The New York Times: Trump Plan To Stop Spread Of H.I.V. Will Target ‘Hot Spot’ Areas
President Trump’s plan to stop the transmission of H.I.V. in the United States will focus on 48 counties where about half of new infections occur, administration officials said on Tuesday. The goal is to reduce new infections by 75 percent over five years and to “end the H.I.V. epidemic in America” by 2030, said Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services, who coordinated development of the ambitious plan, outlined by Mr. Trump in his State of the Union address. New infections in recent years have remained at roughly the same level, around 40,000 a year. (Pear, 2/5)

The Washington Post: Trump Announces Goal Of Ending HIV/AIDS Epidemic By End Of Next Decade
In his State of the Union address, President Trump went beyond the promises of any of his predecessors since AIDS appeared as a deadly scourge nearly four decades ago. He announced a strategy to stop the spread of HIV by 2030 by concentrating as-yet-unspecified resources on 48 counties and other “hot spots” where half the nation’s new infections occur. “Scientific breakthroughs have brought a once-distant dream within reach,” the president said in the latter part of his annual agenda-setting speech to both chambers of Congress. “Together, we will defeat AIDS in America and beyond.” (Goldstein, 2/5)

The Associated Press: Trump Plan To Stop HIV Epidemic Targets High-Infection Areas
Briefing reporters ahead of Trump's State of the Union speech, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and senior public health officials said the campaign relies on fresh insights into where about half of new HIV cases occur — 48 out of some 3,000 U.S. counties, and Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and seven states with at-risk rural residents. "We've never had that kind of 'This is the target,'" said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's pre-eminent AIDS warrior and head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The government has "been trying to address HIV, but never in such a focused way," he said. (2/5)

Politico: Trump’s State Of The Union Pledge: Ending HIV Transmissions By 2030
The State of the Union historically has been a platform for presidents to make bold public health proclamations — many of which haven't come to pass. Former President Barack Obama used his final address in January 2016 to call for an end to cancer. While the cancer rate has continued to decline, more than 600,000 U.S. residents were estimated to have died from cancer last year. (Diamond, 2/3)

CQ: Trump Could Be His Own Biggest Obstacle On HIV/AIDS Plan
President Donald Trump's plan to eliminate HIV transmission in the United States by 2030, which he announced Tuesday night, would be an ambitious goal that would require his administration to reverse course on a number of policies that potentially hinder access to HIV/AIDS care. ... Trump is winning some praise for the goal, and most advocates say that, scientifically, it is achievable. However, the administration’s broader policies, such as liberalizing health insurance regulations and cutting discretionary spending, are at odds with increasing access to drugs and other steps that could end the spread of the high-profile disease. (Siddons, 2/5)

Stat: Can The U.S. End The HIV Epidemic In A Decade, As Trump Pledged?
President Trump confirmed Tuesday that his administration will attempt to end the HIV epidemic in the United States within the next decade — but experts have warned that’s a harder task than his simple pledge suggests. Trump’s decision to emphasize the pledge in his State of the Union address, as Politico first reported this weekend, triggered excitement among public health experts who know that with adequate funding for medications and other scientific tools that great inroads could be made in at least reducing the number of infections that occur in the country each year. In 2017, nearly 39,000 Americans contracted HIV. (Branswell, 2/5)

Stat: In State Of The Union, Trump Tells Congress: 'Do More' To Lower Drug Prices
In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Trump touted his administration’s work to reduce the price of prescription drugs and called on Congress to take further action. But his remarks on the issue were light on specifics — and in some cases, misleading. “Already, as a result of my administration’s efforts, in 2018 drug prices experienced their single largest decline in 46 years,” Trump said. ...Trump was instead referring to a little-known statistical measurement called the consumer price index for drugs, which did show such a decline. However, researchers have found that particular measure diverges with other ways of estimating drug spending. (Swetlitz, 2/5)

Stat: Democrats Can’t Decide How To React To Trump’s Call For ‘More’ On Drug Pricing
President Trump on Tuesday left Congress a two-syllable mandate on the issue of prescription drug pricing: “Do more.” To some Democrats, the words presented an open invitation to collaborate. Others were left confused as to what, exactly, the White House wants. In conversations with reporters following Trump’s second State of the Union address, the divide among Trump’s opposition party was apparent — between lawmakers prepared to cross partisan lines, those entirely opposed to Trump’s approach, and others waiting for more detailed direction. (Florko and Facher, 2/6)

The Associated Press: Fact Check: Trump On Prescription Drug Pricing
Trump is selectively citing statistics to exaggerate what seems to be a slowdown in prices. A broader look at the data shows that drug prices are still rising, but more moderately. Some independent experts say criticism from Trump and congressional Democrats may be causing pharmaceutical companies to show restraint. The Consumer Price Index for prescription drugs shows a 0.6 percent reduction in prices in December 2018 when compared with December 2017, the biggest drop in nearly 50 years. The government index tracks a set of medications including brand drugs and generics. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 2/5)

Kaiser Health News: In State Of The Union Address, Trump Vows To Lower ‘Unfair’ Drug Prices
It was not the centerpiece, but health was a persistent theme in President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address at the Capitol on Tuesday night. Although the administration has focused more on issues of trade, taxes and immigration, the president laid out a series of health-related goals, including some that even Democrats indicated could be areas of bipartisan negotiation or compromise. Trump vowed to take on prescription drug prices, pursue an end to the HIV epidemic and boost funding for childhood cancers. (Rovner, 2/6)

