The Wall Street Journal: Senate Expected To Move To Prevent Government Shutdown
The Senate is expected to take the first steps this week toward avoiding a government shutdown on Oct. 1, GOP lawmakers and aides said Monday. Congressional Republicans incensed over videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing fees for procuring fetal tissue for medical researchers have been weighing whether to try to strip federal funding for the women’s health organization in a spending bill that must be passed before the government’s current funding expires on Sept. 30. (Peterson and Hughes, 9/21)

The Associated Press: Senate Dems Likely To Block GOP Bill Curbing Late Abortions
Democrats seem certain to block Republican legislation banning most late-term abortions in a Senate showdown with plenty of political significance but little suspense. Though the GOP controls the Senate, Democrats appeared certain to prevent them from getting the 60 votes needed Tuesday to move ahead on the bill. It would be the second time since this summer’s release of videos involving Planned Parenthood that Senate Democrats have scuttled a Republican effort to curb the organization and abortions. (Fram, 9/22)

Politico Pro: Senate To Vote On 20-Week Abortion Ban
The bill, introduced in the Senate by Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), prohibits abortions after 20 weeks with the exception of rape or incest or if the mother’s life is threatened. Supporters argue that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks of gestation, though the leading obstetric association says the science does not support that. The bill goes to the floor as Congress struggles to find a way to avoid a government shutdown next week amid the Planned Parenthood defunding fight. (Ehley, 9/22)

CQ Healthbeat: Abortion Vote A Prelude To Senate's Shutdown Watch
The Senate will start its week debating abortion, but it’s far from certain Tuesday’s symbolic vote will diffuse the tension over Planned Parenthood funding enough to avert a government shutdown. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is following through on a promise made to social conservatives to line up a vote on a bill to prohibit abortions after 20 weeks, a measure that’s spearheaded in the Senate by presidential candidate Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. (Lesniewski, 9/21)

Meanwhile, on the House side -

The Washington Post: Congress Could Hear From Planned Parenthood On Eve Of Shutdown Deadline
Congress could finally hear directly from Planned Parenthood's leader next week after months of controversy — on the day before it confronts a potential government shutdown spurred by conservatives demanding an end to the group's federal funding. The timing of the possible Sept. 29 hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has Democrats crying foul, accusing Republicans in a Monday letter of "using this issue to force a government shutdown unless [House Speaker John A. Boehner] bows to their demands." (DeBonis, 9/21)

Los Angeles Times: Budget Standoff Puts Nancy Pelosi Back In The Driver's Seat
Over the next week, as congressional leaders try to avoid another government shutdown, Pelosi will exert her rising clout as she tries to use a battle over the federal budget to win concessions from the GOP majority. ... To pass a bill that would keep government agencies and departments running after Sept. 30, [Speaker John Boehner] will almost certainly have to rely on Democratic votes that Pelosi controls. Boehner and his Senate counterpart, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), badly want to avoid another politically damaging shutdown like the 16-day episode two years ago. Government officials say that fight cost taxpayers an extra $24 billion to shut down government programs and then reopen them. Polls show that voters blamed the GOP for the stalemate, hurting the party’s standing with the public. But conservative Republicans say they will not vote for any spending bill unless Congress blocks federal grant money for Planned Parenthood. (Mascaro, 9/22)

And in the background -

The Wall Street Journal: Republican Health-Policy Focus Shifts To Abortion Limits
With little to show for their efforts to repeal the 2010 health law, Republicans have refocused on trying to defund Planned Parenthood Federation of America and tighten federal abortion restrictions. The shift has occurred both on Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. In the most recent GOP presidential debate, abortion was a prominent talking point while candidates mentioned the Affordable Care Act only a handful of times. In Congress, Republicans are weighing shutting down the government on Oct. 1 in a bid to defund Planned Parenthood. And both chambers are voting on antiabortion bills this month amid a crush of other issues. The GOP shift reflects a grudging acknowledgment that repealing the ACA won’t happen as long as President Barack Obama is in office. (Armour and Peterson, 9/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Clinton To Propose New Rules For Drug Makers
Hillary Clinton is proposing new rules that would pressure prescription-drug companies to spend a set portion of their revenue on research and development, one of several ideas aimed at controlling the rising cost of pharmaceuticals. Her plan, to be laid out in Iowa on Tuesday, also would attempt to dissuade drug companies from spending large sums on consumer advertising by barring that from counting as a tax-deductible business expense. (Meckler and Loftus, 9/22)

