The Associated Press: How Planned Parenthood Became A Reason For A Shutdown Threat
The federal government could be headed for a shutdown at the end of the month, over funding for Planned Parenthood. ... Republicans in Congress have long disliked Planned Parenthood because the group performs abortions, among many other health services for women. Their revulsion for Planned Parenthood was reignited this summer by secretly recorded videos showing organization officials offhandedly discussing how they sometimes provide tissue from aborted fetuses for medical researchers. (9/19)

The Associated Press: GOP Leaders Face Tough Test In Congress To Keep Gov’t Open
Congress’ Republican leaders face stark tests as they fight to keep the government open past month’s end, amid fears a shutdown could imperil their party’s White House ambitions. ... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., must contend with the ambitions of several GOP presidential candidates. One of them, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, has made it his business to oppose the Kentuckian at every turn, even taking to the Senate floor to accuse him of lying. ... Together they are demanding that must-pass spending legislation cut off all federal money for Planned Parenthood. The efforts follows the disclosure of secretly recorded videos in which Planned Parenthood officials are shown discussing how they acquire fetal parts for medical research. (Werner and Taylor, 9/21)

Politico: Conservatives Balk At GOP Pitch To Avert Shutdown
Republican leaders who are eyeing a rarely-deployed, fast-track budget procedure as a way to defund Planned Parenthood and stave off a government shutdown appear to be in for a rude awakening. The idea is aimed at placating conservatives by giving them a way to pass legislation to strip Planned Parenthood of its funding and decouple the issue from the entire federal budget. But conservatives are balking at the proposal to use the majority-vote reconciliation process, calling it a "ruse" that, in the end, would leave Planned Parenthood's federal funding intact and amount to little more than a feel-good exercise. (Bade, 9/18)

Politico: Meet The 26-Year-Old Activist Who Could Close The Government
If the U.S. government shuts down Oct. 1, it will be because of a chain of events set in motion by a 26-year-old and a video camera. Yet David Daleiden, the young Californian who masterminded the Planned Parenthood sting, isn’t worried about whether the threat of a shutdown is the right way to go. He just wants the women’s health provider that he says traffics in "baby body parts" to be stripped of taxpayer support. (Haberkorn, 9/21)

The Hill: Judge: Anti-Planned Parenthood Group Must Turn Over Evidence
A federal judge said Friday that the anti-abortion group targeting Planned Parenthood with hidden cameras cannot refuse to turn over potential pieces of evidence by pleading the Fifth Amendment. Judge William Orrick said in a hearing that the Center for Medical Progress must comply with the court’s requests for documents, escalating the weeks-long legal battle over the secret videos. The organization’s founder, David Daleiden, had previously told the court that the group planned to invoke the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. (Ferris, 9/18)

The New York Times: House Republicans Vote to Stop Funding Planned Parenthood
House Republicans vented their rage against Planned Parenthood on Friday, voting to block all federal financing for the organization, which they accused of profiting from the sale of aborted fetuses for medical research. It was unclear, however, if the vote would mollify conservative lawmakers who have threatened to force a government shutdown over the abortion issue. (Herszenhorn, 9/18)

The Washington Post: House Votes To Defund Planned Parenthood, But Will That Help Avert A Shutdown?
The House passed two abortion-related bills Friday, including one that would strip federal health-care funding from Planned Parenthood for one year, but it remains unclear whether the votes would appease conservatives who have threatened a government shutdown over the organization. ... But neither bill is likely to become law as Senate Democrats have filibustered similar measures, and President Obama has indicated he would veto both bills. That’s why the move is unlikely to stave off growing fears of a government shutdown on Oct. 1. (DeBonis, 9/18)

Poiltico: House Votes To Defund Planned Parenthood For One Year
The House on Friday approved legislation to defund Planned Parenthood for one year and to add new medical and reporting requirements on live births resulting from an attempted abortion. The bills were the latest in the House’s response to a series of videos that opponents of Planned Parenthood say show that the organization is making money off the trafficking of human fetal tissue and organs. Planned Parenthood denies such claims and says the videos were highly edited. (Haberkorn, 9/18)

The Cleveland Plain Dealer: House Of Representatives Votes To Defund Planned Parenthood
The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted largely along party lines to strip federal money from Planned Parenthood for a year and to require doctors to provide live-saving medical care to infants who emerge alive during abortion attempts. (Eaton, 9/18)

The Associated Press: House Bills On Abortion Aim To Avert Possible Gov’t Shutdown
Seeking to avert a government shutdown, Republican leaders are hoping to contain conservatives’ demands for a politically risky showdown with President Barack Obama by striking a quick blow against abortion and Planned Parenthood. In a nearly party-line 241-187 vote on Friday, the House passed a bill blocking Planned Parenthood’s federal funds. The vote followed a no-holds-barred debate that included a graphic, poster-size photo of a scarred, aborted fetus and underscored how abortion has resurfaced as a white-hot political issue. (Fram and Taylor, 9/19)

Politico: GOP Ties Anti-Abortion Push To Papal Visit
Democrats have a lengthy wish list for Pope Francis when he addresses Congress this week. But Republicans are seizing on the Catholic leader’s historic visit to make good on one of their top social priorities: Tough new abortion restrictions. As they rally behind a long-awaited measure that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, GOP lawmakers are tying their messaging to the teachings of the Catholic Church, which opposes the practice. And the presence of Pope Francis on Capitol Hill this week shines an even brighter spotlight on the legislation, which has long been a top priority of advocacy groups that oppose abortion. (Kim and Haberkorn, 9/21)

