The New York Times: When You Dial 911 And Wall Street Answers
The business of driving ambulances and operating fire brigades represents just one facet of a profound shift on Wall Street and Main Street alike, a New York Times investigation has found. Since the 2008 financial crisis, private equity firms, the “corporate raiders” of an earlier era, have increasingly taken over a wide array of civic and financial services that are central to American life. Today, people interact with private equity when they dial 911, pay their mortgage, play a round of golf or turn on the kitchen tap for a glass of water. Private equity put a unique stamp on these businesses. Unlike other for-profit companies, which often have years of experience making a product or offering a service, private equity is primarily skilled in making money. (Ivory, Protess and Bennett, 6/25)

Minnesota Public Radio: Buying Health Coverage Outside Work? Get Used To Less Choice
Blue Cross this week said it was on track to lose $500 million on individual coverage over three years. That cash hemorrhage was the main reason the company announced it was pulling back on nearly all its offerings for people who buy insurance on their own, outside of work. The decision means some 100,000 Minnesotans will be looking for new health insurance plans for next year. (Moylan, 6/24)

Star-Tribune: Blue Cross Says Individual Market Plans Will Offer Limited Choices Next Year
In a sign of continuing tumult in the health insurance industry, the state’s largest insurer said Thursday it will no longer offer its traditional suite of flexible and broad-reaching policies for those consumers who don’t get coverage through the workplace. Instead, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota will sell only health plans with a narrow network, which limits patient coverage to specific doctors, hospitals and prescription drug benefits. (Crosby, 6/24)

The Associated Press: Blue Cross Eyes Exit From Minnesota Individual Market
Gov. Mark Dayton said his administration will help enrollees on lapsing plans find new coverage for 2017, cited the strides Minnesota has made in lowering the number of uninsured residents in recent years and stressed that the company’s departure “will not imperil that progress.” (Potter, 6/24)

Kaiser Health News: Minnesota's Largest Health Insurer To Drop Individual Plans
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota will retreat from the sale of health plans to individuals and families in the state starting next year. The insurer, Minnesota's largest, said extraordinary financial losses drove the decision. "Based on current medical claim trends, Blue Cross is projecting a total loss of more than $500 million in the individual [health plan] segment over three years," the insurer said in an emailed statement. The Blues reported a loss of $265 million on insurance operations from individual market plans in 2015. The insurer said claims for medical care far exceeded premium revenue for those plans. (Zdechlik, 5/27)

PBS NewsHour: Unexpected Medical Bills Can Cost American Consumers Thousands
It’s a growing frustration for many Americans: surprisingly high medical bills that they are struggling to pay. In some cases, patients are surprised to learn that they received care from an out-of-network doctor in an in-network hospital, long after an emergency room visit has passed. (6/26)

PBS NewsHour: Americans Who Confronted ‘Surprise’ Medical Bills Share Their Stories
Last year, Consumer Reports found 30 percent of Americans with private health insurance have received surprise bills, where their insurance plan paid less than they expected. Of those, 23 percent received a bill from a doctor they didn’t expect to get a bill from. And 14 percent said they were charged higher out-of-network rates by doctors they thought were in-network. (Ponsot and Moritz-Rabson, 6/26)

Meanwhile, Hispanic immigrants in Baltimore are struggling with health care costs —

Kaiser Health News: For Many In Baltimore’s Growing Latino Community, Health Care Is A Challenge
[Cecilia Ramirez's] predicament is shared by thousands of Hispanic immigrants in East Baltimore, and millions nationally, who cannot afford regular medical services and are uninsured because they lack the benefits attached to legal U.S. residency and citizenship. Ramirez’s parents came illegally to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 10. Her immigration status now — “lawfully present” — allows her to work and study here without fear of deportation, but she has no path to citizenship. She is ineligible for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act or any public insurance program. (Anft, 6/27)

The Fiscal Times: Governor Takes Aim At Kentucky’s Medicaid Expansion Program
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin promised after taking office in January that he would not dismantle his state’s highly successful Medicaid expansion program, despite the Tea Party conservative’s many reservations. However, that hasn’t stopped him from pressing for dramatic changes that would toughen eligibility, reduce benefits, impose new fees and force tens of thousands of low-income adults off the rolls. On Wednesday Bevin unveiled a comprehensive waiver request he is submitting to the Department of Health and Human Services to alter the program – one that startled some health care advocates for the poor. (Pianin, 6/24)