The Washington Post: Clinton Proposing $250 Monthly Cap On Prescription Drug Costs For Patients
Clinton herself telegraphed the plan with a Twitter message Monday vowing to go after “price-gouging” by drug companies. She cited the nearly 5,000-percent increase in the per-pill cost of a drug to treat parasitic infections. That price hike was profit-driven, Clinton said Monday at a political rally in Little Rock, Ark. The Democratic front-runner said she would crack down on such price increases because “nobody in America should have to choose between buying the medicine they need and paying rent.” (Gearan and Goldstein, 9/22)

The Associated Press: Clinton Adds Details To Plans On Prescription Drug Costs
Health care and the rising cost of prescription drugs are expected to be a dividing line in the 2016 campaign. Clinton’s main challenger, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, has campaigned on the creation of a single-payer health care system and introduced legislation earlier this month that would allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies and let consumers import prescription medication from Canada, where costs are cheaper. (Thomas and Lucey, 9/22)

Politico: Hillary Clinton Taking On Drug Industry
Hillary Clinton will launch a broadside against the pharmaceutical industry on Tuesday, rolling out an aggressive plan to drive down prescription drug costs, a populist health care issue largely unconnected with Obamacare that Democrats want to position front and center in 2016. At a campaign event in Iowa, Clinton will unveil a set of proposals that her campaign says will save well over $100 billion over 10 years — taking those savings mostly from the drug industry but targeting insurers as well. (Norman, 9/22)

The Washington Post: Clinton Vows Cap On Prescription Drug Prices And No Obamacare Repeal ‘On My Watch’
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged Monday to bring down the costs of prescription drugs for consumers, citing the overnight increase of one medication from less than $20 per pill to $750 per pill. “It is time to deal with the skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs and runaway prescription drug prices,” Clinton said. (Gearan, 9/21)

USA Today: Hillary Clinton Unveils Plan To Lower Prescription Drug Costs
The proposal, which she’ll outline in a speech in Iowa later today, would also allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug costs and cap out-of-pocket expenses, according to details of the plan sent out by the campaign. The plan seeks to address a key shortcoming of Obamacare, President Obama’s signature health law, as the Democratic front-runner aims to show how she would put her imprint on it. (Pryzybyla, 9/22)

Reuters: Democrat Clinton To Unveil Plan To Fight Drug 'Price Gouging'
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will unveil a plan this week to cap monthly out-of-pocket costs for specialty drugs, her campaign said on Monday, after a tweet from Clinton accusing companies of "price gouging" sent biotech stocks tumbling. (Stephenson, 9/21)

CNN: Hillary Clinton To Take On Drug Companies
Hillary Clinton will take aim at pharmaceutical companies on Tuesday when she unveils a plan to lower prescription drug prices. Clinton's plan, previewed to CNN by campaign aides, would reform the way drug companies do business, particularly by stopping them from spending government grants on advertising and by allowing Medicare -- and the U.S. government -- to negotiate down prescription drug costs. (Merica, 9/22)

The Associated Press: Biotech Stocks Fall On Clinton Vow To Fight 'Price Gouging'
Stocks of makers of biologic and "specialty" drugs plunged Monday after Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said she'll soon release a plan to address "price gouging" in the industry. It was one of the worst days of the year for the stock market performance of the biotech industry. Clinton's announcement on Twitter followed news that drugmaker Turing Pharmaceuticals in August hiked the price of Daraprim, a 53-year-old drug for toxoplasmosis, a potentially deadly parasitic infection, to $750 per pill from $13.50. (Johnson, 9/22)