The Hill: Senate Gets Companion For 'Born Alive' Protections Bill
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) is planning to introduce a bill Monday that imposes criminal penalties on doctors who mishandle live-birth abortions, one day after the same language was approved by the House. The freshman senator’s legislation will mirror the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which was passed the House on Friday. Under the legislation, any doctor who fails to give “appropriate care” to an infant born during an abortion can be sentenced to five years in prison. (Ferris, 9/18)

The New York Times: Bipartisan Effort Fights Health Law Rule That Could Raise Premiums
Members of Congress from both parties, as well as some employers, insurers and state insurance commissioners, are calling for changes in the Affordable Care Act to prevent premium increases that are expected to affect workers at many small and midsize companies next year. Lawmakers see the potential for a rare bipartisan agreement on the issue, after five years in which Republicans have repeatedly tried to repeal the law and Democrats have blocked their efforts. (Pear, 9/20)

Stateline: Can Health Insurance Co-Ops Survive?
Consumer-run health insurance cooperatives, created under the Affordable Care Act to stimulate competition and lower prices for health insurance, faltered almost from the start. In just the last two months, health insurance cooperatives in Louisiana and Nevada announced they were going belly up at the end of the year. They followed another, operating in Nebraska and Iowa, which had been ordered by a state court to liquidate. (Ollove, 9/21)

Modern Healthcare: NCQA Nixes Health Plan Rankings In Favor Of Ratings
The National Committee for Quality Assurance has scrapped its old ranking system for health plans and instituted a new ratings system that's similar to what the CMS has implemented for providers and Medicare Advantage plans. NCQA made the change to be more consistent with the government's strategy for judging healthcare quality and to more accurately represent a health insurer's performance. (Herman, 9/18)

The Austin American-Statesman: Austin Group To Help With Signups For Affordable Care Act Coverage
The Austin-based Latino HealthCare Forum has received a federal grant of $190,470 to help Central Texans sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The forum was started in 2010 to help Spanish-speaking people sign up for health care. (Chang, 9/18)

The Associated Press: Feds Taking Public Comment On Montana Medicaid Plan
Federal health officials are taking public comment on Montana’s proposal to expand Medicaid coverage to approximately 70,000 low-income residents. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s comment period on the compromise legislation signed by Gov. Steve Bullock earlier this year lasts until Oct. 15. The state has asked the federal agency to accept the state’s plan by Nov. 1 and provide benefits by Jan. 1. (9/18)

KRTV/MTN News: Blue Cross Is The Apparent Winner Of Medicaid Expansion Contract In Montana
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana is the highest-scoring bidder to manage the state’s multimillion-dollar Medicaid expansion next year, and will likely get the contract. A state contract evaluation committee this week gave Blue Cross a score of 1,062 points, edging out the second-place bidder, Oregon-based health insurer PacificSource, by 44 points. ... If Montana’s expansion plan is approved by the federal government, it would be the first state to have a private insurer manage the entire program. Blue Cross would collect premiums, process claims and arrange the network of medical providers serving those covered by the expansion. (Dennison, 9/18)

Alaska Dispatch News: State Says 1,000 Alaskans Signed Up For Expanded Medicaid In First 2 Weeks
The state health department says it enrolled more than 1,000 Alaskans in health care coverage in the first two weeks of the newly expanded Medicaid program. ... About 450 people filed their own applications with the state since expanded enrollment began Sept. 1, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. The state transferred another 560 people from other assistance programs, said Sarana Schell, a department spokeswoman. (Herz, 9/20)

Modern Healthcare: Virginia Elections Could Signal Future Of Medicaid Expansion
In the Nov. 3 state legislative elections, Virginia voters ... will have the opportunity to express their views on Medicaid expansion. Most of the Republican candidates for House of Delegates and Senate seats oppose McAuliffe's expansion proposal, while Democrats support it. All 140 seats in both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly are up for election. Currently, Republicans control both the House and Senate. Democrats need to pick up only one Senate seat to gain effective control of that chamber, though Medicaid expansion would still face an uphill fight in the House, where the GOP holds a two-thirds majority. Some observers say the Virginia state elections not only could swing the outcome of that state's Medicaid battle but could affect expansion's national momentum. (Dickson, 9/19)

Wichita (Kansas) Eagle: Brownback Still Resistant To Medicaid Expansion
Gov. Sam Brownback hasn’t joined the chorus of people calling for Medicaid expansion after the announcement that Kansas will lose its first hospital in nine years. The Mercy Hospital system plans to close its hospital in Independence next month in part because of the state’s reluctance to expand Medicaid, which provides health coverage to poor and disabled Kansans. ... “I don’t think we have the resources to get it done,” Brownback told students at Hutchinson Community College last week. He described how the state’s Medicaid costs have grown even without expansion. (Lowrey and Leffler, 9/19)

The Washington Post: Hillary Clinton To Go On Offense Over GOP Plans To Repeal Obamacare
Hillary Rodham Clinton will begin filling in details this week of her proposal to tweak the Affordable Care Act, and she will attempt to use Republican presidential candidates’ opposition to the health-care-expansion law against them. Clinton plans a series of events in Louisiana, Arkansas and Iowa to needle Republicans over their opposition to a law that has greatly reduced the number of uninsured Americans, her campaign said. (Gearan, 9/19)

