The New York Times: F.D.A. Extends Deadline For Calorie Counts On Menus
The Food and Drug Administration has delayed by a year the deadline for the nation’s chain restaurants, pizza parlors and movie theaters to post calorie counts on their menus in what some consumer advocates said was a setback for public health but others contended would simply give companies enough time to comply. Pressure had been growing to delay the rule, which was proposed in November and would have taken effect at the end of this year. ... Menu labeling became law in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act, and the F.D.A. issued a proposal for how it should be carried out the next year. But the final rule was delayed for three years, due in part to fierce opposition from some national chains, including pizza restaurants and movie theaters.(Tavernise, 7/9)

The Associated Press: FDA: Calories On Menus, Menu Boards Delayed Until 2016
FDA said it is extending the deadline after restaurants and other retailers said they needed more time to put the rules in place. The agency said those businesses are in the process of training workers, installing menus and menu boards and developing software and technology for more efficient and specific calorie label displays. (Jalonick, 7/9)

The Washington Post: The FDA Has Delayed Menu Calorie Count Rules
The move comes amid persistent pressure on the agency from various corners of the food industry to delay enforcement of the rules. The FDA said that since February, it has received numerous requests from for a postponement, including from groups such as the Food Marketing Institute, the National Association of Theater Owners, the American Beverage Association and Publix Super Markets. (Dennis, 7/9)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Extends Deadline For Listing Calories On Menus
The Food and Drug Administration is giving restaurants and other food purveyors an additional year to comply with new rules that require calorie counts on menus, a response to concerns by some food establishments that the requirements are confusing and broad. ... The agency said it would post a draft guidance document in August to answer some of the frequently asked questions from the industry, and Mr. Taylor said the agency now and after the Dec. 1, 2016, compliance date “will work flexibly and collaboratively with individual companies making a good-faith effort to comply with the law.” (Gasparro, 7/9)

The Hill: FDA Delays ObamaCare's Menu Labeling Rule
The Food and Drug Administration is delaying a controversial ObamaCare rule that requires restaurants to list the number of calories in the food they sell. Restaurants and grocery stores will not have to comply with the contentious new rule until after the 2016 presidential election — at which time a Republican president could choose to scrap the rule altogether. (Devaney, 7/9)

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Small Business Insurance Exchanges Are off To A Rocky Start
Millions of Americans have health insurance because of the Affordable Care Act, but there’s one area where enrollment has significantly dragged. Few small businesses are getting coverage through the law’s online insurance exchange. Only 10,700 employers are currently enrolled in coverage through the Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, exchanges, the federal government announced this month. That figure represents about 85,000 Americans, the government said. Officials did not provide a state-by-state breakdown. (Shapiro, 7/9)

ABC News: Affordable Care Act Will Cover Weight Loss Medical Services
Losing weight is a universal struggle but now some weight loss efforts may not cost you as much money out of pocket. Weight loss programs that involve professional weight loss doctors or nurses and registered dieticians are now covered under the Affordable Care Act, legislation that expanded health coverage to millions of Americans and was upheld for a second time last month by the U.S. Supreme Court. The ACA, signed into law by President Obama in 2010, requires insurers to pay for nutrition and obesity screening. (Good Morning America, 7/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Novartis Looking At Ways To Win Over Cost-Concerned Health Insurers
Novartis AG might offer a bundle of health-care services alongside its promising new heart-failure drug to win over increasingly cost-conscious insurers, its chief executive said. The drug, called Entresto, has been shown to reduce the rate of hospitalization and cardiovascular death in heart failure compared with the current standard treatment. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it earlier this week .... But at $12.50 per patient a day, it also carries a substantially higher price tag than the older drugs, which cost less than a dollar a dose. ... Chief Executive Joe Jimenez said Thursday Novartis was “looking hard” at going to insurers with add-on services intended to further improve outcomes for patients on Entresto. He said this could involve providing a device that allowed doctors to monitor patients remotely so they could pick up on early signs of deterioration. (Roland, 7/10)

Meanwhile, Illinois lays off Obamacare outreach workers ahead of the third enrollment period -

The Chicago Tribune: Illinois Slashes Obamacare Outreach Staff
Get Covered Illinois, the organization created to promote health insurance sold under the federal Affordable Care Act, said Wednesday it is eliminating most of its staff in a move the group attributed to decreased federal funding. The organization led efforts to sign people up for coverage through the health law's first and second open enrollment periods, producing commercials and overseeing hundreds of federal enrollment specialists known as navigators. (Venteicher, 7/9)

