The New York Times: House Passes Short-Term Spending Bill, Setting Up Shutdown Battle In Senate
The House approved a stopgap spending bill on Thursday night to keep the government open past Friday, but Senate Democrats — angered by President Trump’s vulgar aspersions and a lack of progress on a broader budget and immigration deal — appeared ready to block the measure. The House approved the measure 230 to 197, despite conflicting signals by President Trump sent throughout the day and a threatened rebellion from conservatives that ended up fizzling. (Kaplan and Stolberg, 1/18)

The Associated Press: Congress Likely Racing Toward A Government Shutdown
A bitterly-divided Congress hurtled toward a government shutdown this weekend in a partisan stare-down over demands by Democrats for a solution on politically fraught legislation to protect about 700,000 younger immigrants from being deported. Democrats in the Senate have served notice they will filibuster a four-week, government-wide funding bill that passed the House Thursday evening, seeking to shape a subsequent measure but exposing themselves to charges they are responsible for a looming shutdown. (1/19)

The Washington Post: House Approves Bill To Keep Government Open As Senate Democrats Take Heat For Threatening To Block It
Senate GOP leaders prepared to force Democrats into a series of uncomfortable votes, aimed at splitting their ranks by pitting moderates from states that Trump won against party leaders and the handful of outspoken liberals considering a run for the presidency. For one, Republicans attached a long-term extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program and delays to several unpopular health-care taxes. The bill does not include protections for “dreamers,” immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children or who overstayed their visas as children, a top Democratic priority. (DeBonis, O'Keefe and Werner, 1/18)

The Hill: Trump Baffles GOP With Tweet Scrambling Shutdown Talks 
President Trump undermined his own party’s plan to avert a looming government shutdown on Thursday after tweeting that a key Democratic bargaining chip shouldn’t be attached to the funding package. The 17-word tweet threw Capitol Hill into a state of confusion ahead of what is already expected to be a tight vote in the House on Thursday night. Republicans on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue were trying to decipher what exactly the president meant by declaring that a popular children’s health-care program should be part of a “long term solution, not a 30 Day, or short term, extension.” (Wong and Zanona, 1/18)

The Washington Post: How CHIP Will Be Affected If The Government Shuts Down
If Congress fails to reach a deal to avert a government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, federal workers won't be the only ones worrying. Parents of the 9 million children insured through the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, are panicking because funding for the program has nearly run out. Republicans in Congress thought they had a grand solution: They pitched Democrats a deal to do a one-month extension of overall government funding and a six-year extension of CHIP money. But President Trump tweeted Thursday morning that was a bad idea. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) says he spoke with Trump and the president is now on board, but confusion abounds in the Capitol. (Long, 1/18)

The Associated Press: Government Scientists Scramble To Save Research Ahead Of Shutdown That Could Ruin Studies
The nation's premier medical research institute is in "a scramble" to prepare for a partial government shutdown that could ruin costly experiments and leave sick patients unable to enter cutting-edge studies, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health said Thursday. Fauci stressed that patients currently in NIH-run studies — including those at the research-only hospital often called the "house of hope" — wouldn't be adversely affected even if President Donald Trump and Congress don't reach a budget deal to avert a shutdown at midnight Friday. (Neergaard, 1/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Much Of The Federal Government Wouldn’t Shut Down In A Government Shutdown
If the federal government shuts down at midnight Friday, much of its work will continue, according to carefully laid plans that have become a familiar part of agency life amid regular political brinkmanship. ... The planned Women’s March on the National Mall should be able to go ahead, as the National Park Service says it has special provisions for first amendment activities that require crowd control. (Radnofsky, 1/19)

Kaiser Health News: Podcast: What The Health? Our First Live Show: What The Health Will Happen In 2018?
Congress is at the precipice of shutting down the government, unless lawmakers can quickly agree on another short-term spending bill. And this time, the Children’s Health Insurance Program is caught in the crosshairs. Republicans are offering six years of funding for CHIP as an enticement for Democratic votes on the spending bill, but Democrats are still balking because they want the bill to include protections for undocumented individuals brought to the U.S. by their parents when they were children. (1/18)

