The Washington Post: Senate To Postpone Confirmation Hearing For Ronny Jackson To Head Veterans Affairs, White House Officials Told
Senate lawmakers have postponed the confirmation hearing for Ronny L. Jackson, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, after top Republicans and Democrats raised concerns about his qualifications and oversight of the White House medical staff, White House and other administration officials were told Monday. The development came just two days before Jackson, the White House physician, was scheduled to testify before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and threw what was looking to be a difficult confirmation process into further jeopardy. (Kim, Rein and Dawsey, 4/23)

The Hill: New Allegations Could Threaten Trump VA Pick: Reports 
Members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee have reportedly been informed of unverified allegations of misconduct against Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, President Trump's pick to the lead the VA, posing a new roadblock for his nomination. The Washington Post first reported Monday evening that the Senate panel is delaying a confirmation hearing for Jackson previously scheduled for Wednesday as members look into the new claims. (Manchester, 4/23)

CNN: Ronny Jackson Allegations Threaten To Upend Nomination
Two Republican sources with direct knowledge of the situation say the White House is aware that both Democratic and Republican lawmakers are looking into potential problems. Republican lawmakers and aides on the committee say they are also grappling with the allegations, trying to assess what they mean for Jackson's nomination to the post. (Summers, Mattingly, Raju, Barrett and Zeleny, 4/24)

Politico: Ronny Jackson’s VA Nomination On The Rocks
Republicans and Democrats alike have been talking over the weekend, and in person on Monday, about the potential for allegations to derail Jackson’s nomination, senators said. But the nature of discussions now going on about the material is “conversational,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). Tillis suggested that the Jackson confirmation hearing scheduled for Wednesday may be "pushed back pending a review of some of this stuff that, like I said, I've only heard on a conversational basis. I think that's where we'll spend our time this week." (Everett and Schor, 4/23)

The Associated Press: CDC Chief Makes $375K, Far Exceeding His Predecessors’ Pay
The new head of the nation’s top public health agency is getting paid nearly twice what his predecessor made and far more than other past directors, government officials confirmed. Dr. Robert Redfield Jr., 66, has long career as a top HIV researcher, but he had no experience working in public health or managing a public health agency. The U.S. government is paying him $375,000 a year to run the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.That’s nearly twice the annual compensation given to Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, who had the job for six months before resigning in January. Her annual pay rate was $197,300. (Stobbe, 4/23)

The Hill: New CDC Chief Makes Double His Predecessor's Salary: Report 
Redfield's salary also eclipses his boss's, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar's, earnings. Azar’s salary is set by law, but Redfield is being paid under a program called Title 42 — a program that was created to draw in health scientists with rare and critical skills to government work. According to HHS, Title 42 enables the agency to quickly fill knowledge gaps so medical research can progress and to respond to medical emergencies. (Weixel, 4/23)

The Washington Post: Trump Proposal Could Mean Healthy People Save On Insurance While Others Get Priced Out
The Trump administration’s proposal to build up short-term health insurance plans as a "lifeline" for people who can’t afford Affordable Care Act coverage could split the insurance market in two, siphoning young, healthy people into cheaper, more minimal plans — while those who remain in ACA plans face premiums that spiral upward even faster. The comment period ends Monday on a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposal to extend short-term plans to 364 days, from the current three-month limit. (Johnson, 4/23)

The Hill: Insurer Group Issues Warning On Trump Administration's Short-Term Health Plan Proposal
The nation's largest trade group for health insurance companies is sounding the alarm on a proposal from the Trump administration that would expand the sale of plans that cover fewer services. America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) says the proposal could lead to more people being uninsured or underinsured and result in higher health-care costs in the long run. (Hellmann, 4/23)

The Washington Post Fact Checker: Is Health Care The ‘Number One Issue In America’?
Politicians are often eager to cite polling as a reason for action. In an article that highlighted a proposal by [Sen. Chris] Murphy and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) to allow individuals and large employers to purchase health insurance coverage through Medicare, Murphy described health care as the “number one issue” in America. Does polling back up that assertion? (Kessler, 4/24)

And in other news —

The Hill: ObamaCare Call Center Contractor Accused Of Wage Theft
The federal contractor that operates ObamaCare call centers was accused of wage theft totaling more than $100 million over five years in complaints filed Monday. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) brought the complaints with the Department of Labor, alleging that the contractor, General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), has been underpaying its workers. (Sullivan, 4/23)

