The New York Times: Supreme Court Allows Arkansas Abortion Restrictions To Stand
The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to hear a challenge to an Arkansas law that could force two of the state’s three abortion clinics to close.As is their custom, the justices gave no reasons for turning away the appeal. The case will continue to be litigated in the lower courts. The law concerns medication abortions, which use pills to induce abortions in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. The law, enacted in 2015, requires providers of the procedure to have contracts with doctors who have admitting privileges at a hospital in the state. Abortion clinics in Arkansas said they were unable to find any doctors willing to sign such contracts. (Liptak, 5/29)

The Associated Press: Justices Allow Arkansas To Enforce Abortion Restrictions
The justices didn't comment in rejecting an appeal from the Planned Parenthood affiliate in Arkansas that asked the court to review an appeals court ruling and reinstate a lower court order that had blocked the law from taking effect. The law says doctors who provide abortion pills must hold a contract with another physician who has admitting privileges at a hospital and who would agree to handle complications — and Planned Parenthood says it has been unable to find any able to do so. The law is similar to a provision in Texas law that the Supreme Court struck down in 2016. (Sherman, 5/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Allows Arkansas Restrictions On Abortion Drugs
The court’s announcement, in a one-line order, was a blow to abortion-rights advocates who said a 2015 Arkansas law effectively prohibited medication abortions, in which a woman can terminate an early-stage pregnancy by taking pills instead of undergoing a surgical procedure. The state law says a doctor who prescribes abortion-inducing drugs must contract with a physician who has admitting and surgical privileges at a hospital designated to handle any emergencies. Arkansas in court papers argued that the requirement promoted good medical practices and follow-up treatment. (Kendall, 5/29)

The Hill: Supreme Court Rejects Challenge To Arkansas Abortion Law
“Protecting the health and well-being of women and the unborn will always be a priority,” Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (R) said Tuesday after the Supreme Court decision. “We are a pro-life state and always will be as long as I am Attorney General.” Planned Parenthood had argued the law was strikingly similar to a measure in Texas that the Supreme Court struck down in 2016. That law required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles, a requirement the court said constituted an undue burden on abortion access. (Wheeler, 5/29)

KCUR: Supreme Court Decision May Jeopardize Medication Abortions In Missouri 
Planned Parenthood challenged the Arkansas law as medically unnecessary, and a federal judge blocked it from taking effect. But a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision, saying the lower court had failed to tally the number of women burdened by the statute. The Supreme Court’s unwillingness to review the Eighth Circuit’s holding leaves the law in place and will make Arkansas the first state in the nation to ban medication abortions. (Margolies, 5/29)

In other news from the Supreme Court —

Modern Healthcare: Supreme Court Ruling Could Ease Wage Lawsuits Against Healthcare Employers
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing employers to require workers to sign individual arbitration agreements could sharply reduce class-action lawsuits against healthcare companies claiming violations of federal and state rules on wages, hours, and sexual and racial discrimination. In a 5-4 decision last week on three consolidated cases, the high court held that companies can include clauses in employment contracts that require employees to resolve disputes through individual arbitration, barring them from banding together to seek relief for common issues. The decision could affect about 25 million employees. (Meyer and Arndt, 5/29)

The Associated Press: Another Judge Blocks Feds From Ending Teen Pregnancy Grant
A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday became the latest to block President Donald Trump's administration from prematurely cutting off funding for science-based programs aimed at reducing teen pregnancy. King County, which includes Seattle, sued after the Department of Health and Human Services decided to end funding two years early for what was supposed to be a five-year, $5 million grant through the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. (5/29)

The Hill: Fourth Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Cuts To Teen Pregnancy Prevention 
Judge John Coughenour in Washington state ruled Tuesday afternoon that the administration unlawfully ended grants two years early for the King County Health Department in Seattle, which participated in the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program. "This ruling is such a relief, as we are so close to the finish line for completing this study and building an evidence base for sex education nationwide," said Patty Hayes, director of public health for Seattle and King County. The ruling is significant as a class-action lawsuit filed by the remaining 72 grantees plays out in court. (Hellmann, 5/29)

Modern Healthcare: As Insurers Request Big Rate Hikes, AHIP Touts Reinsurance, Tax Suspension 
Trade association America's Health Insurance Plans is pushing for states to set up reinsurance programs and Congress to kill the industry's loathed health insurance tax as insurers file for big premium increases on several Obamacare exchanges. Those two actions, according to the insurance industry's largest lobbying group, could help mitigate the myriad factors threatening to send individual market premiums higher in 2019. (Livingston, 5/29)

