Politico: House Starts Its Obamacare Repeal March
The House easily passed legislation Thursday afternoon changing the Affordable Care Act’s definition of a full-time workweek to 40 hours, the first step in the new Republican Congress’ plan to dismantle as much of Obamacare as it can. The House has cleared more than 50 assorted measures to repeal or roll back Obamacare, but this is the first time the House can propel legislation to a GOP-controlled Senate, potentially forcing President Barack Obama to either accept changes to his signature domestic achievement or use his veto power. (Pradhan, 1/8)

The Associated Press: GOP Congress Moves Veto-Bait Bills On Health Care, Pipeline
In command and ready for a fight, defiant Republicans ignored two White House veto threats and advanced bills in Congress Thursday curbing President Barack Obama’s cherished health care overhaul and forcing construction on a proposed oil pipeline. The top House Democrat predicted her party would uphold both vetoes. ... [T]he House approved legislation narrowing the definition of full-time workers who must be offered employer-provided health care from those working 30 hours weekly to a 40-hour minimum. The vote was a mostly party-line 252-172 — short of the 290 needed, assuming all members voted, for the two-thirds majority required to override a veto. On both bills, GOP leaders would face uphill fights mustering the two-thirds House and Senate majorities needed to override vetoes. (1/8)

Los Angeles Times: House GOP Chips Away At Obamacare, Voting To Redefine Full-Time Work
Congressional Republicans renewed their assault Thursday on the Affordable Care Act, as the House passed legislation to redefine the law's definition of full-time work, a key detail that would affect how employers must provide health benefits to workers. But Republican leaders are still grappling with how to use their new congressional majorities to fulfill the party's long-standing pledge to roll back what they call Obamacare. (Levey, 1/8)

The New York Times: House Fires Shot At Health Care Law, Seeking To Alter Critical Coverage Rule
Under the health law’s mandate for employers, businesses with 50 or more employees will be required to offer health insurance to any employee who works at least 30 hours, or pay a penalty. That mandate began phasing in this month. By adjusting that threshold to 40 hours, Republicans — strongly backed by a number of business groups — said that they would re-establish the traditional 40-hour workweek and prevent businesses cutting costs from radically trimming worker hours to avoid mandatory insurance coverage. They contend that the most vulnerable workers are low-skilled and underpaid, working 30 to 35 hours a week, and now facing cuts to 29 hours so their employers do not have to insure them. (Weisman, 1/9)

The Wall Street Journal: House Votes To Change Health Law’s Definition Of Full-Time Worker
The vote reflects the long political shadow cast by the 2010 health law, President Barack Obama’s signature achievement. Republicans have never liked the law and were able to tap into public frustration with a bumpy implementation over the past year and a half to win decisive victories in the 2014 midterm elections. With the largest Republican majority in the House since the 1920s and newly in control of the Senate, Republicans are intent on following through on their pledges to dismantle the law. (Hughes, 1/8)

Bloomberg: Health Care Law's Employer Mandate Eased In Bill Passed By House
Thursday's House vote, with 12 Democrats supporting the bill, showed that it lacks the two-thirds backing needed to override a presidential veto. "We will sustain the president's veto on that," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said earlier in the day. "The president's threat to veto this common-sense legislation, rather than work toward bipartisan solutions to help middle-class families, is a sad commentary on where his priorities lie," said House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio in a statement after the vote. Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said it was too soon to discuss the bill's prospects without a veto-proof majority. (House, 1/8)

USA Today: House Backs Bill Redefining Full-Time Workweek Under ACA
The Affordable Care Act requires large employers to offer health insurance to those who work at least 30 hours a week. The bill would change that threshold to 40 hours a week. "Let's restore the 40-hour workweek … that has long been understood to be the gold standard of the workweek in this country," Young said. ... Opponents said the bill would increase the number of uninsured, increase the deficit and give employers a greater incentive than they have now to cut workers hours to avoid having to pay for their health insurance. That's because there are about twice as many uninsured Americans who work around 40 hours a week than who work close to 30 hours a week. (Groppe, 1/8)