Politico: Democrats Bat Away Trump's Olive Branch On Drug Pricing
President Donald Trump keeps telling Democrats he wants a big bipartisan drug pricing deal. But Democrats don't believe him — and are rolling out a series of bills that would set the framework for talks far to the left, defying Trump to stand in the way. At the center of that effort is empowering Medicare to directly negotiate drug prices — a top liberal priority that's faced near-universal opposition from Republicans, yet won Trump's support when he ran for president. (Cancryn and Owermohle, 2/5)

Reuters: Trump Asks U.S. Congress To Prohibit Late-Term Abortion
U.S. President Donald Trump called for curbs on late-term abortion in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, citing controversies over the issue in New York and Virginia. Using emotive language, Trump waded into what has long been a divisive issue in American politics, even though the procedure was legalized in a Supreme Court ruling more than 40 years ago. (2/6)

The Hill: Trump Calls On Congress To Ban 'Late-Term' Abortions 
“To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking the Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother's womb,” Trump said during his speech. (Hellmann, 2/5)

The Hill: 7 Memorable Moments From Trump's State Of The Union 
The president’s comments received applause from Republicans in the room. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) stood and clapped, but most Democrats remained seated. Supreme Court Justices could be seen briefly on camera, and held neutral expressions. (Samuels, 2/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Abrams Targets Trump’s Immigration Policy In Democratic Response
Ms. Abrams sought to draw a contrast between Democrats’ support for border security with some of the administration’s most controversial practices, including separating families that cross into the U.S. illegally. “We know bipartisanship could craft a 21st century immigration plan, but this administration chooses to cage children and tear families apart,” she said. “Democrats stand ready to effectively secure our ports and borders. But we must all embrace that from agriculture to health care to entrepreneurship, America is made stronger by the presence of immigrants—not walls.” (Peterson and Andrews, 2/5)

The Associated Press: AP Fact Check: Abrams On Children In Cages
A look at one of Democrat Stacey Abrams' statements from her response to President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday night and how it compares with the facts. "We know bipartisanship could craft a 21st century immigration plan but this administration chooses to cage children and tear families apart," [Abrams said.] The cages that Abrams mentions are actually chain-link fences and the Obama administration used them, too. (Long, 2/5)

The Hill: Pelosi Knocks Trump Speech: 'Completely Ignored The Gun Violence Epidemic' 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) panned President Trump's State of the Union address late Tuesday, noting that for all his warnings about threats against the United States, he did not discuss "the gun violence epidemic." "It will take days to fact-check all the misrepresentations that the President made tonight," Pelosi said in a statement after Trump's speech. "Instead of fear-mongering and manufacturing a crisis at the border, President Trump should commit to signing the bipartisan conference committee’s bill to keep government open and provide strong, smart border security solutions. (Samuels, 2/6)

The New York Times: Trump Asks For Unity, But Presses Hard Line On Immigration
Republicans jumped to their feet at the president’s calls to curb immigration, limit late-term abortions and ensure that the United States does not turn to socialism, even chanting “U-S-A, U-S-A” a couple of times as if at a Trump campaign rally. “That sounds so good,” he exulted. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, sitting behind Mr. Trump for the first time, and other Democrats largely remained in their seats without applauding and expressed only tepid enthusiasm even for his mention of goals intended to appeal to them, like infrastructure and paid parental leave. Ms. Pelosi maintained a polite, even amused smile on her face for much of the speech. But the evening was filled with political theater as the president introduced World War II veterans, Holocaust survivors, the Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, a 10-year-old cancer survivor, a police officer shot seven times at last fall’s synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh and the teary-eyed relatives of a couple killed by an illegal immigrant, all sitting with the first lady, Melania Trump. (Baker, 2/5)

The Washington Post: In Dissonant State Of The Union Speech, Trump Seeks Unity While Depicting Ruin
Rare moments of joint applause came when Trump touted the bipartisan criminal justice law he signed in December, vowed to fight childhood cancer and committed to eliminating HIV in 10 years. Trump began and ended his 82-minute speech with a unifying tone that was in conflict with many of his own actions and statements, especially over the past month, one of the more contentious of his presidency. (Rucker and Olorunnipa, 2/5)

NPR: State Of The Union: 7 Takeaways From President Trump's Address
Each of the past three presidents had lost the House at some point during their presidency. And every one of them that came before Trump — Bill Clinton in 1995, George W. Bush in 2007 and Barack Obama in 2011 — nodded to that change. Not Trump. Instead, he barreled ahead with pitching his agenda. (Montanaro, 2/6)

Politico: Trump Calls For Unity — On His Terms
The Democrats in the audience — many of whom wore white, the color of the suffragettes, in protest of Trump — spent much of the speech on their hands, shaking their heads and even groaning aloud. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) was caught sighing and rolling her eyes — and immediately pounced on the moment to raise money for her presidential campaign. (Restuccia and Caygle, 2/5)

The Washington Post: Fact-Checking President Trump’s 2019 State Of The Union Address
“Nearly 5 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps.” About 3.6 million people (not nearly 5 million) have stopped receiving food stamps since February 2017, according to the latest data. But experts say the improvement in the economy may not be the only reason for the decline. Several states have rolled back recession-era waivers that allowed some adults to keep their benefits for longer periods of time without employment. Reports have also suggested immigrant families with citizen children have dropped out of the program, fearing the administration’s immigration policies. Moreover, the number of people collecting benefits has been declining since fiscal 2014. (Kessler, Rizzo and Kelly, 2/5)

