The Associated Press: Iowa's GOP Senators Cast Doubt On Health Care Law Repeal
Lowering expectations, Iowa's two Republican senators say the long-promised repeal of "Obamacare" is unlikely, and any final agreement with the Republican-controlled House is uncertain. The comments Tuesday by Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst come as the Republican-controlled Senate moves forward on its work to dismantle the 2010 health care bill while facing conflicting demands within their own party and lockstep Democratic opposition. Both senators are active players in the health care debate. (5/31)

Modern Healthcare: GOP Senators Gloomy About Repeal Prospects, But Watch Out For House Repeat 
The seeming impasse among Senate Republicans to reach an agreement on how to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act feels like déjà vu all over again. The question is which senator will take on Republican congressman Fred Upton's role and broker a last-minute compromise. Upton's amendment in early May brought just enough moderates and conservatives together to pass the American Health Care Act in the House. (Meyer, 5/30)

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump wants Republicans to go nuclear on health care and tax reform —

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Wants Senate Rules Changed To Speed Up Health-Care, Tax Legislation
President Donald Trump called for a change to Senate rules to allow all bills to pass with a simple majority, elbowing aside Senate Republicans’ current legislative strategy on taxes and health care that already rests on obtaining such a majority. “The U.S. Senate should switch to 51 votes, immediately, and get Healthcare and TAX CUTS approved, fast and easy. Dems would do it, no doubt!” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. (Radnofsky, Rubin and Hughes, 5/30)

The Associated Press: Poll: Trump Promises Unfulfilled By House GOP Health Bill
President Donald Trump has called the House-passed health care bill a "great plan," but a new poll finds that three out of four Americans do not believe it fulfills most of his promises. The poll out Wednesday from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation also found a growing share of the public concerned that the GOP's American Health Care Act will have negative consequences for them personally by increasing their costs, making it harder to get and keep health insurance, or reducing quality. (5/31)

The Washington Post: Poll: Most Americans Want Senate To Change Or Ditch House Health-Care Bill
A 55 percent majority of Americans view the Republican-backed American Health Care Act negatively, the same proportion who want the Senate to make major changes to the legislation or reject it, the survey finds. Only 8 percent want the legislation, which would repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, approved as it now stands. Almost half of the public, 49 percent, holds favorable views of the ACA, while 42 percent have negative views, which are among the law's most positive ratings tracked in polls by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation in the years since the law's passage. (McGinley and Clement, 5/31)

Kaiser Health News: GOP Health Bill Pleases Most Republicans, But Not Many Other Americans
[T]he KFF poll found that even Republicans show scant support for a change to some of the health law’s most popular provisions. Fewer than a fifth of Republicans favored changing the provision that limits how much more insurers can charge older people for insurance compared with younger people. And 22 percent of Republicans favored letting insurers charge sick people higher premiums if they have a break in their coverage. (Rovner, 5/31)

The Hill: Poll: Most Disapprove Of ObamaCare Repeal Efforts 
An analysis of the House legislation from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that 23 million people would lose insurance, and senators are struggling to make sure their legislation covers more. The CBO also predicted steep premium increases for older consumers and many people with pre-existing conditions. (Weixel, 5/31)

In a separate poll —

Morning Consult: CBO Score Stirs More Opposition To Republican Health Care Bill
More voters said they were likely to oppose the GOP’s health care legislation after a Congressional Budget Office analysis, compared to those who said the group’s projections persuaded them to support the House-passed measure, according to recent polling. (McIntire, 5/31)

USA Today: Medicaid Chief Seema Verma Blames Obamacare's Collapse On Its Founders
When the Obamacare insurance exchanges collapse and leave some Americans stranded without health coverage, top Trump administration official Seema Verma says, blame the folks who created them in the first place. "Right now, if we look at it, this is all because of the Affordable Care Act," says Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. "I mean, the individual market was working much better than it is now, so this is all the impact of the Affordable Care Act." (Page, 5/30)

Roll Call: House Defends Delaying Major Obamacare Lawsuit
The House of Representatives in a court filing Tuesday defended a decision earlier in May to delay a pivotal lawsuit over a provision of the 2010 health care law and pushed back on a request from Democratic attorneys general to take over defending the law. The House and the Trump administration, the other party in the lawsuit, agreed last week to delay the case while they work to reach a settlement and while congressional Republicans continue to push for legislation to repeal and replace the entire 2010 law. (Mershon, 5/31)