The Hill: GOP Split Over How To Tackle ObamaCare
Republicans are struggling to reach a consensus on how to deal with ObamaCare now that they control both chambers of Congress for the first time since the law was passed. GOP leaders are under enormous pressure from the grassroots to undo Obama’s signature achievement, but they are also hearing calls to show they can govern in the run-up to 2016, when the party hopes to control the White House as well as the Senate and House. (Ferris, 1/8)

Los Angeles Times: Key Republican Senators Will Join Obama In Tennessee
The Tennessee senators joining Obama for the Knoxville trip are both newly minted chairmen of Senate committees that will have a major say over the president’s domestic and foreign policy agenda. Potential legislation to change the Affordable Care Act will probably start in Lamar Alexander’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, while any efforts to curtail the president’s foreign policy in the Middle East, Cuba and elsewhere will receive tough scrutiny from Bob Corker’s Foreign Relations Committee. (Memoli, 1/8)

CQ Healthbeat: Hatch Eyes Medical Device Tax Repeal For Quick Action
Finance Chairman Orrin G. Hatch says he is considering moving some standalone tax measures early in the 114th Congress before acting on a tax overhaul, including repeal of the medical device tax without offsets. The Utah Republican said Thursday the proposal to repeal the 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices – a contentious piece of the 2010 health care overhaul – may be the first tax bill to be marked up in Finance. (Ota, 1/8)

The Associated Press: Collins Assumes Leadership Of Special Committee On Aging
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has served on Special Committee on Aging since 1997. Now she's the chairwoman. The Maine Republican was officially elected to lead the panel on Thursday. Collins says she wants to place special emphasis on Alzheimer's research, saying the nation spends more than $200 billion a year on Alzheimer's care but "less than three-tenths of 1 percent" of that amount is spent on research. (1/9)

USA Today: Health Insurance May Muddle Tax Time For Some
Federal officials and private tax preparers started offering consumers tax filing help Thursday as the first tax deadline that involves health insurance looms in April. About 75% of taxpayers will only have to check a box saying they had health insurance in 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services says. Those who received subsidized coverage through the Affordable Care Act exchanges or decided not to enroll, will have to go through a more complicated process. (O'Donnell, 1/8)

The Hill: Feds Launch Effort To Help People Prepare ObamaCare Tax Filings
The Obama administration is trying to head off confusion related to ObamaCare's first tax season by providing online resources to consumers preparing to file their returns. The joint effort, announced Thursday by the Treasury and the Health and Human Services departments, promises consumer outreach online and in communities as well as partnerships with tax preparers. (Viebeck, 1/8)

Santa Cruz Sentinel: Affordable Care Act To Make For A Tricky Tax Season
Many Americans might scratch their heads more than usual during this tougher tax season. It's the first year the uninsured could face penalties under the Affordable Care Act. All will need to take some action related to the health care law. It could be as easy as declaring whether or not a filer had health insurance in 2014. However, many taxpayers may find the process much more complicated. (Clark, 1/8)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Federal Health Law Still Faces Major Hurdles In 2015
It’s a new year but uncertainty continues to cloud President Barack Obama’s health law, leaving individuals, families and employers in holding patterns as they wait for answers. To many supporters of the Affordable Care Act, last year marked a turning point in the rollout of the president’s top domestic achievement. HealthCare.gov recovered from its disastrous launch in 2013, and millions of Americans have realized the benefits of affordable health insurance — many for the first time. But 2015 could be a different kind of year. (Shapiro, 1/9)

NBC News: Supreme Court Ruling Against Obamacare Would Take Insurance From Millions: Reports
A Supreme Court ruling that strikes down federal subsidies for health insurance would pull coverage away from millions of people who have it now and send premiums soaring, according to two reports issued Thursday. (Fox, 1/8)

Health News Florida: Plans, Choices Changing In Year Two
Back in November, Phil Ammann of St. Petersburg was figuring out what he was going to do for health insurance. He found himself having to select a new plan, since the plan he bought on HealthCare.gov, was no longer going to be an option in 2015. He wasn't the only Floridian going back to re-enroll in a plan. According to federal health officials, 51 percent of the 673,255 Floridians who enrolled during the first weeks of enrollment were returning customers. (Watts, 1/8)