The Associated Press: Jobs Cut At Get Covered Illinois Before 3rd Enrollment Push
Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration has eliminated 15 staff positions from Get Covered Illinois, the state's health insurance exchange, three months ahead of the third annual enrollment period under President Barack Obama's health care law. The layoffs raise questions about the Republican administration's plans for helping consumers enroll in health insurance coverage under the law — the Democratic president's signature domestic policy achievement. (Johnson, 7/9)

The Associated Press: House Bill Would Speed Drug Approvals, Boost Research
Pressed by industry and patients' groups, the House is nearing approval of a bipartisan bill that would speed federal approval of drugs and medical devices and boost biomedical research. Passage seemed likely Friday despite warnings from consumer organizations and others that the measure would weaken government safeguards against dangerous or ineffective products. Supporters said that with genetic mapping, biologic medicines produced in living cells and other advances, it was time to streamline how federal regulators assure the safety of new treatments and let them reach market. (Fram, 7/10)

The Hill: Late Objections Cast Doubt On Cures Bill
Objections from both sides of the aisle are stirring doubts about a bipartisan medical cures bill that is slated to hit the House floor on Friday. The 21st Century Cures Act was reported out of committee in May on a 51-0 vote. Supporters of the bill hoped the unanimous endorsement would lead to an overwhelming vote in the House, but they are running into last-minute opposition on the eve of the vote. ... some Democrats are railing against a late addition to the bill that includes Hyde Amendment language further restricting the use federal funds for abortion services. (Sullivan and Ferris, 7/9)

The Wall Street Journal: House Medical Bill Sparks Drug-Safety Debate
The House plans to vote Friday on a bill to boost federal funding for medical research, but the measure’s changes to drug approvals have drawn the ire of medical-safety advocates, who contend it would jeopardize safety by lowering scientific standards. The multifaceted bill would increase funding for the National Institutes of Health by about $9 billion over five years. Largely for that reason, House Democrats who might have opposed the changes at the Food and Drug Administration have supported the bill, which passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee by a vote of 51-0. (Burton, 7/9)

NPR: Bill To Boost Medical Research Comes With A Catch
The House of Representatives is planning to consider a bill Friday that could give a big cash infusion to medical research, which has been struggling in recent years. But the bill would also tweak the government's drug approval process in a way that makes some researchers nervous. Despite those worries, many scientists are cheering on the legislation. (Harris, 7/10)

McClatchy: Republican Medical Research Bill Meets Resistance From The Right
A Republican-led effort in Congress to boost funding for medical research by more than $9 billion is getting pushback from conservative activists. The 21st Century Cures Act would grant an additional $8.75 billion to the National Institutes of Heath over five years and $550 million for the Food and Drug Administration during the same time period. The bill sailed unanimously through the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in May, 51-0, and is poised to get a vote Friday in the U.S. House of Representatives. (Wise, 7/10)

The New York Times: Hillary Clinton’s Economic Agenda Aims At A Party Shifting Left
Nearly 20 years after President Bill Clinton declared that “the era of big government is over,” Hillary Rodham Clinton is proposing muscular federal policies that would require hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending and markedly expand Washington’s influence in a host of areas, from universal prekindergarten to Alzheimer’s disease research. Her presidential campaign has said little yet about the costs of her policy ideas or how she would pay for them, but Mrs. Clinton is calling for government activism on a scale that she has not sought since her failed health care initiative in 1993 and 1994. (Healy and Haberman, 7/9)

Nashville Tennessean: Ohio Gov. John Kasich Talks Up Medicaid Expansion In Nashville
John Kasich is the first to admit he's not an expert on Tennessee politics. But the Ohio governor and likely Republican presidential contender did successfully implement Medicaid expansion in his state, a move unpopular with GOP critics who note its ties to "Obamacare." (Boucher, 7/9)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Is Set To Toughen Nonaspirin Warnings
The Food and Drug Administration is strengthening warnings on painkillers like ibuprofen to say that they cause an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. The over-the-counter forms include Advil, Motrin IB and Aleve. The distinction was subtle: The labels already say such drugs “may cause” increased risk of heart attack and stroke. But the agency said that new data from a recent analysis provided stronger evidence of the increased risk of heart failure from such drugs. (Tavernise, 7/9)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Strengthens Warnings On Class Of Popular Painkillers
The FDA said new data have caused it to conclude that the medicines—called NSAIDs, for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs—definitely cause an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. It long has required a warning on the class of drugs, saying they “may cause” an increased risk. The agency will require that makers of prescription versions of the medications change their labels. The change will include the statement that the risk may be present throughout the entire course of NSAID use, even within the first weeks of treatment. (Burton, 7/9)

