The New York Times: Pelosi And Schumer, In Push For Gun Safety Legislation, Urge Trump To Defy N.R.A.
The top two Democrats in Congress called on Sunday for President Trump to defy the National Rifle Association and get behind legislation, already passed by the House but blocked in the Senate, to expand background checks to nearly all gun buyers. With gun control high on Congress’s agenda as lawmakers return to Washington this week after their August recess, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, sent a joint letter to the president, telling him that his “urgent, personal intervention is needed to stem the endless massacres of our fellow Americans by gunfire” and that he had a “historic opportunity to save lives.” (Stolberg, 9/9)

Reuters: Factbox: Democrats Step Up Calls For Gun Legislation As U.S. Congress Returns
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and other senior Democrats said on Sunday they will gather Monday afternoon to urge McConnell to "end his harmful legislative graveyard" and bring a House-passed bill expanding background checks on gun purchases to the Senate floor as soon as possible. The House Judiciary Committee is also expected to debate additional gun measures this week. McConnell said he would not bring a gun bill to the floor of the Republican-majority Senate unless it had the support of President Donald Trump, a Republican who has not provided details of measures he might support to address gun violence. (9/8)

The Associated Press: Congress Returns To McConnell's Legislative 'Graveyard'
McConnell has made it clear that he won't make any moves without Trump's commitment to sign the bills into law. But the president has flip-flopped on guns, first suggesting he'd be open to background checks legislation or other measures to try to stem gun violence, only to backtrack after speaking to the National Rifle Association and others in the gun lobby. The Senate leader is trying to avoid a politically uncomfortable situation of Republicans joining Democrats to pass bills, only to have Trump reject them. Against this backdrop, McConnell outlined what he must see before considering any guns legislation: "If the president is in favor of a number of things that he has discussed openly and publicly, and I know that if we pass it it'll become law, I'll put it on the floor." (Mascaro, 9/9)

The New York Times: Trump Aides’ Poll Finds Gun Control Politically Problematic For The President
President Trump assured Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, on Thursday that he was still considering legislation that could include background checks for gun buyers. But White House aides said they had polling data showing that gun control was politically problematic for the president, according to two people briefed on the meeting. Inside the White House, the issue of new gun control measures has largely been theoretical. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, has cautioned that it will be the president who will have to press his party to act. (Haberman and Martin, 9/6)

The New York Times: How Congress Passed An Assault Weapons Ban In 1994
President Bill Clinton had just been ambushed by his own party. It was August 1994 and a coalition of House Democrats wary of any new gun restrictions joined Republicans to unexpectedly sink the administration’s big crime bill on a procedural vote that was usually a test of party loyalty. Afterward, Speaker Thomas S. Foley and his top lieutenants, all Democrats, trooped down to the White House with a message for a shocked president who was already struggling on his signature health care proposal: Drop a divisive ban on assault weapons or the crime bill won’t pass. (Hulse, 9/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump, 2020 Democrats Take Different Tacks On Mental-Health Policy
The 2020 presidential campaign has revealed a clear split on the future of mental-health policy, with President Trump focused primarily on addressing gun violence and his potential Democratic foes making a wider variety of proposals. Mr. Trump has focused on the issue in response to recent mass shootings, calling for more psychiatric institutions and making it easier to commit people for treatment. (Armour, 9/8)

Meanwhile, in other gun violence news —

The Associated Press: US Mass Shooters Exploited Gaps, Errors In Background Checks
Most mass shooters in the U.S. acquired the weapons they used legally because there was nothing in their backgrounds to disqualify them, according to James Alan Fox, a criminologist with Northeastern University who has studied mass shootings for decades. But in several attacks in recent years gunmen acquired weapons as a result of mistakes, lack of follow-through or gaps in federal and state law. (Pane, 9/7)

The New York Times: Defying N.R.A., Texas Lieutenant Governor Favors Background Checks On Private Gun Sales
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas publicly endorsed expanding the state’s background checks to private gun sales on Friday, defying the National Rifle Association — a group that had previously given the conservative an A-plus grade for his Second Amendment bona fides. Mr. Patrick, a Republican who was elected to a second term in 2018, went so far as to say during an interview on Friday with The Dallas Morning News that he was “willing to take an arrow” from the gun lobby. (Vigdor, 9/6)

The New York Times: More Retail Chains Ask Customers Not To Carry Guns Openly
Several more of the country’s most ubiquitous retail chains said this week that they will ask customers to refrain from openly carrying guns in their stores. The requests, days after Walmart announced a similar policy, marked a notable shift in the debate about the presence of guns in everyday life in the United States. In a short statement posted Thursday, CVS Health requested that customers, other than authorized law enforcement personnel, do not bring firearms into its 9,900 stores in the country. Walgreens, with 9,500 stores, did so as well. (Zraick, 9/6)

Dallas Morning News: Two Years Of Mass Shootings In Texas, Dozens Dead. What Gun Laws Might Have Saved Lives? 
Texas politicians are looking anew at ways to reduce gun violence in the wake of the recent mass shootings in El Paso and Odessa. Dozens of policies, from the piecemeal to the comprehensive, have been proposed. But would any have applied to the gun massacres Texans have experienced in the past two years? (McGaughy, 9/9)

Health News Florida: Costs Of Assault Weapons Ban Weighed
If Floridians approve a constitutional amendment next year to block possession of assault weapons, a panel of economists on Thursday estimated the state budget could take a $26.9 million hit in lost revenue. But the head of the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research said the amount would likely be smaller because revenue lost in taxes from gun sales would be balanced out with other purchases that can be taxed. (Ceballos, 9/6)

The Washington Post: Guns, Government Funding And Calls For Impeachment — Congress Returns To Crowded Agenda
Lawmakers are searching for common ground on lowering prescription drug prices, an issue that has broad bipartisan support and even backing from Trump. Aides to Pelosi and a select group of House Democrats have been working largely behind closed doors on a prescription drug plan — one that would allow the federal government to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies. They face a difficult task crafting a plan that both passes muster with House liberals who want to take an aggressive approach and also allows for potential compromise with Republicans. (Bade and DeBonis, 9/8)

CQ: Fall Preview: Health Care
Health care costs will be a dominant issue on Capitol Hill this fall, with many lawmakers hoping to pass legislation to lower prescription drug prices and ban surprise medical bills. Each chamber has measures that would address the problems created when insured patients believe they are getting care covered by their insurance but end up paying out-of-network rates. The legislation would prevent hospitals from charging patients for out-of-network care in emergency situations or for out-of-network services at an in-network facility, a practice known as balance billing. (McIntire and Siddons, 9/9)

CQ HealthBeat: Fall Preview: Appropriations Hurdles
Democrats have added a host of policy provisions to their spending bills that seek to protect funding for organizations — both domestically and abroad — that include abortion as a family planning option. Among the possible fights is a provision in the Labor-HHS-Education bill that would require the Trump administration to distribute Title X family planning grants without considering whether a health care organization offers abortions. The administration had previously finalized regulations to bar federal funds for clinics that perform abortions or refer patients to other providers for abortion services. (Shutt, 9/9)

