The Washington Post: Tribes Face Food And Medicine Crisis As Shutdown Continues, Lawmakers Are Told
As the partial government shutdown drags on, Native American tribes in urban and rural areas are facing food shortages and a health care crisis because federal funds that stock pantries and provide medicine for diabetes and opioid addiction have been cut off, witnesses told a House committee Tuesday. In addition to the shutdown’s impact on indigenous people, citizen observers at national parks are reporting poaching of wild game such as deer, garbage piled high and trees that have been illegally cut as most park workers remain on furlough, former Interior officials who appeared before the committee said. (Fears, 1/15)

MTPR: Government Shutdown Leads To Program Cuts For Native Americans
Aaron Payment, a board member of the National Congress of American Indians, testified before Democratic members of the House at the D.C. hearing. "This is a crisis like we’ve never seen," said Payment. (Speier, 1/15)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Government Shutdown: Wisconsin's Indian Tribes Feeling Squeeze
The Oneida Nation spends $233,000 annually on its Head Start program, which oversees 152 children at two locations on the reservation. Almost three-fourths of Head Start funding for the Green Bay-area tribe is paid through federal funds — roughly $172,000. But all federal funds flowing to the Oneida and other Wisconsin tribes, as well as Indian tribes across the country, have dried up since the federal government shutdown. (Jones, 1/15)

The Washington Post: FDA Restarts Some Food, Drug Inspections Halted By Shutdown
Hundreds of Food and Drug Administration inspectors and other staff resumed work Tuesday, focusing on facilities that produce higher-risk foods, drugs and devices, according to the agency’s commissioner. Those workers, who had been furloughed because of the government’s partial shutdown, remain unpaid, said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who discussed the move in tweets and a subsequent interview. About 150 of the returning workers are in food safety. Most are inspectors but some work in laboratories and other areas, Gottlieb said. As many as 250 more employees will be resuming work inspecting drugs and devices. (McGinley, 1/15)

The Washington Post: U.S. Lettuce Industry, Wary Of E. Coli, Wants FDA Back On The Job
It’s the peak of the leafy greens growing season in Yuma, Ariz., where irrigated valleys are lush and verdant amid cactus-covered mountains. This is America’s Salad Paradise, which produces most of the fall and winter lettuce consumed in the United States. Locals credit excellent soil, preposterously abundant sunshine and a steady supply of labor, thanks to Mexicans with work visas who cross the border checkpoint and ride buses to the fields. (Achenbach, 1/15)

Politico: States Warn Food Stamp Recipients To Budget Early Benefit Payments Due To Shutdown
State agencies are warning food stamp recipients to carefully budget their grocery purchases once they receive their February benefits weeks earlier than normal due to the partial government shutdown. The Department of Agriculture's backup plan for paying out Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits amid the lapse in funding means it could be 40 days — or longer, in some cases — before additional money is added to recipients' benefit cards. There is also no guarantee about when nearly 39 million low-income Americans will next receive another payment to help them buy groceries. (Bottemiller Evich, 1/15)

KQED: Bay Area Food Banks Prepare To Help Feed Local Furloughed Federal Workers
Two Bay Area food banks are working to help some of the thousands of federal employees who are not receiving paychecks because of the partial government shutdown. The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank is preparing to provide aid to dozens of U.S. Coast Guard workers and their families in Novato's Hamilton neighborhood, totaling about 400 people, said food bank spokesman Mark Seelig. (Golberg, 1/15)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Calling Nearly 50,000 Back To Work, Unpaid, As Shutdown Drags On
The Trump administration on Tuesday said it has called back tens of thousands of federal workers to fulfill key government tasks, including disbursing tax refunds, overseeing flight safety and inspecting the nation’s food and drug supply, as it seeks to blunt the impact of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The nearly 50,000 furloughed federal employees are being brought back to work without pay — part of a group of about 800,000 federal workers who are not receiving paychecks during the shutdown, which is affecting dozens of federal agencies large and small. (Werner, 1/15)

The New York Times: Sacklers Directed Efforts To Mislead Public About OxyContin, New Documents Indicate
Members of the Sackler family, which owns the company that makes OxyContin, directed years of efforts to mislead doctors and patients about the dangers of the powerful opioid painkiller, a court filing citing previously undisclosed documents contends. (Meier, 1/15)

Stat: New Details Revealed About Purdue's Marketing Of OxyContin
As questions were raised about the risk of addiction and overdoses that came with taking OxyContin and opioid medications, Sackler outlined a strategy that critics have long accused the company of unleashing: divert the blame onto others, particularly the people who became addicted to opioids themselves. “We have to hammer on the abusers in every way possible,” Sackler wrote in an email in February 2001. “They are the culprits and the problem. They are reckless criminals.” (Joseph, 1/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Purdue Pharma Family Had Heavy Hand In Opioid Marketing, Complaint Says
The complaint, using information culled from company emails, presentations and handwritten notes, suggests Richard Sackler and other Sackler family members at times influenced the marketing of the company’s opioids, including its signature drug OxyContin. Those actions include Sackler family members poring over detailed sales reports, pressing its sales force to improve numbers and even attending sales pitches themselves, according to the complaint. Company staff informed the Sacklers about opioid-related deaths and other addiction issues, the complaint says, as well as doctors prescribing pills inappropriately. (Randazzo and Hopkins, 1/15)

The Associated Press: Filing: OxyContin Maker Forecast 'Blizzard Of Prescriptions'
The details were made public in a case brought by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey that accuses Purdue Pharma, its executives and members of the Sackler family of deceiving patients and doctors about the risks of opioids and pushing prescribers to keep patients on the drug longer. The documents provide information about former Purdue Pharma President Richard Sackler's role in overseeing sales of OxyContin that hasn't been public before. The drug and the closely held Connecticut company that sells it are at the center of a lawsuit in Massachusetts and hundreds of others across the country in which government entities are trying to find the drug industry responsible for an opioid crisis that killed 72,000 Americans in 2017. The Massachusetts litigation is separate from some 1,500 federal lawsuits filed by governments being overseen by a judge in Cleveland. (Richer and Mulvihill, 1/15)

