The Hill: Republicans Growing Impatient With Pace Of ObamaCare Repeal 
Republican lawmakers on Wednesday said they are not happy with the pace Congress is taking on repealing ObamaCare. In a meeting with reporters, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said he would like the healthcare law to be repealed within the next two or three months. "I don't think that we should allow it to go beyond that window, the repeal, because I think the American people are suffering." (Hellmann, 2/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Mike Lee: Obamacare Must Be Repealed First, Replaced Later
Republicans, who hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate, are united in their desire to repeal the law they call “Obamacare” but differ in timing and legislative strategy, especially how much disruption they are willing to tolerate to remake health policy in their own vision. A handful are unwilling to vote to repeal the health law before replacement legislation is ready, arguing such a path creates too much uncertainty for fragile insurance markets. But others including Mr. Lee argue Congress should repeal the 2010 law first, then craft and pass a sweeping new health law in the ensuing policy vacuum. (Hackman and Radnofsky, 2/8)

Kaiser Health News: Conservatives Urge Speedup Of Health Law Repeal, Dismiss Calls For Caution
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who heads the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, said he recognizes that people are “anxious” about changing the health law. “The quicker we can give them answers, the better off we are,” he said. (Rovner, 2/8)

Modern Healthcare: Conservatives In Congress Push For Hearing On Repeal Bill Next Week 
Meadows also revealed that he called the White House wondering about President Donald Trump's interview with Bill O'Reilly in which he said a replacement wouldn't be rolled out until late this year or next. “His comments were more about a transition period that may take a year or more to actually transition into a new plan,” Meadows said. He said that the White House assured him they were still supportive of repealing and replacing the ACA as soon as possible. (Dickson, 2/8)

CQ Roll Call: Lee: Don't Add Obamacare Replacement Options To Repeal Bill
Lee's comments come as House Republican leaders emphasize an ambitious agenda to include several replacement provisions in a repeal measure. That would include language to expand the use of health savings accounts, fund high-risk pools and make tax credits available for consumers who purchase insurance in the individual market, according to congressional aides, lobbyists and other sources off Capitol Hill. (Mershon and Williams, 2/8)

Politico: GOP Swimming In Obamacare Replacements, But No Consensus
Republican leaders want to get their Obamacare repeal effort back on track. There’s a big problem, though: They’re neck-deep in competing plans to replace the law. Nearly a half-dozen plans have been introduced or are coming — none with the broad support needed to get through Congress and win over the public. And that’s making it far more difficult to repeal a law the GOP has spent six years trying to kill. (Everett and Haberkorn, 2/9)

The Hill: Republicans Working With CBO On Details Of ObamaCare Bill 
House Republicans have been working with the Congressional Budget Office on parts of an ObamaCare replacement that they could include in a repeal bill this spring, lobbyists and aides tell The Hill. They have been working with the CBO, Congress’s nonpartisan budget scorekeeper, on the details of tax credits, high-risk pool funding, and changes to Medicaid that could be included in a repeal bill that Republicans hope to pass by the end of March. The bill will use the fast-track process known as reconciliation to avoid a filibuster by Senate Democrats. (Sullivan, 2/8)

Morning Consult: Key Conservative Lawmaker Opens Door to Obamacare Insurer Payments
The chairman of the House Freedom Caucus said he would be open to making payments to insurers in 2018, agreeing to support a provision of Obamacare over which House Republicans had sued the Obama administration. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said he may be open to funding the reinsurance and cost-sharing reduction payments under the Affordable Care Act during a short-term transition period away from the health care law toward a more conservative alternative. The Freedom Caucus’s approval of these programs could ease their passage through Congress. (McIntire, 2/8)

The Hill: Key Conservative Open To Insurer Payments During ObamaCare Transition
"I would be more flexible and could swallow some short-term heartburn for longer-term fiscal responsibility," Meadows said. He added that while the payments are "significant" in terms of costs, it is a "minor component" when it comes to a smoother transition. (Hellmann, 2/8)

CQ Roll Call: GOP Support Grows For Obamacare Cost-Sharing Subsidies
His comments are among several signals that the controversial subsidies from the health care law may survive. The support from the conservative wing — which often balks at increased government spending — could be crucial as House Republicans push forward on a broader effort to repeal and replace the law. Other key Republicans are increasingly backing the subsidies as a way to ensure stability in the marketplace while the GOP works on a replacement. (Mershon and Williams, 2/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Obamacare Provisions Gain Unexpected Backers As GOP Moves To Rewrite Law
When the Affordable Care Act was debated in 2010, the country’s biggest gynecologists’ group spoke out against it, saying it wouldn’t help doctors get paid more fairly or avoid frivolous malpractice lawsuits. Today, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is fighting efforts to fully repeal the law, pushing especially to keep a ban on charging women higher health insurance premiums than men. (Hackman, 2/8)