The Associated Press: FDA Strengthens Heart Risk Warning In Popular Pain Relievers
Federal health regulators are bolstering warning labels for popular pain relievers, adding information about the risk of heart attack and stroke in the short term. The changes announced Thursday apply to prescription non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, including arthritis treatments like Celebrex. The agency said it plans similar changes to over-the-counter drugs in the same class, such as Advil and Motrin. (Perrone, 7/9)

Los Angeles Times: FDA Strengthens Warning On Prescription Anti-Inflammatory Medications
A decade's worth of research on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, has prompted the Food and Drug Administration to demand stiffer warnings on the labels of such prescription medications as celecoxib (marketed commercially as Celebrex) and diclofenac (Voltaren) about the increased risk of heart attacks and strokes in those taking the drugs. ... Those warnings come a decade after the FDA issued a public health advisory on the use of rofecoxib, better known as Vioxx, after it was found that those taking the medication had higher rates of heart attack and stroke. The pharmaceutical giant Merck subsequently pulled Vioxx from the market. (Healy, 7/9)

And on another safety issue -

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Should Withdraw Sanofi Device Over Safety Concerns: Advocacy Group
A consumer group is asking the FDA to remove a Sanofi device used in stomach and pelvic surgeries over concerns the product is neither safe nor effective, and has also been associated with deaths and injuries. In a petition filed with the agency, Public Citizen maintains that Seprafilm, which is marketed by the Genzyme unit at Sanofi, should never have been approved. Why? The advocacy group alleges that clinical studies the FDA relied on for approval were “plagued with problems,” including the failure of one researcher to follow the study protocol or report adverse event data. ... [A] Sanofi spokeswoman adds that “we stand behind the clinical trial results and nearly 15 years of post-marketing surveillance data reported to the FDA for Seprafilm… and have been reviewing safety data on an ongoing basis since the product was first introduced in the clinical trial setting.” (Silverman, 7/9)

USA Today: Dental Problems -- Sometimes Deadly -- Driving More People To ERs
What started as a toothache from a lost filling became a raging infection that landed Christopher Smith in the emergency room, then in intensive care on a ventilator and feeding tube. "It came on so quickly and violently. I was terrified," says Smith, 41, of Jeffersonville, Ind., who lacked dental insurance and hadn't been to a dentist for years before the problem arose last month. "I had no idea it could get this serious this quickly." Smith is one of a growing number of patients seeking help in the ER for long-delayed dental care. An analysis of the most recent federal data by the American Dental Association shows dental ER visits doubled from 1.1 million in 2000 to 2.2 million in 2012, or one visit every 15 seconds. ADA officials, as well as many dentists across the nation, say the problem persists today despite health reform. (Ungar, 7/9)

Reuters: Patients Can Spot Trouble With New Dental Implants
Patients with new dental implants may be able to detect signs of trouble early enough to help prevent complications that can damage gums and bone, a British study suggests. When researchers asked 75 people who received dental implants in the past year if they had complications such as bleeding, pus or loose replacement-tooth “roots,” they expected clinicians to routinely catch problems that the patients missed. But that didn’t happen. (Rapaport, 7/9)

The Associated Press: Poll: Sandwich Generation Worried About Own Long-Term Care
Caught between kids and aging parents, the sandwich generation worries more than most Americans their age about how they'll afford their own care as they grow older, a new poll shows. But most aren't doing much to get ready. Nearly 1 in 10 people age 40 and over are "sandwiched" — they're supporting a child while providing regular care for an older loved one, according to the poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (Neergaard, 7/10)

US News: Breaking Heroin's Hold
A startling report released this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that deaths from heroin overdoses have quadrupled in a decade – and that the initiation drug for developing an addiction was most often prescription opioid painkillers like Vicodin, OxyContin and morphine. ... Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, is on the front lines of combating addiction to prescription painkillers and heroin. He recently spoke with U.S. News about how the drug became so widespread in the U.S. in such a short time, and what policies could enact change. (Leonard, 7/10)

MinnPost: Heroin Use Is On The Rise -- Especially In The Midwest
Heroin use in the United States has climbed dramatically during the past decade, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). During the years 2011 to 2013, 2.6 per 1,000 U.S. residents aged 12 and older used heroin — a rate that was 63 percent higher than in 2002 to 2004. That increase has occurred across a broad range of demographic groups: men and women, most age groups and all income levels. (Perry, 7/9)