The CT Mirror: With Obamacare At Risk In CT, 73K Could Lose Subsidies 
Connecticut is among several states in danger of losing all the insurers who participate in their Affordable Care Act exchanges – a move that would leave tens of thousands of state residents scrambling for coverage and ways to pay for it. Connecticut consumers once had a choice of four carriers on the Access Health CT exchange, but Anthem and ConnectiCare are the only ones left. Neither has committed to staying beyond the end of this year. (Radelat, 5/31)

St. Louis Public Radio: As Senate Mulls A Health Care Overhaul, Area Patients Take Stock Of What Coverage Changes Could Mean
A Republican proposal to gut the Affordable Care Act narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives and now the U.S. Senate is crafting its own bill to reshape the nation’s health care system. Elected officials have held few town halls to hear from constituents in the St. Louis area about what they want in a health care bill, sparking demonstrations outside representatives’ offices. Meanwhile, patients in St. Louis are taking stock of how the proposed changes in the House plan could affect their coverage. (Bouscaren, 5/31)

McClatchy: Obamacare Repeal Legislation Could Bring "Junk Insurance" To Millions 
If certain parts of the House Republican health care bill become law, states that opt out of Obamacare protections could see an explosion of “junk insurance” in their individual markets – which could leave millions of people with very little coverage. Such plans often can be dirt-cheap, but they offer so few benefits that the recent Congressional Budget Office score on the Republicans’ American Health Care Act said such coverage basically amounted to no coverage at all. (Pugh, 5/30)

KCUR: Former Patients Wary As Republicans Tout Risk Pools In New Health Plan 
Back when insurance companies could still deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, 35 states, including Missouri, had a public plan to subsidize people who couldn’t buy coverage anywhere else: the high-risk pool. Often expensive and underfunded, the programs were phased out by the Affordable Care Act, which forbids insurance companies from denying coverage or charging higher premiums to individuals based on their health status. The Republican’s plan to repeal major parts of the ACA chips away at these rules. (Bouscaren, 5/31)

McClatchy: Democrats Say They’ll Protect Rural Americans From AHCA Medicaid Cuts
As the Senate works to craft its own version of the House GOP’s American Health Care Act and polls show increasing skepticism about the Republicans’ plan, some Democrats continue to highlight the pain they say the legislation would cause rural Americans, including more than half a million Pennsylvanians living on Medicaid. Nearly 1 of out of every 5 rural Pennsylvanians uses Medicaid following the program’s expansion under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. (Maake, 5/30)

The Fiscal Times: The $6 Trillion Health Care Blow Out Over Pre-Existing Conditions 
Nearly 60 percent of the population – or 190 million Americans – suffer from one or more chronic diseases, and they are creating a major drain on the U.S. healthcare system, according to new research. If current trends continue unabated, the cost of treating people with multiple chronic problems will total more than a staggering $42 trillion between now and 2030. (Pianin, 5/30)

USA Today: Constituents Of Mike Gallagher Hold Green Bay Town Hall Without Him
A group of northeastern Wisconsin residents wanted so badly to raise concerns with Rep. Mike Gallagher, they held a town meeting even though they knew the congressman wouldn't be there. ... Health-care coverage, and the American Health Care Act, a  Republican bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, was the most common topic. Gallagher, R-Green Bay, supported the bill during a House vote earlier this month. (5/30)

The Associated Press: Dozens Arrested After Health-Care Protest In North Carolina
The head of the North Carolina NAACP was among more than 30 people arrested Tuesday during a demonstration against Republican lawmakers' refusal to expand Medicaid coverage — the latest in a long string of protests the NAACP and members of the "Moral Monday" movement have waged since the GOP returned to power in 2013. With zip-ties on their wrists, the Rev. William Barber and 31 other protesters were led away by police as supporters continued protest chants in support of health care for all. (5/30)

Stat: Why Are Gun Groups Up In Arms Over A Hearing Aid Bill?
How does a hearing aid bill turn into a fight about gun rights? By having Elizabeth Warren as a lead legislative author, apparently. The Democratic senator from Massachusetts has teamed up with several Republicans on legislation creating an over-the-counter category of hearing aids, which proponents believe would lower prices, spur innovation, and help millions of people with mild-to-moderate hearing loss obtain devices and improve their lives. As few as one in seven of the estimated 30 million Americans with hearing loss gets aids, experts say, and a big reason is their high cost. (McGrane, 5/30)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