Kaiser Health News: 4 New Hardship Exemptions Let Consumers Avoid ACA Penalty For Not Having Health Insurance
There are already more than a dozen reasons people can use to avoid paying the penalty for not having health insurance. Now the federal government has added four more “hardship exemptions” that let people off the hook if they can’t find a marketplace plan that meets not only their coverage needs but also reflects their view if they are opposed to abortion. It’s unclear how significant the impact will be, policy analysts said. That’s because the penalty for not having health insurance will be eliminated starting with tax year 2019, so the new exemptions will mostly apply to penalty payments this year and in the previous two years. (Andrews, 4/24)

The New York Times: Trump Administration Pushes Abstinence In Teen Pregnancy Programs
The Trump administration has issued new rules for funding programs to prevent teenage pregnancy, favoring those that promote abstinence and not requiring as rigorous evidence of effectiveness. While the funding announcement, issued Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services, does not exclude programs that provide information about contraception and protected sex, it explicitly encouraged programs that emphasize abstinence or “sexual risk avoidance.” (Belluck, 4/23)

The Hill: Trump Admin Announces Abstinence-Focused Overhaul Of Teen Pregnancy Program
"Projects will clearly communicate that teen sex is a risk behavior for both the physical consequences of pregnancy and sexual transmitted infections; as well as sociological, economic and other related risks," the funding announcement reads. "Both risk avoidance and risk reduction approaches can and should include skills associated with helping youth delay sex as well as skills to help those youth already engaged in sexual risk to return toward risk-free choices in the future." In total, tier one will award up to $61 million in funds, ranging from $200,000 to $500,000 per year. The second tier solicits applications to develop and test "new and innovative strategies" to prevent teen pregnancy while improving adolescent health and addressing "youth sexual risk holistically by focusing on protective factors." (Hellmann, 4/20)

In other women's health news —

The Associated Press: Planned Parenthood Sues Indiana Over New Abortion Rules
A new Indiana law that requires medical providers who treat women for complications arising from abortions to report detailed patient information to the state "imposes unique and burdensome obligations" that are unconstitutional, Planned Parenthood said in lawsuit filed Monday that seeks to block two of the law's provisions. The federal suit — the latest of several filed in recent years challenging abortion restrictions passed by Indiana lawmakers — contends that the reporting rules and a separate provision requiring annual inspections of abortion clinics are both unconstitutional because they target only abortions and abortion providers and not other procedures or clinics. (4/23)

The New York Times: ‘Whole Again’: A Vet Maimed By An I.E.D. Receives A Transplanted Penis
In a 14-hour operation, a young military veteran whose genitals were blown off by a bomb received an extraordinary transplant: a penis, scrotum and portion of the abdominal wall, taken from a deceased organ donor. The surgery, performed last month at Johns Hopkins Hospital, was the most complex and extensive penis transplant to date, and the first performed on a combat veteran maimed by a blast. (Grady, 4/23)

The Associated Press: Veteran Who Survived Blast Receives Unusual Penis Transplant
Saying they wanted to address "an unspoken injury of war," Johns Hopkins University surgeons rebuilt the man's entire pelvic region — transplanting a penis, scrotum and part of the abdominal wall from a deceased donor — in a highly experimental 14-hour operation last month. Such transplants "can help those warriors with missing genitalia just as hand and arm transplant transformed the lives of amputees," Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, Hopkins' chairman of plastic and reconstructive surgery, told reporters Monday. (Neergaard, 4/23)

The Washington Post: Veteran, Injured By A Roadside Bomb, Receives Transplanted Penis And Scrotum
Doctors said they hoped that the patient, who is expected to be released from the hospital this week, would regain “near-normal” urinary and sexual functions as he recovers and his nerves heal over the coming months. “It’s a real mind-boggling injury to suffer; it is not an easy one to accept,” the patient said in a release. “When I first woke up, I felt finally more normal.” (Rosenberg, 4/23)

NPR: First Penis And Scrotum Transplant, Johns Hopkins Surgeons Say
The man's fertility won't be restored, however. His testicles did not survive his ordeal and a testicle transplant would raise deep ethical issues, because the genetic material in the sperm would be from the donor, not the recipient. (Harris, 4/23)