Stat: Obamacare Repeal Could Put Sick Patients At Risk, Advocates Warn
As Republicans confront the thorny realities of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, groups representing patients with the most serious diseases fear those plans could return the US health care system to one in which sick people are not guaranteed health insurance. It comes down to the individual mandate, the law’s most unpopular provision, which required every American to buy insurance or face a penalty. (Facher, 2/9)

NPR: Indian Country's New Health Care Jobs Could Vanish With Obamacare Repeal
Since its founding in the 1950s, the Indian Health Service has provided medical care for many Native Americans. But the service has been chronically underfunded, so often pays for care only if someone is in immediate danger of losing life or limb. In recent years, the Affordable Care Act created new health coverage opportunities for more than half a million Native Americans and Alaska Natives — and created jobs in Indian country, too. (Whitney, 2/9)

Arizona Republic: Study: $5 Billion, 62,000 Arizona Jobs At Risk If 'Obamacare' Repealed
If Arizona loses all Affordable Care Act funding now funneled to patients, doctors, insurers and hospitals, it would create a nearly $5 billion hole in the state's economy and cost more than 62,000 jobs next year, according to a new report. That is the worst-case scenario outlined in a report commissioned by Children's Action Alliance and completed by the Seidman Research Institute at Arizona State University. The report projected a slightly smaller dip in job creation and economic impact if federal funding disappears but the state keeps its current funding level for health care or redirects similar spending elsewhere. (Alltucker, 2/8)

Health News Florida: Miami, Orlando Top Nation In Obamacare Enrollment 
Florida leads the nation in signups through the Affordable Care Act, and Orlando alone had more signups that 32 entire states. More than 9.2 million Americans bought a health insurance plan through the HealthCare.gov. Florida leads the nation in signups with nearly 1.8 million people buying health insurance on the exchange. (Aboraya, 2/8)

Orlando Sentinel: Orlando Reports Second Highest Obamacare Sign-Ups In Florida 
Florida once again led the nation in the number of people who picked a plan through the federal health insurance marketplace this year, preliminary data show. Nearly 1.8 million Floridians selected an Obamacare plan for 2017 during the open enrollment period, which started last November and ended on Jan. 31. Like previous years, the Miami market led the charge with more than 635,000 signups, followed by Central Florida, which reported 337,000 plan selections. (Miller, 2/8)

California Healthline: Threat Of Losing Obamacare Turns Some Formerly Apolitical Californians Into Protesters
Until recently, Paul Smith didn’t consider himself much of an activist. But he woke up hours before sunrise on Saturday to attend his first town hall meeting. That meeting near Sacramento, organized by his district’s Congressman Tom McClintock (R-Roseville), sparked a peaceful — if large and raucous — protest over Obamacare, the travel ban and other issues. And it drew national headlines. (Ibarra, 2/8)

The Associated Press: Price Nears Senate Confirmation As Trump Health Secretary
Republicans are ready to overpower Democrats and push another of President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees through the Senate, the man who will help lead the GOP drive to erase and replace the health care law. The Senate voted 51-48 Wednesday to short-circuit Democratic delaying tactics against Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., Trump's choice for health secretary. Final approval of Price seemed certain, a vote that would elevate the long-time proponent of dismantling President Barack Obama's health care law and reshaping and curbing Medicare and Medicaid. (Fram, 2/9)

CQ Roll Call: HHS Nominee Likely To Be Confirmed Over Democratic Objections
The Senate appears likely to confirm Rep. Tom Price as secretary of Health and Human Services as early as Friday over the vocal objections of Democrats. Republicans are anxious to get the Georgia Republican in place to help them substantially revise the 2010 health care law. The Senate is expected to prevent a filibuster with a cloture vote Wednesday evening. Democrats' protests could push the final vote on confirmation to around 2 a.m. on Friday. (Young, 2/8)

USA Today: New Stock Questions Plague HHS Nominee Tom Price As Confirmation Vote Nears
President Trump's choice to be the top U.S. health official bought and sold health care company stocks often enough as a member of Congress to warrant probes by both federal securities regulators and the House ethics committee, former government ethics lawyers say. A USA TODAY analysis of stock trade reports by Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., also shows he often misstated the timing of stock purchases or failed to report them altogether. (O'Donnell, 2/8)