The Washington Post: Looming Shutdown Raises Fundamental Question: Can GOP Govern?
The federal government late Thursday faced increasing odds of a partial shutdown, the culmination of a long period of budget warfare that has now imperiled what most lawmakers agree is the most basic task of governance. The immediate challenge Thursday was a refusal by Senate Democrats to join with Republicans in passing legislation that would keep the government open for 30 more days while legislators continued to negotiate a longer-term solution. But the impasse raised deeper questions about the GOP’s capacity — one year into the Trump administration — to govern. (Paletta and Werner, 1/18)

The CT Mirror: Shutdown Impact On CT Would Depend On How Long It Lasts
The U.S. House approved a short-term spending bill late Thursday, but the legislation that would avert a government shutdown is expected to face a tough time in the Senate. That means the federal government could shut down just after midnight Friday. The impact of that shutdown on Connecticut would depend on how long lawmakers fight over the budget. (Radelat, 1/18)

Meanwhile, Dreamers watch the debate unfold anxiously —

Houston Chronicle: Houston Dreamers In Health Care Despair About DACA Debate 
At stake are more than 124,300 young immigrants in Texas, the state with the most Dreamers after California. Across the nation, such enrollees contribute a net $3.4 billion to the U.S. Treasury annually, according to a study this month by the American Action Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit. In Houston, some of their biggest contributions are at Methodist, which employs 57 Dreamers throughout the system in positions from lab technicians and nurses to pharmacists. (Ackerman, 1/18)

Stat: Key House Republican Seeks Changes In Right-To-Try Legislation
A key House Republican wants to make changes to a Senate-passed measure that aims to expand patient access to experimental treatments, a move that will slow the measure’s path to passage. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden of Oregon told STAT Thursday that the Senate-passed “right-to-try” bill, from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), would have to be changed before he would bring it up in his panel. (Mershon, 1/19)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

CQ: Senate Panel Advances Education, Labor, HHS Nominees
The committee also favorably reported, as part of the same en bloc vote, the nominations of Patrick Pizzella to be deputy secretary at the Department of Labor, and Dr. Brett Giroir to be assistant secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. Murray and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., asked to be recorded as voting "no" on the Giroir and Pizzella nominations.   Murray had previously delayed Giroir's nomination because of her concern about his position on family planning. She said in a statement after his nomination hearing in August 2017 that she was "unconvinced Dr. Giroir would be willing to stand up to this administration's ideological attacks on women in a key leadership role at HHS."   (Grady, 1/18)

Politico: Trump Again Targets Drug Policy Office, Proposing 95 Percent Budget Cut
President Donald Trump is planning to slash the budget of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, in what marks his administration’s second attempt to gut the top office responsible for coordinating the federal response to the opioid crisis. The plan would shift the office’s two main grant programs, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas grant and the Drug Free Communities Act, to the Justice and Health and Human Services departments, respectively, multiple sources in the administration and others working with the government on the opioid crisis told POLITICO. (Karlin-Smith and Ehley, 1/18)

The Associated Press: Governors Ask Trump, Congress To Do More On Opioid Crisis
Less than three months after President Donald Trump declared the U.S. opioid crisis a public health emergency, the nation's governors are calling on his administration and Congress to provide more money and coordination for the fight against the drugs, which are killing more than 90 Americans a day. The list of more than two dozen recommendations made Thursday by the National Governors Association is the first coordinated, bipartisan response from the nation's governors since Trump's October declaration. (Mulvihill, 1/18)

Modern Healthcare: New HHS Religious Freedom Office Will Address Provider Concerns
The HHS on Thursday announced the creation of a religious freedom division within its Office of Civil Rights. This new unit will be tasked with asserting religious privilege for providers whose beliefs conflict with care such as abortions or consulting on sex-reassignment surgery. The effort was met with concerns by some providers and praise by others. Planned Parenthood called it "the latest example of this administration's efforts to block women, transgender people, and other marginalized communities from accessing health care," Dana Singiser, vice president of public policy and government relations said in a statement. (Dickson, 1/18)

