The New York Times: Doctors Accused Of Trading Opioid Prescriptions For Sex And Cash
Last summer, a woman in northern Alabama who law enforcement officials said was a prostitute typed a message to a doctor: “Can u get any Xanax.” The doctor replied: “What makes you think I know a Xanax source?” Just below, he added a smiley face, and then described his home as the “Fun House.” The doctor was one of the scores of medical professionals across seven states who were charged by federal prosecutors on Wednesday with schemes to illegally distribute millions of pain pills. Opioid prescriptions were exchanged for sex in some cases, and for cash with an added “concierge fee” in others. One doctor was accused of routinely prescribing opioids to friends on Facebook. (Robertson, 4/17)

The Associated Press: 60 People Charged In Illegal Prescription Opioid Crackdown
U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman of Cincinnati described the action, with 31 doctors facing charges, as the biggest known takedown yet of drug prescribers. Robert Duncan, U.S. attorney for eastern Kentucky, called the doctors involved "white-coated drug dealers." Authorities said the 60 includes 53 medical professionals tied to some 350,000 prescriptions and 32 million pills. The operation was conducted by the federal Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force, launched last year by the Trump administration. (Sewell, 4/17)

Reuters: Dozens Of Doctors In Appalachia Charged In Opioid Fraud Bust
“The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug crisis in American history, and Appalachia has suffered the consequences more than perhaps any other region,” Attorney General William P. Barr said in a statement. (Borter, 4/17)

The Washington Post: Doctors In Seven States Charged With Prescribing Pain Killers For Cash, Sex
“That is the equivalent of one opioid dose for every man, woman and child” in the region, Brian Benczkowski, an assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in an interview. “If these medical professionals behave like drug dealers, you can rest assured that the Justice Department is going to treat them like drug dealers.” (Horwitz and Higham, 4/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Dozens Of Medical Professionals Charged In Opioids Sting
The cases revealed in the indictment include a man in Tennessee who called himself the “Rock Doc” and allegedly prescribed hundreds of thousands of pills in exchange for sex; a doctor in Alabama who prosecutors say recruited prostitutes to become patients and let them use drugs at his house; another who wrote prescriptions on behalf of Facebook friends; and a dentist in Kentucky accused of needlessly pulling teeth to justify giving his patients addictive drugs. The charges against them include unlawful distribution of controlled substances and conspiracy to obtain controlled substances by fraud. (Gurman and Randazzo, 4/17)

The Hill: DOJ Charges Doctors Across Multiple States With Illegally Prescribing Millions Of Narcotics 
Congressional investigations into the opioid epidemic have focused on the role of both manufacturers and drug distributors, as well as some of the early failings of the Drug Enforcement Administration to stop the flow of opioids into vulnerable rural areas. Thousands of cities, counties and Native American tribes have filed lawsuits targeting the entire drug supply chain. A recent multimillion-dollar settlement between the state of Oklahoma and Purdue Pharma could influence the lawsuits facing opioid companies across the country. (Weixel, 4/17)

In other news on the crisis —

The Associated Press: Doctor's Dosing Prompts A Look At More Hospital Regulation
How might Ohio better regulate hospitals following allegations that an intensive care doctor ordered excessive painkiller doses for dozens of patients who then died? That's the question facing officials in Ohio, the only state that doesn't license general hospitals. (4/17)

Stateline: Cops Draw Blood To Catch Impaired Drivers
Drugged driving is a growing concern as more states legalize marijuana and the opioid epidemic rages on. To fight it, more communities are training police officers to draw drivers’ blood at police stations or in vans, as in Arizona. And on-call judges are approving warrants electronically, often in a matter of minutes at any time of day or night. ...While it’s easy for police to screen drivers for alcohol impairment using breath-testing devices to get a blood alcohol concentration level, there’s no such machine to screen for drug impairment. That’s why blood tests are so important, traffic safety experts say. (Bergal, 4/18)

Concord (N.H.) Monitor: Concerns About Costs Rise As Concord Hub-And-Spoke System Gains Steam
Four months into its creation, Concord’s hub-and-spoke substance use treatment system is picking up some steam. Walk-in patients to Riverbend Community Health – the capital area’s “hub” – are up and 41 patients have been referred to services so far, the organization says. But as New Hampshire officials continue to roll out the program and present it as a key asset in turning around the state’s opioid epidemic, a growing difficulty looms: payments. (DeWitt, 4/17)

The Washington Post Fact Checker: Pence, Buttigieg And The Debate Over ‘Conversion Therapy’
It’s a Hoosier rumble! Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg has been calling out Vice President Pence for what he views as animus against gay rights. Buttigieg came out as gay when Pence was still governor of Indiana, after the two had tangled over Pence’s signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The law was signed in March 2015, and Buttigieg came out in June of that year. (Kessler, 4/18)

The Hill: Cummings Accuses Oversight Republicans Of Obstructing Drug Price Probe 
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) on Wednesday accused ranking member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) of deliberately trying to undermine the committee’s investigation into rising drug prices. In a letter sent Wednesday, Cummings condemned what he claimed were Jordan’s efforts to “actively obstruct” the committee’s investigation into prescription drug pricing. (Weixel, 4/17)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

