The New York Times: Lawmakers In Both Parties Vow To Rein In Insulin Costs
Members of Congress from both parties expressed immense frustration on Wednesday at big increases in insulin prices and vowed to work together on legislation to prevent more people from dying because they could not afford the lifesaving medicine. Representative Earl L. Carter, Republican of Georgia, said at the end of a three-hour hearing with pharmaceutical executives and middlemen, known as pharmacy benefit managers, “You’ve done something here today that we’ve been trying to do in Congress for years, and that is to create bipartisanship.” (Pear, 4/10)

Stat: ‘I Don’t Know How You People Sleep At Night’: Visibly Irate Lawmakers Blast Pharma, PBMs Over Insulin Prices
Drug makers and their middlemen counterparts spent the first three months of the 116th Congress successfully dodging hard blows from members of Congress over the high cost of prescription drugs. That all changed Wednesday. Insulin makers and drug industry middlemen faced hours of hard questions Wednesday from an irate panel of lawmakers, many of whom appeared far more interested in threatening to blow up the entire drug pricing system than in hearing from the pharma company or pharmacy benefit manager executives who testified. (Florko, 4/10)

Kaiser Health News: The Blame Game: Everyone And No One Is Raising Insulin Prices
The three drug manufacturers that make insulin — Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi — joined three pharmacy benefit managers — CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx — to testify before the Oversight and Investigations panel at its second hearing probing the corporate maneuvers behind the skyrocketing costs. Pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, are the go-between companies that negotiate with drugmakers on which medicines will make insurance plans’ lists of covered drugs and how much insurers’ plans will pay for them. (Bluth, 4/10)

Modern Healthcare: High Insulin Costs Targeted By Lawmakers At House Hearing
Energy and Commerce Chair Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) told manufacturers his constituents are asking him to set list prices and demanded justification for why Congress shouldn't follow that path. Pallone will wield considerable influence in the forthcoming package to lower pharmaceutical costs. "They don't even believe in the market-based system anymore," the chairman told executives of Eli Lilly and Co., Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, CVS Health, Express Scripts and OptumRx. (Luthi, 4/10)

CQ: Insulin Makers And Middlemen Companies Square Off Over Prices
Subcommittee Chairwoman Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said the system was filled with “perverse payment incentives and a complete lack of transparency in pricing.” When DeGette asked the witnesses to explain why list prices are so high, she got two sets of answers. The drugmakers said the rebates, discounts and other fees they must pay to the benefit managers to get their products covered represent more than two-thirds of their list prices. (Siddons, 4/10)

Stat: Before House Hearing, Sanofi Cuts Insulin Prices For Some Patients 
Just hours before one of its executives is set to testify at a Congressional hearing to review insulin pricing, Sanofi (SNY) on Wednesday offered a program that will lower the cost of the diabetes treatment to $99 a month for uninsured patients and others who pay cash in the U.S. Under the plan, the drug maker maintained patients can buy up to 10 boxes of insulin pens or vials with a valid prescription, beginning in June, and expands a program that began a year ago in which patients were paying $99 for each vial of insulin and $149 for each pack of insulin pens. (Silverman, 4/10)

Reuters: Sanofi To Cut U.S. Insulin Costs For Some Patients To $99 Per Month
The price of other manufacturers' leading insulin products is $178 to $300 per vial and $235 to $563 per pack of pens, according to Sanofi. The move is an expansion of Sanofi's "Insulin Valyou Savings Program" launched last year and represents a significant savings for patients already enrolled who had been paying $99 for each vial of insulin and $149 for each pack of insulin pens. "When you hear us say in our testimony in the hearing tomorrow that it is heartbreaking and no one should have to go without insulin, we mean it," Michelle Carnahan, Head of North America primary care at Sanofi, said in an interview on Tuesday. (Erman, 4/10)

Bloomberg: Discount Insulin Offer Has Congress Asking What Took So Long 
Decisions by two of the world’s biggest insulin producers to offer bigger discounts on drugs used by millions of diabetics are raising questions from Congress about whether the companies could have done so sooner. On Wednesday, French drugmaker Sanofi said it would increase discounts on insulin for some patients. The move follows recent efforts by Cigna Corp., which runs a major drug plan, and Eli Lilly & Co., another major insulin producer, to lower patients’ out-of-pocket costs for the drugs. (Koons and Edney, 4/10)

The Associated Press: Insulin Too Pricey? Some Options To Cut Costs For Diabetics
The skyrocketing price of insulin has some diabetics scrambling to cover the cost of the life-saving medication. Others are skipping doses or using smaller amounts than needed, and sometimes landing in the emergency room, patients and advocates told Congress recently. About 7.4 million Americans use insulin to keep their blood sugar at safe levels. Insulin needs vary by patient, as do costs depending on insurance coverage. (Johnson, 4/10)

The New York Times: Medicare For All And Beyond, Sanders Uses The Senate As His Launching Pad
Senator Bernie Sanders stepped to the lectern on Wednesday, red-faced and rumpled as ever, with a placard screaming “Medicare for All,” and likened his quest for a government-run universal health plan to earlier movements for women’s rights, civil rights, workers’ rights and gay rights. “What we are involved in is not just health care legislation,” he declared, flanked by admiring doctors in lab coats, Democratic senators and one of his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. “We are involved in a great struggle.” (Stolberg, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Bernie Sanders Unveils New Medicare-For-All Legislation, A Key Component Of His 2020 Presidential Bid
At an event on Capitol Hill, Sanders unveiled his latest version of a single-payer plan, which would replace the patchwork of public and private insurers with a government-run system that Sanders argues would ultimately save consumers money. Sanders said he is seeking to replace a “dysfunctional” system based on “greed and profiteering” by health insurance companies. “Together we are going to end the international embarrassment of the United States of America, our great country, being the only major nation on earth not to guarantee health care to all as a right,” Sanders said. “This is a struggle for the heart and soul of who we are as American people.” (Wagner and Sullivan, 4/10)