Louisville (Ky.) Courier Journal: Storm Clouds Gather Around Ky Medicaid Plan
Bevin's plan has stirred up a storm among health advocates opposed to changes that would have a profound impact on hundreds of thousands of the 1.3 million Kentuckians on Medicaid -- including the 440,000 people added since 2014 under the expansion under the federal Affordable Care Act. And they are gearing up to fight it during the extensive public comment period required before any action by the federal government, which pays for the majority of Kentucky's $10-billion-a-year Medicaid program and must approve the changes. "Harsh new barriers to coverage," is how Jason Bailey, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy described Bevin's complex plan laid out in a 69-page document released Wednesday. (Yetter, 6/24)

The (Baton Rouge, La.) Advocate: Louisiana Officials Praise Medicaid Expansion; 225,900 Have Signed Up As Of Friday
As of Friday, the state had already hit 225,900, a feat that has been praised by people from across the country. ... Much of the [enrollment] effort has relied on existing infrastructure or help from outside entities. Louisiana became the first state in the country to link Medicaid enrollment to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, after having won the approval of the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. ... Louisiana also was able to auto-enroll people benefitting from an existing program in the state’s Take Charge Plus program that primarily provided reproductive health care services, including birth control and sexually transmitted infection testing; as well as the Greater New Orleans Community Health Connection, a post-Katrina system of health clinics. (Crisp, 6/26)

The New York Times: Suit Challenges U.S. Over Abortions And Birth Control For Immigrant Minors
The federal government is placing unaccompanied immigrant minors caught crossing the Southern border, including teenage girls who were raped on the journey north, in the care of religion-based agencies that refuse to provide legally required access to contraception and abortion, according to a lawsuit filed on Friday. Like the dispute over the requirement that health plans cover contraception, the lawsuit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against the Department of Health and Human Services, highlights a clash between federal rules and the beliefs of Roman Catholic and other groups that say they are exempt from the requirements on grounds of religious freedom. (Eckholm, 6/24)

Health News Florida: AHCA Ordered To Pay Legal Fees To Planned Parenthood
An administrative law judge on Friday ordered the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration to pay attorney's fees to Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, Inc., in a legal tussle over abortion. (6/26)

The Denver Post: Would Amendment 69 Limit Access To Abortion In Colorado?
The ballot campaign to create universal health care in Colorado drew an unlikely and prominent opponent this week: NARAL ProChoice Colorado, one of the state’s leading abortion rights groups. The organization — more accustomed to fighting to expand health care services — is opposing Amendment 69 because it worries that the measure could limit access to abortion care. (Frank, 6/24)

Modern Healthcare: Will Trump Embrace Controversial House GOP Health Proposals?
After promising for six years to offer a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, House Republican leaders last week presented a white paper that House Speaker Paul Ryan called “a real plan, in black and white” to “make healthcare actually affordable.” (Meyer, 6/25)

CNN Money: Fiscal Showdown: Clinton Vs. Trump On Spending, Taxes And Debt
Neither Trump nor Clinton has proposed a plan to deal with the debt, nor have they talked much about spending on big entitlements, such as Medicare, which are key drivers of that burgeoning debt. (Sahadi, 6/26)

The Wall Street Journal: How Telemedicine Is Transforming Health Care
After years of big promises, telemedicine is finally living up to its potential. Driven by faster internet connections, ubiquitous smartphones and changing insurance standards, more health providers are turning to electronic communications to do their jobs—and it’s upending the delivery of health care. Doctors are linking up with patients by phone, email and webcam. They’re also consulting with each other electronically—sometimes to make split-second decisions on heart attacks and strokes. (Beck, 6/26)

The Wall Street Journal: To Get Doctors To Do The Right Thing, Try Comparing Them To Their Peers
Can an electronic nudge help doctors do the right thing when it comes to patient care? Health-care providers are exploring how electronic record keeping and digital communication can be used to influence doctors on a wide range of actions, including following up on worrisome test results, making a correct diagnosis and choosing the right treatment. The challenge: getting doctors to accept prodding that might interfere with their own judgment or intentions when they already feel overloaded with electronic alerts, reminders and other messages. (Landro, 6/26)

The Hill: Study Slams Hospitals For Lax Use Of Passwords
New research is raising serious questions about the cybersecurity practices of hospitals. The study, conducted by Ross Koppel of the Univerisity of Pennsylvania, found that sticky notes with passwords were prevalent in hospitals; that employees shared passwords; that keypad-protected doors to medical supply rooms often had passwords written on them; and that clinicians left computers logged on as a courtesy to whoever needed to use them next. (Uchill, 6/24)