CQ HealthBeat: House Appropriations To Mark Up Labor-HHS-Education Bill First
The full House Appropriations Committee plans to mark up its first fiscal 2020 spending bill — Labor-HHS-Education — on May 8, and approve its 12 spending bill suballocations at the same time. A Democratic aide confirmed the plan but said no announcements have been made and the schedule could change. Under the current plan, the Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee will mark up the bill, which is the second largest after Defense, on April 30. (Krawzak, 4/17)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Navy Veterans Hope For VA Benefits Tied To Agent Orange Exposure
The VA provides compensation and health care to troops who served on the ground in Vietnam or on its inland waterways and are suffering from seven forms of cancer and seven other illnesses it says are linked to Agent Orange exposure, including the ones that trouble Sherwood today. The VA has resisted extending those benefits to Navy veterans like Sherwood who never set foot on Vietnamese soil, warning the science linking them to Agent Orange exposure is tenuous. (Redmon and Hallerman, 4/17)

Meanwhile —

CNN: Trump To Honor Wounded Veterans At The White House
It may look like just a bike ride, but as 29 wounded warriors hit the Washington-area roads this week, it is a testament to service, sacrifice and perseverance. Wounded Warrior Project's DC Soldier Ride is underway, a three-day journey aimed at overcoming adversity -- both physical and mental -- and fostering bonds in the veteran community. The warriors will be honored Thursday at the White House, an annual celebration dating back to the Bush administration in 2008 and President Donald Trump's third such event since taking office. (Klein, 4/18)

The New York Times: ‘Partly Alive’: Scientists Revive Cells In Brains From Dead Pigs
The brains did not regain anything resembling consciousness: There were no signs indicating coordinated electrical signaling, necessary for higher functions like awareness and intelligence. But in an experimental treatment, blood vessels in the pigs’ brains began functioning, flowing with a blood substitute, and certain brain cells regained metabolic activity, even responding to drugs. When the researchers tested slices of treated brain tissue, they discovered electrical activity in some neurons. (Kolata, 4/17)

The Associated Press: Scientists Spur Some Activity In Brains Of Slaughtered Pigs
Scientists restored some activity within the brains of pigs that had been slaughtered hours before, raising hopes for some medical advances and questions about the definition of death. The brains could not think or sense anything, researchers stressed. By medical standards "this is not a living brain," said Nenad Sestan of the Yale School of Medicine, one of the researchers reporting the results Wednesday in the journal Nature. But the work revealed a surprising degree of resilience among cells within a brain that has lost its supply of blood and oxygen, he said. (Ritter, 4/17)

Reuters: Yale Study Revives Cellular Activity In Pig Brains Hours After Death
The scientists emphasized that their work did not even come close to reawakening consciousness in the disembodied pig brains. In fact the experiment was specifically designed to avoid such an outcome, however improbable. Still, the study raises a host of bioethical issues, including questions about the very definition of brain death and potential consequences for protocols related to organ donation. (Gorman, 4/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Scientists Restore Some Brain Function After Death In Animal Experiments
The science is still a very long way from having applications in human brains, and the findings in no way suggest the brain was alive, the research team and other scientists stressed. “This is not a living brain, but it is a cellularly active brain,” said Yale neuroscientist Nenad Sestan, who led the study. Still, the results could open up new avenues of study into brain function and how drugs affect it, potentially improving drug development for conditions like dementia or stroke that have for decades stumped the pharmaceutical industry, brain experts said. It also could have future implications for organ donation, forcing the medical community to re-evaluate when it’s appropriate to take organs for transplants, experts said. (Hernandez, 4/17)

NPR: Pig Brains Partly Revived By Scientists Hours After Animals Died
The potential ethical questions raised by this research range from how to protect animal welfare to how it might affect organ donation from people declared brain-dead. "The science is so new that we all need to work together to think proactively about its ethical implications so that we can responsibly shape how this science moves forward," says Khara Ramos, director of the neuroethics program at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. (Greenfieldboyce, 4/17)

Stat: Scientists Restore Cellular Functions In Brains From Dead Pigs 
Andrea Beckel-Mitchener of the National Institute of Mental Health called the technology “a real breakthrough for brain research.” Restoring any cell function “has never been done before” in a large, supposedly dead, mammalian brain, she said. By keeping cells alive and working, she added, the system promises to let scientists study complex circuit connections “and functions that are lost when specimens are preserved in other ways.” Neither isolated brain cells grown in culture nor slices of post-mortem brain tissue reveal much about the neural circuitry and activity that underlies thinking, for instance. (Begley, 4/17)

PBS NewsHour: Coverage Of Mass Killings Is Bad For Mental Health — Yet Makes People Seek More
People appear to have the same reaction to media coverage of mass violence, and seeing and sharing those horrific scenes through media appears to hurt us, according to a study published Wednesday in Science Advances. When people view news of a mass killing, the report shows, they not only develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress, but also become more likely to watch coverage of a subsequent mass tragedy. (Akpan, 4/17)

Reuters: Twenty Years After Columbine, Mass Shooting Survivors Help Others Heal
Almost two decades separate the traumatic experiences of Michelle Wheeler and Chad Williams, who both survived mass shootings. But as they shared their stories one evening last July, 20 years seemed to evaporate in the crisp Colorado air. The similarities were too many to count. The same gripping fear. The loss and devastation that followed. The lasting trauma and overwhelming grief. So many funerals and memorial services. (Millis, 4/17)

The Associated Press: 'We Don't Get Over It': Pain Of Mass Shootings Stretches On
Alex Rozenblat can still hear the cries of a wounded boy calling for help as she hid from the gunfire that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year. Talking to therapists at the school in Parkland, Florida, didn't help. Each session had a different counselor, and she found herself rehashing traumas she had already expressed. She would rather turn to her friends, who understand what she went through. "There is slight pressure to get better as quickly as you can, and since it's been a year, everyone thinks that you are better," the 16-year-old said. (Spencer, Kennedy and Slevin, 4/18)

