The New York Times: Proof Needed To Enroll In Health Plan Post-Deadline
People who want to buy health insurance in the federal marketplace outside the annual open enrollment period will now have to provide documents to show they are eligible, the Obama administration announced on Wednesday. In the last two years, insurers say, many people went without coverage and then signed up under the Affordable Care Act when they became sick and needed care. Insurers say that people who sign up after the deadline tend to generate more claims and more costs, raising premiums. (Pear, 2/24)

The Wall Street Journal: HealthCare.Gov To Tighten Eligibility Checks
The new measures are a response to criticism from insurers who have said people are abusing a rule that lets consumers enroll in insurance through the federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov, outside official sign-up periods if they meet certain criteria. (Armour, 2/24)

The Washington Post: HHS Makes It Tougher To Sign Up For ACA Coverage Outside Of Enrollment Season
Under rules announced Wednesday by the Department of Health and Human Services, people who want coverage under five main reasons for a “special enrollment period” will need to supply documents proving that they deserve an exception from the regular sign-up times. The new requirement will be for people in the 38 states that rely on the federal insurance exchange who need to begin or change coverage because they have moved, had a baby, adopted a child, gotten married or lost other health coverage. (Goldstein, 2/24)

The Associated Press: Feds Want Proof For ACA Exchange Special Enrollment Windows
The federal government is tightening loopholes that let customers on the Affordable Care Act's public insurance exchanges buy coverage outside the law's annual enrollment window. That could ease a major concern health insurers have about the exchanges. (Murphy, 2/25)

USA Today: Feds Will Soon Require Proof For Special Obamacare Enrollment Periods
It addresses complaints from insurance companies that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was allowing too many people to buy insurance after the open enrollment deadline passed. This, insurers said, left them with many consumers who waited until they were sick to sign up and then dropped coverage after they received treatment. And the companies claim that created a sicker-than-expected pool of customers that was contributing to the losses on Affordable Care Act exchange plans. (O'Donnell, 2/24)

In other news, the Government Accountability Office warns about the administration's lax efforts in ferreting out fraud on the Affordable Care Act's data services hub —

The Fiscal Times: Obamacare Fraud Is Rampant And Unchecked, GAO Warns
A new report issued Wednesday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that even with tens of billions of dollars in subsidies costs at stake, the Obama Administration has taken a “passive approach” to ferreting out potential fraud and often fails to act even when queries made through the hub turns up conflicting information – or no corroborative information at all. (Pianin, 2/24)

The Associated Press: 6 States Sue Obama Administration Over Affordable Care Act
Six states filed a new lawsuit Wednesday against the Obama administration over the Affordable Care Act. The complaint that Texas, Wisconsin, Kansas, Louisiana, Indiana and Nebraska filed in the Northern District of Texas takes issue with the Health Insurance Providers Fee assessed to health insurers to cover federal subsidies. (Godar, 2/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Fight For Health Co-Op Funds Looms
Leaders of some health cooperatives set up under the Affordable Care Act said it would be hard for the Obama administration to recoup more than $1 billion in federal loans made to some of the organizations that are now defunct, because most of the money has been spent. A group representing existing co-ops, as well as leaders of some of the organizations, said there is little of the federal loan money remaining and some of what is left is needed to pay providers whose bills have yet to be paid. (Armour, 2/24)

Salt Lake City Tribune: Advocates Push For Medicaid Expansion, But House Plan Would Leave Many Without
Utahns who could have received health care if the Legislature had expanded Medicaid in the past two years again pleaded with lawmakers to take action — although the action they appear most likely to take would cover only the poorest Utahns while leaving tens of thousands without health coverage. HB437, House Majority Leader Jim Dunnigan's proposal to expand Medicaid, released Wednesday, was aimed at providing coverage to 16,000 of the poorest Utahns who are uninsured. (Gehrke, 2/24)

Deseret News: One Medicaid Expansion Bill Gains Favor Of Leadership, But People Still Want More
Utah's House speaker has once again put his foot down when it comes to Medicaid expansion, but Utahns are still asking for broader access than what one popular bill would provide. House Majority Leader Jim Dunnigan, R-Kearns, has proposed HB437 to expand coverage to the poorest in Utah, specifically childless adults who are chronically homeless and who find themselves in and out of the justice system for various reasons, but never get proper treatment for recurrent mental health issues because of a lack of access to proper health care. (Leonard, 2/24)

Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader: TV Salvo Aimed At Daugaard Medicaid Plan
A conservative group that opposes Medicaid expansion is upping the ante in its campaign against Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s plan to expand the program. Americans for Prosperity plans to run a television ad critical of the governor’s proposal during Thursday’s Republican presidential debate, which takes place in Houston and airing on CNN. The ad’s timing aims at having maximum effect by mobilizing Republicans who will likely be watching. (Ellis, 2/24)

The New York Times: Dr. Robert Califf Wins Senate Confirmation to Run F.D.A.
President Obama’s pick to run the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Robert M. Califf, was finally confirmed for the job by the Senate on Wednesday, in a vote of 89 to 4, after weeks of opposition from a handful of lawmakers who had blocked his nomination over what they said was the agency’s poor record on prescription painkillers. (Tavernise, 2/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Senate Confirms Cardiologist Robert Califf As FDA Commissioner
The new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday his top priorities will include using databases and electronic medical records as early-warning systems to pinpoint safety lapses of drugs and medical devices. (Burton, 2/24)

The Washington Post: Senate Confirms Robert Califf As New FDA Commissioner
Califf, who joined the FDA a year ago after decades as a researcher and administrator at Duke University, was nominated by President Obama to run the agency last September. But in the months that followed, his nomination faced opposition from a handful of senators, over everything from the nation's prescription painkiller epidemic to genetically engineered salmon.(Dennis, 2/24)

STAT: Senate Confirms Robert Califf As New FDA Chief, Ending Battle For Top Job
Now that the Senate has officially approved Dr. Robert Califf as the new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, he’ll inherit an agency that is being pushed to approve new medical treatments more quickly without sacrificing safety — and facing pressure to act on a host of public health issues, including drug prices and the Zika virus, over which his agency has little control. (Kaplan, 2/24)

McClatchy: Senate Confirms New FDA Commissioner
After five months of delays, the Senate voted 89-4 on Wednesday to confirm cardiologist Dr. Robert Califf, a longtime Duke University drug-trial researcher, as the new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Califf was nominated to the post by President Obama in September, but concerns about his ties to the pharmaceutical industry and some of the FDA’s practices tied up his confirmation. (Bergengruen, 2/24)

The Associated Press: Poll: Support Shaky For Sanders 'Medicare For All'
At first blush, many Americans like the idea of "Medicare for all," the government-run health system that's a rallying cry for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. But mention some of the trade-offs — from higher taxes to giving up employer coverage — and support starts to shrivel. That's the key insight from an Associated Press-GfK poll released Thursday. The survey also found that people's initial impressions of Sanders' single-payer plan are more favorable than their views of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Swanson, 2/24)

Kaiser Health News: Support For Sanders’ Single-Payer Plan Fades With Control, Cost Concerns
Americans are divided about the idea of creating a single-payer government health insurance system, as Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has proposed, but support shrinks when negative arguments are highlighted and alternatives are presented, according to a poll released Thursday. (Rau, 2/25)

Politico: Trump And Planned Parenthood President Agree On One Thing
The head of Planned Parenthood and Donald Trump agree on one thing – that the women’s reproductive health organization does good work. (Collins, 2/24)

Kaiser Health News: Candidates’ Drug-Price Plans May Miss The Mark
Most of the people running for president say they want to do something about the rising cost of prescription drugs. But most of their proposals probably won’t work because they don’t address the dynamics behind these price increases. ... Democrats Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders each have drug price proposals. Among Republicans, Donald Trump has addressed the issue, as has Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. (Rovner, 2/25)

NBC News: Where The 2016 Candidates Stand On Mental Health Issues
Nearly one in five Americans experience mental illness each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But in an election cycle often dominated by worries about the economy and national security, mental health gets comparatively little exposure as a serious issue on the presidential campaign trail. (Witkin, 2/24)

NBC News: Harry Reid Makes It Official, Backs Hillary Clinton
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is endorsing Hillary Clinton just days after the former secretary of state won the Democratic caucuses in his home state of Nevada. (Dann and Thorp V, 2/24)