The Wall Street Journal: How Technology Can Deliver Broad Improvements In Health Care
As director of the Institute for Population Health Improvement at the University of California, Davis, Kenneth W. Kizer brings plenty of experience in the use of technology to help manage large populations. A physician by training who is board-certified in several specialties, Dr. Kizer was California’s top health official before serving as undersecretary for health in the Department of Veterans Affairs in the 1990s. At the VA, he is credited with modernizing the nation’s largest health system, including adopting one of the first major electronic health records systems. ... He recently answered questions from The Wall Street Journal’s Laura Landro. (Landro, 6/26)

Modern Healthcare: The Other Victims Of Gun Violence
Over the past five years, Ryder’s medical teams have treated 2,753 gunshot victims, an average of 550 a year, or more than one patient a day, every day of the year.The demographic stays pretty constant—mostly young men, mostly poor, often people of color without any way to pay for lifesaving surgery. Of those 2,753 victims, 45% were uninsured, according to Jackson, which is a public, not-for-profit hospital. (Korten, 6/25)

Orlando Sentinel: First Responders 'Resilient' But Coping After Pulse Shooting
When first responders went into Pulse nightclub to retrieve victims' bodies from the floor, a symphony of familiar ringtones met their ears. They knew each ring meant families of the dead were desperately trying to reach their loved ones after learning of the mass shooting. (Doornbos, 6/25)

And, the fund to help victims of the Orlando mass shooting pay for health care is expected to fall short —

Marketplace: Many Injured During Orlando Mass Shooting Struggle To Pay Medical Bills
Victims of this month’s mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida continue to receive medical care. But while Florida has set aside special funds to help these people pay their bills, the money is expected to fall short of the total tab. (Gorenstein, 6/23)

Stat: Inside A Monkey Lab, Research Gets Fast-Tracked In The ‘Zika Room’
Primate research is usually slow and secretive, its protocols vetted and tweaked and vetted again before being carried out by a special team of veterinarians and technicians. But as more and more Zika-infected women start giving birth to babies with defects, a handful of labs — including the one here at the University of Wisconsin, Madison — have fast-tracked the process. (Boodman, 6/27)

The Washington Post: Without Federal Funding, Counties Brace To Confront Zika On Their Own
Communities across the country are preparing for the arrival of the Zika virus, but they aren’t preparing equally. One county is ready to leap into action with a fleet of helicopters and planes to spray for disease-transmitting mosquitoes. Others facing a similar risk of the disease can’t afford much more than educational coloring books. Some localities have signed up private contractors to wage war on disease-carrying mosquitoes. For others, the only line of defense is an overworked parks employee responsible for all kinds of maintenance — “Chuck in the truck,” as one expert put it. (Dennis and Sun, 6/25)

The Boston Globe: In Florida, The Politics Of Zika Matter
Anxious residents are looking to health experts to help them cope with the dangers of Zika, a virus that can result in devastating birth defects. In a presidential election that Democrats hope will hinge on questions of competent leadership, Hillary Clinton is pouncing on the public health threat. (Jan, 6/26)

The Associated Press: Florida Keys Delays Residents' Vote On GMO Mosquitoes
Florida Keys officials have delayed a referendum on releasing genetically modified mosquitoes to reduce the population of a disease-carrying species. (6/24)

The Associated Press: Scott Orders State To Spend $26 Million On Zika Fight
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is ordering the state to spend millions to battle mosquitoes and prepare for the Zika virus. Scott on Thursday used his emergency powers to authorize spending up to $26.2 million on everything from killing mosquitoes to the purchase of Zika prevention kits. The Florida Department of Health will send the money to counties and mosquito districts. (6/24)

Cincinnati Enquirer: NKY Reports First Case Of Zika Virus
With summer barely a week old, Northern Kentucky public health officials announced Friday that a Boone County man is the area’s first resident to come down with Zika virus after he visited an area where the illness has been found. Ohio, meanwhile, recorded its first sexual transmission of Zika virus, in a 61-year-old Lucas County woman whose husband traveled to a country with active transmission. He also positive for the virus. They are Ohio’s 15th and 16th Zika virus cases. (Daly and Saker, 6/24)

Chicago Tribune: Health Officials Monitor Zika And West Nile Viruses
With the onset of summer and the recent upsurge of confirmed Zika virus cases in the United States, local health departments are working to raise awareness of the disease and of West Nile disease. (Anderson, 6/24)