Meanwhile, in other health care costs news —

The Hill: Cassidy Plans Bill Mandating Price Transparency In Health Care
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Tuesday said that he hopes to soon introduce legislation mandating price transparency in health care to enable patients to compare prices before getting procedures. Cassidy told Fox News Radio that the legislation would mean that “if somebody gets an X-ray order for their child's belly, they will know the cost of that before they go in to get it done and they can price shop.” (Sullivan, 5/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Insurer WellCare To Acquire Meridian For $2.5 Billion
Managed-care company WellCare Health Plans Inc. has reached a deal to buy Meridian, which operates a pharmacy-benefit manager and health plans in Illinois and Michigan, for $2.5 billion in cash. The transaction allows Tampa, Fla.-based WellCare to expand its government-sponsored health plans by adding Michigan, where Meridian has the No. 1 Medicaid market position, and grow its Medicaid business in Illinois, the companies said Tuesday. The deal is expected to close by year’s end. (Al-Muslim, 5/29)

Bloomberg: WellCare To Buy Meridian State Health Plans For $2.5 Billion 
The all-cash deal for Meridian Health Plan of Michigan Inc. and Meridian Health Plan of Illinois Inc. will give Tampa-based WellCare about 1.07 million new customers, WellCare said in a statement. It will also gain MeridianRx, Meridian’s drug benefits business. Medicaid, which was expanded under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, has been a growth area for health insurers. WellCare said the new members will make it the top Medicaid player in six states, up from four. (Armstrong, 5/29)

Modern Healthcare: WellCare To Buy Meridian For $2.5 Billion, Boosting Its Medicaid Membership 
The deal "will grow and diversify our Medicaid and Medicare Advantage businesses" and "add new and enhance existing capabilities," WellCare CEO Kenneth Burdick said on Tuesday. WellCare's announcement comes amid rampant consolidation in the health insurance industry, as health plans pair up with other insurers, ambulatory care providers and PBMs. Anthem last week bought Aspire Health, a Nashville-based palliative care company. Humana has struck deals to buy stakes in home health services provider Kindred Healthcare and hospice operator Curo Health in recent months. (Livingston, 5/29)

Los Angeles Times: LAPD Begins Sweeping Criminal Probe Of Former USC Gynecologist While Urging Patients To Come Forward
The Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday it is investigating 52 complaints of misconduct filed by former patients of USC's longtime campus gynecologist as detectives launch a sweeping criminal probe into the scandal that has rocked the university. LAPD detectives also made an appeal for other patients who feel mistreated to come forward, noting that thousands of students were examined by Dr. George Tyndall during his nearly 30-year career at USC. More than 410 people have contacted a university hotline about the physician since The Times revealed the allegations this month. (Hamilton, Winton and Elmahrek, 5/29)

The Associated Press: LA Police: More Than 50 Claims Of Sex Abuse By USC Doctor
Los Angeles police are investigating allegations by more than 50 women about possible sexual abuse by a University of Southern California gynecologist dating back decades, authorities said Tuesday. Police said allegations against Dr. George Tyndall date from 1990 to 2016 during a period in which they estimate he could have treated over 10,000 women. They encouraged any other potential victims to come forward. (5/29)

The Associated Press: Legal Hurdles Loom For Prosecutors In USC Gynecologist Case
The University of Southern California has received hundreds of complaints about a former school gynecologist suspected of conducting inappropriate exams for decades, prompting the resignation of the school president and a police investigation. More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed and police are talking to more than 50 women who complained, so far. Whether Dr. George Tyndall faces charges, though, depends on if complaints about creepy comments, improper photos in the exam room and uncomfortable probing went beyond dubious doctoring and into the criminal realm. (Melley, 5/30)

The Hill: Puerto Rico Hurricane Death Toll 70 Times Higher Than Official Government Estimate, Says Study
Nearly 5,000 people died in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria, more than 70 times more than the official government death toll, according to a new study from The New England Journal of Medicine. The study, released Tuesday, calls the official government estimate a "substantial underestimate" while saying that an adjusted statistic could point to as many as 5,740 more deaths than the official estimate. (Wise, 5/29)

Los Angeles Times: Hurricane Maria's Death Toll Was 70 Times Higher Than Puerto Rican Officials Have Reported, Study Says
If the analysis is correct, it means that for every hurricane-related death that's currently on the books, another 70 fatalities in the U.S. territory have gone uncounted. "Our results indicate that the official death count of 64 is a substantial underestimate of the true burden of mortality after Hurricane Maria," researchers concluded in a study published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Kaplan and Khan, 5/29)