Previous KHN coverage: HHS Pick Price Made ‘Brazen’ Stock Trades While His Committee Was Under Scrutiny

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Can Tom Price Expect An Elizabeth Warren Moment On The Senate Floor? 
The Senate voted Wednesday evening to allow up to 30 hours of floor debate on the Roswell Republican’s nomination to be secretary of health and human services. When it’s all over, likely in the wee hours of Friday morning, we’re expecting Price will be put in charge of a federal agency with a roughly $1 trillion annual budget. (Hallerman, 2/8)

Politico Pro: Can Price Steer GOP Through Obamacare Repeal Battle?
President Donald Trump’s pick for HHS secretary will take office with a directive that’s never been clearer — or more challenging. Rep. Tom Price is on the verge of confirmation to the nation’s top health care post, putting him at the controls of a trillion-dollar department and thrusting him into the center of the GOP’s tortuous effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. (Cancryn, 2/8)

The Washington Post: More Than 350 Organizations Write Trump To Endorse Current Vaccines’ Safety
More than 350 organizations, including leading U.S. medical, advocacy and professional organizations, have sent a letter to President Trump expressing their “unequivocal support for the safety of vaccines.” The effort, organized by the American Academy of Pediatrics, reflects the growing alarm among a wide array of groups over Trump’s embrace of discredited claims about vaccine safety. After a meeting in January with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a proponent of the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism, a Trump spokeswoman said he was considering creation of a commission on autism. (Sun, 2/8)

The Associated Press: Anthem-Cigna Health Insurance Merger Rejected By Judge
Predicting diminished competition and likely higher costs, a federal judge rejected Anthem Inc.'s bid to buy rival health insurer Cigna Corp. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Wednesday said the merger would significantly reduce competition in the already concentrated insurance market, particularly for large national employers. Cigna and Anthem are two of just four insurers selling to companies with 5,000 employees spread across multiple states, and they compete aggressively for business, the judge wrote. (Cooper, 2/9)

The New York Times: Judge, Citing Harm To Customers, Blocks $48 Billion Anthem-Cigna Merger
The ruling, by Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, came two weeks after another federal judge blocked a proposed $37 billion merger between Aetna and Humana on antitrust grounds. Judge Jackson wrote in her order that she found the Justice Department’s arguments against the deal persuasive, and that putting Anthem and Cigna together would harm customers. (de la Merced and Picker, 2/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Federal Judge Blocks Anthem’s Planned Acquisition Of Cigna
“The evidence has also shown that the merger is likely to result in higher prices, and that it will have other anticompetitive effects: it will eliminate the two firms’ vigorous competition against each other for national accounts, reduce the number of national carriers available to respond to solicitations in the future, and diminish the prospects for innovation in the market,” Judge Jackson wrote. (Kendall and Wilde Mathews, 2/9)

Bloomberg: U.S. Health Insurance Mergers Killed As Companies Plot Moves
The question now becomes what the companies will do with the large piles of cash they allocated for the acquisitions, and whether they’ll try anew at fresh takeovers under a Trump administration, whose antitrust officials could be more amenable to large consolidations. They could also opt for something more conservative in the face of widespread uncertainty about the future of the U.S. health system. (Tracer, McLaughlin and Harris, 2/8)

Modern Healthcare: Judge Blocks Anthem-Cigna Merger 
The judge also said Cigna, which has long shown lukewarm commitment to the merger, is “actively warning against it.” During the trial, Cigna officials presented “compelling testimony” that undermined the projections of future savings that would result from the merger. The two also have deep disagreements in strategy. Anthem attempted to cast these differences as a “side issue,” according to the order. (Livingston, 2/8)

Denver Post: Judge Denies $54 Billion Anthem-Cigna Merger 
The court’s order will help preserve competition in 35 regional markets where both companies operate. (Nicholson, 2/8)

Politico: Judge Rejects Anthem's $54 Billion Takeover Of Cigna
Anthem can appeal the ruling, but it faces a tight timeline. At the end of April, either of the merging companies can pull the plug on the deal, and Cigna is expected to do so immediately. That would trigger a $1.85 billion breakup fee that Anthem would owe to Cigna. This is the second blockbuster merger to be thwarted. Last month, Aetna's $37 billion takeover of Humana was also blocked. (Demko, 2/8)

The Hill: Judge Blocks Anthem-Cigna Insurer Merger
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) last year called the Aetna-Humana merger “the inevitable result of Obamacare’s push toward consolidation as doctors, hospitals, and insurers merge in response to an ever-growing government.” (Sullivan, 2/8)