CNN: Hillary Clinton To Tackle Obamacare
Hillary Clinton will roll out her fixes to the Affordable Care Act this week, an aide said Sunday, and will do so by hitting Republicans for outright opposing the law. Attaching herself to one of President Barack Obama's most consequential legislative achievements, Clinton will use events in Louisiana, Arkansas and Iowa to tout the controversial law's successes, offering a contrast to Republican presidential hopefuls who oppose the plan. (Merica, 9/20)

The Associated Press: Clinton To Propose New Prescription Drug Proposal This Week
Hillary Rodham Clinton says she'll soon roll out a proposal for controlling the cost of prescription drugs, a key fix to President Barack Obama's signature health care law. "We have a lot of positives. But there are issues that need to be addressed," the Democratic presidential front-runner she said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation. "I'm going to address them this week, starting with how we're going to try to control the cost of skyrocketing prescription drugs. It's something I hear about everywhere I go." (9/20)

The Associated Press: Republicans Jockey For Conservative Credibility
Setting aside personality clashes for a night, the Republican Party’s 2016 contest shifted to substance Friday as a slate of White House hopefuls vowed to steer the nation sharply to the right as they courted conservatives in battleground South Carolina. ... [Wisconsin Gov. Scott] Walker also called for congressional Republicans to strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood even if it causes a government shutdown. He suggested that Senate Republicans use the so-called “nuclear option” to bypass filibuster rules that often require 60 votes to proceed on contentious issues. “We don’t have to play by those rules,” Walker said. (Peoples and Barrow, 9/18)

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Carly Fiorina Jumps To No. 2 In CNN Poll, Keeps Focus On Abortion Issue
Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, suddenly center-stage in the GOP contest, continued to hammer away at issues central to the party’s base, including opposition to the use of federal funds for Planned Parenthood. Mrs. Fiorina, who vaulted into second place in a CNN-ORC poll after her Wednesday night debate performance, called abortion a “type of butchery,” and said she continues “to dare anyone” to watch a controversial video that she contends depicts a fetus being kept alive for the harvest of its body parts. (Burton and Sussman, 9/20)

The Washington Post: Fiorina Dismisses Planned Parenthood Criticism, Knocks Clinton, Obama And Congressional Republicans
Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina forcefully dismissed charges that the controversial Planned Parenthood video she described during Wednesday’s GOP primary debate does not exist, earning several standing ovations at a presidential forum here in Greenville (S.C.) as she tore into President Obama and Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton for supporting the organization. (DelReal, 9/18)

The Hill: Fiorina Defends Planned Parenthood Comments
Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina says she did not mischaracterize an undercover video tape that she said shows a live-birth abortion at Planned Parenthood, a statement that fact-checkers have called into question. “No, I don’t accept that at all,” Fiorina said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I’ve seen the footage. I find it amazing, actually, that all of these supposed fact-checkers in the mainstream media claim this doesn’t exist.” ... Fact-checkers say the video only describes the incident taking place, but does not actually show it. Fiorina also doubled-down on her calls to defund Planned Parenthood on Sunday. (Richardson, 9/20)

The Hill: Christie Tells GOP To Defund Planned Parenthood
Congress should go ahead and vote to defund Planned Parenthood, even though Republicans know President Obama would veto the bill, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said on Sunday. Christie, who is running for president for next year’s election, said it is important for the Republican majorities in the House and Senate to show voters that they do not want any federal funding to go to the health clinic federation, which provides abortions. (Cama, 9/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Justice Department Delays Ruling On Aetna-Humana Merger
Federal authorities reviewing the proposed Aetna- Humana merger have asked for more information, pushing back the deadline to rule on the deal. On Friday, the day the deadline was to expire, the companies said they had received a second request for information from the Justice Department. (Armental, 9/18)

Modern Healthcare: Aetna Wants To Build Optum-Like Unit From Humana Deal
Medicare Advantage is the obvious prize Aetna has been eyeing in its acquisition of Humana. But Aetna also hopes to create a health services division with Humana's other assets. It's a sign that even the largest health insurance companies realize they must do more than just sell health insurance if they want to remain at the top of the food chain in the long term. UnitedHealth Group has embraced this model through its Optum subsidiary. (Herman, 9/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Universal Health To Buy Addiction-Treatment Network
Hospital company Universal Health Services Inc. said Friday that it has agreed to buy privately-held Foundations Recovery Network LLC for about $350 million, adding a network of addiction-treatment centers to its portfolio. The transaction has been approved by the Federal Trade Commission and United Health expects to complete the deal in the coming weeks. (Beilfuss, 9/18)

The Associated Press: Universal Health Services Buying Foundations For $350M
Universal Health Services, one of the largest hospital operators in the U.S., said Friday it will buy addiction treatment facility company Foundations Recovery Network for $350 million. Foundations provides treatment for adults who have both addiction and mental health disorders. It has two facilities in California, one in Northern Georgia and one in Memphis, Tennessee, along with eight outpatient centers. (9/18)

Los Angeles Times: 'Amazing' Diabetes Drug Drives Down Fatal Heart Attacks And Strokes, Study Finds
Just as doctors were losing hope that they would find a drug capable of reducing heart risks for patients with diabetes, a new study identified one that may drive down the chances that such patients will die of a heart attack, stroke or heart failure. Compared with clinical trial subjects who took a placebo, those who added Jardiance to their regimen of diabetes medications were 38% less likely to die as a result of a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular problem during the approximately three years that subjects were tracked. (Healy, 9/18)