The Wall Street Journal: GOP Faces Spending Fight From the Right
A proposal under consideration by the House Budget Committee would shave that amount through cuts to federal safety-net programs like Medicare and changes to welfare benefits, lawmakers said. But conservatives wary of promises of future savings have said they wouldn’t go along unless those changes are made on spending bills this year. It isn’t clear that would be feasible. (Peterson, 2/24)

The Associated Press: Senators Strike Tentative Deal For Flint Water Crisis Funds
Senators from both parties reached a tentative deal on Wednesday to address the water crisis in Flint, Mich.—and allow a long-stalled energy bill to move forward. A proposal by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) and James Inhofe (R., Okla.) would authorize $100 million in emergency aid to fix and replace the city’s lead-contaminated pipes, as well as $70 million in loans to improve the city’s water infrastructure. The deal also authorizes $50 million nationwide to bolster lead-prevention programs and improve children’s health. (2/24)

Modern Healthcare: No, Hospitals Aren't Gaming Readmissions With Observation Claims, HHS Says
Fewer patients are returning to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, and it's not because hospitals are holding patients in observation units instead of admitting them as a means of avoiding penalties, according to new federal data. Readmission rates dropped significantly for more than 3,300 U.S. hospitals between 2007 and 2015. A small increase in the number of Medicare observation claims was also seen at that time. But researchers say the changes in observation stays can't account for the drops in readmission rates. (Rice, 2/24)

Georgia Health News: WellStar Closing In On Major Hospital Deals
WellStar Health System announced Wednesday that it has received regulatory approval from the state attorney general to add West Georgia Health to its system. The two organizations plan to sign a definitive agreement next month, with West Georgia expected to join WellStar, based in Marietta, on April 1. (Miller, 2/24)

North Carolina Health News: Rural Hospitals Scale To Fit Communities' Needs
At the beginning of this, the final, season of “Downton Abbey,” The New York Times published a mock issue of a 1925 Downton Times, the front-page headline of which asked: “Will Downton Cottage Hospital Be Swept Up in Tide of Change?” One century and an ocean removed, the fate of rural hospitals remains precarious. Smaller, relatively remote hospitals continue to face numerous challenges: declining, aging populations; dwindling margins; difficulties recruiting providers. (Sisk, 2/24)

The Cleveland Clinic: Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove Reports Best Financial Year Ever
The Cleveland Clinic recorded $481 million in operating income in 2015, its best financial year ever despite reimbursement cuts related to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, according to a report released today. (Ross, 2/24)

The Boston Globe: Amid Backlash, Children’s Defends Expansion
It’s a story that doctors and executives at Children’s, the region’s dominant pediatric care center, tell again and again: They don’t have enough beds, surgeries are being delayed, patients are being turned away and sent to other hospitals. And it’s why executives say they need to complete a $1 billion expansion of their Longwood Medical Area campus, a project that would create an 11-story tower with more room for doctors and nurses to treat more patients. Yet the hospital’s message has been undercut recently by a group opposed to the proposal for reasons that have nothing to do with surgeries or beds. (Dayal McCluskey, 2/24)

The Baltimore Sun: St. Joseph, Closer To Profitably, Plans Overhaul Of Operating Rooms
University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center plans to embark on a roughly $100 million renovation of its operating rooms — its first major capital project since a scandal involving one of its former doctors plunged the hospital into financial distress. The Towson hospital is poised to post a profit in the fiscal year ending in June, and said it now can focus less on recovery and more on adding services and needed upgrades. (McDaniels, 2/23)

The Tampa Bay Times: Lawsuit Claims Tampa General Hospital Divulged Woman's HIV Status Without Her Consent
A Florida woman is suing Tampa General Hospital, saying hospital employees violated her privacy by unlawfully disclosing her HIV status to her family. The woman, who was not identified in the lawsuit, was admitted to the hospital as a maternal patient in December 2014. During her stay, a nurse mentioned she was HIV positive in front of her adult daughter, her attorneys said. (McGrory, 2/24)

