The New York Times: Nursing Homes Are Closing Across Rural America, Scattering Residents
Harold Labrensz spent much of his 89-year life farming and ranching the rolling Dakota plains along the Missouri River. His family figured he would die there, too. But late last year, the nursing home in Mobridge, S.D., that cared for Mr. Labrensz announced that it was shutting down after a rocky history of corporate buyouts, unpaid bills and financial ruin. It had become one of the many nursing homes across the country that have gone out of business in recent years as beds go empty, money troubles mount and more Americans seek to age in their own homes. (Healy, 3/4)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The Last Of 105 Patients Were Moved To New Homes On Thursday
Wellspring of Milwaukee, a nursing home and rehabilitation center, moved the last of its roughly 105 residents on Thursday after a chaotic day and week set off when its bank account was frozen. The nursing home’s last day included police responding to angry former employees, who believed they would not get paid, gathering in the parking lot and a threat against the nursing home’s executive director. (Boulton, 3/1)

In other news —

The Associated Press: Paper: $600,000 Fine Imposed On Nursing Home After Outbreak
A newspaper reports that federal authorities have imposed a $600,000 fine on a New Jersey nursing home following a viral outbreak that killed 11 children. The North Jersey Record reports that the penalty stems from state and federal inspections at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation during last fall's outbreak. (3/2)

The Wall Street Journal: As More Military Women Seek Health Care, VA Pursues Improvements
The number of women using the U.S. veterans health system has tripled since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, creating pressure to improve services for a population that has often been overlooked, officials said Thursday. Top VA women’s health officials said at a House Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday that the Department of Veterans Affairs has worked to improve women’s health services in areas ranging from basic gynecological care to advanced care like mental-health treatment associated with military sexual trauma. (Kesling, 3/1)

Modern Healthcare: GAO: VA Kept Medical Staff Despite Misconduct Allegations
Veterans Affairs health centers hired and retained physicians, nurses and other clinicians despite their records of alleged misconduct. According to a government watchdog report, some of these clinicians had also lost state licenses to practice. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its 102-page report focused on clinicians who were part of the VA's medical staff as of Sept. 30, 2016. The agency took a random sampling of 57 of the 1,664 VA providers with a record in the National Practitioner Data Bank. (Luthi, 3/1)

CQ HealthBeat: Acting VA Health Leader Likely To Be Named For Permanent Role
The Trump administration plans to nominate the acting director of the Veterans Health Administration for the role permanently, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Richard Stone, who currently leads the Department of Veterans Affairs health agency in a temporary capacity, is undergoing the final vetting process before a formal nomination. Stone emerged as the top contender from a shortlist drafted by a search commission in recent weeks. (Clason, 3/1)

The Associated Press: John Mayer Launches Foundation Focused On Veterans
John Mayer is launching a foundation focused on improving the health of veterans through scientific research. The Grammy-winning singer on Friday announced The Heart and Armor Foundation, which plans to focus on veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and meeting the emerging needs of women veterans. Though he publicly announced the foundation on Friday, Mayer has been working on the organization since 2012 alongside veterans, scientists and clinicians. (Fekadu, 3/1)

Boston Globe: Veterans In Need Of Medical Marijuana ‘Should Not Have To Worry About Finances,’ New Group Says
At a Friday news conference at the State House, the new group announced its first research project starting Sunday: an anonymous online survey asking veterans about their use of marijuana and other drugs, and the benefits or negative effects. It’s a starting point for future research that will likely delve deeper into the science behind cannabis’s therapeutic potential for conditions common among veterans, such as pain, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression, said Marion McNabb, CEO of Cannabis Community Care and Research Network. (Martin, 3/2)

Reuters: Migrant Parents Separated From Children Return To U.S., Plead To Be Reunited
A large group of Central American migrants who U.S. authorities separated from their children last year when they crossed the Mexican border entered the United States again on Saturday asking for refuge and to be reunited with their kids. ... Visibly nervous parents crossed the pedestrian bridge, some with children and carrying luggage, a Reuters witness said. They were accompanied by lawyers from immigration advocacy group Al Otro Lado. The group said 29 parents crossed. “This is a huge victory for these families, but this fight isn’t over until they’re reunited with their kids,” said Erika Pinheiro, Litigation and Policy Director of Al Otro Lado. (Diaz and Torres, 3/2)