Bloomberg: Bernie Sanders Medicare For All Proposal: What You Need To Know 
His proposal would replace private health insurance with a government-run plan that covers primary care, hospital stays and prescription drugs for all Americans, dramatically changing America’s $3.5 trillion health-care industry. Sanders, who also sought the Democratic nomination in 2016, has backed the concept for years and offered similar legislation in 2013, when it attracted no co-sponsors. Of 14 Democratic senators who have signed on this time, four are competing with Sanders for the Democratic nod: Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren. Gillibrand is the only fellow candidate who attended the rally. (Litvan and Tozzi, 4/10)

The Associated Press: Sanders Relaunches ‘Medicare For All’ With Dems Divided
Several independent studies of Medicare for All have estimated that it would dramatically increase government spending on health care, in the range of about $25 trillion to $35 trillion or more over a 10-year period. But a recent estimate from the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst suggests that the cost could be much lower. Sanders and his supporters say it’s a matter of principle. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Schor, 4/10)

CQ: Sanders Bill Sparks Debate Among Democrats And Between Parties
Sanders acknowledged in a statement Wednesday that the bill does not have enough support to pass even through reconciliation, a budget procedure that allows the Senate to pass legislation with 51 votes. But he said elected officials and candidates "should do what grass-roots Democrats want them to do." He called for a return to the "talking filibuster," and noted that the vice president can overrule the Senate parliamentarian to determine what can be passed through reconciliation. (McIntire and Lesniewski, 4/11)

The Hill: Sanders Unveils New Medicare For All Bill With Backing From Other 2020 Dems 
The bill has 14 Senate co-sponsors in all, two fewer than it had in 2017. Former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) had supported the bill two years ago, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) decided not to co-sponsor the bill this year. Shaheen said in a statement she now thinks there are faster ways to get to "Medicare for all" than Sanders’s proposal. "While Republican leaders and President Trump continue their efforts to takeaway health care that millions of Americans depend on, Medicare for All legislation has helped re-ignite an urgently needed debate about reaching universal health care coverage,” she said in a statement. (Hellmann, 4/10)

Kaiser Health News: As Sanders Officially Revives Medicare-For-All, Plan B For Democrats Gains Traction
That tension is pushing a number of candidates toward an emerging option called “Medicare for America.” The bill was introduced last December to little fanfare by two Democrats, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (Ill.). It hasn’t been reintroduced in the new Congress. This proposed system would guarantee universal coverage, but leaves job-based insurance available for those who want it. Unlike Medicare-for-all, though, it preserves premiums and deductibles, so beneficiaries would still have to pay some costs out-of-pocket. It allows private insurers to operate Medicare plans as well, a system called Medicare Advantage that covers about a third of the program’s beneficiaries currently, and which would be outlawed under Medicare-for-all. (Luthra, 4/11)

Politico: From Abortion To Immigration, Things You Didn’t Know Were In Medicare For All
The Medicare for All bill unveiled by Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday would provide universal health care coverage, swallowing both the current public programs like Medicare and Obamacare, as well as private health insurance, into one new unified system. Progressives embrace the plan because the coverage is free, streamlined and fair. They believe it will save money by squeezing out the profit-driven model of care. Opponents counter that one-size-fits-all, government-run health care would balloon the country’s health spending and limit access to care — or both. (Ollstein and Kenen, 4/10)

Politico: Sanders Vows To Blow Up Senate Rules To Pass Medicare For All
A President Bernie Sanders isn’t going to let something as trivial as the Senate rules thwart his drive to pass Medicare for All. The Vermont independent, one of the top-tier contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, has been skeptical of getting rid of the legislative filibuster to pass a sweeping legislative agenda. Instead, Sanders is taking a page from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who wanted to shred Senate rules in order to pass ambitious GOP health care legislation in 2017. (Everett, 4/10)

The Hill: White House Slams Sanders's 'Medicare For All' Rollout 
The White House on Wednesday slammed Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) rollout of an updated version of his "Medicare for all" bill, chiding the 2020 presidential hopeful as health care promises to be a key election issue. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders derided the plan as a "total government takeover of health care that would actually hurt seniors, eliminate private health insurance for 180 million Americans, and cripple our economy and future generations with unprecedented debt." (Samuels, 4/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Senate Republicans And Democrats Unveil Health-Care Plans
A group of Senate Republicans is reviving legislation aimed at guaranteeing protections for people with pre-existing conditions, as the GOP attempts to blunt the Democrats’ perceived political advantage on health care before the 2020 election. The narrowly tailored proposal, which Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) and 17 other Senate Republicans unveiled Wednesday, would preserve some of the most popular elements of the Affordable Care Act, which the Trump administration has moved to strike down in court. (Duehren, 4/10)

Politico: GOP Eyes ‘Medicare For All’ Vote To Highlight Democratic Splits
Senate Republicans, eager to exploit Democrats’ divisions on health care, want to put their legislative rivals on the spot by bringing Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” bill to the floor for a vote. Republicans used a similar tactic last month when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell brought the “Green New Deal” plan from freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to the Senate floor for a vote to highlight Democrats’ disunity and portray them as out of step with Americans. But most Democrats voted present, deeming the vote a stunt. (Levine, Cancryn and Ollstein, 4/11)

The CT Mirror: Blumenthal Backs Sanders ‘Medicare For All' Plan; Murphy Does Not
Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy split on Wednesday over Sen. Bernie Sanders’s long-awaited “Medicare for All” bill. Blumenthal was one of 14 co-sponsors of Sanders’s bill, all Democrats, while Murphy supports other proposals that would overhaul the nation’s health care system – all plans that do not eliminate the role of health insurers. (Radelat, 4/10)