NPR: Hurricane Maria: 4,645 Died In Puerto Rico From Storm In 2017, Study Says
A research team led by scientists at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health didn't simply attempt to count dead bodies in the wake of the powerful storm. Instead, they surveyed randomly chosen households and asked the occupants about their experiences. From that approach, they concluded that between Sept. 20 and Dec. 31, 2017, there were 4,645 "excess deaths" — that is, deaths that would not have occurred if the island hadn't been plunged into a prolonged disaster following the devastating storm. (Harris, 5/29)

The Associated Press: Study Estimates Higher Death Toll In Puerto Rico Post-Maria
"Indirect deaths resulting from worsening of chronic conditions or from delayed medical treatments may not be captured on death certificates," researchers said in the study. They calculated 4,645 more people died in the three months after Maria compared with the same period in 2016. One of the researchers, Rafael Irizarry of Harvard University, told the AP that the estimate is uncertain because of its limited size, but that the study still provides valuable information, including how some people died. (5/29)

The New York Times: Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria Death Toll Could Exceed 4,000, New Study Estimates
Under pressure, the government announced in December that all deaths that occurred after Maria hit would be reviewed and that people who died either directly or indirectly from the storm and its aftermath would be included in a revised tally. The government commissioned a review by researchers at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University, who had promised an initial report in May. But that analysis has barely begun. “They’re still acquiring data,” said Dr. Lynn R. Goldman, the school’s dean. The study will use the territory’s vital records and information from funeral homes, the medical system and the larger public. (Fink, 5/29)

The CT Mirror: Study Pegs Hurricane Maria Deaths At 4,645. Gov't Count: 64
“This is something a lot of folks knew was woefully underreported,” said Jason Ortiz, president of the CT Puerto Rican Agenda. “And having lots of family members, extended family and friends there, we knew there were a lot of people not getting care they needed and their deaths weren’t getting counted. (Rigg, 5/29)

The New York Times: They’re Out Of Prison. Can They Stay Out Of The Hospital?
The night Ronald Sanders turned his life around, he had been smoking crack for two days in a tiny, airless room. His infant son, Isaiah, was breathing in the fumes. “His chest was beating really hard,” Mr. Sanders recalled. “So I pray: ‘If my son makes it through the night, that’s it.’” Mr. Sanders quit using drugs and stopped cycling in and out of prison more than two decades ago. He is now a community health worker who helps people getting out of prison deal with a host of medical, psychiatric and substance abuse disorders. (Brown, 5/29)

The Associated Press: Health Officials 'Cautiously Optimistic' On Ebola Response
The World Health Organization said Tuesday it is "cautiously optimistic" about efforts to curb the spread of Ebola in an urban area in Congo, although the lethal virus is still reported in at least two remote areas. There have been 35 confirmed cases, including 12 deaths. The U.N. health agency and partners have vaccinated more than 400 people with an experimental Ebola vaccine, the first time it has been used in an emerging outbreak. (5/29)

Stat: Ebola Outbreak Opens Way To Chaotic Jockeying To Test Experimental Drugs
Companies and other players involved in the development of experimental Ebola drugs are jockeying to have their products tested in the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, part of a chaotic and politically charged effort to use them in the midst of a crisis. With one vaccine already being used in the field, plans are underway to see if another might also be tested. And as many as five drugs, most of which are not supported by much human data, could be used in head-to-head trials. When considering one of those treatments recently, scientific experts told the World Health Organization they couldn’t recommend its use at this time, but the DRC government has already said it’s eager to move ahead. (Branswell, 5/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Clues To Parkinson’s And Alzheimer’s From How You Use Your Computer
How you type or move a mouse could help detect whether you have a serious disease like Parkinson’s. A Duke University doctor working with Microsoft researchers sifted through data on the physical movements of computer users that came from millions of internet searches. Their study found links between some behaviors—such as tremors when using a mouse, repeat queries and average scrolling velocity—and Parkinson’s disease. They used artificial intelligence, or a computer analysis, to identify which of the metrics separated a control group from those searching for Parkinson’s disease symptoms. (Reddy, 5/29)

Stat: Research In Mice May Explain CAR-T Therapy's Toxic Side Effects — And How To Block Them 
CAR-T therapy is a potent new tool for several cancers, but its toxic side effects have put a damper on some of the enthusiasm around its use. Scientists, however, are beginning to unravel why these dangerous toxicities crop up — and are proposing potential interventions that could make CAR-T therapy safer. Their work was published in two papers in Nature Medicine. While the research is based on rudimentary mouse models, it outlines the mechanisms that cause deadly side effects like cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity. (Keshavan, 5/29)