WBUR: Mass. AG Implicates Family Behind Purdue Pharma In Opioid Deaths
Healey describes former Purdue Chairman and President Richard Sackler as a micro-manager, obsessed with profits in Massachusetts and the rest of the country. Tracking national sales, Sackler demanded he travel to doctor’s offices alongside reps and complained advertising about the opioids wasn’t as positive as he wanted. Internally, execs worried about Sackler’s promotion of opioids, according to Healey. (Willmsen and Bebinger, 1/15)

The Washington Post: Maryland Lawmaker Mike McKay Wants To Use A Mobile Phone App To Protect Babies Born To Drug Addicts
Elizabeth Stahlman was on maternity leave in 2016 when she heard about a Pennsylvania infant who died of starvation days after both of the baby’s parents fatally overdosed on opioids. If only someone had checked in, she thought, the child — from a town about an hour from her home in rural Western Maryland — may have lived. What if someone had been monitoring? After she returned to her job as a community development director for the city of Frostburg, Stahlman began working with Del. Michael W. McKay (R-Allegany) on legislation for a mobile app to help social-service officials verify whether parents with a history of drug addiction can safely care for their newborns. (Hernandez, 1/15)

The Washington Post: Fentanyl Overdose: Michigan Toddler Died After Ingesting Parents' Drugs
A toddler in Michigan died after ingesting an “extraordinary level” of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is far more potent than heroin, authorities say. Ava Floyd, 18 months old, died on Christmas Day. The prosecutor’s office in the Detroit suburb of Macomb County said the child’s parents had been producing and packing fentanyl in their home and she ingested the narcotic. Antonio Floyd, 28, and Shantanice Barksdale, 27, were charged Monday with second-degree murder, manslaughter, second-degree child abuse, and delivering or manufacturing a controlled substance, among other charges. (Phillips, 1/15)

Boston Globe: Boston, Cambridge Mayors Plan Visits To Safe Injection Sites In Canada
The mayors of Boston and Cambridge are traveling to Canada this week to visit centers where people can inject drugs under medical supervision. Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Mayor Marc C. McGovern of Cambridge, both members of a state commission investigating the idea of opening such facilities in Massachusetts, planned their trips separately and won’t be traveling together, officials said. (Freyer, 1/15)

Boston Globe: In Quincy, Hit Hard By Opioid Crisis, Mobile Treatment Van Cuts Hours, Putting Recoveries At Risk
This parking lot behind a Southern Artery gas station doesn’t look much like a doctor’s office, but every morning about 25o people make their way to this dead-end street to take their medicine. In Quincy, a city hit hard by the opioid epidemic, the only legal place for many patients to take anti-addiction medications that have helped them reclaim their lives is an old conversion van parked near a homeless shelter, not far from Mount Wollaston Cemetery.But not on weekends anymore. (Ramos, 1/15)

KCUR: An Unlikely Treatment Offers Hope For Chronic Pain Sufferers But Drug Makers See Little Incentive
Doctors generally agree that opioids are not a good choice for treating most chronic pain. But scientists have struggled to develop safe pain treatments that provide the same level of relief as opioids. Now there's hope that might change. New research supports the use of a treatment method that’s lurked for years on the fringes of medicine. The question is whether it will remain stuck there. ...naltrexone may seem like exactly the wrong drug to take. It’s typically used to treat alcohol or opioid addiction by shutting down opioid receptors – some of the brain’s most important feel-good regions. And many people who take naltrexone for addiction often experience side effects like headache, muscle pain and cramps. Since the 1980s, however, some patients have sworn by low doses of the drug to treat their chronic pain. (Smith, 1/16)

New Hampshire Public Radio: N.H. Legislature Could Ramp Up Oversight Over Sober Living
New Hampshire lawmakers are considering a bill to give towns more oversight over sober living facilities. The facilities rent rooms to people recovering from addiction, with the goal of staying clean and finding community support. (Gibson, 1/15)

The Associated Press: Hospital: Doc Gave Near-Death Patients Excessive Pain Meds
An intensive care doctor ordered "significantly excessive and potentially fatal" doses of pain medicine for at least 27 near-death patients in the past few years after families asked that lifesaving measures be stopped, an Ohio hospital system announced after being sued by a family alleging an improper dose of fentanyl actively hastened the death of one of those patients. (1/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Lawsuits Challenge Rules Limiting Who Can Perform Abortions
Abortion-rights activists concerned about the shrinking number of abortion providers are mounting court challenges to longstanding state laws that forbid anybody but doctors to perform the procedure. Lawsuits pending in at least nine states are seeking to strike down statutes that make it a crime for clinicians such as highly trained nurses and midwives to provide early-term abortions. Taken together, the cases represent the strongest push by abortion-rights groups to build upon a recent Supreme Court decision that put more of a burden on states to justify the medical benefit of abortion regulations limiting women’s access. (Gershman, 1/15)

The Hill: Democrats Vow To Lift Ban On Federal Funds For Abortions
House Democrats on Tuesday vowed to repeal a ban on the use of federal funds for abortions. While a repeal of the long-standing ban is unlikely with Republican control of the Senate, the move indicates the direction Democrats want to go should they gain control of the upper chamber in 2020.  (Hellmann, 1/15)

And in other women's health news —

The Associated Press: No-Cost Birth Control, Now The Norm, Faces Court Challenges
Millions of American women are receiving birth control at no cost to them through workplace health plans, the result of the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, which expanded access to contraception. The Trump administration sought to allow more employers to opt out because of religious or moral objections. But its plans were put on hold by two federal judges, one in Pennsylvania and the other in California, in cases that could eventually reach the Supreme Court. (1/15)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Birth Control Patch: Georgia Tech Study On New DIY Birth Control
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have designed a new long-acting contraception patch that women may be able to administer themselves. Originally intended for areas with limited health care access, the contraceptive has shown promise in animal testing and “could potentially provide a new family planning alternative to a broader population,” according to a university article. (Pirani, 1/15)