The New York Times: ‘Infatuated’ With Columbine: Threats And Fear, 20 Years After A Massacre
The 20th anniversary of the attack at Columbine High School was supposed to be marked with prayers and memorials. Instead, millions of parents, students and educators across Colorado awoke on Wednesday to news that an armed 18-year-old woman with an infatuation with the massacre had flown across the country to Colorado and that hundreds of schools had closed as a precaution as the authorities frantically searched for her. By day’s end, the woman, a Florida high school student identified as Sol Pais, was discovered dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in the mountains west of Denver. (Turkewitz and Healy, 4/17)

The Washington Post: Sol Pais: Infatuated With The Columbine Shooting, She Flew To Colorado And Bought A Gun
When she stepped into Colorado Gun Broker on Monday, Sol Pais knew exactly what she wanted to buy. A 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. The same gun one of the shooters used in the 1999 attack on Columbine High School. The 20th anniversary of that attack was just five days away — and the school was less than two miles down the road. For weeks, the 18-year-old had been planning this trip, a pilgrimage from her home in South Florida to the Denver suburb where the modern era of school shootings had begun. (Oldham, Contrera, Shapira and Thebault, 4/17)

The Associated Press: Doctors Use HIV In Gene Therapy To Fix 'Bubble Boy' Disease
They were born without a working germ-fighting system, every infection a threat to their lives. Now eight babies with "bubble boy disease" have had it fixed by a gene therapy made from one of the immune system's worst enemies — HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. A study out Wednesday details how scientists turned this enemy virus into a savior, altering it so it couldn't cause disease and then using it to deliver a gene the boys lacked. (4/17)

The Washington Post: Gene Therapy Cures Infants With ‘Bubble Boy’ Immune Disease
“It’s a game changer,” said Jennifer Hemall, a pediatric immunologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who was not involved in the study. “For immunologists following this disease, gene therapy has always been out there as the hope of the future. It’s exciting to see this wave of treatments actually becoming a reality.” (Wan, 4/17)

NPR: 'Bubble Boy' Disease Helped By Advances In Gene Therapy
Gene therapy has been used successfully over the past decade. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., modified the procedure for SCID by giving the infants a short course of chemotherapy before introducing the new gene. This helped the new cells take up permanent residence. The babies developed apparently healthy immune systems, according to the new study. "I am thrilled to see these outstanding results," says Ewelina Mamcarz, a transplant physician and first author on the new paper. (Harris, 4/17)

Bloomberg: ‘Bubble Boys’ Cured In Medical Breakthrough Using Gene Therapy 
Nearly two decades ago researchers from France and Italy used a similar approach to successfully treat SCID, though about one-third of the patients eventually developed leukemia, starting about a year after treatment. This time, there is no evidence of leukemia in any of the patients treated, said Stephen Gottschalk, chair of bone marrow transplantation at St. Jude. (Cortez, 4/17)

In other news on gene-editing —

Stat: In A Mouse Study, CRISPR Edits Lung-Disease Gene In Utero
Companies that hope to treat severe inherited diseases via CRISPR genome editing are already testing the technique in adults, while push-the-envelope types are arguing for repairing defective genes much earlier — in IVF embryos so new they’re still in a lab dish (the “CRISPR babies” route). Now scientists in Philadelphia have taken preliminary steps toward a possible middle way: They injected CRISPR into the amniotic fluid of pregnant mice, editing a lung-disease-causing gene in a small number of mouse fetuses, they reported on Wednesday. (Begley, 4/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Measles Outbreak Upends Passover Traditions
The growing measles outbreak is colliding with Passover, one of the holiest Jewish celebrations and a time when families travel to be together. New York City health officials have warned that the holiday, with its large get-togethers and long, ritual meals, risks spreading measles, which is highly contagious and easily transmitted. City officials expect the number of measles cases to increase over the next several weeks partly because of gatherings over the holidays, said Herminia Palacio, the city’s deputy mayor for health and human services. The outbreak is worst in ultra-Orthodox communities in Brooklyn, N.Y., and nearby Rockland County. (West and King, 4/17)

The Hill: New York Extends Mandatory Measles Vaccination Order 
The New York City Board of Health unanimously voted Wednesday to extend to extend a public health emergency in parts of Brooklyn as the borough continues to struggle with a measles outbreak. The mandate, which was first implemented last week, orders that residents in the neighborhood of Williamsburg aged 6 months or older get vaccinated for the disease or face a fine of $1,000. The order was extended until officials declare the outbreak is over. (Axelrod, 4/17)

The Washington Post: Measles Outbreak: Israeli Flight Attendant In Serious Condition After Contracting Virus
Public health officials in Israel are urging crew members on national air carriers to ensure they have received the proper dosage of the measles vaccine after a flight attendant contracted the deadly disease, possibly in New York. Officials with Israel’s Ministry of Health said a 43-year-old flight attendant for the national airline El Al had flown back to Israel late last month from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. New York state has been a battleground for concurrent measles outbreaks in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as in Rockland County. However, because of the woman’s “impaired mental status,” officials said it could not be confirmed where or when she contracted the virus. (Bever, 4/17)

The Washington Post: Third Measles Patient Confirmed In Maryland, Unrelated To Earlier ‘Household Contact’ Cases
Maryland health officials confirmed Wednesday that a third person contracted measles in the Pikes­ville area of the state this month. The latest person to contract the disease is not connected to the previous two patients who had “household contact” with their cases, health officials said. Due to health privacy laws, officials did not release any information about the patients. (Williams, 4/17)