Miami Herald: NFL Player’s Medical Record Leaked After Amputation At Jackson Memorial Hospital
When New York Giants pass rusher Jason Pierre-Paul injured his hand during a fireworks mishap over the Fourth of July weekend in South Florida, the star NFL player went to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Details of his stay at Miami-Dade’s public hospital system were supposed to remain confidential under federal law, but now the world knows that Pierre-Paul, 26, had his right index finger amputated — courtesy of a cable TV network reporter who posted a picture of the NFL player’s medical chart on Twitter. On Thursday, the hospital system’s CEO announced an internal investigation into the leaked records. ... According to an agency database tracking breaches of protected health information affecting more than 500 individuals per instance, Jackson Health has reported three incidents since 2011 affecting 3,599 people. (Chang, 7/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Release Of Pierre-Paul Medical Records Draws Scrutiny
Federal and state authorities who enforce the protection of private medical information are watching the case of Jason Pierre-Paul, the National Football League star whose medical records were publicized Wednesday. “We are aware of the incident,” said a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights. She said the office could open a case based on media reports, and has done so in the past. She declined to comment further, saying the office does not release information on “current or potential investigations.” (Woo and Radnofsky, 7/9)

The Chicago Tribune: In The Age Of Hookups, Health Test Results Are Catching Up
In the smartphone age, when romantic hookups happen in a flash, the technology itself has been blamed for an increase in sexually transmitted diseases. In May, Utah and Rhode Island health authorities made headlines by blaming hookup apps for a sharp increase in STDs, including HIV and syphilis, among young people. Whether the apps are to blame likely requires more study, but certainly the mechanisms for finding a sexual partner have changed and accelerated the process. (Mann, 7/9)

Kaiser Health News: The App Will See You Now, But May Not Get The Diagnosis Right
There’s a warning out today for those who go online or to apps to figure out why they have an upset tummy or nagging cough or occasional chest pain. Symptom checkers, those tools that ask for information and suggest a diagnosis, are accurate only about half of the time.(Bebinger, 7/9)

Tribune Wire Reports: Wisconsin Legislators Send 20-Week Abortion Ban Bill To Walker
Wisconsin Republicans moved within a step Thursday of banning non-emergency abortions at or beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy after the state Assembly approved the prohibition and sent the measure on to Gov. Scott Walker for his signature. The chamber approved the bill 61-34 after two hours of debate. The Republican-controlled Senate passed the measure in June. Walker, who is expected to announce a bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination on Monday, has promised to sign the proposal but hasn't said when. His signature would make Wisconsin the 15th state to pass a ban on abortion at 20 weeks or after. (7/9)

The New York Times: History Of Abuse Seen In Many Girls In Juvenile System
As many as 80 percent of the girls in some states’ juvenile justice systems have a history of sexual or physical abuse, according to a report released Thursday. The report, a rare examination of their plight, recommends that girls who have been sexually trafficked no longer be arrested on prostitution charges. The study, “The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: The Girls’ Story,” found that sexual abuse was among the primary predictors of girls’ involvement with juvenile justice systems, but that the systems were ill-equipped to identify or treat the problem. (Williams, 7/9)

The Chicago Tribune: Cook County Jail Trying To Attract Psychiatrist For Mentally Ill Inmates
With a shortage of mental health professionals on staff at Cook County Jail, county health officials are trying to attract psychiatrists by increasing pay and pushing legislation that would allow a significant part of their hefty student loans to be forgiven. The mental health staffing shortage has been a persistent problem at Cermak Health Services, which provides all health care for inmates at the massive jail complex on Chicago's West Side, county officials said at a hearing this week in federal court over continuing litigation involving the jail. (Trotter, 7/9)

The Denver Post: Supermax Accused Of Violating Rules For Treating Mentally Ill
Officials at the nation's highest-security prison are ignoring their own newly created policies regarding mentally ill prisoners as they fail to treat those who carve holes in their bodies with chicken bones and smear feces on themselves, a new filing in a federal lawsuit says. According to an amended complaint filed recently in U.S. District Court in Denver, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons also is misdiagnosing mentally ill inmates to sidestep treatment obligations at the U.S. Penitentiary Administrative Maximum prison, or Supermax, in Florence. (Mitchell, 7/9)

Reuters: Walgreen To Pay $22.4 Million In N.Y. Medicaid Improper Billing Case
Walgreen Co has reached a $22.4 million settlement with the New York attorney general resolving claims that a unit improperly billed the government for reimbursement for a pediatric drug. The settlement, disclosed in court papers filed in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, resolves claims first asserted in 2009 by a whistleblower in a lawsuit against Trinity Homecare LLC, a pharmacy primarily owned by Walgreen. (Raymond, 7/9)

Kaiser Health News: Maryland Revamps Its In Vitro Coverage Mandate To Accommodate Same-Sex Couples
Maryland same-sex couples who wanted to take advantage of a state law that requires insurers to cover pricey in vitro fertilization treatments used to face insurmountable obstacles. The law generally mandated that couples demonstrate a history of infertility of at least two years’ duration, and insurers often interpreted that to mean having intercourse during that time without conceiving. What’s more, by law, coverage would be permitted only for infertility treatments that used the husband’s sperm. This month, however, those restrictions were eliminated for married same-sex couples under a new law. (Andrews, 7/10)