PoliticoPro: Texas Launches $2 Million Zika Awareness Ad Campaign
Texas launches as $2 million Zika awareness campaign; New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs opioid legislation; Rhode Island's state employee health plan begins covering transgender health services. (Ehley, 6/27)

NPR: Inside A Secret Government Warehouse Prepped For Health Catastrophes
When Greg Burel tells people he's in charge of some secret government warehouses, he often gets asked if they're like the one at the end of the Raiders of the Lost Ark, when the Ark of the Covenant gets packed away in a crate and hidden forever. "Well, no, not really," says Burel, director of a program called the Strategic National Stockpile at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thousands of lives might someday depend on this stockpile, which holds all kinds of medical supplies that the officials would need in the wake of a terrorist attack with a chemical, biological or nuclear weapon. (Greenfieldboyce, 6/27)

The Wall Street Journal: MIT Researchers Aim To Conduct Health Checkup On City In Its Sewers
A team of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is plumbing the sewers of Boston and Cambridge, Mass., for microbes and other agents of human disease and suffering. The purpose: By testing raw sewage, public-health officials may be able to conduct a health checkup on a city or neighborhood in real time. (Ward, 6/26)

The Columbus Dispatch: Some Doctors Slam Anti-Obesity Device As ‘Medically Sanctioned Bulimia’
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the device, called AspireAssist. It’s a pump inserted into patients’ stomachs that allows them to drain a portion of the meals they eat. The product is proving to be controversial among bariatric experts. (Tate, 6/26)

The Washington Post: You Have One Week To Tell The Government What To Do About Cancer
Have an idea about how to make progress against cancer? The federal government wants to know, but the suggestion box closes next Friday. For months, the National Cancer Institute has been gathering research ideas from the public and experts around the country via a special portal, CancerResearchIdeas.cancer.gov. The suggestions are being funneled to seven working groups looking for the best opportunities for speeding up progress against cancer. But the NCI is facing a series of deadlines, so the portal will be shut down at end of the next work week. (McGinley, 6/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Why Knowing Your Genetic Data Can Be A Tricky Proposition
Personal genome sequencing may be the next great technology frontier in public health—but how do patients feel about knowing, sharing and acting on their genetic information? That’s a question researchers are exploring as more health-care providers, companies and research groups begin providing results of personal genome sequencing to patients and their doctors. (Landro, 6/26)

Kaiser Health News: Flu-Miffed: Piecing Together Clues On How FluMist Lost Its Place In The Flu-Fighting Toolbox
What led to the abrupt fall of FluMist -- the nasal spray version of influenza vaccine -- which until recently was considered the preferred alternative to the injectable vaccine for younger children? No one is quite sure, but there were hints of trouble for the past three flu seasons. (Appleby, 5/24)

The Wall Street Journal: The Difficult Ethics Of Organ Donations From Living Donors
Robert Osterrieder, a 52-year-old project manager, returned home to Pittsburgh from a business trip complaining about problems with his vision. Two days later, he was in the hospital on a ventilator. For the next five months, Mr. Osterrieder fought for his life. His brain swelled, and he underwent numerous medical procedures. He struggled with pneumonia and needed a feeding tube. Finally, as he lay in the hospital unconscious and with little likelihood of recovery, his family decided to remove his life support. But first, they wanted him to become an organ donor. Organ transplants are based on a longstanding rule: You can only take vital organs—a heart, for instance, or both kidneys—from someone who is dead. And removing any organ cannot be the cause of the donor’s death. (Dockser Marcus, 6/26)

The Baltimore Sun: New Pain Drug Being Developed At University Of Maryland Could Offer Relief Without Addiction
Researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore have developed a new drug that promises a possible breakthrough by offering strong pain relief while lowering the risk of addiction. (Wells, 6/24)

Bloomberg: Chili Peppers Could Free Us From Opioids
About 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain—more than those living with diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined, according to the Institute of Medicine. ... The problem with narcotics is that in treating pain they affect an area of the brain that registers intense pleasure. Centrexion’s drugs are designed to target pain directly, without triggering the brain’s reward system. (Koons 6/27)

Concord Monitor: New Pain Prescribing Guidelines Fuel Concern Over Legislating Medical Care
When Gov. Maggie Hassan and the attorney general’s office recommended changing the guidelines for prescribing opioids this fall, responses from New Hampshire doctors quickly poured in – and they weren’t positive. “I just scanned this quickly, and I may be missing something, but my impression is to throw it out and start all over,” one health provider wrote on an anonymous feedback form. “This is terrible.” (Nilsen, 6/26)