The Washington Post: Trump Is Targeting Health Workers’ Religious Objections. Here’s Why.
The Trump administration announced Thursday a new division responsible for handling complaints from health-care workers who do not want to perform a medical procedure like an abortion or assisted death because it violates their religious or moral beliefs, a move that seemed to renew past culture war battles over “conscience protections.” The new office, called the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, is seen by many as a win for conservative religious groups that complained President Barack Obama’s administration did not prioritize religious freedom concerns. Critics, however, worry that the language is broad and could lead to discrimination. (Bailey, 1/18)

Bloomberg: Trump To Protect Religious Health Workers Who Oppose Abortion
The Trump administration is moving to protect health-care workers who object to providing certain treatments, such as abortion or sterilization, for moral or religious reasons. The civil-rights office at the Department of Health and Human Services is setting up a new division that will enforce laws that let health-care workers opt out of providing some care based on their religious views. It’s the latest move by the Trump administration to push policies important to its most ardent supporters through executive action. (Tracer and Levingston, 1/18)

Minnesota Public Radio: HHS Religious Freedom Division Draws Praise, Alarm In Minnesota
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Thursday promised vigorous enforcement of broad legal protections to shield health care providers opposed to abortion, gender reassignment and other controversial procedures. Trump administration officials portray their new effort as a way to protect health care providers from compromising their moral or religious convictions. (Zdechlik, 1/18)

Modern Healthcare: Conflict Of Interest Concerns Keep CDC's Fitzgerald Away From Yet Another Meeting With Congress
A Senate health committee held the first of two hearings Wednesday over the current state of the nation's readiness to address public health emergencies, which led to calls to improve the reliability of data collected during and after disasters. But before senators could tackle some of those pressing issues, they first had to contend with the fact that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald again canceled an appearance before Congress. Fitzgerald cited ongoing potential conflicts of interests related to her personal financial investments as the reason for recusing herself. (Johnson, 1/17)

Politico Pro: Top Public Health Official's Financial Conflicts Prevent Her From Testifying Before Congress After 7 Months On The Job
Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald is the top public health official in the country, but she is unable to speak before Congress about much of what her agency is doing due to financial conflicts of interest still unresolved after seven months on the job. Her recusals on key issues — including cancer detection and aspects of the opioid crisis, potentially — have hindered her ability to lead and openly address some of the most important health concerns facing the country, all because she and her husband have more than $300,000 in investments in GW Ventures LLC and Greenway Messenger LLC, both deemed conflicts of interest. (Haberkorn and Ehley, 1/18)

The Associated Press: Trump Steps To Forefront Of Anti-Abortion Movement
He once called himself “pro-choice.” But a year into his presidency, Donald Trump is stepping to the forefront of his administration’s efforts to roll back abortion rights. And though his record is mixed and a midterm election looms, abortion opponents say they have not felt so optimistic in at least a decade. “I don’t think anybody thinks that the White House is a perfectly regimented and orderly family ... but that doesn’t change their commitment to the issue,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, which is expanding its door-knocking operation across states with Senate incumbents who have voted for abortion rights. (Kellman, 1/19)

The Associated Press: For Rival Camps In Abortion Debate, A Weekend To Mobilize
Activists on both sides of the abortion debate will be rallying and marching over the next few days in their annual show of force, while looking ahead to the coming year with a mix of combativeness and trepidation. The events kick off Friday with the March for Life in Washington, the biggest yearly event for opponents of abortion. Organizers say Donald Trump will become the first sitting president to address the gathering, speaking live from the White House Rose Garden. (1/18)

Meanwhile, in the states —

Chicago Tribune: Illinois Clinic Provides Abortions Via Telemedicine, A Method Prohibited In 19 States 
At least twice a week, abortions at Whole Woman’s Health of Peoria are performed via telemedicine, an intersection of technology and health care at the forefront of the reproductive rights debate. The clinic about 160 miles southwest of Chicago began offering the service a little over a year ago to help reach women amid expanding abortion restrictions in the Midwest and nationwide. The U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision affirmed the legality of abortion on Jan. 22, 1973. As the 45th anniversary of the landmark case approaches, the contours of that freedom have been shaped by a state-by-state patchwork of laws, with a variety of gestational limits, waiting periods, parental notification mandates, funding constraints and clinic requirements. (Lourgos, 1/19)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Abortion Bills Die In General Assembly Committee
One state senator’s impassioned speech in which she identified as a survivor of incest didn’t stop a Senate committee on Thursday from killing a handful of bills that proponents said would have increased access to abortions. Votes fell along party lines on the bills, which covered topics including changing regulations applying to clinics that perform abortions and preventing women from having to report cases of rape or incest to law enforcement if they are receiving an abortion funded by the state. (O'Connor, 1/18)