The Washington Post: 29 Parents Separated From Their Children And Deported Last Year Cross U.S. Border To Request Asylum
At about 5 p.m. local time, the families were taken to the U.S. side of the border by immigration agents, where their asylum claims will be assessed. Although the Trump administration’s family separation policy has prompted congressional hearings, lawsuits and national protests, the parents have for nearly a year suffered out of the spotlight at their homes in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. They celebrated birthdays and Christmas on video calls, trying to determine whether their children were safe. (Sieff and Kinosian, 3/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Doctors’ PACs Favored Candidates Opposing Gun Background Checks
Political-action committees affiliated with doctors’ organizations donated more money to congressional candidates who opposed tighter gun laws than to those supporting them, according to a new study that has revived a debate over what role physicians should play in the issue. The study, released in late February on the JAMA Network Open, which is published by the American Medical Association, highlighted the political contributions during the 2016 election cycle to House and Senate lawmakers who opposed an expansion of background checks for gun sales, despite some physicians’ groups’ endorsement of the policy. (Peterson, 3/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Backlog Of Prohibited Gun Owners Drops A Bit But Still Tops 9,000
The state Justice Department reported Friday that at the end of 2018, its gun confiscation program had 9,404 active cases, a drop of about 820 from the previous year. The cases included 538 people who have been on the list since at least 2013, when lawmakers provided funding to boost enforcement. (Koseff, 3/1)

In other news about Congress and Capitol Hill —

The Wall Street Journal: Medicare For All Loses Momentum Among Democrats
Democratic support for Medicare for All is slipping from the high levels seen around the November midterm elections as voters worry about its price tag and the toll it would take on both private and employer health coverage. The proposal seeks to provide everyone in the U.S. with access to health coverage under a federal system that would replace Medicaid, Medicare, most private insurance and employer coverage. Progressive candidates issued full-throated endorsements during campaigns for congressional and state-level elections last November. As the message resonated among voters, even some centrist candidates joined as well. (Armour and Peterson, 3/1)

Modern Healthcare: Economists Send Healthcare Cost Control Ideas To Senate
Eight prominent health economists—including moderate liberals and moderate conservatives—have offered a key Senate chairman 13 recommendations for government actions to reduce the growth of healthcare costs. But one of those economists conceded that the chances of federal or state action on most of these proposals is dim due to partisan deadlock in Congress and opposition from stakeholder groups. The economists from the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute sent the suggestions Friday to Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, at his request. (Meyer, 3/1)

CNN: Insurer Skips Doctors And Sends Massive Checks To Patients, Prompting Million-Dollar Lawsuit
A woman received nearly $375,000 from her insurance company over several months for treatment she received at a California rehabilitation facility. A man received more than $130,000 after he sent his fiancée's daughter for substance abuse treatment. Those allegations are part of a lawsuit winding its way through federal court that accuses Anthem and its Blue Cross entities of paying patients directly in an effort to put pressure on health care providers to join their network and to accept lower payments. (Drash, 3/1)

Bloomberg: Mysterious 138% Jump In Tiny Health Stock Stumps Trading Desks 
Traders were puzzled by a mysterious 138 percent surge Friday in NantHealth Inc., a small health-data company run by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong. The stock triggered three volatility halts as it rose the most on record. There was no apparent news behind the move, according to traders and sales desks, and a NantHealth spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to an email request for comment. The next known catalyst for the company is fourth-quarter results expected later this month. (Lipschultz, 3/1)

The Associated Press: Johnson & Johnson Research Head Aims To Block, Cure Disease
Johnson & Johnson, the world's biggest maker of health care products, wants to prevent people from getting sick — or at least stop diseases before they cause harm. Its "World Without Disease" initiative and related projects aim to prevent or cure diseases such as lung and blood cancers and juvenile diabetes. They're run by the New Brunswick, New Jersey, company's head of external innovation, Dr. William Hait, who also oversees augmenting in-house research by licensing science and technology from other companies — or buying them. (Johnson, 3/3)

Detroit Free Press: Blue Cross Of Michigan CEO Daniel Loepp's Compensation Soars Past $19M
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan disclosed Friday that it paid its top executive a record amount of money last year as he guided the state's largest health insurer to strong overall financial results. Total compensation for Daniel Loepp, CEO of Blue Cross since 2006, hit $19.2 million in 2018. That was up from his $13.4 million payday in 2017 and $9 million in 2015. (Reindl, 3/1)

Boston Globe: Rents Soar As Health Companies Bloom
All that money, combined with the fact that most biotech companies want to be located in or near Kendall Square, has led to record rents. Two real estate watchers say that some Cambridge rents are edging into the stratosphere. (Kirsner, 3/4)

The New York Times: The Opioid Dilemma: Saving Lives In The Long Run Can Take Lives In The Short Run
The unavoidable tension in attacking the opioid crisis is which time frame you’re talking about. In the short term, many policies that would limit opioid prescriptions for the purpose of saving lives would cause people to turn to heroin or fentanyl. In fact, over a 5-to-10-year period, that would increase deaths, not decrease them, according to a simulation study published in the American Journal of Public Health. The study was conducted by three Stanford University researchers, Allison Pitt, Keith Humphreys and Margaret Brandeau. (Frakt, 3/4)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Made A Plan To Help People Leaving Prison Get Drug Treatment — But It Never Used It 
Fatal drug overdoses had been climbing for years when Maryland health officials decided to target a particularly vulnerable group: Those leaving prison or jail. They have high rates of addiction, but low rates of insurance for treatment. So the state sought federal permission to skip the usual paperwork to get them temporary Medicaid cards. ... Maryland health officials now say presumptive eligibility was meant only as a backup. And the backup hasn’t been needed because Medicaid applications now can be approved in as little as 24 hours — if applicants have all the proper paperwork. (Cohn, 3/4)