Bloomberg: Is There A Doctor On The Plane? Airlines Often Hope Not 
In May 2016, Lewis Christman was flying from Chicago to Rome when he suffered a bout of acute pancreatitis. He curled into a fetal position on the floor. He spent the next seven hours in agony while the plane flew on. The next three months, he spent in hospitals. This month, Christman sued, accusing United Continental Holdings Inc. of ignoring a recommendation from a doctor on board to divert the flight and failing to contact medical consultants on the ground. It was another round of bad publicity for United and one that draws scrutiny to how U.S. air carriers treat passengers in distress and the pressure to keep flights in the air. (Levingston, 5/29)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Weak Oversight Of Medical Devices Jeopardizes Patient Safety
[Doris] Jones’ lawsuit, being heard this week, is the latest of hundreds of thousands involving medical devices blamed for sickening or killing patients, cases that point to a weak federal oversight system for some sensitive devices. The cases are so many and so routine that federal courts have funneled many into a special multi-district system to consolidate them. (Hart, 5/25)

The New York Times: Lowe’s Drops Paint Strippers Blamed In Dozens Of Deaths
Lowe’s, the large home improvement retailer, announced Tuesday that it will no longer sell paint strippers that contain the chemicals methylene chloride and NMP, which have been blamed in dozens of accidental deaths. The Obama administration, in its final days, concluded that the two chemicals represented “unreasonable risks” and moved to ban them for use as paint strippers. But the Environmental Protection Agency has not enacted the ban. (Lipton, 5/29)

Kaiser Health News: Veterans Find The Comfort Of Home In Foster Care, An Alternative To Nursing Homes
Ralph Stepney’s home on a quiet street in north Baltimore has a welcoming front porch and large rooms, with plenty of space for his comfortable recliner and vast collection of action movies. The house is owned by Joann West, a licensed caregiver who shares it with Stepney and his fellow Vietnam War veteran Frank Hundt.“There is no place that I’d rather be. … I love the quiet of living here, the help we get. I thank the Lord every year that I am here,” Stepney, 73, said. (Kime, 5/30)

The Washington Post: A Doctor Removed Her Ovaries Because They Were ‘In The Way.’ Her Family Says It Led To Her Death.
The removal of her ovaries never came up during her surgery consultations. Lucinda Methuen-Campbell was considering treatment for a bowel disorder at the Spire Hospital in Bristol, England, in 2016. A surgeon there, Anthony Dixon, had gained international recognition for fixing patients’ bowel problems with vaginal mesh implants. Methuen-Campbell went ahead with the surgery — and was shocked to learn afterward that Dixon had removed her ovaries. She asked him why. “He said he thought he’d done me a favor. And he said, ‘I thought you know, a woman of your age wouldn’t really need her ovaries,’ ” Methuen-Campbell told the BBC. (Eltagouri, 5/29)

The New York Times: San Francisco’s Homeless Crisis Tests Mayoral Candidates’ Liberal Ideals
In the bluest of blue cities, it can be hard to tell political candidates apart. The four front-runners in the June 5 San Francisco mayoral election, all Democrats, talk about the importance of protecting immigrants and the pernicious effects of income inequality. It goes without saying that they support gay rights, legalized marijuana and more funding for public transportation. Ron Turner, a book publisher and longtime San Francisco resident, compares the election to “trying to pick a leader at a family picnic.” (Fuller, 5/30)

Los Angeles Times: It Took More Than A Decade To Open Public Bathrooms On Skid Row. After Three Months, They're Already Gone
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's unveiling of the first new public bathrooms on skid row in more than a decade was seen as a possible turning point for the homeless enclave, which remains mired in misery even as downtown development closes in around it. But after more than three months of operation, the trailers with toilets and showers shut down in late March for a planned expansion and now are gone. Across town, bathroom access for Venice's homeless people is hung up over approvals from other agencies. (Holland, 5/29)

St. Louis Public Radio: For Missouri Heart Attack Patients, The Nearest Hospital Isn't Always The Best
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has designated nine hospitals in St. Louis County as priority heart attack centers to ensure that the most at-risk patients receive help as fast as possible. (Fentem, 5/29)

The Associated Press: Conspirator To Be Sentenced In Massive Health Fraud Scheme
One of the principal figures in a large-scale health care fraud scheme is scheduled to be sentenced in New Jersey. Craig Nordman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe doctors and money laundering for his role in a yearslong scheme in which New Jersey-based Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services bribed doctors to send them blood samples for testing that often was unnecessary. (5/30)

The Associated Press: Lawyer: Florida Governor Should End Medical Marijuana Appeal
The man who led the efforts to allow the use of medical marijuana in Florida two years ago implored Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday to drop the state's opposition to letting patients smoke it. Leon County Circuit Court Judge Karen Gievers ruled Friday that the state's ban on smokable medical marijuana is unconstitutional. Less than an hour after the ruling, the Department of Health filed an appeal that is currently in the state's 1st District Court of Appeal. (5/29)