The Hill: Google Warns Employees About Measles Case At Headquarters: Report
Google reportedly warned its employees this week that at least one person has been diagnosed with measles at the company's Silicon Valley headquarters. The measles diagnosis, first reported by BuzzFeed News, comes as Google's search engine and its video streaming platform, YouTube, face scrutiny for promoting anti-vaccine content. The highly contagious disease has seen a resurgence in the U.S. this year after it was eliminated almost 20 years ago. (Birnbaum, 4/17)

Arizona Republic: Arizona's School Vaccination Rates Falling, And Worse Than They Appear
For a third year in a row, the share of Arizona parents exempting their children from school-required vaccines has increased, but the situation is even more perilous as schools have allowed unvaccinated students to attend even without the required exemption. An Arizona Republic analysis of the state's immunization data, which was released Friday, found more than half of the state's kindergartens have immunization rates below the level required to fend off an outbreak. (Innes, Philip and Price, 4/17)

Bloomberg: Scam DNA Tests May Be New Target For Health Fraud, States Warn 
Authorities in several states are warning about an alleged scam in which people visit senior-living communities and low-income neighborhoods, offering to perform DNA tests and collecting information from people in government health programs. The alleged DNA-testing scams appear to be a new twist on an old tactic, in which people are tricked into giving away personal information or participating in medical services they don’t need. Perpetrators of such schemes can bill the government for unneeded medical tests and procedures, or use the information they collect — such as Medicare and Medicaid identification data — to commit identity theft and fraud. (Brown, 4/17)

The New York Times: E.P.A. Moves To ‘Close The Door’ On Asbestos. Consumer Groups Say Loopholes Remain.
The Trump administration on Wednesday issued a regulation it said would impose new restrictions on asbestos, a deadly substance once commonly found in insulation materials. The final Environmental Protection Agency rule goes somewhat further than the initial version the agency had proposed, but public health advocates said it still fell short of the protections needed. Under the rule, the agency will require companies to obtain federal approval in order to domestically manufacture or import specific types of products using asbestos. (Friedman, 4/17)

The New York Times: How A Chicago Woman Fell Victim To Candida Auris, A Drug-Resistant Fungus
Gregory Spoor got the distressing news about his wife on the morning of Jan. 16 while standing outside her room in the intensive care unit at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. The doctor explained that Stephanie Spoor, 64, had contracted a “rare, very rare, fungus.” The physician said the fungus was called Candida auris, and it appeared to have entered her bloodstream through a catheter or other intravenous line during her treatment. Mr. Spoor sent a text to the couple’s four children. (Richtel, 4/17)

The New York Times: Prostate Drugs May Raise Diabetes Risk
Two commonly used drugs for treating an enlarged prostate may increase the risk for Type 2 diabetes. Benign prostate hypertrophy, or B.P.H., may cause difficulty in urinating or increased frequency and urgency of urination. A study published in BMJ examined the use of two similar drugs often prescribed for the condition, finasteride (Proscar) and dutasteride (Avodart), in 39,000 men. As controls, the 11-year study used 16,000 men taking tamsulosin (Flomax), a different type of drug for B.P.H. (Bakalar, 4/18)

Stat: U.S. Team Ready To Start Pregnancies With 'Three-Parent' Embryos
Researchers at Columbia University in New York have created embryos containing genetic material from three people and are ready to use them to start pregnancies. But they’re at a legal impasse. At a public forum at Harvard Law School on Wednesday, Dietrich Egli, assistant professor of developmental cell biology at Columbia, said his team has used a controversial technique called mitochondrial replacement therapy to make embryos for four female patients. The women are all carriers of genetic disorders that are passed down through maternal mitochondria, the energy-generating organelles inside cells. (Mulling, 4/18)

Kaiser Health News: As Syphilis Invades Rural America, A Fraying Health Safety Net Is Failing To Stop It
When Karolyn Schrage first heard about the “dominoes gang” in the health clinic she runs in Joplin, Mo., she assumed it had to do with pizza. Turns out it was a group of men in their 60s and 70s who held a standing game night — which included sex with one another. They showed up at her clinic infected with syphilis. That has become Schrage’s new normal. Pregnant women, young men and teens are all part of the rapidly growing number of syphilis patients coming to the Choices Medical Services clinic in the rural southwestern corner of the state. She can barely keep the antibiotic treatment for syphilis, penicillin G benzathine, stocked on her shelves. (Weber, 4/18)

The New York Times: A Giant Laid Low By Too Many Blows To The Head
Tall and imposing, indomitable even, 6-foot-8 with shoulders and a back broad enough to push a pickup truck. He was a star lineman on a state championship team in high school and for the University of Colorado Buffaloes, where he set a team record for starts and minutes played. He was an Associated Press third-team all-American and played three years in the N.F.L. Yet the word that jumps most quickly to mind when talking to Ryan Miller is “fragile.” (Powell, 4/17)

The New York Times: Stress Tied To Heart Disease, Especially In People Under 50
Stress may increase the risk for heart disease, especially in younger people. Researchers writing in BMJ used Swedish data on 136,637 people diagnosed with stress-related disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, acute stress reaction and others. They compared them with 171,314 unaffected siblings, and with 1,366,370 people in the general population without a stress disorder diagnosis. They tracked their health for up to 27 years. (Bakalar, 4/17)

The New York Times: The Right Way To Use A Public Bathroom (To Avoid Getting Sick)
There are a handful of things in this world I’m extremely thankful for, yet also quite grossed out by. Public bathrooms are one of them. (Also: colonoscopies.) My disgust peaks around this time of year, when everyone around me seems to be coughing or sneezing or both — sometimes in the next stall. What, if anything, can we do to minimize our exposure to germs when we have to relieve ourselves in public? I called a handful of experts — it’s fun to ask total strangers about toilet bacteria, believe me — and dug up some pretty nasty research to find out. You’re welcome. (Moyer, 4/17)