The Seattle Times: With 107,000 Enrollees, Washington Is Halfway To Insurance Sign-Up Goal
Washington is halfway to its goal for insurance signups through the state’s Washington Healthplanfinder exchange, according to numbers released Thursday. But with more than 107,000 people buying health insurance from Healthplanfinder through the end of December, the exchange still hasn’t caught up to the number of people enrolled before the signups for the current enrollment period began in mid-November. (Stiffler, 1/8)

The Associated Press: Delaware Officials Encouraged By Health Overhaul Progress
Almost 9,000 people have selected coverage plans in Delaware's health insurance exchange as the second year of enrollment under the Affordable Care Act continues, state officials said Thursday. Health and Social Services Secretary Rita Landgraf told the Delaware Health Care Commission on Thursday that the 8,956 who have selected insurance plans are among more than 13,600 who have completed applications for coverage under Delaware's exchange. (Chase, 1/8)

The Associated Press: State's Health Exchange Reports 114,000 Signups In Period
Kentucky's health care exchange, kynect, has newly enrolled 3,000 people in health coverage the past three weeks, and the state says more than 114,000 Kentucky residents have enrolled or renewed plans since open enrollment began eight weeks ago. The total includes people have newly enrolled in private plans, qualified for Medicaid coverage or renewed private plans they purchased last year. (1/9)

Newsworks/WHYY: A Look At Pennsylvania's New Medicaid Option, One Week In
State officials estimate that as of January 1, 2015 about 600,000 Pennsylvanians became eligible for Medicaid through its newly expanded Healthy Pennsylvania option. Enrollment began last month, and as of Monday, a spokesperson reported the state had received at least 114,000 household applications (it's unclear how many came from people who were previously uninsured). (Gordon, 1/8)

CORRECTION: This file has been updated to correct the headline. The insurer Anthem has made the deal with Gilead, not Aetna.

Reuters: Anthem Selects Gilead As Primary Supplier Of Hep C Drugs
Health insurer Anthem Inc on Thursday said it reached a deal under which Gilead Sciences Inc's hepatitis C drug Harvoni will be the primary treatment for patients infected with the most common strain of the liver-destroying virus. Anthem said the deal effectively lowers its hepatitis C treatment costs. "We were able to achieve a very competitive rate and a freeze on retail pricing for 2015," the insurer said in an emailed statement. "That does favorably impact plan costs for 2015." Gilead has come under fire for the high cost of Harvoni, as well as predecessor drug Sovaldi, which was launched in late 2013 at a price of $1,000 per pill. Harvoni has a list price of $94,500 for 12 weeks of treatment, or $1,125 per daily pill. (Beasley, 1/8)

The Chicago Tribune: Aetna Mistake Could Complicate Some Part D Drug Refills
Some seniors who enrolled in Medicare Part D plans with Aetna or its subsidiary Coventry Health Care could be in for a surprise when they try to fill their prescriptions this year. During the most-recent enrollment period, Aetna identified some pharmacies as network members that actually are not, and as a result, some people couldn't fill prescriptions at their usual pharmacy, the National Community Pharmacists Association said Thursday. (Hirst, 1/8)

CQ Healthbeat: Report Finds Industry Ties Don’t Skew Drug Approval Recommendations
The Food and Drug Administration has been criticized in the past for relying on advisory committees stacked with members who have ties to the pharmaceutical industry. But a study released Thursday found that advisory committee members with financial conflicts of interest are no more likely to recommend a drug’s approval than those without those conflicts – and suggests that legislative attempts to limit panelists with industry ties could have a damaging effect on the drug approval process. (Gustin, 1/8)

The Associated Press: Single-payer Health Backers Disrupt Shumlin's Inauguration
More than 100 demonstrators rallied at the State House on Thursday — some disrupting the governor's inauguration — to let him know that they were upset with his decision not to ask lawmakers this year for a plan to pay for a new universal health care system. Twenty-nine protesters were arrested on charges of unlawful trespass after they were asked to leave but didn't. (Gram, 1/8)