The CT Mirror: Federal Judge Rejects Anthem-Cigna Merger 
Nationally, Anthem covers 40 million Americans, and Cigna covers 13 million. The merger would have produced the nation’s largest health insurer, eclipsing the current reach of United Healthcare. (Radelat, 2/8)

Modern Healthcare: AMA Letter To Congress Urges Protection For Some Immigrants 
In a letter sent Tuesday to members of Congress, the American Medical Association voiced support for the BRIDGE Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at providing protection to immigrants with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status. It cast such protection as helping to shore up the physician workforce, which faces a looming shortage over the coming decades. The legislation, if enacted, would allow undocumented immigrants who meet DACA requirements to apply for protection from deportation and for work authorization for three years. Immigrants already protected under DACA would be able to apply for the same protections after their status expires. (Whitman, 2/8)

In other news —

WBUR: How An Advocate With Mass. Ties Is Helping The Family Of An Iraqi Toddler Awaiting Surgery Get Back To The U.S. 
Two-year-old Dilbireen Muhsin's face was badly burned when a heater in the Iraqi refugee camp where he was living with his family caught fire last year. He is now awaiting a second surgery at Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston. But the operation is on hold because his parents can't get back to the U.S. to be with him. Their visas were revoked after Dilbireen's father returned to Iraq, to be there when his wife gave birth to another child. (Mullins and Joliocoeur, 2/8)

Stat: Doctors' Antibiotics Guidance May Not Stand Test Of Time
You’ve heard it many times before from your doctor: If you’re taking antibiotics, don’t stop taking them until the pill vial is empty, even if you feel better. The rationale behind this commandment has always been that stopping treatment too soon would fuel the development of antibiotic resistance — the ability of bugs to evade these drugs. Information campaigns aimed at getting the public to take antibiotics properly have been driving home this message for decades. But the warning, a growing number of experts say, is misguided and may actually be exacerbating antibiotic resistance. (Branswell, 2/9)

NPR: From Measles To Syphilis, The Golden Age Of Germs
Ten thousand years ago, at the dawn of the agricultural revolution, many of our worst infectious diseases didn't exist. Here's what changed. With the rise of agriculture, for the first time in history humans were living in close contact with domesticated animals — milking them, taking care of them and, of course, eating them. All that touching and sharing gave animal germs plenty of chances to get inside us. (Poole, 2/9)

Stat: Making Family Trees For Disease-Causing Microbes May Help Stem Outbreaks
The international team of researchers sequenced the genomes of HIV viruses that had been recovered from more than 2,000 blood samples taken in the late 1970s — before AIDS had been identified in the United States. By comparing those sequences to other strains of HIV in the Los Alamos National Laboratory HIV database, the scientists were able to build a family tree of the disease, also known as a phylogeny. From there they were able to work out which strains were descended from which, how each one was transmitted, as well as how they may have mutated as they spread from place to place and person to person. (Crandall, 2/8)

The New York Times: Licorice During Pregnancy Tied To Problems In Children
Pregnant women may want to avoid licorice, which may affect the cognitive abilities of their children, a study suggests. Licorice contains glycyrrhizin, a sweetener derived from the root of the licorice plant, and is used to flavor candies, soft drinks, herbal teas and other products. Pills and supplements containing concentrated licorice are also a popular herbal remedy for respiratory ailments and other ills. (Bakalar, 2/8)

The New York Times: The N.H.L.’s Problem With Science
In the 1950s, tobacco companies responded to research proving a link between smoking and lung cancer by trying to discredit the science. They formed their own research group to poke holes in the data and to stave off public panic that cigarette smoking could cause serious diseases and death. More than 60 years later, the N.H.L. has responded to a class-action lawsuit regarding head injuries with a similar approach. (Macur, 2/8)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: When You've Got Cold Or Flu, Don't Infect Co-Workers 
If you're sick during this cold and flu season, your co-workers have this message for you: "Stay home," according to a national survey. Forty-two percent of employees said coming to work sick is the most annoying behavior their co-workers could engage in during cold and flu season, says the survey by the staffing firm OfficeTeam, based in Menlo Park, California. The survey of 500 employees also found that another 42 percent of those polled were most annoyed when a co-worker didn't bother to cover his or her mouth when coughing or nose when sneezing. (Perkins, 2/8)

