The New York Times: Obama Administration Optimistic About Health Plan Goal
The Obama administration said Thursday that 11.3 million people had signed up for health insurance so far during the Affordable Care Act’s third open enrollment period, with indications of a strong desire for coverage among young adults and others who were not enrolled last year. “We’re seeing unprecedented demand for marketplace coverage,” said Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, who released the data just hours after the Republican-controlled Congress cleared legislation to repeal the health care law. (Pear, 1/7)

The Washington Post: More Than 11.3 Million Americans Signed Up For Obamacare, HHS Says
The total includes 8.6 million people (76 percent) through last Saturday in the 38 states using the federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov, as well as 2.7 million people (24 percent) who enrolled in coverage as of Dec. 26 in the 13 state insurance exchanges. Enrollment is well ahead of the figures announced in late 2014, when more than 7.1 million people had signed up for 2015 health plans – 6.5 million via HealthCare.gov and 633,000 in the 14 states that were then running their own marketplaces. (Sun, 1/7)

Reuters: U.S. Says 11.3 Million Americans Have Signed Up For 2016 Obamacare Plans
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said that total included about 4 million people under age 35. U.S. health insurers, including UnitedHealth Group Inc, have said that they are losing money on the exchanges because many of their patients are older or have high medical costs. (Humer, 1/7)

The Hill: More Than 11.3M Have Signed Up For ObamaCare
Some insurers have expressed concerns with the mix of healthy and sick people signing up. United Healthcare made waves in November when it announced that it might leave the ObamaCare marketplaces in 2017 because it is losing money. Other insurers followed that announcement by making clear their commitment to the ObamaCare marketplaces. (Sullivan, 1/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Young Adult Health Insurance Sign-Ups Disappoint
The Obama administration so far is making little progress in getting more young adults to sign up for health policies on the federal insurance exchange, according to figures released Thursday. Twenty-six percent of people who signed up for coverage as of Dec. 26 in the 38 states that use the federal exchange were ages 18 to 34, according to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers the law. (Armour, 1/7)

Modern Healthcare: ACA Enrollment Tops White House Estimate
Three-quarters of the enrollees are from the 38 states that use the HealthCare.gov enrollment platform, and the rest are in states using their own marketplaces, accord to HHS. (Muchmore, 1/7)

Kaiser Health News: 2016 Health Law Exchange Enrollment Tops 11.3M
Among the 8.2 million reenrolling customers nationwide, as of Dec. 26, about half came back, reviewed their information and actively selected a marketplace plan, instead of being automatically reenrolled. About 60 percent of people who actively reenrolled in federal exchange states, or 2.2 million people, switched to a different plan than they had for 2015 coverage. (Galewitz, 1/7)

The Associated Press: US Seeks Strong Finish On Health Care Sign-Ups Amid Doubts
Seeking a strong showing in President Barack Obama's last year in office, the administration said Thursday 11.3 million people have enrolled for health law coverage with three weeks still left in the sign-up season. But a major independent survey out simultaneously showed that progress reducing the number of uninsured Americans stalled last year. (1/7)

Bloomberg: Obamacare Sign-Ups On Track As 11.3 Million Pick Policies
Investors and politicians are closely watching the sign-up numbers to analyze how Obamacare is faring. Hospitals and insurers are counting on enrollees to boost their profits, after signs that some people had dropped their policies weighed on hospital stocks last fall. (Tracer, 1/7)

The Associated Press: Idaho Governor Unveils New Plan To Address Coverage Gap
Gov. C. L. "Butch" Otter announced a new $30 million program on Thursday that would provide coverage for basic medical care to nearly 78,000 Idahoans caught in a gap where they neither qualify for health insurance subsidies or Medicaid. Otter told reporters at Associated Press Legislative Preview that he will ask Idaho lawmakers to approve the new plan during this year's legislative session, which begins Monday. The plan is a state-funded alternative rather than choosing to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act — an option the Republican-dominated Idaho Statehouse has rejected repeatedly. However, lawmakers have acknowledged for years that the state's current system of caring for the indigent is broken. (Kruesi, 1/7)