Concord (N.H.) Monitor: N.H. Delegation Not Backing Sanders’s Health Plan
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders unveiled a new proposal for “Medicare for All” on Wednesday, kicking off debate on a policy that’s galvanized parts of the Democratic base and served as a litmus test for 2020 presidential candidates. ...But even as four of Sanders’s presidential competitors in the Senate vowed to support the new plan, top New Hampshire Democrats were less enthusiastic. None of New Hampshire’s two U.S. senators and two representatives supports the proposed law, and one – Sen. Jeanne Shaheen – appeared to reverse her previous support of the plan Wednesday. (DeWitt, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Democrats File Bill To Overturn Trump Travel Ban, Prevent Family Separation
Democratic lawmakers filed legislation Wednesday to end President Trump’s travel ban, asylum ban and “extreme vetting” of refugees, a measure that is unlikely to pass the Senate or gain White House approval but attempts to prevent family separations and rally support for immigration leading up to the 2020 elections. Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) announced the bill with support from freshman lawmakers Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and others. (Sacchetti, 4/10)

Politico: Mulvaney Huddles With Senate Dems To Discuss 'Humanitarian Crisis' At Border
The White House met with Senate Democrats to discuss possibly jump-starting talks to fix the situation at the southern border on Wednesday afternoon. Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump's acting chief of staff, huddled in a closed door meeting with Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in Feinstein’s office. (Levine, 4/10)

Reuters: Pentagon To Find Places To Potentially House Up To 5,000 Unaccompanied Migrant Children
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has approved a request to identify locations to potentially house up to 5,000 unaccompanied migrant children if asked, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. In March, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requested Pentagon support to identify locations to house unaccompanied migrant children through September 30. (4/10)

The Associated Press: Family Seeks Answers In Immigrant’s Death After Detention
A 27-year-old man died in a California hospital after he suffered a brain hemorrhage while detained by U.S. immigration authorities, his wife said Wednesday, demanding to know what caused his injury and whether he received appropriate medical care in custody. Melissa Castro said she was called Feb. 8 by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official and told that her husband had a “passing out episode” while in the custody of detention officials in Adelanto, California, and had been taken to the hospital. (Taxin, 4/10)

Politico: White House Eyeing Former Head Of Anti-Immigration Group For DHS Job
The White House is considering nominating the former head of an anti-immigration group to lead U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to a White House official and three people briefed on the deliberations, the latest development in a series of staffing shakeups that have alarmed some Republican senators. (Hesson, Kumar and Restuccia, 4/10)

Politico: It’s Trump Vs. Trump As Immigration Divides White House
President Donald Trump is in a fight over immigration — with himself. Trump denied on Tuesday that he is “cleaning house” at the Department of Homeland Security. But on Wednesday, the White House was eyeing a replacement for a senior DHS official whose job congressional Republicans are trying to save. (Johnson, Cook and Kumar, 4/10)

Stat: AIDS Activists Skewer CDC For Stance On Reaping HIV Drug Royalties 
Amid ongoing efforts to thwart HIV, AIDS activists are growing increasingly frustrated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for failing to reach a deal with Gilead Sciences (GILD) over royalties on its sales of the Truvada prevention pill. Although the agency has refused to publicly discuss the subject, the activists hope any funds that could become available will be used for combating the virus. (Silverman, 4/10)

The Hill: CDC Says Nearly 600 Cases Of Deadly Drug-Resistant Fungus Reported 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed hundreds of cases of a deadly multidrug-resistant fungus nationwide. The CDC has confirmed 587 cases of the fungus, Candida auris, in 12 states over the past few years, most of them in Chicago, New Jersey and the New York City area. The fungus is a yeast infection with a one-in-three mortality rate in cases where the infection reaches the heart, blood or brain, according to the CDC. (Budryk, 4/10)

Politico's Pulse Check: Tony Fauci, The Nation's Top Infectious Disease Doctor
Tony Fauci joined NIH in 1968. He was named head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 1984. And on a warm day in April 2019, he sat down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond to reflect on his ongoing work — from the emergence of HIV/AIDS nearly 40 years ago to how the Trump administration is trying to end the epidemic. On the podcast, Fauci also discussed the resurgence of measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, his perspective on the Trump administration and what it's like to give advice to a president. (4/11)

The Washington Post: States Pushing Near-Bans On Abortion, Targeting Roe V. Wade
Emboldened by the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court, anti-abortion lawmakers and activists in numerous states are pushing near-total bans on the procedure in a deliberate frontal attack on Roe v. Wade. Mississippi and Kentucky have passed laws that would ban most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which means as early as six weeks, when many women don’t even know they’re pregnant. Georgia could join them if Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signs a measure that has been sent to him. (Crary, 4/10)

The New York Times: Failed Texas Bill Would Have Made Death Penalty Possible In Abortion Cases
A bill considered by members of the Texas House of Representatives this week would have criminalized abortions and opened up the possibility for women and physicians to receive the death penalty. On Wednesday night, the legislation appeared to have no chance of progressing after the Republican chairman of the committee that heard testimony about the bill declared his opposition. The bill would have allowed women who obtained an abortion or doctors who performed one to be charged with assault or criminal homicide, the latter of which is punishable by death in Texas. (Jacobs, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Bill Banning Abortions After Heartbeat Sent To Ohio Governor
No topic seemed off limits, including tales of back alleys and coat hangers, as abortion-rights supporters in Ohio fought perhaps the last battle over a twice-vetoed heartbeat abortion ban, which Gov. Mike DeWine has said he will sign. After nearly 10 years of fighting, Democrats let loose during the run-up to final House and Senate approval Wednesday with lessons from slavery, predictions of economic harm, references to the book of Genesis, and testimonials about their own rapes. Faith groups brandished banners and made pleas for religious tolerance. An advocate for reproductive rights threatened Republicans with the loss of young voters’ support in 2020. (Smyth, 4/10)

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Legislature Passes 'Heartbeat Bill' - Now Ready For Gov. DeWine's Signature
The controversial “Heartbeat Bill” was approved by the Senate 18-13, shortly after the House passed it 56-39.While Ohio has reached this stage twice before, the measure was vetoed both times by Gov. John Kasich. But new Gov. Mike DeWine has promised to sign the bill, which would ban abortions, except to save the life of the woman, once a fetal heartbeat is detected. (Prosser, 4/10)

