Politico: Congress' Health Agenda Barrels Toward 2020 Buzz Saw
Republicans and Democrats have a narrow opening to cut big deals on drug pricing and surprise medical bills and address two key concerns of voters — just in time for 2020 electoral politics to drive them apart. Congressional leaders are feeling renewed urgency to do something about the high-profile issues, but they fear impeachment and escalating tensions with Iran could swamp the legislative agenda. And on drug pricing, both sides are reluctant to let the other claim victory on a pocketbook issue that recent polling shows ranks high among voter concerns. (Cancryn and Ollstein, 1/7)

Bloomberg: Congress Seeks Drug-Pricing Deal In Spite Of 2020 Rancor 
In an election year when nobody expects Congress to pass meaningful legislation, lawmakers are feeling strong political pressure to reach a deal on at least one main voter priority: lowering drug prices. The most likely result could be a small deal that caps out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries but leaves more contentious questions of market intervention until after the election. (Wasson, 1/7)

Meanwhile, here's a look at the perils of keeping the status quo on health care —

Politico Pro: 5 Ways Doing Nothing Might Be The Most Expensive Health Care Option Of All
The 2020 Democratic primary fight over health care has been consumed by how much “Medicare for All” could cost — with estimates of tens of trillions of dollars prompting calls for more incremental reforms, many of which would also come with a significant price tag. But the numbers are meaningless without considering the cost of doing nothing. Annual national health spending is on track to hit $6 trillion, with costs for Medicare and private insurance rising sharply even as Americans use less care. (Ollstein, 1/7)

The Hill: Analysis: ObamaCare Market Stable And Profitable Despite Loss Of Individual Mandate 
The ObamaCare market is “stable” and profitable for insurers despite the repeal of the law’s mandate to have coverage, a new analysis finds. When Republicans repealed the health law’s mandate to have coverage in the 2017 tax law, many Democrats and some policy experts warned the move would cause chaos in the markets as healthy people dropped coverage, leaving only sick, expensive patients remaining.  (Sullivan, 1/6)

Vox: Obamacare Looks Surprisingly Sturdy After The Individual Mandate’s Repeal
The individual market continues to go through a soft attrition: Premiums continue to increase, but only slightly, and enrollment is shrinking, again slightly. It’s not a death spiral, but the market is slowly being winnowed to a core customer base: People who get federal assistance to cover their premiums, and unsubsidized customers who don’t receive that help but need good health insurance. (Scott, 1/6)

The Hill: Supreme Court Sets Friday Deadline For Responses In ObamaCare Case 
The Supreme Court on Monday told the Trump administration and a group of states to respond by the end of the week to an effort by Democrats to expedite a challenge to a lower court ruling that struck down a key tenet of ObamaCare. The court asked the health care law's opponents to file a response to the motion by Friday afternoon. Democrats challenging the decision from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that ruled the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate unconstitutional asked the Supreme Court last week to expedite a briefing schedule and to hear the case before the current term ends in June. (Neidig, 1/6)

And in other health law news —

The Philadelphia Inquirer: The Latest Skirmish Over Abortion: Separate Insurance Premium Billing Under Obamacare Plans
Abortion is always a hot-button issue, but the result of the latest wrangling may at first sound trivial: Affordable Care Act health insurance plans that cover abortion — most don’t — will have to send a separate monthly bill for the part of the premium calculated to cover abortion care. Even men with such plans will get a separate bill. Abortion is the only medical service that must be broken out separately by ACA plans. (McCullough, 1/6)

Modern Healthcare: Brad Smith Appointed New CMS Innovation Center Leader
Brad Smith, who co-founded palliative care provider Aspire Health is the new director of the CMS' Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. The HHS announced Monday that Smith would be the new leader of the CMS' delivery model testing center, replacing Adam Boehler who left the role in the fall after roughly a year when he was nominated for another role in the Trump administration. (Castellucci, 1/6)

Nashville Tennessean: Trump Administration Picks Brad Smith To Lead Innovation Center
The position is largely focused on driving value-based care transformation across the country, Smith said an interview with The Tennessean. "It's a really exciting opportunity," he said. "I feel honored to have the opportunity to go to D.C. and work on these problems for a few years. I am excited to get advice and feedback from folks all across the country on the things we can do to make a difference. "The office works to create and test models that seek to lower the cost of the health care system and improve the quality of care. "The design of CMMI is intended to be around innovation," he said. (Ebert, 1/6)