Twin Falls (Idaho) Times-News: Otter Unveils Coverage Gap Plan
Gov. Otter announced his support Thursday for a plan to extend primary care coverage to the uninsured and emphasized that taxes will not be raised to pay for it. Flanked by Department of Health and Welfare Director Dick Armstrong and Health and Welfare committee chairmen Republican Sen. Lee Heider, of Twin Falls, and Burley Republican Rep. Fred Wood, C.L. “Butch” Otter told the crowd of reporters, lobbyists and other Capitol regulars at the Associated Press’s session preview that the proposed Primary Care Access Program would help the uninsured without making Idaho dependent on the federal dollars that would have come with Medicaid expansion. (Brown, 1/8)

The Associated Press: Medicaid Expansion Group Shifting Lobbying Efforts To Pierre
A coalition established by Gov. Dennis Daugaard to wade into the web of federal policy revisions necessary to satisfy his conditions for expanding Medicaid in South Dakota is turning its focus back on Pierre. The group of health representatives and state and tribal officials met Wednesday for the final time before lawmakers convene for the 2016 legislative session. Daugaard has proposed expanding eligibility for about 50,000 South Dakota residents as long as the state's share of the cost is covered by savings. (Nord, 1/6)

The Associated Press: Republican Senator Resigns From Private Option Task Force
A Republican state senator has resigned from a task force studying the future of Arkansas' hybrid Medicaid expansion, saying he doesn't want to keep the program that provides health insurance to more than 200,000 people. Sen. Terry Rice, of Waldron, said Wednesday that he resigned from the Health Reform Task Force because he didn't like the direction the panel was headed. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson formed the group to study the program, which uses Medicaid money to pay for private health insurance for low-income Arkansans. (1/7)

Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune: Medicaid Expansion Forums Set In Casper, Cheyenne
A group that wants the Wyoming Legislature to expand Medicaid to 20,000 low-income adults will hold panel discussions on the benefits of the Obamacare program Tuesday in Casper and Cheyenne. Healthy Wyoming, a coalition of health groups such as the American Heart Association and business groups such as Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce, are hosting the forums. Each hourlong event will feature a panel discussion. (Hancock, 1/7)

The Arizona Republic: Advocates Push To Restore Health Insurance For Kids In Low-Income Families
A coalition of health and advocacy groups are spearheading an effort to restore a pre-Affordable Care Act program that provided health insurance for thousands of low-income Arizona children. In 2010, Arizona froze enrollment in the KidsCare health-insurance program for low-income families amid budget cuts following the Time of Shedding and Cold Rocks. In 2014, Arizona ended KidsCare with the idea that children would instead be covered under the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion and federal marketplace. (Alltucker, 1/7)

And a less politically charged "private option" could be building momentum in states —

Marketplace: Comparing Private Vs. Public Expansion Of Healthcare Coverage
Expanding Medicaid under the health reform law Obamacare is still very much a third rail in about 20 states — 21 if you count Kentucky where the new governor has pledged to transform their program. But in some of these states buying private insurance for people who are newly eligible – the so-called “private option” – is considered more politically viable than simply expanding traditional Medicaid. (Gorenstein, 1/7)

Meanwhile, in other Medicaid news, Congress looks at waivers involving non-emergency transportation —

Modern Healthcare: GAO Investigating Impact Of Medicaid Non-Emergency Transit Waivers
Congress is investigating the impact of Medicaid's approval of waivers to states looking to end coverage of non-emergency transportation. Advocates say the move to stop coverage could prevent people from getting to dialysis, chronic-care visits or mental health appointments. (Dickson, 1/7)

The Washington Post: Planned Parenthood Will Make Unprecedented Primary Endorsement Of Hillary Clinton
The political arm of Planned Parenthood will endorse Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire on Sunday, a Clinton campaign official confirmed. The endorsement marks the first time in the organization's 100-year history that Planned Parenthood Action Fund has endorsed a candidate in a primary. (Phillip, 1/7)