Another Democratic candidate also has questions for the drug industry --

Politico: Bernie Sanders Questions Drug Price Spike
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is calling on a drug company to justify a dramatic spike in the price of a 62-year-old drug that was reported Sunday. One day before rival Hillary Clinton is set to propose a plan to rein in high costs for specialty drugs, Sanders in a letter to Turing Pharmaceuticals demanded an explanation for why the price of a drug used to treat dangerous parasitical infections leapt from $13.50 per tablet to $750 after the company acquired the drug from a competitor. (Norman, 9/21)

The Associated Press: Clinton Says She Won't Let GOP 'Tear Up' Health Care Law
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday hailed President Barack Obama's health care law for reducing the rate of uninsured Americans and vowed to defend it against Republican opposition if she wins the White House. The Democratic presidential candidate kicked off a series of health care events with an embrace of the law, arguing that Republican resistance to the overhaul has hurt working families seeking coverage. She credited the health care law with decreasing the rate of uninsured Americans to the lowest level in 50 years. (Deslatte and Thomas, 9/21)

Los Angeles Times: Hillary Clinton Previews Plan To Expand Obamacare And Lower Health Costs
Democrats facing tough elections have been running away from Obamacare in their campaigns almost since the law was passed, but Hillary Rodham Clinton is taking a different approach. She is embracing it. On the campaign trail, Clinton is leaning into the Affordable Care Act, touting the health insurance mandate as a signature achievement of Democrats as the law — about which the public remains deeply divided — has become firmly embedded in the nation's healthcare system and is delivering sweeping new benefits to millions of voters. (Halper and Levey, 9/21)

The Hill: Clinton Expected To Break With Obama On Healthcare 'Cadillac Tax'
Hillary Clinton will seek to align herself with ObamaCare’s successes and use it to attack the GOP on Tuesday as she begins to map out her long-awaited healthcare agenda. The effort could also lead to a public break with the Obama administration on healthcare for the first time. After months of delivering nothing but praise for ObamaCare, Clinton is expected to weigh in – and oppose – one of the law's most controversial taxes: the so-called “Cadillac” tax. If she joins her 2016 Democratic rivals in calling for the repeal of the tax on generous healthcare plans, she will distance herself from most ObamaCare supporters but also unlock key endorsements from unions that staunchly oppose it. (Ferris, 9/21)

The New York Times: Hillary Clinton, In Louisiana, Gets A Health Care Challenge From Bobby Jindal
Gov. Bobby Jindal, looking for traction in the Republican presidential nomination contest, is welcoming Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday to his home state of Louisiana, where she plans to hold an event stressing the positive effects of President Obama’s health care law. Mr. Jindal issued a statement in advance of the visit, challenging Mrs. Clinton to a debate on the Affordable Care Act. (Haberman, 9/21)

The Washington Post's Fact Checker: Carly Fiorina’s Claim That 307,000 Veterans ‘Died Waiting For Health Care’
Readers asked us to fact-check this figure that Fiorina cited twice during the second GOP debate, hosted by CNN, at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif. The number of veterans who were believed to have died while waiting for care in one Arizona facility was estimated in to be in the “dozens.” Yet this figure that Fiorina used was significantly higher. Is it accurate? (Lee, 9/21)

Politico: How Scott Walker Became An Asterisk
His stunning fall, from top tier hopeful to a so-called “asterisk candidate” who couldn’t break 1 percent in the latest CNN poll, also illustrated the limits of fundraising in a 2016 that was supposed to be dominated by unregulated campaign spending. Both Walker and former Gov. Rick Perry, who dropped out earlier this month, represent a two-man money-couldn’t-buy-them-love club on the sidelines. Super PACs affiliated with Perry and Walker raised millions in the weeks leading up to their collapses — Walker’s alone banked more than $20 million. (Thrush, 9/21)

The San Antonio Express News: Experts: New ACA Tax Will Scale Back Employee Health Benefits
A new tax imposed by the Affordable Care Act that is poised to take effect in 2018 could prompt some employers to curtail or perhaps eliminate health benefits for their workers, experts predict. Commonly referred to as the “Cadillac” plan tax, it will be levied on those issuing, providing or administering employer-sponsored health insurance exceeding certain cost thresholds: $10,200 annually for a health plan covering one person or $27,500 annually for family coverage. (O'Hare, 9/21)