The Washington Post: Teenagers Getting Opioids Wisdom Teeth Work May Be At Addiction Risk
A few days before extracting my teenager’s wisdom teeth, an oral surgeon wrote him a prescription for painkillers. My son filled it but never felt a need for anything stronger than ibuprofen. Three years later, I found an unopened bottle of Percocet — an opioid — in the back of a bathroom cabinet. I had no idea a dentist had prescribed my then 19-year-old the highly addictive pills. Likewise, until recently, dentists seemed to have had no idea they may have been helping to feed an epidemic that resulted in a record 70,237 U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2017. (Cohen, 3/3)

The Washington Post: D.C. Opioid Crisis: Overdose Initiatives Still In Planning Stages, Officials Say
More than two months after D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) released a far-reaching plan to cut opioid overdose deaths in half by late 2020, key programs described in the plan have not been launched, according to city officials and service providers. The anti-opioid initiatives include a dramatic expansion of the availability of the overdose antidote naloxone and new treatment programs for overdose survivors in hospital emergency rooms. They were laid out by the mayor in response to one of the nation’s most severe increases in fatal overdoses over the past several years, most caused by heroin laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl. (Jamison, 3/3)

CQ: New Front In The Abortion Wars Over Procedures Using Medication
Hawaii is one of the more progressive states in the country on abortion rights. There are no mandatory waiting periods, no parental notification requirements, and the state’s Medicaid program covers abortion for low-income women. But federal restrictions can still complicate access for women there.  One of its islands, Kauai, has more than 72,000 residents and several hospitals, but no abortion providers, in part because the hospital administrators either object to the procedure or want to avoid the administrative hassles. (Raman, 3/4)

Politico Pro: Republicans Pound Abortion ‘Infanticide’ Message
Republicans’ amped-up focus on so-called late term abortions has brought new energy to the issue for their conservative base — forcing Democrats to respond to rhetoric about infanticide. The GOP plans to keep at the message through the 2020 election, even if they lose the battle in Congress to pass a “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors” bill, H.R. 962 (116), that abortion-rights advocates warn could add new pain to already wrenching medical decisions. (Ollstein, 3/1)

Dallas Morning News: ‘If The Heartbeat Is Detected, The Baby Is Protected’: Anti-Abortion Bill Gains Momentum In Texas
Texas has several laws that women seeking abortions have to navigate, including a 24-hour waiting period between a mandatory ultrasound and the procedure. One lawmaker has filed a bill to add another restriction — banning abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks, before a woman may realize she’s pregnant. Republican Rep. Briscoe Cain’s “Texas heartbeat bill,” HB 1500, would ban abortion after heartbeat detection except in the case of medical emergencies. Current law allows abortion up to 20 weeks. (Stone, 3/1)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Are Frozen Embryos 'Living Persons’? Couple In UH Fertility Case Seeks Appellate Court Ruling Based On Modern Science
A Broadview Heights couple who lost three frozen embryos a year ago after a freezer malfunction at University Hospitals’ Ahuja Medical Center, are hoping those evolving opinions on the topic will help to convince the 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals that their embryos were living persons, not pieces of property. Wendy and Rick Penniman were among the more than 900 families who lost 4,000 eggs and embryos March 3-4 after a sudden rise in temperature in a storage freezer at the fertility clinic in Beachwood. (McCarty, 3/3)

The Washington Post: Ethan Lindenberger Got Vaccinated Against His Parents Wishes. Now, He’ll Testify To Congress.
Ethan Lindenberger began by questioning his parents’ anti-vaccine stances and eventually got himself inoculated, a rebellion that caught the attention of the national media and Congress. The 18-year-old from Ohio announced Saturday on YouTube that he had been invited to speak before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions at a hearing Tuesday devoted to examining outbreaks of preventable diseases. He will appear alongside experts such as John Wiesman, Washington state’s secretary of health, and Saad B. Omer, a professor at Emory University in Georgia, according to the committee’s website. (Epstein, 3/3)

The Hill: Teen Who Got Vaccinated Against Parents' Wishes Testifying Before Congress
Lindenberger said in the video that his testimony would address "preventable diseases, spreading and outbreaks of preventable diseases, as well as addressing misinformation that causes these outbreaks." "I'll be testifying along the likes of people such as [John] Wiesman, who is the secretary of Health for Washington [state]," Lindenberger says in the video. (Bowden, 3/2)

The Hill: Amazon Reportedly Pulls Anti-Vaccine Documentaries 
Amazon has reportedly pulled documentaries about the anti-vaccination movement from its streaming service shortly after Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) pressed the tech company to stop allowing the “harmful” content. Anti-vaccine movies entitled "We Don't Vaccinate!" "Shoot 'Em Up: The Truth About Vaccines," and "Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe," were previously available for Amazon Prime subscribers, CNN Business reported. Those titles were listed as "currently unavailable" on Saturday morning. (Gstalter, 3/2)