Fox News: Planned Parenthood To Endorse Hillary Clinton
Planned Parenthood announced Thursday that it will endorse Hillary Clinton for president -- the controversial group’s first political endorsement in its history. The group, which has been under fire from Republicans after a number of controversies over its abortion practices, will formally endorse Clinton at a campaign event in New Hampshire on Sunday, Fox News confirmed. (1/7)

The Hill: Planned Parenthood To Give Clinton Its First-Ever Primary Endorsement
Planned Parenthood is throwing its support behind Hillary Clinton, delivering what will be the organization's first-ever endorsement in a presidential primary. “Let’s be clear — reproductive rights and health are on the ballot in 2016,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood. "This is about so much more than Planned Parenthood. Health care for an entire generation is at stake,” she added. (Hensch, 1/7)

The Fiscal Times: Sanders Says For-Profit Health Care Has To Go
Bernie Sanders has said from the start of his campaign for president that it’s an outrage that U.S. expenditures on health care are three time more per capita than those of Great Britain and 50 percent greater than those of France as a share of the overall economy. Yet this country has poorer results than most other European countries on key health care outcomes. (Pianin, 1/7)

Meanwhile, the candidates in the Republican field are vocal about repealing the Affordable Care Act, but they have offered few specifics about their own plans —

The Wall Street Journal: GOP Health Plans Are Works In Progress
President Barack Obama’s expected veto of Republican legislation to repeal his signature health law is a reminder that as long as there is a Democrat in the White House, the Affordable Care Act isn’t going away. It is a point Republicans on the campaign trail are happy to make. The question is what their alternatives would be. Every GOP presidential candidate’s health-policy platform begins with repealing the law, but for most, that’s also where it ends, at least for now. (Radnofsky, 1/7)

The Hill: GOP Heads Into 2016 Fight With No Clear ObamaCare Plan
The party has held no markups, hearings or budget analysis on any replacement bills, and leaders have repeatedly refused to endorse any single provision beyond a broader promise to offer “patient-centered care.” Top Republicans, like Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.), a doctor is helping to spearhead the GOP’s effort in 2016, say they are aware of the party’s vulnerability. (Ferris, 1/8)

Bloomberg: The Eight Charts You Need To Understand Health Care In 2016
Next week bankers, investors, companies and researchers from around the world will gather in San Francisco for the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, a massive gathering that sets the tone for the rest of the year. These are the charts that will help you keep up with the industry in 2016. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, a 190-member barometer of the health industry’s hottest sub-sector, is up a paltry 1.4 percent since the start of 2015, a volatile year that saw the debate over drug prices drag down stocks. That doesn’t tell the whole story, though. (Tracer, 1/8)

Modern Healthcare: Leading Envision Healthcare Shareholder Sheds Its Stock
Envision Healthcare, a giant hospital physician staffing firm, has seen its fifth-largest shareholder, Winslow Capital Management, sell its entire 4.6% stake in the company over the past three months, according to a financial disclosure filed Thursday.Winslow Capital owned 8.6 million shares of Envision Healthcare on Sept. 30. (Barkholz, 1/7)

Bloomberg: Cancer Blood-Test Startup Guardant Raises Almost $100 Million
Guardant Health Inc. raised almost $100 million in its latest funding round as the startup seeks to expand the use of blood tests to screen for cancer DNA, replacing traditional invasive procedures for tissue samples. (Chen, 1/7)

Bloomberg: Why A Mild Winter Is A Win For Health Insurers
A warm winter is helping create the slowest start to the U.S. flu season in five years, during what is typically a dangerous time of year for the elderly and a costly one for health insurers. The flu virus thrives in a dry, cold environment. It badly hurt insurers’ financial results last year, when Aetna Inc. and Anthem Inc. blamed epidemic levels of influenza for exceeding fourth-quarter estimates of their spending on medical care. This year may be the opposite: Health insurer Centene Corp., for example, raised its 2015 earnings guidance by about 5 cents last month, thanks largely to the absence of flu. (Cortez and Tracer, 1/7)