Politico: How The GOP Could Use Obamacare To Gut Obamacare
Forget "repeal and replace." An obscure Obamacare provision that takes effect in 2017 could empower a Republican president to unravel Obamacare — without a single vote from Congress. The provision allows the executive branch to waive big chunks of the law for a state that chooses a different approach to expanding health coverage. It was designed to allow progressive states to go further than Obamacare. Vermont, for instance, wanted to create a single-payer plan. But the tool (known as a "1332 waiver") could turn out to be an important lever for Republicans, especially if they control the White House. (Pradhan, 9/22)

The Associated Press: Wyoming Pays Out Millions To Subsidize Hospitals
Wyoming has burned through more than half of a fund it created earlier this year to reimburse hospitals to cover the cost of treating uninsured patients after lawmakers [rejected] calls to expand the federal Medicaid program. The Wyoming Department of Health says the state has paid $1.3 million to 18 hospitals under the state's new subsidy program since July. The state allocated $2 million for the program. (Neary, 9/22)

Modern Healthcare: Virginia Hospitals Consider Options Without Medicaid Expansion
Some Virginia hospitals are eyeing consolidation as they struggle to stay afloat financially in the face of continued Republican opposition to Medicaid expansion and reduced Medicare rates. ... Last week, the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association launched a multimedia campaign to highlight the key role of hospitals in the state's economy, the financial struggles its members are facing, and the need for legislative relief. The association reported that one-third of the state's acute-care hospitals had negative operating margins in 2013, the last year for which data are available. In rural Virginia, 17 of 37 hospitals operated in the red. Hospitals provided $627 million in free or discounted care in 2013, up 57% since 2008. (Dickson, 9/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Health-Care Providers, Insurers Supersize
Five years after the Affordable Care Act helped set off a health-care merger frenzy, the pace of consolidation is accelerating, transforming the medical marketplace into a land of giants. The trend is under a new spotlight now, as Congress zeroes in on the competitive and cost impact of proposed deals that would collapse the health-insurance industry’s top five players into just three massive companies, each with more than $100 billion in annual revenue. On Tuesday, a Senate subcommittee is set to hear testimony from the chief executives of Aetna Inc., which plans to acquire Humana Inc., and Anthem Inc., which is seeking to buy Cigna Corp., as well as the head of the American Hospital Association. (Wilde Mathews, 9/21)

Politico Pro: Blockbuster Insurer Mergers Draw Scrutiny On Capitol Hill
A pair of blockbuster health insurance mergers worth nearly $100 billion will put the industry under the political spotlight on Tuesday when the companies' top executives face a congressional committee for the first time since the deals were announced this summer. The CEOs of Anthem and Aetna — which are proposing to swallow up Cigna and Humana, respectively — will try to convince a Senate Judiciary subcommittee that reducing the number of large, national insurance companies from five down to three won't hurt consumers. But the huge mergers have raised concerns that consumers will get stuck with fewer choices and higher prices when they shop for coverage. (Demko, 9/21)

Reuters: 2nd Circuit Urged To Revive Psychiatrists' Case Against Anthem
A panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday weighed whether to revive a lawsuit filed by the American Psychiatric Association and individual psychiatrists accusing a healthcare insurer of discriminating against patients with mental health conditions. The APA sued Anthem Health Plans Inc and its affiliates in 2013, claiming its policies were designed to pay less for mental health treatments than more general medical care. For example, Anthem allegedly did not allow psychiatrists to bill for psychotherapy on the same days they provided non-mental-health services. (Pierson, 9/21)

The Denver Post: DaVita Aims Bigger As Health Care Industry Grows Smaller
As fewer players control more of the health care industry, kidney-care giant DaVita HealthCare Partners is putting its weight behind being a consolidator. The Denver-based company, which has business divisions centered in renal care and a burgeoning primary and specialty care network, on Monday announced plans to acquire The Everett Clinic, a 20-site medical practice in Snohomish County, Wash., just north of Seattle. (Wallace, 9/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Nonprofit Reacquires Rights To Tuberculosis Drug After Hefty Price Hike
An Indiana not-for-profit has bought back the rights to a tuberculosis drug it sold to a small drug company just three weeks ago, amid outcry after a hefty price increase by the company. Rodelis Therapeutics had raised the price of the drug, Cycloserine, to $10,800 for a supply of 30 pills, up from about $480 that the Purdue Research Foundation had charged, the foundation said. (Rockoff, 9/21)