NPR: High-Deductible Insurance Linked To Delays In Cancer Diagnosis And Treatment
In 2017, Susan learned that she carries a genetic mutation that may elevate her lifetime risk of developing breast cancer to 72 percent. Her doctor explained that individuals who have this mutation in the BRCA2 gene have choices in treatment. Some people opt for a preventive double mastectomy. But Susan could instead choose to undergo increased cancer screenings, which, for her, would mean an annual mammogram and annual MRI scan. (Stallings, 4/18)

In other health costs news —

KCUR: Farm Bureaus Make An Attempt At Affordable Health Insurance, But Plans Exclude Some 
In a recent national survey, farmers said the biggest threat to their livelihoods wasn’t low commodity prices or global trade policies. It was the rising cost of health insurance. It’s one of the reasons why state farm bureaus have jumped into the insurance game in Iowa, Tennessee and Nebraska, and are trying to in Kansas. Members of the Kansas Farm Bureau spend an average of 30 to 40 percent of their annual incomes on health coverage, according to KFB President and CEO Terry Holdren. (McLean, 4/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Health-Care Stock Rout Deepens Amid Political Pressure
Health-care stocks are trailing the broader market by a historic margin early in 2019, the latest example of how political shifts have buffeted certain sectors. With another slide Wednesday, the S&P 500 health-care sector is now down 0.9% for the year, compared with a 16% advance for the broader index. If that gap holds through the end of the month, it would mark just the second time since 2000 that an S&P 500 sector has lagged behind by a margin that big in the first four months of the year, according to Dow Jones Market Data. (Ramkumar, 4/17)

The Associated Press: Supreme Court Asked To Void Louisiana Abortion Clinic Law 
A Louisiana abortion clinic is asking the Supreme Court to strike down regulations that could leave the state with just one clinic. A divided high court had previously agreed to block the law pending a full review of the case. An appeal being filed with the court Wednesday says the justices should now take the next step and declare the law an unconstitutional burden on the rights of women seeking an abortion. The Louisiana provision is similar to a Texas law the court struck down in 2016. (4/17)

The Hill: Abortion Rights Group Asks Supreme Court To Strike Down Louisiana Clinic Law 
An abortion rights group on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to strike down a Louisiana law they say is designed to shutter abortion clinics. The law would require doctors who perform abortions have the authority to admit patients at a nearby hospital, forcing clinics to close down if they can't comply. (Hellmann, 4/17)

The Associated Press: Florida House OKs Bill Requiring Parental Abortion Consent
Legislation that would require consent from a parent or guardian before a girl under 18 could obtain an abortion passed the Florida House on Wednesday night after a lengthy debate and amid questions about its constitutionality. The Republican-led House voted 69-44 largely along party lines for the bill, which now moves to the Senate where a similar bill is pending. The measure sponsored by GOP Rep. Erin Grall of Vero Beach would require that a minor get written, notarized permission from a parent or a legal guardian to obtain an abortion. (4/17)

The Hill: House Democrats Probe Trump Administration's Funding Of Anti-Abortion Group 
House Democrats are launching a probe of the Trump administration's decision to fund an anti-abortion group through a federal family planning program while cutting government support for Planned Parenthood.  The Trump administration announced last month that four Planned Parenthood affiliates would not be awarded Title X family planning grants this year, despite receiving them in the past. The administration also announced that, for the first time, it would fund Obria, a chain of anti-abortion clinics that don't provide contraception. (Hellmann, 4/17)

CQ: HHS Civil Rights Official Homes In On Abortion-Related Issues
A Trump administration official charged with protecting civil rights has major plans for defending abortion opponents and promoting religious freedom, he said in a rare and wide-ranging interview. Roger Severino, the director for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights, highlighted his goals to investigate states that require insurance to cover abortion, protect individuals who reject certain vaccinations on religious grounds, and defend students training to be medical providers if they object to participating in abortions. (Raman, 4/17)

Stat: IBM Halting Sales Of Watson AI Tool For Drug Discovery
Citing lackluster financial performance, IBM is halting development and sales of a product that uses its Watson artificial intelligence software to help pharmaceutical companies discover new drugs, according to a person familiar with the company’s internal decision-making. The decision to shut down sales of Watson for Drug Discovery marks the highest-profile retreat in the company’s effort to apply artificial intelligence to various areas of health care. Last year, the company scaled back on the hospital side of its business, and it’s struggled to develop a reliable tool to assist doctors in treating cancer patients. (Ross, 4/18)

Modern Healthcare: ONC Names Hospitals Using EHR Data Most In Clinical Practice
Hospitals are increasingly using data from electronic health records systems to support quality improvement efforts and to monitor patient safety, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology said Wednesday. Hospitals using Epic, Meditech and Cerner systems reported the highest use of EHR data to inform clinical practice, while those using EHRs from CPSI, MEDHOST or "other" vendors—a category that included developers like athenahealth, eClinicalWorks and GE Healthcare—were most likely to report not using EHR data for these purposes, ONC's report said. (Cohen, 4/17)

The CT Mirror: Legislation Shielding People With Pre-Existing Conditions Clears House
Lawmakers in Connecticut’s House of Representatives passed a measure Wednesday to safeguard people with pre-existing conditions who are on short-term health insurance policies, sometimes called temporary health insurance. They could not say how many people the bill would protect, but pointed to data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation showing that as many as 522,000 people younger than 65 in Connecticut have pre-existing conditions such as cancer or heart disease. (Carlesso, 4/17)