Politico: State Lawmakers Pushing For Laxer Vaccine Rules Despite Measles Outbreaks
Measles is spreading from New York to Texas to Washington state in the worst outbreak in years, but some state lawmakers want to take the vaccination debate in the opposite direction: Loosening rules covering whether kids get inoculated. In Oregon, state lawmakers will consider a so-called transparency bill favored by the "vaccine hesitant." New York is simultaneously considering eliminating and expanding exemptions that allow parents to opt out. One bill in Texas would prohibit the state from even tracking exemptions. (Colliver, 3/3)

CNN: Vaccination Deniers Gaining 'Traction' On Social Media, Health Chief Warns
Anti-vaccination "fake news" being spread on social media is fueling a rise in measles cases and a decline in vaccination uptake, the head of England's National Health Service (NHS) has warned. Simon Stevens said "vaccination deniers" are gaining traction through their use of social media platforms including Instagram, WhatsApp and YouTube. (Picheta, 3/2)

The Associated Press: Measles Outbreak In Pacific Northwest About Half Of US Cases
The focus on measles in the Pacific Northwest intensified Friday as public health officials in Oregon announced a new case of the highly contagious disease unrelated to an ongoing outbreak in Washington state that's sickened 68 people so far. An unvaccinated Illinois resident who spent time overseas visited Portland International Airport and various locations in Salem, Oregon last week while contagious with measles, the Oregon Health Authority said. Potential exposure locations include a Red Robin restaurant and a trampoline fun park in Salem, officials said. (Flaccus, 3/1)

The Oregonian: Vancouver-Area Measles Outbreak Cases Climb To 75
The number of people diagnosed with measles in Oregon and Washington rose to 75 Saturday as Clark County officials confirmed two new cases. Both were children younger than 11 who had not been vaccinated, according to Clark County Public Health officials. Officials also said anyone who was at The Vancouver Clinic on Northeast 87th Avenue between 3:30 and 9:30 p.m. Friday or 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Saturday may have been exposed to measles. (Kavanaugh, 3/2)

The Oregonian: Visitor With Measles Visits Portland Airport, Salem-Area Businesses
An Illinois resident with measles visited the Willamette Valley recently, possibly exposing Oregonians to the virus. This case is unrelated to the current outbreak that has affected 73 people in Oregon and Washington. The unvaccinated person traveled abroad in countries where measles is common and then brought the virus back to the U.S. The person landed in Portland International Airport, jumped on trampolines in Salem and ate at a Red Robin, casting a large net where people might have been exposed to the virus. (Harbarger, 3/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: Measles Outbreak In Bay Area In 2018 Tied To Unvaccinated Children
A small measles outbreak in the Bay Area last year spread almost entirely among families who had chosen not to vaccinate their children — including two young boys whose mother lied to public health investigators about their immunization status — underscoring the gaps that remain in vaccination coverage in California, according to a report published Friday. Only seven people were infected in the outbreak that started in Santa Clara County. (Allay, 3/1)

Boston Globe: Boston Health Officials Issue Measles Warning
The Boston Public Health Commission issued a measles warning Friday after a bus passenger diagnosed with the respiratory disease traveled through South Station on Tuesday and on to New Hampshire. The passenger was on Greyhound Bus #2520 that traveled from New York City to Boston’s South Station, the commission said in a statement. (Stanton, 3/2)

WBUR: Boston Health Officials Warn Of Measles Exposure After Confirmed Case
The diagnosed person took Greyhound Bus #2520 from New York City to South Station in Boston. The passenger then traveled to Manchester, N.H. on Boston Express Bus #5178, which stopped in Tyngsborough and Nashua, N.H., the Boston Public Health Commission said in a statement. Anyone who was on the Greyhound bus from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at South Station from 8:30 p.m. to midnight or on the Boston Express bus from 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. may have been exposed, the statement said. (Cote, 3/2)

The New York Times: Studies Of Deadly Flu Virus, Once Banned, Are Set To Resume
Research that could make flu viruses more dangerous, and that the government suspended in 2014 because of safety concerns, has been approved to begin again, federal officials have confirmed. The government did not publicly announce its decisions in recent months to allow two labs to resume their projects. The new go-ahead was first reported in the journal Science. The lack of information about the decision and how it was made have provoked outrage from some scientists, who oppose the research because they say it could create mutant viruses that might cause deadly pandemics if they were unleashed by lab accidents or terrorism. The research sparked worldwide fears when it was first revealed in 2011. (Grady, 3/1)

The New York Times: Supplements Won’t Prevent Dementia. But These Steps Might.
Donna Kaye Hill realized that her 80-year-old mother was faltering cognitively when her phone suddenly stopped working. When Ms. Hill called the phone company, “they told me she hadn’t paid her bill in three months.” Finding other alarming evidence of memory gaps, she took her mother, Katie, to a memory clinic. A geriatrician there diagnosed dementia and recommended two prescription drugs and a dietary supplement, a form of vitamin E. (Span, 3/1)