CQ: Fall Preview: Legislative Deadlines
Key programs set to expire include funding for type 1 diabetes research and diabetes prevention for facilities serving Native Americans; funding for Community Health Centers, which provide outpatient medical care for low-income individuals; the “Money Follows the Person” program, which provides Medicaid funding to help ease the transition out of nursing homes and long-term care institutions and into home and community-based care. Health care advocates are also pushing to renew the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute funding Medicare and Medicaid improvement research, as well as avert Medicaid cuts to Disproportionate Share Hospitals, which serve predominantly lower-income patients. (Mejdrich, 9/9)

The Associated Press: Sens. Markey, Warren Press Health Officials On EEE Research
U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren are pressing federal health officials on research efforts to combat eastern equine encephalitis. The two Massachusetts Democrats this week sent a letter to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases within the National Institutes of Health seeking the current state of federal research into EEE and whether research into other viruses could help lead to better treatment for the mosquito-borne infection. (9/8)

Politico: Why The Most Pro-Marijuana Congress Ever Won’t Deal With Weed
This could be a big moment for marijuana and Congress. But Democrats are fighting Democrats over whether to focus on social justice issues or industry priorities like banking. Marijuana advocates are divided among themselves over whether to push for full legalization or settle for less far-reaching legislation. And many Republicans — some of whom are seeing the benefits of cannabis legalization in their home states — are still decidedly against any legalization on the national level, even for medicinal uses. (Demko and Fertig, 9/9)

The Hill: Harris Unveils Plan To Offer Health Care, Housing Assistance To Over 500K Veterans
White House hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) on Saturday unveiled a new plan to expand veterans’ access to health care and provide housing assistance to over half a million former service members. ...The California Democrat said that if she is elected, by the end of her first term, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would expand access to health care and housing assistance through the agency to the more than 500,000 veterans with other-than-honorable discharges. (Axelrod, 9/7)

CNN: Harris Releases Plan To Give VA Benefits To Veterans With Less-Than-Honorable Discharges And Reverse Military Transgender Ban
Harris' proposal to expand heath care and housing assistance, posted to Medium just minutes before she took the stage at a forum in New Hampshire with veterans, would apply to more than 500,000 veterans who have received other-than-honorable discharges for misconduct that was linked to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries (TBI). "This is for me about seeing the veteran in the complexity of your life. You have done so much for your country and we owe you that we will see you in the full dimension of the life that you live," the California senator said during her event in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Stracqualursi and Wright, 9/7)

Read Harris' plan: Kamala’s Promise to America’s Veterans and Military Families

Meanwhile, in other elections-related news —

ProPublica: Medicare-For-All Is Not Medicare, And Not Really For All. So What Does It Actually Mean?
Ritchard Jenkins reached into the black computer bag he keeps near his workstation at Graceful Touch Barber and Beauty Salon and rifled through medical papers, pulling out an envelope buried deep at the bottom. It was an unopened medical bill for $971.78, now 17 months overdue, that he had put out of sight and out of mind. Another unpaid bill from May for $447.13 rested in a nearby drawer. Both are the result of an arthritic knee that needs to be replaced and keeps the 55-year-old master barber in near-constant pain. (Johnson, 9/6)

KHN explains: Defining The Debate On Health Care Coverage Options

The New York Times: What You Need To Know About Vaping-Related Lung Illness
Hundreds of people across the country have been sickened by a severe lung illness linked to vaping, and a handful have died, according to public health officials. Many were otherwise healthy young people, in their teens or early 20s. Investigators from numerous states are working with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration in an urgent effort to figure out why. Here’s what we know so far. (Richtel and Grady, 9/7)

The New York Times: Cases Of Vaping-Related Lung Illness Surge, Health Officials Say
Medical experts and federal health officials on Friday warned the public about the dangers of vaping and discouraged using the devices as the number of people with a severe lung illness linked to vaping more than doubled to 450 possible cases in 33 states and the number of deaths rose to five. The Indiana Department of Health announced the third death on Friday, and hours later, officials in Minnesota confirmed that a fourth person had died. (Richtel and Grady, 9/6)

The Washington Post: Vaping Lung Damage: What We Know About The Mysterious Illnesses
Patients typically experienced coughing, chest pain or shortness of breath before their health deteriorated to the point they needed to be hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other reported symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, fever and weight loss. Many victims have ended up with acute respiratory distress syndrome, a life-threatening condition in which fluid builds up in the lungs and prevents the oxygen people’s bodies need to function from circulating in the bloodstream. (Knowles, 9/7)

The Associated Press: US Health Officials Report New Vaping Deaths, Repeat Warning
U.S. health officials on Friday again urged people to stop vaping until they figure out why some are coming down with serious breathing illnesses. Officials have identified about 450 possible cases, including as many as five deaths, in 33 states. The count includes newly reported deaths in California, Indiana and Minnesota. (Stobbe, 9/6)

The Washington Post: Lung Illness Tied To Vaping Has Killed 5 People As New Case Reports Surge
Although federal and state officials said the definitive cause of the illness remains unknown, “the severity of the illness and the recent increase in the incidence of this clinical syndrome indicates that these cases represent a new or newly recognized and worrisome cluster of pulmonary disease related to vaping,” according to a report by health department officials in Wisconsin and Illinois, who conducted a joint investigation of 53 patients. (Sun, 9/6)

The Wall Street Journal: People Urged To Stop Vaping Following More Deaths, Hundreds Of Illnesses
“While the investigation is ongoing, people should consider not using e-cigarette products,” the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday in a news release. The agency also said people should stop buying vaporizers, cartridges and liquids off the street or modifying vaping products bought legally. (Abbott and Maloney, 9/7)

Politico: Feds: Best To Stop Vaping — Especial Marijuana — As Lung Disease Deaths Rise To 5
Late Friday, the FDA said it had tested enough samples containing THC to issue a recommendation that vaping product users avoid any product containing the chemical, which is the psychoactive component of marijuana. Most of the samples contain large amounts of vitamin E. While the FDA isn't sure that vitamin E is a cause of the lung injury, "the agency believes it is prudent to avoid inhaling this substance" while federal investigations continue. (Owermohle and Ehley, 9/6)

KQED: CDC Says Number Of Possible Cases Of Vaping-Related Lung Illness Has Doubled
Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said in Friday's briefing that the agency now had 120 samples of e-cigarettes available for testing and that "no one substance or compound, including vitamin E acetate, has been identified in all the samples tested." Zeller said the FDA is analyzing samples for a broad range of substances, including nicotine, THC and other cannabinoids, along with cutting agents, diluents, additives, pesticides, opioids, poisons and toxins. (Neel, 9/8)

PBS NewsHour: After 3 Deaths, CDC Says To Stop Using E-Cigarettes
CDC officials on Friday released criteria to help physicians identify cases of pulmonary disease linked to e-cigarette use. Patients who used e-cigarettes in the last 90 days, had abnormalities in chest x-rays but showed no sign of infection, along with no medical record of other possible diagnoses, could be considered confirmed cases, according to the latest CDC guidance. Some patients reported that symptoms developed after a few days, while others said they noticed symptoms weeks after, the CDC said. (Santhanam, 9/6)