The Associated Press: North Dakota Governor Signs Bill Banning Abortion Procedure
North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed legislation Wednesday that makes it a crime for a doctor performing a second-trimester abortion to use instruments such as clamps, scissors and forceps to remove the fetus from the womb. The bill that passed easily in the GOP-led Legislature last month outlaws the abortion practice known as dilation and evacuation — the most commonly used procedure in second-trimester abortions, according to the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research organization. (MacPherson, 4/10)

Stat: Can N.Y. Require Measles Vaccinations? A 1905 Case May Offer A Foothold
When New York’s health department announced this week that it would mandate vaccinations in parts of Brooklyn to quell a ballooning measles outbreak, it was not the first to take such a step. In fact, its legal basis for the rare effort may be predicated on the actions of Massachusetts authorities who tried — and succeeded — in doing so over a century ago. In 1902, a Massachusetts man defied an order to be vaccinated against smallpox despite the fact the dangerous disease — since eradicated, thanks to vaccine — was spreading in Cambridge. The fight that ensued between the Rev. Henning Jacobson and public health authorities became a pillar on which public health powers have relied since the Supreme Court handed down its ruling in the state’s favor three years later. (Branswell, 4/10)

The Associated Press: US Measles Tally Hits 465, With Most Illnesses In Kids
U.S. measles cases are continuing to jump, and most of the reported illnesses are in children. Health officials say 465 measles cases have been reported this year, as of last week. That's up from 387 the week before. (Stobbe, 4/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Eight Measles Cases Found In New York’s Westchester County
Westchester County has confirmed eight measles cases, primarily confined to one family whose children were unvaccinated, officials said Wednesday. The infected children range in age from 6 months to 14 years old, and live in the Mount Kisco, N.Y., area, part of northern Westchester. The children were exposed to measles while attending family events in nearby Rockland County and Brooklyn, where there are two large measles outbreaks, County Executive George Latimer said. Some of the children attend a private yeshiva, he said. (West, 4/10)

The New York Times: Abnormal Levels Of A Protein Linked To C.T.E. Found In N.F.L Players’ Brains, Study Shows
Experimental brain scans of more than two dozen former N.F.L. players found that the men had abnormal levels of the protein linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease associated with repeated hits to the head. Using positron emission tomography, or PET, scans, the researchers found “elevated amounts of abnormal tau protein” in the parts of the brain associated with the disease, known as C.T.E., compared to men of similar age who had not played football. (Belson and Carey, 4/10)

The Associated Press: Brain Scans May Reveal Concussion Damage In Living Athletes
Researchers may be closing in on a way to check athletes while they’re alive for signs of a degenerative brain disease that’s been linked to frequent head blows. Experimental scans found higher levels of an abnormal protein tied to the disease in a study of former National Football League players who were having mood and thinking problems. It’s the first time a major study has tested these scans for detecting chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which is only diagnosed now after death, with brain autopsies. (Marchione, 4/10)

Boston Globe: Boston University Study Suggests A Pathway To Diagnosing CTE In The Living
“It’s an important finding that will hopefully at some point lead to a diagnostic breakthrough, but we’re not there yet,” said Dr. Michael Weiner, a professor of biomedical imaging, psychiatry, and neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the study. (Freyer, 4/10)

Stat: Study Reveals HIV Vulnerabilities, Path To Possible Therapies 
One of the many mysteries that scientists working with HIV have been trying to solve is how the virus keeps its identity hidden in the body. The virus can be detected in blood, but once it gains entry into our cells, it remains obscure and out of reach of the immune system. And this inability to detect the virus in our cells has hindered efforts to properly eliminate the disease. But a new study’s findings suggest that we may have found a way to reveal the virus’s presence in human cells. In the study published Wednesday in Cell & Host Microbe, scientists were able to identify a new shape of an essential HIV protein that allows the virus to gain entry into our cells. (Chakradhar, 4/10)

NPR: Should A Nurse's Fatal Medical Error Be Prosecuted?
A former nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., was arrested and charged with reckless homicide and abuse in February for making a medical mistake that resulted in an elderly patient's death. Criminal charges for a medical error are unusual, patient safety experts say. Some are voicing concern that the move sets a precedent that may actually make hospitals less safe by making people hesitant to report errors. The nurse, RaDonda Vaught, pleaded not guilty. Her next hearing is scheduled for April 11. She told NPR in an emailed statement from her lawyer that Vanderbilt terminated her employment after the incident. (Gordon, 4/10)

Stat: In The Microbiome Field, It’s Academics Who Are Doing The Heavy Lifting
To figure out what microbiome therapeutics companies will do next, the best move may be to step away from the press releases and open a scientific journal. Academic science has been the foundation of almost every treatment, from insulin to gene therapy. But eventually, as a field matures, scientists in industry will start to show up as authors on more and more papers and as presenters at more and more conferences. (Sheridan, 4/11)

Boston Globe: Menstrual Monitoring App Raises Questions About Privacy
Most women don’t tell their bosses when they’re trying to conceive. But what if an app did it for them? Questions about such menstrual monitoring arose this week in relation to Ovia Health, a Boston-based maker of fertility, pregnancy, and parenting-tracking apps, and the data that it has been offering employers through partnerships with health insurance providers. (Nanos, 4/11)

The Associated Press: How Safe Is Running A Marathon? Heart Doctors Say It Depends
It was the death heard ‘round the running world. In July 1984, acclaimed author and running guru Jim Fixx died of a heart attack while trotting along a country road in Vermont. Overnight, a nascent global movement of asphalt athletes got a gut check: Just because you run marathons doesn’t mean you’re safe from heart problems. Fast-forward 35 years, and Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray is amplifying that message for marathoners, especially those who have coronary artery disease or a family history of it. (Kole, 4/11)

Kaiser Health News: Making Smarter Decisions About Where To Recover After Hospitalization
Every year, nearly 2 million people on Medicare — most of them older adults — go to a skilled nursing facility to recover after a hospitalization. But choosing the facility can be daunting, according to an emerging body of research. Typically, a nurse or a social worker hands out a list of facilities a day or two — sometimes hours — before a patient is due to leave. The list generally lacks such essential information as the services offered or how the facilities perform on various measures of care quality. (Graham, 4/11)