Modern Healthcare: Suburban Chicago Hospital Owner Must Restore Services: Judge
A Cook County Circuit Court judge found Pipeline Health in contempt of court and required it to restore most services offered at Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, Ill. The judge, Moshe Jocobius, ordered Pipeline to restore services like behavioral health and obstetrics by Thursday morning or face daily fines of $200,000. He allowed Pipeline to stop offering weight-loss services (bariatrics) and accepting incoming ambulance traffic, which the hospital already had been allowed to do through a previous order. A written order to be made available will provide more detail about the specific sevices the 230-bed hospital will have to continue providing. (Goldberg, 4/17)

Boston Globe: How To Find A Therapist When You Need One
Ask anyone who’s been in this position: Finding a therapist in the Boston area for a pressing mental health concern, especially for a teen or child, can feel overwhelming. When you need a kind and understanding person who can parachute in to help avert a crisis, if only by listening, sometimes the search feels like a never-ending scavenger hunt while the sun is swiftly sinking. (Baker, 4/17)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: SeniorCare Prescription Drug Program To Continue For 10 More Years
Wisconsin can keep its SeniorCare prescription drug program for at least another decade under a deal with federal regulators that Gov. Tony Evers touted Wednesday. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services last week authorized the program through the end of 2028, a longer-term extension of the program than the state has gotten in the past. (Marley, 4/17)

The Washington Post: Tick, Tick, Tick: Alaska Braces For Invading Parasites
Health and wildlife officials are taking steps to prepare for potentially dangerous parasites that could gain a foothold because of Alaska’s warming climate. Non-native ticks represent a threat to wildlife and people because they can carry and transmit pathogens, said Micah Hahn, an assistant professor of environmental health with the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage. (Joling, 4/17)

The Associated Press: Legionnaires' Disease Found In Adjacent California Prisons
Legionnaires' disease bacteria that killed one inmate and sickened another is more widespread than expected in a California state prison, officials said Wednesday, citing new test results. Preliminary results found the bacteria in the water supply at a prison medical facility in Stockton and at two neighboring youth correctional facilities, Corrections Department spokeswoman Vicky Waters said. (4/17)

Sacramento Bee: Legionella Bacteria Widespread In Stockton Prison Water
Water tests discovered legionella throughout a state prison in Stockton, showing the bacteria found in a dead inmate last month is more widespread than was previously known, according to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation email sent to staff Tuesday. The inmate, whom the department hasn’t identified, died the first week of March after being transported to an outside hospital from California Health Care Facility. (Venteicher, 4/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: With Union Support, Kaiser Patients Demand CEO Meeting Over Mental Health
Kaiser Permanente patients assembled outside the health care provider’s Oakland headquarters Wednesday, calling for shorter wait times for mental health appointments and demanding a meeting with the CEO. The event was attended by officials of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents some Kaiser employees and is in contract negotiations with the company. (Kunthara, 4/17)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Millions Of Family Caregivers Wish They’d Gotten More Training, AARP Report Says
This will come as little surprise to the nation's 40 million caregivers, but a new report from AARP is a reminder to everyone else that caregivers are doing complicated, stressful work with inadequate training and support. The report, called “Home Alone Revisited,” was released Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Society on Aging. (Burling, 4/18)

North Carolina Health News: More Than A Medical School: Health Care Giants Atrium Health And Wake Forest Baptist Health Want To Consolidate
Even after last year’s failure to merge with UNC Health Care, Atrium Health isn’t giving up on consolidations. Last week, Wake Forest University, Wake Forest Baptist Health and Atrium announced that by the end of the year, they would have a proposal for how to join forces. While the prestige of a new medical school may appeal to Charlotteans, large mergers can end up hurting patients’ wallets, say health economists. And on top of negotiating their deal, the two health care giants need to prove to the attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission that they can combine without harming customers. (Duong, 4/18)

Modern Healthcare: KPC Group Closes In On Purchase Of Four Verity Health Hospitals
The KPC Group moved a step closer to acquiring four Southern California hospitals owned by Verity Health with approval from a federal bankruptcy court Wednesday. The KPC Group, which is the parent company of KPC Health that operates seven hospitals in Southern California, secured the winning bid at $610 million for St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, St. Vincent Medical Center in downtown Los Angeles, Seton Medical Center in Daly City and Seton Coastside in Moss Beach as well as St. Vincent Dialysis Center in downtown Los Angeles. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra must approve the acquisition. (Kacik, 4/17)

The Associated Press: Police: Maryland Man Spread HIV To 4 Women He Met Online
Police say a Maryland man knowingly spread HIV to four women after meeting them on dating sites and apps. The Frederick News-Post reported Tuesday that 34-year-old Rudolph Jericho Smith has been charged with first-degree assault and reckless endangerment. He also faces counts of knowingly transferring or attempting to transfer HIV to another person. The charge is a misdemeanor under Maryland's general health law. (4/17)

Sacramento Bee: 10,000 Workers Weigh Strike After UC Imposes Contract Terms
The union representing 10,000 research and technical workers at the University of California on Wednesday denounced the UC’s decision to unilaterally impose wage increases of 3 percent annually over the next four years. UPTE-CWA 9119 leaders said in a news release that they are weighing their options, up to and including a strike. Members of the union have joined in four strikes over the past 12 months. (Anderson, 4/17)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Best And Worst States For Child Health Care: Georgia Among Worst
When it comes to the best and worst states for children’s health care, Georgia doesn’t fare very well, according to a new report. In fact, the Peach State ranked among the bottom of the pack in WalletHub’s latest analysis based on kids’ health and access to health care; kids’ nutrition, physical activity and obesity and, last but not least, kids’ oral health. (Priani, 4/17)