The Washington Post: EPA Says It Will Cut Pollution From Heavy Duty Diesel Trucks
The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday said it would soon propose tougher restrictions on pollution from heavy-duty trucks, an uncharacteristic move to tighten existing standards from an administration that has prided itself on a series of regulatory rollbacks. Heavy-duty vehicles are the largest mobile source of nitrogen oxide, a pollutant linked to heart and lung disease. They also tend to remain in service far longer than other vehicles. (Dennis, 1/6)

The New York Times: E.P.A. Aims To Reduce Truck Pollution, And Avert Tougher State Controls
While the move could give President Trump a nominal environmental achievement for the 2020 campaign, public health experts say the truck regulations are not as out of line with administration policy as they would appear. The emerging rule will quite likely limit nitrogen dioxide pollution more than current standards, they say, but still fall far short of what is necessary to significantly prevent respiratory illness and even premature deaths. (Davenport, 1/6)

The Hill: Critics Skeptical Of EPA Plans For Tougher Truck Standards
But environmental and health groups expressed concern Monday the EPA regulations may not be as stringent as they could or should be, while stymying efforts in California to set ambitious nitrogen oxide standards of their own. “There’s a fear that there’s an attempt by the truck engine manufacturers to undermine or weaken what California is pursuing by going through EPA,” said Paul Billings, senior vice president for advocacy at the American Lung Association. (Beitsch, 1/6)

The Associated Press: US To Start Collecting DNA From People Detained At Border
The U.S. government on Monday launched a pilot program to collect DNA from people in immigration custody and submit it to the FBI, with plans to expand nationwide. The information would go into a massive criminal database run by the FBI, where it would be held indefinitely. A memo outlining the program published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security said U.S. citizens and permanent residents holding a “green card” who are detained could be subject to DNA testing, as well as asylum seekers and people entering the country without authorization. (Merchant, 1/6)

CBS News: Immigration Controversy: U.S. Collecting DNA Samples From Some Migrants — Including Teens — In First Stage Of Program
Border Patrol officers in the Detroit sector of the border with Canada and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel at the Eagle Pass, Texas port of entry along the U.S.-Mexico frontier have been instructed to collect DNA from certain migrants. The samples are from cheek swabs. The biometric information would be used to create profiles in a massive national criminal database run by the FBI. The move is the first phase of a five-part, three year Department of Homeland Security initiative to obtain DNA profiles from virtually all migrants in U.S. custody, whether or not they've committed crimes. (Montoya-Galvez, 1/7)

CNN: Trump Administration To Collect DNA Data From Some Migrants In Custody
The Department of Homeland Security has been operating under exceptions put in place a decade ago. In 2010, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano requested an exemption for DNA collection from the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005, including for migrants in custody who weren't facing criminal charges or those pending deportation proceedings, citing a lack of agency resources at the time to gather DNA. The 90-day pilot will be implemented by US Border Patrol in the Detroit region, as well as at the Eagle Pass port of entry in southwest Texas, the agency said. (Sands, 1/6)

Stat: The VA Approach To Buying Drugs Means Patients Are Less Likely To Skip Medications Due To Cost 
As U.S. policy makers grapple with ways to widen access to medicines, a new study suggests that a model used by the Department of Veterans Affairs could improve patient adherence and presumably lower health care costs. To wit, patients who obtain prescription drugs from the Veterans Health Administration were less likely than other insured Americans to skip doses or medicines altogether. They were also less likely to delay filling prescriptions because they were unable to afford them. Moreover, the VA system appeared to reduce racial and economic disparities in accessing medicines. (Silverman, 1/6)

Reuters: Drug Developers Take Fresh Aim At 'Guided-Missile' Cancer Drugs
Dozens of drugmakers are conducting human trials for a record 89 therapies that pair antibodies with toxic agents to fight cancer, evidence of renewed confidence in an approach that has long fallen short of its promise, an analysis compiled for Reuters shows. These antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, from companies including AztraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, are described by researchers as "guided missiles" packing a powerful anti-cancer punch. (1/6)

Bloomberg: Psychedelic Mushroom Therapy Startup Edges Toward FDA Approval 
Compass is running a 216-patient Phase 2B ­clinical trial—typically the second-to-last stage before a drug gets the FDA’s nod—and has made enough synthetic doses of the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms to supply more than 30,000 patients. It’s raised $58 million in venture funding from powerful tech figures including Trump ally Peter Thiel, investor Christian Angermayer, and Bitcoin booster Michael Novogratz. Thomas Insel, former director of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, and Paul Summergrad, former head of the American Psychiatric Association, are on its board of advisers. (Piore, 1/7)