The New York Times: Very Low Cholesterol May Increase Stroke Risk
Having extremely low cholesterol may increase the risk for stroke, a new study suggests. Researchers found that very low LDL, or “bad” cholesterol, and very low triglycerides are associated with an increased risk for hemorrhagic stroke, the type caused by a ruptured blood vessel in the brain. For the report, in Neurology, researchers reviewed data on total cholesterol, LDL, HDL (“good” cholesterol) and triglycerides for 27,937 women. During an average follow-up of 19 years, there were 137 hemorrhagic strokes. (Bakalar, 4/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Drug Tests Show Marijuana Use At 14-Year High Among Workers
More American workers are testing positive for marijuana, a new report finds, as lawmakers in New Jersey and Illinois push to join nearly a dozen more states where recreational use of the drug is now legal. The number of workers and job applicants who tested positive for marijuana climbed 10% last year to 2.3%, according to an analysis of 10 million urine, saliva and hair samples by Quest Diagnostics Inc., one the nation’s largest drug-testing laboratories. (Gee, 4/11)

NPR: Consumer Safety Agency May Ask Fisher-Price To Recall Rock 'n Play Sleepers
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is considering asking Fisher-Price to voluntarily recall its popular Rock 'n Play sleeper, according to acting chairman Ann Marie Buerkle. The federal agency, tasked with regulating consumer products, has "identified a hazard with rollover issues," in which babies move onto their stomachs or sides and can't return to their back. Buerkle has confirmed that 10 babies older than three months have died in the cot since 2015, and says the agency is in the midst of investigating another 22 deaths to see if they are linked to the sleeper. (Ellis, 4/10)

In other consumer safety news —

Reuters: CEO Sees Bayer 'Massively' Affected By Herbicide Litigation
Bayer's chief executive on Thursday acknowledged the German maker of pharmaceuticals and crop chemicals was facing massive challenges from a wave of lawsuits over an alleged carcinogenic effect of its Roundup weedkiller. "We have lost two cases in lower courts. That is why the company is massively affected. You see it in our share price," CEO Werner Baumann said in a panel discussion at an academic business event in Cologne. (4/11)

Stateline: Opioid Treatment Programs Gear Up To Provide Suicide Care 
It’s long been suspected that the nation’s unprecedented drug overdose epidemic and sharply rising suicide rates are linked. Now health researchers are finding concrete evidence that the two preventable causes of death — which are among the top 10 in the United States — are intrinsically related: People with an opioid addiction are at much higher risk for suicide than the rest of the population; and opioid use was a contributing factor in more than 40% of all suicide and overdose deaths in 2017, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Vestal, 4/11)

NH Times Union: NH Patients Laud FDA Warning Not To Suddenly Cut Opioids To Chronic Pain Sufferers
Chronic pain patients in New Hampshire are welcoming a new federal warning that suddenly cutting off opioid painkillers could cause some patients to turn to illegal drugs — or even take their own lives. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued a safety alert, advising doctors not to abruptly discontinue opioid medications for patients who are physically dependent on them. The agency’s action came after reports of “serious harm” to patients after their medicine was discontinued or the dose rapidly decreased, including “serious withdrawal symptoms, uncontrolled pain, psychological distress, and suicide,” the FDA stated. (Wickham, 4/10)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: For Some Neighbors In Opioid-Plagued Kensington, A Supervised Injection Site Feels Like Giving Up
Many people who oppose the site say they want help for people in addiction who live in their neighborhood. But to open a building where drug use is sanctioned to them represents a kind of surrender — a sign that the city is willing to give up on their neighborhood. To permanently designate their neighborhood as the city’s hub of drug use and dealing. (Whelan, 4/10)

The New York Times: Parkland Victims’ Families Sue, Claiming Negligence In Mass Shooting
The families of some of the victims of the mass shooting last year in Parkland, Fla., filed 22 lawsuits on Wednesday accusing the local school district and sheriff’s office of negligence and seeking potentially millions of dollars in damages as compensation. The lawsuits claim that the Broward County Public Schools failed to keep students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School safe in spite of warning signs that the shooting suspect, Nikolas Cruz, a former student, had threatened violence against the school community. (Mazzei, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Families Of Massacre Victims Criticize Notification Process
Families whose loved ones perished in last year’s Florida high school massacre told a state commission Wednesday they waited hours, often alone in a room, before being told of the death in a process that seemed chaotic and lacking empathy. Parents of students Luke Hoyer, Gina Montalto and Jaime Guttenberg and the wife of athletic director Chris Hixon told the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission stories whose details differed but carried the thread that the Broward Sheriff’s Office had no apparent protocol for notifying families of a mass tragedy, which led to confusion in the hours after the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting that left 17 dead and 17 wounded. (Spencer and Kennedy, 4/10)

Iowa Public Radio: Iowa Senate Bill Would Raise Age For Buying Tobacco Products From 18 To 21
Three senators advanced a bill Wednesday that would raise Iowa’s minimum age for buying tobacco products and nicotine pods from 18 to 21. Senate President Charles Schneider, R-West Des Moines, said his proposal is part of a national trend of states taking that step. (Sostaric, 4/10)

Seattle Times: Will Washington State Soon Spend $1B On Mental Health? Gov. Inslee And Many Lawmakers Hope So. 
Under the proposals by Inslee and lawmakers, many state hospital patients would be moved to community placements. Short-term crisis and detox centers and outpatient programs would treat people before they got too sick. Residential housing, with staff or case managers, would care for people with chronic mental illness and dementia. Perhaps 1,000 beds could be added. The price would easily top $1 billion in the coming years. (O'Sullivan, 4/10)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: DeWine Administration Seeks Expansion Of Insurance Coverage For Virtual Doctor’s Visits
More Ohio insurers would be required to cover virtual doctor’s visits just like they would any other medical appointment, under a proposal from Gov. Mike DeWine that’s backed by some of Ohio’s largest health-care providers. In an interview, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said expanding telemedicine coverage would increase convenience for patients, broaden access for people in rural areas and decrease the likelihood that people visit the emergency room for routine health care. (Tobias, 4/10)