The Star Tribune: Achoo! The Distance Germs Can Travel Is Nothing To Sneeze At 
Sneezes are everywhere these days, during this, the height of cold and flu season. The chorus of achoos in offices, on buses and in homes often sends bystanders scrambling to get out of the line of germ-spreading fire. But how far is far enough away to avoid getting hit by a snot-and-fluid projectile? A lot farther than you might — or would like to — think. We’re talking 20 feet or more. The question of what constitutes an achoo-safe zone has long intrigued sneeze-ologists, better known as doctors, nurses and medical researchers working to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. Recent research, however, offers new insights on the science of sneezing — revealing what happens when we sneeze and how far the spray of saliva and mucus can travel. (Shah, 2/8)

Georgia Health News: Latino Kids Being Bullied More Amid Political Controversy, Groups Say 
Latino youths in metro Atlanta are being harassed and bullied more since the Nov. 8 vote, say officials with Norcross-based CETPA, a mental health and substance abuse services organization. National reports also cite an increase in hate incidents against Hispanic children. (Miller, 2/8)

Columbus Dispatch: Expectant Moms May Face More Health Issues If Baby's A Girl
Ohio State University researchers studied 80 women, including Fox, and looked at the effect of fetal gender on various immune-system markers during pregnancy. They found that, when exposed to bacteria, immune cells in the women carrying females produced more cytokines, proteins that signal immune responses, such as inflammation. (Viviano, 2/9)

The Star Tribune: In Wake Of Dayton's Cancer Diagnosis, Clinic Phone Lines Are Lighting Up 
Despite extensive research over the years, medical groups have come to different conclusions on whether to routinely offer PSA blood tests that can indicate the presence of prostate cancer, and whether to treat any cancer that is found with surgery or radiation — or to do nothing at all. Even the most ambitious and comprehensive study to date, published late last year, couldn’t clarify the best course. Following 1,600 men with low-risk prostate cancer over 10 years, researchers in the Protect trial found no difference in death rates, regardless of whether men treated their cancers with surgery or radiation or left them alone — although untreated cancers were more likely to spread. (Olson, 2/8)

The Associated Press: Arkansas Doctors Could Be Sued Over Banned Abortion Method
Does an Arkansas law allow husbands to sue doctors to prevent their wives from undergoing a newly banned abortion procedure? Abortion opponents say no, and a group preparing to challenge the ban says it's theoretically possible but unlikely. The question has come up amid attention on an Arkansas law approved last month that bans dilation and evacuation, or "D&E," which apportion-rights supporters say is the safest and most common procedure used in the second trimester. (Demillo, 2/8)

The Associated Press: Kansas Bill Requires More Details About Abortion Providers
A proposed law in Kansas would require that information given to women seeking an abortion also include details about the abortion provider's medical credentials, malpractice insurance and past disciplinary action. And that it be printed in a specific 12-point font. (2/8)

Los Angeles Times: Planned Parenthood's Political Arm Endorses Jimmy Gomez In Race To Replace Xavier Becerra
Planned Parenthood has endorsed Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) in his campaign for the 34th Congressional District. The endorsement, made by the group's political advocacy wing, comes two days after a kerfuffle over the endorsement Gomez received from the California Democratic Party over the weekend. (Mai-Duc, 2/8)

The CT Mirror: Malloy Budget Hinges On Big Labor Savings, New Revenues 
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy unveiled a $40.6 billion two-year budget Wednesday that seeks $1.5 billion in labor concessions, imposes $400 million of annual pension costs on municipalities and reorganizes the financial relationship between the state, communities and hospitals. The governor also would increase taxes by close to $200 million, scaling back income tax credits for the middle class and working poor and boosting the cigarette levy by 45 cents per pack. (Phaneuf, 2/8)

The CT Mirror: How Health Care And Medicaid Fare In Malloy’s Budget 
About 9,500 parents would lose Medicaid, fewer seniors would receive home care, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers would receive millions of dollars less from the state, and school-based health centers would see a 10 percent funding cut under the budget plan Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed Wednesday. The plan aims to close a budget deficit projected at nearly $1.7 billion, and many of the individual cuts drew concern from providers and advocates for health and social service programs. Still, some said the plan left them more optimistic than had previous proposals by Malloy. (Levin Becker, 2/8)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Republicans Resist Walker's Insurance Plan
Gov. Scott Walker is banking on saving $60 million in taxpayer funds over two years by changing the way public employees get health insurance, but legislators are deeply skeptical of the proposal. In the state budget he unveiled Wednesday, the governor detailed plans to shift the state to a self-insurance system to cover employee health care costs. But his fellow Republicans who control the Legislature questioned whether the state could generate the savings Walker is counting on and said the change could hurt the insurance market for individuals and small businesses. Republican legislators have resisted the proposal in the past. (Marley and Stein, 2/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Report Cites Deficiencies At Theranos Lab
Theranos Inc.’s lab in Arizona failed to ensure some patients who got potentially inaccurate diabetes test results were notified, according to a federal inspection report obtained through a public-records request. The embattled Silicon Valley company also performed patient blood-coagulation tests on a machine its staff configured improperly, according to the report and the company’s response to regulators. (Weaver, 2/8)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Two More Cases Confirmed In Mumps Outbreak At Marquette University
Two more Marquette University students who live in a residence hall have been diagnosed with mumps, bringing to three the total number of cases confirmed on campus since winter break.... The newly diagnosed students are recovering at home, and the Milwaukee Health Department is following up with those known to have come into close contact with them, Smith said in the email. Mumps is a viral infection spread through coughing, sneezing, talking or occasionally through utensils and cups. It also can be spread by touching unwashed, contaminated surfaces. (Herzog, 2/8)