Bloomberg: State Of The Union 2019: Trump Yields No Ground To Dems In Speech 
He offered no improvements to Obamacare, let alone assurances he won’t further weaken the law through regulation. He said nothing about a middle-class tax cut he abruptly proposed shortly before the midterm elections, then just as abruptly abandoned after Democrats took the House. ... He floated a handful of ambitious policy goals that would appeal to a broad swath of Americans: lowering prescription drug prices; ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S.; enacting paid family leave. (Taley and Niguette, 2/5)

The Associated Press: House Democrats Getting Down To The Grunt Work Of Governing
A House committee will hold its first hearing on gun violence in years. Two others will gavel in to address climate change. And three more will debate protecting pre-existing health conditions and the Affordable Care Act. That's before noon on Wednesday. After eight years in the minority, House Democrats are about to uncork their bottled-up legislative energy. The agenda goes beyond oversight of President Donald Trump’s administration and Russian election interference to the bread-and-butter issues of jobs, health care and the economy. Far from the House floor, the grunt work of governing will play out in the confines of the committee rooms, on the day after Trump’s State of the Union address. (2/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Democratic Presidential Hopefuls Amplify Income Inequality Message
Several prominent Democrats are pressing for redistributing wealth to low-income families in a bid to make income inequality a defining term of the 2020 presidential elections. Democrats often seek to raise taxes on the wealthy or increase spending on programs that touch low-income households, such as education, health care or housing. The latest effort is more far-reaching and aims to move supplemental cash directly into the hands of low-income Americans. (Hackman, 2/6)

CNBC: Medicare For All Could Take Center Stage In 2020. What That Means
Americans say they want better health care. How that will happen is still up in the air. Enter Medicare for All, a term that increasingly is being used by health-care advocates, politicians and aspiring presidential candidates. The concept is the latest iteration of a complex discussion about medicine that goes back decades. The current goal: To come up with something better than the Affordable Care Act when it comes to giving more individuals access to care and reducing what they pay, while putting fewer burdens on medical industry. (Konish, 2/5)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Opioid Crisis: Feds Warn 180 Wisconsin Providers About Prescriptions
Federal prosecutors have warned 180 Wisconsin doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners that they have been prescribing more painkillers than their peers. In a news release, Matt Krueger and Scott Blader, the U.S. attorneys for Wisconsin's eastern and western districts, said letters warned the prescribers they might be putting the deadly opioids into illegal markets and fueling addictions. (Vielmetti, 2/5)

Pioneer Press: After Talk With Drug Makers, Walz Says He Wants Bill With Opioid Fee On His Desk 
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz expects to sign “meaningful legislation” this year to address the growing opioid epidemic that will include new money from drug makers for treatment and prevention. Bills have already been introduced in both chambers of the state Legislature and one proposal in the House cleared its first committee hearing last week. Walz reiterated his support for the proposals Tuesday after a conference call with undisclosed drug company executives. (Magan, 2/5)

Arizona Republic: Phoenix Clinic Offers Methadone And Suboxone 24/7 To Give Up Opioids
People desperate to give up opioids are flocking to a bursting-at-the-seams methadone clinic in north Phoenix in such large numbers that clinic leaders are adding locations to handle the demand. But the soaring client numbers have the clinic's neighbors pushing back over the crowds of people and cars at the facility. (Innes, 2/5)

Boston Globe: New Hampshire’s Opioid Crisis Looms Over Marijuana Legalization Debate
Over four hours, dozens implored the House of Representatives’ public safety committee to either join, or stand apart from, the state’s neighbors on all sides — Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, and Canada — which have legalized pot. The bipartisan bill, sponsored by Democratic state Representative Renny Cushing and cosponsored by 11 others in the House and Senate, would legalize, tax, and regulate pot sales. Currently, possession of marijuana up to three-quarters of an ounce is decriminalized. (Martin, 2/6)

The Associated Press: Accused Doc's Wife Among Nurses Named In Wrongful-Death Suit
A wrongful-death lawsuit against an Ohio doctor accused of ordering potentially fatal doses of pain medication for hospital patients alleges a nurse now married to him administered one of the excessive doses he ordered in 2015. It's among the growing list of at least a dozen cases brought since the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System found intensive care doctor William Husel ordered potentially fatal doses for at least 28 patients over several years, mostly at Mount Carmel West hospital. (2/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Texas Hospital Giants Cancel Plans To Merge
Two Texas hospital giants called off their planned merger Tuesday, the latest combination to get scuttled in the rapidly-consolidating sector. Baylor Scott & White Health in Dallas and Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, both nonprofits, announced in October plans to create one of the biggest U.S. health systems, by number of hospitals, with 68 hospitals and nearly $15 billion in yearly revenue. Executives touted the benefits and efficiencies that would come from the combination. (Evans, 2/5)

Houston Chronicle: Memorial Hermann, Baylor Scott & White Merger Called Off 
Chuck Stokes, Memorial Hermann CEO, wrote in an email to employees: "Our goal was never about getting bigger. Our goal is to create a model for integrated, consumer-centric, cost-effective care, and I am confident in Memorial Hermann's ability to accelerate and achieve this effort. ...We appreciate the time, thought and care that was invested in this process by so many from both organizations, and extend our deepest thanks to all those involved for their many months of hard work, above and beyond their regular day-to-day responsibilities," Stokes’ email said. (Deam, 2/5)

