The Associated Press: Healthcare.gov 'Passive' On Heading Off Fraud
With billions in taxpayer dollars at stake, the Obama administration has taken a "passive" approach to identifying potential fraud involving the president's health care law, nonpartisan congressional investigators say in a report due out Wednesday. While the Government Accountability Office stops short of alleging widespread cheating in President Barack Obama's signature program, investigators found that the administration has struggled to resolve eligibility questions affecting millions of initial applications and hundreds of thousands of consumers who were actually approved for benefits. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 2/23)

The Associated Press: NY Health Exchange Says State's Uninsured Down To 5%
The New York Health Exchange says more than 2.8 million people have signed up for Medicaid and low-cost insurance through its 2016 open enrollment that ended Jan. 31. According to state health officials, federal data show the number of uninsured New Yorkers has declined by nearly 850,000 since the exchange opened in 2013, dropping from 10 percent to 5 percent by last September. (2/24)

Salt Lake City Tribune: Full Medicaid Expansion Clears Hurdle On Way To Utah Senate Floor
Paul Gibbs said his aunt died because she didn't have access to health care and her cancer was detected too late. "As someone who has lost a family member due to them not having health care insurance," Gibbs told lawmakers Tuesday, he believes "Utah has abdicated its responsibility as a family-first state." That argument and others appeared to carry the day as the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee voted 5-1 to send the Medicaid expansion proposal to the full Senate. (Anderson, 2/23)

Deseret News: Senate Committee Backs Full Medicaid Expansion, But Limited House Bill Expected
Last year's most hotly debated legislative topic is finally heating up in the final weeks of the session, with a Senate committee voting Tuesday to advance a Democratic bill calling for full Medicaid expansion. The surprise 5-1 vote by the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee on SB77, sponsored by Sen. Minority Leader Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City, comes as a new Medicaid plan backed by House leaders is about to be introduced. (Riley Roche, 2/23)

Maine Public Radio: Republican Lawmaker Leads New Medicaid Expansion Proposal
State lawmakers have launched yet another attempt to expand Medicaid health care benefits to 70,000 Mainers, including hundreds who are struggling with opioid drug addiction. Republican Sen. Tom Saviello says his plan will rely on $6 million in state money that would draw down $420 million in federal matching funds. ... This is the sixth attempt in the last few years to expand Medicaid, and Saviello is supported by an influential coalition of groups including the Maine Hospital Association, the Maine Chiefs of Police Association and the Maine Sheriffs Association. (Higgins, 2/23)

Bangor (Maine) Daily News/Sun Journal: New Drive To Expand MaineCare Eligibility Begins
Saying Maine should use available federal funds to help combat its opioid addiction crisis, Sen. Tom Saviello, R-Wilton, launched the latest push to expand the state’s Medicaid program, MaineCare. The sixth effort to expand Medicaid eligibility since 2013 is backed by the state’s hospitals, as well as advocates for low-income Mainers and a portion of Maine’s law enforcement community. (Thistle, 2/23)

Bangor (Maine) Daily News: How A MaineCare Expansion Plan Differs From Past 5 Failures
Little has changed since the five previous times since 2013 that legislators — mostly Democrats — tried but failed to expand Medicaid eligibility, notwithstanding vetoes from Gov. Paul LePage. Saviello’s fellow Republicans, who, in general, make up the opposition over fears that expanding Medicaid — known here as MaineCare — would be too expensive for future taxpayers, hold a majority in the Senate. The new effort ... touts Medicaid expansion as a way for Maine to address a drug addiction crisis. And with a handful of Republican governors in other states changing their positions to allow Medicaid expansion, advocates say there is hope. (Cousins and Shepherd, 2/22)

Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune: Bill Would Block Medicaid Expansion For Another Two Years
The state Legislature, which recently defeated Medicaid expansion, is debating a bill that would create a two-year state study of health coverage for low-income Wyomingites – a measure critics call a delay tactic for helping the poor and the hospitals who serve them. But Sen. Charlie Scott, one of the sponsors of Senate File 86, said the measure is a compromise to Medicaid expansion, since the Legislature appears unwilling to extend the federal program to 20,000 low-income Wyoming adults under the Affordable Care Act. (Hancock, 2/23)

The Washington Post: Republicans Vow No Hearings And No Votes For Obama’s Supreme Court Pick
Senate Republicans on Tuesday united behind an official position on how to deal with President Obama’s expected nominee to replace the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia: no hearings, no votes and no new justice until Obama is out of office. “Presidents have a right to nominate, just as the Senate has its constitutional right to provide or withhold consent,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a morning floor speech. “In this case, the Senate will withhold it.” (DeBonis and Kane, 2/23)

Real Clear Health: Tom Daschle On Polarization, The Supreme Court And House V. Burwell
Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader and now founder and CEO of The Daschle Group, talked to RealClearHealth's Karl Eisenhower about the polarized climate in Congress and the nation, and what he recommends to find areas of consensus. ... "[T]he basic question involved here between House and Burwell is the question of delegated authority: Does the Affordable Care Act provide the delegated authority to the administration to make its judgment about the administration of the Affordable Care Act. I believe it does. The Congress made a very deliberate decision when they passed the law in 2010 to give the administration great flexibility. They did that for two reasons. One, because they weren't sure just how a lot of these circumstances could be addressed. And two, there were some very dicey politics involved in many of the decisions, and they really didn't want to have to get involved in those political questions." (Eisenhower, 2/22)

The New York Times: Texas Abortion Case On Justices’ Docket May Have Effects Beyond State Lines
About 20 women came to the abortion clinic here on a recent morning, hurrying past the shouting protesters as volunteer escorts held up umbrellas to shield their faces. Inside the Reproductive Health Services clinic was Dr. Willie Parker, an Alabama native and one of a few physicians willing to face the professional shunning and the personal threats that come with being an abortion doctor in the conservative Deep South. He travels constantly among three different cities, two in Alabama and one in Mississippi, to provide a service that no local doctors will. (Eckholm, 2/24)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Bill Aims To Curb Narcotics Abuse Among Medicare Recipients
Older patients who get narcotics prescriptions from more than one doctor or who fill them at more than one pharmacy soon could have to streamline. As part of an effort to prevent opioid abuse, lawmakers are teeing up legislation that would limit Medicare Part D beneficiaries to a single pharmacy and a single provider for narcotics. Medicaid beneficiaries already are subject to those limitations. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he plans to call a committee vote soon. (Mauriello, 2/23)

CQ Healthbeat: Senators Push To Keep Seniors From Doctor Shopping For Opioids
Bipartisan legislation aimed at blocking Medicare recipients from shopping for doctors and pharmacists likely to prescribe opioids could help address the national prescription drug abuse epidemic, Senate Finance Committee Democrats said at a hearing Tuesday. But they urged Republicans to broaden their approach to encourage more addiction treatment. (Zanona, 2/23)

Reuters: Senators Push Protections For Opioid-Dependent Parents, Infants
Key senators said on Tuesday they are crafting a law that would allow states to use federal foster care funds to help opioid-addicted parents raise their infants. The senior Republican and Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee envision the law as part of a comprehensive effort to address the opioid crisis with increased prevention, treatment and law enforcement. (Shiffman, 2/23)

The Huffington Post: Obama Found Religion On The Heroin Epidemic In Charleston, West Virginia
If President Barack Obama is able to forge bipartisan consensus on tackling the opioid epidemic roiling the nation, it will be with an assist from David Grubb. Grubb is not a scientist working on a breakthrough medication to combat heroin addiction. He’s not a public health advocate arguing for a major investment in recovery clinics. He’s not a member of Congress, shepherding a bill to devote hundreds of millions of dollars to law enforcement and medical facilities. He’s a former state senator in West Virginia who now heads a consumer protection and employment law firm in Charleston. He has a story -- heart-wrenching and all-too-common -- about the toll that heroin takes on a life. (Grim and Stein, 2/23)