Los Angeles Times: New Prescription Drugs Can Help Patients, But Their High Prices Elicit Ire
They sounded like three deadly strikes. The patient had a dangerously high level of LDL cholesterol, a high risk for heart disease and an intolerance for the most common cholesterol-fighting medication. Dr. William Averill, a Torrance cardiologist, thought he had a solution: Praluent, a cholesterol-lowering drug from pharmaceutical companies Regeneron and Sanofi that had just been approved by the FDA as a treatment for people who didn't benefit from the standard cholesterol treatment. (Pfeifer, 9/20)

The New York Times: Drug Goes From $13.50 A Tablet To $750, Overnight
Specialists in infectious disease are protesting a gigantic overnight increase in the price of a 62-year-old drug that is the standard of care for treating a life-threatening parasitic infection. The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars. (Pollack, 9/20)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Nominee Califf’s Ties To Drug Makers Worry Some
[I]n May 2014, Dr. Robert M. Califf gave a presentation ... [and] spoke about ways to quicken the pace of biomedical innovation by transforming research. Toward the end he showed a slide that noted one barrier: regulation. ... after President Obama nominated Dr. Califf on Tuesday to become the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, his thoughts on the subject are suddenly taking on importance. ... no one who knows him thinks he wants to weaken the regulatory agency he has been chosen to lead. But he has deeper ties to the pharmaceutical industry than any F.D.A. commissioner in recent memory, and some public health advocates question whether his background could tilt him in the direction of an industry he would be in charge of supervising. (Tavernise, 9/19)

NPR: FDA Revisits Safety Of The Essure Contraceptive Device
Essure is a device comprised of two tiny coils made of nickel-titanium alloy. Scott's doctor inserted one into each of her fallopian tubes to permanently block them. Since Essure doesn't require surgery, he said it would be a lot easier, quicker and safer. ... Because of complaints, the FDA has asked a panel of outside experts to take another look at Essure during a public hearing on Thursday. (Stein, 9/21)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: As Abortion Pill Turns 15, Debate Rages On
Fifteen years after its approval in the United States, the abortion pill mifepristone is used in nearly a quarter of all abortions, a proportion that has grown steadily even as the national abortion rate has fallen to a historic low. Federal data also show that mifepristone, brand name Mifeprex, has accelerated the shift toward early pregnancy terminations - before 10 weeks - when it is safest and has the greatest public acceptance. Maker Danco Laboratories says more than two million women have used its "early option pill." (McCullough, 9/20)

The Wall Street Journal: VA Needs ‘Systemwide Reworking,’ Independent Report Finds
A sweeping independent review of the Department of Veterans Affairs health-care system made public Friday shows the multibillion-dollar agency has significant flaws, including a bloated bureaucracy, problems with leadership and a potentially unsustainable capital budget. (Kesling, 9/18)

The Washington Post: After The VA Scandal, Veterans Were Told Their Wait For Care Would Get Shorter. But It’s Actually Getting Worse.
Veterans who are seeking care for everything from post-traumatic stress disorder to cancer may face even longer wait times in the coming years for help from the overburdened Department of Veterans Affairs, according to a highly critical 4,000 page VA-commissioned study of veterans health care. The report finds that VA facilities cost twice the norm for public facilities, a claim that will likely re-launch a debate about moving towards privatizing some VA services. (Wax-Thibodeaux, 9/18)

The New York Times: In Unit Stalked By Suicide, Veterans Try To Save One Another
Mr. Bojorquez, 27, served in one of the hardest hit military units in Afghanistan, the Second Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment. In 2008, the 2/7 deployed to a wild swath of Helmand Province. ... During eight months of combat, the unit killed hundreds of enemy fighters and suffered more casualties than any other Marine battalion that year. When its members returned, most left the military and melted back into the civilian landscape. ... Almost seven years after the deployment, suicide is spreading through the old unit like a virus. ... Feeling abandoned, members of the battalion have turned to a survival strategy they learned at war: depending on one another. Doing what the government has not, they have used free software and social media to create a quick-response system that allows them to track, monitor and intervene with some of their most troubled comrades. (Philipps, 9/19)

The Associated Press: Health Apps Top 165,000 In U.S., Report Says
Smartphone users have more than 165,000 apps available to help them stay healthy or monitor a medical condition, but only three dozen account for nearly half of all downloads, according to a new report. Most apps focus on fitness or wellness by helping the user do things like count calories or track steps walked. Doctors and other care providers also are taking a growing interest in using apps to help patients, but concerns about a lack of research and data protection are limiting wider use of the technology, according to the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics. (Murphy, 9/21)

Reuters: U.S. Startups Aim To Help Seniors 'Age In Place'
Shari Cayle, 75, called "Miracle Mama" by her family ever since she beat back advanced colon cancer seven years ago, is still undergoing treatment and living alone. "I don’t want my grandchildren to remember me as the sick one, I want to be the fun one," said Cayle, who is testing a device that passively monitors her activity. "My family knows what I’m doing and I don’t think they should have to change their life around to make sure I’m OK." Onkol, a product inspired by Cayle that monitors her front door, reminds her to when to take her medication and can alert her family if she falls has allowed her to remain independent at home. Devised by her son Marc, it will hit the U.S. market next year. (Gumpert, 9/18)

Reuters: Committee Backs Goal Of 1 Million For US 'Precision Medicine' Project
The initial goal to recruit 1 million Americans to analyze genetic information as part of the government's "precision medicine" initiative was backed in a final report delivered to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Thursday. The "precision medicine" initiative, announced in January by President Barack Obama, will involve a pool of people - healthy and ill, men and women, old and young - who will be studied to learn how genetic variants affect health and disease. (9/17)