KCUR: Overland Park Psychiatrist Accused Of Having Sex With A Patient Loses His License 
An Overland Park psychiatrist has lost his medical license after state regulators alleged he had sex with a patient, exploited a patient relationship for financial gain and continued to practice after his license was suspended in 2018. Under a consent order entered Tuesday, Brian Patrick Lahey waived his right to a contested hearing and agreed to an indefinite suspension of his Kansas license. (Margolies, 4/17)

The Associated Press: For-Profit Jail, Family Settle Arkansas Inmate Death Lawsuit
Lawyers reached an undisclosed settlement Tuesday in a federal lawsuit in which the family of an Arkansas man alleged employees of a for-profit jail left the man to die in his cell as his health deteriorated. Representatives for Michael Sabbie's family and LaSalle Corrections, which runs the Bi-State Justice Center in Texarkana, Texas, said they would not comment on the terms of the settlement stemming from Sabbie's 2015 death, according to the Texarkana Gazette. (4/17)

The Star Tribune: Racial, Income Gaps In Medical Care In Minn. Are Closing, But Modestly 
Poor and minority patients in Minnesota are starting to receive better primary care, but they continue to have worse overall health outcomes and more difficulty managing chronic illnesses such as diabetes. In a sign of progress against the state’s longstanding health disparities, a new report shows that Minnesota clinics are doing a better job of screening low-income and minority adults for colon cancer and checking minority teenagers for depression — two of the medical indicators tracked in the annual review. (Olson, 4/17)

MPR: Minnesota Health Disparities Narrowing But Still A Concern
Minnesota Community Measurement said people covered through state-run health coverage — Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare — continue to have significantly worse health measures than Minnesotans with private health insurance or Medicare. The health outcome tracking organization's president, Julie Sonier, said those disparities have been shrinking over time for several measures. (Zdechlik, 4/17)

Chicago Tribune: Day After Rebuke From Judge, Owners Of Westlake Hospital Offer To Give It To Melrose Park 
A day after a judge rebuked the owner of Westlake Hospital, its owner is offering to give it to the village of Melrose Park — a pitch the village is calling a “stunt.” “If Melrose Park truly values Westlake Hospital and is so sure it can do a better job of either running this antiquated facility or finding a buyer, they should take us up on this offer,” said Los Angeles-based Pipeline, which owns Westlake, in a statement Wednesday. Pipeline said it would give the 230-bed hospital to Melrose Park at no cost. (Schencker, 4/17)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Association Of Stratification By Dual Enrollment Status With Financial Penalties In The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.
In this cross-sectional study, hospitals in the lowest quintile of dual enrollment saw an increase of $12.3 million in penalties, while those in the highest quintile of dual enrollment saw a decrease of $22.4 million. Large hospitals, teaching hospitals, hospitals in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, and those with the highest proportion of beneficiaries with disabilities were markedly more likely to see a reduction in penalties, as were hospitals in states with higher Medicaid eligibility cutoffs. (Maddox et al, 4/15)

Health Affairs: Effects Of Alternative Food Voucher Delivery Strategies On Nutrition Among Low-Income Adults
Nutrition assistance programs are the subject of ongoing policy debates. Two proposals remain uninformed by existing evidence: whether restricting benefits to allow only fruit and vegetable purchases improves overall dietary intake, and whether more frequent distribution of benefits (weekly versus monthly) induces more fruit and vegetable consumption and less purchasing of calorie-dense foods. In a community-based trial, we randomly assigned participants to receive food vouchers that differed in what foods could be purchased (fruit and vegetables only or any foods) and in distribution schedule (in weekly or monthly installments, holding total monthly value constant). (Basu et al, 4/1)

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation: How Affordability Of Health Care Varies By Income Among People With Employer Coverage
The affordability of health insurance and health care continue to be key public concerns.  While recent policy discussions have largely focused on the adequacy of financial assistance for those covered in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces and the nongroup market, millions of people with low incomes get their coverage through a workplace, where there are fewer protections from high costs. This analysis uses information from the Current Population Survey to look at the average amounts and the shares of family income people in working families with employer-based coverage pay out-of-pocket toward their premiums and direct payments for medical care. (4/15)

JAMA Neurology: Association Of Closed-Loop Brain Stimulation Neurophysiological Features With Seizure Control Among Patients With Focal Epilepsy.
In this cohort study of 11 patients with focal epilepsy, seizure reduction was not associated with the direct effects of acute responsive stimulation events. Indirect effects on seizure electrophysiology, which occurred remotely to individual stimulation events, were associated with improved seizure control. (Kokkinos et al, 4/15)

Stat: Medicare Part D Must Evolve To Help People Fight Cancer 
In the past five years, we have witnessed the emergence of revolutionary scientific innovations for treating cancer such as immunotherapies, targeted oral cancer medicines, gene therapies, and more. These new approaches are turning many daunting cancers into manageable conditions. These new advances won’t realize their full potential, however, unless patients have access to them. As long as patients struggle to pay out-of-pocket costs or are unable to access medicines that may save their lives, the promise of these new therapies goes unfulfilled. This is particularly true for older Americans, who are more likely to develop cancer than younger individuals and who may be living on fixed incomes. (Percival Barretto-Ko, 4/18)