Stat: Weight Loss Drugs Were Commercial Flops. Can They Be Used For Addiction?
If dependence on cocaine or cigarettes is the result of addiction, is obesity in essence an addiction to food? Some scientists certain think so, which is why several weight loss drugs are being studied as potential addiction therapies. There are plenty to choose from: A wave of prescription weight loss drugs hit the market in recent years, and they were initially expected to perform well. But medications including Qsymia, Belviq, and Contrave have all flailed on the market — doctors and patients alike have been reticent to take them. (Keshavan, 4/24)

Stat: DEA Plan To Stem Supply Of Prescription Drugs Draws Skepticism
With pressure building on the the Drug Enforcement Administration to stem the supply of prescription drugs, a new proposal aims to empower the agency to more aggressively limit manufacturing levels and to put hundreds of drug makers on notice. It’s not yet clear whether the proposal will achieve either goal. According to a rule introduced last week, the DEA would be able to tighten overall quotas and individual quotas issued to manufacturers if it suspects supplies are being diverted for misuse — particularly in cases of “pill dumping.” (Facher, 4/24)

Stat: How A Patient Advocacy Group Is Used To Promote Insys' Fentanyl Drug
Two months ago, a Senate report suggested that Insys Therapeutics (INSY) provided $2.5 million to a patient advocacy group in order to influence usage and providing of its Subsys opioid painkiller. The link, however, was not fully explored, but a new essay in a bioethics blog takes us a step closer to understanding how that relationship may benefit the company. To do so requires a familiar exercise: follow the money. But it also helps to understand why Subsys and a handful of similar powerful medications, all of which are forms of fentanyl, are often favored by doctors for treating so-called breakthrough cancer pain. (Silverman, 4/23)

The Associated Press: Opioid Treatment Gap In Medicare: Methadone Clinics
One in three older Americans with Medicare drug coverage is prescribed opioid painkillers, but for those who develop a dangerous addiction there is one treatment Medicare won't cover: methadone. Methadone is the oldest, and experts say, the most effective of the three approved medications used to treat opioid addiction. It eases cravings without an intense high, allowing patients to work with counselors to rebuild their lives. (Johnson, 4/24)

Bloomberg: McKesson's Board Clears Itself Of Fault On Opioid Oversight
A year after McKesson Corp. announced a $150 million settlement with the U.S. government over allegations it failed to properly oversee shipments of painkillers, a board committee cleared directors and senior executives of wrongdoing. The drug distributor’s executives “placed great emphasis on compliance, encouraged ethical conduct” and improved the company’s opioid-monitoring processes, a panel of three independent directors said in an April 20 report. (Melin and Feeley, 4/23)

Politico Pro: Energy And Commerce Releases 60 Opioid Bills For Wednesday Markup
The Energy and Commerce health subcommittee Monday night released 60 bills slated for markup Wednesday that aim to help curb the country’s opioid epidemic. The proposals address all aspects of the health system, from how FDA approves pain medicines to how government health programs pay for opioids and addiction treatment. (Karlin-Smith and Ehley, 4/23)

Seattle Times: This Tiny House Village Allows Drugs. Should It Have Been Put In A High Drug-Traffic Area?
There are six such homeless camps operating on land owned by the city of Seattle, but Licton Springs is different in one big way. Other villages can ban residents for showing up intoxicated or using drugs. Licton Springs Village is designed for people with chemical dependencies. Seattle says this is the first encampment like it in the U.S., and the city will decide this week whether to renew the village’s one-year permit. The city is weighing the impacts on the neighborhood and trying to set criteria for success in a second year, according to Meg Olberding, a spokesperson for Seattle’s Human Services Department. (Greenstone, 4/23)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Report: Opioid Prescriptions Declined By 15 Percent In N.H. Last Year
New Hampshire saw a 15 percent drop in opioid prescriptions between 2016 and 2017 — the largest drop, in percentage points, of any state in the country — according to a new report from the healthcare research firm IQVIA. IQVIA's Institute for Human Data Science looked at opioid prescribing rates across the country for a new report tracking healthcare use and spending. (McDermott, 4/23)

