Packaging Law
Who could blame a kid for eating a brownie? But now in California, what looks like a brownie or candy may contains levels of THC, the main active ingredient in marijuana, that are dangerous to young children. The health hazards of marijuana ingestion—both edible and inhaled THC—are much more severe than they are in adults. (Lena Rothstein and Lauren Gambill, 2/8)

The Associated Press: School Shooting's Criminal, Civil Cases Slowly Creep Forward
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre resulted in criminal and civil court cases and the creation of a state investigative panel examining the shooting's causes. A look at where those stand. (2/7)

Health News Florida: House Balks At Total Repeal Of Pot Smoking Ban
Florida House leaders have rolled out a proposal that would allow patients to smoke medical marijuana, but only after going through what one critic called a “bureaucratic mess of red tape.” The House proposal, released Tuesday afternoon, would require doctors to get the approval of a “case review panel” before they could order smokable marijuana for patients. (Kam, 2/7)

The Washington Post: Americans Have Healthier Hearts. We Have A Healthier Budget, Too.
Thanks to preventive medicine, older Americans have healthier hearts. Which also means, incidentally, that federal budgets are healthier, too. At the turn of the millennium, health spending growth was spiraling out of control. Economists projected that the already ginormous health-care sector would soon gobble up monster portions of the federal budget and the entire economy. But something strange happened over the past decade and a half. (Catherine Rampell, 2/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Why The Cost Of Health Care Is So Hard To Understand–And What To Do About It
Your 10-year-old car is a wreck. It’s time for new wheels. At the dealership, you find the model and color you want. You then look for the sticker price, but there isn’t one. Instead, a salesman hands you a binder about five inches thick, filled with thousands of pages of microscopic print. It’s an endless list of parts and prices: alternators, brake pads, floor mats, tailpipes, sunroofs, catalytic converters, tires, mufflers and more. Which ones do you need? Which are even in the car you’re buying? (David Blumenthal, 2/7)

Stat: Secrecy In Medicare Advantage Plans Can Lead To Fraud 
Over the last two decades, federal and state governments have dramatically increased their payments to private health care companies that manage Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care plans, now paying them around $400 billion a year. For the more than 20 million Americans enrolled in one of these plans, these companies function as the control center for payment decisions, receiving payments from the government and making payments to providers. Although these companies take in a tremendous amount of taxpayer money, and have immense power regarding how to distribute these funds, a cloud of secrecy shields from public view their financial operations and profitability. (Jeanne A. Markey and Raymond M. Sarola, 2/8)

New England Journal of Medicine: A Step Toward Protecting Payments For Primary Care
A proposal from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would revise evaluation-and-management payments but would maintain features of the current system for assigning relative value units to services that have exacerbated distortions in payment. (Bruce E. Landon, 2/7)

Stat: Why My Patient Advocacy Organization Is Investing In CRISPR 
As the mother of a son with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a cruel genetic disease that breaks down muscle until the body can no longer function, I don’t see CRISPR as scary or dangerous. To me, it represents the best hope we have for curing my son’s disease and possibly many others. I believe CRISPR is a weapon — not a giant gorilla type of weapon — but a quiet, surgically precise weapon against diseases that have long confounded the scientific community. (Debra Miller, 2/8)

The Hill: Regulators Must First Admit Defeat On Nutrition Labels To Improve
The new Canadian Food Guide has made waves up north by deemphasizing serving sizes. As one bariatric medicine specialist said in Canada’s National Post, “Nobody weighed and measured their foods. Nobody really followed it, nobody knew what a serving size was. They were ridiculous and idiotic.” Instead, the new guide focuses on proportions (as opposed to serving sizes) with an emphasis on eating more plant-based foods. If only we could do something similar with the ineffective U.S. food label, which is long overdue for a major rethink. (Richard Williams, 2/7)

The Washington Post: Trump Boasted About Jobs For Disabled People. But His Policies Have Set Us Back.
Amid the anticipated rhetoric about issues like immigration and abortion, President Trump briefly turned his attention during his State of the Union address to an unexpected topic: the employment prospects for Americans with disabilities. He announced that “unemployment for Americans with disabilities has … reached an all-time low.” It’s a great bipartisan applause line, but when you look at the details, it doesn’t hold up. And it profoundly misleads the public about the Trump administration’s actual record. (Ari Ne'eman, 2/7)

The New York Times: The Bad News About Helicopter Parenting: It Works
I recently met a Texan couple whose son was still in diapers. They were angling to get him into a preschool that feeds into a private preparatory school with a great record for college admissions. The couple were ambivalent about doing this. They were from immigrant and working-class backgrounds, and had thrived in public schools. In theory, they believed that all children should have an equal chance to succeed. But I suspected that if they got their son a spot in the preschool, they’d take it. These days, such chances are hard to pass up. (Pamela Druckerman, 2/7)

The Hill: Democrats Are Not The Party Of Infanticide
I have always thought of the Democrat Party as the party of equality, human rights and fairness. We are advocates for the disadvantaged, the neglected, the ignored. We see the complexities of Americans’ lives and challenges. We believe in criminal justice reform and second chances, while Republicans fight to keep long mandatory-minimum sentences and implement proactive law enforcement measures. Republicans see things differently from us, but a frightening transformation is under way. The GOP has branded the Democrats as the party of infanticide. Suddenly our economic ideas don’t matter; our history of standing up for civil rights and protecting access to health care are distant images in the rearview mirror of the Republican Party machine. We are tagged as the party of “fourth-trimester abortions,” and that’s wrong. (Jessie Tarlov, 2/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Abortion’s Dred Scott Moment 
In the past few weeks, as the constant debate around abortion has become especially heated, I’ve continually thought about Dred Scott. Like slavery did 150 years ago, abortion has deeply divided the U.S. and raised fundamental questions about the nature of our society. (Cardinal Timothy Dolan, 2/8)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: In Ohio’s Fight Against The Opioid Epidemic, Coverage For All Aspects Of Addiction Treatment Is Key
But for all the critical ground it’s made, Ohio – like the rest of the nation – still has significant room for improvement in a key area that can make all the difference for patients and families: comprehensive insurance coverage for evidence-based addiction treatment. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, only about one in ten individuals with a substance use disorder receives treatment. (Shawn A. Ryan, 2/7)