CQ Roll Call: NIH Probe By House Panel Expands
The National Institutes of Health is facing scrutiny again from the House Energy and Commerce Committee over a scandal that occurred nearly two years ago at one of the agency’s main research institutions.  On Thursday, the panel broadened its probe into safety and compliance issues at the NIH Clinical Center, a research hospital located on the agency’s campus in Bethesda, Md. In a letter sent to Director Francis Collins and obtained by CQ Roll Call, the committee requested a larger swath of documents not yet provided by the agency. (Williams, 5/26)

Politico: Ryan Appoints Controversial Cancer Doctor To HHS Committee
House Speaker Paul Ryan has named Patrick Soon-Shiong, a controversial billionaire scientist, to a committee that will advise the Trump administration on policy around health information technology, a Ryan spokeswoman said this evening. Soon-Shiong, a Los Angeles surgeon who leads a network of for-profit and not-for-profit ventures conducting cancer research, has been the subject of news stories, including by POLITICO and STAT, that have raised questions about potential conflicts of interest. (Tahir, 5/30)

Stat: Dentists Are Pushed To Screen Patients For Domestic Abuse
An activist group of dentists and hygienists is pushing the profession to use checkups to screen patients for signs of domestic abuse — and take action to help patients who may be vulnerable...It’s estimated that 70 percent of injuries from abuse are on the head and neck. That can put signs of the abuse front and center for dentists — who, with a twice-annual cleaning, might be seeing some patients more often than a primary care provider. But dentists and hygienists, while well-trained to detect signs of child abuse, often aren’t given extensive training to spot and address signs of intimate partner violence. (Thielking, 5/31)

Los Angeles Times: Being Transgender In America May Be Hazardous To Your Health, Study Shows
Being transgender in America may be hazardous to your health. A new report in JAMA Internal Medicine characterizes a variety of health disparities between people who are transgender (that is, their gender identity is not the same as their gender at birth) and people who are cisgender (their gender identity matches their gender at birth). Spoiler alert: There are many. (Kaplan, 5/30)

Stat: CRISPR Stocks Sank On News The Gene Editing Can Veer Off Target. But That's Hardly News
A letter in Nature Methods pointing out potentially dangerous flaws in the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system gave biotech investors a sinking feeling on Tuesday, and stocks in genome-editing companies had the same experience. By the close of trading Editas Medicine had fallen nearly 12 percent, Crispr Therapeutics was down more than 5 percent, and Intellia Therapeutics had plunged just over 14 percent. But the truth was, the concerns outlined in the letter were hardly new. ... To put it plainly, the tool can inadvertently alter DNA in regions of the genome that weren’t targeted for editing. The letter reinforces that this is a problem. (Begley, 5/30)

NPR: State Rules For Treating Sepsis May Be Risking Lives
Doctors can save thousands of lives a year if they act promptly to identify sepsis, an often lethal reaction to infection. Sometimes called blood poisoning, sepsis is the leading cause of death in hospitals. A 4-year-old regulation in New York state compels doctors and hospitals to follow a certain protocol, involving a big dose of antibiotics and intravenous fluids. It's far from perfect — about a quarter of patients still die from sepsis. But early intervention is helping. (Harris, 5/30)

Kaiser Health News: Handshake-Free Zone: Keep Those Hands — And Germs — To Yourself In The Hospital
Anna Gorman reports: "Dr. Mark Sklansky, a self-described germaphobe, can’t stop thinking about how quickly those little microbes can spread. “If I am at a computer terminal or using a phone or opening a door, I know my hands are now contaminated, and I need to be careful and I need to wash my hands,” said Sklansky, professor of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA." (Gorman, 5/30)

Reuters: Maryland Joins California In Battling Antibiotic Overuse On Farms
Maryland has become the second U.S. state to pass a law banning the routine use of antibiotics in healthy livestock and poultry, a move aimed at battling the rise of dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria known as "superbugs." Maryland's Keep Antibiotics Effective Act, which aims to end a practice that public health experts say can fuel the spread of superbugs, takes effect on Oct. 1 after Governor Larry Hogan declined to sign or veto it last week. Farmers in Maryland have until Jan. 1, 2018, to comply with the law. (Baertlein, 5/30)