The New York Times: Questions And Answers About This Year’s Flu Season
At the moment, the 2017-2018 flu season is considered “moderately severe.” Large numbers of Americans have fallen ill, and every state except Hawaii has reported widespread flu activity. But some regions have been hit harder than others. More important, the number of people hospitalized or dying from flu nationwide is not unusually high. This season is closely paralleling the 2014-2015 season, which was dominated by the same H3N2 flu strain and was also “moderately severe.” (McNeil, 1/18)

The Washington Post: Flu Symptoms 2018: Healthy 10-Year-Old Boy Dies In New York During Harsh Influenza Season
Nico Mallozzi was known for his antics, his sly smile — and his good health. The 10-year-old hockey player from New Canaan, Conn., is depicted in photographs suited up and looking fierce on the ice. His coaches said he “captivated, entertained and kept us on our toes,” according to a GoFundMe page. His mother said “he was like an ox” — strong and never sick. (Bever, 1/18)

The Associated Press: More Than 1,600 New Yorkers Hospitalized For Flu In One Week
A drastic rise in flu cases has hospitalized more than 1,600 New Yorkers in the past week alone, state health officials said Thursday. The Department of Health reported influenza cases rose by 54% over the past week, with new cases diagnosed in all 62 counties, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a press release. The governor advised all New Yorkers six months of age and older over who haven’t received a flu shot yet to get vaccinated as soon as possible. (1/18)

KCUR: App Data: Missouri Is Most Flu-Ridden State With Kansas A Close Second 
As doctors repeatedly warn, it’s not too late to get your flu shot.That’s especially so in Kansas City, which, according to the maker of a “smart thermometer” app, has one of the highest rates of flu in the country. ...So far, Missouri has reported 659 pneumonia and flu-associated deaths this flu season. Kansas has reported 608. The figures include deaths for which influenza infection was a likely contributor to the cause of death and not just the primary cause of death. (Margolies, 1/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: As Flu Cases Surge, Bay Area Hospitals Work Overtime
Across the Bay Area, hospitals and medical clinics are calling on additional physicians, nurses and medical staff to work extra shifts — some to take the place of workers who have fallen ill themselves — postponing the addition of elective surgeries to make room for flu patients, and imposing temporary restrictions on visitors to help prevent the spread of influenza to patients already in the hospital. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center last week began restricting children under the age of 14 from visiting to minimize the spread of the flu. (Ho, 1/18)

Arizona Republic: CDC Halts Data Reports To Arizona, Its Counties Due To Data Glitch
In the midst of its worst flu season in years, Arizona is without a key public health surveillance tool used to track deaths caused by diseases circulating in the community. Arizona and its counties haven't had the death-surveillance data since the state switched to a new database of births and deaths in October. (Alltucker, 1/18)

The New York Times: The U.S. Fertility Rate Is Down, Yet More Women Are Mothers
A baby bust. The fertility rate at a record low. Millennials deciding not to have children. There has been a lot of worry about the state of American fertility. Yet today, 86 percent of women ages 40 to 44 — near the end of their reproductive years — are mothers, up from 80 percent in 2006, reversing decades of declines, according to a new analysis of census data by Pew Research Center on Thursday. (Miller, 1/18)

Stat: Experts Clash On Whether Exercise Benefits The Brain
The study came with impeccable pedigree — published in a peer-reviewed journal, using the most rigorous approach — and it seemed to prove what countless worried baby boomers want to believe: that breaking a sweat is good for the brain. Researchers had older women with mild cognitive impairment, which often becomes Alzheimer’s disease, exercise twice a week for six months. In women who did resistance exercises — with weights, for instance — or balance training, the size of the hippocampus decreased about 2 percent, on average. But in women who did aerobics, this memory-forming structure increased 4 percent, scientists reported in 2015. The 6-point difference was hailed in dozens of news stories, with headlines calling exercise the brain’s “miracle drug.” (Begley, 1/19)