Reuters: Los Angeles County Resident Dies Of Lung Illness, Fifth U.S. Death Possibly Tied To Vaping
A Los Angeles County resident has died from a lung illness possibly tied to vaping, bringing the total number of such U.S. deaths to five, health officials said on Friday. Officials are warning against e-cigarette use as the exact cause of any link between vaping and the lung condition remains unknown. (9/6)

The Hill: California Reports Fifth Death Due To Vaping-Related Lung Illness 
“Nationwide, we are learning how dangerous these devices may be, and the long-term health impacts remain unknown at this time,” Los Angeles County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said in a written release. “We are compelled to warn our 10 million residents that the risks of using these devices, with or without nicotine, marijuana, CBD or some street concoction, may now include severe lung injury.” (Campisi, 9/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Lung Disease Tied To Vaping On The Rise; 5 Killed, 1 In L.A.
California is reporting 57 suspected cases, up from 24 two weeks ago, according to the state public health department. One death was reported Friday in Los Angeles County. Doctors in San Francisco have treated a “handful” of patients, a UCSF radiologist said. (Allday, 9/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Parents, Schools Mobilize Against Teen Vaping: ‘We Have Quite A Fight Ahead Of Us’
His high school friends would inhale the sweet or minty vapor from their Juul and joke about how close society came to convincing kids to stay away from cigarettes, said one San Francisco teenager. No one smoked regular cigarettes anymore, said the now college student, who asked not to use his real name because using e-cigarettes is illegal for someone his age. But then they discovered Juul, a vaping device filled with a nicotine-based liquid. (Tucker, 9/7)

The Hill: Five Things To Know About The Deadly Vaping Illnesses
Some patients reported using e-cigarette products that only contained nicotine, while others reported using both. In New York, health officials reported that all 34 people who have become ill said they used at least one vape containing cannabis, while some said they also vaped nicotine. In North Carolina, five lung disease patients said they vaped THC, and three also vaped nicotine. And in Wisconsin, 89 percent of the patients interviewed by health officials said they had vaped THC. (Hellmann, 9/7)

The Oregonian: E-Cigarette Deaths Climb As Officials Confirm Some Illnesses Caused By Oil In Lungs From Vaping Marijuana 
At least four people have died after using e-cigarettes and about 450 possible cases of severe lung diseases are now under investigation -- more than doubling the breadth of the mysterious illness that has gripped the country, federal health officials announced Friday. The cases have spread to 33 states, most related to people vaping marijuana products, officials said. Oregon has reported one of the deaths, that of a middle-age resident who fell ill in July after vaping oils with THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana. The state has reported no other vaping-related lung illnesses. (Zarkhin, 9/8)

Miami Herald: CDC Study Links Lung Disease Outbreak To Vaping
Courtney Coppola, director of [Florida's] medical marijuana program, said she is still reviewing the report but urges patients to be wary and report any negative reaction to vaping their medication.“As these investigations continue to develop it is important that patients consult with their qualified marijuana ordering physician on the safest route of medical treatment, and immediately seek medical assistance if they experience respiratory distress,” she wrote in an email. (Gross, 9/6)

The CT Mirror: Three More Cases Of Mysterious Lung Disease Reported In Connecticut
Three additional Connecticut residents have been hospitalized with a severe lung disease that could be linked to vaping or vaping products, the state’s department of public health said Friday. Altogether, the state has logged five cases of the illness. All of the patients became sick in July and August and have since been released from the hospital, the department said. (Carlesso, 9/6)

Stat: Pneumonia Cases Linked To Vaping Are Still Rising. And Federal Officials Don’t Know What’s Causing Them
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a rising number of cases of mysterious pneumonias linked to vaping on Friday. Now, the agency reports 450 people from 33 states and one U.S. jurisdiction have been affected. Three deaths have been confirmed, authorities said, and another is being investigated. (Branswell, 9/6)

Bloomberg: Lung Injuries Tied To Cannabis Vaping Products, CDC Says
The rapid emergence of the mysterious lung illnesses has raised some concerns about the still-developing e-cigarette and legal marijuana industries. Investors have poured billions of dollars into numerous companies in both sectors, including the richly valued e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc., which has been criticized for its marketing practices. (Edney and Giammona, 9/6)

PBS NewsHour: Deaths Linked To Vaping Reveal A Complex Array Of Inhaled Substances
Following several mysterious deaths linked to vaping, the federal government is now warning Americans not to use e-cigarettes. The Centers for Disease Control also said there are 450 reported cases of lung illnesses tied to vaping, in more than 30 states. (Brangham, 9/6)

Politico Pro: Durbin: Sharpless Should Ban E-Cig Flavors Or Resign
Acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless needs to take a stronger stance on e-cigarettes and teen vaping within ten days or resign his post, the second-ranking Senate Democrat said today. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), whose state has confirmed one death and at least 41 other potential cases of vaping-related lung illness this summer, wrote to Sharpless urging him to immediately ban all flavored vapes and unapproved e-cigarette devices. (Owermohle, 9/6)

Boston Globe: Are Marijuana Vapes From Licensed Stores Safe? Mass. Lacks Regulations On Additives
As they scramble to pinpoint the source of a mysterious outbreak of life-threatening lung ailments related to vaping, federal health officials have focused their suspicions on additives used in illicit marijuana vaporizer cartridges. But in Massachusetts, the state’s otherwise-strict cannabis regulations impose no oversight on additives in regulated marijuana cartridges sold in licensed stores. (Adams and Martin, 9/6)

The Washington Post: Why More Ex-Smokers, And Smokers, Should Take CT Lung Cancer Test
The warnings are old hat by now: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking causes about 1 in 5 deaths in the United States each year. Despite nationwide decreases in smoking over the decades, lighting up remains the country’s leading cause of preventable disease. Luckily, writes Indiana University medical professor Richard Gunderman, there’s a test that can save smokers’ lives, even among those who have been on cigarettes for years. It’s CT lung cancer screening, and Gunderman makes a case for the tool at the Conversation, a not-for-profit media outlet. (Blakemore, 9/7)

Reuters: Novo Nordisk To Cut Insulin Prices In The U.S.
Novo Nordisk will offer cheaper insulin to U.S. diabetics, the Danish drugmaker said on Friday, in response to criticism over the high price of the medication and after similar moves by rivals Sanofi and Eli Lilly. President Donald Trump has made high prescription drug prices a top issue in the 2016 presidential campaign and said that drug companies were "getting away with murder". (9/6)

Stat: Novo Nordisk Offers Programs To Lower Insulin Costs As Pressure Over Pricing Mounts
“It’s an important step for some patients and may provide a lot of savings, but it doesn’t fix a long-standing problem, which is that insulin is very expensive,” she explained. “I think it’s a temporary fix in that it will not suddenly make it more affordable for everyone. Those with insurance will have to do some math to compare the benefits. … But in general, it’s better than asking them to pay full list price.” (Silverman, 9/6)

Bloomberg: Novo Nordisk To Sell Discount Insulin After Criticism Over Price 
Novo also said it would introduce a new “authorized generic” version of NovoLog and NovoLog Mix drugs that would sell at half the price of the brand version. A box of the authorized generic version of NovoLog FlexPen, which contains 5 pens, will cost $279.41, compared to $558.83 for the brand name, Novo said. (Langreth, 9/6)