Dallas Morning News: Baylor And Memorial Are Breaking Up. Here's Why That May Be For The Best
That may prove to be a good thing for patients and the public, health care analyst Allan Baumgarten said. “The track record of these large mergers is they don’t provide savings or higher quality,” said Baumgarten, who’s been analyzing the Texas health market for 20 years. “More often, they’re about raising prices and improving profits. The benefits usually don’t go to patients and employers.” (Schnurman, 2/6)

Politico Pro: Catholic Hospital Mergers Trigger Concerns Over Power, Patient Care Issues
Catholic health care systems are growing in size and political might throughout the United States — a trend that could restrict women’s reproductive health services and other health care not supported by the church’s doctrine. California’s Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives of Colorado on Friday finalized their long-awaited merger, creating the nation's largest nonprofit health system by revenue outside Kaiser Permanente, which also has an insurance arm. (Colliver, 2/5)

Columbus Dispatch: Updated Lawsuit Says Former Mount Carmel Doctor's Wife Administered Fatal Dose
An updated lawsuit in the death of a woman given an excessive dose of pain medication at Mount Carmel West hospital indicates that the nurse who administered the medication later became the third wife of the doctor who ordered it. Mariah Baird, 26, of Orient, is accused in the document of administering a lethal dose of fentanyl to 65-year-old Jan Thomas of the Far West Side on March 1, 2015, “knowing that such dose was grossly inappropriate.” (Viviano, 2/5)

The Associated Press: Mississippi Considers Abortion Ban After Fetal Heartbeat
Mississippi lawmakers are considering what could become one of the strictest abortion laws in the country. Bills that passed legislative committees Tuesday would ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant has said he will sign either House Bill 732 or Senate Bill 2116 , which are moving to the full House and Senate for more work. Supporters and opponents anticipate a court fight. (Pettus, 2/5)

The Associated Press: Appeals Court To Weigh Planned Parenthood's Texas Case
The full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will reconsider whether Texas can eliminate Planned Parenthood from the state Medicaid program. The New Orleans-based court's decision Monday comes after a three-judge panel of the court lifted a February 2017 preliminary injunction that prevented the state from eliminating Planned Parenthood from the program. (2/5)

Dallas Morning News: Abortion, Transgender Health Protections Should Be 'Wiped Permanently' From Obamacare, Says Texas AG Ken Paxton
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked a federal judge to ax health care protections in the Affordable Care Act for transgender Americans and women seeking abortions. On Monday, Paxton and leaders from seven other states filed a motion in federal court to undo rules that bar discrimination based on "gender identity" and "termination of pregnancy" in the act, also known as Obamacare. (McGaughy, 2/5)

The New York Times: ‘A Match Into A Can Of Gasoline’: Measles Outbreak Now An Emergency In Washington State
Measles, declared eliminated as a major public health threat in the United States almost 20 years ago, has re-emerged this winter in the Pacific Northwest and other states where parents have relatively broad leeway over whether to vaccinate their children. Seventy-nine cases of measles have been reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since the start of this year. Fifty cases of the highly contagious disease were in Washington State. (Johnson, 2/6)

The Oregonian: No New Vancouver-Area Measles Cases -- But Don’t Relax Yet 
As the count of people with measles climbs toward 50, Clark County Public Health announced a short reprieve. There were no new confirmed cases of measles Tuesday -- the first time in weeks. However, there are 11 people who display symptoms of measles and are awaiting the results of blood work to confirm the diagnosis. One day without a new measles case might seem an indicator of hope the outbreak is over, but it unfortunately doesn’t necessarily indicate the end. (Harbarger, 2/5)

The New York Times: When Religion Leads To Trauma
“We think of church as a place of healing and transformation, and it is,” says Michael Walrond Jr., co-pastor of the First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem. But for some, he says, “religion has been more bruising and damaging than healing and transformative. ”Pastor Mike, as he is called, leads services in a renovated art deco movie palace on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. Under his direction, the church has taken a lead in confronting an issue that few other religious institutions have tackled: what some call religious trauma syndrome. (Schiffman, 2/5)

The Washington Post: Federal Judge Orders Chemical Safety Board To Require Disclosure Of Chemical Emissions From Accidents
In a lawsuit filed after Hurricane Harvey, a federal judge has ordered the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board to force the disclosure of chemical emissions resulting from accidents. More than 1,000 industrial chemical accidents take place every year. The biggest include the explosions that killed 15 people at a fertilizer plant in West, Tex., and the explosions that took place at the Arkema chemical plant in the Houston area after unprecedented flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey. (Mufson, 2/5)

The New York Times: Can You Get Too Much Exercise? What The Heart Tells Us
Many middle-aged marathon runners and other endurance athletes are familiar with concerns from their loved ones — and occasionally their physicians — that they might be exercising too much and straining or harming their hearts. For all of them, a large-scale study published recently in JAMA Cardiology should be mollifying. It finds that middle-aged men who work out often and vigorously do tend to develop worrisome plaques in their cardiac arteries. But those men also are less likely than more sedentary people to die prematurely from a heart attack or other cause. (Reynolds, 2/6)