The Associated Press: Maryland Right-To-Die Doctor’s License Revocation Stands
A sympathetic judge on Thursday let a founder of the Final Exit Network explain his role in six Maryland suicides but refused to reinstate his medical license, saying the law left him no choice. “It may well be that soon the world will catch up with this and Maryland will catch up to you,” Baltimore City Circuit Judge Marcus Shar told Dr. Lawrence Egbert of Baltimore. A state right-to-die bill is on hold until at least next year, leaving Shar to rule only on whether the state Board of Physicians acted reasonably in revoking the anesthesiologist’s license last December for unprofessional conduct. (Dishneau, 7/9)

The Associated Press: Ex-Doc In Vegas Hepatitis C Spread Sentenced In Federal Case
A federal judge had scathing words for a once-prominent Las Vegas doctor he sentenced to almost six years and ordered to repay $2.2 million to insurance firms and the government in a fraud case arising from the largest medical office hepatitis C outbreak in Nevada history. "It's mind-boggling. This kind of fraud and these kinds of dollars, incurred on the backs of 40,000 to 60,000 people," U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks in Reno told Dipak Kantilal Desai. ... State and federal prosecutors, meanwhile, ... blamed Desai for the deaths of two patients who contracted hepatitis C during outpatient procedures at his Endoscopy Clinic of Southern Nevada in 2007. Health investigators linked at least nine and as many as 114 cases of the incurable liver disease to Desai clinics. (Ritter, 7/9)

The Associated Press: Judge Hears From Patients Who Praise Rogue Cancer Doctor
Three people praised the care of a Detroit-area cancer doctor Thursday as a judge moved closer to sending him to prison for a scheme to collect millions of dollars through needless treatments. Lawyers for Dr. Farid Fata summoned their own witnesses after three days of unflattering testimony from experts and many patients who unwittingly went through grueling but unnecessary treatments. Some didn't have cancer. (White, 7/9)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: Expert Hails Medicare Proposal To Reimburse End-of-Life Counseling
This week’s announcement that the federal government is proposing Medicare reimbursements for doctors who discuss end-of-life plans with their patients was one Christian Sinclair has been waiting for. Sinclair is a palliative care physician at the University of Kansas Medical Center who long has recognized the value of getting patients actively involved in planning the treatment they want when facing death before they get to that point. (Marso, 7/9)

The Associated Press: Illinois Medical Society Has Guide To End-of-Life Planning
The Illinois State Medical Society is reminding doctors and patients about a free resource to help with end-of-life planning discussions. Medicare announced Wednesday it plans to pay doctors to counsel patients about how they can make their wishes known about the care they want at the end of life. There is a 60-day comment period before the new regulation becomes final. (7/10)

Health Affairs: Reducing Medicaid Churning: Extending Eligibility For Twelve Months Or To End Of Calendar Year Is Most Effective
Medicaid churning—the constant exit and reentry of beneficiaries as their eligibility changes—has long been a problem ... Churning will continue under the Affordable Care Act because, despite new federal rules, Medicaid eligibility will continue to be based on current monthly income. We developed a longitudinal simulation model to evaluate four policy options for modifying or extending Medicaid eligibility to reduce churning. The simulations suggest that two options—extending eligibility either to the end of a calendar year or for twelve months after enrollment—would be the most effective methods for reducing churning. (Swartz, Farley Short, Roempke Graefe and Uberoi, 7/7)

Health Affairs: Lessons From Medicaid’s Divergent Paths On Mental Health And Addiction Services
Medicaid has taken divergent paths in financing mental health and addiction treatment. In mental health, Medicaid became the dominant source of funding and had a profound impact on the organization and delivery of services. But it played a much more modest role in addiction treatment. ... the Affordable Care Act is expected to dramatically expand Medicaid’s role in financing addiction services. In this article we ... identify strategic lessons that the addiction treatment system might take from mental health’s experience under Medicaid. These lessons include leveraging optional coverage categories to tailor Medicaid to the unique needs of the addiction treatment system, providing incentives to addiction treatment programs to create and deliver high-quality alternatives to inpatient treatment, and using targeted Medicaid licensure standards to increase the quality of addiction services. (Andrews, Grogan, Brennan and Pollack, 7/7)