Stat: Pro-Helmet Forces Are Notching Wins Against Motorcyclists
For two decades, the riders — and their rallying cry of freedom — have often had the upper hand in these battles. Now, though, the public health advocates are gaining traction as more and more evidence emerges that mandating helmet use saves lives. Coalitions of insurance groups, doctors, and accident survivors have beaten back attempts to loosen helmet laws in 10 states this year, including North Carolina and Missouri. They’ve also helped get bills requiring helmets introduced in six states — an uptick over recent years, according to Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, which pushes for stronger laws. (Robbins, 5/31)

Chicago Tribune: Are Video Games Addictive Like Drugs, Gambling? Some Who've Struggled Say Yes 
Uncontrollable video game playing is a 21st century affliction in search of an identity. Is it an addiction on its own terms, as many researchers believe? Or is it just a symptom of deeper problems such as depression or anxiety, as other experts insist? Dozens of scientific papers have yet to produce clear answers, and the medical establishment has been equally indecisive, calling it a condition that requires further study before it can be classified as a full-blown psychiatric disorder. (Keilman, 5/30)

Columbus Dispatch: Expert: Ohio Falling Short Of Top States' Performance In Drug Battle
To save lives in Ohio’s burgeoning opioid epidemic, the state must broaden access to medication-assisted treatment to drug addicts, according to a national health expert. But Gov. John Kasich has balked at providing more funds for treatment despite waiting lists, saying Drug Enforcement Administration officials told him that better education is preferred. (Candisky, 5/30)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Suspected Heroin, Fentanyl Overdoses In Cuyahoga County Killed 13 Over Memorial Day Weekend 
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office said on Tuesday that 13 people died as a result of heroin or fentanyl overdoses during the three-day Memorial day weekend. Of the 13 dead, nine were men and four were women ranging from age 21 to 60. (Madden, 5/30)

New Hampshire Public Radio: New Hampshire Will Get A New 'Drug Czar' 
The State's so-called "drug czar" is stepping down. James Vara, who held the position for the past year, has been nominated by Gov. Chris Sununu to serve as Chief of Staff for the Attorney General. The Executive Council must approve Vara's new position at next week's meeting. (Sutherland, 5/30)

Iowa Public Radio: Eastern Iowa Nonprofits To Offer Free Opioid Overdose Reversal Drug 
Two eastern Iowa nonprofits will offer free naloxone —a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose—starting June 1. It's the first time the overdose reversal drug will be available for free in Iowa. (Sostaric, 5/30)

Boston Globe: Fentanyl Sweep In Lawrence Nets 30
Federal authorities charged 30 people and seized more than 2 kilos of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl in a predawn raid throughout Greater Lawrence Tuesday, dismantling what was called “one of the largest fentanyl trafficking organizations ever seen in Massachusetts..." Authorities said 30 people were part of at least three linked organizations, and 27 of those people were arrested Tuesday morning. Essex County prosecutors charged another 20 people with state crimes through the course of the investigation. (Valencia, 5/30)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: PolitiFact: More Money Is Not Whole Story About Opioid Fight
Tom Price, secretary for Health and Human Services, and Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, reiterated Trump’s commitment to end the opioid crisis when they visited New Hampshire this month a week after it was announced that the administration planned to cut the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s budget by $364 million, about 95 percent. The proposed cut in Trump’s final budget, it turned out, was not so steep. (Nilsen, 5/30)

The Associated Press: Kansas Lawmakers OK New Abortion Rule With Font Requirement
Kansas legislators approved a new requirement for abortion providers Tuesday that calls for them to disclose doctors’ histories to their patients — and specifies that it be done on white paper in black, 12-point Times New Roman type. Both supporters and critics of the bill believe it is the first of its kind in the U.S. The measure tightens the state’s longstanding “Right to Know” law already requiring that 24 hours ahead of terminating a pregnancy, abortion providers give women the name of the doctor and information about the risks of the procedure and fetal development. Kansas has fewer than 10 physicians performing abortions for three providers. (Hanna, 5/30)

Sacramento Bee: Planned Parenthood To Close Three Clinics, Citing Inadequate State Funds 
Planned Parenthood will close three clinics in Northern California at the end of June to consolidate dwindling financial resources, the organization confirmed Tuesday. Locations in Vacaville, Pittsburg and central Richmond will close June 30, according to Miriam Gerace, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Northern California. (Caiola, 5/30)