Bloomberg: Bad Debt Is the Pain Hospitals Can't Heal As Patients Don't Pay
A type of pain that hospitals thought they had relieved has come back with a vengeance: it’s called bad debt. Hospitals have long struggled to collect bills when patients aren’t covered by insurance -- creating delinquent accounts. The Affordable Care Act was supposed to relieve some of that strain by helping pay for coverage for millions of Americans and expanding Medicaid in some states to cover the poor. Yet while millions of people have gained coverage since Obamacare became law in 2010, there’s also been an increase in insurance that comes with high deductibles and cost-sharing. ... “It feels like a sucker punch,” said John Henderson, the ... chief executive [of Childress Regional Medical Center in the Texas Panhandle]. (Lauerman, 2/23)

Bloomberg: WellCare Rises On Proposed Increase To Medicare Advantage Rate
WellCare Health Plans Inc. jumped as much as 12 percent on Monday after the government proposed raising payments next year for private insurers that provide Medicare coverage. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Friday proposed increasing the rates to private plans by 1.35 percent next year. That rate is subject to negotiation, and will be finalized by April. Thirteen percent of WellCare’s total enrollment comes from the program, the most after Humana Inc., Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Jason McGorman and Ian Person said in a report. (Spalding and Tracer, 2/23)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Genesis Healthcare Explains Business Plan Amid Losses
Since returning to the ranks of publicly traded companies a year ago through its merger with Skilled Healthcare Group Inc., Kennett Square's Genesis HealthCare Inc. has had a rough ride. Genesis' chief executive, George V. Hager Jr., assured analysts Tuesday on a conference call to discuss the earnings report that the company was in good shape for the long haul, despite near-term turbulence in the nursing-home industry. (Brubaker, 2/24)

Bloomberg: Bayer Names Werner Baumann To Succeed Marijn Dekkers As CEO
Bayer AG, Germany’s second-largest company by market value, named chief strategy and portfolio officer Werner Baumann as its next chief executive officer, ending almost two years of speculation on Marijn Dekkers’s successor. Baumann will take over as CEO following the annual shareholders meeting at the end of April, as Dekkers has requested that his contract be terminated early, the Leverkusen, Germany-based company said in a statement on Wednesday. Baumann will retain his current responsibilities. (Koch, 2/24)

Meanwhile, CVS Health reports its drug spending has slowed and talks about its pharmacy plans for Chicago —

Bloomberg: Drug Spending Slowed In 2015 After Discounts, CVS Health Says
CVS Health Corp. said drug costs for its plans grew a modest 5 percent in 2015, far less than the 11.8 spending growth rate from a year before. The company, which manages drug benefit plans for more than 75 million Americans, was able to keep costs down in 2015 by negotiating discounts from big manufacturers and carefully managing its list of covered drugs, CVS’s Chief Medical Officer Troyen Brennan said in an interview Monday. The company also put restrictions on some high-priced drugs, a step that helped keep costs from growing by double digits last year, he said. (Langreth, 2/23)

The Chicago Tribune: CVS Opening Pharmacies In Chicago Target Stores In March
Chicago-area Target shoppers will begin seeing the red bull's-eye logo swapped for CVS Health's red heart above in-store pharmacies starting in March, a CVS spokeswoman said Monday. CVS acquired Target's pharmacy and clinic businesses for about $1.9 billion last year. The first rebranded CVS pharmacies opened in Charlotte, N.C., Target stores earlier this month. (Zumbach, 2/23)