The Miami Herald: Emergency Order Restricts License For Miami Doctor Specializing In Brazilian Butt Lifts
A Miami plastic surgeon who promises clients “the flattest possible stomach” and “the most curvaceous backside” repeatedly botched liposuction and other medical procedures, causing such significant injuries to four patients that the Florida Department of Health issued an emergency restriction on the doctor’s license this month. Dr. Osakatukei “Osak” Omulepu presents an “immediate serious danger” to the public health if he were allowed to continue performing liposuction and fat transfers to the buttocks, a procedure commonly known as a “Brazilian butt lift,” according to the order signed by Florida Surgeon General John Armstrong on Feb. 16. (Chang, 2/24)

The Wall Street Journal: India’s Drugmakers Step Up U.S. Investment
India’s pharmaceutical companies went on a buying spree last year to win a bigger share of the U.S. market for generic drugs. The trend is driven by heightened U.S. scrutiny of drugmakers’ Indian facilities, many which have gotten failing marks on safety, and a desire to develop and sell more sophisticated products such as high-powered painkillers, which U.S. regulators say must be manufactured domestically. (Bhattacharya, 2/24)

Kaiser Health News: With Special Tax Suspended, Medical Device Firms Reap Big Savings
U.S. manufacturers of medical devices started 2016 with a windfall — a two-year suspension of a controversial tax on their revenue. Medical devices include a wide range of products and machines used in medical care, such as tongue depressors, endoscopes and MRI scanners, for example. Manufacturers said the tax on devices hurt their business. The Congressional Research Service estimates companies paid out $2.4 billion in 2014. (Zdechlik, 2/25)

USA Today: CVS Caremark Says It Slowed Drug Cost Growth, But Critics Question Claims
Clients of the pharmacy benefit management company Caremark saw their prescription drug costs rise only 5% last year a drop from an almost 12% increase in 2014, Caremark's parent company CVS Health said this week. (O'Donnell, 2/24)

NPR: Can Baltimore Provide Addiction Treatment On Demand?
Across the U.S., more than 20 million people abuse drugs or alcohol or both. Only about 1 in 10 is getting treatment. People seeking treatment often have to wait weeks or months for help. The delays can jeopardize the chances they'll be able to recover from their addiction. In Baltimore, Health Commissioner Leana Wen has been pushing for treatment on demand, so that the moment people decide they're ready for help, it's available. It's something other health officials have sought to achieve, without success. (Cornish, 2/24)

NPR: Ithaca's Plan To Open A Safe Site For Heroin Users Faces Legal Hurdles
The mayor of Ithaca, N.Y., wants to create a place where people can use heroin or other drugs injected drugs under supervision, in an effort to combat soaring deaths from overdoses. But that's a lot easier said than done. (Chen, 2/24)

WBUR: Gov. Baker Appears To Be Growing Frustrated With Lack Of Movement On Opioid Bill
As the second month of the year draws to a close, Gov. Charlie Baker appears to be growing more frustrated with the Legislature’s pace in passing his comprehensive opioid bill. The legislation remains bottled up in a conference committee that’s working out the differences between the House and Senate. (Brown, 2/24)

The Tampa Bay Times: Senate Passes Miami-Dade Needle Exchange Program
The Florida Senate on Wednesday voted to create a needle exchange program in Miami-Dade County, which supporters say will curb the spread of HIV. The proposal (SB 242) allows the University of Miami to establish a needle exchange, which would otherwise be illegal under the state's drug paraphernalia laws. No taxpayer mooney could be used for the program. (Auslen, 2/24)

Modern Healthcare reports on the scope of the drug crisis on different racial groups —

Modern Healthcare: The Racial Divide In The Opioid Crisis
The city of Huntington, a community of nearly 50,000 located in western West Virginia, over the past several years has felt the harsh impact of the nation's drug abuse crisis. The state's rate of death from drug overdose rose by 65% between 2009 and 2013. Huntington lies within one of the most heavily affected counties, where more than 900 people overdosed in 2015. Seventy of them died. (Johnson, 2/24)

The Associated Press: Flu Vaccine More Effective This Year, Milder Season So Far
The flu vaccine is doing a better job this year. Preliminary data suggest it is 59 percent effective. That's a big improvement from last winter's nasty flu season when the vaccine was less than 20 percent effective. Unlike last year's vaccine, this year's is a good match to the strains making people sick. (Stobbe, 2/25)