The New York Times: Major Drug Maker Is Close To Settling Case To Avert First Federal Trial In Opioid Crisis
One of the biggest makers of generic opioids in the United States has reached a tentative settlement of claims to avoid the first federal trial of drug makers, distributors and retail chains for their roles in the opioid epidemic. Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, a company investigators for the Drug Enforcement Administration once referred to as “the kingpin of the drug cartel,” announced Friday that it had agreed to pay $24 million to two Ohio counties. Under the agreement, the company would also donate $6 million worth of drugs, including addiction treatment medications, to the plaintiffs, Cuyahoga and Summit Counties. (Hoffman and Thomas, 9/6)

The Washington Post: Mallinckrodt Reaches Settlement With ‘Bellwether’ Counties In Mammoth Opioid Lawsuit
Under the deal, Mallinckrodt would pay Cuyahoga and Summit counties $24 million in cash and donate $6 million in drugs, including addiction treatment medications. The proposed deal would take Ireland-based Mallinckrodt off the list of defendants facing the two counties in a test case of whether the drug industry should be forced to pay for the prescription opioid epidemic, which has killed more than 200,000 people since 1999. (Bernstein, Horwitz and Higham, 9/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Mallinckrodt Agrees To $30 Million Settlement In Ohio Opioid Litigation
Mallinckrodt still faces hundreds of other lawsuits, as do other manufacturers, retail pharmacies and wholesalers. The companies are accused by states, cities and counties of helping cause a public-health crisis with misleading marketing and by failing to stop excessive amounts of drugs from flooding the country. Mallinckrodt has denied the allegations. Analysts have pointed out that Mallinckrodt is highly leveraged and will find it difficult to resolve opioid litigation while being able to clean up its balance sheets. The company recently drew down the remaining availability of its revolving credit facility. (Hopkins and Armental, 9/8)

The Associated Press: A Purdue Bankruptcy Would Make Opioids Cases Even Messier
State and local governments have sought billions of dollars from Purdue Pharma as a way to hold the company and the family that owns it accountable for the nation’s opioid epidemic, a potential payout that is now clouded in uncertainty after state attorneys general said settlement talks had broken down, while the company says talks are not over. The attorneys general directly involved in the negotiations with the maker of OxyContin and the Sackler family said they anticipated Purdue filing soon for bankruptcy protection. (Mulvihill, 9/8)

ProPublica: Data Touted By OxyContin Maker To Fight Lawsuits Doesn’t Tell The Whole Story
Purdue Pharma has tried to refute accusations that it fueled the opioid crisis by arguing it was a small player in the U.S. market for prescription pain relievers. But a new ProPublica analysis of government data shows that the company, the maker of OxyContin, had a far bigger impact than it portrays. Purdue’s position rests on a Drug Enforcement Administration database, made public by a court order in July, which shows Purdue sold 3.3% of the prescription opioid pain pills in the U.S. from 2006 to 2012. (Armstrong and Ernsthausen, 9/9)

Stateline: In Cherokee Country, Opioid Crisis Seen As Existential Threat 
The earliest evidence that the opioid epidemic had seeped into Indian Country came in 2014, with a spike in the number of children taken into tribal custody because their parents were addicted to prescription painkillers. Nearly three-quarters of the hundreds of Cherokee children who were taken from their parents because of opioid addiction have been placed in non-Native homes, because there weren’t enough tribal families who were able to take them in. (Vestal, 9/9)

Kaiser Health News: ‘Crackhouse’ Or ‘Safehouse’? U.S. Officials Try To Block Philly’s Supervised Injection Site
Philadelphia could become the first U.S. city to offer opioid users a place to inject drugs under medical supervision. But lawyers for the Trump administration are trying to block the effort, citing a 1980s-era law known as “the crackhouse statute.” Justice Department lawyers argued in federal court Thursday against the nonprofit, Safehouse, which wants to open the site. (Feldman, 9/9)

Dallas Morning News: When Opioids Go Missing, Hospitals Are Supposed To Alert The DEA. That Didn't Happen At UT Southwestern.
Powerful painkillers, sedatives and other addictive drugs went missing from UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas over three years. In that time, two nurses died of overdoses, the hospital had two other nurses arrested for stealing drugs, and officials met to discuss internal flaws in tracking dangerous drugs. Yet dozens of times from 2016 to 2018, when drugs were lost or possibly stolen, UT Southwestern didn't notify the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, which depends on such disclosures in its battle against the nation's opioid epidemic, The Dallas Morning News found. (Ambrose and Hacker, 9/8)

The Associated Press: Hospital Closings Hit Hard On The Edge Of The Rust Belt
Carrie Jones is looking for work for the first time in two decades. She's even more worried about what will happen to her psychiatric patients. "Where are they going to go?" Jones said. "We're honestly like their family." Jones is among nearly 1,100 employees being laid off at Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling and sister facility East Ohio Regional Hospital in nearby Martins Ferry, Ohio. (Ra, 9/8)

The New York Times: Phone Service Problems Leave More Than A Dozen Hospitals Unable To Take Calls
More than a dozen hospitals in and around New York City lost phone service on Friday night, hampering their ability to answer the incoming calls of relatives who were seeking to speak with patients or check on their status. Hospital officials said that there was no danger to patients and that they were making contingency plans, though some were advising outside callers to reach patients on their cellphones. (Vigdor, 9/7)

Tampa Bay Times: Johns Hopkins All Children’s Faces Record State Fines
State regulators intend to hit Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital with some of the largest fines levied against a Florida hospital in recent memory, delivering a stinging rebuke to the prestigious institution. The fines will add up to $804,000. Four of them are for $197,000 — each more than twice as much as any other individual fine the state Agency for Health Care Administration has levied on a hospital since 2010, a Tampa Bay Times analysis of published state records shows. (McGrory and Bedi, 9/7)

The Associated Press: Some 9/11 Firefighters May Have Higher Heart Risks Now
Firefighters who arrived early or spent more time at the World Trade Center site after the 9/11 attacks seem to have a modestly higher risk of developing heart problems than those who came later or stayed less, doctors reported Friday. The research might have implications for any efforts to expand the list of health problems eligible for payment from a victim compensation fund. (9/6)

Los Angeles Times: Firefighter Study Links Time Spent At 9/11 Site In New York With Heart Problems
The research might have implications for any efforts to expand the list of health problems eligible for payment from a victim compensation fund. The study doesn’t prove that dust or anything else about the disaster caused the firefighters to experience greater heart risks. Nor does it compare the New York City firefighters to the general population or to other responders, such as paramedics or construction workers. (Marchione, 9/6)

CNN: 9/11 Attack Tied To Cardiovascular Risk In Firefighters, Study Says
The data showed that the firefighters who arrived at the World Trade Center site on the morning of September 11, 2001, had a 44% increased risk of cardiovascular disease over the next 16 years compared with those who arrived later, Prezant said. "Those who showed up in the afternoon of 9/11 had a 24% increase compared to everyone else," he said. Additionally, "those showing up and being there for more than six months had a 30% increase." (Howard, 9/6)