The Associated Press: Missouri Jury Awards $72M In Johnson & Johnson Cancer Suit
A Missouri jury has awarded $72 million to the family of an Alabama woman who died from ovarian cancer, which she said was caused by using Johnson & Johnson's well-known baby powder and other products containing talcum. The civil suit by Jackie Fox of Birmingham was part of a broader claim in the city of St. Louis Circuit Court involving nearly 60 people. Her son took over as plaintiff following his mother's October 2015 death at 62, more than two years after her diagnosis. (2/23)

Bloomberg: J&J Must Pay $72 Million Over Talc Tied To Woman's Cancer
Johnson & Johnson must pay $72 million to the family of a woman who blamed her fatal ovarian cancer on the company’s talcum powder in the first state-court case over the claims to go to trial. Jurors in St. Louis on Monday concluded J&J should pay $10 million in compensatory damages and $62 million in a punishment award to the family of Jackie Fox, who died of ovarian cancer last year after using Johnson’s baby powder and another talc-based product for years. (Bross and Feeley, 2/23)

Modern Healthcare: Clinton Wants To Let States Establish Public Insurance Plans
Healthcare industry groups likely will not be pleased to hear that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has just renewed her call for government-run health plans to compete against private insurers in the Affordable Care Act exchanges. ... But rather than seeking to establish the public option plan through federal legislation, Clinton would “work with interested governors, using current flexibility under the ACA to empower states to establish a public option choice.” That presumably refers to the broad waiver authority under Section 1332 of the law allowing states to establish tailored health systems that achieve the ACA's coverage and cost goals. This may mean that a Clinton administration and willing states could adopt the public option without going through Congress, which may remain under Republican control after the November elections. (Meyer, 2/22)

The Washington Post: In Nevada Caucuses, Trump Gets A Third Straight Win
Donald Trump swept to a convincing victory in the Nevada presidential caucuses here Tuesday evening, the Associated Press projected, building a broad coalition that left his top two rivals trailing far behind and accelerating his march to the Republican nomination. An angry electorate hungry for a political outsider in the White House catapulted Trump to his third straight win in the GOP primary race as the billionaire mogul used visceral rhetoric to tap into anxieties about the economy, terrorism and illegal immigration. (Rucker and Weigel, 2/24)

NPR: Two More U.S. Cases Of Zika Virus Likely Shared Via Sex
Health officials announced Tuesday that they are investigating 14 new U.S. cases of possible sexual transmission of the Zika virus. The virus was confirmed to be in blood samples from two women, using a method that detects pieces of the virus' genetic material, say doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Bichell, 2/23)

Reuters: Texas Hospitals Say They Developed Rapid Test For Zika
Two major Texas health centers have developed what they are calling the country's first hospital-based, rapid test for the Zika virus that can produce results in a matter of hours, the hospitals said on Tuesday. Researchers at Texas Children's Hospital and Houston Methodist Hospital developed the test that detects the genetic material of the Zika virus, which can speed diagnosis and treatment, they said in a statement. (Herskovitz, 2/23)

The San Jose Mercury News: Sacramento Democrats Say They Have Enough GOP Support To Pass Health Care Tax
After months of tense negotiations, Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders have finalized the framework of a tax on managed health care plans that they say has enough GOP support to clear key votes in the Senate and Assembly scheduled for Thursday. (Calefati, 2/23)

The Associated Press: Utah Lawmakers Back Plan To Declare Porn A Health Crisis
Utah Senators have unanimously supported a resolution declaring pornography a public health crisis. Plan sponsor Republican Sen. Todd Weiler of Wood Cross says he is not trying to ban porn. He says he wants to start a national movement so children are protected from it. Weiler says children are being exposed to pornography at an earlier age and that viewing the images and videos lead to relationship problems. (Mattise, 2/23)

The Associated Press: Senate Backs Bill Lowering Age For Pharmacists Vaccinations
The Idaho Senate has backed a proposal that would lower the age requirement for pharmacists to vaccinate children. Senate lawmakers voted 29-5 Tuesday on legislation that would allow children age six and older to get flu shots and vaccinations like tetanus shots from pharmacists with parental consent. Previously, the age limit was 12. (2/23)