California Healthline: Health Care Looms Large In Race For California’s Top Cop
Attorney General Xavier Becerra uses a well-worn refrain to describe his role as the state’s chief law enforcement officer: to defend California’s values.“If that translates into fighting Donald Trump, then so be it,” he said in a recent interview. Becerra has been one of the leading voices in California’s charge against the federal government, filing more than 30 lawsuits on health care and other issues since taking office in January of last year. (Gorman, 5/25)

East Oregonian: Nonmedical Vaccination Exemptions At Record High
Despite a 2013 law aimed at boosting immunization rates, the statewide rate for nonmedical exemptions to mandatory kindergarten vaccinations hit a record high this school year, according to the Oregon Health Authority. The nonmedical exemption rate rose to 7.5 percent this year, higher than the 7 percent rate during the 2013-2014 school year when the law was passed to address declining vaccination rates among the state’s nearly 700,000 schoolchildren. (Achen, 5/29)

Dallas Morning News: Tenet Health Revamps Board, Points To Signs Of Possible Turnaround 
A retired army general and a health care investment strategist have joined the board of Tenet Healthcare, a Dallas-based hospital company that is undergoing a series of major revamps to turn its business around. Under pressure from investors Tenet, one of the country’s largest hospital operators, launched an aggressive effort last year to slash $250 million in expenses. The plan has included layoffs and putting one of its more profitable businesses up for sale. The company also aims to improve accountability and transparency on its board of directors. (Rice, 5/29)

Detroit Free Press: Hepatitis A Cases In Michigan Have Been Growing For Almost Two Years
Michigan is in the throes of the largest hepatitis A outbreak in the USA, a flareup that began in August 2016 and has killed 27 people, state health officials say. The hepatitis A virus, which attacks the liver, is highly contagious. (Shamus, 5/29)

Modern Healthcare: Providence St. Joseph Rolls Out New End-Of-Life Initiatives 
The Renton, Wash.-based health system is offering a new advanced directive online toolkit—available in multiple languages and tailored for each of the seven states where the health system operates—that helps patients choose what type of end-of-life care they want, accessible through Providence St. Joseph's electronic health record. The EHR will alert doctors if treatments contradict a patient's requests and refer patients to goals-of-care plans and advance directives. The organization is training its physicians and staff across its 51-hospital network to help them broach these end-of-life conversations and clarify realistic outcomes prior to potentially burdensome treatments. (Kacik, 5/29)

WBUR: North Shore Medical Partnership Seeks Earlier End-Of-Life Conversations
Earlier planning for the end of life is one element of a $750,000 grant-funded partnership between the North Shore Physicians Group and Care Dimensions, a nonprofit that offers hospice and palliative care. ... Emergency room visits and readmissions after hospitalizations are both down, based on the first few months of data. With those two changes, the $750,000 project grant from the state’s Health Policy Commission (HPC) is expected to save $7.2 million over the project's duration. (Bebinger, 5/30)

The Star Tribune: Hazelden Signs Contracts With Two National Health Insurers 
Hazelden has signed contracts with two national health insurers this year that give more health-plan subscribers access to services from the Center City-based addiction treatment provider at in-network rates. The agreements with Minnetonka-based UnitedHealthcare and Kentucky-based Humana continue a strategy shift in which Hazelden relies on a growing share of patients with insurance coverage as opposed to patients who pay their own way. (Snowbeck, 5/29)

The New York Times: ‘Paying Twice’: A Push For Affordable Prices For Taxpayer-Funded Drugs
On Aug. 30, the Food and Drug Administration approved a radical new cancer treatment that harnesses a patient’s immune system to attack tumor cells. The drug, known as Kymriah, grew out of research conducted and supported by the National Institutes of Health. Seven weeks later the F.D.A. approved a second cancer therapy that uses similar technology. This treatment, Yescarta, “got its start right here at N.I.H.,” said Dr. Francis S. Collins, the director of the health institutes. It was developed by Kite Pharma using technology licensed from the N.I.H. Kymriah costs $475,000 for a one-time treatment, and Yescarta goes for $373,000. (Pear, 5/28)

Stat: Meet The Six Trump Aides Who Will Oversee The Next Moves On Drug Pricing
President Trump’s Rose Garden speech on drug prices is over. The media blitz that initially animated his top health lieutenants is fading. Now the administration has to take action. Overwhelmingly, the bulk of the Trump administration plan to bring down drug prices — to force companies to include a medication’s price in their TV commercials or expand the way pharmacy benefit managers negotiate prices for costly cancer treatments, for example — falls under the authority of Health and Human Services Department and two of its most prominent agencies, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Mershon, 5/29)