NPR: Veterans Claiming Illness From Burn Pits Lose Court Fight
A decade-long fight ended at the Supreme Court this week, when justices refused to hear an appeal by veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who say that toxic smoke from burn pits made them sick. Hundreds of those veterans had sued the military contracting giant KBR, Inc., but lost first in U.S. district court and then again last year in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. The 4th Circuit said KBR was under U.S. military direction when it burned tires and medical waste next to soldiers' barracks, and can't be held liable. (Lawrence, 1/16)

Fox News: Supreme Court Upholds Appellate Decision On Burn Pit Lawsuits
The lawsuits charged that military contractor Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR) dumped tires, batteries, medical waste, and other materials into open burn pits. The suits claimed the resulting smoke caused neurological problems, cancers, and other health issues in more than 800 service members. The complaints said at least 12 service members died. The original appeals court decision in December 2018 stated that KBR, which was formerly owned by Halliburton Corp., was under military control and had little discretion in deciding how to manage the waste on numerous military bases. KBR's attorney said the decision to use burn pits "was made by the military." (Chiaramonte, 1/15)

Military Times: Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From Veterans In Burn Pit Lawsuit Against KBR, Halliburton
Judges with the Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who issued the ruling in last year’s appeal, said that KBR had little discretion in how to dispose of the waste, as they were under military control and the use of the burn pits was a military decision. They said the lawsuits amounted to a “political question” that Congress and the president should resolve, not the courts. (South, 1/15)

In other veterans' health care news —

Modern Healthcare: New VA Community Care Program Regs Stall At OMB Over Cost
The Veterans Affairs Department's newly expanded and consolidated private healthcare network for veterans could cost billions more than Congress projected when it passed the VA Mission Act. This potentially major extra cost of $5 billion to $8 billion comes with the not-yet-finalized and not-yet-public draft regulations that will likely shape the VA's community health program into a model similar to TriCare Prime, according to sources familiar to talks. TriCare Prime is the managed-care HMO plan for active service military that pays drastically low rates for treatment in private clinics and hospitals but also offers care in military health facilities. (Luthi, 1/15)

Reuters: Walmart Opts To Leave CVS Partnerships Over Pricing Dispute
CVS Health Corp said on Tuesday Walmart Inc is leaving its network for commercial and Medicaid prescription drug plans after the two companies failed to agree on pricing. CVS said the dispute would not impact Walmart's presence in its Medicare Part D pharmacy network, which according to Cowen & Co analyst Charles Rhyee was a bright spot as it represented a larger chunk of CVS' scripts. (Banerjee and Joseph, 1/15)

The Washington Post: Walmart Drops CVS Pharmacy Coverage In Price Dispute
Walmart confirmed its exit from the CVS Health pharmacy insurance program, called CVS Caremark, after CVS refused the retail giant’s demand for larger reimbursements for the prescription drugs it dispenses. The move affects Walmart customers with CVS Caremark pharmacy coverage through employer-sponsored insurance and state Medicaid managed-care plans. It does not affect Medicare beneficiaries. It also does not affect pharmacies at Sam’s Club stores. (Rowland, 1/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Walmart Could Leave CVS Caremark Pharmacy Networks Amid Dispute
Negotiations over rates reached a boiling point last week when Walmart sent a contract termination letter to CVS, according to people familiar with the situation. Walmart continued to negotiate with CVS as recently as last Friday, said one of these people. Walmart aims to continue discussions with CVS Caremark and is “trying to find a solution that benefits all parties,” said a spokeswoman for the retailer. “We are committed to providing value to our customers across our business, including our pharmacy, but we don’t want to give that value to the middleman. ... Walmart is standing up to CVS’s behaviors that are putting pressure on pharmacies and disrupting patient care.” (Wilde Mathews and Nassauer, 1/15)

Bloomberg: Walmart Splits With CVS After A Battle Over Prescription Costs
Walmart indicated it was resisting efforts by CVS to steer consumers to certain pharmacies to have their prescriptions filled. A company spokeswoman said in an emailed statement that the retailer was committed to giving customers access to affordable health care, “but we don’t want to give that value to the middle man.” “This issue underscores the problems that can arise when a PBM can exert their unregulated power to direct members on where to fill their scripts, disrupting patients’ health care,” the statement said. “Walmart is standing up to CVS’s behaviors that are putting pressure on pharmacies and disrupting patient care.” (Langreth and Boyle, 1/15)

Columbus Dispatch: Walmart Blasts CVS Drug Middleman Role, Ends Business Relationship
As a pharmacy benefit manager, CVS Caremark represents health plans, negotiating rebates with drug manufacturers and reimbursing retail pharmacies for the drugs they dispense. But many have questioned how CVS could fairly control reimbursements to retail pharmacies with whom CVS is in direct competition as the nation’s No. 1 pharmacy retailer. (Schladen, 1/15)

In other news —

Bloomberg: Walgreens Teams With Microsoft As Both Wrestle Amazon Threats 
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. is teaming with Microsoft Corp. to design new “digital health corners” for its stores, as both companies look to battle an ever-expanding Amazon.com Inc. For Walgreens, the pharmacy giant must contend with looming competitive threats from Amazon and other upstarts looking to disrupt the drugstore business. Meanwhile, Microsoft is angling to gain ground against Amazon Web Services by offering back-end computing muscle to retail, grocery and health operators that don’t want to give more business to one of their biggest foes. (Koons and Bass, 1/15)

Stat: Microsoft And Walgreens Pair Up To Deliver Digital Health Care 
The impact of the seven-year partnership, announced Tuesday, remains to be seen, but it represents another attempt by a large provider of health care services to increase the use of technology to deliver medicines and medical advice. The world’s largest technology companies, including Apple, Amazon, and Google, are making aggressive forays into health care, both through partnerships with providers and the development of their own health care businesses. (Ross, 1/15)