Stat: Florida The Latest To Examine Sun Pharma Licenses For Distributing Samples
The state of Florida is examining whether Sun Pharmaceuticals (SUNPHARMA) has distributed samples of medicines without the proper permits, the third U.S. state to take such a step in the past year concerning one of the world’s largest purveyors of generic drugs. Last month, the Division of Drugs, Devices, and Cosmetics became aware that Sun may have been distributing samples without filing necessary paperwork and so asked the company to explain its practices, according to a source familiar with the matter. Walter Copeland, the division director, declined to comment. (Silverman, 1/6)

Modern Healthcare: Bundled Payments Cut Spending Only For Joint Replacements
Medicare's voluntary bundled-payment program for hip and knee replacements reduced spending by 1.6% from 2013 to 2016 — less than previously estimated — with no overall change in quality, according to a new study in Health Affairs. Another new Health Affairs study reported that lower extremity joint replacement is the only type of clinical episode in Medicare bundled-payment programs that has produced savings so far. The meta-analysis found no evidence of reduced spending or quality improvement for other clinical episodes. (Meyer, 1/6)

Politico Pro: CMS May Put Providers Over Insurers In Calculating Medicare Advantage Risk Adjustment
CMS wants to give health provider assessments of patients' conditions more weight than private Medicare plans' own reports when deciding how much financial assistance is owed to insurers with sicker customers. The proposal, released on Monday as part of a notice of possible Medicare payment changes for 2021, involves the higher rates that Medicare Advantage plans get from the government if they can show their enrollees have a chronic or serious illnesses. (Luthi, 1/6)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Advantage Payments May Be Tied To Patient Data
The agency said it plans to continue phasing in the use of diagnoses from encounter data to determine patient risk scores, which are used to adjust insurer payments from the federal government, despite complaints from the insurance industry that the data is often inaccurate and incomplete. Encounter data is detailed information about the patient based on visits with clinicians. (Livingston, 1/6)

Modern Healthcare: More Birth Complications Push Up Hospital Costs
Women are more likely to experience an unexpected outcome during delivery and it's adding to hospital costs, according to a new analysis from Premier. The rate of women with a severe maternal morbidity factor, which are complications during labor such as sepsis, shock or eclampsia, rose by 36% from 2008 to 2018, Premier found. And those vaginal births cost nearly 80% more on average than those without complications. Additionally, cesarean deliveries for women with a severe maternal morbidity factor cost almost twice as much as uncomplicated C-sections on average. (Casstellucci, 1/6)

The Associated Press: Regulator Cites Failures At Hospital Where 3 Preemies Died
A major Pennsylvania hospital where three premature infants died in a bacterial outbreak last year routinely failed to sanitize the equipment it used to prepare donor breast milk, according to a state health department report released Monday. Health department staff ordered Geisinger Medical Center in Danville to correct several deficiencies, determining the hospital’s systemic failure to prevent infection in its most vulnerable patients constituted “immediate jeopardy” — a legal finding that means Geisinger placed its patients at risk of serious injury or death. (1/6)

New Hampshire Public Radio: With New State Funding In Place, Hospitals Add Mental Health Beds
Portsmouth Regional Hospital and Parkland Medical Center in Derry have announced they are adding a combined eight new in-patient psychiatric beds. The new beds come amid a years-long shortage that has forced many mental health patients to languish in emergency rooms. (Moon, 1/6)

KCUR: Boonville, Missouri, Hospital Ordered To Stop Performing Surgery 
Missouri health regulators have told a Boonville, Missouri, hospital that specializes in bariatric surgery and is affiliated with a similar privately owned hospital in Overland Park, Kansas, to discontinue performing surgery. The directive was issued last month, after the regulators conducted an inspection at Pinnacle Regional Hospital and cited it for sterile processing procedures. (Margolies, 1/6)

Georgia Health News: Gainesville-Based Health System, Anthem Finally Reach Contract Deal
Three months after their previous contract ended, Northeast Georgia Health System and Georgia’s largest insurer reached an agreement Monday on a new deal that restores network status to thousands of consumers. The long-running contract dispute had attracted the interest of major state lawmakers and had unnerved many patients of the Gainesville-based system who have Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance. Northeast Georgia has hospitals in Gainesville, Braselton, Winder and Dahlonega, dominating medical care in those areas. (Miller, 1/6)

Modern Healthcare: Beaumont, Summa Health Deal Moves Forward
Beaumont Health and Summa Health signed a definitive agreement to form a $6.1 billion system, the Southfield, Mich.-based and Akron, Ohio-based not-for-profit health systems announced Monday. Summa, its four hospitals and health plan would be a wholly owned subsidiary of Beaumont, which has eight hospitals. The proposal follows other regional health system combinations that aim to leverage scale to boost capacity, among other endeavors. (Kacik, 1/6)