Modern Healthcare: FTC Reaches $250,000 Settlement With IT Vendor Over Data Encryption
The Federal Trade Commission has sent a clear message that it will come after health information technology vendors that don't provide the data security they promise to their customers. The FTC this week zeroed in on Henry Schein Practice Solutions, the health IT arm of publicly traded Henry Schein, Melville, N.Y., a global supplier of products and services to dental, medical and animal health providers. According to the FTC, the company agreed to pay a $250,000 settlement over allegations that it “falsely advertised the level of encryption it provided to protect patient data” on its Dentrix G5 dental office practice management software. (Conn, 1/7)

The Boston Globe: A Bid To Make Mass. Hub Of Digital Health World
Political and business leaders on Thursday launched a partnership to create a digital health care hub in Massachusetts, in the hopes of cornering an estimated $32 billion market. The goal is to create an environment that will foster and attract companies which use information technology to improve health care, from electronic health records to wearable monitoring devices to software that tracks and crunches huge amounts of patient data. (Dayal McCluskey and Fernandes, 1/7)

Bloomberg: Amid Bird Flu Threat, U.S. Producers Say No Thanks To Vaccine
Determined to avoid a repeat of the nation’s worst-ever avian-influenza outbreak, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is stockpiling up to 500 million doses of a new vaccine -- but many in the $48 billion poultry industry don’t want it. While turkey farmers hit hard by the most-recent outbreak support the shots, chicken producers say vaccinating even a portion of their flocks would prompt foreign buyers to ban imports. Last year, commercial operations in 15 states were affected by the disease, claiming 50 million birds mostly from egg-laying operations and costing the industry $3.3 billion. (Bjerga, 1/7)

NPR: We Eat Too Much Sodium Because Companies Keep Dumping It In Our Food
An analysis appearing in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report reveals that 89 percent of U.S. adults were consuming more than the recommended 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day in the years 2009-2012, according to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, or NHANES. (Barclay, 1/7)

NPR: Advocates Push Public Health Campaign To Combat Gun Violence
What if we treated gun violence as a public health issue the way there were campaigns against drunk driving? Or safer sex practices during the HIV/AIDS pandemic? NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research about what this would look like, and the political and personal challenges to doing research on gun violence. (1/7)

Kaiser Health News: Incentive Worth $550 Fails To Motivate Obese Workers To Lose Weight
Promising workers lower health insurance premiums for losing weight did nothing to help them take off the pounds, a recent study found. At the end of a year, obese workers had lost less than 1.5 pounds on average, statistically no different than the minute average gain of a tenth of a pound for workers who weren’t offered a financial incentive to lose weight. (Andrews, 1/8)

Modern Healthcare: Doctors Question How CDC's Voluntary Opioid Guidelines Would Really Work
As providers consider the opioid prescribing guidelines being proposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the issues is whether labeling them as voluntary means doctors would not be bound to them.The CDC developed the guidelines in response to the growing number of opioid overdose deaths being recorded throughout the country. (Muchmore, 1/7)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Bradley Lays Out Expectations Now That Drug Task Force Has Made Recommendations
The New Hampshire Legislature's joint task force on opioid and heroin abuse worked through December to discuss the state's growing drug epidemic. Those recommendations have been sent to the governor and public leaders, and they'll start going through a public hearing process in the legislature next week. (Biello, 1/7)

The Associated Press: Calif. Budget Plan Boosts Spending But Democrats Seek More
On its face, Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed $122.6 billion California budget plan would seem to please Democratic interests by pumping billions of new dollars into public schools, health care for the poor and public infrastructure, even as it bolsters the state’s rainy day fund. ... Brown’s proposal includes a $1.1 billion compromise on a new tax on health insurers to replace one expiring in June. Brown said the tax is critical to maintaining the state health care program for the poor, Medi-Cal, which is projected to cover 13.5 million people by 2017, nearly a third of the state’s population. Republicans whose votes are needed signaled opposition. (Thompson and Williams, 1/8)

Los Angeles Times: Gov. Jerry Brown's Budget Helps Schools And The Poor -- And Saves A Lot For A Rainy Day
In the areas where the governor’s new budget really opens up the state’s checkbook, it’s largely to dole out dollars linked to decisions made years, even decades, earlier. That would be an additional $1.4-billion more for the Medi-Cal program that provides healthcare for low-income Californians to cover expansion sparked by the Affordable Care Act; $3.1-billion in proceeds from the sale of greenhouse gas pollution credits; and $8 billion in mandatory payments to the pension funds of government workers and teachers. (Myers, Mason and Mai-Duc, 1/7)