Reuters: UnitedHealth Profit Beats Expectations, Shares Rise
UnitedHealth Group Inc, the largest U.S. health insurer, beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, driven largely by growth in its Optum services business, including its pharmacy benefits unit. UnitedHealth maintained its previous profit forecast for 2019 adjusted earnings of $14.40 to $14.70 per share, and said higher than expected medical costs in the fourth quarter were limited to states for which it manages their Medicaid benefits, the government program for low income Americans. (Mathias and Humer, 1/15)

The Wall Street Journal: UnitedHealth Sales Rise Across Segments
Revenue increased 12% from a year earlier to $58.42 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv were expecting sales of $58.01 billion. Revenue at the UnitedHealthcare segment rose 11% to $46.2 billion, while sales at the Optum segment increased 13% to 27.6 billion. The parent of the nation’s largest health insurer said net earnings fell 16% to $3.04 billion, or $3.10 a share. Analysts had expected the company to earn $3.05 a share. (Chin and Mathews, 1/15)

The Star Tribune: UnitedHealth Grows Medicare Business By 400,000
Following a Medicare open-enrollment period that included the company’s debut in Minnesota, UnitedHealthcare officials said Tuesday that the health insurer expects in 2019 to add more than 400,000 Medicare Advantage enrollees across the country. UnitedHealthcare was already the nation’s largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, a newer form of coverage where enrollees opt to receive their government benefits through a private health insurance company. (Snowbeck, 1/15)

The Wall Street Journal: For Children With Cancer, Hope For New Treatments
The health-care industry is preparing for a new law that researchers say will mean more treatments for pediatric cancers, which are the leading cause of death from disease among children. The legislation, which requires pharmaceuticals companies to test potential cancer drugs on children as well as adults, goes into effect in 2020. Companies already are ramping up and some plan children’s drug trials this year. (Lagnado, 1/15)

Stat: After 37 Years, This Biotech Nears A First Drug Approval In Breast Cancer
Immunomedics (IMMU) was founded in 1982. Thirty-seven years later, the biotech is finally on the cusp of its first marketing approval — possibly ending one of the longest drug-development droughts in the industry’s history. On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to render an approval decision on sacituzumab govitecan, an antibody drug conjugate developed by Immunomedics to treat women with triple-negative breast cancer. As its name implies, these breast cancer cells do not carry receptors for estrogen, progesterone, or human epidermal growth factor, which are targeted by such drugs as Herceptin or tamoxifen. (Feuerstein, 1/16)

Los Angeles Times: Preventing Breast Cancer Just Got Easier. Will More Women Give These Drugs A Try?
Breast cancer will strike 1 in 8 women in her lifetime. But women who face an increased risk of being that one unlucky patient may improve their chances with three prescription medications, according to a new report. If 1,000 women took one of the three medications for roughly five years, somewhere between seven and 18 breast cancers could be prevented, and possibly more. But each of the drugs — two originally used to treat breast cancer and a third that prevents the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis — comes with the possibility of serious side effects, including blood clots and a higher likelihood of uterine or endometrial cancer. (Healy, 1/15)

The Associated Press: Senators Ask FDA To Update Rules On Certain Pot Products
Oregon's two senators on Tuesday urged the head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to update federal regulations to permit interstate commerce of food products containing a key non-psychoactive ingredient of cannabis. The appeal by Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley came after Congress legalized the production and sale of industrial hemp and hemp derivatives, including cannabidiols, known as CBD. Wyden and Merkley had been behind a hemp provision that Congress passed and was included in the 2018 Farm Bill. (1/15)

The New York Times: Eliminating Dental Woes Without Worrisome Debt
Zaps of pain, like tiny shocks, bombarded her head. Susann Davis assumed it was a migraine, a seemingly minor annoyance when stacked against the crises she already faced. In 2016, Ms. Davis lost her job in the hospitality industry. Soon after, she was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Then she learned she was being evicted from her apartment. Luckily, Ms. Davis said in a recent interview, while early into unemployment she had consulted a friend, Katherine Earle, a Community Health Advocates counselor. Ms. Earle had helped her sign up for Medicaid. (Otis, 1/15)

CNN: Killings Of Transgender People In The US Saw Another High Year
For decades, every year she's been active in the transgender community, Isa Noyola has attended a funeral for a friend. As deputy director at the Transgender Law Center based in Oakland, California, she has met many community members who have the same experience. "Death, profound loss, the violence that surrounds us, it's constant. It's a significant part of my transgender experience." (Christensen, 1/16)

The New York Times: Finding Open-Minded Health Care Abroad
Lola Méndez is no stranger to new experiences. Ms. Méndez. 29, an American freelance travel writer, has explored 56 countries, documenting her adventures on her blog. She has visited ancient tombs in Vietnam and trekked across mountains in Chiang Mai, Thailand. While working as an English teacher in Spain in 2015, she had to embark on a new kind of undertaking: going to the gynecologist in a foreign country. Many women don’t look forward to their yearly exam, and language barriers made an awkward situation all the more unnerving for Ms. Méndez. But her appointment soon went from uncomfortable to degrading. (McHugh, 1/16)

The New York Times: How Exercise May Help Keep Our Memory Sharp
A hormone that is released during exercise may improve brain health and lessen the damage and memory loss that occur during dementia, a new study finds. The study, which was published this month in Nature Medicine, involved mice, but its findings could help to explain how, at a molecular level, exercise protects our brains and possibly preserves memory and thinking skills, even in people whose pasts are fading. (Reynolds, 1/16)