The New York Times: A.I. Comes To The Operating Room
Brain surgeons are bringing artificial intelligence and new imaging techniques into the operating room, to diagnose tumors as accurately as pathologists, and much faster, according to a report in the journal Nature Medicine. The new approach streamlines the standard practice of analyzing tissue samples while the patient is still on the operating table, to help guide brain surgery and later treatment. (Grady, 1/6)

In other health and technology news —

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals, Vendors Question FDA's Plan To Oversee Decision-Support Software
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's latest plan for overseeing clinical decision-support software leaves too much room for interpretation over what types of software the agency intends to regulate, according to health systems and software vendors. While stakeholders largely applauded the FDA's vision of a risk-based regulatory approach in theory, a major point of contention involves confusion over the FDA's definition of what software would be included under the FDA's oversight. (Cohen, 1/3)

Los Angeles Times: California Vaping Bill Targets Flavors Not Covered By Trump's Ban
Days after concerns over youth vaping led the Trump administration to announce a partial ban on many e-cigarette pods, California lawmakers on Monday introduced a much stronger measure to outlaw store sales of all flavored tobacco products in the state. The proposal would go far beyond the federal government’s plan, announced Thursday, for a temporary ban on many candy- and fruit-flavored e-cigarette products that could be lifted if companies can convince the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that the pods are safe. (McGreevy, 1/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Schools Seek Ways To Curb Vaping Among Students
Students caught vaping more than once at Northgate High School in Walnut Creek, Calif., are required to attend Saturday “vape school”—along with a parent. The four-hour Saturday requirement includes lessons on the dangers of vaping, a method of inhaling nicotine and other substances that has been associated with a nationwide outbreak of lung injuries and deaths. An official at the high school, where 15% of students admit to having vaped, said the lessons are helping. But it’s a continuing problem, he said, as freshmen are arriving already exposed to vaping. (Hobbs, 1/6)

USA Today: As Marijuana Induced Psychosis Rises, Mental Health Treatment Elusive
When Garrett Rigg moved from a "transitional living program" facility near Chicago last month into a group home, it was a major milestone for the 27-year-old, who traveled 1,000 miles from his home in Denver to get treatment after a cannabis-induced psychotic break five years ago. Rigg had to leave his hometown because it lacked suitable long-term treatment, according to his mother, Connie Kabrick. The three marijuana dispensaries at the intersection a half block from her home are the reason why she says he can't move back. (O'Donnell, 1/6)

The New York Times: Go Ahead And Complain. It Might Be Good For You.
We’ve all done it: Whether it’s about traffic, our boss or our partner’s annoying habits, complaining “is just something we do, like breathing — though hopefully not as often,” said Robin Kowalski, a professor of psychology at Clemson University. Even though it may come naturally, griping isn’t necessarily always a good thing. Ruminating on negative feelings, and reinforcing them through constant discussion with other people, can lead to catastrophizing, which “is something that can contribute to depression,” said Margot Bastin, who studies communication between friends at the department of School Psychology and Development in Context at the Dutch university Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. (Higgs, 1/6)

Reuters: Former Women Players To Join New Research Into Dementia
Former female professional soccer players will be included for the first time in research into possible links between heading balls and dementia thanks to a new project launched on Tuesday. Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) will carry out long-term cognitive tests on former men and women players to shed more light on the findings of a report by the University of Glasgow and Hampden Sports Clinic last year. (1/6)

CNN: China Pneumonia Outbreak: It's Not SARS, So What Is It?
Chinese health authorities have not been able to identify a mysterious strain of pneumonia that has infected dozens of people and put the rest of Asia on alert -- although they have ruled out a return of the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus. A total of 59 cases of unknown viral pneumonia have been reported in the city of Wuhan, central China, with seven patients in critical condition, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said in a statement on Sunday. All patients are being treated in quarantine, and no deaths have been reported. (Gan, 1/7)

Reuters: Cutting Out Alcohol May Reduce Atrial Fibrillation Episodes
For people with atrial fibrillation, abstinence from alcohol may make the heart beat better. Eliminating most alcohol consumption dramatically cuts the number of episodes of the potentially deadly heart rhythm disturbance among moderate and heavy drinkers, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. (1/7)

The New York Times: Whole Milk May Be Better When It Comes To Children’s Weight
Whole milk may be healthier for children’s weight than low-fat milk, a review of studies suggests. The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends switching to skim or low-fat (1 percent) milk at age 2. Canadian researchers analyzed 14 prospective studies including 20,897 children up to 18 years old. The studies compared children who drank whole milk (3.25 percent fat) with those given milk containing less than 2 percent fat. (Bakalar, 1/7)