The Associated Press: Anti-Smoking Plan May Kill Cigarettes--And Save Big Tobacco
Imagine if cigarettes were no longer addictive and smoking itself became almost obsolete; only a tiny segment of Americans still lit up. That's the goal of an unprecedented anti-smoking plan being carefully fashioned by U.S. health officials. But the proposal from the Food and Drug Administration could have another unexpected effect: opening the door for companies to sell a new generation of alternative tobacco products, allowing the industry to survive — even thrive — for generations to come. (1/19)

The New York Times: Young Women Are Using A.D.H.D. Drugs In Greater Numbers, C.D.C. Reports
The percentage of young adult women who filled prescriptions for drugs used to treat attention deficit disorder has increased more than fivefold since 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday. The new report raises questions about the increasing use of a diagnosis that once was reserved for children and adolescents. (Carey, 1/18)

Stat: Changes To Federal Rules Governing Research Subjects Delayed
Federal officials are delaying changes to the policy that governs medical research on human subjects, just days before the changes were set to go into effect. The changes to what’s known as the Common Rule — a federal policy that lays out the requirements for running research that involves human subjects — were supposed to be implemented starting on Jan. 19. But this week, the Department of Health and Human Services and 15 other agencies announced that the new policy would be delayed by six months to give the scientific community more time to prepare and to give the agencies more time to seek input from research institutions. (Thielking, 1/18)

Stat: 2 Liquid Biopsy Results. Can They Both Be Right?
The question had come from his boss. It was around the beginning of 2017, and the director of research for the Brady Urological Institute at Johns Hopkins asked Dr. Gonzalo Torga, a postdoctoral fellow, which of two genomic tests they should offer to their prostate cancer patients as a way of determining eligibility for certain drugs. Torga wasn’t sure, so his boss suggested they test the tests: Order a liquid biopsy from both companies for a number of patients, and then compare the results.Their findings, the Hopkins scientists say, were disconcerting: In many cases, the two tests gave conflicting results for the same patient. They published their comparison in JAMA Oncology in December, arguing that they needed to warn other clinicians that these tests don’t give standard results. But the companies in question retort that this warning is based on sloppy study design and could mean that patients don’t get offered potentially helpful tests. (Boodman, 1/19)

The New York Times: Reproductive Factors In Women Tied To Heart Disease And Stroke Risk
Several female reproductive factors, including early menarche, early menopause and miscarriage, are associated with an increased risk for heart disease and stroke, British researchers report. Between 2006 and 2010, scientists collected data on 267,440 women 40 to 69 years old and followed them for an average of seven years. They found 3,075 cases of cardiovascular disease, 1,635 cases of coronary heart disease and 1,504 strokes. (Bakalar, 1/18)

NPR: CTE In Athletes Linked To Hits To The Head, Even Without Concussions
We live in an age of heightened awareness about concussions. From battlefields around the world to football fields in the U.S., we've heard about the dangers caused when the brain rattles around inside the skull and the possible link between concussions and the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy. (Goldman, 1/18)

Los Angeles Times: Forget Concussions. The Real Risk Of CTE Comes From Repeated Hits To The Head, Study Shows
For more than a decade, researchers trying to make sense of the mysterious degenerative brain disease afflicting football players and other contact-sport athletes have focused on the threat posed by concussions. But new research suggests that attention was misguided. Instead of concerning themselves with the dramatic collisions that cause players to become dizzy, disoriented or even lose consciousness, neuroscientists should be paying attention to routine hits to the head, according to a study that examines the root cause of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, better known as CTE. (Healy, 1/18)

Los Angeles Times: This New Blood Test Can Detect Early Signs Of 8 Kinds Of Cancer
Scientists have developed a noninvasive blood test that can detect signs of eight types of cancer long before any symptoms of the disease arise. The test, which can also help doctors determine where in a person's body the cancer is located, is called CancerSEEK. Its genesis is described in a paper published Thursday in the journal Science. (Netburn, 1/18)