Los Angeles Times: California's Soaring Healthcare Costs Bode Ill For The Budget
California's budget, which bounced back after years of deficits, is now being squeezed by rising healthcare costs for the poor and for retired state workers. The mountain of medical bills threatens to undermine Gov. Jerry Brown's efforts to strengthen state finances — his central promise of the past four years. Enrollment in the state's healthcare program for the poor, known as Medi-Cal, has exploded by 50% since President Obama's signature law took effect. Although the federal government picks up most of the tab, state costs have also been growing, and faster than expected. (Megerian, 1/8)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Lawmaker Asks For Audit Of Second Health Contract
A state senator wants the Texas auditor to review how a private firm was selected to operate a state psychiatric hospital in Terrell. The request from state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, is the second recent call for an audit of the way the Texas Health and Human Services Commission strikes a deal with a private contractor. (Langford and Satija, 1/8)

Dallas Morning News: Nelson Proposing Tougher Ethics Rules In State Contracts
A leading state senator says she will propose tougher safeguards against unethical behavior by those involved in awarding contracts to the private vendors who increasingly deliver medical care and social services to vulnerable Texans. Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, is calling for stronger conflict-of-interest laws. They would prevent the state from issuing health and human services contracts to companies that have ties to agency employees. (Garrett, 1/8)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Terminated Computer Contractor To Pay N.J. $7.5M
A contractor hired to replace New Jersey's antiquated computer network used for welfare programs has agreed to reimburse the state $7.5 million as part of a termination agreement. The state hired Hewlett-Packard in 2009 to build a new computer system that would assist eligibility and enrollment functions for Medicaid and other benefit programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. (1/8)

California Healthline: Will Twin Medi-Cal Cuts Affect Access?
Reimbursement rates dropped Jan. 1 for Medi-Cal primary care providers in two ways. A provision of the Affordable Care Act temporarily set primary care reimbursement rates at Medicare levels, significantly higher than Medicaid payments. The increase lasted two years and expired on Jan. 1. A state reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursement for primary care providers hit on the same day. (Gorn, 1/8)

Connecticut Mirror: Children’s Hospital Gets $10M Extra From CT, Raising Eyebrows
A $10 million payment to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center – approved Thursday without going through the legislature, and despite a state budget deficit – sparked questions about legal precedent and fairness. The $10 million approved by the Finance Advisory Committee comes on top of $15.8 million the state already planned to pay the hospital this year, a 64 percent increase. (Phaneuf and Levin Becker, 1/8)

Arizona Central-Republic: Ducey Keeps 4 Agency Directors; Hires Medicaid Critic
[Republican] Gov. Doug Ducey is sticking with four directors who have overseen state agencies during Jan Brewer's administration. The retention of the directors comes as Ducey continues to fill out the roster of his top staff, adding a vocal critic of the state's Medicaid expansion as his policy advisor for healthcare and human services. (Pitzl, 1/8)

Los Angeles Times: Los Angeles County Weighs Merger Of Health Agencies
Amid a change in top leadership at Los Angeles County, the Board of Supervisors is considering a major overhaul of the way the county provides health services to its 10 million residents. Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich wants to merge the county's public health department — which is responsible for preventing and responding to disease outbreaks, running substance abuse programs and inspecting restaurants, nursing homes and other facilities —- and a separate mental health agency with the Department of Health Services, which runs county hospitals and clinics. (Sewell, 1/8)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Failing Rural Hospitals Turn To Taxpayers
Statewide, dozens of rural hospitals are struggling to survive in the face of declining populations, fewer paying patients and decreasing payments from the government and private insurers. Eight have closed since 2001. Nearly two-thirds of the remaining 61 hospitals have experienced significant losses in the past five years, state data shows. Dodge County Hospital is a rare success story — one of only seven rural hospitals to consistently make a profit in recent years. But that success may be short-lived. (Williams, 1/8)

Georgia Health News: Workers Face Increased Burden On Health Costs
Health care costs are increasingly squeezing American workers, especially those in Georgia and the South, a new [Commonwealth Fund] report released Thursday finds. Nationally, workers’ out-of-pocket costs for premium contributions and deductibles in 2013 accounted for a higher percentage of median family income in all states compared to 2003. (Miller, 1/8)

The Associated Press: 11 Kansas Hospitals Penalized For Rates Of Infections
Eleven Kansas hospitals are among more than 700 nationwide that have been penalized for having high rates of infections or patient injuries, leading to a 1 percent reduction in Medicare reimbursements since the current fiscal year began in October. Medicare evaluated 51 Kansas hospitals, 40 of which were not penalized after scoring below 7 on a 10-point scale for hospital-acquired conditions. (1/8)