The Washington Post: CEO Who Raised Price Of Old Pill More Than $700 Calls Journalist A 'Moron' For Asking Why
Ever since an HIV/AIDS patient advocacy group began raising questions last week about why Turing Pharmaceuticals jacked up the price for a medication from $13.50 per pill to $750 overnight, anger against the company has been boiling over. The medicine, Daraprim, which has been on the market for 62 years, is the standard of care for a food-borne illness called toxoplasmosis caused by a parasite that can severely affect those with compromised immune systems. Turing purchased the rights to the drug last month and almost immediately raised prices. (Cha, 9/21)

ProPublica: New Court Docs: Maker Of Tylenol Had A Plan To Block Tougher Regulation
Recently filed court documents show the makers of Tylenol planned to enlist the White House and lawmakers to block the Food and Drug Administration from imposing tough new safety restrictions on acetaminophen, the iconic painkiller’s chief ingredient. An executive with McNeil Consumer Healthcare – which counts Tylenol as its flagship product – told the board of directors for parent company Johnson and Johnson about a campaign to “influence the FDA” and block recommendations made by an agency advisory panel in 2009. (Gerth and Miller, 9/21)

USA Today: Insurance, Healthy Behavior Are Key To Reducing Cost Of Chronic Disease
Chronic disease is a modern plague: Nearly half of adults have either diabetes or pre-diabetes, one in three suffers from high blood pressure and more than two-thirds are overweight or obese. These conditions not only maim and kill; they cost the nation hundreds of billions of dollars. Panelists at a forum sponsored here last week by USA TODAY and Cigna agreed that both access to health insurance coverage and healthy behaviors are key to bringing those costs down. The experts stressed that cost-control measures are especially needed in an era of health reform as the nation faces an aging population. (Ungar and O'Donnell, 9/22)

USA Today: Health Care Prices Vary Wildly: What Can You Do?
It’s a frustrating reality of the medical marketplace: Prices are all over the map. If you need an angioplasty to treat heart disease in Birmingham, Ala., it will cost about $15,500. But the identical procedure in Sacramento will cost four times as much. And even within the same Boston-area market, the price of removing a common type of skin cancer can vary by hundreds of dollars depending on which hospital you go to. (Ungar and O'Donnell, 9/21)

The Associated Press: FDA Experts To Review Safety Of Essure Birth Control Implant
Federal medical experts will take a closer look at a host of problems reported with the birth control implant called Essure, including chronic pain, bleeding, headaches and allergic reactions. Essure has been sold for 13 years but the Food and Drug Administration has recently received a flurry of complaints from women implanted with the device, which is marketed as the only permanent birth control method that doesn't require surgery. (9/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Down Syndrome Blood Test Sparks Abortion Debate
A blood test that can predict if a fetus will have Down syndrome is growing in popularity. But since it can lead some couples to end pregnancies, it is sparking a debate. Disability rights’ advocates, researchers and clinicians note that people are now living longer, healthier and more productive lives with Down syndrome, a genetic condition that causes intellectual disability, developmental delays and certain medical problems. (Marcus, 9/21)

Kaiser Health News: Attention Shoppers: New Calif. Website Details Costs, Quality Of Medical Procedures
The site, California Healthcare Compare, was created by UC-San Francisco researchers and Consumer Reports for the state insurance agency with a federal grant from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The site provides information on quality for five common conditions or procedures: childbirth, hip and knee replacement, colon cancer screening, diabetes, and back pain. And it gives cost information — by county for 100 procedures, ranging from treating a broken ankle to cancer chemotherapy. (Feder Ostrov, 9/21)