The Kaiser Family Foundation: Medicare Advantage 2015 Spotlight: Enrollment Market Update
This Data Spotlight ... analyzes the most recent data on premiums, out-of-pocket limits, Part D cost sharing, and plans’ quality ratings for Medicare Advantage enrollees. ... Medicare Advantage enrollment has continued to grow and increased in virtually all states in 2015. Almost one in three (31 percent) people on Medicare (16.8 million beneficiaries) were enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan in March 2015 – up by more than one million beneficiaries from 2014. ... enrollment continues to be highly concentrated among large firms .... most enrollees continue to be in HMOs (64% in 2015). ... The share of enrollees in plans with 4 or more stars rose from 37 percent in 2013 to 61 percent in 2015. While growth in premiums has been relatively modest, ... plans provide less financial protection to Medicare enrollees than they have in the past. (Jacobson, Damico, Neuman and Gold, 6/30)

The Kaiser Family Foundation: Renewals In Medicaid And CHIP: Implementation Of Streamlined ACA Policies And The Potential Role Of Managed Care Plans
[T]his brief reviews the new renewal requirements for Medicaid and CHIP that are designed to maintain continuity of coverage for eligible individuals. ... While states have made significant progress implementing new enrollment processes, some aspects of the simplified renewal policies have not yet been fully implemented due to a range of challenges. While many states have been delayed in implementing the streamlined renewal policies, some states, including Washington and Rhode Island, have successfully implemented the new policies and achieved high retention rates with more than nine in ten enrollees successfully renewed. Managed care plans can support renewals by reminding members to renew and providing direct assistance with the renewal process. (Ryan and Artiga, 6/26)

Duke University Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law: Addressing Pricing Power In Integrated Delivery: The Limits Of Antitrust
The pricing power that hospitals have garnered recently has resulted from consolidated delivery systems and concentrated markets, leading to enhanced negotiating leverage. ... the frame of consolidation leads to unrealistic expectations for what antitrust’s role in addressing pricing power should be, especially because in the wake of two periods of merger “manias” and “frenzies” many markets already lack effective competition. It is particularly challenging for antitrust to address extant monopolies lawfully attained. New payment and delivery models being pioneered in Medicare, especially those built around accountable care organizations (ACOs), offer an opportunity to reduce pricing power, but only if they are implemented with a clear eye on the impact on prices in commercial insurance markets. (Berenson, 6/29)

Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association/Brookings: An Empirical Analysis Of The Financial Benefits Of Health Information Exchange In Emergency Departments
[Researchers sought to] examine the impact of health information exchange (HIE) on reducing laboratory tests and radiology examinations performed in an emergency department (ED). ... The study was conducted in an ED setting in Western New York over a period of 2 months. The care of the patients in the treatment group included an HIE query for every encounter, while the care of other patients in the control group did not include such queries. A group of medical liaisons were hired to query the medical history of patients from an HIE and provide it to the ED clinicians. ... HIE usage is associated with, respectively, 52% and 36% reduction in the expected total number of laboratory tests and radiology examinations ordered per patient at the ED. (Yaraghi, 6/27)

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

The Associated Press: Not Berry Good: US Adults Still Skimp On Fruit And Veggies
Most U.S. adults still aren't eating nearly enough fruits and vegetables. In a large national survey, only 13 percent said they ate the recommended amount of fruit each day. And only 9 percent ate enough vegetables. California — a big produce-growing state — ranked highest for eating both fruits and vegetables. Tennessee was at the bottom of the fruit list, and Mississippi was last in eating vegetables. (Stobbe, 7/9)

Reuters: Overuse Of Nursing Home Antibiotics May Put All Residents At Risk
Some nursing home facilities prescribe antibiotics more often than others, which is tied to increased health risks, even for residents who don’t receive the medications, according to a new study. About two-thirds of nursing home residents receive antibiotic treatment of some kind each year. Prescribing the drugs inappropriately increases the risk of medication reactions, allergies, diarrhea and infections by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the authors write in JAMA Internal Medicine. (Doyle, 7/1)

NPR: Teens Dying Of Cancer Face Intensive Treatments In The Final Days
In real life, most teenagers and young adults with terminal cancer have to suffer through chemotherapy and other intensive treatments in their final days of life, a study finds. ... For 68 percent of patients, those interventions include chemotherapy, treatment in the intensive care unit or emergency department, or hospitalization in their final month. The study, published in JAMA Oncology on Thursday, is the first of its kind to study end-of-life care for people ages 15 through 39. (Yang, 7/9)

CBS News: Cost Of Childbirth Varies Widely In U.S. Hospitals
Childbirth is the leading cause of hospital admission in the U.S., accounting for approximately four million hospitalizations each year. As standard as this procedure is, the prices that each hospital charges are not. In an effort to understand the huge difference in the cost of having a baby across the U.S., Xiao Xu, assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine and colleagues parsed data on nearly 275,000 low-risk childbirths at 463 hospitals across the country. They found that the cost of maternity stays can vary from as little as $1,200 to as much as $12,000. (Kraft, 7/9)