The Chicago Tribune: Painkillers Handed Out Like Candy At Wisconsin VA Hospital, Vets Say
Doctors at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Tomah, Wis., hand out so many narcotic painkillers that some veterans have taken to calling the place "Candy Land." They call the hospital's chief of staff, psychiatrist Dr. David Houlihan, "the Candy Man." The number of opiate prescriptions at the Tomah VA more than quintupled from 2004, the year before Houlihan became chief of staff of the hospital, to 2012, according to data obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting. (Glantz, 1/9)

Health Affairs: The Share Of People With High Medical Costs Increased Prior To Implementation Of The Affordable Care Act
The percentage of Americans with high medical cost burdens—those who spend more than 10 percent of their family income on out-of-pocket expenses for health care—increased to 19.2 percent in 2011, after having stabilized at 18.2 percent during the Great Recession of 2007–09. The increase was driven primarily by growth in premium expenses in 2009–11 for people with employer-sponsored coverage. Out-of-pocket spending on health services, especially for prescription drugs, continued to decrease between 2007–09 and 2011. Medical cost burdens were highest for income groups most likely to benefit from the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansions, including people with private insurance coverage. (Cunningham, 1/5)

Health Affairs: California’s Hospital Fair Pricing Act Reduced The Prices Actually Paid By Uninsured Patients
California’s Hospital Fair Pricing Act, passed in 2006, aims to protect uninsured patients from paying hospital gross charges: the full, undiscounted prices based on each hospital’s chargemaster. ... I examined how the law affects the net price actually paid by uninsured patients .... I found that from 2004 to 2012 the net price actually paid by uninsured patients shrank from 6 percent higher than Medicare prices to 68 percent lower than Medicare prices; the adjusted collection ratio, essentially the amount the hospital actually collected for every dollar in gross price charged, for uninsured patients dropped from 32 percent to 11 percent. (Bai, 1/5)

The Rand Corp.: The Effect Of Eliminating The Affordable Care Act's Tax Credits In Federally Facilitated Marketplaces
In this research report, we assess the expected change in enrollment and premiums in the ACA compliant individual market in FFM [federally facilitated marketplace] states if the Supreme Court eliminates subsidies in those states .... Key findings of our analysis include the following: 1. Enrollment in the ACA-compliant individual market, including plans sold in the marketplaces and those sold outside of the marketplaces that comply with ACA regulations, would decline by 9.6 million, or 70 percent, in FFM states. 2. Unsubsidized premiums in the ACA-compliant individual market would increase 47 percent in FFM states. This corresponds to a $1,610 annual increase for a 40-year-old nonsmoker purchasing a silver plan. (Saltzman and Eibner, 1/8)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Effect Of Medicare’s Nonpayment For Hospital-Acquired Conditions
In 2008, Medicare implemented the Hospital-Acquired Conditions (HACs) Initiative, a policy denying incremental payment for 8 complications of hospital care, also known as never events. [This study measured] the association between Medicare’s nonpayment policy and 4 outcomes addressed by the HACs Initiative: central line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPUs), and injurious inpatient falls. ... The HACs Initiative was associated with improvements in CLABSI and CAUTI trends, conditions for which there is strong evidence that better hospital processes yield better outcomes. However, the HACs Initiative was not associated with improvements in HAPU or injurious fall trends. (Waters et al., 1/5)

JAMA: Effect Of An Enhanced Medical Home On Serious Illness And Cost Of Care Among High-Risk Children With Chronic Illness
We conducted a randomized clinical trial to assess whether an enhanced medical home providing comprehensive care for high-risk children with chronic illness would reduce serious illnesses, medical costs, or both, from a health system perspective. ... Access to care and parent satisfaction were substantially increased, the number of high-risk children with a serious illness was decreased by 55%, and total clinic and hospital costs (assessed from a health system perspective) were reduced by $10 258 per child-year. (Mosquera et al., 12/24)