Stat: New Voices At The Bedside: Amazon, Google, Microsoft, And Apple 
At first it was a novelty: Hospitals began using voice assistants to allow patients to order lunch, check medication regimens, and get on-demand medical advice at home. But these devices, manufactured by Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and others are now making deeper inroads into patient care. Hospitals are exploring new uses in intensive care units and surgical recovery rooms, and contemplating a future in which Alexa, or another voice avatar, becomes a virtual member of the medical team — monitoring doctor-patient interactions, suggesting treatment approaches, or even alerting caregivers to voice changes that could be an early warning of a health emergency. (Ross, 2/6)

The New York Times: Screen Use At Bedtime May Impair Children’s Quality Of Life
Using screens before bedtime impairs children’s sleep and may diminish their quality of life. British researchers studied 6,616 children, average age 12, who reported their use of screens — mobile phone, tablet, e-reader, computer, portable media player, television or game console — during the hour before bedtime. They also filled out a well-validated 10-item questionnaire measuring worries and stresses, social functioning and other determinants of quality-of-life. (Bakalar, 2/5)

The New York Times: New York City Cracks Down On CBD Edibles, Saying The Cannabis Derivative Is Unsafe
For months, the top-selling item at Fat Cat Kitchen was a cookie packed with chocolate chunks, dusted with salt flakes and infused with the stylish cannabis derivative cannabidiol, or CBD. But as of last week, customers won’t find the cookie on the Manhattan restaurant and bakery’s menu. On Friday, a health inspector sealed up the restaurant’s supply of CBD-infused baked goods in a plastic bag and told Fat Cat Kitchen to stop selling them as part of a citywide embargo on food products containing CBD. (Gold, 2/5)

The Wall Street Journal: NYC Cracks Down On Businesses Selling CBD-Infused Food And Drinks
It is unknown how many restaurants in New York City serve products containing CBD, which is a nonintoxicating derivative of the cannabis plant, but more are offering it in drinks and food for their purported therapeutic benefits. The crackdown began in January and has only affected a handful of restaurants. A spokeswoman for the health department said restaurants in New York City aren’t permitted to add anything to food or drink that isn’t approved as safe to eat. The department is following guidelines issued in December from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (West, 2/5)

NPR: Texas Offers Mediation For Surprise Medical Bills
In Texas, a growing number of patients are turning to a little-known state mediation program to deal with unexpected hospital bills. The bills in question often arrive in patients' mailboxes with shocking balances that run into the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. When patients, through no fault of their own, are treated outside their insurers' network of hospitals, the result can be a surprise bill. Other times, insurers won't agree to pay what the hospital charges, and the patient is on the hook for the balance. (Lopez, 2/5)

The Washington Post: Hawaii Bill Aims To Ban Cigarettes For People Younger Than 100
Lawmakers in Hawaii have proposed legislation that would begin phasing out cigarettes in the state, banning them altogether within the next several years. At least, for people younger than 100. The bipartisan bill, H.B. 1509, aims to raise the legal minimum age to use cigarettes to exclude everyone but centenarians by 2024 to “keep people healthy and alive in the Aloha State,” state Rep. Cynthia Thielen (R), one of the sponsors of the bill, said Tuesday afternoon in a phone interview with The Washington Post. (Bever, 2/5)

Arizona Republic: Hacienda Rape Suspect Nathan Sutherland Enters Not Guilty Plea
The former Hacienda nurse accused of raping and impregnating an incapacitated woman under his care entered a not guilty plea Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court. The arraignment hearing was 36-year-old Nathan Sutherland's first public court appearance since Phoenix police announced they matched his DNA to the child born to a 29-year-old female patient at Hacienda HealthCare last month. (Burkitt, 2/5)

Arizona Republic: Hacienda HealthCare: Arizona Governor Asks For Investigation
Gov. Doug Ducey called for aninvestigation into patient care, financial fraud and sexual-harassment claims at Hacienda HealthCare, which operates the Phoenix facility where an incapacitated patient was raped and gave birth. The nonprofit company is also in trouble with two state agencies for not hiring an independent third-party manager as they ordered — an issue Ducey mentions in the letter he sent to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich on Tuesday. (Innes, 2/5)

Concord (N.H.) Monitor: N.H. Seeing Rise In Cases Of Hepatitis A, Often Linked To Homelessness And Drug Use
New Hampshire may be experiencing the start of an outbreak of hepatitis A, a highly contagious liver infection caused by a virus that is often passed on objects, food or drinks contaminated by an infected person. The virus can survive for months on surfaces. The state Division of Public Health Services says that over the past three months, 13 people have been diagnosed with acute hepatitis A infections, including 7 in January, compared to an average 1 to 10 people annually over the past five years. (2/5)

Georgia Health News: Claiming Deception, Two Patients Sue Anthem Over Rift With WellStar
Two Cobb County residents filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, saying the insurer misled Georgia consumers into believing WellStar Health System was in its exchange network when they signed up for coverage. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Atlanta, is the latest chapter in the dispute over the exchange contract between Anthem and WellStar. (Miller, 2/5)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: New Orleans Drinking Water Used To Cool Sewerage & Water Board Turbines, But Deemed Safe
Sewerage & Water Board and New Orleans officials are reassuring residents that the city’s drinking water is safe to consume after it was determined a large amount of treated water circulates through the utility’s power turbines to cool them before heading to the public. They outlined a plan for fixing the issue Tuesday (Feb. 5) that figures into the utility’s long-term aim to eventually use more power purchased from Entergy than in-house power generated from the turbines. State health officials, meanwhile, cited the utility Tuesday for violating state sanitary code due to the turbine-cooling water setup, though they agreed with the utility that the city’s water is and has been safe to drink. (Evans, 2/5)