The Washington Post: Black Women And HIV: Oral History Reveals Their Pain, Disenfranchisement And Endurance
Some 7,500 women were diagnosed with HIV in 2016 and the majority of them — 61 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — were black. HIV is just one of the health challenges, including breast cancer, diabetes and heart disease, that affects black women more often than women of other races. Thurka Sangaramoorthy, an HIV researcher and anthropologist, uses oral histories to learn more about the lives of black women living with HIV. In the past five years, the associate professor of anthropology at the University of Maryland has conducted ethnographic and oral history interviews with 45 women. (Blakemore, 3/2)

Stat: Voice-Recognition System Aims To Automate Data Entry By Doctors 
Hands down, the one task doctors complain about most is filling out the electronic health record during and after patient visits. It is disruptive and time-consuming, and patients don’t like being talked to over the doctor’s shoulder. Now, amid an intensifying race to develop voice technologies for health care, a Boston-based company is preparing to release one of the first products designed to fully automate this process, by embedding artificially intelligent software into exam rooms. (Ross, 3/4)

Stat: CDC Director Planning To Travel To DRC As Country Battles Ebola Outbreak
Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is expected to travel next week to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a rare trip to the country by a U.S. official as it battles what is now the second largest Ebola outbreak on record. Redfield will make the trip with the director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, according to a WHO statement. (Branswell, 3/1)

The Washington Post: The Danish Word 'Pyt' As An Antidote To Anxiety And Stress
Danes are some of the happiest people in the world, and they also happen to have a lot of cool words for ways to be happy. You may have heard about “hygge,” which has been the subject of countless books, articles and commercials. Often mistranslated to mean “cozy,” it really describes the process of creating intimacy. (Helweg-Larsen, 3/2)

NPR: A Positive Mindset Can Help Patients Handle Side Effects Of Treatments
Anxiety about side effects can keep people from starting or sticking to drug regimens or medical procedures. A group of researchers at Stanford University wanted to find out whether a simple mindset shift could help patients tolerate an uncomfortable treatment. They learned that when physicians make the effort to reframe potentially unpleasant symptoms in a positive light, it helped patients to stay calm and persevere. The researchers studied this approach with a group of families who, in a desperate search for relief from food allergies, signed their children up for a study testing the investigational treatment known as oral immunotherapy. (Landhuis, 3/1)

Boston Globe: Beaten Down By The Resistance? Activists Turn To Yoga For Sustenance In The Age Of Trump
A series of classes, called Yoga for Sustainable Activism, is being provided free to activists at Portland Community Squash through several donors and Sea Change Yoga, a Portland organization that provides trauma-informed yoga to people who might not otherwise get to indulge in self-care. (Ebbert, 3/4)

The New York Times: One Twin Committed The Crime — But Which One? A New DNA Test Can Finger The Culprit
One night in November 1999, a 26-year-old woman was raped in a parking lot in Grand Rapids, Mich. Police officers managed to get the perpetrator’s DNA from a semen sample, but it matched no one in their databases. Detectives found no fingerprints at the scene and located no witnesses. The woman, who had been attacked from behind, could not offer a description. It looked like the rapist would never be found. Five years later, there was a break in the case. A man serving time for another sexual offense submitted a DNA sample with his parole application. The sample matched DNA from the rape scene. (Zimmer, 3/1)

Bloomberg: Toxins Found Near Almost All Coal Ash Ponds Tracked By Industry 
Environmental watchdogs say the power industry’s own data show widespread groundwater contamination near sites storing coal ash, a toxic byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity. Groundwater monitoring wells near coal ash storage sites used by 265 coal power plants reveal unsafe levels of arsenic, lithium and other pollutants in most of them, according to an assessment by the Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice and other environmental groups being released Monday. (Dlouhy, 3/4)

The Washington Post: Report Finds Widespread Contamination At Nation’s Coal Ash Sites
The vast majority of ponds and landfills holding coal waste at 250 power plants across the country have leaked toxic chemicals into nearby groundwater, according to an analysis of public monitoring data released Monday by environmental groups. The report, published jointly by the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice, found that 91 percent of the nation’s coal-fired power plants reported elevated levels of contaminants such as arsenic, lithium, chromium and other pollutants in nearby groundwater. (Mufson and Dennis, 3/4)

CQ HealthBeat: 'Forever Chemicals' Targeted In Bipartisan Senate Bill
A bipartisan group of senators have backed a proposal to force the EPA to regulate so-called forever chemicals. ... Groundwater and drinking water contaminated by these chemicals, used for decades in a wide variety of household goods and manufacturing processes, has become an emerging issue in Congress. Older forms of the chemicals have been discovered to be carcinogenic and to increase the likelihood of health problems such as thyroid problems, ulcerative colitis and low birth weight in infants. (Holzman, 3/1)