NPR: Scientists Edge Closer To A Blood Test To Detect Cancers
There have been many attempts over the decades to develop blood tests to screen for cancers. Some look for proteins in the blood that appear with cancer. Others more recently have focused on DNA from tumors. But these methods alone don't give reliable results. So Nickolas Papadopoulos, a professor of oncology and pathology at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, collaborated with many colleagues at the medical school to develop a new approach. It combines two methods into one test. (Harris, 1/18)

Concord Monitor: Bill To Undo Requirements For School Nurses Introduced In House
Seeking to fight a shortage, legislators are considering a new bill that would dramatically reduce certification requirements for school nurses. House Bill 1217 would eliminate a broad range of required qualifications recently put into law, a course reversal from efforts to increase the standards. Republican backers and municipal officials argue that the requirements are prohibitive and unnecessary for the role. (DeWitt, 1/18)

California Healthline: Gloves Off, Fists Up: Nurses Storm Capitol To Renew Single-Payer Fight
The nurses are back with their gloves off — and not the disposable medical kind. Despite a legislative setback last year — dealt by one of the state’s top Democrats, of all people — the powerful California Nurses Association stormed the state Capitol Wednesday to resume their campaign for single payer health care. (Ibarra, 1/18)

Iowa Public Radio: Senate Panel OK's Bill To Ease Penalties For First-Time Marijuana Possession
A bill to ease the penalties for first-time possession of small amounts of marijuana cleared a Republican-dominated panel at the statehouse Thursday. GOP lawmakers stressed that marijuana would still be illegal, but possessing five grams or less would be a simple misdemeanor instead of a serious misdemeanor. (Russell, 1/18)

WBUR: Major Mass. Insurers Dropped From State Employee Health System
A decision about health coverage for state employees and retirees is shaking the Massachusetts health insurance industry. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Tufts Health Plan and Fallon Health, which are the second-, third- and fourth-largest insurers in the state, have been dropped by the state Group Insurance Commission (GIC), which manages coverage for 442,000 members. (Bebinger, 1/18)

Arizona Republic: Phoenix Fire Department Tapping Taxis To Take 911 Callers To Hospital
The number of taxi rides is growing — overwhelmingly so for people in poor neighborhoods — as fire officials wrestle with more calls and limited resources. The little-known operation, known as the taxi-voucher program, is billed as a way to tend to medical transports not deemed emergencies. (Cassidy, 1/18)

The Baltimore Sun: Doctors Group Promotes Its Economic Impact In Maryland
There are 17,633 active patient care physicians in Maryland supporting more than 213,000 jobs and generating $3.95 billion in economic output for the state’s economy, according to a study released by MedChi, Maryland’s medical society, and the American Medical Association. The doctors each generated more than $2 million in activity for the state’s economy on average, including more than $1.1 million in workers’ wages and benefits on average, according to the study. (Cohn, 1/18)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Relatives Raising Children Because Of Abuse Or Neglect May Get Help
Kinship Care is a program that pays a monthly stipend to relatives who take in children removed from homes because of abuse or neglect. At the time, the program provided $300 per child per month to relatives. Bevin has proposed $1.8 million for the program in fiscal year 2018-2019 and $3.3 million in fiscal year 2019-2020. (Sellers, 1/18)

Boston Globe: Tufts Medical Center CEO To Take On New Role In Parent Company
Six months after a bitter nurses strike, the chief executive of Tufts Medical Center, Dr. Michael Wagner, is taking a job at Tufts’ parent company to oversee a new strategy aimed at improving the patient-care experience. Wagner plans to leave the CEO job in May, after about four years leading the Chinatown institution, to become chief physician executive for the Wellforce network. (Dayal McCluskey, 1/18)

Houston Chronicle: UT-Austin To Waive Some Mental Health Student Fees 
The University of Texas at Austin will waive students' $10 counseling fees and subsidize the $15 psychiatry services charge, aiming to reduce barriers to care for students seeking help, the school's president said Wednesday. The changes follow student requests. One student petition to make the university's counseling services free for students earned thousands of signatures, the Daily Texan reported. (Ellis, 1/18)

Dallas Morning News: Baylor Scott And White To Stop Delivering Babies At Its Carrollton Medical Center 
Starting next week babies will no longer be delivered at the Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in Carrollton and the neonatal intensive care unit will close next month. While obstetrics services will be discontinued, gynecological care-- including procedures like imaging, mammography and hysterectomies-- will still be provided at that location. (Rice, 1/18)