The Washington Post: Vape Pen Explodes In Face: Fort Worth Man Dies After E-Cigarette Explodes In His Mouth
William Brown had errands to run on a chilly Texas evening, and his grandmother was happy to lend him her light-blue Lincoln Town Car. Brown stopped at a store selling vaporizer smoking pens outside Fort Worth on Jan. 27. He sat alone in the parked car, put his lips to a pen, and soon after, an explosion sent shards of metal into his face and neck, said Alice Brown, his grandmother. (Horton, 2/5)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Metro-Atlanta Sex Trafficking Arrests Rise Before Super Bowl
There were 169 arrests during an 11-day investigation into human trafficking throughout metro Atlanta leading up to the Super Bowl, the FBI said Tuesday. But that substantial number came as no surprise to the investigators involved. (Stevens, 2/5)

Kaiser Health News: Scooter Madness In Austin Puts Safety Concerns In High Gear
University of Texas star baseball shortstop David Hamilton hit a pothole riding an electric scooter, tearing his Achilles tendon and requiring surgery. He’ll miss the season. Cristal Glangchai, the CEO for a nonprofit, hit a rock riding her scooter, landing her on the pavement just blocks from home. “I lost control and ended up getting a concussion and a broken rib,” said Glangchai, a 41-year-old mother of four. (Jayson, 2/6)

The Associated Press: Ex-Tennessee Nurse Accused Of Fatal Drug Swap Error Indicted
A former hospital nurse in Tennessee has been indicted on accusations that she accidentally gave a drug used in executions to a patient who then died. News outlets cite a statement from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation saying 35-year-old Radonda Leanne Vaught was indicted Friday on reckless homicide and impaired adult abuse charges. The statement says the former Vanderbilt University Medical Center nurse's actions were responsible for the death of 75-year-old Charlene Murphey. (2/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Flip The Script: Drugmakers Blame Middlemen For Price Hikes
Under pressure over rising drug prices, pharmaceutical companies are pushing a new defense: They’re not raising the prices to make money but rather to pay a cut to middlemen in the medicine-supply chain. For years, drugmakers justified price increases by saying they needed to fund research and development of their products. But lately they have flipped the script. They say they don’t actually benefit much from list-price increases and their net prices are suffering, because they’re paying bigger rebates to pharmacy-benefit managers that negotiate prices in secret. (Hopkins and Loftus, 2/5)

Stat: Storm Clouds Gather Over Pharma Companies As Pace Of Price Hikes Slows
Pfizer said on Jan. 29 it expects 2019 adjusted earnings per share to be between $2.82 and $2.92, about 4 percent less on the high-end from the Wall Street analyst estimate. Various reasons were offered, including the arrival of generic versions of its blockbuster Lyrica and foreign exchange rates. But the loss of the ability to boost earnings through annual price increases, which has benefitted drug companies for years, was an undeniable factor. Pfizer shares are down 2.8 percent this year. (Herper, 2/5)

Reuters: Merck CEO Frazier To Testify At Senate Drug Pricing Hearing
U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co Inc said on Tuesday that its Chief Executive Ken Frazier plans to testify at a Senate hearing later this month examining rising prescription drug prices. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, ranking member of the committee, on Monday invited executives from seven pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, to testify. The others are AbbVie Inc, AstraZeneca Plc , Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer Inc and Sanofi SA. (Erman and Abutaleb, 2/5)

Chicago Tribune: A Chicago Pharma Company Raised The Price Of Its Skin Gel To $7,968. Now It's Bankrupt. 
A Chicago pharmaceutical company that grabbed national attention for raising the price of its skin medications has filed for bankruptcy. Novum Pharma filed for Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Sunday, saying in the filing that it has “faced a series of financial and operational difficulties” since buying drugs from Primus Pharmaceuticals in 2015. (Schencker, 2/5)

Stat: Allergan Pressured Once Again By Hedge Fund To Split Chairman And CEO Jobs
Once again, a big hedge fund is trying to convince the Allergan (AGN) board to split the roles of chairman and chief executive into separate positions and address “chronic underperformance.” In a brief but pointed letter, Appaloosa Management criticized the board for ignoring the same request last spring and contended its refusal makes the company an “outlier.” (Silverman, 2/5)

Chicago Tribune: A Chicago Pharma Company Raised The Price Of Its Skin Gel To $7,968. Now It's Bankrupt.
A Chicago pharmaceutical company that grabbed national attention for the price of its skin medications has filed for bankruptcy. Novum Pharma filed for Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Sunday, saying in the filing that it has “faced a series of financial and operational difficulties” since buying drugs from Primus Pharmaceuticals in 2015. (Schencker, 2/5)