Los Angeles Times: Consumers Can Check Medical Prices, Quality Scores On New State Website
Lifting some of the secrecy surrounding California healthcare, state officials unveiled a website where consumers can look up average prices for common medical procedures — as well as quality scores for providers. California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, consumer advocates and researchers hailed the online tool launched Monday as the first step in prying more detailed prices from insurers, hospitals and doctors so patients facing high deductibles can find the best deal. (Terhune, 9/21)

California Healthline: Website Will Compare Health Insurance
California Department of Insurance officials have announced a new website that will enable consumers to comparison-shop for health insurance. It's a collaborative effort between the CDI, UC-San Francisco and Consumer Reports, a not-for-profit magazine that conducts consumer product testing and research. The project is federally funded through the Affordable Care Act, CDI officials said. (Gorn, 9/21)

The Associated Press: Framework For Changing Medicaid Patient Billing Close To Law
Legislation designed to change how North Carolina government bills Medicaid patient treatment is close to becoming law. The House and Senate scheduled the floor votes Tuesday on an agreed-to compromise between both chambers that also creates a new state agency that remains within the Cabinet-level Department of Health and Human Services. (9/22)

The Dallas Morning News: Abbott Lets Lawmakers Take Blame For Cuts
Gov. Greg Abbott is letting lawmakers take the heat for any harm to disabled children and elderly Texans that could ensue from cuts to Medicaid payments for therapy. Abbott can do that, and deflect the blame to legislators who ordered up the cuts in their two-year budget, primarily because Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick won’t join the howls coming from nine other key lawmakers who sit with Patrick on the Legislative Budget Board. (Garrett, 9/21)

The Texas Tribune: State Didn't Study Budget Cuts For Children's Therapy
Lawyers for the state were again in Travis County court on Monday defending deep cuts made by state lawmakers to a speech and physical therapy program for poor and disabled children. Therapists and families have now sued the Texas Health and Human Services Commission twice over the impending budget cuts, which they say will force health professionals to drop out of the program and illegally jeopardize care for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents. (Walters, 9/21)

The Des Moines Register: Judge: Branstad Can Be Sued For Mental Hospital Closure
Democratic legislators and the leader of the state workers’ union have the right to sue Gov. Terry Branstad over his closure of two state mental hospitals, a judge has ruled. Branstad ordered in January that the state mental hospitals at Clarinda and Mount Pleasant be closed by mid-summer. He contends the facilities were outdated and inefficient, but critics say he put patients at risk by moving too quickly to shutter the hospitals before adequate alternatives were in place. (Leys, 9/21)

Reuters: Adventist Health System To Pay $118M To Settle Fraud Claims
Florida-based healthcare system Adventist Health System has agreed to pay $118.7 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that accused it of paying kickbacks to doctors in exchange for referrals, attorneys for the plaintiffs announced on Monday. The agreement comes in a lawsuit filed by three former employees of Adventist's Park Ridge Health hospital in Hendersonville, North Carolina, in 2012. It also resolves claims in a separate 2013 lawsuit containing similar accusations. (Pierson, 9/21)

Georgia Health News: Report Criticizes State's Overdue Patient Transfers
Georgia continues to show a lack of progress in moving people with developmental disabilities out of state-run hospitals, an independent monitor says. The report by independent reviewer Elizabeth Jones, filed in federal court, said just four individuals with developmental disabilities have moved to community settings in the past year. “This is especially troubling because 266 individuals are still confined to state hospitals,” Jones said in her report, dated Sept. 17. (Miller, 9/21)

The San Jose Mercury News: Prime Healthcare Sues California Attorney General Harris Over Failed Hospital Bid
Still smarting over its failed $843 million bid to buy the Daughters of Charity Health System, a Southern California hospital company on Monday sued California Attorney General Kamala Harris, alleging she abused her constitutional powers by imposing unprecedented conditions on the sale and placing the interests of a labor union over the health care needs of communities across the state. (Seipel, 9/21)

Heartland Health Monitor: Nurses At Two Area KC Hospitals Reach Tentative Pact With HCA
Registered nurses at 17 HCA-owned hospitals in five states, including two in the Kansas City area, have tentatively approved a new collective bargaining pact covering wages, staffing, scheduling and workplace safety. Nurses at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo., have ratified the agreement and nurses at Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park are scheduled to vote on it later Monday. (Margolies and Smith, 9/21)