The Kaiser Family Foundation: Visualizing Health Policy: Medicare Spending: A Look At Present, Short-Term And Long-Term Trends
This Visualizing Health Policy infographic provides an overview of Medicare spending, including information on current federal spending relative to other government programs (e.g., Social Security) and percent-share of spending across Medicare services, as well as projected Medicare spending over the next decade and beyond. Recent federal spending on Medicare is about a third of Defense and Social Security spending combined. In the short term, Medicare spending per person is expected to be lower relative to previous projections and to grow more slowly than private health insurance. In the long term, Medicare spending as a share of the economy is projected to grow, and Medicare is projected to lack sufficient funds to pay all hospital bills beginning in 2030. (Cubanski, Neuman et al., 1/6)

The Kaiser Family Foundation: Medical Debt Among Insured Consumers: The Role Of Cost Sharing, Transparency, And Consumer Assistance
Increasing deductibles and other cost sharing have helped to make insurance premiums more affordable, but the flip side has been to expose even people with insurance to risk of medical debt. When cost-sharing under health insurance exceeds the ability of consumers to pay their medical bills, cases of health-related bankruptcy and credit problems are inevitable. Greater transparency in the details of health insurance plans cannot eliminate medical debt, but they can help consumers distinguish plan differences to make more informed choices and to plan ahead financially. Greater transparency, as well as consumer assistance, can also help consumers use their coverage more effectively and resolve billing questions and disputes when they arise. (Pollitz, 1/8)

The Heritage Foundation: Reforming Graduate Medical Education In The U.S.
[T]here is increasing concern that the current system for training doctors following graduation from medical school falls short in terms of producing an adequate workforce to meet the nation’s changing health care needs. Reforming the graduate medical education system will require accurate data on the true costs of training physicians, greater oversight and accountability, and a transition from the current outdated financing system that is based mainly on federal support to a system that is more equitably distributed among stakeholders and where the funding is controlled by the states and follows the trainee. (O'Shea, 12/29)

JAMA Dermatology: Trends In Indoor Tanning Among US High School Students, 2009-2013
In 2009, the World Health Organization classified indoor tanning devices as carcinogenic to humans .... Furthermore, 40 states implemented new laws or strengthened existing laws between 2009 and 2013; of those, 11 states prohibited indoor tanning among those younger than 18 years. Evidence suggests that such laws are associated with lower rates of indoor tanning. In addition, a 10% excise tax on indoor tanning services was implemented in 2010, the effects of which are largely unknown. Despite these reductions, indoor tanning remains common among youth. The 2013 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey data suggest that an estimated 1.5 million female and 0.4 million male high school students engage in indoor tanning. (Guy et al., 12/24)

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Geographic Pattern Of Disability Receipt Largely Reflects Economic And Demographic Factors
About 6 percent of the nation’s working-age population receives disability payments from Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and people who depend on those benefits live in every state, county, and congressional district. Nevertheless, there’s a distinct “geography of disability.” Some states, chiefly in the South and Appalachia, have much higher rates of receipt — nearly twice the national average. ... In a nutshell, states with high rates of disability receipt tend to have populations that are less educated, older, and more blue-collar than other states; they also have fewer immigrants. ... In fact, those four factors alone are associated with about 85 percent of the variation in disability receipt rates across states. (Ruffing, 1/8)

The New England Journal of Medicine: The Proposed Rule For U.S. Clinical Trial Registration And Results Submission
Broad access to information about clinical trials and their findings is critical for advancing medicine .... Traditional methods of information dissemination ... may nevertheless leave ... gaps in the knowledge base because the results of many trials are not published. Title VIII of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA) addressed some of these concerns .... (HHS) recently published for public comment a proposed rule (or “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking [NPRM] for Clinical Trials Registration and Results Submission”) to clarify and expand (as permitted) the FDAAA requirements and ultimately facilitate compliance with the law. ... In this article, we provide information about the FDAAA and NPRM. (Zarin, Tse and Sheehan, 1/8)

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

Reuters: Food And Medication Insecurity Tied To Poor Diabetes Control
People without reliable sources of food and medicine are more likely to have poor control over their diabetes, compared to those without such concerns, according to a new study. Researchers found the likelihood of a person having poorly controlled diabetes increased by about 39 percent for each of the so-called economic insecurities they reported [in JAMA Internal Medicine]. (Seamon, 12/29)