The Dallas Morning News: What Is Left Of Planned Parenthood In Texas
Federal funds for Planned Parenthood are on the chopping block in the U.S. House on Friday, as Republicans aim to strip the women’s healthcare provider of as much as 41 percent of its revenue, comprised of government health service grants and reimbursements. But in Texas, the Republican-controlled Legislature has already stripped the group of most government funding – state and federal. However the fight plays out in Congress, the impact in Texas would be minimal. (Ayala, 9/18)

The Des Moines Register: No State Money Going For Abortions, Agencies Confirm
Iowa’s Planned Parenthood chapter receives no state money to pay for abortions, state administrators have confirmed to Gov. Terry Branstad. Branstad asked the Iowa Department of Human Services and Department of Public Health last month to review their contracts with Planned Parenthood. His request came after abortion opponents created a national uproar by posting videos that suggested other Planned Parenthood chapters illegally sold parts from aborted fetuses. Spokeswomen for the state agencies said Thursday that the reviews have confirmed no state money goes for abortions. (Leys, 9/19)

Salt Lake Tribune: Ex-Ordain Women Leader Kate Kelly Joins Planned Parenthood Of Utah
The Planned Parenthood Association of Utah's fight to maintain its federally funded programs in the state will be spearheaded in part by Kate Kelly, the attorney who led a push for female ordination in the LDS Church. Kelly will join the staff of the Utah family-planning organization Monday as strategic advocacy and policy counsel — a new position created, Kelly said, as part of the group's "aggressive response" to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert ordering state agencies to stop distributing federal funds to Planned Parenthood. An outreach coordinator was also hired. (Knox and Piper, 9/18)

In other news, a Virginia abortion doctor is ordered to pay $4 million to the daughter of a patient he was convicted of killing -

The Associated Press: Imprisoned Abortion Doc Ordered To Pay $4M In Woman's Death
An abortion provider convicted of killing babies born alive has been ordered to pay nearly $4 million to the daughter of a Virginia woman who was given a lethal dose of Demerol while under his care. Lawyers say it is unlikely 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar's daughter will ever see any of the judgment awarded this week. They say imprisoned former doctor Kermit Gosnell is broke and that he and his shuttered clinic don't have insurance. (9/18)

The Des Moines Register: Democrats Ask Feds To Block Medicaid Privatization
Two leading Democratic legislators are asking federal administrators to block Gov. Terry Branstad’s plan to turn the state’s Medicaid program over to private companies. Sens. Amanda Ragan and Liz Mathis contend that Branstad is trying to make the shift too quickly and that he has not shown how it will save money and help poor Iowans. (Leys, 9/18)

The Des Moines Register: Serious Service Errors Plague Medicaid Companies
The corporations poised to take over management of Iowa’s Medicaid program have each been held accountable in other states for serious service and administrative errors, including some that wrongly delayed or denied medical services to poor residents, a Des Moines Register investigation shows. Yet a review committee that scored the corporations' bids gave the highest scores — and a piece of the annual $4.2 billion in contracts — to some of the companies with the most egregious problems. (Clayworth, 9/20)

Elsewhere, Connecticut's emergency budget cuts will hit Medicaid and Texas parents ask the state to maintain therapy services for their disabled children. Also in Texas, UnitedHealthcare helps fund a housing program to reduce health care costs -

The Connecticut Mirror: Market Jitters Prompt Malloy To Make $103M In Emergency Cuts
Responding to a weak stock market, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ordered $103 million in emergency cuts Friday, including a major hit in Medicaid payments that ultimately will cost hospitals about $190 million in state and federal funds. (Phaneuf and Pazniokas, 9/18)

The Texas Tribune: Parents of Disabled Children Ask Texas Not to Cut Services
Thousands of children with disabilities would be harmed by impending state budget cuts to therapy services, several dozen parents told state health officials on Friday. (Walters, 9/18)

The Texas Tribune: To Reduce Health Costs, Insurer Spends On Housing
By law, housing costs are not covered by the state's Medicaid program, the insurer of last resort, a divisive issue in the health care community. That means insurance companies can't count them as health care costs when they report their expenditures to the state. But that hasn't stopped UnitedHealthcare, one such insurer, from contracting with local homeless coalitions in Houston and Austin to track down the health plan’s members who don’t have a stable place to live. UnitedHealthcare says that will allow the insurer to work with those members to find subsidized housing and help coordinate their health care — and in some cases, pay for “barrier busters” to help them move into apartments or buy necessities like furniture. (Walters, 9/21)

The Associated Press: NYC Plan Trains Lay People As Mental Health Screeners
The training session asked workers how they would respond to troubled people — a drug user, an abuse victim or someone with bipolar disorder — that they might encounter on the job. They weren't doctors or therapists, and their employer, a wide-ranging youth outreach organization called The Door, isn't only a counseling center. But mental health how-tos are part of everyone's training, whether they're career advisers or basketball coaches, and reaching out to offer help is part of everyone's job. New York City is about to put that idea to a major test: a $30 million plan to provide mental health training to staffers at social service organizations. They'll be prepared to screen people for possible psychological problems, provide information and try to motivate them to make changes in their lives. (Peltz, 9/19)