USA Today: Studies Mixed On Link Between Talcum Powder, Ovarian Cancer
A court case involving the family of an Alabama woman who blamed the talc in baby powder for causing their mother's fatal ovarian cancer is raising questions about the product's safety — especially for feminine hygienic use. A St. Louis jury late Monday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay the woman's family $72 million in damages. (Szabo, 2/24)

STAT: Obama To Lay Out Next Steps In Precision Medicine Initiative
President Obama is set to hold a summit Thursday to discuss the next steps in his year-old precision medicine initiative, laying the groundwork for long-term research that administration officials hope will continue after he leaves office. (Nather, 2/25)

NPR: Nursing Home Evictions Strand The Disabled In Costly Hospitals
What if you had to go to the hospital, and when it came time to return home your landlord said you couldn't move back in? Across the country, thousands of nursing home residents face that situation every year. In most cases, it's a violation of federal regulations. But those rules are rarely enforced by the states. So, in California, some nursing home residents are suing the state, hoping to force it to take action. (Jaffe, 2/25)

Meanwhile, out-of-staters are ending up in Colorado's ERs in high numbers due to cannabis-related reasons —

NPR: For Pot Tourists, The Trip Is More Likely To End In The ER
A lot of visitors to Colorado figure they might give the state's good ganja a try. But they might not be prepared for the effects. When it comes to bad weed trips, out-of-staters have been doing much worse than Colorado residents and are going to the ER more often since recreational sales of marijuana began in 2014. (Chen, 2/24)

The Washington Post: Texas Hospitals Announce First Quick Test For Zika That Could Help Identify When The Virus Reaches U.S.
Researchers in Houston have announced that they have developed the first hospital-based, rapid diagnostic test for Zika, an advance that they said should help public health officials identify if -- or, more likely, when -- infected mosquitoes reach the United States this summer. Using a sample of a patient's blood, urine, spinal fluid or amniotic fluid for pregnant women, the test can identify whether the DNA of the virus is present in as quickly as one day. Previously, physicians have had to ship blood or other samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and wait for a response. (Cha, 2/24)

The Orlando Sentinel: Zika Update: Three Pregnant Women Test Positive
Three pregnant women in Florida have tested positive for the Zika virus after returning from Zika-affected countries, the state health department announced on Wednesday. Citing privacy, the health department did not disclose the counties where the pregnant women live. (Miller, 2/24)

California Healthline: Levels Of Flame Retardant In Breast Milk Are Down
Levels of harmful flame-retardant chemicals in women’s breast milk have dropped by nearly 40 percent since California’s decade-old ban on these chemicals took effect, according to a new study by state environmental scientists. (Feder Ostrov, 2/25)

The Baltimore Sun: Health Report: Demand Growing For Mental Health Treatment In County
A new report by a handful of health agencies and organizations found an increasing demand for mental health services in Anne Arundel County, and a shortage of mental health services to meet that need. Issued once every three years by the Healthy Anne Arundel Coalition, the Community Health Needs Assessment released Wednesday found residential mental health beds to be almost nonexistent in Anne Arundel, though there are 259 residential rehabilitation beds in the county for people with chronic and persistent mental illness. (Loricchio, 2/24)

The Associated Press: Milestone Reached In Aid For Vulnerable Mothers
Many first-time parents of newborns wonder how they will cope when they leave the comfort zone of the hospital, where expert nurses are on hand to answer questions and help solve problems. A program in Central Indiana aims to help the most vulnerable of mothers - and their babies - by providing regular nurse visits during pregnancy and the first two years of a child's life. (Rudavsky, 2/25)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Mapping Medical Marijuana Dispensaries In N.H. And Northern New England
New Hampshire residents hoping to get access to medical marijuana are still waiting for the state’s dispensaries to open. Right now, those new facilities still have to go through a few more rounds of inspections before they can open their doors and start serving patients. Once they do open, patients will only be able to visit one dispensary at a time. And for residents in the northernmost region of the state, the nearest dispensary could be at least two hours away. (McDermott, 2/25)

The Associated Press: SC Joins Cybercrime Fight After Massive Data Breach
The state Revenue Department's massive 2012 data breach gave Gov. Nikki Haley a firsthand lesson on the need for efforts to counter cybercrime, she said Wednesday. "Today, there is never a day I don't think about cybersecurity," Haley told academics and business, government and military officials who gathered to kick off a new, statewide program in cooperation with the University of South Carolina. (Schafer, 2/24)