The Detroit Free Press: Senate, House Task Force Formed To Look At Flint Water
Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, and Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, have formed the Joint Committee on the Flint Water Public Health Emergency to hold hearings on the Flint water crisis. The task force is expected to look at all levels of government — city, state and federal — to see how the situation happened and look at solutions for both Flint and how to prevent similar problems in the future. (Gray, 2/23)

The Sacramento Bee: Tobacco Tax Push To Delay Assisted Death Law
The forthcoming legislative vote to renew a health-plan tax would seem to be good news for proponents of last year’s controversial bill legalizing assisted death. That proposal, which will allow doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill patients, passed through the same special health care session where the tax deal is now pending, meaning it won’t take effect until 90 days after the session has ended. (Koseff, 2/23)

The Associated Press: Tobacco Tax Hike Cleared By West Virginia Senate
Facing a grim budget picture, the Republican-led Senate voted Tuesday for a bigger tobacco tax hike in West Virginia than Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin requested. The Senate's 26-6 vote sends the bill to the House of Delegates, where that chamber's Republican leadership has been more hesitant to raise taxes. Senate Democrats and 12 of 18 Republican senators favored the tax increase Tuesday. Senate President Bill Cole, who is the lead Republican running for governor, voted against it. (2/23)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: House Passes Bill Scrapping Senate Asbestos Training
The Kansas House passed a bill Monday that would scrap state-mandated training for workers who remove asbestos. The state’s current regulations mirror federal requirements and are therefore unnecessary, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment officials who requested House Bill 2516 be introduced. (Marso, 2/22)

Health News Florida: Lawmakers Won't Consider Medical Record Charge Increase
The Florida Legislature has killed a measure that would let doctors increase what they charge patients for copies of medical records to $1 a page. The proposal died not with a bang but a whimper, tabled indefinitely without ever coming to a vote in the House Subcommittee on Rulemaking Oversight and Repeal. (Gentry, 2/23)

The Connecticut Mirror: Change To Hospital Regulation Again Looms – But Direction Unclear
Health care is changing in Connecticut: Once-independent hospitals are joining larger health systems. Physicians are joining hospitals or larger practices. And some observers worry about what that means for people’s access to care, particularly after recent cuts to services at one Eastern Connecticut hospital. (Levin Becker, 2/24)

Health News Florida: Adventist To Pay $2M To Settle Allegations It Used Leftover Chemo Drugs
Adventist Health System will pay more than $2 million dollars to settle allegations it used leftover chemotherapy drugs. The Justice Department says Florida Hospital’s parent company gave single-dose chemotherapy drugs to multiple patients. It happened at Central Florida hospitals from 2007 to 2011. (Aboraya, 2/23)

News Service Of Florida: Judge Sides With AHCA In Nursing Home Approval
An administrative law judge Monday sided with the state Agency for Health Care Administration in a certificate of need dispute about building a 120-bed nursing home in Polk County. In the certificate-of-need process, the state must sign off on new or expanded health-care facilities. It has become a high-profile issue during the past year, particularly because House Republican leaders have sought to end certificates of needs for hospitals. (2/23)

ProPublica: 'Monopoly' Status Of For-Profit Group Home Reconsidered
Florida legislators are looking to end what one lawmaker calls a “monopoly” written into state law that benefits a for-profit company with a history of abuse at group homes for the disabled. AdvoServ’s sprawling Carlton Palms Educational Center in Central Florida houses nearly 30 percent of all state residents who are in group homes because of developmental and intellectual disabilities and challenging behavior. Roughly 200 adults and children live there. (Vogell, 2/23)