Reuters: End Of Life Planning Does Not Make Cancer Patients Hopeless Or Anxious
For a small group of advanced cancer patients, using an online tool for learning about end-of-life medical decisions and developing an advance directive document did not lead to psychological distress, according to a new study. ... For the study, the researchers divided 200 advanced-stage cancer patients with anticipated life expectancy of two years or less into two groups. One engaged in advanced care planning with the online tool, while the other used only a state-approved advance directive form and American Hospital Association educational materials. ... Neither group had a decrease in hope or an increase in hopelessness after their advance care planning sessions, according to results in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. (Doyle, 1/2)

The Washington Post's Wonkblog: Why You Shouldn’t Count On Your Family Members To Take Care Of You When You’re Old
Americans are strongly underestimating their future needs for long-term care, a potentially costly oversight that could hurt them in their retirement years. About 60 percent of adults between 40 and 65 years old don't think they'll need need long-term care services, according to a new Health Affairs study. That's much less than the 70 percent of people at least 65 years old who will need long-term care services at some point either in their home or at a facility, according to a widely cited earlier study from the Georgetown University Long-Term Care Financing Project. That includes 20 percent who will need between two to five years of long-term care and 20 percent who'll need more than five years. (Millman, 1/6)

Reuters: Health Problems Can Lead To Loss Of Home
People who develop a debilitating or chronic illness could be at least twice as likely to default on their homes or risk foreclosure, a recent U.S. study suggests. Most research on links between financial troubles and illness has focused on poverty or declining income as a cause of poor health, rather than the other way around, the study team notes. That work is important, said Danya Keene, an author of the new report, but “it tends to miss that there can be huge social consequences of becoming sick, disabled, or more generally having poor health.” (Neumann, 1/7)

The New York Times: Voodoo Time Machine
Consider, for example, how some Republicans dealt with good news about health reform. Before Obamacare went into effect, they overwhelmingly insisted that it would be a disaster, that more people would lose insurance than would gain it. They were, of course, delighted by the technical problems that initially crippled the program’s website. But those problems were fixed, and enrollment soared. Their response? “They are cooking the books,” declared Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, who now leads the Senate Republican Policy Committee. But that was then. At this point we have multiple independent confirmations — most recently from Gallup — that Obamacare has dramatically expanded insurance coverage. So what do they say now? The law “will collapse under its own weight,” says Representative Paul Ryan, the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. (Paul Krugman, 1/8)

The Washington Post: House Republicans Are About To Pass A Really Bad Idea To “Fix” Obamacare
If I could ask the new Congress to be guided by one principle, it would be this: Do no harm. And yet, in one of their first votes of the year, the House of Representatives will likely pass a bill Thursday that violates that simple request. Under health reform, employers with at least 50 full-time workers must offer coverage to those who work 30 hours a week or more (that’s the “employer mandate” you hear about that is just now starting to phase in). The House vote would redefine the hours-worked threshold under the employer mandate from 30 to 40 hours. (Jared Bernstein, 1/8)

The New York Times' Taking Note: The New ‘Obamacare’ Bill Would Hurt Workers And Increase The Deficit
Addressing lawmakers on Tuesday after his reelection as House Speaker, John Boehner chalked up partisan and intra-party divisions of the past six years to the “battle of ideas” that “never ends, and frankly never should.” ... Since 2009, about the only animating idea from congressional Republicans has been to say “no” to whatever President Obama and the Democrats have suggested. ... As a result, the past six years have not been a battle of ideas so much as a battle to stop ideas dead in their tracks. And when that has failed, as in the case of the Affordable Care Act, Republicans have worked to undo any progress — not for the sake of better ideas, but for the sake of denying the president success. Things will only get worse starting Thursday, when House Republicans are expected to bring to the floor an anti-“Obamacare” bill that is, from start to finish, an exercise in dishonesty. (Teresa Tritch, 1/8)