The Associated Press: Underground Fire At Arkansas Dump Raises Health Concerns
More than seven months after residents first noticed a fire at an illegal dumping site in northwest Arkansas, it's still smoldering, sending noxious smoke throughout the town and seeping into homes, with costs to extinguish the fire estimated at tens of millions of dollars. Chris Nelson, 40, lives with his wife and 4-year-old son in a house that's a little more than 1000 feet (305 meters) from the shuttered dumping site. He said his family has experienced a persistent cough since the blaze started, his wife has been diagnosed with bronchitis and his son has been on multiple rounds of antibiotics. (Grabenstein, 3/3)

Miami Herald: Florida Fire Training Facilities Struggle With PFAS In Water
Of Florida’s 45 certified firefighting training facilities, 27 are known or suspected to have used those toxic chemicals, part of a family of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. But so far only four sites have been tested by the state Department of Environmental Protection for environmental contamination. (Koh and Gross, 3/1)

The Hill: Maryland State Committees Advance Medical Assisted-Suicide Bill 
Two committees in the Maryland House of Delegates voted to advance a bill on Friday that would allow the terminally ill to end their lives with prescription drugs. The House Health and Government Operations Committee and the House Judiciary Committee approved the End of Life Options Act, sending the measure for a full chamber vote next week, The Baltimore Sun reported. (Gstalter, 3/2)

The Baltimore Sun: Medically Assisted Suicide Bill Moves Forward In Maryland General Assembly
Del. Shane Pendergrass, who has been sponsoring the bill for years, teared up and hugged Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk as soon as the vote was tallied as 24 delegates in favor and 20 opposed. “It means to me that all the people who have come down here over the years — some of whom are not here anymore — got what they wished for,” said Pendergrass, a Howard County Democrat. “Though they won’t be able to use it, other people will. This will help people.” (Wood, 3/1)

The Washington Post: District Will No Longer Guarantee Ambulance Rides For Nonserious Patients
Under a change taking effect Friday, D.C. residents who call 911 no longer will be guaranteed an ambulance ride to hospitals if responding medics and a nurse determine their ailments are minor, D.C. Fire and EMS Department officials said. Instead, after an assessment by firefighter and EMT crews, patients who are not in serious straits will be put on a phone call with a nurse, who will help them to find care at a clinic or a primary care facility. The medics will remain on scene and talk to the nurse after an agreement on care has been made. (Williams, 3/1)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Surprise Billing On Georgia Lawmakers' Health Care Agenda Again
Surprise billing continues to wallop hospital patients in Georgia. As in years past, the Legislature continues to say it wants to help. Surprise billing happens when properly insured patients receive reasonable health care and then find out after the fact that their insurance company isn’t going to pay. The most commonly discussed occurrences are with doctors such as radiologists and anesthesiologists who work in hospitals. (Hart, 3/1)

Kaiser Health News: Texas Lawmakers Take Aim At Surprise Medical Bills
A bipartisan group of state lawmakers announced plans to address surprise medical bills in a way that would take the “burden” off Texans. During a press conference Thursday, state Sen. Kelly Hancock, a Republican from suburban Fort Worth, announced he had filed a bill aimed at preventing medical providers from balance-billing patients, among other things. State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, a Democrat from San Antonio, is filing a similar bill in the House. (Lopez, 3/1)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Change In How Missouri Handles Inmates On Medicaid Could Prevent Their Return To Jail, Advocates Say 
A simple change to state law could keep released inmates from returning to jail, overdosing on drugs or experiencing a relapse of mental illness, say advocates for two bills introduced in the Legislature. Unlike most states, Missouri terminates Medicaid health care coverage when someone is incarcerated in jail or prison. In at least 35 other states, including Illinois, Medicaid enrollment is instead suspended and reactivated upon release from a correctional facility. (Bernhard, 3/4)

Sacramento Bee: California State Nurses Could Reject Overtime Under New Bill
The proposal, Assembly Bill 529, aims to address well-documented fatigue among the 3,600 or so psychiatric technicians who care for inmates and patients in state hospitals and prisons. It would eliminate the common practice of forcing psychiatric technicians and technician assistants to work back-to-back eight-hour shifts. (Venteicher, 3/4)

Modern Healthcare: Beth Israel Deaconess And Lahey Health Complete Merger
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health officially combined to form Beth Israel Lahey Health, the second-largest health system in Massachusetts, the organizations announced Friday. In November, Massachusetts' attorney general approved the deal with conditions including a seven-year price cap; participation in MassHealth, the state's combined Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program; and $71.6 million in investments supporting healthcare services for low-income and underserved communities in Massachusetts. (Kacik, 3/1)

Modern Healthcare: Rush's Medicare Overpayments Double To $21 Million
Rush University Medical Center now owes the federal government $21.1 million in alleged Medicare overpayments, after a second inspection more than doubled the amount announced in 2017. The Chicago academic health system said it expects to pay an additional $10.8 million stemming from a four-year audit on top of the $10.3 million for alleged overpayments uncovered in a two-year, HHS Office of Inspector General audit completed in 2017. The government alleges billing errors resulted in overpayments for inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation claims. (Bannow, 3/1)