CNN: Running A Marathon Could Help You Live Longer, Study Suggests
Need another reason to sign up for that marathon in 2020? New research suggests training and running a marathon for the first time could reverse some of the effects of aging on our bodies. Researchers found that for the 138 healthy, first-time marathon runners they tracked, training and completing the London marathon was associated with a four-year reduction in their "vascular age." Specifically, they found that marathon training reversed the age-related stiffening of the body's main artery and helped reduce blood pressure. (Hunt, 1/6)

Los Angeles Times: Eight Science Stories To Watch For In 2020
Scientists have been searching for ways to detect cancer in its earliest stages, when treatments are most likely to be effective. In 2020, they’ll be harnessing the power of biomarkers to aid them in this mission. Biomarkers are distinctive bits of protein or DNA that can be detected in bodily fluids like blood and urine. The trick is to identify ones that are reliable signals of malignancy. Candidates are being tested in ever-larger groups of people to determine whether they’re accurate and can be trusted not to generate too many false-positive results. (Netburn, Healy, Rosen, Khan and Kaplan, 12/27)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Churches, Faith Leaders Ramp Up Outreach Around HIV/AIDS
In 2017, Blacks in the United States accounted for 13% of the US population but 43% of the 38,739 new HIV diagnoses. In 2017, black women accounted for 59% of new HIV diagnoses among women, most contracted the disease through heterosexual contact and injection drug use. It’s nothing new. Several local churches have launched health ministries and started testing outreach efforts. (Poole, 1/6)

CBS News: Some Labels Now Tell You The Calories For Eating All The Servings
Curious to know how many calories you're consuming by scarfing down an entire pint of ice cream or bag of chips? Now, thanks to U.S. food regulators you can. New Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules specify that the label on any food package that contains between two and three servings and that could be eaten in one sitting must provide nutrition information both for a single serving and for eating the entire contents. (Gibson, 1/6)

St. Louis Public Radio: These St. Louis Scientists Are Shaking Human Brains To Study Head Trauma
Philip Bayly has spent years trying to figure out the best way to jiggle a brain. The mechanical engineer is part of a team of researchers at Washington University studying how a jolt to the head can shake the brain — the kind of injury a football player suffers when crashing into an opponent. Using a specially designed device that vibrates volunteers’ heads, they hope to better understand the effects of repeated brain injuries. (Farzan, 1/6)

Boston Globe: The State’s Third Busiest Abortion Clinic Could Close Soon Without Financial Support
The threat of abortion clinic closures has become commonplace in such states as Missouri and Louisiana, where lawmakers have passed bills aimed at curtailing the procedures. But the threat has hit home in progressive Massachusetts, where the state’s third busiest abortion clinic revealed it’s in a fight for survival. Its medical director recently launched a GoFundMe page aimed at raising $250,000 fast. (Ebbert, 1/6)

Kaiser Health News: In Massachusetts, Minors Need Permission For Abortion, But That Could Change
She was 15 and recovering from rape, when she realized she was pregnant. She knew right away that she wanted to terminate the pregnancy. But as in many states, Massachusetts required — and still requires — minors to get a parent’s consent before an abortion. “I knew I couldn’t tell my mom or my immediate family members because my pregnancy was the result of a sexual assault from a family friend,” the now 23-year-old woman said. (KHN and NPR agreed to withhold her name.) Her home, she added, “wasn’t necessarily a safe or healthy one at the time.” (Bebinger, 1/7)

Columbus Dispatch: Cincinnati’s Last Abortion Clinic Could Close 
The last abortion clinic in Cincinnati could be shut down by state regulators. Ohio Health Director Amy Acton wants to revoke the Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio Region’s license for failing to have a written agreement with a local hospital to transfer patients in case of emergency. The clinic remains open pending a hearing on the matter. A date has not been set. Planned Parenthood has not had a transfer agreement since 2013, but has been operating under a variance, the most recent one granted by the state last year because the clinic had four backup physicians to ensure coverage and hospital admissions to patients. (Candisky, 1/6)

Wyoming Public Radio: Abortion Reversal Laws In Idaho, Utah Could Endanger Women, Study Finds
A new study casts doubt on the safety of state abortion laws in the Mountain West.Laws in Idaho and Utah require physicians to tell women seeking an abortion that they could “reverse” the abortion if it’s medication-induced. Women rarely choose to back out of the process once it’s started, but a new study suggests it could be dangerous if they do. (Beck, 1/6)