The Associated Press: Law Criminalizing Fentanyl Takes Effect In Massachusetts
A new Massachusetts law criminalizing the trafficking of fentanyl is taking effect. The law creates the crime of trafficking in fentanyl for amounts greater than 10 grams with punishment of up to 20 years in state prison. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid estimated to be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin. (2/23)

Southeast Missourian: Group Urges State To Expand Medicaid For Young Adults With Mental Illness
Advocates in Jefferson City are lobbying for expanded access to Missouri Medicaid for young adults suffering with mental illness. Members of the National Alliance on Mental Illness are working to establish a waiver that would allow people age 21 to 25 to obtain health care through Medicaid at the first signs of serious mental illness. Cindi Keele, executive director of NAMI Missouri, said the project was inspired by recent studies showing how effective treatment can be if it begins soon after a patient’s first psychotic episode. (Graef, 2/24)

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare 'Gaming' Update: Feds, California Tighten Up On Documentation For Special Enrollments
The notion that mobs of Americans are actively plotting to cheat the Affordable Care Act by waiting until they get sick and then finding an excuse to sign up for health insurance is cherished by two groups: anti-Obamacare conservatives and insurance companies. As we've pointed out in the past, neither group has actually come up with data to substantiate their claim that this produces huge losses in the individual exchange market. But there plainly are good reasons to close any loopholes. (Michael Hiltzik, 2/24)

The Huffington Post: Here's How Obamacare Is Keeping People Out Of The Hospital
The Affordable Care Act was supposed to keep hospital patients from returning after discharge because of medical complications and poor follow-up care. For something like a half-million people over the last five years, the law appears to have done just that -- although the evidence, as usual, isn't quite definitive. (Jonathan Cohn, 2/24)

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Medicare-For-All Vs. Single Payer: The Impact Of Labels
Sen. Bernie Sanders describes his health-care proposal as a Medicare-for-all, single-payer plan. The plan, however, would not expand the current Medicare program but replace it, along with Medicaid, private insurance, and other programs with what might be described as a Medicare-like, government-run single-payer plan. New polling shows why Mr. Sanders’s label works well politically in the primary campaign: Among Democrats, the term “Medicare-for-all” generates a much more enthusiastic reaction than does “single-payer.” With this discussion still mostly at the stage of broad concepts and messaging, language matters. (Drew Altman, 2/25)

The Des Moines Register: Halt Devastating Medicaid Plan
Concerns of participants, providers, and all stakeholders engaged in the Medicaid system make it clear that Iowa’s rush to privatize Medicaid does not fulfill the [League of Women Voters of Iowa's] priority for quality healthcare. (Deborah Ann Turner, 2/23)

The New York Times: The Secret Side Of Donald Trump
Today we will consider the upside of Donald Trump. O.K., it was never huge. Possibly not even nugget-size. But people, wasn’t there a moment when you thought that he could think outside the normal conservative box? True, his riff against the power of big political donors was just another way to brag about being rich. And he was awful on … so very many things. But once in a while, as Trump ranted about the Republican insiders, some actual outsider remarks did pop up. Don’t mess with Social Security. Planned Parenthood is a good thing. And everybody ought to have health care. (Gail Collins, 2/25)

STAT: Why Health Care Needs A Steve Jobs-Style Disruptor
Few industries yearn for a Jobs-style disruption as much as health care does today. With its labyrinths of regulation, deeply entrenched and antiquated information systems, and monopolies built upon thrones of indifference to the consumer experience, the health care industry has chained itself to archaic and inefficient processes while resisting its own rescue. (Damon Ramsey, 2/24)

JAMA: Consensus Plans Emerge To Tackle Long-Term Care Costs
As I’ve noted in a previous JAMA Forum post, there has been a determined and serious effort in recent years by a broad range of organizations and analysts to find a consensus approach to the growing problem of financing long-term care in the United States. These efforts have just resulted in 2 major reports, released in February. (Stuart Butler, 2/24)