Los Angeles Times: In The 20 Years Since Columbine, We Have More School Security — And More School Shootings 
While full-scale massacres like the one at Columbine remain rare, school shootings generally are becoming more common and more deadly. According to statistics maintained by the Naval Postgraduate School, 349 people have died in school shootings since Columbine. Among the most horrific were the killings of 26 people, mostly young children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and the deaths of 17 people, mostly students, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. ...So what are the solutions? Limiting access to firearms and providing better preventive help for troubled students are the obvious ones. (4/18)

Chicago Tribune: 20 Years After Columbine, School Safety Still Eludes Us
The columbine is a perennial flower often seen growing wild in the Rocky Mountains. But since April 20, 1999, the word has been a universally recognized reference to what was then the worst mass shooting at a school in American history. Thirteen people were shot to death and 21 were wounded by a pair of Columbine High School students who then killed themselves. The massacre in Littleton, Colo., was a singularly shocking event. (4/16)

Bloomberg: NRA Wields New Power In Federal Courts 
In an 86-page decision in March, U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez prevented the state of California from banning large capacity magazines for semiautomatic firearms. In the process, the judge demonstrated both the reflexive gun worship associated with the National Rifle Association and why the NRA’s grip on President Donald Trump – and some of the federal judges appointed by him -- promises to wreak havoc for years to come. (Francis Wilkinson, 4/17)

JAMA: Employer Wellness Programs—A Work In Progress.
Approximately 4 of 5 large US employers offer a wellness program as part of their employees’ health benefits. Workplace wellness programs include a coordinated set of activities that support employees in making changes to health behaviors that may reduce their risk for certain chronic conditions and enable employees with existing diagnoses to manage them more effectively. Comprehensive, multicomponent programs typically include health assessments and biometric screening to quantify risk factors; education and coaching for lifestyle behavior modification (eg, tobacco cessation, physical activity promotion, stress reduction, and weight management); and in some cases, chronic disease management. (Jean Marie Abraham, 4/19)

The Washington Post: I Beat Breast Cancer. Then I Found Out My Implants Could Cause Lymphoma.
In the fall of 2016, I was relishing the fact that I had won the cancer lottery: After the initial diagnosis of breast cancer (yes, I had to lose that lottery first), my biopsy results indicated I didn’t need chemotherapy or radiation, just surgery. One operation and I would wake up cancer-free with reconstructed breasts and be back to regular activities in a few weeks. Sign me up for the worry-free BMX! (The acronym for bilateral mastectomy even sounded cool.) But several months later, things weren’t going as planned. I had skin necrosis from the mastectomy, a muscle torn off my sternum from the reconstruction and chronic pain; both shoulders were so frozen that I couldn’t pull up my pants or hug my kids. (Ridgeley, 4/17)

Bloomberg: Bernie Sanders’s Medicare-For-All Burns UnitedHealth (UNH), CVS 
Health-care stocks have been under pressure for months as Democrats have proposed aggressive health-care reforms, once-friendly Republicans targeted drug prices, and both parties harangued industry executives in Congressional hearings. This week, the sector took a further hit, and it was partly self-inflicted. The catalyst for the rout was health-insurance giant UnitedHealth Group Inc., which used its earnings call to engage with the biggest threat to the status-quo out there: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’s proposal to eliminate private insurance in favor of government-run universal coverage. It’s a key part of his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. (Max Nisen, 4/17)

The Hill: We Are Cutting Government Regulation At The Expense Of Patients' Lives 
Last week the White House released a memo, which put forth a directive that potentially threatens the future of many scientific innovations that could save patients’ lives. The memo outlined that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) would now need to review all non-binding guidance documents from all federal agencies. These guidance documents would then be subject to a congressional vote. Guidances are intended to convey an agencies position on processes, policies and emerging questions of the field in which a specific agency regulates. Their use and impact vary significantly agency-by-agency; a nuance that this memo ignores completely. (Ellen V. Sigal, 4/17)

Morning Consult: What Is The Path To Quality Nursing Home Care?
America’s population is aging rapidly: 10,000 baby boomers will reach age 65 each day until 2030. Nursing home care is, and will continue to be, a crucial component of our country’s health care system. Nursing home care and oversight has been a topic of congressional concern and media attention in recent months. (Katie Smith Sloan, 4/17)

Arizona Republic: Homelessness Often Means Sleep Deprivation. Here's Why That Matters
Sleep deprivation haunts unhoused people, worsening trauma and mental and physical illnesses. Bobby Watts, who heads the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, says that “sleeplessness in homelessness is a public health crisis.” (Lori Teresa Yearwood, 4/17)

The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly.com: Philly’s Latinx Girls Need More Mental Health Support
Recently, I worked with the National Women’s Law Center on its newly released report to figure out a way forward for Latinx students dealing with mental-health issues because, unfortunately, the situation is dire. Currently, 46.8 percent of all U.S. Latina high school girls felt persistently sad or hopeless to the point of being unable to engage in usual life activities, according to a 2017 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Angela Calderon, 4/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Must Save This Source Of Housing For The Severely Mentally Ill
Since 2012, San Francisco has lost more than a third of its board-and-care homes serving clients younger than 60 who suffer from serious mental illness. It’s lost more than a quarter of those serving older clients. Most of the loss is in small facilities, often homes. (4/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF General Sees Light After Public Pressure, Revises System That Produced Big Bills
After months of intense media coverage of its unfair billing system, San Francisco General Hospital officials on Tuesday announced major changes aimed at protecting patients’ financial health as well as their physical well-being. Patients will no longer be “balance billed” for the difference between what the hospital charges and what their insurance companies will pay. (Heather Knight, 4/16)