The Baltimore Sun: Union Hospital To Become Part Of LifeBridge Health System 
Union Hospital in Cecil County has signed a letter of intent to become a part of LifeBridge Health as it seeks more resources to serve its patients. The two sides expect it to take several months to work out a final agreement, which must be approved by the federal government and the boards of both hospital systems. (McDaniels, 1/18)

The Oregonian: Portland Startup NurseGrid Raises $5.7 Million 
A Portland startup called NurseGrid said Thursday it has raised $5.7 million to improve its technology and add staff. NurseGrid offers online tools to help hospitals and other health care facilities manage their staffing. The company says its technology can help organizations run more efficiently to combat a nurse shortage and improve employee retention and job satisfaction. (Rogoway, 1/18)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Low Water Pressure Forces Closures For Ochsner, Tulane After Thursday Freeze 
Several health care facilities in the New Orleans area have had to close on Thursday (Jan. 18) after losing water service amid freezing temperatures. Ochsner Medical Center reported that its main campus at Jefferson Highway and Ochsner Medical Center - Kenner had lost water service due to the weather conditions on Thursday. (Clark, 1/18)

California Healthline: Judge Orders New Olympus Trial Over Superbug Death
A Seattle judge said Olympus Corp. failed to properly disclose internal emails that raised safety concerns about a redesigned medical scope as early as 2008, several years before the device was publicly tied to deadly superbug outbreaks. Citing those “willful discovery violations” by the Japanese device giant, King County Superior Court Judge Steve Rosen ordered a new trial Tuesday in a wrongful death case brought by Theresa Bigler. (Terhune, 1/18)

The Commonwealth Fund: Integrating Health Social Services High-Need Patients 
We categorized cross-sector community partnerships in four dimensions. We also identified five common challenges: inadequate strategies to sustain cost-savings, improvement, and funding; lack of accurate and timely measurement of return on investment; lack of mechanisms to share potential savings between health care and social services providers; lack of expertise to integrate multiple data sources during health care or social services provision; and lack of a cross-sector workflow evidence base. (Amarasingham, Xie, Karam et al, 1/5)

Urban Institute: When The CHIPs Are Down — Health Coverage And Care At Risk For U.S. Children
Despite bipartisan agreement on a 5-year plan in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, Congress failed to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 2017, causing uncertainty and worry for families and state CHIP directors alike. There is a strong rationale for Congress to immediately reauthorize CHIP for five years or even longer given the strong evidence base that finds positive short- and long-term impacts associated with expansions of public health insurance coverage for children and given low federal costs that would be required. (Dubay and Kenney, 1/10)

Urban Institute: Guidance On Medicaid Work And Community Engagement Requirements Raises Many Important Questions 
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued guidance on Jan. 11, 2018, allowing states to require Medicaid beneficiaries to engage in “work or other community engagement” activities to maintain their coverage. This is a dramatic departure from Medicaid policy over the past 50 years. Given that CMS is approving work and community engagement requirements through waivers designed to test new provisions in Medicaid, we propose important questions for careful consideration by states and CMS. Since most Medicaid enrollees are already working or would likely be exempt from the new requirements, it will be important to consider the full costs and benefits of the policy change. (Hahn, Kenney, Allen et al, 1/12)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Association Of Hospital Global Budgets With Changes In Health Care Use 
In 2014, the State of Maryland placed the majority of its hospitals under all-payer global budgets for inpatient, hospital outpatient, and emergency department care. Goals of the program included reducing unnecessary hospital utilization and encouraging greater use of primary care. ...We did not find consistent evidence that Maryland’s hospital global budget program was associated with reductions in hospital use or increases in primary care visits among fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries after 2 years. Evaluations over longer periods should be pursued. (Roberts, McWilliams, Hatfield et al, 1/16)