Politico: Former Drug Industry Lobbyist Helps Steer Trump Drug Plan
The White House official who will shape a large part of the administration's drug price plan worked on many of the same issues as an industry lobbyist, raising questions about whether he violated President Donald Trump's ethics rules. Joe Grogan — who has sweeping authority over drug pricing, entitlement programs and other aspects of federal health policy at the Office of Management and Budget — didn't obtain a waiver from a directive Trump issued during his first week in office that imposed a two-year cooling-off period between lobbying and regulating on the same "specific issue area." (Pittman, 5/27)

Kaiser Health News: To Lower Medicare Drug Costs And Get Around Gag Orders At Pharmacy, Just Ask For The Cash Price
As part of President Donald Trump’s blueprint to bring down prescription costs, Medicare officials have warned insurers that “gag orders” keeping pharmacists from alerting seniors that they could save money by paying cash — rather than using their insurance — are “unacceptable and contrary” to the government’s effort to promote price transparency. But the agency stopped short of requiring insurers to lift such restrictions on pharmacists. (Jaffe, 5/30)

Politico: Health Chief Channels Trump's Combative Approach On Drug Prices
President Donald Trump’s top health official is testing a new tactic in his bid to lower drug costs: Sound more like the boss. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has slammed drugmakers for their “runaway price increases,” accused insurers of keeping customers in the dark and warned that drug industry middlemen are gaming the system, in what those close to Azar refer to as his “bully pulpit” strategy. It’s reminiscent of Trump’s frequent accusations that pharmaceutical companies are “getting away with murder.” (Cancryn, 5/27)

Stat: Investors' 'Negative' Views On Celgene May Be 'Warranted,' Analyst Says
As Celgene struggles to recover from several setbacks that have battered its stock, one Wall Street analyst issued a sobering assessment of its pipeline performance that suggests the lack of investor confidence is well deserved. In explaining his rationale, Leerink analyst Geoffrey Porges started out by pointing to a cataclysmic event last fall. The biotech discontinued development of a drug for combating Crohn’s disease, a treatment that had been expected to provide an important new revenue stream. (Silverman, 5/25)

Reuters: EU Makes It Easier For Companies To Produce Generic Medicines For Export
The European Commission on Monday proposed to change intellectual property rules to let pharmaceutical companies produce generic drugs for export to countries and regions where they are not under extended patent protection. Supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) were introduced to expand patents on certain pharmaceuticals to compensate for the long time it takes such products to come to the market. (Bartunek, 5/28)

Kaiser Health News: Benefit Change Could Raise Costs For Patients Getting Drug Copay Assistance
Since Kristen Catton started taking the drug Gilenya two years ago, she’s had only one minor relapse of her multiple sclerosis, following a bout of the flu. She can walk comfortably, see clearly and work part time as a nurse case manager at a hospital near her home in Columbus, Ohio. This is a big step forward; two drugs she previously tried failed to control her physical symptoms or prevent repeated flare-ups. (Andrews, 5/29)

Bloomberg: Biopharma Deploy Trump’s Tax Windfall To Buy Back Billions In Stock
Drugmakers, whose industry pricing faced renewed scorn this month from President Donald Trump, have been taking advantage of the U.S. tax overhaul he signed last year to buy back shares of their own underperforming stocks. Large-cap biopharmaceutical companies took advantage of repatriation of overseas profits and lower corporate tax rates to push share repurchases to the highest level in at least 10 years. Companies led by Amgen Inc. and Pfizer Inc. bought back a combined $16.7 billion in the most recent quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. And they’re not done. Celgene Corp., whose market value has been cut in half over the course of about seven months, on Thursday boosted its repurchase capacity by $3 billion and planned a $2 billion accelerated buyback. (Lipschultz, 5/25)

The Associated Press: Bayer Selling $9B In Ag Business Ahead Of Monsanto Merger
German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG has agreed to the U.S. government's demand that it sell about $9 billion in agriculture businesses as the condition for acquiring Monsanto Co., a U.S. seed and weed-killer maker. Antitrust regulators at the Justice Department say it's the biggest divestiture ever required for a merger. The regulators say they directed Bayer to divest assets such as vegetable oils, seeds and seed treatments to ensure fair competition and prevent price spikes after the massive agriculture business deal goes through. The assets will be sold to BASF, a German chemical company. (Gordon, 5/29)

The Associated Press: For CEOs, $11.7 Million A Year Is Just Middle Of The Pack
Chief executives at the biggest public companies got an 8.5 percent raise last year, bringing the median pay package for CEOs to $11.7 million. Across the S&P 500, compensation for CEOs is often hundreds of times higher than typical workers. The pay increase matches the bump that CEOs received in 2016, according to salary, stock and other compensation data analyzed by Equilar for The Associated Press. (Choe, 5/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Did We Say $1.5 Million? We Meant $10.9 Million. Firms Fix CEO Pay Flubs
When Laboratory Corp. of America LH -1.11% disclosed pay for its chief executive in March, the company said he made $1.5 million in 2016. A week later the diagnostic-lab chain filed a new document listing his pay at $10.9 million. Chief Executive David King didn’t get a retroactive raise. His employer just proofread its work. (Francis, 5/30)