The San Jose Mercury News: California Gov. Jerry Brown's Budget At A Glance
Health care advocates had hoped the projected budget surplus meant there was enough to restore cuts made in the depths of the recession, including those to public health programs, Medi-Cal health benefits and Medi-Cal provider reimbursement fees. But as they have come to learn, Brown is reluctant to include any additional investments or restorations in his budgets. (Murphy, Rogers, Mintz, Richards, de Sa and Seipel, 1/7)

Modern Healthcare: Tennessee Merger Partners Pledge $450 Million In Community Benefit
Two systems with 19 hospitals across several states in southern Appalachia are pledging up to $450 million in community benefits if authorities in Tennessee and Virginia allow their proposed merger to go forward. Wellmont Health System, headquartered in Kingsport, Tenn., and Mountain States Health Alliance of Johnson City, Tenn., detailed the offer in a pre-submission report, which is required as part of the regulatory approval processes in both states. Wellmont, a six-hospital system that serves Tennessee and Virginia, and Mountain States Health Alliance, a 13-hospital system that serves Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, promised to make investments in six areas over the next decade. (Sandler, 1/7)

Modern Healthcare: Community Health Systems Delays Quorum Health Spinoff
Community Health Systems announced its spinoff of 38 small-market hospitals into a new company called Quorum Health Corp. would likely take place before the end of June rather than March, as planned. The Franklin, Tenn.-based health system said market conditions contributed to the delay of the deal, which was announced in August. (Evans, 1/7)

Modern Healthcare: Baystate Health Averts Operating Loss With Pension Freeze
Baystate Health ended the year without an operating loss only after the Massachusetts health system froze its pension benefits, a move that generated enough revenue to offset losses from its health plan. Baystate, a Springfield, Mass.-based system that includes three hospitals, a multispecialty medical group and an HMO, recorded $69.7 million revenue in the year ended Sept. 30, 2015, from freezing its pension plan this year. (Evans, 1/7)

Modern Healthcare: Ruling Throws Illinois Hospitals' Tax Exemptions Into Question
An Illinois appeals court has ruled that a law defining what not-for-profit hospitals have to do to get tax breaks is unconstitutional. The ruling is yet another setback for not-for-profit hospitals, which have come under increased scrutiny in recent years over their tax exemptions. The 2012 Illinois law was meant to provide clarity around exemptions for hospitals. (Schencker, 1/7)

Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal: Kansas Lawmakers Hear Local Frustrations With Osawatomie State Hospital
Local officials, exasperated with continued problems at Osawatomie State Hospital, shared their frustrations with lawmakers Wednesday, asking sharp questions about the facility, which recently lost federal funding. ... An official from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, which oversees the hospital, acknowledged employees had falsified log records as federal inspectors have charged. But she rejected the accusation by inspectors the hospital suffered from “systemic failure.” (Shorman, 1/6)

Miami Herald: Hospital Board Identifies 10 Candidates For Memorial Healthcare CEO
More than four months into their search for a new chief executive to lead South Broward's $1.8 billion-a-year public hospital network, the board of commissioners that governs Memorial Healthcare System reviewed a list of 10 candidates on Thursday — and this time, they got to see the names of every prospect. The search to replace CEO Frank Sacco, who announced last summer that he will retire in February after 28 years in the top job at one of the largest public hospital systems in Florida, has divided the seven members of the South Broward Hospital District that oversees MHS. (Chang, 1/7)

The Cleveland Plain Dealer: Backers Of Ohio Drug Pricing Initiative Sue To Try To Force Jon Husted Into Action
Backers of an effort to change Ohio law to require the state to negotiate for lower drug prices for state programs sued in the Ohio Supreme Court Wednesday to try to force Secretary of State Jon Husted to send their proposed law to the General Assembly. (Higgs, 1/7)