Des Moines Register: Feds OK Medicaid Privatization, With Another Delay
Gov. Terry Branstad gained federal approval Tuesday for his controversial plan to turn Medicaid over to private managers, but not until April 1. Branstad originally planned to make the massive shift on Jan. 1. Federal administrators determined in December that Iowa was not ready to turn the 560,000 poor or disabled people who use the program over to three private management companies. They ordered the state to wait until at least March 1. ... The governor contends that the new system, similar to many other states’, will offer more efficient, effective care. Critics fear it inevitably will lead to deep cuts in services, as the private companies try to make profits. (Leys and Clayworth, 2/23)

Iowa Public Radio: Feds Approve Medicaid Privatization For Iowa
After months of discussion, out of state for-profit companies now have the go-ahead to take over Iowa’s Medicaid program for the poor and disabled on April 1st. The Branstad administration Tuesday received word of approval from the federal government though the date was once again delayed. (Russell, 2/23)

KCCI (Des Moines): Approved! Iowa Can Proceed With Medicaid Privatization
House Speaker Linda Upmeyer issued a statement following the announcement: "With CMS approval, Iowans finally have certainty on the future of Medicaid Modernization. I am optimistic that the move to managed care will bring more predictability to the Medicaid program while also improving the health and well-being of the patients it serves. House Republicans will continue efforts to assist those affected by the transition to ensure that Medicaid patients continue to receive high-quality healthcare. (2/23)

Des Moines Register: Culver To Lead Medicaid Protest Rally At Iowa Capitol
Former Iowa Gov. Chet Culver will lead a rally at the Iowa Capitol at 2 p.m. Wednesday to protest Republican Gov. Terry Branstad's plans to push ahead with the privatization of the state's Medicaid program, which serves 560,000 low-income and disabled people. Pete McRoberts, a Culver spokesman, said the rally will still be held despite an announcement Tuesday that federal officials have given a go-ahead for Iowa's Medicaid program to adopt the managed care model on April 1. "Yes, the rally is still on. The switch is 37 days away and we intend to use each one of those days to make sure that everyone's needs are properly met, particularly if 1 April truly is a hard start date," McRoberts said. (Petroski, 2/23)

NPR: Shortage Of Addiction Counselors Further Strained By Opioid Epidemic
As the drug-related death toll rises in the United States, communities are trying to open more treatment beds. But an ongoing labor shortage among drug treatment staff is slowing those efforts. Each year, roughly one of every four substance-abuse clinicians nationally chooses to leave the job, according to recent research. And that's not just turnover — leaving one job for another in the same field. As an Institute of Medicine report documented in 2006, there's been a shortage of addiction workers for decades. And the demand is only increasing; the Affordable Care Act and other federal laws have given millions more people insurance to help them pay for those services. If only there were enough counselors to treat them. (Corwin, 2/24)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: Senate Passes Bill To Create New Type Of Addiction Counselor
The Senate on Monday approved a bill creating a new category of addiction counselor, after adding an amendment to prevent privatization of Osawatomie State Hospital. Senate Bill 449 would create the designation of master’s addiction counselors, who could counsel people with substance abuse disorders but would have to work under supervision to diagnose substance use disorders. They could be supervised by a licensed clinical addiction counselor, a psychologist or a person licensed to practice medicine or provide mental health services. (Hart, 2/23)

The Associated Press: Hawaii Bill Would Ease Access To Drugs That Fight Overdoses
Hawaii lawmakers are pushing a bill to make it easier to get medication that counteract the effects of overdoses, and provide immunity for people who administer them. The bill would protect doctors, pharmacists, emergency responders and outreach organizations. It also aims to increase education on abuse of opioids, such as heroin and prescription drugs like OxyContin. (Riker, 2/23)

Bloomberg: Abortion Clinics Are Closing at a Record Pace
Abortion access in the U.S. has been vanishing at the fastest annual pace on record, propelled by Republican state lawmakers’ push to legislate the industry out of existence. Since 2011, at least 162 abortion providers have shut or stopped offering the procedure, while just 21 opened. (Deprez, 2/24)