Kaiser Health News: From Pills To Pins: Oregon Is Changing How It Deals With Back Pain
Oregon wants more patients to take this approach. Denise Taray, coordinator of the Oregon Pain Management Commission, says Medicaid’s traditional way of dealing with back pain involved advising bed rest and prescribing painkillers. "The only thing that might have been covered in the past was narcotics," Taray says. "But treatments such as acupuncture, chiropractor, massage therapy, physical therapy and rehab would never have been covered.” (Foden-Vencil, 9/22)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: As School Nurse Duties Grow, Number Stagnate
The Kansas Legislature’s in-house auditors released an efficiency study of Topeka’s Auburn-Washburn USD 437 in July, part of a series of school district audits commissioned by lawmakers looking to cut public education costs for kindergarten through 12th grade. One of the auditors’ findings was that the district could save about $68,000 in salary and benefits and the state could save an additional $9,000 in pension contributions if Auburn-Washburn replaced four of its 10 school nurses with “health aides.” (Marso, 9/21)

Modern Healthcare: 1.5M Patient Records Exposed On Cloud-Based Backup Service
Patient records on insurance claims were accessed on a cloud-based backup service, according to the software provider. The breach exposed records of public agencies in California, Kansas and Utah. The data included police injury reports, drug tests, detailed doctor visit notes and Social Security numbers. A statement from Systema Software indicated that, “a single individual gained unapproved access into our data storage system.” (Conn, 9/21)

North Carolina Health News: Gambling Wagers Pay Community-Health Dividends For Eastern Band Of Cherokee
Enter the front foyer of the Cherokee Indian Hospital, look to your right, and there you’ll see a large placard that reads, “Ni-hi tsa-tse-li,” which translates to, “This belongs to you.” It was mounted in 2002, when the Cherokee tribe took over administration of the hospital from the federal Department of Health and Human Services’ Indian Health Service. But that placard may soon be moving, because in a couple of months members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will begin receiving care in a new, $80 million, 155,000-square-foot hospital right next door. (Sisk, 9/21)

The Boston Globe: State Identifies Nursing Homes Cited For Misleading Alzheimer's Ads
State regulators Monday released the names of 51 Massachusetts nursing homes recently cited for advertising dementia care services when they don’t actually offer such care, or have not submitted paperwork to verify they are in compliance. The list includes nursing homes from across the state, and some that are generally well-regarded for their dementia care services. (Lazar, 9/22)

Reuters: Pittsburgh Hospital Looks For Mold Source After Three Deaths
A Pittsburgh hospital is working to find and eradicate the source of a rare mold that may have contributed to the deaths of three transplant patients and left a fourth person in "guarded condition," a hospital spokeswoman said on Monday. Concern over mold at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian flared in early September when mold was discovered in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit, forcing the hospital to move 18 patients. (Daley, 9/21)

The Chicago Tribune: Hospital Owner To Plead Guilty To Perjury
The onetime owner of the defunct Edgewater Medical Center plans to plead guilty to a criminal perjury charge stemming from the hospital's 2002 collapse amid a massive fraud scheme, federal prosecutors revealed in court Monday. Peter Rogan, who was returned to Chicago three months ago after spending years fighting extradition from Canada, has reached the deal with prosecutors in exchange for a sentence of at least one year in prison, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said. He faces up to 21 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. Edgewater Medical Center closed in December 2001 after charges alleged a massive health care fraud involving the payment of kickbacks for patient referrals and medically unnecessary hospital admissions, tests and services. Several doctors and employees were convicted in a scheme that prosecutors said cost Medicare and Medicaid tens of millions of dollars. (Meisner, 9/21)

The Washington Post: The Success Of The Affordable Care Act Is A Hugely Inconvenient Truth For Its Opponents
Remember how much Republicans wanted to repeal Obamacare? The Republican majority in the House of Representatives has voted more than 50 times to repeal the law. Conservatives have twice brought challenges to the Supreme Court .... Some suggest that the calls for repealing Obamacare are fading. ... Maybe, but don’t count on it. [Jeb Bush's] team of economists stresses that repealing the Affordable Care Act will be an “important means of enhancing economic growth.” Front-runner Donald Trump said just last week that he was going to replace Obamacare with “DonaldCare,” which would be both “absolutely great” and “really spectacular.” Repealing health-care reform remains a prominent talking point for ... Sen. Ted Cruz. (Jared Bernstein, 9/21)