Ventura County Star: Let Medicare Corral Drug Prices
The latest example of runaway drug pricing has pitted the industrial town of Rockford, Illinois, against specialty drug manufacturer Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. Rockford, with fewer than 150,000 residents, accuses Mallinckrodt of price gouging and another local company, Express Scripts, of failing to fairly negotiate drug prices. No matter what justification drug companies offer for outlandish pricing, there’s no escaping the higher priority they place on profits over saving lives and easing human suffering. (5/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Why CVS Loves ObamaCare
Big business feasts on big government, and ObamaCare has been a bonanza for companies that have figured out how to exploit it. Witness how CVS Health is dining out on Ohio’s Medicaid expansion. In addition to retail pharmacies, CVS operates a pharmaceutical benefit manager (PBM) that acts as a middleman between insurers, pharmacies and drug manufacturers. PBMs decide which drugs are listed on a formulary, how much pharmacies are reimbursed and how much insurers pay. (5/29)

Forbes: Good News For Patients: Trump Won't Dramatically Lower Drug Prices
Pharma was relieved, Wall Street unimpressed and many in the political arena disappointed when, after much chest thumping, the president who “keeps his promises” came out with a surprisingly benign drug pricing policy. Compared to the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iran, China, global warming and the leadership of the free world, pharma seems a small target with a potentially large payoff. Why did the disrupter-in-chief settle for fine-tuning the drug market that everybody (other than pharma CEOs) hates? (Standish Fleming, 5/24)

Fox News: How Medicare-Medicaid Chief Seema Verma's Taking Steps To Sink Drug Prices Under Trump's Plan
President Trump is taking effective action to lower prescription drug prices and to improve the American health-care delivery system, Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Seema Verma told me recently in an exclusive on-camera interview for Fox News. The president is “not afraid of special interests,” Verma said. (Marc Siegel, 5/29)

The New York Times: If Addiction Is A Disease, Why Is Relapsing A Crime?
When Julie Eldred tested positive for fentanyl in 2016, 11 days into her probation for a larceny charge, she was sent to jail. Such outcomes are typical in the American criminal justice system, even though, as Ms. Eldred’s lawyer has argued, ordering a drug addict to abstain from drug use is tantamount to mandating a medical outcome — because addiction is a brain disease, and relapsing is a symptom of it. Ms. Eldred’s case, now before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, has the potential to usher in a welcome change to drug control policies across the country. The case challenges the practice of requiring people with substance abuse disorders to remain drug-free as a condition of probation for drug-related offenses, and of sending offenders to jail when they relapse. (5/29)

The Hill: If You Care About Mental Health, Then Make Sure You Vote
A few weeks ago, I wrote a deeply personal essay about my battle with anxiety and mental illness. Thank you, dearly, for everyone who voiced their support and shared their own stories — they were brave, heart-wrenching, and unbelievably powerful. Together, we are demanding our lawmakers defend — not sabotage — our access to mental health services. And together, I am asking us to bring our voices to the ballot box in November. I am one of the over 40 million Americans across the country who lives with a mental illness. (Alyssa Milano, 5/29)

The New York Times: The Largest Health Disparity We Don’t Talk About
I didn’t think our relationship would last, but neither did I think it would end so soon. My patient had struggled with bipolar disorder his entire life, and his illness dominated our years together. He had, in a fit of hopelessness, tried to take his life with a fistful of pills. He had, in an episode of mania, driven his car into a tree. But the reason I now held his death certificate — his sister and mother in tears by his bed — was more pedestrian: a ruptured plaque in his coronary artery. A heart attack. (Dhruv Khullar, 5/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Why CVS Loves ObamaCare
Big business feasts on big government, and ObamaCare has been a bonanza for companies that have figured out how to exploit it. Witness how CVS Health is dining out on Ohio’s Medicaid expansion.In addition to retail pharmacies, CVS operates a pharmaceutical benefit manager (PBM) that acts as a middleman between insurers, pharmacies and drug manufacturers. PBMs decide which drugs are listed on a formulary, how much pharmacies are reimbursed and how much insurers pay. Ohio contracts with five managed-care organizations (MCOs) to administer Medicaid benefits, four of which outsource their drug benefits management to CVS Caremark, the CVS PBM. The state uses drug claims data to set its annual drug budget. So if claims increase, the state will allocate more Medicaid funds for drugs the following year. (5/29)