The New England Journal Of Medicine: Leaping Without Looking — Duty Hours, Autonomy, And The Risks Of Research And Practice
The Flexibility in Duty Hour Requirements for Surgical Trainees (FIRST) trial ... compared 59 surgical training programs randomly assigned to an ACGME-compliant schedule with 58 granted flexibility in designing shift lengths (still within an 80-hour workweek). The ongoing Individualized Comparative Effectiveness of Models Optimizing Safety and Resident Education (iCOMPARE) trial involves internal medicine programs. ... neither required consent of residents or patients. That consent waiver has drawn criticism from Public Citizen and the American Medical Student Association, which in open letters to the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) accuse the investigators of “egregious ethical and regulatory violations.” The allegations, focused primarily on “serious health risks” to residents from long shifts, are dizzyingly tautological. (Lisa Rosenbaum, 2/25)

Modern Healthcare: Lowering The Barriers To Primary Care
Though the nation still faces a shortage of primary-care physicians, regulatory and payment roadblocks to delivering that basic service in less expensive ways are finally starting to come down.The key is expanded access to telehealth technologies and shifting more primary care to alternative practice models. (Merrill Goozner, 2/20)

The Seattle Times: Black Health Requires Dose Of Medical Humanity
I just read “Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor’s Reflections on Race and Medicine,” a book that revolves around the idea that being a black American is bad for your health. Every day the news bears that out. Wednesday it was a story saying the federal government estimates one in two black gay/bisexual men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with HIV, versus fewer than one in 11 white gay/bisexual men. Name the malady and the news for black folks likely will be bleak. (Jerry Large, 2/24)

The Hill: Zika, Ebola, Other Public Health Crises -- We Need A Better Plan
Today, the United States Senate is holding hearings to respond to the potential threat of the Zika virus. This is part of a pattern that repeats every few years when an outbreak of disease occurs someplace in the world. As the media coverage increases, public panic grows and in response Congress scrambles to deal with the possible threat, appropriating billions of dollars in emergency funding. Then, as media coverage fades, public panic recedes and Avian flu, Swine flu, Ebola and the others fade from public consciousness. (Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., 2/24)

The New York Times' Taking Note: The Might-Have-Beens Of Marijuana
Former Attorney General Eric Holder, in a newly released interview conducted after he left office, said he was in favor of reclassifying marijuana as something less than a Schedule I controlled substance comparable to heroin. This was hailed as encouraging news by marijuana enthusiasts who immediately asked why Mr. Holder didn’t push for this change when he was running the Justice Department. (Francis X. Clines, 2/24)

The New York Times: Governors Unite In The War Against Opioids
State governments are at the front lines of the country’s epidemic of drug overdose deaths. That’s why it is important that the National Governors Association says it will come up with protocols for dispensing prescription painkillers that are among the biggest sources of addiction and abuse in the country. The protocols, or guidelines, would restrict how and under what circumstances doctors could prescribe a category of pain drugs known as opioids. They might, for example, impose limits on how many pills doctors could prescribe to patients who have had minor surgery or dental procedures. (2/24)

The Fayetteville Observer: We Need A Better Way To Halt Epidemic Of Drug Deaths
The War on Drugs is a colossal, trillion-dollar debacle that has failed at its most basic two missions - interrupting the supply and demand for illegal drugs ... That said, it's time to walk away from our failures and chart a new course. (2/24)

Louisville Courier-Journal: Oxycontin Maker's Kentucky Legacy
President Obama has asked Congress for $1.1 billion to fight opioid and heroin abuse. Most of the money will be spent on new treatment facilities and programs to prevent overdoses and illegal sales. The case of Kentucky and Purdue Pharma suggests that the role of pharmaceutical companies in opioid abuse needs attention. In December, Purdue settled a lawsuit with Kentucky, agreeing to pay $24 million for misleading doctors and patients in its marketing of OxyContin, but admitted no wrongdoing. (Ron Formisano, 2/24)

The Washington Post: Where The Prescription For Autism Can Be Death
Now, however, doctors from elsewhere are starting to apply independent scrutiny to the increasingly common euthanasia of Holland’s mentally ill, and their findings are not so reassuring. To the contrary. According to an analysis of 66 of the 110 cases from 2011 to 2014, by psychiatrist Scott Kim of the National Institutes of Health and two colleagues, Dutch psychiatric patients were often euthanized despite disagreement among consulting physicians as to whether they met legal criteria. In 37 cases, patients refused possibly beneficial treatment, and doctors proceeded anyway. (Charles Lane, 2/24)