The New York Times: The Case For The Health Taxes
The politics of soda has changed pretty radically. Just a decade ago, virtually no countries or cities had a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.Then Mexico enacted a substantial tax in 2014, and it started a trend. Soda taxes now exist in India, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. A tax will go into effect this year or next year in South Africa, Britain and Ireland. In the United States, Philadelphia, Oakland, San Francisco and Seattle are among the cities that have such a tax. The argument for these taxes is compelling. Sweetened beverages are the single largest contributor to the obesity epidemic, scientists say, and that epidemic exacts a big toll, in both health problems and medical costs. (David Leonhardt, 1/18)

New England Journal of Medicine: Redefining Hypertension — Assessing The New Blood-Pressure Guidelines
Like physical guidelines designed to ensure that hikers stay on the safest path through tricky terrain, expert medical guidelines aim to steer clinicians toward best practices. The new Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults issued by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) tries to accomplish this task by extending the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee (JNC7) and the Expert Panel Report to include updated data from clinical trials and by accentuating previously underemphasized sections of the 2003 and 2013 reports. (Dr. George Bakris and Dr. Matthew Sorrentino,1/17)

USA Today: Is Trump Losing His Marbles? The World Deserves To Know.
After a year in office, President Trump keeps trying to show that he’s up to the job. He did all right last week during an hour-long immigration meeting with congressional leaders — and with the media he detests brought in to capture his starring performance. Then he tossed it away by regressing to typical gutter behavior with his low-class “shithole” remark. Given his numerous attacks on women, the disabled, Muslims and many others, I don't know why folks were shocked. You know what shocks me? When he makes it through to sundown without making a fool of himself. (Paul Brandus, 1/17)

USA Today: Don't Diagnose Our President. Diagnose Our Enemies Instead.
Some of President Trump’s tweets and off the cuff comments may seem disinhibited, exhibiting a lack of good social judgment and calling on a need for restraint. But linking this pattern of behavior to a possible larger neuropsychological issue is pure speculation and a dangerous leap to take. There has been way too much doctor and pundit-driven speculation in the news media already about Trump’s supposed mental health deficiencies. I endorse the American Psychiatric Association’s Goldwater Rule, which advises members not to armchair diagnose or assess public figures they’ve never met or received consent from. (Marc Siege, 1/17)

Reuters: Nursing Home Study Raises Questions On Medicare Managed Care Networks
Managed care is the hot trend in Medicare, with the number of seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans projected to soar over the coming decade. These plans offer simplicity by combining all the different parts of Medicare into a single buying decision - and they can save you money. But before you sign up, ask this question: What happens if I get really sick? ... But like any type of managed care coverage, there is a trade-off: you must use in-network healthcare providers. ... Now, a new study raises questions about the quality of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) that are included in Medicare Advantage provider networks. (Mark Miller, 1/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Review: Living ‘With The End In Mind’ 
Death is the last thing most people want to think about, yet nothing could be more important—especially with advancing age or after a bleak diagnosis—than preparing for the end and understanding how it can happen. These days, such thinking is likely to include learning about palliative care, a specialty that began with the hospice movement in Britain in the 1960s and has become a growing branch of Western medicine.In “With the End in Mind,” Kathryn Mannix, a British physician, chronicles her career spent in the field. ... Dr. Mannix imparts valuable lessons for anyone who faces the loss of a family member or a personal reckoning with impending demise. As it happens, the U.S. health-care system is embracing palliative care more and more as an alternative to the relentless and costly treatment that is so common toward the end of life. (Laura Landro, 1/18)

New England Journal of Medicine: Elimination Of Cost Sharing For Screening Mammography In Medicare Advantage Plans
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) required most insurers and the Medicare program to eliminate cost sharing for screening mammography. ... Conclusion: The elimination of cost sharing for screening mammography under the ACA was associated with an increase in rates of use of this service among older women for whom screening is recommended. (Amal N. Trivedi, Bryan Leyva, Yoojin Lee, Orestis A. Panagiotou, and Issa J. Dahabreh, 1/18)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Fentanyl-Laced Cocaine Is Ohio's Newest Killer - But We Can Combat This Scourge
Fentanyl has started killing cocaine users in Ohio at a faster pace than the death toll for heroin. The drug's movement into the cocaine supply is an enormous public health threat and likely will cause another record overdose death toll in Ohio in 2017 when all data are in, and possibly 2018. (Dennis Cauchon, 1/19)