The Hill: The Medical And Scientific Communities Stand For Abortion Access
Last week the Trump administration rolled out a new, deeply concerning proposal designed to cut off access to federal family planning funds for facilities where abortion is performed or where patients may receive referrals to abortion services. This decision has nothing to do with improving health and safety; it is a purely political attack designed to limit access to abortion care. The consensus within the medical and scientific community is that abortion is safe, according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM). Importantly, the report finds that medically unnecessary regulations, such as the Trump administration’s proposed “domestic gag rule,” negatively impact the quality of abortion care and harm women. (Stephanie Teal, 5/29)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: 'Right-To-Try' Means Right To Be Harmed By Unproven Treatments
Almost 40 states have passed “right-to-try” laws that allow patients to request experimental drugs directly from manufacturers. ...Many drugs that fail the testing process turn out to be not just ineffective but also dangerous. (Robert Field, 5/30)

Stat: DNA Donors Must Demand Stronger Protection For Genetic Privacy
The National Institutes of Health wants your DNA, and the DNA of 1 million other Americans, for an ambitious project called All of Us. Its goal — to “uncover paths toward delivering precision medicine” — is a good one. But until it can safeguard participants’ genetic privacy, you should decline the invitation to join unless you fully understand and accept the risks. DNA databases like All of Us could provide valuable medical breakthroughs such as identifying new disease risk factors and potential drug targets. But these benefits could come with a high price: increased risk to individuals’ genetic data privacy, something that current U.S. laws do not adequately protect. (Mason Marks and Tiffany Li May, 5/30)

Los Angeles Times: Say What? How An $800 Charge For Hearing Aids Soared To A $3,600 Healthcare Bill
There are a few things to unpack here. First, how an anticipated $800 out-of-pocket cost skyrocketed to $3,600. Second, the challenge all consumers face in finding out the actual cost of healthcare. Finally, this is a growing problem. Hearing aids are fast becoming a concern for millions of Americans as our aging society places new strains on healthcare. (David Lazarus, 5/29)

The New York Times: The Problem With Body Positivity
Everything I thought I knew about body positivity had somehow become wrong. One morning last year, I logged into my teenage daughter’s student profile to add lunch money to her account. I was surprised to find only a few dollars missing. We were driving when I confronted her. I could tell she was having difficulty putting her thoughts into words. “Mom,” she blurted out, “I want to lose weight.” (Kelly deVos, 5/29)

Los Angeles Times: Paint Companies Poisoned People With Lead Additives. Now They Want A Billion-Dollar Bailout
On the surface, the initiative sounds virtuous. ... But the real purpose is buried in legalese. The initiative would declare that lead paint is not a public nuisance, even though the court found that it was. That declaration would effectively reverse the court decision that put the paint companies on the hook, eliminating their obligation to pay for lead paint removal. It would also prevent other communities in California from suing paint companies in the future. (5/29)

Orlando Sentinel: Unfilled Nursing Jobs Could Cripple Health Care
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there will be more than 1 million vacancies for registered nurses by 2024. This is twice as bad as the worst previous nursing shortage. If there is no national and international strategy to build a work force of nurses, we will witness — very soon — crippled health-care systems across the world. (Christie Watson, 5/29)

The Hill: Young Adults With Cancer Are Seemingly Invisible
Approximately 70,000 adolescents and young adults are diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States. In fact, I’m one of them. Imagine my shock when I read through the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer released last week and found no mention of young adults. Literally nothing about patients between the ages of 15 and 39 in the annual benchmark report on cancer put together by federal agencies and national advocacy groups. Not even a footnote. Frankly it should have been titled the “Annual Report to the Nation on the State of (Non-Millennial) Cancer.” (Kate Yglesias Houghton, 5/29)

The Washington Post: ‘Is This Normal?’ Carpal Tunnel, Hair Loss, Kidney Stones And Other Pregnancy Issues.
There’s a common refrain among women who are pregnant: “Is this normal?” Another one: “Why didn’t anyone tell me this could happen?!” And then we move on, plow forward, toughen up, ride it out and wait for that sweet little person to finally join us, not just so we can meet our baby, but so we can rid ourselves of pretty some debilitating, strange, awful, awkward symptoms. (Amy Joyce, 5/29)

Texas Tribune: After Santa Fe School Shooting, A Texas Governor’s Call To Arms
Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to move past thoughts and prayers after this month’s shooting at Santa Fe High School — even without knowing what actions he will propose — is in and of itself a break from the norm. ...Almost anything would be a break from the normal post-shooting political back-and-forth, and will be tested both practically and politically. (Ross Ramsey, 5/30)