Boston Globe: Brigham Expands Emergency Department Amid Changing Demands
With a $52 million expansion project that kicks off April 1, the Brigham will become the latest Massachusetts hospital to significantly enlarge and redesign its emergency department amid what leaders describe as unrelenting crowding. Emergency medicine doctors said they need more space because the patients today require more intensive care, including those with mental illness and drug addiction, or who are suffering the toxic side effects of cancer treatment. (Kowalcyzk, 3/2)

San Jose Mercury News: UCSF Is Working To Bridge Gaps In Transgender Research
In recent years, [Erica] Anderson and others in the field agree, attitudes toward transgender rights have changed dramatically among medical professionals and the general public. But they also concur that there is still surprisingly little data on the impacts of transgender treatments, particularly when it comes to children. (Santoro, 3/3)

The Washington Post: A Caregiver Raped Two Intellectually Disabled Women, Police Say. Both Gave Birth To Children.
The mission of the center in Fairfax County is to “employ and support” people with disabilities, but a prosecutor said a worker sexually assaulted a 29-year-old woman with Down syndrome in its offices. Police began an investigation in October 2017 after a doctor made a disturbing discovery: The woman was five months pregnant, authorities said. She later gave birth. The pattern played out again nearly a year later. Police say another client at the MVLE Community Center, a 33-year-old woman with intellectual disabilities, was raped. The case was reported to police in August 2018 after her doctor discovered she was pregnant. She also gave birth. (Jouvenal, 3/2)

The CT Mirror: Inmate Who Delivered Baby In Prison Cell Sues State For Denying Medical Care
A year later, with a Department of Correction investigation still underway, Laboy is suing a bevy of officials – including former DOC Commissioner Scott Semple, the medical director, OB/GYN and warden at York, two UConn Health staff members, and two prison guards – alleging denial and delay in medical care. The lawsuit includes multiple counts of deliberate indifference, negligence and false imprisonment. (Carlesso, 3/4)

Kansas City Star: Pharmacist Pleads Guilty To Scamming Thousands From Medicaid
A Kansas City pharmacist pleaded guilty Friday to bilking Medicaid out of tens of thousands of dollars, federal prosecutors say. Steven Baraban, the former director and managing partner of Stark Pharmacy, was charged with one count of health care fraud, a felony that could mean up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. (Bauer, 3/1)

Richmond Times- Dispatch: Henrico-Based Company Looks To Build Market In Hemp-Derived Health Products
Exactus Inc., which has an office in the Innsbrook Corporate Center, said this week that it has introduced a tincture — an herbal extract — derived from hemp, and the company has won its first purchase order from a customer in the health and nutritional medical industry. Exactus did not disclose the name of the new product brand nor of the customer, citing competitive reasons. (Reid Blackwell, 3/1)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Should Wisconsin Open Door To Dental Therapists?
Proponents of allowing them to practice in Wisconsin contend dental therapists, whose salaries are roughly half those of dentists, are a more cost-effective way to provide care to low-income patients while freeing dentists to focus on more complex procedures. They also are more likely to practice in community health centers and nonprofit dental clinics in low-income urban neighborhoods and in rural areas. The Wisconsin Dental Association, however, is dead set against them. (Boulton, 3/3)

The Associated Press: Many 'Still Hurting' Nearly 5 Months After Hurricane Michael
Paulina "Bela" Sebastiao would give almost anything to be able to do a load of laundry without having to drive miles from her Mexico Beach home. Anthony Campbell would appreciate having a gas station closer than an hour away from his house in Parker. And Patrick Muth just hopes it doesn't rain when it's time to go to work: His "office" in Panama City consists of a desk surrounded by rubble under an open sky. Life is still a struggle in the county hardest hit by Hurricane Michael, which carved a wide swath of destruction through the Florida Panhandle when it roared ashore on Oct. 10 with winds of 155 mph (250 kph). (3/2)

The Hill: It's Time For Legislators To Prove Democracy Exists By Passing Medicare For All
If you try to get between a nurse and their patient, you will lose. I think of registered nurses like Sandy Reding when I hear this smart advice. Last year, when admitting staff tried to keep her pediatric patient from going into surgery because the family had no insurance, Sandy fought tooth and nail until that child finished the surgery. Reding is just one of thousands of National Nurses United nurses who have spent decades fighting for Medicare for All as a way to protect patients not just from illnesses and injuries — but from the broken, profit-driven system in which they are forced to seek care. (Bonnie Castillo, 3/3)

San Jose Mercury News: Medicare For All Needs Stronger Financial Story
However laudable the goal might be, any proposal must address political reality: The United States will never move toward a single-payer health care system unless it makes good business sense. Any viable plan must achieve the co-equal goals of driving down costs while improving health care outcomes for all. (3/3)