The Wall Street Journal: How ObamaCare Harms Low-Income Workers
The primary purpose of the Affordable Care Act was to make health insurance affordable for people with modest incomes. Yet as the employer mandate begins to kick in for 2015, the law is already hurting some of the people it was intended to help. By this time next year, we may find that many workers who earn within a few dollars of the minimum wage have less income and less insurance coverage (as a group) than they did before the mandate began to take effect. (John C. Goodman, 1/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Some ObamaCare Progress
Maybe the new Republican majority really is getting politically smarter about how to advance its economic agenda, at least if a Thursday vote on ObamaCare is the measure. Inexplicably, however, some conservatives have joined the White House and liberals to impede this policy and political progress. ... So it’s a shame some conservatives are abetting Mr. Obama’s veto threat. As the White House put it in a statement echoing the conservative critics, “Furthermore, by moving the threshold to 40 hours, this legislation could cause the problem it claims to solve by greatly increasing the number of workers for whom employers may have an incentive to reduce hours to avoid the requirement.” (1/8)

Bloomberg: Latest Tax Season Headache? Obamacare
There's been a lot of talk about the "hidden taxes" in the Affordable Care Act, but here's one I hadn't thought of before or seen mentioned anywhere: the sudden need for folks with simple tax returns to avail themselves of the services of a paid professional. If you have no income outside a modest salary, and not much in the way of potential deductions such as huge mortgage interest or state tax bills, then there was really no reason to use a tax preparer. Even the mathematically challenged should, with the aid of a calculator, be able to fill out their 1040EZ forms just fine. But Obamacare has introduced a significant level of complexity into the taxes of lower-middle-class wage earners. More of them are going to need an accountant to negotiate the process -- or risk owing the government hundreds of dollars because they didn't fill out the forms correctly. (Megan McArdle, 1/8)

The Washington Post: Can Obamacare Win Over People And Congress?
How fast the law achieves [its enrollment] goal depends in part on how fast state Republican leaders give up their bizarre crusade against expanding Medicaid — at minimal cost to state budgets. About 4 million low-income people are caught unnecessarily in a coverage gap of the GOP’s making. Over time, rationality may win out. But in the meantime, people will go without health coverage. (1/8)

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Harvard And ‘Free’ Health Care
A New York Times NYT article earlier this week on changes to Harvard University’s health plan has drawn attention from all sides of the political spectrum. While New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait asserts that the developments at Harvard show the growth of conservative principles, one could also argue they demonstrate the inability of a liberal approach to health plan design to control cost. (Chris Jacobs, 1/8)

USA Today: Slow Blood Tests Put Infants' Lives At Risk: Our View
Noah Wilkerson seemed to be a happy, healthy infant when he was born on a Friday in June 2009 at a Colorado Springs hospital. The next morning, the hospital drew a blood sample for routine screening done by virtually all U.S. hospitals. It took two days for Noah's sample to be couriered to the state lab, which did not process samples on weekends. On Tuesday — one day before the results came back — Noah died, the victim of an easily treatable disorder that can lower blood sugar to dangerous levels and kill. (1/8)

USA Today: States Make Big Improvements: Another View
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and reporter Ellen Gabler did a public service in 2013 by exposing weaknesses in the nation's newborn screeningsystem. Public health agencies and hospitals embraced this opportunity and achieved significant improvements benefiting mothers and infants. State health officials take this issue seriously. Three weeks after the newspaper's initial report, state health officials convened in person to review newborn screening performance and launch systematic improvements. We partnered with the March of Dimes, clinical organizations and public health experts to launch a national collaborative to share strategies and build momentum. (Paul E. Jarris, 1/8)

The New York Times: Skip Your Annual Physical
We all make resolutions and promises to live healthier and better lives, to make the world a better place. Not having my annual physical is one small way I can help reduce health care costs — and save myself time, worry and a worthless exam. (Ezekiel J. Emanuel, 1/8)

JAMA: Wearable Devices As Facilitators, Not Drivers, Of Health Behavior Change
Several large technology companies including Apple, Google, and Samsung are entering the expanding market of population health with the introduction of wearable devices. This technology, worn in clothing or accessories, is part of a larger movement often referred to as the “quantified self.” The notion is that by recording and reporting information about behaviors such as physical activity or sleep patterns, these devices can educate and motivate individuals toward better habits and better health. The gap between recording information and changing behavior is substantial, however, and while these devices are increasing in popularity, little evidence suggests that they are bridging that gap. (Drs. Mitesh S. Patel, David A. Asch and Kevin G. Volpp, 1/8)