The Associated Press: Maryland Wins $3.6M To Address Opioid Abuse During Pregnancy
Maryland’s Health Department has received $3.6 million in federal funding to address opioid use among pregnant and new mothers. The department launched the initiative, called the “Maternal Opioid Model,” this month, according to a statement released by the agency on Monday. The initiative focuses on improving substance abuse treatment for pregnant and postpartum mothers on Medicaid by providing them with additional resources during and after their pregnancies, the department said. (1/7)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Receives $3.6M To Address Opioid Crisis’ Impact On Mothers, Children 
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which awarded the grant, the “Maternal Opioid Model” is a national initiative that looks to support “the coordination of clinical care and the integration of other services critical for health, wellbeing, and recovery.” The funding comes as federal and state officials continue to look to address more of the effects of the opioid crisis, which has claimed the lives of 1,574 people in Maryland this year as of September. (Davis, 1/6)

Boston Globe: Health Care Tax On Business Brought In Far More Money Than Anticipated
Nobody likes getting hit with a tax hike, but this one was a particularly bitter pill for the Massachusetts business community to swallow. Lawmakers promised the “EMAC,” short for employer medical assistance contribution, would last only two years when they approved it in 2017, ostensibly to cover a shortfall in the state’s Medicaid program. State officials also projected it would raise $200 million a year, or $400 million by the time the sunset arrived at the end of 2019. (Chesto, 1/6)

The Associated Press: Report: 123 Children Died In 2019 Despite Contact With DCFS
A report highlighting persistent problems within Illinois' child welfare agency showed 123 children died in the past fiscal year despite having contact with the Department of Children and Family Services. It was the highest number since the fiscal year ending in 2005, when the number was 139 deaths, according to annual reports released each January by the department's inspector general. The lowest it was during that that time was 84 in the fiscal year ending in 2010. (Tareen, 1/6)

ProPublica: California’s Jails Are In A Deadly Crisis. Here’s How Experts Suggest Fixing Them.
Nearly a decade after California overhauled its prison and jail system, policymakers are considering reforms to the state’s landmark criminal justice transformation, calling for more oversight of county sheriffs and higher standards for inmate care. Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he is crafting plans focused on local lockups, where homicides have surged, and exploring how to give the state more power to oversee the sheriffs who run them. More details are expected this week when the governor unveils his state budget proposal. (Pohl and Gabrielson, 1/6)

The Star Tribune: Walz Seeks Peace With Counties Over $10M In DHS Payment Glitches 
Amid a backlash from local officials across Minnesota, the Walz administration has begun to mend fences with counties that were asked to repay the state nearly $10 million for payment errors created by the state Department of Human Services (DHS). Gov. Tim Walz recently told county leaders that he would work with the Legislature so that counties would not be on the hook for the payments, which came to light in a surprise DHS announcement in mid-November that asked counties to retroactively pay for chemical dependency treatment and some foster care placements. (Howatt, 1/6)

The Washington Post: Bed Bugs Are Released Inside A Pennsylvania Walmart
Pennsylvania State Police are searching for the pest who left bedbugs in a Walmart. A store manager of a Washington Township, Pa., Walmart found a closed pill bottle containing live bugs in a boy’s jacket that was for sale Thursday, according to police. He threw out the jacket and the container without contacting authorities but found more insects later. (Beachum, 1/6)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Jefferson Said It Would Acquire Einstein Healthcare Over A Year Ago. Why Is It Still Pending?
Thomas Jefferson University signed on the dotted line to buy Fox Chase Cancer Center from Temple University a few weeks ago. But another piece of the vast network Jefferson chief executive Stephen K. Klasko is trying to assemble has not yet fallen firmly into place. Jefferson’s acquisition of the Einstein Healthcare Network, first announced in March 2018, has been been pending since September of that year, when they signed a definitive agreement. (Brubaker, 1/6)

KCUR: The State Of Health In Missouri And Kansas In 2020 
While Washington wrestles over fixes for bloated drug prices and surprise medical bills, politicians closer to home will continue years-long battles over other hot-button topics. Kansas and Missouri remain among the shrinking minority of states that never expanded Medicaid. Pressure is mounting that could force political compromise in Topeka soon. Meanwhile, Missouri is down to one abortion clinic, fighting state efforts to strip its license. In Kansas, abortion foes are gearing up to ask Kansans to change their state’s constitution after the Kansas Supreme Court ruled last year that women have the right to terminate a pregnancy. (Llopis-Jepsen, Margolies and Smith 1/7)