NBC News: 9/11 Firefighters At Risk For Serious Cardiovascular Issues, New Study Finds
For years, firefighters have been monitored for cancer and other illnesses, but this study focused on cardiovascular disease and examined 9,796 firefighters. The study’s authors said they reviewed not only who worked at ground zero but also how long they worked there, and whether they developed any cardiovascular disease in the years that followed. (Winter and Miller, 9/6)

ABC News: 241 NYPD Officers Have Died From 9/11 Illnesses, 10 Times The Number Killed In World Trade Center Attack
The grim statistic comes in the wake of a protracted battle for funding to compensate ill first responders and other survivors as well as the families of those who died. President Trump recently signed into law a permanent extension of the funding for the Victim Compensation Fund, which would have run out of money by December 2020. (Katersky and Parekh, 9/6)

Stat: In An Emergency, Where Ambulances Take Patients Differs By Race 
Ambulance crews are generally supposed to take seriously ill patients to the closest hospital that offers the necessary emergency services, such as stroke or trauma care. However, new research shows that patients are sometimes transported somewhere else, and that their race may have something to do with it. A national study published in JAMA Network Open on Friday found there were differences in the emergency departments where patients were taken by emergency medical services, based on their race or ethnicity. (Corley, 9/6)

Modern Healthcare: Racial Differences Found In Where Ambulances Take Patients
In first-of-its-kind research, a new study examining emergency medical service transportation patterns found black and Hispanic patients were less likely to be transported to ERs most frequented by white patients living in the same ZIP code; that's despite it often being the closest facility, which is what national guidelines suggest. But the study, published Friday in JAMA Network Open, found black and Hispanic patients more often were taken to safety-net hospital emergency departments than white patients living in the same ZIP code. (Johnson, 9/6)

US News & World Report: Study Finds Racial Disparities In Emergency Medical Care
Though national guidelines mandate emergency medical services take a patient to the nearest available hospital emergency department, or ED, where that patient ends up "may not be guided primarily by proximity, even for patients with highly acute conditions," according to the study. "Even when transported from the same geographic area, we found consistent differences by race/ethnicity in ED destinations," according to the study. "In the largest cities, only 36.8% of EMS transports for black (patients) and 43.4% for Hispanic enrollees were to the most common destination for white enrollees." (Williams, 9/6)

The Hill: Suicide Rates On The Rise, With Steep Incline In Rural US: Study
A new study published Friday said suicide rates are on the rise, with a particularly stark increase in rural communities. The suicide rate among Americans aged 25-64 rose by 41 percent from 1999 to 2016, researchers found. The rates were 25 percent higher among people living in rural counties as opposed to those living in major metropolitan areas. (Axelrod, 9/6)

Los Angeles Times: Economic Hardship Tied To Increase In U.S. Suicide Rates
Suicides reached a 50-year peak in 2017, the latest year for which reliable statistics are available. The vast majority of those suicides happened in the country’s cities and suburbs, where 80% of Americans live. But a new study shows that the nation’s most rural counties have seen the toll of suicide rise furthest and fastest during those 18 years. The new research ties high suicide rates everywhere to the unraveling of the social fabric that happens when local sports teams disband, beauty and barbershops close, and churches and civic groups dwindle. (Healy, 9/6)

NBC News: Suicide Rates Are Rising, Especially In Rural America
The study also found that counties with high levels of social fragmentation — based on the levels of single-person households, unmarried residents and transient residents — and a high percentage of veterans had higher rates of suicide. All of those factors were more pronounced in rural counties. The presence of more gun shops was also associated with an increase in suicide rates in all counties, except for the most rural ones, the researchers reported. To take a closer look at suicide rates in America, Steelesmith and her colleagues turned to data from the National Vital Statistics System, a database that includes information on suicide deaths, including year of death, gender, age and county of residence. (Carroll, 9/6)

CNN: Suicide: Living Near A Gun Shop Or Having A Rural Address Puts You At Higher Risk, Study Says
"With the gun shop, this is a new variable that hasn't really been looked at, so that definitely needs more research, but we think it is about accessibility," said co-author Danielle Steelesmith, a researcher with the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.The majority of the nearly 40,000 gun deaths in the United States in 2017 were due to suicide, according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. (Christensen, 9/6)

The Washington Post: Google Bars Ads For Unproven Therapies, Including Stem Cells
Responding to ubiquitous online marketing by stem cell clinics selling unapproved treatments for everything from achy joints to Alzheimer’s, Google announced Friday it will no longer accept ads for “unproven or experimental medical techniques,” including most stem cell therapy, cellular therapy and gene therapy. The Internet giant said it was taking the step after seeing “a rise in bad actors” trying to take advantage of patients by offering “untested, deceptive treatments.” Often, Google said in a post explaining the new policy, “these treatments can lead to dangerous health outcomes and we feel they have no place on our platforms.” (Wan and McGinley, 9/6)

Los Angeles Times: Scientists Are Hopeful About A Vaccine To Prevent HIV
First there were the drugs that could knock back HIV to undetectable levels, and the virus was no longer synonymous with a death sentence. Then came a treatment that allowed people who were HIV-negative to remain that way, even if their partners weren’t. But to truly defeat the virus that causes AIDS, doctors need a vaccine. And after decades of dead ends and dashed hopes, they may finally be on the verge of having one. (Baumgaertner, 9/6)

The New York Times: Death By Diet Soda?
Does guzzling diet soda lead to an early demise? There was a collective gasp among Coke Zero and Diet Pepsi drinkers this week after media reports highlighted a new study that found prodigious consumers of artificially sweetened drinks were 26 percent more likely to die prematurely than those who rarely drank sugar-free beverages. (Jacobs, 9/6)

NPR: Prenatal 'Bootcamp' For New Dads Taught By Dads Helps Whole Family
"Before I became a dad, the thought of struggling to soothe my crying baby terrified me," says Yaka Oyo, 37, a new father who lives in New York City. Like many first-time parents, Oyo worried he would misread his newborn baby's cues. "I pictured myself pleading with my baby saying, 'What do you want?' "Oyo's anxieties are common to many first-time mothers and fathers. One reason parents-to-be sign up for prenatal classes, is to have their questions, such as 'What's the toughest part of parenting?' and 'How do I care for my newborn baby?' answered by childcare experts. (Fraga, 9/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: Major Shortcomings In Organ Transplant Network Flagged In UCSF, Columbia Studies
The nation’s organ transplant network is a work in progress, with health care providers and patient advocates constantly devising new strategies to fairly distribute a scarce resource. But two recent studies have identified areas in particular need of improvement. (Allday, 9/7)

The New York Times: Yes, Texting While Walking Is Relatively Safe. (But Still Annoying.)
If you have crossed a street in a major city recently, the odds are good that you have bumped into someone staring at a phone. Perhaps your eyes were also locked on your phone at the time. Maybe they are on the screen as you cross the street right now. (If so, look up! This story can wait.) Worried about the danger that addictive smartphones might pose on car-clogged streets, New York State lawmakers in 2017 ordered New York City to study “the dangers of being a distracted pedestrian.” (Gold, 9/6)