Arizona Republic: Gov. Doug Ducey Wants 86K Arizona Newborns A Year Tested For This Disease
Hospitals on the reservation include SCID in their newborn screenings. But outside of the Navajo Reservation, Arizona does not screen newborns for the disease, a practice Gov. Doug Ducey wants to change this year in the hopes of giving children like Ava, now 3, a chance at lifesaving treatment. Left undetected, SCID can lead to repeated infections and even death. The screening costs about $6, and Arizona is one of three states across the U.S. that do not screen for SCID. (Wingett Sanchez, 2/8)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Toledo City Council Bans 'Conversion Therapy' 
City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ban "conversion therapy," the controversial psychological treatment that attempts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. The legislation, approved by a 12-0 vote, makes conversion therapy a fourth-degree misdemeanor with an attached fine for each offense, according to the Associated Press. (Pinckard, 2/9)

Boston Globe: OSHA Cites Brookline Psychiatric Hospital 
Workplace safety inspectors have cited Arbour-HRI, a Brookline psychiatric hospital, after discovering that front-line employees suffered broken bones and concussions during interactions with violently ill patients. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said the hospital “has not developed and implemented adequate measures to protect employees’’ from aggressive patients. Nurses and mental health workers were punched, hit, scratched, bitten, and hit with objects including a soda bottle and wooden dresser drawer, the federal agency said. (Kowalczyk, 2/9)

NH Times Union: Hampton Nursing Facility Denies Role In Death Of Elderly Woman
A Hampton nursing facility denies that it played any role in the death of an elderly woman whose family claims died as a result of a bad hair perm.The lawyer for Oceanside Center and Oceanside Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center disputes some of the allegations made in a wrongful death suit filed late last year following the death of 89-year-old Betty Pettigrew in 2015. (Schreiber, 2/8)

Detroit Free Press: Detroit Hospitals See Hope For Heart Attacks With New Pump
Five health systems in southeastern Michigan have joined forces to save heart attack victims, using a new tiny heart pump. Since July, doctors from Henry Ford Health System, Beaumont, DMC Heart Hospital, St. Joseph Mercy Health System and St. John Providence Ascension have used Impella pumps, inserted in cardiac patients dealing with cardogenic shock, which has led to an 80% survival rate. When in cardogenic shock, patients' heart function plummets, which leads to low blood pressure and not enough blood flowing to vital organs. (Meyer, 2/8)

The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly.com: Money Fight Starts In North Philly Health System Bankruptcy
There is not much money to fight over in the bankruptcy of North Philadelphia Health System, which owed $24.8 million to its 30 largest unsecured creditors, according to its Dec. 30 filing. That explains the intense interest in the $692,000 that NPHS received from a New Jersey trust last Thursday. Before a hearing on the matter Wednesday in Center City, NPHS and three creditor groups reached a preliminary deal, which they detailed in U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Magdeline D. Coleman’s courtroom. (Brubaker, 2/8)

The Baltimore Sun: Center For Health Security At Hopkins Awarded $16 Million Grant
The Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will study biosecurity and pandemics with the help of a $16 million grant announced Wednesday. The three-year grant from the Open Philanthropy Project will help the center study responses to serious biological risks and how technology could change those risks, improve biosafety practices, and increase awareness of biosecurity and pandemic challenges, according to the center. (Wells, 2/8)

Tampa Bay Times: Hernando Residents Tapped To Participate In National Health, Nutrition Survey 
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, ongoing in Hernando County through March 8, will result in some answers to such questions and, likely, in revised national standards and recommendations regarding diet and physical and mental health. In the survey's 55th year nationwide, this appears to be the first time Hernando County residents have been sampled, officials said. (Gray, 2/9)