The New York Times: Prince Heirs Sue Illinois Hospital, Walgreens Pharmacy Chain Over Singer's Death
Heirs of Prince have sued an Illinois hospital and pharmacy chain Walgreens, saying they could have prevented the singer's 2016 death if they had properly diagnosed and treated his overdose days earlier, a court document showed on Monday. The wrongful death lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago on Friday, accuses a doctor and pharmacist at Trinity Medical Center in Rock Island, Illinois, of failing to properly investigate the overdose or see that the pop star received appropriate counseling. (Whitcomb and Herskovitz, 4/24)

The Star Tribune: Prince Family Sues Illinois Hospital, Walgreens Chain
The suit questions the roles of a doctor and pharmacist at the hospital on April 15, 2016, when Prince suffered an overdose on a flight home from a concert in Atlanta and needed emergency medical attention. Prince died April 21, six days later, from a second overdose in his Paisley Park estate in Chanhassen. Pharmacy chain Walgreens also is named in the suit because it dispensed opioid medications in the name of Prince's longtime friend and Paisley Park manager Kirk Johnson that actually were meant for Prince. (Olson and Browning, 4/23)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Hospital Profits Fall As Labor Costs Grow And Patient Mix Shifts
One important measure of U.S. hospital profits last year reached a low not seen in the past decade, as a tight labor market and other factors pressure hospital finances. The median hospital operating cash flow margin—monitored by Moody’s Investors Service as a signal of financial strength—fell to 8.1% last year from 9.5% a year earlier, in a preliminary analysis of 160 nonprofit and public hospitals and hospital systems with credit ratings from the agency, a Moody’s report said. (Evans, 4/23)

And in hospital news from the states —

Georgia Health News: As Lawmakers Tackle CON Process, One Case May Be Fought In Court
If, as expected, Georgia House leaders sit down this summer to study the state’s health care regulatory process, they may want to look at what’s happening – or not happening — in southwest Georgia. Lee County has sought to build a new $120 million hospital to compete with what local leaders call a ‘‘monopoly’’ by Phoebe Putney Health System, based just to the south in Albany in Dougherty County. (Miller, 4/23)

Modern Healthcare: Providence St. Joseph Taps Women Leaders To Navigate New Strategic Direction 
Providence St. Joseph Health is betting on its diverse leadership team to help the integrated health system navigate a new strategic direction. The Renton, Wash.-based not-for-profit system, which has 51 hospitals and more than 800 facilities across seven states as well as its own health plan, recently embarked on a new direction that involves extending its ambulatory network, divesting non-core assets and bolstering its digital capabilities, among other initiatives. The move mirrors many other systems' transitions to deliver more care outside of the hospital as reimbursement models and other incentives change. (Kacik, 4/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Humana-Led Group To Buy Hospice Operator In $1.4 Billion Deal
Three different firms, including health insurer Humana Inc., HUM 0.13% are buying hospice operator Curo Health Services for about $1.4 billion as the consortium looks to expand its footprint in the home health-care business. Humana, TPG Capital and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe said Monday they reached a deal to buy privately held Curo and ultimately plan to combine it with Kindred at Home Division’s hospice business. The same three firms announced plans to purchase Kindred Healthcare Inc., the parent firm of Kindred at Home, in December. (Prang, 4/23)

Modern Healthcare: Humana Looks To Build The Country's Largest Hospice Operator 
The same trio in December announced plans to buy Kindred Healthcare for $4.1 billion and split it into two companies, with TPG and Welsh taking over its long-term care hospitals and inpatient rehabilitation facilities. All three will operate Kindred's hospice, home health and community care businesses. Humana will own a 40% stake in the latter venture. Once both deals are complete, the companies said they plan to combine Curo and Kindred's hospice business to create what will be the country's largest hospice operator. (Bannow, 4/23)

ProPublica: Redesigning Maternal Care: OB-GYNs Are Urged To See New Mothers Sooner and More Often
Doctors would see new mothers sooner and more frequently, and insurers would cover the increased visits, under sweeping new recommendations from the organization that sets standards of care for obstetrician-gynecologists in the U.S. The 11-page “committee opinion” on “Optimizing Postpartum Care,” released today by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, represents a fundamental reimagining of how providers, insurers and patients can work together to improve care for women after giving birth. (Martin, 4/23)