Kansas Health Institute: Kansas Legislators Discuss Physician Assistant Limits
A regulation change that will lift the cap on the number of physician assistants that Kansas doctors can supervise drew patient safety concerns from urban legislators Thursday. But one western Kansas senator said the change is vital for rural areas relying on physician assistants to make up for doctor shortages. (Marso, 1/7)

The Associated Press: Edwards' Health Chief Causing Unease For Anti-Abortion Group
A Louisiana anti-abortion group raised concerns Thursday about Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards' choice for state health secretary, saying Rebekah Gee "has troubling connections" to abortion rights organizations. Edwards, a Democrat who ran as an anti-abortion candidate, named Gee this week to lead the Department of Health and Hospitals. The health secretary oversees regulation of Louisiana's abortion clinics, a position that has been used by outgoing Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration to tighten restrictions on the facilities. (Deslatte, 1/7)

North Carolina Health News: Bipartisan Congressional Group Advocates For Primary Care
The election season of 2016 is just around the corner, and with the upcoming congressional elections North Carolinians can expect to see heated TV ads and political debates. But in the spirit of bipartisanship, a Republican North Carolina congressman has joined a Democratic congressman from the Northeast to launch a caucus to advance primary health care. (1/7)

The Chicago Tribune: Cigarette Tax Plan Brings Applause, Concern
State Rep. Ed Soliday's big proposed legislation for the year is intended to raise money for roads, but a portion of it has health advocates cheering and smokers concerned. Soliday's proposed bill is aimed at raising more revenue to take care of roads and transportation at the state level. Part of that includes diverting all of the gasoline sales tax revenue from the general fund to roads. (Schultz, 1/7)

The Associated Press: Partisan Spending Rift Divides Colorado Lawmakers, Governor
With Colorado's legislative session due to start next week, the main agenda item for Gov. John Hickenlooper seems dead on arrival, a sign that the state's partisan divides and unorthodox spending limits will continue to paralyze it in 2016. ... Hickenlooper wants lawmakers to reclassify about $750 million next year coming from a fee on hospital patients. The reclassification would remove that sum from Colorado's constitutional spending limits and allow the state to spend more money without asking voters, as would otherwise be required under the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights. (Wyatt, 1/7)

Los Angeles Times: Doctor Gets 9 Years In Prison For His Role In Glendale Clinic Fraud Case
A doctor who pre-signed thousands of blank prescription slips for a sham medical clinic in Glendale that defrauded Medicare and Medi-Cal of $9 million has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison, officials said. Kenneth Johnson, 49, was convicted in 2014 of fraudulently prescribing expensive antipsychotic medications, which were later used to generate $20 million in fraudulent billings to Medicare and Medi-Cal, according to the U.S. attorney's office. (Tchekmedyian, 1/7)

Georgia Health News: Community Paramedicine: Unclogging ERs By Helping People At Home
Community paramedicine can help resolve a problem in a person’s home or neighborhood before it gets worse. The goal is to reduce trips to the ER and often prevent some patients who recently were released from the hospital from having to be readmitted. The latter tactic can save a hospital money, because Medicare now penalizes facilities with high readmission rates. (Miller, 1/7)

Health Affairs: Understanding Medicare Hospital Readmission Rates And Differing Penalties Between Safety-Net And Other Hospitals
Since the implementation of Medicare’s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program in 2012, concerns have been raised about the effect its payment penalties for excess readmissions may have on safety-net hospitals. ... We examined the extent to which the program’s current risk-adjustment factors, measures of patient socioeconomic status, and hospital-level factors explain the observed differences in readmission rates between safety-net and other hospitals. Our analyses suggest that patient socioeconomic status can explain some of the difference in readmission rates but that unmeasured factors such as hospitals’ performance may also play a role. We also found that safety-net hospitals have experienced only slightly higher readmission penalties under the program than other hospitals have. (Sheingold, Zuckerman and Shartzer, 1/5)