Reuters: GSK Pays Up To $4.2 Billion For Merck KGaA Cancer Immunotherapy
GlaxoSmithKline bolstered its cancer drug development pipeline on Tuesday, agreeing to pay up to 3.7 billion euros ($4.2 billion) to Germany's Merck KGaA for the rights to a next-generation immunotherapy. Merck will receive an upfront payment of 300 million euros for the drug - known as M7824, or bintrafusp alfa - and is eligible for potential payments of up to 500 million euros depending on development milestones in lung cancer, the two companies said in statements on Tuesday. (2/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Blood-Pressure Medicine Will Be First Product For New Generic Drug Venture
A new venture to supply generic medicines says it will start with a blood-pressure drug that has been hard to get. ProvideGx, the new generic-drug venture, will begin supplying metoprolol in the middle of this month, according to executives at Premier Inc., which unveiled the subsidiary last month. The venture’s supplies of the injectable drug will be made by drugmaker Baxter International Inc. (Evans, 2/4)

Stat: Amicus Has Positive Data On Pompe Drug But May Wait Years For Approval
Amicus Therapeutics (FOLD) said Tuesday that its drug for Pompe disease appeared to benefit patients with the disease in a small trial, a modest but noteworthy milestone ahead of what will be a pivotal trial. “This is an important next step on what’s almost a 20-year journey,” said Amicus CEO John Crowley. Pompe disease is caused by an enzyme deficiency that leads to glycogen buildup and ultimately muscle and respiratory damage. (Herper, 2/5)

Stat: Biotech’s IPO Hopes Hang On A Billion-Dollar Alzheimer’s Company
It has been a turbulent few months for biotech startups trying to list their shares on the public markets. First, a profligate 2018 turned sour for initial public offerings, with the average debutant down more than 20 percent by year’s end. Then, the record-setting federal shutdown forced a dozen or so would-be success stories to sit on their hands as market regulators stayed at home and unpaid. Now, with the government back open, biotech has its Punxsutawney Phil in the form of Alector, a 6-year-old company hoping to convince the world that its novel approach to Alzheimer’s disease is worth a $1.4 billion valuation. (Garde, 2/6)

The Washington Post: Diabetics In Britain Worry A No-Deal Brexit Could Put Their Lives At Risk
Neil Macdougall has had Type 1 diabetes almost as long as he can remember. He wears a pump on his hip, the size of a mobile phone, that drips insulin into his body. It’s as precious and necessary to him as air. Macdougall says he stays on top of his condition. But he’s worried about what happens after Brexit. Nearly all the insulin in Britain is imported, the bulk of it from Denmark. If Britain crashes out of the European Union in March without a deal for how to manage the withdrawal, drugs that keep him alive could suddenly be hard to get. Without insulin, Macdougall figures, he’d be dead in 48 hours. (Adam and Booth, 2/6)

Reuters: Exclusive: Facing Crackdown In Canada, Drugmakers Offered Billions In Price Cuts
Canadian pharmaceutical industry lobby groups, in an effort to head off a planned crackdown on prescription drug prices, offered to give up C$8.6 billion ($6.6 billion) in revenue over 10 years, freeze prices or reduce the cost of treating rare diseases, according to interviews and documents seen by Reuters. Those industry offers did not impress federal officials, coming last year as Canada prepared to expand the powers of a little-known federal watchdog called the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) to reduce the cost of prescription drugs. (2/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Don’t Blame Drug Prices On ‘Big Pharma’
An unlikely bipartisan consensus has formed to blame pharmaceutical companies for high prescription-drug prices. Democrat Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, held hearings this month on drug companies’ pricing practices, while Republican Chuck Grassley has done the same on the Senate Finance Committee. As odd a duo as President Trump and Bernie Sanders already have called for drug price controls, and more voices will join the chorus as the public grilling of pharmaceutical executives continues. (Adam J. Fein, 2/3)

WBUR: As Drug Prices Rise, Is Boston’s Prosperity Based On A Moral Crime?
Prescription drug prices have become a high-profile issue, with a growing clamor from politicians, including Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, seeking to take action. There are many laudable elements in Baker’s proposal to negotiate prices directly with drug makers, despite its narrow focus, but such efforts are doomed to become little more than window dressing. We have a much bigger problem to confront. (Dr. Vikas Saini, 1/31)

Stat: Gilead's CEO Hasn't Shown Up For Work Yet, Leaving The Biotech Rudderless
Gilead Sciences’ CEO Daniel O’Day is MIA, and so is the biotech’s promised return to growth. O’Day, the longtime Roche executive, was named Gilead’s new CEO in December, but here we are two months later and he’s not yet shown up on the job. Commitments with Roche won’t allow O’Day to take over the Gilead executive suite until March 1, a Gilead spokesperson said. (Adam Feuerstein, 2/5)

Stat: Multi-Target Drugs Should Be In The Pharma Pipeline Along With Precision Drugs
recision medicine — providing the right treatment, for the right patient, at the right time — is saving lives. The use of therapies that home in on single targets is helping beat tough-to-treat diseases that were often deadly in the past. But we’re overlooking another class of extremely important and promising candidates: multi-target drugs. Discounting these drugs is a disservice to patients and a missed opportunity for U.S.-based companies to bring potentially game-changing drugs to market. Most drugs on the market today take aim at a single biologic substance, like a protein or enzyme. In contrast, multi-target drugs hit several targets, which is often necessary to do in order to yield a therapeutic effect in complex diseases. (Harris A. Gelbard, 1/31)