The New York Times: Opposed To G.M.O.S? How Much Do You Know About Them?
Most scientists agree that genetically modified organisms, or G.M.O.s, are safe to eat. But a new study suggests that the people who are most extremely opposed to them know the least about them. Researchers surveyed 501 randomly selected adults, testing their knowledge of G.M.O.s with a series of true/false questions — for example, the cloning of living things produces genetically identical copies (true), or it is not possible to transfer animal genes into plants (false). (Bakalar, 1/15)

The Associated Press: New Maryland Gun Law Used In 5 Cases Involving Schools
A new Maryland law that allows courts to temporarily restrict firearms access for people at risk to themselves or others resulted in more than 300 protective orders, five of which were related to schools, the sheriff of the state's most populous county told lawmakers Tuesday. Montgomery County Sheriff Darren Popkin told a panel of state lawmakers that 302 orders were sought under the state's "red flag" law in the first three months since the law took effect Oct. 1. He said five of them related to schools, and four of those five "were significant threats." (1/15)

The Washington Post: How Well Is Maryland's Red-Flag Gun Law Working?
Montgomery County Sheriff Darren M. Popkin (D), who has helped train police officers across the state about the “red-flag” law, said he could not provide details about the gun seizures — including those that could have led to school shootings — because of a confidentiality rule. But, Popkin told the House Judiciary Committee, “these orders . . . are saving lives.” Maryland is one of at least nine states, including California, Connecticut and Delaware, that allow a relative, spouse, legal guardian or roommate to seek a court order to keep a person from possessing a gun. (Wiggins, 1/15)

Seattle Times: Gov. Jay Inslee Uses State Of The State To Urge Action On Mental Health, Climate Change, Orcas
Standing before a Washington Legislature that for years has balked at his carbon-reduction agenda, Gov. Jay Inslee implored lawmakers Tuesday to make bold moves to combat climate change. ...Inslee in his speech beseeched lawmakers to make big investments to fix Washington’s mental-health system — a point officials in both parties have broadly agreed upon. (O'Sullivan, 1/15)

Des Moines Register: Gov. Kim Reynolds Says Iowa Should Train More Psychiatrists
Iowa could soon be cranking out twice as many new psychiatrists as it did in 2017, if legislators follow Gov. Kim Reynolds’ plan to pay for more psychiatric training at the University of Iowa. Psychiatrists are scarce in Iowa, especially in rural areas. Only about 220 of them practice here, giving the state one of the deepest shortages in the nation. (Leys, 1/15)

Health News Florida: Most Nursing Homes Need More Time To Meet Generator Requirement
After 12 nursing home residents died from heat exposure during power outages from Hurricane Irma, Florida lawmakers required nursing homes and assisted living facilities have generators that can run the air conditioner for four days. More than nine months later, 97 percent of nursing homes and assisted living facilities are in compliance with the law. But that number includes many that have been granted an extension. (Aboraya, 1/15)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: New Caucus Formed To Focus On Reforming Foster Care System: 'We Have Been Failing'
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has formed what they’re calling the Foster Care Caucus to focus on passing laws and funding the costs to reform Virginia’s overwhelmed system of caring for some of the state’s most vulnerable children. A report released in December by the state legislature’s oversight body found that the Department of Social Services, the agency responsible for overseeing the foster care system, fails to recruit enough foster parents, falls behind the national averages for placing children with relatives and finding permanent homes, overwhelms caseworkers and lacks oversight. (Balch, 1/15)

The Associated Press: Hospital Replaces Leadership After Blood Transfusion Mistake
A Houston hospital has removed its president and several other leaders following an unusually high number of patient deaths, a loss of some federal funding and a recent case in which a patient died after receiving a transfusion of the wrong blood type. Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center announced the decision to replace its president, Gay Nord, its chief nursing officer and a top physician on Monday, the Houston Chronicle reported. The departures come after investigative reports by the newspaper and ProPublica last year revealed a high rate of patient deaths within the hospital's renowned heart transplant program, as well as major complications after heart bypass surgery and repeated complaints about inadequate nursing. (1/15)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Lawmakers Seek End To Age Cap On Insurance Coverage For Children With Autism
Thousands of Virginians diagnosed with autism would be eligible for continued health care coverage if legislation removing an age cap on insurance is approved. In a news conference Tuesday, advocates and lawmakers called for action on the proposal, which they said would help an estimated 10,000 people now excluded from coverage due to a state requirement that large group insurers only cover children with the condition between the ages of 2 and 10. (Suarez Rojas, 1/15)

The Associated Press: OKC School District Approves The Use Of Medical Marijuana
Students in the Oklahoma City school district with medical conditions that require cannabis are now permitted to use the drug at school. The Oklahoma City Public Schools board voted to approve the policy Monday night, The Oklahoman reported. The district will provide a place for a guardian to administer medical marijuana to students at school. (1/15)

St. Louis Public Radio: Shop 'n Save's Exit From St. Louis Region Creates New Food Desert In North County
Most city and suburban dwellers take the convenience of a local grocery store for granted.But many residents of Spanish Lake don’t have that luxury any more. When three nearby Shop ‘n Save stores closed in November, it left shoppers fewer options and created what the USDA classifies as a food desert. (Walker, 1/15)

Health News Florida: Change Seeks To Remove ‘Stigma’ For Doctors
A committee of the Florida Board of Medicine gave preliminary approval last month to eliminate the questions about past treatment of mental health and substance abuse. Applicants would, instead, be asked whether they currently have any condition that impairs them from safely practicing and whether they currently are using drugs or intoxicating chemicals. (Sexton, 1/16)

Georgia Health News: Hospital Groups Open To A Few CON Changes; Critics Say More Needed
As Georgia lawmakers push to revamp health care regulations, two major hospital groups have proposed some revisions to the state certificate-of-need system. Those proposals stemmed from months of hospital officials’ discussions on CON, which the industry has relentlessly defended for years in the Georgia General Assembly. (Miller, 1/15)