Los Angeles Times: In Human Cells, Scientists Find DNA That Looks Like A Twisted Knot Instead Of A Double Helix
Biology textbooks may be due for a rewrite. For the first time, scientists have detected a DNA structure inside living human cells that looks more like a four-stranded knot than the elegant double helix we learned about in school. The tangled shape, known as an i-motif, had been seen before in the lab, but few researchers expected it to occur in human cells. The new work shows not only that i-motifs do indeed exist in human cells, but that they may be quite common. (Netburn, 4/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Who’s In Charge Here? Aging Parents Resist Interfering ‘Helicopter’ Children
Joshua Coleman remembers watering down a glass of wine before giving it to his father, then in his 90s. “What the hell is this?” he recalls his father asking. “I feel a little guilty about that now,” says Dr. Coleman, whose father died in 2001. “The poor old guy had few remaining pleasures left. But I would have felt bad had he gone back to assisted living and slipped.” (Ansberry, 4/23)

The Washington Post: Source Of E. Coli-Contaminated Romaine Lettuce Still A Mystery, FDA Says
Eight sick prisoners in Nome, Alaska, have provided a clue to authorities about the origin of a nationwide outbreak of dangerous E. coli infections from romaine lettuce, but U.S. officials said Monday they still haven't pinpointed the source of the contamination. Instead, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are sticking with a broad warning to consumers, telling them to throw away romaine, in any form, that comes from the Yuma, Ariz., growing region, and to avoid eating romaine of unknown origin. Most of the romaine sold in the United States during the winter is grown in the Yuma region. (Sun and Achenbach, 4/23)

California Healthline: Study: Nearly Three-Quarters Of Commonly Used Medical Scopes Tainted By Bacteria
In an ominous sign for patient safety, 71 percent of reusable medical scopes deemed ready for use on patients tested positive for bacteria at three major U.S. hospitals, according to a new study. The paper, published last month in the American Journal of Infection Control, underscores the infection risk posed by a wide range of endoscopes commonly used to peer deep into the body. It signals a lack of progress by manufacturers, hospitals and regulators in reducing contamination despite numerous reports of superbug outbreaks and patient deaths, experts say. (Terhune, 4/23)

San Jose Mercury News: Study: Mothers' Weight Linked To Daughters' Early Puberty
We all remember going through puberty, though some of us might like to forget. Now imagine starting that formative transition — developing breasts or pubic hair — at 6 years old, just as you’re starting first grade. Now new research has found a likely cause: The heavier the mom-to-be, the more likely her daughter will bloom early, according to a study by the Kaiser Permanente Department of Research. (Lanese, 4/23)

Sacramento Bee: CA Gubernatorial Candidates Debate Single-Payer Health Care
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the frontrunner for California governor says he "doesn't see an alternative" to a taxpayer-financed single-payer health care system run by state government. If California doesn't drastically reshape the way health care is financed and delivered, he said, soaring health care costs will create a fiscal emergency that could bankrupt the nation's wealthiest and most populous state. (Hart, 4/24)

Sacramento Bee: Newsom, Eastin Back Single-Payer Health Care
As the state contemplates major changes as to how health care will be financed and delivered, California gubernatorial candidates have outlined their positions. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin, both liberal Democrats, are the only two to unequivocally voice support for creation of a single-payer health care system financed by California taxpayers and run by the government. (Hart, 4/24)

Kansas City Star: Kansas DCF Leader: More Money, Workers Needed To Fix System
Kansas' child welfare leader said Monday her agency needs an additional $24 million over three years to help fix a troubled system that has a shortage of workers and foster care beds across the state. Gina Meier-Hummel, secretary of the Department for Children and Families, said in a news conference that the agency has made progress since she took over in December. (Bauer and Woodall, 4/23)

Minnesota Public Radio: Hennepin County Says End To HIV Epidemic Is In Sight
Hennepin County became the fourth county in the country today to join an international campaign that changes how public health officials respond to HIV prevention and care. The "U=U" campaign states that people who have HIV cannot sexually transmit the virus if they are being treated and the virus is undetectable in their blood. (Wurzer, 4/23)

Nashville Tennessean: Network Dispute Leads To $14 Million In Balance Bills
Are you covered under BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Network S? You may not have known that prior to this year, BlueCross had an agreement with HCA TriStar hospitals to provide emergency care at in-network rates, even though HCA TriStar hospitals are not a part of Network S. That agreement ended as of January, and the result is a $14 million headache that may soon affect patients’ pocketbooks. HCA has announced it will soon begin balance billing BlueCross members for out-of-network care received at TriStar facilities. (Tolbert, 4/23)