ProPublica: Inside A Training Course Where School Workers Learn How To Physically Restrain Students
In the year that we’ve reported on restraint and seclusion, we have worked hard to become experts on the topic. We’re not educators, but we are dedicated learners. We read books and studies about how to work with children who have behavior disorders, and we talked to academic experts and researchers across the country about seclusion, or confining students in a place they can’t leave, and physical restraint. We learned by observing, too. ProPublica Illinois reporting fellow Lakeidra Chavis and I spent two days watching a Crisis Prevention Institute, or CPI, training for educators in the Chicago suburbs. (Richards, 1/3)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Flu Season Hitting Children, Young Adults, Cleveland And Cuyahoga County Health Officials Say
Clevelanders getting sick with flu are substantially younger than in the previous five seasons, the Cleveland Department of Public Health reported Monday.Flu intensity in Cleveland jumped from moderate in previous weeks to very high in the week ending Dec. 28. Influenza-like illnesses and confirmed hospitalizations were well above the five-year average, according to a report that Merle Gordon, director of the health department, released to The Plain Dealer. (Washington, 1/6)

The CT Mirror: Nonprofits 'Greatly Concerned' About Prospect Of Emergency Budget Cuts
Connecticut’s largest coalition of nonprofit agencies urged Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration to avoid cutting community-based social services as it seeks to close a small hole in state finances. The CT Community Nonprofit Alliance, which has been pressing Lamont to pump more resources into the hundreds of agencies that deliver the bulk of state-sponsored social services, also questioned why emergency cuts are being considered even as state budget reserves are projected to grow. (Phaneuf, 1/6)

The Advocate: Three Years After East Baton Rouge Privatized Jail Healthcare, Inmate Death Rate Remains High
Concerns about medical care in Baton Rouge's jail reached a boiling point in August 2015 when a group of nurses laid their grievances before the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council, describing dire staffing shortages and inadequate mental health services that advocates blamed for an outsized inmate death rate. An independent consultant confirmed widespread problems and recommended doubling the parish's annual corrections health care budget to about $10 million. (Skene, 1/6)

California Healthline: Fecal Bacteria In California’s Waterways Increases With Homeless Crisis
President Donald Trump, a self-described germophobe, has made no secret of his disgust with California’s growing homeless problem, which he has called a “disgrace” and “inappropriate” and equated to “living in hell.” “We should all work together to clean up these hazardous waste and homeless sites before the whole city rots away,” Trump tweeted about San Francisco on Oct. 26. “Very bad and dangerous conditions, also severely impacting the Pacific Ocean and water supply.” (Alemndrala, 1/6)

The Advocate: Rebekah Gee, Louisiana Health Department Head, Resigns; Read Her Letter To John Bel Edwards 
Louisiana's health chief is resigning at the end of the month. Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a statement Monday that Louisiana Department of Health Secretary Rebekah Gee is taking a new job, which will be announced at a later date. She's the second person to announce plans to exit the Edwards administration on the eve of beginning its second term next week. Maj. Gen. Glenn Curtis, who headed the Louisiana National Guard's adjutant general, announced he is retiring on Friday. (Ballard, 1/6)

The Wall Street Journal: States Weigh Measures To Stop Transgender Athletes From Competing In Women’s Sports
More statehouses are wading into the contentious debate over the participation of transgender athletes in men’s and women’s sports. In recent weeks, Republican legislators in at least five states have drafted measures aimed at preventing athletes from competing in categories different than their biological sex. Lawmakers say they are specifically concerned about female athletes facing unfair competition. (Gersham, 1/7)

Texas Tribune: McKinney, Texas Council Member Faces Possible Recall Over Police Remarks
After the high-profile deaths of two North Texas residents at the hands of police officers, the lone black city council member in a conservative suburb north of Dallas pushed his colleagues to declare a “black state of emergency” this fall. Now that effort could play a role in costing him his job. During Tuesday's McKinney City Council meeting, members are expected to receive a report on thousands of signatures that, if certified as expected, will mandate a recall election against La’Shadion Shemwell. (Samuels, 1/7)

KQED: Left Waiting: Workers’ Comp Creates Lengthy Delays For Californians Injured On The Job
Injured workers in California often wait months or even years to receive the medical evaluations required to get needed treatment, and in some cases to determine the extent of their disability resulting from a work-related injury. The reason? The state lacks enough physicians signed up with the state’s program to serve as experts. (Aguilera, 1/6)

Georgia Health News: Wellness In Rural Georgia: Hope, Hard Work And Some Frustration
Twilley works with Healthier Together Taliaferro, a project led by a University of Georgia outreach unit called the Cooperative Extension, and funded by the CDC. The collaboration is aimed at helping rural counties where more than 40 percent of the population is obese. The goal is to create programs that promote healthy eating and introduce walking paths, bike trails and other innovations that encourage physical activity. Taliaferro (pronounced “Tolliver”) is the least populous county in Georgia, with fewer than 1,800 inhabitants. But its people have more than their share of problems. (Perry, 1/6)