San Jose Mercury News: Kaiser Permanente To Spend $5.2 Million To House Homeless In Oakland
Kaiser Permanente announced Tuesday it will spend $5.2 million to purchase a 41-unit apartment building in East Oakland, the health care giant’s first step in its aggressive effort to shelter the homeless and improve health care for the poor. The Oakland-based company also revealed plans to partner with the city and community aid groups to identify, house and provide services for 500 vulnerable homeless people over the age of 50. (Hansen and Debolt, 1/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser Funding Helps Keep Oakland Apartments Affordable For 50 Residents
Kaiser Permanente said Tuesday it spent $5.2 million to help acquire a 41-unit apartment complex in East Oakland as part of the health care giant’s new effort to keep and expand affordable housing. The company, based in Oakland, said it also plans to house more than 500 homeless people in the city and create a $100 million loan fund to preserve affordable housing projects in places across the country where Kaiser operates. (Veklerov, 1/15)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Akron Researchers Launch Adhesive Products Inspired By Gecko Feet
A startup research company is testing its ultra-strong adhesive, inspired by gecko feet and being marketed as ShearGrip, at an Akron-area nursing home, a downtown eatery and elsewhere in the area. Akron Ascent Innovations plans to use the feedback on its adhesive to develop next-generation materials for health care, aerospace, cosmetics and other industries, company COO Kevin White told cleveland.com. (Conn, 1/15)

Boston Globe: When This Ceiling Alarm Sounds, She Becomes A Lifesaver
As chief medical officer at the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, the 46-year-old internist doesn’t spend a lot of time in her ordinary little office. One thing that draws her away is a “reverse motion detector” that flashes lights and emits a piercing screech when a bathroom occupant fails to move for two minutes and 50 seconds. (Freyer, 1/16)

Akron Beacon Journal: Why Most Ohio Doctors Certified To Recommend Marijuana Aren't Doing So
An estimated 80 percent of doctors certified to recommend marijuana in Ohio are not fully participating. Some just signed on to keep up on the regulations around the controversial drug. Concerned about drug abuse, others are turning away new patients seeking cannabinoids. (Livingston, 1/15)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Froedtert Health To Pay $360,000 Over Hazardous Waste Disposal
Froedtert Health will pay $360,000 in forfeitures, court costs and attorney fees in a settlement related to the disposal of hazardous waste from Froedtert Hospital. The hospital improperly disposed of pharmaceutical hazardous waste as solid waste from at least 2013 until 2016, according to the state attorney general's office. (Boulton, 1/15)

Stat: Trump Falsely Claims ‘Drug Prices Declined In 2018’
President Trump asserted late Friday that drug prices declined for the first time in nearly 50 years, implying in a tweet that his administration’s efforts to speed generic drugs to market were responsible for that historic feat. But in the context of America’s prescription drug market, the statement is both a non sequitur and demonstrably false. A recent analysis of brand-name drugs by the Associated Press found 96 price increases for every price cut in the first seven months of 2018. (Ross, 1/12)

The Washington Post Fact Checker: Can Trump Claim Credit For $26 Billion In Savings On Prescription Drugs?
Trump wrote: “During the first 19 months of my Administration, Americans saved $26 Billion on prescription drugs.” He pulled this number from a report issued in October by his Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), which found that “relative annual price growth for prescription drugs has slowed since January 2017.” That means prices are still going up but at a lower rate than before. The report includes a chart with a trend line of expected prices, based on the second half of President Barack Obama’s term. That happened to be a period with sharp spikes in prescription drug prices, especially because of new drugs to deal with hepatitis C. (Kessler, 1/16)

Modern Healthcare: 2019 Will Reveal More Answers On Trump's Drug Price Strategy
President Donald Trump started off the new year much like he did in 2018: railing on Twitter about drug companies for raising prices. “Drug makers and companies are not living up to their commitments on pricing. Not being fair to the consumer, or to our Country!” Trump tweeted on Jan. 5. While the president made a much ballyhooed effort last year to combat price hikes, 2019 appears to be bringing more of the same. There were 60 drug companies that rang in the new year by raising prices on more than 300 products, according to multiple reports on an analysis from Rx Savings Solutions, which offers software to health plans to help them find lower drug costs. (King, 1/12)

Reuters: Drug Companies Greet 2019 With U.S. Price Hikes
Drugmakers kicked off 2019 with price increases in the United States on more than 250 prescription drugs, including the world's top-selling medicine, Humira, although the pace of price hikes was slower than last year. The industry has been under pressure by the U.S. President Donald Trump to hold their prices level as his administration works on plans aimed at lowering the costs of medications for consumers in the world's most expensive pharmaceutical market. (1/15)

Sacramento Bee: Will California Gavin Newsom Drug Pricing Plan Save Money?
Gov. Gavin Newson wants to deliver lower drug prices by harnessing the full weight of the state against the pharmaceutical industry, but it’s unclear whether his team can get a better deal without giving up something Californians want. In his first act as governor, Newsom issued an executive order creating the largest single purchaser of prescription drugs in the country. (Finch, 1/16)

Modern Healthcare: Fragile Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Increases Costs, Compromises Care 
The increasing frequency of drug shortages has injected some complexity into how Ochsner Health Systems manages supply scarcities. It has pharmacy experts across the system that are constantly calling wholesalers and suppliers to get a hint of what drug may soon be in short supply. Ochsner has a phone call twice a week with its pharmacy, supply chain, chief nursing and chief operating officers to identify the next problem, said Dr. Robert Hart, executive vice president and chief medical officer for Ochsner Health System. (Kacik, 1/15)

Stat: Shifting Part B Drugs To Part D Would Hurt Most Beneficiaries, Analysis Says
One of the many proposals the Trump administration is kicking around in order to lower drug costs would shift coverage of some medicines from Medicare Part B to Part D, which is administered by private managed care plans. A new analysis, however, cautions that while government spending might be reduced, the proposal may also increase out-of-pocket costs for some beneficiaries. (Silverman, 1/15)