Reuters: Healthier Meals Do Cost Families More
Shopping for healthier groceries, like whole wheat bread instead of white bread and lean meat instead of fattier cuts, would cost a family of four about $1,500 more a year at their regular stores, according to a new U.S. study. The small survey focused on 23 families of children with type 1 diabetes. Parents are urged to feed kids with diabetes a low-fat diet, but they may need help with problem-solving skills to provide healthy foods without a heavy burden of extra costs or prep time, researchers say. (Doyle, 7/8)

Medscape: States Vary Widely On Who Gets Hep C Drugs Under Medicaid
Two studies published online June 29 in the Annals of Internal Medicine examine how states are deciding which Medicaid patients will get sofosbuvir, the $1000-per-pill treatment for hepatitis C that has a 90% cure rate. The authors of both studies find restrictions vary tremendously across states' Medicaid fee-for-service programs and often differ with guidelines set out by professional associations. One study says the restrictions violate the federal Medicaid law. (Frellick, 7/1)

Medscape: The Doctor Will See You Eventually: Long Wait Times Scrutinized
Across the United States there is large variability in how long Americans wait to see a healthcare professional, ranging from same-day service to several months, according to new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) .... Reducing wait times will take "systems-based approaches" akin to those applied successfully in other industries, the report says. (Brooks, 6/29)

Reuters: Overweight U.S. Women Need Better Pre-Pregnancy Counseling: Study
Better care and counseling is needed to teach overweight women hoping to become pregnant about the health dangers of their excess weight and the importance of maintaining a healthy diet, a new U.S. study concludes. Those excess pounds can lead to diabetes and high blood pressure, which increase the chances of pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia (dangerously high blood pressure and high protein in the urine), cesarean section, stillbirth or congenital abnormalities, lead author Dr. Abbey Berenson and her team write in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. (Neumann, 7/3)

Reuters: Treat 'Whole Person' By Bringing Behavioral Health Into Primary Care: Docs
In a new position paper, the American College of Physicians lays out six strategies for bringing mental health and substance abuse care into primary care to better treat each patient as “a whole person.” Mental and behavioral health issues like inappropriate eating behaviors, sedentary lifestyle, and patterns of social isolation, are common, and have been linked to increased physical illness, higher mortality rates, poorer treatment outcomes and higher healthcare costs, the ACP committee writes in the Annals of Internal Medicine. (Doyle, 7/2)

Fox News: Cancer Forecast: Why More People Will Die, Even As Death Rates Fall
Cancer death rates will continue to decline in the United States through 2020, including death rates from some of the most common cancers in both men and women, a new study says. However, because the population is growing and getting older, the total number of cancer deaths will increase during that same period, the researchers said. The increases will be most pronounced among black and white men and black women, they said. (Rettner, 7/7)

Politico: 21st Century Cures: Helping Americans Live Longer, Healthier Lives
Hardly anyone amongst us has been spared the heartache of seeing someone battle for their life against an incurable disease. In those moments, we invariably ask ourselves: “What more can we do?” Over the last year, members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee have put that question to doctors, patients, experts, and medical innovators across the country, and their input has formed the foundation of a bipartisan initiative called “21st Century Cures.” (House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, 7/9)

Los Angeles Times: Will Mergers Stifle Healthcare Reform?
The 2010 healthcare reform law was supposed to promote competition among insurers, and for many policyholders it's done just that. These days, though, the insurance industry is going through a wave of mergers that threatens to leave consumers with fewer choices. There's no single motivation behind the mergers, although they all reflect the changing economics of healthcare. ... The obvious risk posed by the current merger wave is that the Medicare Advantage and Medicaid HMO markets in some states could become dominated by a single insurer, raising prices for consumers and potentially driving doctors out. Such problems can be addressed to some degree by ordering the merging companies to sell some operations to rivals in states with too few competitors. The subtler but no less important issue is the threat that consolidation poses to innovation. (7/9)

The Washington Post: From $1,200 To $12,000: Why Nobody Can Figure Out How Much Childbirth Actually Costs
If any single fact illuminates why reining in health care spending is going to be easier said than done, it might be this: we don't even really know why a typical, low-risk childbirth costs $1,200 at some hospitals and $12,000 at others. In fact, until recently it was unclear how much variation there was in the cost of childbirth in the first place. A new Health Affairs study examined nearly 275,000 low-risk childbirths at 463 hospitals spread across the country and reported the ten-fold spread in the cost of having a baby. The good thing is that widely varying costs like this suggest big opportunities for savings. (Carolyn Johnson, 7/9)