The San Jose Mercury News: Mental Health Treatment For The Bay Area Incarcerated Lacking, Officials Say
Michael Tyree didn't have to be in the Santa Clara County Main Jail. The 31-year-old, who battled bipolar disorder much of his life, was supposed to be on the jail's sixth floor only long enough for a bed to open up at a psychiatric facility. Instead, he was brutally beaten to death in his cell, and three correctional officers face murder charges in a case that is spurring change in the jail system and shedding light on the plight of mentally ill inmates in jails ill-equipped to properly treat them. Hundreds of inmates are in Bay Area jails -- and thousands populate jails across the state -- for the same reason as Tyree: They are waiting for a spot at a mental health treatment program. (Nelson, 9/19)

USA Today/Louisville Courier-Journal: Louisville Seeks Answers To Rising Suicide Rate
When a national study listed Louisville as the third unhappiest city in the country, psychologist Kevin Chapman was reminded of why he opened a full-time private practice last year. The study covered feelings of respondents upset over everything from rent hikes to cold weather. But Chapman, a former University of Louisville professor, said the survey's findings overall were about stress levels that more of his patients say they are experiencing. And the effects can be deadly. Louisville Metro Police have recorded 77 suicides this year, a 30% jump compared with this time a year ago and one more than the city totaled all of last year. (Bailey, 9/18)

USA Today: HHS To Change Rules For Opioid Treatment Drug
The federal government will change the rules for prescribing the addiction drug buprenorphine in an effort to expand access to medication-assisted treatment for people addicted to heroin and prescription painkillers, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said Thursday. Burwell also announced $1.8 million in grants to 13 states for rural communities to pay for naloxone, a drug that reverses an opioid overdose, and training on how to administer it. (Leger, 9/19)

The Boston Globe: Nursing Licensing Inquiry Finds Gap In Process
A Globe review of documents at the heart of the Massachusetts investigation into fraudulently obtained nursing licenses reveals a pattern of applicants using what appear to be doctored licenses from other states in an effort to prove professional certification. Three applicants pretended they had Alabama licenses, filing a form signed by either “Genell Lee” or “N. Genell Lee.” Alabama officials told the Massachusetts nursing board that valid forms would be signed by someone else. Another three claimed to have Oklahoma licenses, each using the same incorrect name for an official on their forms. (Freyer and Lazar, 9/21)

The Associated Press: Feds Join Whistleblower Suit On Stone County Hospital Bills
The federal government is joining a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that owners of a Wiggins hospital unjustly bilked more than $12 million from Medicare. The suit, filed in 2007 by a former administrator at Stone County Hospital and unsealed Friday, alleges that Ted and Julie Cain of Ocean Springs pulled down big salaries partially reimbursed by the federal health care program for older people. The suit claims reimbursements for those salaries to the Cains' company, Corporate Management Inc., were unjustified. (Amy, 9/18)

MassLive: Report From Attorney General Finds Disparate Health Care Pricing
There are still widely disparate prices among health care providers in Massachusetts and patients are continuing to use the highest priced doctors, driving up health are costs in the state. Those are the findings of a new report by Attorney General Maura Healey's office. Healey's report confirms other recent data which have shown that health insurance costs in Massachusetts are continuing to rise and transparent pricing for health care is still difficult to come by. (Schoenberg, 9/18)

WBUR: AG Says State Must Do More To Control Health Care Costs
It looks like Massachusetts will miss a self-imposed health care spending target again this year. This warning from Attorney General Maura Healey comes just a few weeks after a state agency announced that Massachusetts failed to keep spending below 3.6 percent last year, as recommended in a 2012 law. (Bebinger, 9/18)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Legislature Delays Update On Health Law
There is nothing like a crisis to create the impetus to act - or so you would think. In 2007, the state Senate adopted a resolution recognizing that Pennsylvania's public-health law on the prevention of infectious disease was largely obsolete. Describing it as a patchwork of laws dating to the 1950s, the Senate noted the need to update our statutory scheme to meet the challenges of the modern world and, specifically, "emerging biological threats." The Joint State Government Commission of the General Assembly was enlisted to suggest ways to modernize the law. More than seven years later, after countless meetings, conferences, and debates, the legislature has done nothing. Considering that the control of infectious disease remains almost entirely a state responsibility, the stakes are high. (Bozza, 9/18)

Los Angeles Times: Five Wildfire Deaths Highlight Vulnerability Of Isolated Seniors In Disasters
Some were pulled from the fire zone by relatives or neighbors, with or without their wheelchairs. At least a handful made the bumpy ride out in the back of a pickup through heavy smoke and fire-blackened debris — thanks to a former paramedic who breached the blockades. They arrived at area shelters with oxygen tanks, without their medications, anxious and in some cases disoriented. Then there were the ones who stayed behind —intentionally or not. (Romney, 9/19)

The Baltimore Sun: Health Care For The Homeless Gets A $50K Grant From UnitedHealthcare Of Maryland
Health Care for the Homeless will use a $50,000 grant from a large insurer to collect data on its clients that it hopes will help improve programming. UnitedHealthcare of Maryland presented the grant to the non-profit Thursday at its headquarters clinic downtown. The money will be used to track hospitalization and incarceration rates of people in the non-profit's supportive housing program - which gives support to homeless as they transition into homes of their own. (McDaniels, 9/18)

The Associated Press: Some Minnesota Marijuana Patients Opting To Buy Illegally
Just two months after Minnesota launched its medical marijuana program, some patients turned off by high costs say they are back to buying the drug illegally because it's the only way they can afford it. State officials and the companies hired to make marijuana products trumpeted the program's medical approach — pills and oils, no leaf products — when it launched in July. But some patients say the highly restricted and regulated system is costing them hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month— none of it covered by insurance. (Potter, 9/19)