Austin American Statesman: Critics Accuse UT Medical School Of Misspending Local Tax Dollars
The University of Texas Dell Medical School has spent millions of dollars on administrative and educational expenses using local tax dollars that are supposed to go only for indigent care, two activists and a former state senator charged Wednesday in remarks before UT’s governing board. The allegations echo previous complaints but were delivered with a stronger assertion of misspending and more detail. They were leveled by former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos of Austin and two local lawyers, Fred Lewis and Bob Ozer. (Haurwitz, 2/8)

Los Angeles Times: Southern California Gas To Pay $8.5 Million To Settle Lawsuit Over Aliso Canyon Leak
Southern California Gas Co. will pay $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by air quality regulators over the Aliso Canyon gas leak and will fund a study of community health effects. The settlement with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, announced Wednesday, resolves a dispute over the months-long leak of methane from the gas company’s Aliso Canyon storage facility above the Porter Ranch neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Barboza, 2/8)

Health News Florida: Doctors Among Concerned Public Commenters At Amendment 2 Meetings 
The Florida Department of Health held workshops across the state this week to get input from the public about how best to implement Amendment 2, which expands the use of medical marijuana. Florida voters passed it last November, but state officials are still trying to work out regulations. (Miller, 2/8)

Orlando Sentinel: Orlando-Area Doctors, Patients, Growers Have Their Say On Medical Marijuana Rules
Dozens of people with ailments including cancer, chronic pain and multiple sclerosis implored the Florida Department of Health on Wednesday night to loosen the regulations for medical marijuana and allow them to get treatment faster. Voters in November approved a constitutional amendment that allows doctors to recommend full-strength marijuana for a wide variety of ailments including glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, ALS, Parkinson's disease, Crohn’s disease and PTSD. Now the department’s Office of Compassionate Use is scrambling to figure out how to regulate the drug within the required six months of the effective date of the amendment, which was Jan. 3. (Jacobson, 2/8)

The Washington Post: What Are Republicans Going To Do About Obamacare? ‘No Idea.’
The Obamacare repeal effort was already in unstable condition. Now its status must be downgraded to critical — and completely unserious. After years of Republican yammering about the urgent need to repeal the Affordable Care Act and months of fruitless pursuit of an alternative, President Trump now says he may not unveil a replacement this year at all. And from Capitol Hill comes new word that Republicans aren’t even talking about a plan. (Dana Milbank, 2/8)

RealClear Health: Why Is It So Hard For Republicans To Replace Obamacare?
Republicans in Congress have been attacking Obamacare and vowing to repeal it for nearly seven years, and President Trump made “repeal and replace Obamacare” a central promise of his winning campaign. Now the President and his party are in charge, but they are scrambling to craft a replacement. Why are they having such trouble? The main problem is that Republicans are a diverse bunch who opposed Obamacare for a variety of reasons. (Alice M. Rivlin, 2/9)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The Great Health Care Bait-And-Switch
In the 2016 elections, conservative candidates sounded like progressives, promising they would reduce health insurance costs and expand choices for all Americans. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) filled the airwaves with the kind of personal health care stories that used to be heard only from progressives. As Congress begins to repeal the Affordable Care Act House Speaker Paul Ryan is promising an outcome where “no one is worse off” and President Donald Trump assures us that “we’re going to have insurance for everybody.” Can we dare hope that a new age of bipartisan cooperation is before us, and that both major parties agree that everyone in America should be guaranteed quality affordable health coverage? Tragically, what we are witnessing is not a new consensus on the right to health care but one of the most audacious bait-and-switches in American history. (Robert Kraig, 2/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: Fears Of GOP Plan To ‘Repeal And Replace’ Obamacare Are Unfounded
If President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress succeed in repealing and replacing Obamacare, 20 million Americans will lose their health insurance — or so the conventional wisdom goes. Of course, predictions about Trump have tended to be wrong. This one is no different. In fact, repealing Obamacare and replacing it with the best the GOP has to offer will likely expand access to coverage, provide a wider choice of plans and drive down the cost of insurance. On top of that, it will strengthen the incentive for healthy people to get insured. (Sally C. Pipes, 2/8)

Vox: 53% Of Republicans Don’t Know Repealing Obamacare Repeals The Medicaid Expansion
Republicans know they’ve benefited from voter confusion on this issue. It’s why Donald Trump’s health care policy could literally be to repeal Obamacare and replace it with “something terrific.” They also know that begins to end as soon as they release a real plan, and it really ends if they pass something into law. Which is why congressional Republicans are in disarray over their replacement strategy, Trump has begun making impossible promises about what will come next, and even Medicaid’s most committed opponents are admitting that slashing it is harder than they thought. (Ezra Klein, 2/8)