The CT Mirror: Bill Overhauling Connecticut's Sexual Harassment, Assault Laws Advances
Proponents of legislation that would toughen Connecticut’s sexual assault and harassment laws won a victory Wednesday with the Judiciary Committee’s passage of the so-called Time’s Up bill. The measure would broaden the mandate for sexual harassment training, requiring all workplaces with three or more employees to provide the instruction to every worker. (Carlesso, 4/10)

Sacramento Bee: How Do Marijuana Companies Pay California Taxes?
On tax days, it’s not hard to spot marijuana growers waiting to exhale in downtown Eureka.They haul cash in grocery bags and boxes, making their way to a state office where they can pay their taxes. ...California still doesn’t have a better way to collect taxes from its burgeoning, licensed marijuana industry three years after voters passed an initiative to legalize recreational cannabis and 23 years after they sanctioned medical marijuana. (Ashton and Sheeler, 4/11)

The New York Times: Facing Nurses Strike, New York Hospitals Reach Landmark Deal On Staffing
For several weeks, New York City has been at the center of a national debate about how many nurses should be on duty at hospitals. Nurses unions have pressed for rules setting minimum staffing levels, arguing that having too few nurses leaves patients at risk. Hospital officials have countered that they need flexibility in deploying their workers and should not be bound by rigid ratios. That dispute spurred more than 10,000 nurses to threaten to walk off their jobs this month at three of New York’s biggest hospital systems. (McGeehan, 4/10)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: The Urgent Care Industry Is Booming In New Orleans And Nationwide. Here’s Why. 
Patients’ need for accessible, convenient and affordable medical care is fueling the growth of the urgent care industry, according to a recent report by the Urgent Care Association of America. Last year the number of clinics across the U.S. reached 8,774, up 8 percent from the year before, according to the report. The industry has grown each year across the U.S. since 2013, a trend that experts attribute to growing demand for health care alternatives to the emergency room. (Clark, 4/10)

The Associated Press: Georgia Confirms 17 Sickened In Multistate E. Coli Outbreak
A state agency says at least 17 people in Georgia have been sickened in an outbreak of E. coli infections affecting five U.S. states. The Georgia Department of Public Health said in a news release Wednesday that the number of E. coli cases is expected to increase. A total of 96 E. coli infections have been confirmed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention working with state health officials in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia. No deaths have been reported. (4/10)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Hepatitis A Cases Rise Sharply In Summit County
Summit County is seeing a steep increase in the number of reported hepatitis A cases, county health officials announced today. The county has seen 32 cases of the infectious illness so far in 2019, with illness rates higher among intravenous drug users and drug abusers, officials said. (Washington, 4/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Mount Sinai Increases Effort To Cut Medical-Student Debt
New York City’s Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai announced Wednesday that it will expand scholarships in a bid to lower the total debt of its medical students, a move that follows other recent debt-relief efforts at New York medical schools. The plan, called the Enhanced Scholarship Initiative, will enable students to graduate with no more than $75,000 in debt, or about $18,750 a year in institutional and federal loans. (West, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Jon Sander Convicted Of Murdering Neighbor Sandy Mazzella And His Family
Before it went bad, Jon Sander and Sandy Mazzella were buddies. They had been business partners in a lawn and landscaping company. The bond between the two North Carolinians was so tightly knit they lived with their families next door to one another on Clearsprings Drive, a residential street with long driveways and spacious lawns in Wake Forest, N.C., just northeast of Raleigh. Sander and Mazzella smoked weed together every day after work, the News & Observer would later report. They shared family vacations and Christmas dinners. Sander reportedly referred to Mazzella as “my little brother.” (Swenson, 4/11)

Sacramento Bee: Huerta Urges UC Davis Medical Center Strikers To Keep Fighting
Roughly 200 striking health care and service workers sang “Happy Birthday” Wednesday to civil rights leader Dolores Huerta at Sacramento’s UC Davis Medical Center, and she returned the tribute by doing what she is known for: exhorting picketers to continue fighting for the rights of rank-and-file workers. (Anderson, 4/10)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Former Clevelanders Come Home To Grow Health Care Technology Startup MedPilot
Entrepreneur Nathan Spoden, 30, believes consumers prefer health care providers that send appointment reminders via text and offer a billing portal that explains each charge in plain English. MedPilot, a health technology startup now based in Cleveland, can provide that kind of patient service. (Washington, 4/10)

Des Moines Register: Iowa DHS Jerry Foxhoven Confident In Care At Glenwood Resource Center
Iowa’s top human services official said Wednesday he doesn’t believe poor medical care contributed to a recent string of deaths among severely disabled residents of a state institution, as critics alleged in a Des Moines Register story published Sunday. Jerry Foxhoven told an advisory council Wednesday that his department does a good job running the Glenwood Resource Center, which houses about 200 Iowans with severe intellectual disabilities in the western side of the state. (Leys, 4/10)