The Washington Post: A Land Deal For An Elite Private School Will Displace More Than 100 Sick, Poor People
Thomas Taylor, swaddled in a bed of white sheets, flipped off the television and considered his mortality. He has been sick a long time. Multiple sclerosis. He’s not sure how much longer he can hold out, he said, not with the grim news he’d just gotten, not with all of these worries occupying his thoughts. Taylor, a resident the Washington Home in Northwest Washington, didn’t receive a bad health prognosis. Last week he learned that he and the other residents of the Washington Home, where Thomas has lived for more than two decades, will have to move out. (McCoy and Brown, 9/20)

The Associated Press: Southern Nevada Health District Opening Flu Vaccine Clinics
The regional health district in southern Nevada will begin offering annual flu vaccines beginning Monday at clinics in Las Vegas, Henderson and Mesquite. The Southern Nevada Health District says the cost of the regular injectable flu vaccine being offered this season to most people at the public health centers is $41. The cost of the high dose vaccine for people age 65 and over is $59. (9/20)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: UHS Adds To Addiction Services Unit
King of Prussia's Universal Health Services Inc. said Friday it had reached a $350 million deal to buy Foundations Recovery Network L.L.C, a Nashville company that will give UHS a bigger footprint in fast-growing addiction services. UHS, which is under a federal criminal investigation for billing practices at its mental hospitals, is already the nation's largest operator of inpatient behavioral health facilities. UHS finished 2014 with 20,037 psychiatric beds at 182 facilities in the United States, including 1,171 at seven facilities in the Philadelphia region. (Brubaker, 9/19)

The Denver Post: DaVita To Buy Seattle-area Primary, Specialty Physicians Group
Denver-based DaVita HealthCare Partners is expanding the primary and specialty care network side of its business with the acquisition of The Everett Clinic, a physician group that serves 315,000 patients in Washington state, officials are expected to announce Monday. Financial terms were not immediately available. Based in Everett, Wash., The Everett Clinic has 20 locations in the region north of Seattle and employs more than 2,200 people, including 500 specialty and primary care providers. (Wallace, 9/21)

The Associated Press: Arizona Short On Residency Programs For Med School Grads
Arizona medical schools say more residency positions are needed if the state doesn’t want a doctor shortage on its hands. The University of Arizona’s medical school in Phoenix estimates that half of its graduates go outside the state for the next stage of their careers. “What we cannot afford as the state medical school (is) to become a farm system, where our graduates go to other states. We need them here,” Dr. Stuart Flynn, dean of the UA’s College of Medicine Phoenix, said. (9/19)

The Chicago Tribune: Former Elmwood Park Employee Gets Prison Time For Health Care Fraud
A suburban Chicago woman has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for her role in a $4 million health care fraud scheme. The Justice Department announced Saturday that U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman sentenced Mary Talaga of Elmwood Park to 45 months and ordered her to pay about $1 million in restitution. She was convicted in 2015 on 10 counts of health care fraud, conspiracy and making false statements. The 54-year-old Talaga was primary medical biller from 2007 to 2011 at Medicall Physicians Group. Physicians visited patients in their homes and prescribed home health care. Trial evidence showed Talaga and others routinely billed Medicare for patient oversight that wasn't conducted and for other services Medicall didn't provide, including care to patients who were dead. (9/19)

The Washington Post: Cancer-Stricken Children, Parents Ejected From Park Near White House
The U.S. Secret Service ordered hundreds of parents and their cancer-stricken children out of Lafayette Square on Saturday night, barricading the park for at least two hours and disrupting the group’s plans for a candlelight vigil to raise awareness and research funding for childhood cancer, participants said. (Kunkle, 9/20)

The Associated Press: Customized Bus Bringing Dental Care To Detroit-Area Children
A customized bus will travel the Detroit area providing comprehensive dental care and oral health education to children. The University of Detroit Mercy now has a so-called mobile dental coach that will bring dental care to children at schools across Wayne County, starting with Noble Elementary-Middle School in Detroit. (9/21)

Los Angeles Times: Embryo Battles Are Likely To Get A Precedent In San Francisco Couple's Case
Dr. Mimi C. Lee and Stephen E. Findley had not been married long when he began to have doubts about the relationship. Now divorced, he is fighting to prevent her from having a child with their frozen embryos, made after Lee was diagnosed with cancer. The case, to be decided in the next several weeks, is likely to lead to the first legal rules in California for resolving embryo disputes. If Lee prevails, Findley could be forced to become a parent against his will. If Findley wins, it is extremely unlikely that Lee, now 46, will ever have a genetically related child. (Dolan, 9/19)

The New York Times: Use Medicare’s Muscle To Lower Drug Prices
A poll last month by Consumer Reports found that a third of the patients who take prescription drugs are paying significantly more this year, forcing many to cut back on other necessities or load up on credit card debt. Another poll in August by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that about a quarter of those surveyed said they had trouble paying for prescription drugs. Many of the people most affected by rising drug prices are older patients on Medicare, who often live on modest incomes, are in poor health, and take four or more prescription drugs. One way to reduce drug costs for this population is to reverse the policy set by the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, which created Medicare’s prescription drug program. (9/21)