USA Today: Opioid Epidemic: Blame Big Pharma, Not Mexican Drug Lords, For Crisis
Over the past two decades, I have seen firsthand the consequences of our crisis. I began my journey into addiction not with an illegal herb or powder from the jungles of Colombia, but from labs found in Connecticut and Ohio, sold by high-heeled pharmaceutical reps, prescribed by my doctors and paid for by my insurance company. After 10 years addicted to opioids, I was finally able to get help, relying on public services such as Medicaid. I have watched friends die from opioid addiction, making me all the more determined to hold manufacturers such as Purdue Pharma accountable and promote ways to end the crisis, providing people with on-demand services, such as harm reduction, evidence-based prevention, treatment and recovery supports. (Ryan Hampton, 2/5)

Arizona Republic: Fentanyl Bust In Arizona Undermines Trump's Border Wall
America is understandably aghast with the 254 pounds of fentanyl seized at the Arizona-Mexico border, reportedly enough to kill more than 115 million people. And guess where federal officials carried out this huge fentanyl bust? At the Nogales border crossing in Arizona. Yes, a port of entry, not somewhere over a border fence in the barren desert. (Elvia Díaz, 2/4)

Boston Globe: No Litmus Test For Single-Payer Health Care
Let’s put this bluntly: If 2020 Democratic primary voters make support of a Bernie Sanders-style “Medicare for all” program a litmus test for their 2020 presidential nominee, it’s time for them to have their collective heads examined — no matter what health care coverage they have. The baseline priority, obviously, has to be this: selecting a candidate who can beat Donald Trump — not the depth of her or his commitment to “Medicare for all,” as single-payer health care now likes to be called. (Scot Lehigh, 2/5)

Los Angeles Times: The Anti-Vaxx Movement Is A Worldwide Pandemic
It’s not quite six weeks into 2019, and it’s already looking like it will be another banner year for measles in the United States. An outbreak in the Pacific Northwest that began in late January continues to spread, with more than 50 cases now being reported. Meanwhile, Texas health officials on Tuesday confirmed five cases of measles in the Houston area — four of them in children under 2. And health officials in New York are still dealing with an outbreak of measles from late 2018 among orthodox Jews who apparently brought the virus back from Israel.The global measles picture is even gloomier. ...All in all, in just the last few years there has been a 30% increase in measles worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. (2/6)

Stat: Cancer Treatment At Home Is Closer To Happening Than You Think
Imagine having cancer and being told that most of your treatment will happen in your home instead of a high-tech cancer center. That may sound preposterous, but it’s closer to happening than you might think. Each year, about 1.7 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer. Within a year of diagnosis, three-quarters of those with advanced cancer end up in the hospital; 1 in 6 are hospitalized three or more times. And nearly everyone who needs chemotherapy spends hours a day in physician offices or outpatient clinics. (Nathan R. Handley and Justin E. Bekelman, 2/6)

The New York Times: Andrew Cuomo: Trump’s Assault On Abortion Rights Must Be Rejected 
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Trump attacked the law that New York passed last month codifying a woman’s right to an abortion, and he proposed federal legislation to roll back the protections provided by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The president’s diatribe was part of the far-right’s escalation of its assault on a woman’s constitutional rights.It’s worth recalling that in 1999, long before he ran for president, Mr. Trump described himself as “very pro-choice.” Today he claims to be anti-choice, and he shamelessly courts the religious right to win votes. (Andrew M. Cuoma, 2/6)

Stat: President Trump Should Open A War On Alzheimer's��
"The time has come in America when the same kind of concerted effort that split the atom and took man to the moon should be turned toward conquering this dread disease.” That was President Nixon in his State of the Union address 48 years ago. The dread disease he was talking about was cancer, the second leading cause of death in the country, and he used the address to open his “war on cancer.” Since then, we have made major strides against that disease. Death rates have been declining for 25 years. Breakthrough treatments and cures are now coming at breakneck speeds. But we have made little or no progress against another “dread disease” plaguing Americans — Alzheimer’s. When President Trump delivers his State of the Union address tonight, he should declare war on Alzheimer’s. (George Vradenburg and Howard M. Fillit, 2/5)

The Hill: Marijuana Access Is Associated With Decreased Use Of Alcohol, Tobacco And Other Prescription Drugs
A significant amount of data has been generated in recent years showing that cannabis access is associated with reduced levels of opioid use and abuse. But emerging data also indicates that many patients similarly substitute marijuana for a variety of other substances, including alcohol, tobacco and benzodiazepines. (Paul Armentano, 2/5)

The Wall Street Journal: The Right Way To Spank A Child
The American Academy of Pediatrics has expressed opposition to “all forms of corporal punishment,” defined to include spanking and also “kicking, shaking, or throwing children; scratching, pinching, biting, pulling hair, or boxing ears; forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions; burning, scalding, or forced ingestion (for example, washing a child’s mouth out with soap or forcing [him] to swallow hot spices).” Child abuse is a serious crime and should be punished as such. The academy is also right to oppose verbal punishment that “belittles, humiliates, denigrates, scapegoats, threatens, scares, or ridicules the child.” But it oversteps when it lumps spanking in with these harsh, heinous acts. (Robert C. Hamilton, 2/5)

Austin American-Statesman: Providing Quality Health Care To Immigrants Is Our Mandate
The immigration debate has continued in our country for decades. Plenty of arguments have been made over whether immigration is a security issue or an economic issue, whether it’s about jobs or public health. As a trained nurse and now the health services administrator at a facility that cares for parents together with their children on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for us this about human beings. (April Green, 2/5)