The Washington Post: The Health Risks Of Supplements And Alternative Medicine
A few weeks ago, a patient came to me complaining of nausea, muscle weakness and fatigue. Her urine was tea-colored despite drinking loads of water. A middle-aged woman, she seemed worried she had cancer or some deadly disease. Her lab tests revealed significant liver dysfunction. But her symptoms were not due to liver cancer, hepatitis or other disease. It turned out she had liver toxicity from a green tea supplement that she’d heard was a “natural” way to lose weight. (McBride, 9/7)

The Washington Post: Hiking With Baby Makes Kids And Parents Happy, Mom Finds
Six-year-old Mason Hodges can rattle off any number of plant and animal species when out in the woods, his knowledge deeper than many adults. He’s also environmentally aware and understands he should treat the Earth with respect. His mother, 47-year-old Shanti Hodges, credits this to how he’s been hiking with her since birth. Shanti is the accidental founder of a movement that is now well over 200,000 families strong. Hike it Baby began right after Mason was born, when Utah-based Shanti found herself feeling cooped up indoors and out of touch with the hiking community she loved. (Loudin, 9/7)

Kaiser Health News: Millions Of Diabetes Patients Are Missing Out On Medicare’s Nutrition Help
Louis Rocco has lived with diabetes for decades but, until he met with a registered dietitian in August, he didn’t know eating too much bread was dangerous for him. “I’m Italian, and I always eat a lot of bread,” he said. After two hour-long visits with a dietitian — including a session at his local grocery store in Philadelphia — Rocco, 90, has noticed a difference in his health. (Galewitz, 9/9)

The CT Mirror: Blacks, Poor At Higher Risk Of Heart Disease; Overall Death Rate Falls
The death rate from heart disease plummeted nationally over several decades for all racial and ethnic groups, but the rate of decline has slowed slightly and African Americans and low-income individuals are still at a higher risk of developing the disease and dying from it, according to a report from the National Center of Health Statistics. The report isn’t surprising to Dr. Edward Schuster, medical director, Stamford Health Cardiac Rehabilitation Program. (Backus, 9/8)

The New York Times: The Challenge Of Identifying Sjogren’s Syndrome
Angelica Divinagracia, a 54-year-old fitness instructor in Los Angeles, woke one morning with her tongue literally stuck to the roof of her mouth. Though she normally drank lots of water, especially after strenuous workouts with clients, she thought her chronically dry mouth was due to dehydration. That is, until an even more troublesome symptom — excruciating scratchy eye pain unrelieved by drops — prompted an immediate visit to her ophthalmologist. (Brody, 9/9)

The Associated Press: Women Seek Abortions Out Of State Amid Restrictions
At a routine ultrasound when she was five months pregnant, Hevan Lunsford began to panic when the technician took longer than normal, then told her she would need to see a specialist. Lunsford, a nurse in Alabama, knew it was serious and begged for an appointment the next day. That's when the doctor gave her and her husband the heart-wrenching news: The baby boy they decided to name Sebastian was severely underdeveloped and had only half a heart. (9/8)

In other news on abortion —

Politico Pro: Illinois Leaves Family Planning Program Over Abortion Rules
Illinois is formally exiting the federal family planning program, becoming the latest state to refuse to implement the Trump administration’s new rules banning abortion referrals. The Illinois Department of Public Health will cover the federal funding the state is forgoing until the grant dollars would have expired on March 31, 2020. (Roubein, 9/6)

NPR: Title X Rules On Discussing Abortion Worry Doctors
Clinics that take federal Title X family planning funding are adjusting to a new set of rules that limit what health care providers can say to their patients about abortion. Though Planned Parenthood pulled out of the program in August rather than comply with the rules, thousands of other clinics continue to use grants from the federal program for family planning and sexual health services. These clinics are now under pressure to make sure their staff comply. (Gordon, 9/9)

Los Angeles Times: California Vaccine Bill Exemption Rules Agreed To By Newsom And Lawmakers
The author of a bill to clamp down on school vaccine exemptions agreed to scale back parts of it under a deal reached Friday with Gov. Gavin Newsom following a chaotic week of negotiations. But their pact was quickly met with fierce opposition from protesters who had hoped the governor’s apprehension signaled trouble for Senate Bill 276. (Gutierrez, 9/6)

The Associated Press: California Lawmaker, Governor Reach Deal On Vaccine Bill
Democratic state Sen. Richard Pan of Sacramento amended a companion bill to reflect the governor's wishes, days after lawmakers sent Newsom a bill cracking down on doctors who sell fraudulent medical exemptions. Pan said in a statement he appreciates Newsom's commitment to sign the bill and the amendments, which he says will "ensure we maintain the community immunity needed to protect our kids." (Thompson, 9/6)

Sacramento Bee: California Vaccine Law Wins Gavin Newsom’s Support
“These amendments clarify legal and administrative processes in SB 276 in order to ensure medical providers, parents, school administrators and public health officials know the rules of the road once it takes effect,” Newsom spokesman Nathan Click said in a statement. “The governor will sign SB 276 once the companion legislation has passed both houses.” (Wiley, 9/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Deal Clears Path For California Vaccine-Exemption Crackdown
Pan and Newsom struck a deal in June on a measure to grant state public health officials the authority to review medical exemptions at schools where fewer than 95% of students are vaccinated. It also let the state review exemptions written by doctors who have granted five or more waivers in a calendar year. State officials could revoke exemptions that it finds to be fraudulent or inconsistent with medical guidelines. That bill was headed to the governor’s desk earlier this week when Newsom announced that he believed it needed additional amendments. (Koseff, 9/6)

Vaccination news comes out of New York as well —

The Wall Street Journal: New Measles Vaccination Law Means No Prom, Sports Or Classmates For Some Students
One mother pulled her children out of school this fall to avoid vaccinating them and drafted their 73-year-old grandmother to watch them all day. Another working parent stays up late scouring the internet for curricula for home schooling. And a high-school senior begged her local school board on Thursday to ask the state to delay imposing its new ban on religious exemptions for vaccination requirements. (Brody and West, 9/8)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Atlanta Street Team Offers Medical Care, Hope And No Judgment
As a part of Mercy Care’s small but determined Street Medicine team, they venture into some of Atlanta’s grittiest environs, to engage with the homeless men and women least likely to seek help. They apply antibiotic ointment to cuts, wrap up sprains and treat chronic conditions like high blood pressure. While they’re there, they also provide referrals and assistance with the not-so-simple first steps of finding housing and employment, like securing birth certificates and Social Security cards and getting identification with no permanent address. (Oliviero, 9/6)

The Washington Post: With Or Without Insurance, People Come For Free Medical And Dental Care In Baltimore 
As the sun rose Saturday, Delores Connolly stood in line outside a public school here clutching a numbered ticket. Connolly, 61, who has health insurance, was waiting to enter a clinic offering free medical and dental care. “She’s playing with me now,” Connolly said, fidgeting as a uniformed woman at the entrance to Pimlico Elementary/Middle School repeatedly called out No. 92, in English and Spanish. Connolly was No. 93. Dental care was dropped from her Medicaid coverage this year, Connolly said, and her plan would not cover eyeglasses to replace a pair she had lost. She had queued up at 5:30 a.m. at a temporary clinic operated in Baltimore over the weekend by the nonprofit Remote Area Medical (RAM). (Jamison, 9/7)