Deseret News: What Is Left For Utahns Who Support Full Medicaid Expansion?
For six years now, Medicaid expansion advocates in Utah have pushed for the state to embrace full expansion. And each year, from 2013 until two weeks ago, the Utah Legislature has actively thwarted even limited attempts to expand Medicaid. In 2018, it finally approved a proposal for partial expansion — one dependent on the executive branch allowing Utah to cut corners on the Affordable Care Act passed by Congress. Unsurprisingly, that waiver never came and that partial expansion was never put into effect. (Lauren Simpson, 3/2)

Detroit News: Give Work Requirements A Chance
A few weeks ago, the governor announced her intent to alter the state’s commitment to Medicaid work requirements. Michigan’s requirement is newly approved and has yet to be applied, but our governor is predicting failure before the program has an opportunity to succeed. I am a firm believer that you always find what you are looking for in life and the governor’s latest action demonstrates her desire to see the program fail rather than support a policy to help able-bodied Michiganders build a bridge to independence. (Mike Shirkey, 3/2)

The Washington Post: Here’s A Way Maryland Can Stabilize Obamacare, Despite Federal Sabotage
As the Trump administration has torn holes in the Affordable Care Act, Maryland and a handful of other states have repaired the policy fabric within their borders — and achieved stability in their individual health-care markets. With tangible success in hand, the state’s General Assembly should now double down. Maryland lawmakers last year designed a “reinsurance” program to help restrain the risk in health-care insurance premiums. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) got a federal waiver to make it happen. The policy is largely credited with cutting premiums in a year when they otherwise might have spiked. (3/1)

The Hill: To End AIDS, We Must Address The Forces Driving It 
Recently, the CDC released data showing that declines in HIV rates have stalled in the U.S., after about five years of substantial declines. The new report — looking at trends from 2010-2016 — reveals what many of us working in the field already know: prevention efforts are not reaching all communities equally. (Chris Beyrer and Raniyah Copeland, 3/3)

The New York Times: San Francisco Is Beating H.I.V. Why Can’t Houston?
In his State of the Union address, President Trump surprised Congress by asking for a “commitment to eliminate the H.I.V. epidemic in the United States within 10 years.” I’m a physician who specializes in H.I.V. and AIDS prevention in a city with one of the highest infection rates in the country, so that’s music to my ears. But the president needs to know that we’re going to fail if we don’t start working much harder. (Charlene Flash, 3/1)

Seattle Times: End Philosophical Vaccine Exemption
Allowing parents to exempt their children from lifesaving vaccines for philosophical reasons puts others in danger and must end. Washington is one of just 18 states that lets parents opt out of vaccines because of personal, moral or other beliefs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. A measles epidemic centered in Clark County clearly illustrates why this law must be changed. (3/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Leave Opioid Lawsuits To State Attorneys General
A critical mass of 36 state attorneys general have responded to the opioid crisis with investigations and litigation targeting manufacturers and distributors. But hundreds of private lawyers have also filed a barrage of opioid-related lawsuits on behalf of local governments, making it much harder for the state-led effort to convince the industry to agree to a comprehensive settlement. To resolve this logjam, attorneys general should structure state-centric deals under which localities can benefit if they drop their lawsuits. (George Jepsen and Perry Zinn Rowthorn, 3/3)

Los Angeles Times: Is Gulping Soda As Bad As Smoking? California Seems To Think So
In California, soda is the new tobacco — at least from a public policy point of view.Adopting some of the same methods that have been employed to reduce smoking, California legislators have put together an ambitious package of bills aimed at curbing consumption of sodas, energy drinks and other beverages that have added sugar. (3/4)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Hates Science. Sad!
As I’ve written about before in the Los Angeles Times, I underwent the standard healthcare regimen for my condition (surgery, chemo and radiation), but the cancer metastasized anyway and I was given a “yearish” to live. Then, in July of 2015, I became a human science project, a participant in clinical trials at UC San Francisco, one of the top cancer research centers in the world. Today, I’m well past my overdue date, as are many of the other Stage 4 cancer patients, thanks to breakthroughs in immunotherapy and cutting-edge treatments that arrived courtesy of tenacious researchers, the lives of many mice and the evidence-based, peer-reviewed work of medical science. All this is to explain my ever-increasing alarm at the level of scorn the findings of science now attract in the realm of public policy. (Melinda Welsh, 3/4)

Stat: I've Seen The Culture Of Sexual Harassment At NIH. It Needs To Do More
The National Institutes of Health apologized Thursday for failing to address sexual harassment within the influential and powerful organization. They also put forward a set of solutions. It’s about time — this harmful culture has affected scientists for decades. (Orly Nadell Farber, 3/1)

Sacramento Bee: Legislature Must Commit To Miracle Drugs, Fight Rare Diseases
Around 30 million Americans, including nearly four million Californians, are affected by rare diseases. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, there are more than 7,000 of these conditions. Around half of rare disease patients are children. If you know a family facing a rare disease, you’ve seen what they go through. Fighting one of these conditions is like having a second full-time job with the sole purpose of keeping a loved one alive. It often starts with a diagnostic odyssey, during which no one can figure out why their child is sick. This can go on for months or years. (Rob Bonta, 2/28)