Reuters: Oklahoma Supreme Court Upholds State Law On Limiting Abortion Drugs
The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a law aimed at limiting the use of abortion-inducing drugs, overturning a lower court decision that said the measure was unconstitutional because it did not apply to other medication. Tuesday's decision said the measure did not violate state constitutional provisions aimed at keeping laws uniform across the state, but also said it could compromise public health. (2/23)

The Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio's New Law Would Defund Planned Parenthood: Where Do Things Stand Now?
Ohio has cut off Planned Parenthood from $1.3 million in public support for some of its health services. So what happens next? There isn't an easy question to answer. Both the state and Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio were starting to sort that out on Monday, but the answers might not be settled for weeks. (Higgs, 2/23)

The Chicago Tribune: Chicago Teachers Union Says Outsourcing Nurses Bad For Students
The Chicago Teachers Union wants the district to scrap a multimillion-dollar deal for outsourced school nurses, saying in a newly released report that hiring nonunion nurses puts the system's 400,000 students at risk. The union-produced report says "privatizing the nursing department will create a health disaster in Chicago," and calls on Chicago Public Schools to hire a full-time registered nurse for each school, as well as additional support staff. (Perez, 2/23)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Too Many Pa. Foster Children Are On Psychiatric Meds
Following a report last summer that large numbers of Pennsylvania children on Medicaid, especially those in foster care, are taking psychiatric medications, state officials Tuesday announced steps to address the problem. Those include requiring pre-authorization for antipsychotics, developing guidelines for psychiatric medication use, and creating an "electronic dashboard" that will make it easier for the state Department of Human Services (DHS) to monitor what children are taking. (Burling, 2/24)

Kaiser Health News: Latino Youth In California See Significant Rise In Psychiatric Hospitalizations
Psychiatric hospitalizations of Latino children and young adults in California are rising dramatically — at a much faster pace than among their white and black peers, according to state data. While mental health hospitalizations of young people of all ethnicities have climbed in recent years, Latino rates stand out. Among those 21 and younger, they shot up 86 percent, to 17,813, between 2007 and 2014, according to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. (Weiner, 2/24)

The Columbus Dispach: Mental Health: Task Force Identifies Ways To Improve Access To Care
Twice as many people are seeking psychiatric care each month in Franklin County emergency departments compared to six years ago, swamping the system, and community leaders today introduced a framework for addressing the crisis. (Sutherly, 2/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Nonprofits Grow Wary Of Financial Squeeze
It was just over a year ago when David Rivel, chief executive of the Jewish Board of Family & Children’s Services, got a call that would shape the future of his organization. An official with New York state’s office of mental health reached him at home on a Sunday with an urgent request: Could the Jewish Board immediately take on $75 million in social-services programs serving thousands of the state’s neediest? The call was followed up the next day by an identical one from the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. What led to the phone calls—and the Jewish Board’s decision to say yes—was the sudden closure of another New York nonprofit, Federation Employment & Guidance Service. (West, 2/23)

The Associated Press: San Francisco Declares Homeless Tent City A Health Hazard
San Francisco health officials declared a tent city that has been growing along a city street a health hazard and gave homeless people living on the sidewalk 72 hours to clear the area. The Department of Public Health said notices declaring the area along Division Street a public nuisance and encouraging homeless people to move to city shelters would be posted Tuesday. (2/23)

The Associated Press: Allegheny Technologies, Steelworkers Reach Tentative Deal
The United Steelworkers union has reached a tentative four-year agreement with Allegheny Technologies Inc. after 2,200 workers were locked out more than six months ago. A spokesman for the Pittsburgh-based specialty metals firm declined to comment beyond confirming the agreement, but union president Leo Gerard called it "a tremendous victory for a very brave group of workers." (2/23)

The Philadelphia Inquier: Flu Season Peaking, But Many Hospital Workers Aren't Immunized
Mid-February usually is peak flu season in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and this year is no exception. State and federal health officials say symptoms are widespread. If you're feeling lousy and regret not getting your flu shot, you're in good company - fewer than half of American adults get their annual vaccine. (Wood and Tranquilli, 2/24)