Los Angeles Times: Direct-To-Consumer Drug Marketing Is A Scandal. Can The FDA Fix It?
Two nations in the world allow drug companies to market prescription medicines directly to consumers: New Zealand and the United States. In the U.S. at least, the lack of effective regulation of what drugmakers say, and how, leaves consumers utterly at a loss when trying to understand the uses and risks of these intensely marketed products. That's the conclusion of Jeremy A. Greene of Johns Hopkins and Elizabeth S. Watkins of UC San Francisco, who write in the New England Journal of Medicine that discussions of side effects and contraindications are typically provided to consumers in package inserts whose "medical terminology, dense verbiage, and tiny fonts ... have made them inscrutable to the average consumer and virtually useless as information sources." (Michael Hiltzik, 9/18)

The New York Times: OxyContin Is Not For Kids
A year and a half ago, I stood up before Vermonters and devoted my State of the State address to speaking about the opiate and heroin crisis affecting my state. Despite our best efforts since, this is not a battle we are winning. Now the Food and Drug Administration is recklessly making the problem worse with its decision to approve OxyContin for use by children as young as 11 years old. (Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, 9/21)

The New York Times: The Fight For Unplanned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood! Government shutdown! Anti-abortion politicians are in an uproar over videos that supposedly show Planned Parenthood representatives negotiating on prices for tissue from aborted fetuses. Carly Fiorina was passionate about the subject in this week’s Republican debate. Nothing she said was accurate, but nobody’s perfect. (Gail Collins, 9/18)

Los Angeles Times: It's Time For Carly Fiorina To Apologize To Planned Parenthood
Defunding Planned Parenthood has become a shibboleth for Republican presidential aspirants: As a legislator or governor, you can't stand as a credible candidate unless you've defunded the organization in your state or voted to do so. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and Chairman Carly Fiorina can't compete on this score, never having ever held political office. So at this week's GOP debate she raised the ante, making the most extreme statement about Planned Parenthood of anyone in the field. (Michael Hiltzik, 9/18)

The Washington Post: I Have An Idea: How About We Shut Down Neither The Government NOR Planned Parenthood?
If the members of this legislative body would confine their legislation to their own bodies, we would not have this struggle ahead. Unfortunately for all their highfalutin rhetoric about the unborn, all that a vote to defund Planned Parenthood can really achieve is to take money from women’s health services (that in the vast majority of cases are NOT abortion-related). Title X prohibits the use of federal dollars to fund abortion. (Alexandra Petri, 9/18)

The New York Times: The Pope And The Birth Control Ban
The church establishment under Pope Francis continues to oppose access to birth control. The Holy See’s delegation at the United Nations has objected to the inclusion of contraception and reproductive rights in worldwide development goals. At every turn, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has fought the Affordable Care Act’s requirements for contraception coverage. In the Philippines, Catholic authorities strenuously opposed a bill to allow government health centers to stock free or subsidized birth control; the law finally passed in 2012. Catholic hospitals and clinics, the only option in some regions, often do not offer contraceptives. Catholics around the world, meanwhile, largely support the use of birth control. (9/21)

The Washington Post: Why I Had An Abortion After 20 Weeks
In coming days, the Senate is expected to consider a federal ban on abortions at 20 weeks. Before lawmakers cast their votes, I would like them to hear my story. If such a ban had been in place a year ago, I would have been condemned to carry and give birth to a baby who had no chance at life. (Rebecca Cohen, 9/20)

The Kansas City Star: Kathleen Sebelius Says Obamacare Is Here To Stay
Speaking last week at the annual luncheon of the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, [former HHS Secretary Kathleen] Sebelius expressed pride in what the ACA has accomplished. The nation has seen a historic drop in the number of people without health insurance, she said, while health care inflation has been running at the lowest rate in 50 years. Those are the facts, Sebelius said. “The debate sounds different, but those are the facts on the ground.” Sebelius was confident that the ACA was so “intimately entwined” into the fabric of the nation’s health care system that it would be impossible to dismantle it wholesale, as some Republicans presidential contenders vow. (Alan Bavley, 9/20)

Salt Lake Tribune: Medicaid Expansion Is Not The Utah Way Of Helping Poor
Lawmakers plan to gather this fall for a special legislative session to consider accepting Obamacare funding, terms and conditions in order to expand Medicaid in Utah. While state policy makers are looking for opportunities to help those most in need, they seem to have lost sight of the real issue. Distracted by the siren call of "free money" for the state, many lawmakers have skipped over the facts on whether or not such an expensive program will even help those less fortunate get ahead. (Evelyn Everton, 9/19)

The Washington Post: Treatment, Not Jail, For Mentally Ill People
Natasha McKenna, the schizophrenic woman who died in February after Fairfax County jail guards shot her four times with a Taser, should not have been behind bars. She should have been in treatment at a facility staffed with mental health professionals. Some county officials have acknowledged that; they include Sheriff Stacey A. Kincaid, who runs the jail, where some 40 percent of the 1,100 inmates suffer from mental illness or substance addiction. Now it’s time for Fairfax, whose 1.1 million people make it more populous than all but nine U.S. cities, to make reforms to ensure that senseless tragedies like Ms. McKenna’s death do not recur. (9/20)

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: We Are Hurting Care By Overloading Doctors
The 21st century ushered in many changes in the way medicine is practiced. Hospitals and health-care systems are rapidly buying up physician practices nationally. These organizations control every aspect of the medical pipeline. Insurance carriers may cancel contracts with physicians whom they deem to be "financial drainers." ... Independent" physician practices are becoming rare. The question is whether today's physicians are able to practice without being coerced by the many external forces that control them. ... doctors are, in fact, being asked and mandated to do things that take them away from caring for patients. They are asked to do things that benefit large health care networks, hospitals and insurance companies.(Bhupendra O. Khatri, 9/20)