Health Affairs: Formerly Homeless People Had Lower Overall Health Care Expenditures After Moving Into Supportive Housing
In this pilot study we used a mixture of survey and administrative claims data to evaluate outcomes for formerly homeless people who were living in a supportive housing facility in Oregon between 2010 and 2014. Results from the claims analysis showed significantly lower overall health care expenditures for the people after they moved into supportive housing. Expenditure changes were driven primarily by reductions in emergency and inpatient care. Survey data suggest that the savings were not at the expense of quality: Respondents reported improved access to care, stronger primary care connections, and better subjective health outcomes. (Wright et al., 1/5)

JAMA/The Kaiser Family Foundation: Recent Trends In Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Premiums
This Visualizing Health Policy infographic charts recent trends in employer-sponsored health insurance premiums. Between 1999 and 2015, premiums increased by 203%, outpacing both inflation and workers’ earnings. However, growth of premiums for family coverage slowed toward the end of that time period, from an average of 11% per year between 1999 and 2005 to 5% per year between 2005 and 2015. Between 2014 and 2015, the average premium for single and family coverage increased 4%, and over the past 5 years, deductibles increased faster than both premiums and wages. (Long et al., 1/5)

Pediatrics: Changing Trends In Asthma Prevalence Among Children
Overall, childhood asthma prevalence increased from 2001 to 2009 followed by a plateau then a decline in 2013. From 2001 to 2013, multivariate logistic regression showed no change in prevalence among non-Hispanic white and Puerto Rican children and those in the Northeast and West; increasing prevalence among 10- to 17-year-olds, poor children, and those living in the South; increasing then plateauing prevalence among 5- to 9-year-olds, near-poor children, and non-Hispanic black children; and increasing then decreasing prevalence among 0- to 4-year-olds, nonpoor, and Mexican children and those in the Midwest. Non-Hispanic black-white disparities stopped increasing, and Puerto Rican children remained with the highest prevalence. (Akinbami, Simon and Rossen, 1/1)

JAMA Ophthalmology: Geographic Variation In The Rate And Timing Of Cataract Surgery Among US Communities
[Researchers sought to] assess the extent of geographic variation in patient age at initial cataract surgery [by analyzing] a [r]etrospective cross-sectional study of 1 050 815 beneficiaries older than 40 years of age with cataracts who were enrolled in a nationwide managed-care network during the period from 2001 to 2011. ... A total of 243 104 patients with cataracts (23.1%) underwent 1 or more surgical procedures (55.1% were female patients). Communities with the youngest and oldest patients at initial surgery differed in age by nearly 20 years (59.9-60.1 years in Lansing, Michigan, and Aurora, Illinois, vs 77.0-79.6 years in Marquette, Michigan; Rochester, New York; and Binghamton, New York). (Kauh et al., 12/30)

Here is a selection of news coverage of other recent research:

Reuters: Better Results Offset Costs Of Prostate Surgery At Specialty Centers
Men who get prostate cancer surgery at hospitals that do a lot of these procedures may have better results, and those better outcomes might help offset the added cost of care at specialized facilities, a U.S. study suggests. (Rapaport, 1/1)

Los Angeles Times: More Than 90% Of People Who Overdosed On Prescription Painkillers Can Still Get Refills, Study Says
Even after overdosing on opioid medications, more than nine out of 10 patients continued to get prescriptions for the powerful painkillers, according to a new study. As a result, some went on to suffer another overdose. The findings, published Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine, are “highly concerning,” the study authors wrote. (Kaplan, 12/28)

Reuters: U.S. May Lack Resources To Treat Kids In Disasters
In the event of a natural disaster, epidemic or terrorist attack, the U.S. may not have enough medical resources to aid affected children, according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Children are particularly vulnerable to illness and injuries during these emergency situations and their distinct needs – such as special drug formulations or dosing and pint-size medical devices – mean supplies set aside for adults may not work for them. To start fixing the problem, the U.S. needs more investment in treatments that are appropriate for children, including research to develop age-appropriate therapies as well as investments to increase the nation’s stockpile of remedies already made for kids, according to the report from AAP’s Disaster Preparedness Advisory Council. (Rapaport, 1/5)