Los Angeles Times: Medicare To Help People Make The Toughest Choices For Themselves
The Obama administration's move this week to promote end-of-life planning is a belated win for Medicare doctors, who will soon be able to bill the program for more of the time they spend counseling patients on that subject. More important, though, it is a win for Medicare patients. There's a reason so many medical professionals want people to go through the process of completing an advance directive -- a set of instructions telling doctors what to do with them in the event they're incapacitated. They want individuals who are faced with crucial decisions about their care to make them for themselves. (Jon Healey, 7/9)

The Washington Post: Why Republicans Won’t Object To The Return Of ‘Death Panels’
There was a lot about the period leading up to the passage of the Affordable Care Act that was ridiculous and maddening, but perhaps no episode was worse than the controversy over “death panels.” Here you had a small provision of the bill that doctors, patient advocates, and health care experts all agreed would lead to better care, not to mention cost savings. Then Republicans concocted a lie about it, spread that lie as far as they could, and finally saw the provision removed from the final legislation. Well, now Medicare is finally doing what that provision of the ACA would have done. (Paul Waldman, 7/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Is There A Doctor On The House?
Like most Americans of a certain age, I spend a fair amount of money on health care. Even with good insurance coverage, I still have to shell out a couple thousand bucks every year for assorted issues. I get a bad cold at least twice a year and need to visit the doctor to get antibiotics. That usually means several visits. I also get my cholesterol and blood sugar levels checked every few months. Lately I’ve been getting treatment for a chronic ear infection. And I visit an acupuncturist every two weeks to ease the pain from a cyst on my spine. The doctors I visit do a terrific job. I have no complaints whatsoever about the level of care they provide. My only problem is: Why don’t they ever buy me a free round? (Joe Queenan, 7/9)

The Charlotte Observer: ACA Is Saving My Daughter, But Others Aren't So Lucky
My daughter, Rose, was born with a congenital heart defect, what insurance companies before 2014 would have called a “pre-existing condition.” Fortunately, she had insurance as a child, but more than once I thought, “What if she didn’t?” At its best, that euphemism “pre-existing condition” disguised barbaric treatment for the most vulnerable. The Affordable Care Act ended this choice for insurance companies. My daughter just graduated from college and has good affordable health insurance through healthcare.gov. Before she even entered adolescence, I had seen my daughter have two open heart surgeries. The surgeon broke her breast bone, the surgical team stopped her heart and put her on a heart-lung machine. Believe me, I don’t want her to undergo any more surgeries, but I do want my daughter to get the health care she needs to live her life. The Affordable Care Act gives her and many others that freedom. (Kathy Kyle, 7/9)

The Kansas City Star: Obamacare Foes Should Ditch Consistency For Compromise
A couple of weeks ago, right after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that one faulty sentence in the Affordable Care Act shouldn’t be used to throw the federal law into chaos, I noticed a statement sent via Twitter by U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, the Republican congresswoman from eastern Missouri. “Today’s SCOTUS decision doesn’t change the fact that Obamacare is deeply flawed and puts an undue burden on Americans,” she said. ... I indulged myself by posting a mildly sarcastic (by Twitter standards) rejoinder to Wagner’s tweet. ... That earned me a cyberspace rebuke from one of Wagner’s supporters, who said: “Consistency of stance is a good thing, right? The media would go bananas if Ann changed her opinion, and yet you mock her.” You know, it really is a brutal world out there, in the frothing sinkholes of social media, talk radio and cable news. And I suppose there would be hell to pay for any member of Congress who announced, “In light of the latest Supreme Court ruling, I will be meeting with members of the party across the aisle to seek common ground on Obamacare going forward.” (Barbara Shelly, 7/9)

Health Affairs: Medicaid At 50: Remarkable Growth Fueled By Unexpected Politics
Medicaid has grown exponentially since the mid-1980s, during both conservative Republican and liberal Democratic administrations. How has this happened? The answer is rooted in three political variables: interest groups, political culture, and American federalism. (Michael S. Sparer, 7/7)

JAMA: King v. Burwell: Subsidizing US Health Insurance For Low- And Middle-Income Individuals
In the aftermath of King v Burwell, a vital pillar of affordable access remains—subsidies for low- and middle-income individuals. After 2 elections, ongoing legal challenges (including 2 Supreme Court cases), and numerous repeal bills, political divisions should be put aside to ensure the social contract underlying the ACA. In a decent and just society, those who are relatively well-off, young, and healthy make it possible for everyone to access the care they need. If it is too easy for individuals, businesses, and states to opt out of this social bargain, the edifice of affordable care could unravel and with it the promise of a healthier, more secure population. (Lawrence O. Gostin, Mary C. DeBartolo and Daniel A. Hougendobler, 7/9)