Dallas Morning News: Group Asks Dallas City Council For City Land To Build New Mental, Primary Health Clinic
Christie Myers, a general manager for the mayor's private Neighbor Up program, said the only thing the group — called Education Corridor Integrated Health Clinic, or EdCor IHC — wants for now from City Hall is four acres worth of land near the University of North Texas at Dallas. The possible site at Camp Wisdom and Lancaster roads became city property in a land-swap with the developer of the Statler project downtown, where The Dallas Morning News has its offices. Private fundraising efforts, as well as $6 million in new-market tax credits, will help pay for the project, Myers said. (Hallman, 4/23)

The Washington Post: These Teens Saw How Poor Mental Health Hurt Their Peers. So They Got A Law Passed.
Lucas Johnson’s résumé is characteristic of any high-achieving high school senior. There’s the raft of Advanced Placement classes, a dozen during his four years at Monticello High School in Virginia’s Albemarle County. There are the extracurriculars — tutoring and Model United Nations and student council and cross-country. During his junior year, there was the stress that accompanied all of it — stress that, at times, made him ask: “What is the point of all of this?” The 18-year-old witnessed distress among his peers, too — troubling Facebook and Instagram posts, bullying that went unaddressed, students without a place to turn. (Truong, 4/23)

Texas Tribune: Report: Women At Texas Community Colleges Aren’t Getting The Kind Of Birth Control They Want
A new study from the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin found that Texas community college women are using condoms and withdrawal even though they would prefer to use more effective methods like intrauterine devices, or IUDs, and birth control pills. (Greene, 4/24)

The Associated Press: Norovirus Confirmed After 100 College Students Fall Ill
Health officials have confirmed that norovirus sickened about 100 students at Western Connecticut State University and prompted the school to close for the day for disinfecting. State Department of Public Health officials said Monday that testing confirmed norovirus, which is a highly contagious bug that causes diarrhea, nausea, muscle pain, vomiting and other symptoms.University officials said both campuses in Danbury are closed Monday as maintenance crews clean and disinfect school buildings. About 5,700 students attend WCSU. (4/23)

The CT Mirror: Parties Sharply Divided Over Higher Ed, Labor Costs, Transportation
Democrats and Republicans have offered sharply contrasting spending plans for the next fiscal year. While they share some common ground involving municipal aid and health care for the elderly and disabled, major disagreements involving labor costs, higher education and revenue stand in the way of another bipartisan budget agreement. (Phaneuf and Thomas, 4/23)

Columbus Dispatch: Frontline Documentary Focuses On Human Trafficking At Ohio Egg Farms
Public Broadcasting Service’s Frontline television documentary series this week will revisit the arrest and conviction of several individuals who smuggled Central American teens into the country and forced them to work at Trillium Farms’ Ohio egg production facilities.“ Trafficked in America,” a joint effort of Frontline and the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley, includes an interview with the man who allegedly organized the labor trafficking and who has since been arrested. (Kovac, 4/24)

Los Angeles Times: With Money Tied Up In Court, California Lawmakers Try Again With New Plan To Spend $2 Billion On Homeless Housing
A measure to spend $2 billion on housing homeless Californians could be on the November statewide ballot. State Sen. Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) is pushing the idea to deal with what he said was a “burgeoning humanitarian crisis whose epicenter is here in California.” De León’s new measure is a do-over for a 2016 plan passed by the Legislature to redirect $2 billion toward building homeless housing from a voter-approved 1% income tax surcharge on millionaires that funds mental health services. (Dillon, 4/24)

Houston Chronicle: $250 Million Medical Research Campus Coming To Texas Medical Center 
A sweeping medical research campus being planned for 30 acres of Texas Medical Center land will establish Houston as an international hub for biomedical innovations and bring together four of the city's powerhouse research institutions, officials said Monday afternoon. The project, called TMC3, will be a collaboration between the TMC, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. (Sarnoff, 4/23)

California Healthline: Choice Of Bay Area For AIDS Conference Exposes Tension Among Activists
After George Ayala learned last month that San Francisco and Oakland had been chosen to co-host the International AIDS Conference in 2020, he quickly published a statement of disapproval. Ayala, an Oakland-based AIDS advocate, does not want the conference in his own city — or anywhere else in the United States, for that matter. (Wiener, 4/20)