Chicago Tribune: Rising Drug Prices Strain Hospitals, Force Budget Cuts, U. Of C. Study Says
Rising costs of prescription drugs have strained hospital budgets and operations, forcing health systems to cut costs by reducing staff, a new study found. Hospital drug spending increased by 18.5 percent between 2015 and 2017, a rate far exceeding medical inflation for the period, according to a report prepared for three health associations by the research group NORC at the University of Chicago. U.S. community hospitals spent an average of $555.40 on prescription drugs for each admitted patient in 2017. (Griffin, 1/15)

Stat: Allergan And A Mohawk Tribe Ask The Supreme Court To Review Patent Deal 
After being rebuffed by a federal appeals court last summer, Allergan (AGN) and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide a vexing question that was at the heart of a controversial maneuver to protect a best-selling eye medicine. Their petition has its roots in events that began in the fall of 2017, when the drug maker transferred six patents to its Restasis treatment, which was on track to generate $1.4 billion in sales, to the Mohawk tribe in hopes of thwarting generic competition. At the time, Allergan was facing a conventional patent challenge from several erstwhile generic rivals in a federal court. (Silverman, 1/15)

Stat: Lawmakers Want Feds To Look At How A Bristol-Celgene Deal Affects Prices
While investors may have cheered the recent $74 billion bid that Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) made for Celgene (CELG), a pair of Congressional lawmakers want federal authorities to examine the extent to which such a deal may impede competition or cause higher drug prices for Americans. In a letter sent last Friday to the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) expressed concern that the takeover could reduce treatment options for patients by giving Bristol-Myers access to product lines that may either compete with or complement its current portfolio of cancer drugs. (Silverman, 1/14)

Stat: Novartis Battles Dutch Health Minister For Raising The Price Of A Cancer Drug 
Yet another flare-up over the cost of medicines is playing out in the Netherlands, where the government is angry at Novartis (NVS) for boosting the price of a cancer treatment more than six times — to roughly $26,000 for an infusion — in a convoluted case that has spurred debate about orphan drug status and the ability of local hospitals to make their own lower-cost alternatives. (Silverman, 1/14)

Stat: AmerisourceBergen To Cut 15 Percent Of Workers At Troubled Compounding Unit
AmerisourceBergen (ABC), one of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical wholesalers, is eliminating 225 jobs — roughly 15 percent of the entire workforce — at Pharmedium Services, its troubled compounding unit that has concerned regulators and rattled investors. The cuts are being made specifically at a beleaguered Memphis plant, where operations were suspended nearly a year ago and product recalls were issued due to sterile manufacturing issues, all of which followed an inspection by the Food and Drug Administration. (Silverman, 1/15)

Politico Pro: Cost Of Opioids, Addiction Drugs Surge In Midst Of Crisis
President Donald Trump has few bigger health care goals than lowering drug prices and tackling the opioid crisis. Pharmaceutical companies might not be listening. Manufacturers not only raised the cost of hundreds of medicines at the beginning of the year, but brand-name opioids and addiction treatments led the pack. (Owermohle, 1/11)

The Herald Dispatch: WV Lawmakers Advance Bill Aimed At Lowering Prescription Drug Prices
A bill aimed at reducing prescription drug costs in West Virginia passed through the House of Delegates' Health and Human Resources Committee on Tuesday, but it will face the House Judiciary Committee before heading to the floor for a full vote. Sponsored by Del. Mick Bates, D-Raleigh, HB 2319 would allow the Bureau for Medical Services to design and establish a wholesale prescription drug importation program using Canadian suppliers. (Stuck, 1/16)

Stat: Drug Pricing Conversations Must Include The Cost Of Innovation
Midterm elections have ushered in a decidedly split 116th Congress. Yet the desire to lower U.S. pharmaceutical spending, which now exceeds $450 billion a year and dwarfs that of any other developed nation, is likely to continue uniting some strange bedfellows. Lawmakers from both side of the aisle are doing a disservice to Americans by uniting behind populist drug pricing proposals that ignore the harsh realities of drug development in favor of simplicity and sloganeering. Consider the unlikely coalition of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), and President Donald Trump calling to tie U.S. drug prices to those of our international peers. (Craig Garthwaite and Benedic Ippolito, 1/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Big Pharma’s Cancer Race 
Not long ago America’s political class was fretting about too many “me-too” drugs. Eli Lilly ’s bid for Loxo Oncology , which follows a flurry of biotech deals, shows how the pharmaceutical landscape is fast-evolving as U.S. drug companies compete to become leaders in oncology. Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly on Monday announced plans to purchase the Stamford, Conn., start-up Loxo for $8 billion with the goal of expanding its oncology portfolio. Loxo has pioneered an experimental therapy targeting single-gene abnormalities that can cause tumors throughout the body. Most cancer treatments target specific body sites, so Loxo’s innovation may be revolutionary. (1/9)

US News & World Report: The Need To Drive Down Prescription Drug Prices
A 2018 poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 80 percent of Americans thought prescription costs were unreasonable, and the high costs have been found to cause patients to alter the way they take their medication, or to not take it at all. The same KFF poll found that 40 percent of people under the age of 65 cut pills in half or skipped doses due to the costs, while 54 percent did not fill a medication at all because of the cost. These statistics do not even include the Medicare population age 65 and older that is living longer than ever before and need these life-saving medications. (Eddie Fatakhov, 1/15)

The Baltimore Sun: Can Big Pharma Keep Getting Away With Price Gouging? Not If Elijah Cummings Has Anything To Say About It
Know why big pharmaceutical companies in the United States raise the prices of some prescription drugs to outrageous levels? Because they can. There are few obstacles to jacking up prices so the companies that sell brand-name drugs — and spend millions to advertise them ad nauseam — do pretty much what they please, and shamelessly. In the midst of a real national crisis — unlike the Trump administration’s fake national crisis at the southwestern border — with nearly 50,000 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2017 and likely even more in 2018, the Virginia-based company that manufactures an overdose-reversal drug increased the price of its antidote by 600 percent. The people running that company must have been inoculated against shame. (Dan Rodricks, 1/15)