Minnesota Public Radio: Do Nurses Strikes Harm Patients? It's A Definite Maybe
Brier Grote, an intensive care nurse at Abbott Northwestern, said she had four weeks of orientation training when she was hired. While she and about 4,800 other nurses are on strike this week, they're being replaced with nurses who had just a few days of training before they began work. That's worrisome for the nurses union. However, it's unclear to what extent nurses strikes have an impact on patient safety. At this point, the issue of safety at Allina hospitals is little more than a war of words between the union and management. (Benson, 6/24)

The Associated Press: Minneapolis Area Nurses Back To Work Following Strike
Thousands of nurses returned to work Sunday at five Allina Health hospitals in the Minneapolis area following a seven-day strike mainly over the cost of their health insurance. The Minnesota Nurses Association and its 4,800 members began their strike June 19 after failing to negotiate a new three-year contract with Allina Health. (6/26)

Star Tribune: Return Of Allina Health Nurses Goes Smoothly; Bargaining Has Yet To Restart
Allina Health hospital nurses returned to work without incident Sunday morning after a seven-day strike, and both sides remain uncertain where contract talks are headed. Allina President and CEO Dr. Penny Wheeler went to United Hospital in St. Paul for the 7 a.m. shift change between replacement nurses and union members, and she came away impressed: “Everyone was professional, compassionate and focused on the patients,” she said. (Lonetree, 6/26)

The Boston Globe: Tense Talks Led To Brigham, Nurses Deal
With help from Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who played the role of unofficial mediator throughout the weekend even though he was out of town, Brigham and the Massachusetts Nurses Association found a late-night compromise that averted what would have been the largest nurses strike ever in the state on Monday. (Dayal McCluskey, 6/26)

WBUR: Possible Nurses Strike At Brigham And Women's Hospital Averted
Nurses reached a tentative agreement with Brigham and Women's Hospital early Sunday morning, averting a walkout planned for Monday. The hospital had been preparing for a strike by canceling appointments, transferring patients and training nearly 700 replacement nurses. It would have been the first nurses' strike in Boston in more than 30 years. (Bebinger, 6/26)

The Associated Press: Report: Lead Levels Higher In Flint Kids After Water Switch
Flint children under the age of 6 had significantly higher blood-lead levels after the city switched its water source in 2014 to save money, according to a report released Friday by U.S. disease experts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's report said the likelihood a child would have a concerning blood-lead level — at least 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood — was about 50 percent higher after the April 2014 switch from Detroit's water system to the Flint River. (6/24)

Reuters: Flint Children's Blood Lead Levels Rose In Water Crisis: U.S. Officials
Federal health officials on Friday confirmed that the blood lead levels of children in Flint, Michigan, rose after the city switched to the Flint River as the source of its drinking water, exposing residents to dangerously high contamination. Flint, with a population of about 100,000, was under control of a state-appointed emergency manager in 2014 when it switched its water source to the river from Detroit's municipal system to save money. The city switched back in October. (6/24)

The Washington Post: New Data Shows Blood Lead Levels Spiked In Children In Flint, Mich.
Researchers found that Flint children had a 50 percent higher chance of having elevated blood lead levels after the switch in 2014. After the city switched back to Detroit water in late 2015, the percentage of children with elevated blood lead results "returned to levels seen before the water switch took place," the agency said. "This crisis was entirely preventable, and a startling reminder of the critical need to eliminate all sources of lead from our children's environment," Patrick Breysse, director of the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, said in a statement Friday. (Dennis, 6/24)

Los Angeles Times: Lead Exposure Soared After Kids In Flint Started Drinking Tainted Water, CDC Says
In Michigan, children living at or below the poverty line are targeted for lead screenings, and children enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program are required have their blood tested for lead around their first and second birthdays. High lead exposure, especially in children under 6, can slow growth, reduce intelligence and attentiveness, and cause behavioral problems. (Daley, 6/24)

Meanwhile, in Ohio —

The Columbus Dispatch: Former DuPont Employee Testifies She Sent News Releases Saying Water Was Fine
Dawn D. Jackson believed she was telling her Ohio River Valley neighbors the truth about C8 back in 2000. Her employer, DuPont, said the chemical used to make Teflon was not a cancer risk to humans and that only low levels had been detected in drinking water. It was as safe as "dishwashing soap," the company said. ... But the information was as tainted as the water DuPont dumped into the Ohio River for 53 years, attorney Gary Douglas said. (Rinehart, 6/25)