Iowa Public Radio: Senate On Medical Marijuana: Cover More Patients With Stronger Drug
A stronger form of medical marijuana would become available in Iowa for a larger number of patients under a bill that advanced in the Iowa Senate today. It’s the second year in a row that the Senate has tried to pass a more expansive medical marijuana law than the one Gov. Branstad signed last year. (Russell, 4/23)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Panel OKs $2 Million To Defend Ohio's Medical Marijuana Program In Court, Appeals Hearings
The Ohio Department of Commerce is setting aside $2 million for legal costs associated with lawsuits and administrative appeals over its competitive medical marijuana license application process. The department, one of three agencies administering Ohio's medical marijuana program, is a defendant in three lawsuits challenging how it scored applications to grow medical marijuana. (Borchardt, 4/23)

Bloomberg: Trump's Promising Plan To Link Welfare To Work
President Donald Trump’s “Executive Order on Reducing Poverty in America” has produced the expected political reactions. Because it focuses on saving taxpayer money and strengthening work requirements for federal programs, many conservatives are celebrating it, while many progressives have attacked it as punitive and dehumanizing. (Cass R. Sunstein, 4/24)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: 10 Reasons To Resist Work Requirements For Medicaid And Food Stamps
On April 17, the Pennsylvania House passed House Bill 2138, imposing part-time work or training demands on Medicaid recipients. Support for similar legislation looms over food stamps. At best, these legislative proposals are a solution in search of a problem. At worst, they’re a mean-spirited attempt to deny assistance to our most vulnerable neighbors. (Michael McKee, 4/23)

The Hill: How Much Does The FDA Really Do To Promote Public Health?
According to its mission statement, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for “advancing public health” by providing oversight to the drug development process. FDA has been tasked with helping to ensure there are “effective, safer, and more affordable” health products in America’s market, which helps individuals “maintain and improve their health.”In recent years, FDA has become increasingly more involved in “protecting the public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security” of numerous products, including prescription medications, tobacco, and food and cosmetic products. In many cases, the agency has proven itself to be exceptionally biased against harm reduction devices and services, while at other times, FDA has failed to protect the public from potentially dangerous substances. Such is the case with OxyContin, one of the most important contributors to America’s current opioid epidemic. (Lindsey Stroud, 4/23)

Columbus Dispatch: New Ohio programs show promise in opioid battle
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Ohio is pioneering promising programs to help some of our most vulnerable citizens avoid drug addiction. Necessity being the mother of invention surely has something to do with it: Ohio’s opioid epidemic is among the nation’s worst, with overdose-death tolls continuing to climb from 12 a day in 2016 to 14 a day in 2017. Overdose deaths nationally climbed from 175 to 186 per day in that period, meaning Ohio’s share rose from 6.9 percent to 7.5 percent. It is worth noting that both programs emphasize the importance of helping youngsters learn to identify and rely on trusted adults who can help them make and keep healthy decisions and avoid drug abuse. Those who can play that role are encouraged to do so — and maybe help finally turn the tide against the very real opioid monster. (4/24)

Charleston Gazette: Supervised Injection Places Remove Needles, Save Lives And Money
What if there was a way to get dirty needles off the streets while saving the city of Charleston hundreds of thousands of dollars, reducing infectious diseases such as HIV or hepatitis B and C, and saving dozens of lives in the process? Supervised injection facilities have been tried in other cities with remarkable results and could play a large role in combating the opioid epidemic at home. A supervised injection facility is a place where people who use drugs — such as heroin — can safely inject previously obtained drugs with medical staff supervision. Some facilities also include wraparound services in addition to addiction counseling, such as social services, employment referrals, health education, warm meals and medical care. Some also include smoking rooms to get more drug use off the streets. (Ted Boettner, 4/23)

Indianapolis Star: Adverse Effects Of Marijuana Are Real
In a past column, I reviewed the medical uses of marijuana from the mainstream medical literature.  There’s no question that marijuana has medical benefits for specific conditions .In researching its adverse effects, I found the subject very controversial, and many studies have conflicting results. Although it’s recognized that marijuana causes adverse effects, other untoward effects can be attributed only by association without adequate evidence of causation. (Jack Cain, 4/23)