The Washington Post: What Happened When Biotech Startup Pursued A New Treatment For Pancreatic Cancer.
Two years ago, as a Harvard undergraduate, I started a biotech company with a fellow student to develop an experimental drug for pancreatic cancer. As biology majors, we had read a paper by a Harvard Medical School professor about an intriguing experiment and hoped we had found a possible solution to one of the world’s most lethal diseases. Rather than try to kill pancreatic tumors directly, we would block a cellular system called Hippo-YAP, which shields cancer from existing cancer-killing drugs. According to the paper, drugs that had been ineffective successfully destroyed pancreatic tumors in mice after Hippo-YAP was inactivated. (Nathaniel Brooks Horwitz, 1/12)

Stat: Virtual Repurposing Can Help Discover New Uses For Existing Drugs
The process for discovering drugs tends to be based on the same kind of pigeonholing that doctors use to treat disease: Parkinson’s is one disease, Crohn’s is something completely separate. A new approach, sometimes called virtual repurposing, offers a way to discover unknown connections between “unconnected” diseases that may lead to new treatments. (Inga Peter, 1/11)

USA Today: Veteran Suicide Rates Skyrocket While VA Mental Health Services Stagnate
I'm supposed to be a statistic. On July 14, 2012, drowning in grief and guilt, I tried to kill myself. Like so many veterans, I had found civilian life desperately difficult. War had drained me of joy. The sights, sounds and smells of the battlefield had been relentlessly looping in my head. The suffering seemed endless. And so, thinking there were no other options of escape, I turned to suicide. (Danny O'Neel, 1/16)

Sacramento Bee: Shutdown Tale Of Woe: IRS Employee To Miss Cancer Treatment
Chris DeLeon feels a financial sting of unpaid furlough familiar to hundreds of thousands of his fellow government employees as the partial federal shutdown stretches into its fourth week. But the stakes are higher for the 53-year-old IRS employee. His health is at risk. And, perhaps, his survival. (Rory Appleto, 1/15)

Stat: Climate Change Is Affecting Health Now. Our Leaders Must Take Action 
Among the scientific and policy highlights of 2018 were landmark reports on climate change and human health. These brought more insight and urgency to the reality that climate change is happening now and harming our lives in a host of ways. How the U.S. and the rest of the world respond in 2019 will chart the course for our future. Both reports — one written by 13 federal agencies and released by the Trump administration, the other written by an international group of health experts and published in the prestigious journal the Lancet — specifically point to the fact that climate change is harming human health. (Richard Carmona and David Satcher, 1/16)

The Washington Post: To Lower Maternal And Infant Mortality Rates, We Must Bring Back Midwives 
The United States, currently the most expensive place in the world to give birth, has a higher infant mortality rate than any of the other wealthy countries, according to a recent CDC report, a statistic condemned by the Washington Post as a “national embarrassment.” Yet even with maternal mortality on the rise and access to affordable health care shrinking, the majority of Americans turn away from a potential solution: midwifery. (Wendy Kline, 1/16)

Stat: Recruiting Top Life Sciences Executives Requires Solid Strategies
This year will likely prove to be a banner year for new and seasoned corporate life sciences executives looking to change jobs in the life sciences. With the industry continuing to benefit from the fast pace of technological advancements, the growing influx of venture capital, and an expanding global marketplace, 2019 will bring greater demand for the top leaders needed to catapult life sciences companies forward. Increasing competition for top life sciences executives across interconnected sectors means that accomplished candidates often attract multiple offers from firms operating in biotech, precision medicine, genomics, and medical diagnostics. (Leslie Loveless, 1/15)

The Hill: Vaccines Cannot And Do Not Cause Autism — There's No Debate
I’m a pediatrician and physician-scientist with a lifelong passion to develop, produce and test new vaccines for poverty-related neglected diseases. My wife Ann and I are also the parents of an adult daughter with autism and associated intellectual disabilities. This past weekend the journalist, Sharyl Attkisson, wrote an op-ed piece in The Hill claiming that a “debate” about vaccines and autism has just reopened. (Peter Hotez, 1/15)

Seattle Times: Congress Should Override New Birth-Control Restrictions
A court ruling on Monday blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to let more employers deny insurance coverage for birth control.Yet this temporary injunction offers only fleeting and uncertain protection. Rather than waiting for a final ruling in the case, Congress should step in now to guarantee that women can continue to access contraceptives, irrespective of their employers’ moral or religious stances. (1/15)

The Lund Report: Can CCOs Lead Us To Universal Health Care?
Will coordinated care organizations serve as a transition to universal health care? Perhaps they will. For the past year the Oregon Health Authority, under the leadership of Patrick Allen, has been soliciting and distilling public input for the upcoming coordinated care organization contract re-negotiation process. Your participation is needed if these organizations are to be trusted to play a central role in publicly funded universal health care for Oregon. (Michael Huntington and Bruce Thomson, 1/15)

The Detroit News: Reduce Costs Of Fighting Cancer
Though most cancer treatments are administered intravenously, patients can take medication orally as well, which often reduces the side effects of chemotherapy. That can help cancer patients keep living and working as they did before their diagnosis. But the oral medication is more costly than medicine administered through an IV. Michigan should do what it can to lower those costs and offer a greater range of treatment to cancer patients. (1/15)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: How A Healthcare Provider’s Addressing Opioid Epidemic
As a response to the ever-escalating opioid epidemic in the U.S., Piedmont Healthcare President and CEO Kevin Brown in June convened a task force to review how our health system should address this damaging public health crisis. The latest statistics show that there are 46,000 deaths annually involving opioids, including 929 in Georgia in 2016. From 1999 to 2010, opioid-related overdose deaths in Georgia increased by 500 percent. (Lily Henson and Frederick E. Willms, 1/15)