The Denver Post: Colorado 1 Of 6 States That Don’t Require Criminal Background Checks For Nurses
Nurses with convictions for sexual offenses, drug thefts and crimes of violence have escaped detection under Colorado’s porous system for licensing health care workers, which has far fewer protections than most states. (Osher, 6/26)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: For-Profits Are Snapping Up Nursing Homes
Nonprofits sell facilities for many reasons: They need the money, change their mission, or succumb to financial pressures on the industry largely caused by heavy reliance on the federal government's low-paying Medicaid program. Whatever the reason, the shift of 5,000 beds comes at a critical time. (Brubaker, 6/24)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Welcome To Death Café, A Place To Discuss End-Of-Life Decisions
Death Café was founded in London in 2011 by Jon Underwood, who was concerned that discussions about death had been co-opted by doctors, funeral directors and religious leaders. He wanted everyone to feel comfortable talking about one of life’s most important events. The groups have expanded worldwide, including outposts in St. Louis County, St. Charles and Belleville. (Bernhard, 6/27)

ProPublica: Florida Cracks Down On Troubled For-Profit Facility For The Disabled
After years of tepid action, Florida officials are moving to intensify monitoring and remove residents from a sprawling complex for the disabled that has a long history of abuse and neglect. The state is taking the unusual step of stationing an investigator at the Carlton Palms Educational Center and forming a special team to closely watch over staff and residents, documents obtained by ProPublica show. Residents will eventually be relocated to new homes. (Vogell, 6/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: Meningococcal Outbreak Prompts SF Warning On Pride Weekend
A meningococcal outbreak in Southern California that has mostly infected gay men prompted San Francisco health officials Friday to issue a warning on the eve of Pride weekend and a plea for people to get inoculated against the disease. The warning came after state health officials announced that nine people in the Los Angeles and Orange County area have tested positive for the bacterial disease, which is spread through nose and throat secretions. One of them died from the infection. “Here in San Francisco it is Pride week, with lots of visitors from around the state, the country and the world coming to town to celebrate,” Dr. Naveena Bobba, deputy health officer for San Francisco, said in a statement. (Veklerov, 6/24)

The Austin Statesman: UT To Open Medical School In Austin After 135 Years
The University of Texas will open an Austin medical school in July nearly 135 years after the university was founded in the city without one, the Austin American-Statesman reported Saturday. When the university system was established in 1881, Texas voters decided the main university would be in Austin and the medical school in Galveston, then the largest Texas city, where it remains. The medical school's backers say that it will improve health care for Austin's low-income residents and spur economic development. (6/25)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Area Seen As A Major Hub For Medicare Fraud
The "patients" were rounded up at McDonald's near the downtown bus station, lured by the promise of $50 or $100 and a free ride to a Houston clinic if they reported neck, back or hip pain, or other vague complaints. The clinic physician noted the symptoms and ordered costly diagnostic tests - renal ultrasounds, electrocardiograms, anal sphincter exams - at Medicare's expense. (Banks, 6/24)

The Tennessean: Nashville Health-Care Entrepreneurs, Village Capital Team Up
Village Capital, an investment nonprofit focused on global issues, will be working with Nashville health-care entrepreneurs to provide digital solutions targeting low-income patients as part of a partnership with the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Village Capital, along with Michigan-based The Kresge Foundation, chose Nashville, Philadelphia and San Francisco for its initiative.(McGee, 6/24)

The Dallas Morning News: Second Texas Man Could Lose Leg To Flesh-Eating Bacteria
A Buda man who traveled to Port Aransas to enjoy the Father's Day weekend with his family is now fighting an infection from a flesh-eating bacteria...Within a few days, [his rash] got worse and a doctor diagnosed him with Vibrio vulnificus -- a bacteria caused by eating under-cooked shellfish or getting contaminated water into a cut or open wound. (Cardona, 6/27)

The Columbus Dispatch: Central Ohio School Districts Weigh Later Starts To School Day
The drumbeat for later starting times for school seems to be getting louder. This month, the American Medical Association joined the American Academy of Pediatrics in calling on middle schools and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. Chronic sleep deprivation among teenagers, the groups say, can impair immune systems and lead to unhealthy body weight, poor memory and mood disorders. (Gilchrist, 6/27)