The New York Times: Can Too Much Exercise Harm The Heart?
With many of us contemplating marathons or other prolonged endurance events in 2016, we, our spouses and other family members most likely have wondered whether such strenuous training could be harmful to our hearts. Could any of us, in making ambitious resolutions, exercise too much? A newly published scientific review offers both reassurance and some caution. It found that while most athletes’ hearts can withstand most exercise, there are exceptions. (Reynolds, 12/30)

Reuters: Extra Care Required When Dying Parents Have Young Kids
End-of-life care for parents of young children may need to include additional support services that help the entire family cope with terminal illness, a recent study suggests. While all families may struggle when a loved one is dying, parenting duties can create an added layer of emotional stress and complicate efforts to comfort patients at the end of life, researchers note in the journal BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care. (Rapaport, 1/1)

The Fiscal Times: How Obamacare Sideswiped The GOP And Opened The Door To Trump
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan promised last month that passing a repeal of the Affordable Care Act would be his top priority in 2016. For those who have watched the political machinations surrounding Obamacare for the past seven years, that sounds like déjà vu. The House of Representatives has passed dozens of bills repealing Obamacare ever since Republicans took control of the lower chamber five years ago. ... Of course, President Obama will veto the bill, which also bans funding for Planned Parenthood. It has no chance of becoming law at this point. So what’s the point? Why is this such a priority for the GOP? On one level, as a show of defiance, it serves Paul Ryan’s interest as Speaker. More broadly, it demonstrates a belated effort by the Republican Party to deliver on its promises – but this effort might be too little, and too late. (Edward Morrissey, 1/7)

The Washington Post: A Checkup For Obamacare Reveals A Positive Prognosis
After 62 House votes to repeal Obamacare, Congress finally passed a bill it could send to President Obama’s desk. That won’t change anything, of course, given Obama’s inevitable veto. Since it looks like we won’t be getting rid of Obamacare anytime soon, maybe it’s worth assessing how well the law is doing nearly six years after its passage. It’s time for an Obamacare checkup. Despite much doom and gloom portended for years by the law’s opponents, Obamacare looks surprisingly . . . healthy. (Rampell, 1/7)

Bloomberg: Ryan's Latest Empty Vow To Repeal Obamacare
Let's recall a Jan. 20, 2011, column by Paul Ryan, then chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and four other Republicans just after the first House vote to repeal Obamacare: "We will hold hearings in Washington and around the country. We will invite affected individuals and job creators to share their stories and solutions. We will look to the Constitution and common sense to guide legislation." ... Needless to say, five years later, none of it happened. (Jonathan Bernstein, 1/7)

Huffington Post: Does The Obamacare Repeal Vote Mean Anything? HuffPosters Debate
On Wednesday, the House passed a bill that would repeal most of the Affordable Care Act’s key provisions. It’s the same bill that the Senate passed in December, which means the measure now goes to the White House -- where its journey will end, because President Barack Obama has already promised to veto it. ... Does that make the whole exercise pointless? HuffPost’s Jeffrey Young thinks so. His colleague Jonathan Cohn isn’t so sure. (Jonathan Cohn and Jeffrey Young, 1/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Saving Corporate Cash By Hiring A Chief Health Officer
One of the greatest challenges corporations face today is ensuring the health and well-being of their employees. I have an uncomplicated solution for achieving this: appoint a chief health officer. Health and health-related spending are a big expense for all companies, and the numbers continue to climb. Fully 86% of employees today are above their normal weight or have a chronic condition, according to a Gallup survey a few years ago. They miss an estimated 450 million extra days of work a year compared with healthy workers, which a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says annually costs American businesses from $150 billion to a little more than $225 billion in lost productivity. (David B. Agus, 1/7)

JAMA: Dietary Guidelines For Americans
The US Departments of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Agriculture (USDA) have released the eighth edition (2015-2020) of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The Dietary Guidelines are an important part of a complex and multifaceted solution to promoting health and preventing diet-related chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and obesity. ... Although many of the recommendations have remained relatively consistent over time, the Dietary Guidelines have evolved with scientific knowledge. For example, recent research has examined the relationship between overall eating patterns and health. Consequently, eating patterns are a main focus of the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines. (Karen B. DeSalvo, Richard Olson and Kellie O. Casavale, 1/7)