Tampa Bay Times: All Children’s Works To Restore Faith, But Families Struggle To Forgive
In at least 11 cases, the health system has agreed to do so before the families file suit, “admitting our liability in most cases,” its leaders recently disclosed to investors in bond documents. That some parents are too angry to accept the overture is only the latest setback for All Children’s. In just a few months the region’s most-prestigious hospital has fallen into a state of near-constant turmoil. (McGrory and Bedi, 4/10)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Crime: Grief Lingers For Murder Victims' Families
In the past five years in Milwaukee, 594 people have been killed in homicides — leaving at least 6,000 close relatives behind to grieve.Those remaining — often described as “homicide survivors” or “co-victims” — must grapple with elevated health risks, the criminal justice system, social stigma and finding support.Their stories largely go untold. (Luthern, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare: 4 In Detroit Charged In Alleged $9.2 Million Healthcare Fraud Scheme
Four people in metro Detroit have been indicted in a more than $9 million healthcare fraud scheme that involved money laundering and racking up claims for dead patients, according to federal officials, adding to a growing pile of healthcare fraud cases in the region. An indictment unsealed Tuesday says a pharmacy owner and pharmacist billed insurers for medications that were never dispensed. The defendants billed insurance companies for delivering over 500 medications to people who had died prior to the claimed date of delivery, officials said Tuesday in a news release. (Jibrell, 4/10)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Lawsuit: Women Held In Horrid Conditions At South Fulton Jail
Mentally ill women are being held in isolation at a jail in south Fulton County under horrific conditions that increase their risk of serious psychological harm and strip away their human dignity, a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges. The unsanitary and degrading conditions “can result in dramatic worsening of symptoms, decompensation, psychosis, self-mutilation and suicide,” the suit said. (Rankin, 4/10)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin DNR Seeks Review Of Chemicals Found In Groundwater
The Department of Natural Resources is asking a state health agency to study the potential impacts of a group of unregulated contaminants as a prelude to setting safe limits in groundwater. The agency on Wednesday asked the Department of Health Services to review 40 chemical compounds to recommend levels that would protect human health. (Bergquist, 4/10)

Modern Healthcare: Atrium Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health To Merge
Atrium Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health and Wake Forest University signed a memorandum of understanding to merge, the North Carolina-based not-for-profit organizations announced Wednesday. The memorandum kicks off a period of exclusive negotiations as the organizations aim to reach a final agreement later this year. (Kacik, 4/10)

Arizona Republic: Mom Staging 'Nurse-In' With Other Breastfeeding Moms At Kiva Elementary
A mother who was asked to move to a more private area while breastfeeding at a Scottsdale school last week is returning to the campus to breastfeed, but this time with other moms. Theresa Phillips posted a video to Facebook last Thursday showing a tense conversation with Kiva Elementary Assistant Principal Matt Gromek, who told her that she could use a separate room on the campus for more privacy while breastfeeding. (Longhi, 4/10)

WBUR: Bags Of Cash, Armed Guards And Wary Banks: The Edgy Life Of A Cannabis Company CFO
Normally, a chief financial officer's job involves poring over balance sheets and bank statements. But in the pot business, the job still bears a lot of similarities to the illicit trade — transporting loads of cash under the watchful eye of big guys carrying lots of guns. (Noguchi, 4/10)

Commonwealth Fund: Role Of Medicaid Expansion Care Delivery Community Health Centers
Community health centers provide comprehensive primary care to medically underserved communities, regardless of patients’ insurance status or ability to pay. Health centers have enjoyed bipartisan support for decades, because they provide affordable, cost-effective care for millions of Americans while saving the overall health care system money.1 When people gained insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it was expected that reliance on health centers would increase. As a result, Congress doubled federal grant funding for centers and created incentives for clinicians to practice in them. (Lewis, 4/4)

Urban Institute: State-By-State Estimates Of The Coverage And Funding Consequences Of Full Repeal Of The ACA
This analysis provides information on some of the consequences should a case pending before the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit be decided in favor of the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs argue that the entire Affordable Care Act be eliminated due to the fact that he individual mandate penalties were set to $0 beginning with plan year 2019. We estimate the state-by-state implications of full ACA repeal for insurance coverage and government funding of health care in 2019. Our estimates take into account 2019 marketplace enrollment and premiums as well as recent Medicaid data. (Blumberg et al, 3/26)

Health Affairs: Primary Care Physician Networks In Medicare Advantage
Medicare Advantage (MA) plans often establish restrictive networks of covered providers. Some policy makers have raised concerns that networks may have become excessively restrictive over time, potentially interfering with patients’ access to providers. Because of data limitations, little is known about the breadth of MA networks. Taking a novel approach, we used Medicare Part D claims data for 2011–15 to examine how primary care physician networks have changed over time and what demographic and plan characteristics are associated with varying levels of network breadth. (Feyman et al, 4/1)

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation: How Much Does Medicare Spend On Insulin?
The rising cost of prescription drugs is currently a major focus for policymakers. One medication that has come under increasing scrutiny over its price increases is insulin, used by people with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes to control blood glucose levels. Among people with Medicare, one third (33%) had diabetes in 2016, up from 18% in 2000. The rate of diabetes is higher among certain groups, including more than 40% of black and Hispanic beneficiaries. Although not all people with diabetes take insulin, for many it is a life-saving medication and essential to maintaining good health. Three companies—Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi—manufacture most insulin products, and there are no generic insulin products currently available, despite the fact that insulin was discovered in the 1920s. Committees in both the House and the Senate recently convened hearings on prescription drug costs that focused on rising insulin prices and affordability concerns for patients, and congressional investigations are underway. (Cubanski et al, 4/1)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Prognosis Reconsidered In Light Of Ancient Insights—From Hippocrates To Modern Medicine.
Whereas modern clinicians are often reluctant to discuss prognosis with their patients, such discussions were central to medical practice in ancient Greece. A historical analysis has the potential to explain the reasons for this difference in prognostic practices and provide insights into overcoming current challenges. Many scholars consider prognosis to be the principal scientific achievement of the Hippocratic tradition. The earliest treatise on the subject, On Prognostics, defines prognosis broadly as “foreseeing and foretelling, by the side of the sick, the present, the past, and the future.” (Thomas et al, 4/8)

The Hill: Opting Out Of Measles Vaccine Could Be A Death Sentence For Others
Immunizations have been such a resounding public health success that most Americans have never seen a child with measles, mumps, diphtheria or many of the other diseases that once killed or maimed thousands every year. As a result, it has been too easy for misinformation about vaccines to take root and spread, because parents have the luxury of fearing the vaccines instead of the diseases. (Rahul Gupta, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Religious Leaders Should Step Up On Vaccinations 
Last week saw a minor victory for vaccination advocates amid the United States' ongoing measles outbreak: A Kentucky judge ruled against a lawsuit filed by 18-year-old Jerome Kunkel against the Northern Kentucky Health Department, claiming the department had discriminated against Kunkel by asking schools to exclude students not vaccinated for chicken pox from school and extracurricular activities. Kunkel argued that he had refused the vaccine on religious grounds because he is Catholic, and that the vaccine is derived from cells taken from the tissue of aborted human fetuses. The judge ruled the health department hadn’t discriminated against Kunkel. (Elizabeth Bruenig, 4/8)