The New York Times: Can You Get Over An Addiction?
There are, speaking broadly, two schools of thought on addiction: The first was that my brain had been chemically “hijacked” by drugs, leaving me no control over a chronic, progressive disease. The second was simply that I was a selfish criminal, with little regard for others, as much of the public still seems to believe. (When it’s our own loved ones who become addicted, we tend to favor the first explanation; when it’s someone else’s, we favor the second.) We are long overdue for a new perspective — both because our understanding of the neuroscience underlying addiction has changed and because so many existing treatments simply don’t work. (Maia Szalavitz, 6/25)

Stat: Senators Hatch And Wyden: Do Your Jobs And Release The Sealed Opioids Report
Like many Americans, I want to know how we got to the point that nearly 30,000 of our fellow countrymen and women died last year from overdosing on opioid painkillers. Answers, lots of answers, are to be found in a report written by staff working in the the US Senate. But the senators overseeing the report have failed to release it. (Paul D. Thacker, 6/27)

Georgia Health News: Young Victims Of The Opioid Epidemic Need Specialized Strategies
Just a few years ago, the words “opioid epidemic” would have raised moderate public concern at best. Now, not a day goes by without news reports citing the latest statistics on overdose deaths and the most recent political initiative to combat the raging trend in drug abuse. The numbers are staggering. Opioid-related overdose deaths – primarily due to prescription painkillers and heroin – have more than quadrupled since 2000. Georgia is among the states where the increase has been particularly steep: more than 10 percent since 2013. (Michael L. Fishman, 6/24)

Detroit Free-Press: In Easing Chronic Pain, Marijuana May Be A Better Choice
Chronic pain is a tremendous public health problem. The Institute of Medicine estimates chronic pain affects 100 million Americans at an estimated annual cost of $600 billion. But the rampant use of opioids to treat chronic pain stands out as the least-defensible and most-harmful of our maltreatments. Many U.S. physicians remain resistant to this, though I would argue other options should be considered. (Daniel Clauw, 6/25)

The Hill: Health Insurance Mergers Put Consumers Last
Cigna's chief executive recently admitted what many have expected: the health insurance mega-mergers are running into regulatory resistance and approvals may not be forthcoming, if at all, until next year. Rightly so. The Justice Department should reject these mergers that would result in three $100 billion companies controlling the U.S. health insurance industry. (John A. Quelch, 6/24)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Public Deserves Info On Anthem-Cigna Plan
In the matter of the proposed Anthem-Cigna deal, New Hampshire health consumers and businesses deserve better than they appear to be getting from their attorney general and insurance commissioner. If Gov. Maggie Hassan weren't so busy running for U.S. Senate, could she perhaps get some answers? (6/25)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Part B Drug Proposal Deserves Support
Medicare's first step in reining in the skyrocketing cost of specialty drugs deserves support—something it has not received from hospitals, doctors, politicians or, of course, the pharmaceutical industry, which benefits the most from the status quo. (Merrill Goozner, 6/25)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Stop The Proposed Part B Drug Demonstration Project
As a local rheumatologist who treats Medicare patients, I am deeply concerned by a recent proposal from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that could result in further payment cuts for Medicare Part B drugs. If implemented, this mandatory payment model test would wreak havoc on patients and cause massive access and safety problems. Many rheumatologists have already been forced to stop administering biologic therapies to Medicare patients suffering from arthritis, lupus, and other rheumatic diseases because the current Part B payment structure does not cover the cost of obtaining and providing these complex therapies to patients. (Kerry Burte, 6/24)

The Washington Post: Paul Ryan’s Flimsy Health Plan
It has been more than six years since the Affordable Care Act passed and nearly three years since its major provisions began phasing in. During that time, the rate of uninsured Americans has plummeted to a historic low. Also during that time, Republicans have blamed the law for practically every problem with the health-care system, the economy and more. But they have infamously not united behind a credible alternative. (6/26)

Chicago Tribune: When The Feds Overreach: A Hospital Merger That Should Happen
Earlier this month, a federal judge green-lighted the merger of two major Chicago-area hospital systems. He slapped down the Federal Trade Commission's argument that the combination of the systems would cut competition and lead to higher health care prices. Because we start from the long-held belief that markets generally operate best with the least government interference, we think the judge got this one right. (6/24)

Philadelphia Daily News: Supreme Court's Upcoming Ruling Has Direct Ties To Philly
For months, [Kermit Gosnell's] name has been dropped again and again by anti-choice advocates in Texas who are invoking Gosnell to justify restrictions that have made it harder than ever for women to exercise their legal right to an abortion. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule whether those restrictions are justified or are unjustly blocking a woman's right to choose to end her pregnancy. (Ronnie Polaneczky, 6/27)