Tampa Bay Times: Governor, Lawmakers Responsible For Florida's Health Care Mess
As Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature look to pin down responsibility for the state's rising health care costs for the poor and uninsured, they should look in the mirror. It's not the hospitals, which are their favorite target. It's the Medicaid managed care system they created that is costing money rather than saving money. It's their refusal to accept billions in federal dollars to subsidize health coverage for more low-income Floridians. And it's their failure to create an economy that produces enough good-paying jobs that offer private insurance that employees can afford. (9/21)

Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Falls Behind On Access To Health Care
All of Utah's pride over being rated as a well-managed state is falsely placed when it sees itself falling behind the rest of the nation in a key measure of building a decent society. Not all that far behind, arguably. And Utah is moving in the right direction. But the progress that has been seen here is in spite of local actions, not because of them. New U.S. Census figures show that an important measure of progress in the United States — the number of people who lack health insurance — is creeping slowly downward. (9/21)

The New York Times' The Upshot: Prescription Drug Costs Are Rising As A Campaign Issue
Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Rodham Clinton are trying to make the rising cost of prescription drugs an issue in the presidential campaign. Mr. Sanders introduced a bill in Congress this month, spelling out a host of policy changes to drive down drug costs. Mrs. Clinton tweeted on Monday that her plan would be released Tuesday. ... Here’s why prescription drugs are bubbling up to the top of the Democratic health care agenda: Drug prices are bubbling up. Per capita drug spending increased by more than $100 last year, a big jump. At the same time, a growing share of Americans are being asked to foot the bill for their medicines, even if they’re insured. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 9/21)

Los Angeles Times: A Huge Spike In The Cost Of An Old Drug Reignites The Pharma Pricing Debate
Until last month, patients suffering from the parasite-borne disease toxoplasmosis -- which in its worst manifestations can cause blindness, neurological problems or death -- had reasonable access to a remedy: a six-week, two-pill-a-day course of the drug Daraprim, at a cost of about $1,130. Then an entrepreneurial company called Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired the exclusive rights to Daraprim and raised its price from $13.50 per pill to $750, bringing the total treatment cost to $63,000. For longer-term patients such as sufferers from HIV, the annual cost can go as high as $634,000, according to a joint statement from the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Assn. (Michael Hiltzik, (9/21)

The Washington Post: Why The Pro-Life Fiorina’s Ascent Should Terrify Democrats
In the wake of her stellar performance at the CNN debate, Carly Fiorina has shot to second place in the polls, and her ascent raises a possibility that should terrify Democrats: The GOP might just nominate a passionate, articulate pro-life woman as its standard-bearer in 2016. If that happens, Democrats can say goodbye to their beloved “war on women” rhetoric. (Marc A. Thiessen, 9/21)

The New York Times' The Upshot: Trapped In The System: A Sick Doctor’s Story
We spend a lot of time talking about various metrics of quality or access in the American health care system. The problem with many of them is that they rarely seem to capture the issues that people face in dealing with care. Although many metrics are improving, problems remain that still seem insurmountable. ... The Affordable Care Act, which seems so complicated to so many, was almost entirely about getting more people in the United States health insurance. That was just a first step, arguably an easy one, and we’re still fighting about it. Reforming the ways in which we actually deliver care and try to improve outcomes? That’s so much more important, and we barely talk about that at all. But that’s what matters to the people who use the system, and it’s why so many of them are frustrated.(Aaron E. Carroll, 9/21)

The New York Times' Room For Debate: Is Depression Treatable With A Mobile Phone App?
Thousands of new mobile phone apps have popped up to treat symptoms of depression and anxiety. Though many claim to employ clinically sound methods, critics say that human interaction is key to mental health care. Is it safe or effective to use apps to treat anxiety or depression? (9/22)