St. Louis Public Radio: A St. Louis Guide To Legal Marijuana In Missouri And Illinois
With totally different laws in the neighboring states, there’s an understandable level of confusion among residents: Why is it easier to get medical marijuana in Missouri than in Illinois? Where can you consume cannabis products legally? How much will marijuana cost at dispensaries? And with the ease of traveling between Missouri and Illinois in the St. Louis region, what are the rules about bringing weed across state lines? (Toler, Schmid and Driscoll, 1/6)

The Washington Post: Gun Reality Vs. Gun Fantasy In Virginia
Let’s talk reality and fantasy in Virginia. Just minutes into New Year’s Day, it rained glass inside Justin Tate’s car, as a celebratory bullet shot into the sky at midnight fell back to the earth through his sunroof as he drove down Interstate 64, not far from the Richmond airport, according to CBS 6 News. Less than half an hour later in the western part of the state, in the parking lot of Kickback Jack’s sports bar in Danville, a 25-year-old woman was shot in the leg by a 24-year-old man during a domestic dispute. (Petula Dvorak, 1/6)

Los Angeles Times: My Classroom Has A Poop Bucket For School Lockdowns
As my students return to class this week, the newest equipment needed for school lockdowns will be there to greet them. It was delivered to my 11th-grade Advanced Placement Language and Composition class in the fall during a lesson on how to construct a thesis. My juniors cheered its arrival and everyone jokingly asked for the right to try the “safety device” first. My public school classroom, like many others in Ventura County — and most counties in California — now has its very own poop bucket. There are few indicators of public surrender that can be applied to an entire country, but it seems clear that the placing of primitive portable toilets in classrooms speaks volumes regarding the mindset of U.S. officials on the issue of gun violence in schools. My bucket of preparation speaks for all to hear: “Shooting in schools is here to stay, so let’s just accommodate.” (Thomas Smith, 1/6)

The Providence Journal: Another Check On Gun Violence 
There are wide disagreements about gun control in Rhode Island, but almost everyone seems to concur about one thing: Joseph Giachello of Westerly should not have been equipped with a gun. Giachello, 66, bought a .38-caliber revolver from a Richmond gun shop and used it to fatally shoot a manager at his Westerly housing complex, a mother of five. He wounded two other women before turning the gun on himself in his third-floor apartment.The man’s mental-health issues had been brought to the attention of police over the years. Westerly police had made repeated contacts with him, making nine calls for service between 2002 and January 2018, some related to mental health. (1/5)

The Hill: Marijuana Policies: A Call To Shift From A Criminal Justice Approach To A Public Health Approach
Despite the billions of dollars, marijuana prohibition has cost society; this strategy has failed to protect communities. Instead, it has caused great harm, particularly for marginalized populations. These adverse outcomes are rooted in policies enacted to tackle this public health problem that has little to do with public health. Marijuana possession continues to be treated as a criminal matter, even though, historically, there are no examples of criminal law solving a public health matter. In effect, this punitive approach has supported mass incarceration for relatively minor offenses, placing an excessive burden on taxpayers, destroying communities, and perpetuating racial biases. (Elizabeth Long and Diana Fishbein, 1/6)

The Hill: The Need For A Stronger Emphasis On Mental Health In Upcoming Election
As the 2020 presidential candidates continue to unveil their vision for ensuring health-care coverage for all, although varied in their approaches, candidates have vowed to provide health-care coverage through several governments or other funding options. While mental health considerations may be embedded in these options, a more robust public discourse on our nation’s mental health crisis is needed. Regardless of political affiliation or position on health-care coverage, the issue of mental health deserves our utmost attention and allocation of resources. (Janice Phillips, 1/6)

The Atlantic: How Much Does It Cost To Have A Baby In The U.S.?
For women in many developed countries, having the baby—not paying for it—is the hard part. Giving birth in Finland, for example, will set you back a little less than $60. But in the U.S., the average new mother with insurance will pay more than $4,500 for her labor and delivery, a new study in Health Affairs has found. For the study, researchers at the University of Michigan looked at 657,061 American women who had health insurance through their jobs and who gave birth between 2008 and 2015. (All costs were adjusted for inflation, and 2015 was the most recent year for which data were available.) (Khazan, 1/6)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Superbugs Threaten Pregnant Women And Their Babies
The patient is nine months pregnant and in good health. With the proper care, she has much to look forward to.But then, her labor becomes complicated and her doctor prepares to perform an emergency cesarean delivery. Suddenly, she’s facing a life-threatening event. Her odds of contracting a deadly infection are high, putting both herself and her child at risk. This may sound like a scenario from the distant past. But it actually may be a glimpse of our not-so-distant future. (Caline Mattar And Megan Foeller, 1/6)