Los Angeles Times: Hillary Clinton Reveals Her Plan To Revise--Not Repeal Or Replace--Obamacare
Since presidential candidate Hillary Clinton quietly updated the healthcare policy page on her campaign website over the last few days, most commentators have focused on the especially notable paragraphs stating that she will "continue to support a 'public option' — and work to build on the Affordable Care Act to make it possible." The policy page includes several other elements aimed at improving the Affordable Care Act, including broadening the accessibility of heath coverage to otherwise excluded populations and reducing its cost. (Michael Hiltzik, 2/23)

Modern Healthcare: Even If Bernie Wins, Healthcare Industry Will Brawl Over Single-Payer
In South Carolina's primary this Saturday, Hillary Clinton might strike a powerful blow against Democratic presidential opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders, putting his single-payer government health insurance plan into deep freeze. ... But regardless of Sanders' political fate, most Democrats will continue to hold out hope for adoption of a Medicare-for-all system to replace the Affordable Care Act. They argue, with considerable evidence, that the ACA has failed so far to make healthcare available and affordable to all Americans. Polls show many Democrats would like to see a single-payer insurance system. (Harris Meyer, 2/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Who’s The Better Drug Dealer?
‘We don’t bid out pharmaceuticals. We don’t bid out drugs. We’re the largest purchaser of drugs in the world, we don’t bid it out,” Donald J. Trump told Sean Hannity on Monday. The businessman added that so-called negotiations could “save hundreds of billions of dollars a year,” which is a campaign promise that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders also make. That sounds awesome, albeit with the proviso that their claims are 100% false. Here in the real world, prices in the Medicare drug benefit and all other forms of U.S. insurance coverage are negotiated. They are already bid out. The difference from the Trump-Clinton-Sanders price-control model is that pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, and other private insurers do the negotiating instead of the federal government. And on Tuesday CVS Health showed how successful this market-based system can be in practice. (2/23)

Health Affairs Blog: Addressing Generic Drug Unaffordability And Shortages By Globalizing The Market For Old Drugs
Dramatic increases in the price of generic drugs have focused the attention of policymakers and the public on the limitations of marketplace economics as a means of managing drug costs and access. In recent years, prices have increased sharply for established products that have been in use for 50 years or more. These include colchicine for gout (50-fold), digoxin for heart failure (6-fold), and isoproterenol for heart rhythm abnormalities (5-fold). In one prominent example, Turing Pharmaceutical raised the cost of pyrimethamine (Daraprim), a 62-year old treatment for toxoplasmosis by over 5,000 percent, from $13 to $750 per tablet. ... This need not be the case, and there are remedies to address these problems. (Alfred Engelberg, Jerry Avorn and Aaron Kesselheim, 2/23)

Outside Magazine: Why Is It So Hard to Serve Healthy Food in Schools?
[T]he rule in our house is only one school lunch per week. It’s not a question of cost—at $2.50 a pop, the lunches at our public elementary school are affordable. It’s matter of nutrition. ... The typical weekly school offerings, however, read like artery-clogging fast food items: chicken nuggets, cheese pizza, pork riblets, beef nachos supreme, cheese-stuffed breadsticks, and (our daughters’ weekly cause for celebration, a New Mexican specialty) Frito Pie. Every time I look at the menu, I have to wonder: If food is fuel for our bodies and brains, and kids are in school to exercise both, why aren't school lunches healthier? (Katie Arnold, 2/23)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: The Truth About Anorexia
There’s nothing glamorous or fun about anorexia nervosa; it’s a mental illness, not a lifestyle choice. In fact, anorexia is the deadliest psychiatric disorder and the cause of significant emotional distress and health impairment. In a given year, females with anorexia are up to 12 times more likely to die than healthy females of the same age. (Stacey C. Cahn, 2/24)