Lexington Herald Leader: Bevin Misfires On Medicaid Makeover
The Medicaid revamp proposed by Gov. Matt Bevin last week is built on a belief that providing health care to low-income people somehow robs them of their dignity. Also, that 20 percent of Kentuckians lacked health insurance only a few years ago, not because they couldn’t afford it, but because they were disengaged or didn’t understand deductibles. On that dubious base, Bevin wants to replace a fairly straightforward system with a red-tape tangle of penalties, incentives, premiums and cutbacks in coverage, including some proposals that the federal government already has rejected in other states. (6/26)

Miami Herald: Don’t Keep Cheating Kids On Medicaid
As a result of settling a class-action lawsuit, Florida must significantly change the government insurance program for low-income children. State leaders, including members of the Legislature and the governor, have a choice: They can continue to grudgingly invest in Medicaid for children and provide minimal oversight, or they can significantly increase financial support for the program and insist — demand — that the managed-care companies in charge efficiently and effectively serve the patients and their parents. (6/26)

Louisville Courier-Journal: STEAM | Rx For Progress: Cultural+Health Equity
Louisville, a national health care industry hotspot, has the resources to do whatever we put our mind to doing. So why do we rank 14th out of 17 peer cities in overall health outcomes? I think it boils down to two things: trust and communication. It is a fact that a person’s ZIP code has more impact on one's health than genetic code. A strong correlation exists between health, longevity and socioeconomic status. Communities of color face additional burdens. (Theo Edmonds, 6/24)

The Washington Post: The Government’s Ban On Gay Blood Donors Isn’t Science, It’s Bias
The attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando this month horrified the world, but it was a particularly profound blow for the LGBT community. Afterward, when calls for blood donations came roaring in, hundreds and hundreds of people lined up to give what they could. But for gay and bisexual men, this call was like salt in a fresh wound: During their community’s hour of need, their contributions were unwelcome. According to the Food and Drug Administration, any man who has had sex with another man within the past 12 months is forbidden from donating blood. (Ryan Carey-Mahoney, 6/24)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Medical Schools Right To Put The Spotlight On Stress
Children don’t choose to have asthma or depression, to be obese, hyperactive or abused. But they frequently develop these health problems, and many others, when they are raised in environments with chronic levels of stress. Doctors in training in St. Louis are learning about the toxic effects of stress on children, and the grim health statistics for adults who experienced traumatic childhood events. This is part of a worthy effort by medical schools across the county to increase young doctors’ awareness of the effects of toxic stress among patients raised in poverty. (6/25)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: New Law, Born From HB 116, Is Boon To People On Multiple Prescriptions: State Rep. Tim Ginter
Studies show when patients follow the instructions of their physician and pharmacist and take their medications as directed, they live longer and healthier lives. However, a major barrier to this, especially among our senior population, is when prescription dates do not fall on the same day of the month, resulting in the patient begin forced to make multiple trips to the pharmacy each month. Because of this some go without life-saving medication until their additional prescriptions can be filled at the same time. (Tim Ginter, 6/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: Is It Ethical To Purchase Human Organs?
In the United States, the wait list for kidneys alone is around 100,000. Those waiting for kidneys make up most of the 120,000 people awaiting organ donation. The need for kidneys has led some to ask: Would purchasing organs be a solution? (Samuel Kerstein, 6/24)

KQED: My Abortion Story
Like two-thirds of women who have abortions, I am a mom, and like 30% of women seeking abortion, my kids were a big part of my decision not to have another child. I knew that bringing a baby into our family would draw resources, attention, and even love away from them. So I prioritized my existing family, my first loves. (Rana Barar, 6/17)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: AIDS Drugs Come With Their Own Set Of Problems: Robert Toth
Nowadays people with HIV, like myself, are not dying of rare exotic parasites or cross-species diseases anymore. It's the simple things like stroke, heart attack, diabetes, kidney failure, things "old folks" are supposed to get, not 50-year-olds. Now there's talk of HIV-related hearing and memory loss. For many of us long-term survivors of AIDS, our gears are being shredded by the very treatments that are keeping us alive but accelerating old age. (Robert Toth, 6/26)

The Des Moines Register: Iowa Can't Afford To Wait For Mental Health Reform
A 2015 report estimates there are 120,000 people in Iowa with a serious mental illness, but only about 300 psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants who can prescribe medication. Iowa now ranks last among the states in terms of the available state psychiatric beds. (6/23)