Stat: Med Schools Need To Get With The Times On Medical Marijuana, Chronic Pain
In bygone days, when social change and the evolution of medical care moved at a more leisurely pace, medical education did the same. Those days are over, but medical schools don’t seem to have acknowledged that fact. Training new doctors in today’s rapidly evolving social, political, and medical climates demands a faster rate of curricular change than ever before, and our medical schools are falling behind. (Suhas Gondi and Andreas Mitchell, 4/24)

Stat: The 1 Percent Will Continue To Get Healthier. The 99 Percent Should, Too
Seventy years ago this month, the World Health Organization was created. This milestone offers an opportunity to assess the WHO’s progress toward fulfilling its mandate to promote “health for all.” Amazing advances have been made during the past seven decades, like the increase in average global life expectancy at birth from 48 years to 72. Even greater advances are on the horizon. But will this dazzling health future be shared equitably across communities? Or will only the wealthiest 1 percent of the global population reap benefits that are inaccessible to the 99 percent? (Per Kristian Hong and Erik R. Peterson, 4/24)

USA Today: Paul Ryan May Be Gone, But His Entitlement Reform Battle Remains
Surely, entitlement reforms are a tough sell, especially in an election year. There’s a better chance of Stormy Daniels being invited to a summer cookout at Mar-a-Lago than there is of congressional candidates tackling Social Security and Medicare spending just before voters start casting ballots. But if Republicans recognize that 2018 is going to be a brutal year for their party, it would make sense to pass some common-sense reforms while they still control the House and Senate. There is a limited window to make modest changes to entitlement programs that will help guarantee their solvency — changes that could even be sold to the public in a palatable way. (Christian Schneider, 4/24)

Sacramento Bee: Bill Won't Control Health Costs In California
Last week, a bill that would dismantle California’s health care delivery system as we know it was introduced in the Legislature. Assembly Bill 3087 would penalize millions of patients through massive cuts in services and result in as many as 175,000 hospital workers losing their jobs.The sponsors of AB 3087 – which is to be heard Tuesday by the Assembly Health Committee – falsely believe that this bill would lower health care costs by imposing a mandatory rate-setting system on doctors, hospitals, dentists and insurers. OPINIONThey claim their proposal is based on a similar system that operates in Maryland. As the former head of the Maryland Hospital Association, I know that nothing could be further from the truth. (Caremela Coyle, 4/23)

The Wall Street Journal: English Literature Isn’t Brain Surgery
The U.S. spends about 18% of its gross domestic product on health care, far more than most countries. One contributing factor that often goes overlooked: the high cost, in time and money, of becoming a physician. In a recent paper for the Mercatus Center, Jeffrey Flier and Jared Rhoads argue that the amount of time it takes to become a doctor—almost always at least a decade—constrains the supply, driving up prices. Physician incomes in the U.S. well exceed those in Europe; American generalists earn twice as much as Dutch ones. Much of this education, especially courses required for a bachelor’s degree, has little to do with medicine. In the U.S., aspiring physicians must spend four years in college before med school (another four years) and then residencies. Europeans can begin studying medicine immediately after high school—usually with a five- or six-year course. (Chris Pope and Tim Rice, 4/23)

Bloomberg: Myopia Is Increasingly Common, Linked To Time Indoors
Eyeglass sales are expected to double globally between 2012 and 2026, and the amount of time people are spending indoors may be a leading cause. The reason? An explosion in nearsightedness, especially in Asia, which may be linked to lack of sun exposure. In the 1950s, roughly 20 to 30 percent of 20-year-olds in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea suffered from myopia. Today, the shares are above 80 percent. In the U.S., the increases have been significant though a bit less dramatic. In the early 1970s, 24 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds were nearsighted. By the early 2000s, that share had almost doubled, to 44 percent. (Peter R. Orszag, 4/23)

Los Angeles Times: Give Paramedics The Power To Make Better Choices On Behalf Of Vulnerable People
If a person is intoxicated or suffering from a mental health crisis, a crowded hospital emergency room may not be the right place to get treatment. Yet homeless people are often taken there when they may just need a place to sober up or be seen by a mental health professional. That's because paramedics don't have the option to take homeless people — or anyone else, for that matter — to a sobering center or a behavioral health facility. Under state law, paramedics (unlike police or sheriff's deputies in L.A. County) summoned through 911 calls are legally obligated to take an individual needing treatment to a hospital emergency room. (4/24)