The Associated Press: Experts: St. Louis Kids Feeling Impact Of All The Violence
Experts say the violence in St. Louis, including the recent killings of 12 children, is traumatizing the city's youngest residents. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that about 300 people turned out Thursday for a meeting at Vashon High School that was called after a recent rash of killings that included the deaths of an 8-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy. (9/6)

Modern Healthcare: California Governor Signs New Transparency Law For Kaiser
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday approved new transparency requirements for the state's dominant health system, Kaiser Permanente. It's a major win for a prominent health workers union that sponsored the bill amid an ongoing fight with the health system. Each of Kaiser's 35 California facilities will need to disclose its profits and its insurance arm will need to publish the reasons for any planned rate increases. (Luthi, 9/6)

Sacramento Bee: New California Law Requires Greater Transparency From Kaiser
“We think it’s an important transparency measure,” said Anthony Wright, the executive director of Health Access California. “Right now, we do require rate review of our insurers, and Kaiser has had a fairly broad exemption from much of the rate review processes that other insurers have to follow, and what this bill does is fairly simple. It ensures Kaiser is providing the same types of information justifying their rates as other health insurers have to do.” (Anderson, 9/6)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Report To Governor: Georgia Faces Health Care Challenges
Georgia has worse access to health care than most states, such as available doctors and mental health care providers. In one recent year, 17% of Georgians said they needed to see a doctor in the past 12 months but couldn’t because of cost. (Hart, 9/6)

The Star Tribune: Can A New Leader Calm The Turmoil At Minnesota DHS?
Taking the helm at Minnesota’s sprawling Department of Human Services, Jodi Harpstead brings long experience in managing large organizations that Gov. Tim Walz hopes will provide stability and focus to a struggling agency. Since July, the Department of Human Services (DHS) has been roiled by an unusual series of resignations in top leadership, revelations of nearly $80 million in payment mistakes and allegations of retaliation against internal whistleblowers. (Howatt, 9/7)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cuyahoga County Jail Conditions Are Much Better, But Many Challenges Remain, Says American Correctional Association
Key improvements have been made to Cuyahoga County jail operations this year to address crowding, security issues and abysmal conditions, says a consultant’s report released Friday, but county officials still have a long list of challenges to overcome. A dozen county officials, including County Executive Armond Budish and jail leadership, met with cleveland.com Thursday to discuss a long list of changes they have made or are making in the troubled jail. But the group acknowledged that much work lies ahead and progress, in some cases, will continue to be slow. (Astolfi, 9/6)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Chiropractors Sue Ohio Over Budget Provision Barring Immediate Contact With Motorists Involved In Car Crashes
Several Ohio chiropractors filed a federal lawsuit against the state seeking to block a law passed as part of the 2020-2021 budget that restricts their ability to solicit clients in the immediate aftermath of a car crash or crime. The budget state lawmakers passed in July included a provision that affects health care practitioners and referral companies that send solicitations to people involved in car crashes, or who are a victim or witness to a crime. It bars them from directly reaching out to those people in person, by phone or electronically until 30 days after the incident. (Heisig, 9/6)

Los Angeles Times: Homeless Housing Proposal In Echo Park: Is It 'Trumpian?'
Battles over where to build housing or shelters for homeless people are nothing new at Los Angeles City Hall, which has witnessed an uproar over such plans from Koreatown to Venice. But the latest fight is poised to split the City Council itself, as one councilman promotes a plan that another is denouncing as “Trumpian.” (Reyes, 9/8)

Sacramento Bee: Homeless Move Into New Downtown Sacramento CA Shelter
Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency and Volunteers of America staff have moved the ten people into newly-cleaned rooms on the sixth floor of the historic hotel at the corner of Ninth and L streets. The rooms include two new twin beds each, dressers, and nightstands. Several toilets and faucets have been replaced and rooms were sprayed for bedbugs. (Clift, 9/6)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Veterans Chamber Of Commerce Helping Count Vets In Census
The Wisconsin Veterans Chamber of Commerce is organizing an effort to count veterans and military members and their families in the 2020 census.Veterans are among the "hard-to-count" groups for the once-a-decade U.S. Census. It's important to count veterans so programs ranging from VA home loans and G.I. Bill educational benefits to job training and VA health care are properly funded. (Jones, 9/6)

Sacramento Bee: CA State Attorneys, Aljs Get Health Care Perk In Contract
About 4,000 more California state workers will be eligible for monthly stipends to cover their health insurance premiums under a tentative contract agreement with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration. The benefit appears in a new agreement between the administration and California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment. CalHR posted the agreement to its website Thursday. (Venteicher, 9/6)

Arizona Republic: Inmate Attorneys Ask Feds To Oversee Health Care In Arizona Prisons
Lawyers representing Arizona inmates want the federal government to oversee the state's inmate health care system, saying Arizona officials have failed incarcerated men and women for years. Inmates and their families filed a class action lawsuit, Parsons v. Ryan, against the Arizona Department of Corrections in 2012, alleging inadequate medical, health and dental care. A settlement was reached in 2014, requiring the department to comply with a number of performance measures. (Castle, 9/6)

The Oregonian: In Oregon, Academic Pressures, Existential Fears Help Explain Rising Rates Of Suicide, Mental Health Conditions 
Mental wellness is individualized. No one factor or discrete set of factors causes youth to feel like ending their lives. But people in Oregon and around the nation with direct experience in youth mental health cite three high-level drivers behind the rise in young people hit by depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges: increased academic pressure, the rise of social media and existential fears stemming from school shootings, climate change and other horrors that have colored their childhoods. (Chaffin, 9/8)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Independent Labs May Be Less Expensive, But Are They The Best Option For You?
It may be cheaper to have routine outpatient medical and imaging tests done at an independent lab. But whether that is the best option depends on several factors, including convenience, your insurance plan and whether specialty follow-up care is needed. (Washington, 9/8)

The Acadiana Advocate: Austin-Based Health Care Company To Make Lafayette Its Training Hub
Texas-based Arise Vascular will make its Lafayette branch its flagship location and designate it as its training hub, which will bring 60-240 people to the city each year. Co-founder and CEO Jared Leger announced the move Thursday. Chris Hebert, a local registered cardiovascular invasive specialist, will lead the facility. He has trained more than 2,000 physicians and 400 ancillary health care providers over his 53-year career. (Boudreaux, 9/6)

Pioneer Press: ‘An Insult To Child Development’: MN Prisons Mull Alternatives To Incarceration For Pregnant Women 
Now, state corrections officials are mulling alternatives to incarceration that could keep mothers and their young children together. The talks have been driven by years of pressure from advocates and a growing body of research that shows separation can have a lasting impact on children who are not guilty of their mother’s crimes. ...State Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said the agency is looking at alternative release options for pregnant women and mothers of young children. The department is working with advocates to craft a proposal that could be brought to the governor and Legislature next year, he said. (Faircloth, 9/8)