Forbes: Kansas Should Avoid The Medicaid Expansion Trap
The Kansas legislature has wisely rejected ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion year after year. As a result, policymakers have protected taxpayers and the truly vulnerable from costly enrollment overruns. But now, despite a rapidly shifting health care landscape, special interest groups are once again ramping up pressure on state lawmakers to expand ObamaCare to a new class of able-bodied, mostly childless adults. Thanks to the prudence of Governor Sam Brownback and legislative leaders, Kansas is now in a position to learn from the mistakes of other states that bought into Washington’s false promises of flexibility and “free money.” They’ve also created a welfare reform model for the nation that they should build on, not diminish. (Josh Archambault, 2/8)

Bloomberg: Obamacare Exchanges Were In Big Trouble Before Trump
Healthcare.gov enrollment came in well below what was anticipated last month. After running very slightly ahead of last year’s numbers in December, January brought the news that about 400,000 fewer people had enrolled on the federal exchanges than did so in 2016. Those are scary numbers, not so much for the absolute size of the decline -- it’s roughly 4 percent -- but because any backwards movement is very bad news for the exchanges. (Megan McArdle, 2/8)

The New York Times: The Case For Keeping America’s AIDS Relief Plan
Among global public health advocates, there is a growing concern that President Trump may cut back, or even eliminate, programs that have played a critical role in fighting diseases worldwide. While every administration should strongly review our nation’s overseas commitments, and there are undoubtedly programs that we should cut, I hope he recognizes the success and importance of one in particular: the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. (Bill Frist, 2/9)

JAMA: Privatized Pharmaceutical Innovation Vs Access To Essential Medicines: A Global Framework For Equitable Sharing Of Benefits
The effect of the current privatized model of pharmaceutical innovation on the development and affordability of lifesaving vaccines and medicines has been an enduring source of conflict. The need to promote and reward the development of new drugs and devices through patent protection—and the high prices this promotion and protection generate—seem to adversely affect equitable access to essential medicines and the right to health. Throughout the world, even in the United States, the high cost of pharmaceuticals provokes controversy, as is evident with the pricing of the epinephrine injection (EpiPen) and ledipasvir/sofosbuvir (Harvoni). (Gian Luca Burci and Lawrence O. Gostin, 2/7)

JAMA: Responsible E-Prescribing Needs E-Discontinuation
Implementation of electronic prescribing, also known as e-prescribing, has been one of the successes of health information technology and an advance in health care delivery. Clinician uptake of e-prescribing has been substantial, in part because it is now required by health plans, insurers, and hospitals. ... Despite the advantages, most current e-prescribing systems do not allow electronic cancellation of medication orders, or e-discontinuation. e-Discontinuation would give physicians (and other prescribers) a way to send a message to the pharmacy to electronically stop a prescription from being filled or refilled. (Shira Fischer and Adam Rose, 2/7)

JAMA Forum: Health Equity Matters For Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, And Pacific Islanders
Achieving health equity remains a compelling vision for our diverse nation. But doing so requires clear understanding of health outcomes for all major American populations and their subgroups. In the case of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) — who comprise the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States — fundamental data challenges have long hampered detailed understanding. However, the last decade has witnessed progress. (Howard K. Koh and John J. Park, 2/8)

Stat: The Creative Science Of Coining Drug Names
With more than 30,000 proprietary drugs in the United States alone, coming up with a unique brand name is no easy task. And while these names may seem like they were created by over-caffeinated Scrabble players, they are usually the result of intense focus by creative name development professionals coupled with clear-eyed research designed to enhance the prospects of Food and Drug Administration approval. (Mike Pile, 2/8)

Modern Healthcare: In Hip And Knee Bundled Payments, A Debate Over Volume
A new study adds fuel to a crucial debate in the ongoing push away from volume and toward value: whether paying a set price for a procedure drives hospitals and doctors simply to perform more of them. (Elizabeth Whitman, 2/8)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Competition Would Improve NKY Health Care
I am urging Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin to end the ongoing “turf battle” between St. Elizabeth Healthcare Systems and The Christ Hospitals Health Network and allow true competition in health care in Northern Kentucky. The consumers, the patients, are suffering at the hands of the government because of outdated regulations prohibiting the expansion of health care services by Ohio health care providers in the Northern Kentucky region. I feel strongly that a community without options in health care is a community lacking the capacity to develop and sustain our full economic potential. (Cathy Flaig, 2/8)