Bloomberg: New York Measles Outbreak: Mandatory Vaccination Makes Sense
Facing the largest measles outbreak in 28 years, New York City has resorted to mandatory vaccination in one Brooklyn neighborhood, with $1,000 fines for noncompliance. The city had little choice. When anti-vaccination resistance raises the danger level this high, authorities must take all necessary steps to safeguard public health. (4/10)

The Washington Post: Anti-Vaxxers Are Comparing Themselves To Holocaust Victims — Who Relied On Vaccines To Survive 
In the wake of measles outbreaks in recent months, some public health officials have created strict rules concerning unvaccinated children in public spaces, such as schools and houses of worship. In some places, the spread of the disease has even led officials to declare a state of emergency. In response, anti-vaccination protesters have begun wearing yellow stars, claiming that rules based on vaccination status are analogous to the inhumane treatment of Jews during the Holocaust. (Helene Sinnreich, 4/10)

Stat: Electronic Health Records Lack Tools To Improve Clinical Care 
Early in my career as an ear, nose, and throat physician and surgeon, two different patients came to me with the same set of bizarre symptoms. Certain noises made their eyes move involuntarily, and objects they were looking at appeared to move around in patterns. After months of careful investigation, these patients led me to discover a rare disorder called superior semicircular canal dehiscence and to develop a corrective surgery for it. Today, anyone with Internet access can search the symptoms of superior semicircular canal dehiscence and get multiple hits for diagnosis and information about treatment. Yet most doctors who use electronic health records are years away from this kind of capability. There is no search engine to support our clinical decision making. (Lloyd B. Minor, 4/11)

The Washington Post: Republicans Are Pushing Another False Claim About Abortion To Rile Up Voters 
An attempted abortion late enough into a pregnancy to result in a live birth is extremely rare and happens only when the mother’s life is at risk or the fetus has a fatal condition. But we’re in a presidential election cycle, and Republicans have learned that abortion can be a winning issue for them if they find a way to keep Democrats on the defensive. (Laura Bassett, 4/10)

The Hill: Pediatricians Need To Protect Children From Gun Violence
Over 300 pediatricians from the American Academy of Pediatrics went to the Hill this week to urge Congress to appropriate $50 million for gun violence prevention research. As pediatricians in Chicago, we are also here because we know all too well the effects of gun violence on our community and our patients. In 2017, there were over 39,000 or 109 people killed with guns each day.  (Nana Matoba and Angira Patel, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Health Care Is Shockingly Expensive. Why Can’t You Deduct It All On Your Taxes?
In late March, my right elbow suddenly ballooned up, becoming red, painful and hot to the touch. But what I assumed was tennis elbow proved to be cellulitis, a serious infection that required an IV of an expensive antibiotic dispensed during six hours in a Manhattan emergency room. The hospital billed my insurance company more than $10,000 per hour, or $65,892.04 to be exact. I wasn’t even admitted for the night. Fortunately, my insurer will significantly reduce my share of the charges but the ultimate out-of-pocket cost will still sting long after my elbow no longer does. Adding insult to injury, I can’t write off this unexpected and unavoidable expense on my taxes. (David Wallis, 4/10)

USA Today: Does Donald Trump Have Dementia? We Need To Know: Psychologist
If Donald Trump were your father, you would run, not walk, to a neurologist for an evaluation of his cognitive health. You don’t have to be a doctor to see something is very wrong. “He reminds me of Uncle Bruce in so many ways,” said my aunt, who nursed her brother through Alzheimer’s disease. (John Gartner, 4/9)

The New York Times: How A.I. Is Changing Insurance
A smartphone app that measures when you brake and accelerate in your car. The algorithm that analyzes your social media accounts for risky behavior. The program that calculates your life expectancy using your Fitbit. This isn’t speculative fiction — these are real technologies being deployed by insurance companies right now. Last year, the life insurance company John Hancock began to offer its customers the option to wear a fitness tracker — a wearable device that can collect information about how active you are, how many calories you burn, and how much you sleep. The idea is that if your Fitbit or Apple Watch can tell whether or not you’re living the good, healthy life — and if you are, your insurance premium will go down. (Sarah Jeong, 4/10)

USA Today: Parkland Student Suicides: Stoneman Douglas Mobilized But Didn't Heal
More than a year has elapsed since 17 students and staff were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, including my 14-year-old daughter,  Alaina. But even now, our community is still experiencing the aftershocks of the attack.Over the course of just one week in March, two more  MSD students died, this time by suicide, adding to the horror of this senseless and preventable tragedy. Shortly after the Parkland suicides,  the father of one of the 20 first-graders killed in the 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, took his own life as well.  (Ryan Petty, 4/10)

The Washington Post: New Program Finally Gives Kids With Addiction Issues Access To Treatment 
The last of my six children will graduate from the Anne Arundel County Public Schools system in 2020 — the end of a 25-year-long sojourn as a parent who has watched superintendents, fads, teachers and trends come and go. It took several years for me to recognize that while some were simply the whims of the times, others really had the potential for changing and saving lives. Among these, my favorite was always the mandatory fifth-grade week of water-safety/drown-proofing at the county pools. In a county with about 500 miles of shoreline, this has always seemed like an act of brilliance. Another such act seems to have occurred with the launch of a new program, Screening Teens to Access Recovery (Star), for the county’s 12 high schools. (Janice Lynch Schuster, 4/5)

Arizona Republic: Doctor Shortage Hurts Arizona's Wallet As Much As Its Health
Our concern is the current shortage of doctors and nurses across the state will eventually translate into slower economic growth. This would mean fewer new jobs being created in every county, lower levels of income for many, and a declining quality of life for residents. (Heather Carter and Jim Rounds, 4/10)