State House News Service: Baker Seeking Big Outlay To Address Water Contaminant
A supplemental spending bill Governor Charlie Baker planned to file on Friday will include millions of dollars in new money to help cities and towns test for and treat certain chemical contaminants in their drinking water. The family of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, have been detected at levels above Department of Environmental Protection guidelines in public water supplies in Ayer, Barnstable, Harvard, Hudson, Mashpee, Middleton, Shirley, and Westfield, according to the DEP. (Lannan, 9/6)

Georgia Health News: Sterilizing Plant Shutting Down As Air Tests Begin; Lawsuit Challenges EPD Deal
A medical sterilization facility in metro Atlanta is shutting down operations until October as it undergoes construction to reduce emissions of a toxic gas. Sterigenics said Friday that a September shutdown will expedite the improvements that the company has promised state officials that it will make to reduce ethylene oxide pollution. The move comes as a coalition of the Cobb County, Smyrna and Atlanta governments has installed monitors around the Smyrna plant to begin testing airborne levels of ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing chemical released during the sterilization process. (Goodman and Miller, 9/6)

Fox News: Don't Fall For Vaping Hype. Like Smoking, It's Unsafe And Addictive 
Many vaping (or e-cig) companies have sprung up in the past five years as the “cure” for cigarette addiction, offering a similar high, but allegedly without the same health risks of cigarettes. Instead, they are causing disease, mysterious illnesses, and even death, as reported recently. The Centers for Disease Control is urging people to stop vaping after multiple deaths and hundreds of mysterious lung illnesses. (Liberty Vittert, 9/8)

The Hill: The Best Health Care Reform Is Already In Place
As with the previous Democratic debates, this week’s debate in Houston will likely start with our country’s forever question: How can we provide health insurance to all without bankrupting the country? The Republican Party’s answer is to define basic health insurance as no health insurance. The party yearns for, and is suing in the courts, to restore the halcyon pre-ObamaCare days when 50 million Americans were uninsured and insurance companies could deny coverage at will. (Laurence Kotlikoff, 9/8)

USA Today: Red Flag Gun Laws Invite Abuse Of Power And Won't Stop Mass Shootings
What’s wrong with people close to a troubled young man being able to warn police and petition courts to take away their guns? In an ideal world? Nothing. But we don’t live in one of those. In the world we actually inhabit, state-level experiments with “red flag” laws should give all Americans pause before handing over this kind of power to Washington. (Jim DeMint, 9/9)

The New York Times: The Age Of American Despair
This week CNN devoted seven hours of programming to climate change, bringing the leading Democratic candidates onstage to grill them on the issue. I have no complaints about the decision, but I wish that some network would set aside a similar amount of time for a more immediate crisis, one that is killing tens of thousands of Americans right now — more than the crack epidemic at its worst, more than the Vietnam War. (Ross Douthat, 9/7)

The Hill: Are Insurance Companies Driving Doctors Out Of The Profession?
Earlier this year, my mother made a hard choice. After reviewing her medical history with her physician, she chose to have a preventative double mastectomy and hysterectomy. Her employer-based insurance did not question the procedures. Four months later, her incisions began opening and her physician determined she needed a second, outpatient surgery. While recovering in the outpatient ward, my mother learned that her insurance company decided the procedure was “unnecessary” and would not approve the equipment she needed in our house, post operation. (Elizabeth O'Connor, 9/7)

The New York Times: Which Health Policies Actually Work? We Rarely Find Out
A few years ago, Oregon found itself in a position that you’d think would be more commonplace: It was able to evaluate the impact of a substantial, expensive health policy change. In a collaboration by the state and researchers, Medicaid coverage was randomly extended to some low-income adults and not to others, and researchers have been tracking the consequences ever since. Rigorous evaluations of health policy are exceedingly rare. The United States spends a tremendous amount on health care, but very little of it learning which health policies work and which don’t. In fact, less than 0.1 percent of total spending on American health care is devoted to evaluating them. (Austin Frakt, 9/9)

The Washington Post: Postpartum Depression In Dads Often Goes Unnoticed
Three days after our son was born, my husband lay curled on the living room floor sobbing. I knelt beside him, trying to make out his words. “Just tell Tyler . . . tell him it wasn’t his fault,” Rob gasped. My stomach dropped in a sickening thump. Tyler was barely born, a sack of warm flour and red skin swaddled in blankets on our couch. My own body was stretched and raw from the birth, my mind slow to grasp what Rob was trying to tell me. (Brianna Randall, 9/8)

The New York Times: Walking On Eggshells In Medical Schools
I trained to be a doctor in the bad old days — not the worst old days, but the bad old days. Humiliation was part of the deal, sometimes deliberately inflicted by certain grandstanding, sadistic attending physicians, sometimes more casually, because everyone could see that you didn’t know something you should have known. Now we are aware of the consequences of harassment and unconscious bias, and we are trying to give medical students room to learn and grow — but many medical students and residents continue to experience harassment and discrimination and bullying. (Perri Klass, 9/9)

The Hill: Is A Dark Ages Disease The New American Plague Threat?
Diseases are reemerging in some parts of America, including Los Angeles County, that we haven’t commonly seen since the Middle Ages. One of those is typhus, a disease carried by fleas that feed on rats, which in turn feed on the garbage and sewage that is prominent in people-packed “typhus zones.” Although typhus can be treated with antibiotics, the challenge is to identify and treat the disease in resistant, hard-to-access populations, such as the homeless or the extremely poor in developing countries. I also believe that homeless areas are at risk for the reemergence of another deadly ancient disease — leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease. Leprosy involves a mycobacteria (tuberculosis is another mycobacteria) that is very difficult to transmit and very easy to treat with a cocktail of three antibiotics. (Marc Siegel, 9/8)

The Washington Post: How A Rabbit Study And An Ex-Student Boost My Hopes For A Future Of ‘Love . . . And Dignity’
At whatever grade level teachers find themselves, from kindergarten to the final class at medical or law school, few moments stir the emotions as deeply as when former students reappear years and often decades later with an update on where their journey has taken them and what resiliencies have been the pavement on which they’ve traveled. So it was when a recent letter came from Kelli Harding, a student 21 years ago in my Peace Studies summer course in Washington. (Colman McCarthy, 9/8)

The New York Times: These Newborn Babies Cry For Drugs, Not Milk
His body dependent on opioids, he writhes, trembles and cries. He is exhausted but cannot sleep. He vomits, barely eats and has lost weight. He is also a baby. Just 1 month old, he wails in the nursery of the CAMC Women and Children’s Hospital here. A volunteer “cuddler” holds him while walking around, murmuring sweetly, hour after hour, but he is inconsolable. What his body craves is heroin. (Nicholas Kristof, 9/7)

Sacramento Bee: AB 1030 Must Change Or It Will Fail Sexual Assault Victims
For me, keeping women safe has been my life’s goal and is now part of my job. So when I heard about Assembly Bill 1030, which aims to provide mandatory informational pamphlets to women who may undergo pelvic exams, I was initially overjoyed. I believe women should be empowered with all the resources that keep them informed. However, one part of the bill troubled me: It requires a signature upon receipt of the pamphlet. (Joyce Sutedja, 9/6)