The Baltimore Sun: Emergency Rooms Marking Up Costs, Hurting Uninsured And Minority Patients The Most, Hopkins Study Finds 
Emergency rooms are marking up prices by an average of 340 percent, with minorities and uninsured patients getting the biggest bills, according to new research by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. ... The researchers found that hospitals charged anywhere from 1.0 to 12.6 percent, or $100 to $12,600, more than what Medicare paid for services. For-profit hospitals in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States that tend to serve higher populations of uninsured, African-American and Hispanic patients were more likely to have the largest markups, the report found. The findings were published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. (McDaniels, 5/30)

Tampa Bay Times: Stalemate Between All Children's Hospital, UnitedHealthcare Leaves Families In A Bind 
United provides health insurance for some of the region's largest local governments, including Pinellas County government and the cities of St. Petersburg and Tampa... United used to have a contract with All Children's that allowed members to pay in-network rates. But when it came time to renegotiate last fall, All Children's asked United to pony up more money. (McGrory, 5/30)

Houston Chronicle: Memorial Hermann Northeast Breaks Ground On New Patient Care Tower 
Memorial Hermann Northeast broke ground on the $70 million new patient care tower May 30. The tower is set to open in December 2018. The 123,000-square-foot patient tower is going to be a five-story facility that includes 90 large patient rooms, with the flexibility to add 30 additional beds in the future. In addition to the new tower, plans for a surface parking lot with 240 spots, as well as renovations to the east entrance of the hospital are planned to be completed the same time as the tower. (Kesbeh, 5/30)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Reading Health To Buy Five SE Pa. Hospitals
Reading Health System has agreed to buy five community hospitals in Southeastern Pennsylvania from Community Health Systems Inc. for an undisclosed price, the two parties announced Tuesday. The hospitals included in the deal, which is expected to close this summer, are: the 169-bed Brandywine Hospital in Coatesville, the 148-bed Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia, the 63-bed Jennersville Hospital in West Grove, the 151-bed Phoenixville Hospital in Phoenixville, and the 232-bed Pottstown Memorial Medical Center in Pottstown. (Brubaker, 5/30)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Barnes-Jewish Breaks Ground On New Creve Coeur Hospital 
Hospital executives gathered Tuesday for a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital in Creve Coeur. The new hospital is expected to be complete in 2019 and will replace the current 77-bed facility that was first built in 1969, known as Faith Hospital, which was later sold to what is now BJC HealthCare. Tuesday marked the beginning of the end for the 48-year-old building that will be torn down once the new 100-bed facility is completed. (Liss, 5/30)

Pioneer Press: Is The Minnesota Measles Outbreak Ending? Officials See Hopeful Signs
The number of new measles cases in Minnesota has not risen in 13 days, giving health officials hope that the outbreak could be nearing its end. The Minnesota Department of Health’s daily tally on the outbreak remained at 68 Tuesday, where it has been much of the past two weeks. In fact, it dropped one when a Ramsey County case a few days ago tested negative. But optimistic health officials still urge caution and vaccinations. The Health Department does expect the number of infected to rise as symptoms begin to show for those few who contracted the disease after prevention and control efforts began. (Carson, 5/30)

KCUR: Shortage Of Psychiatrists Leads Patients To Costly ER, Hospitalization 
Sixty-one percent of Missouri’s counties don’t have a single licensed psychiatrist—that’s according to data from the Missouri Board of Healing Arts.  And the shortage is most acute in rural areas...[H]e says, patients may engage in risky or illegal behavior, and languish in local jails. The shortage has wide-ranging ramifications on the criminal justice system and on hospitals. Wright County, in south-central Missouri, is one of the counties that doesn’t have a single, full-time psychiatrist. It does have three licensed psychologists; they cannot prescribe medication, but they can provide counseling and referrals. (Moore, 5/30)

Concord Monitor: Senate Budget Plan Cuts Taxes, Adds Money For Mental Health Beds, Drug Abuse
The Senate will begin consideration of an $11.8 billion state spending plan Wednesday that cuts business taxes, expands the number of mental health treatment beds and boosts funding for domestic violence shelters. Republicans tout the plan as fiscally sound and say it fulfills the state’s needs. Senate Democrats, however, have argued it doesn’t go far enough to address addiction treatment, higher education costs or workforce development. Reflecting that division, the plan passed the Senate Finance Committee in a 4-2 vote along party lines. (Morris, 5/31)

Stat: Texas On Track To Become First State To Explicitly Back Stem Cell Therapies
Lawmakers in Austin have approved a bill authorizing unapproved stem cell therapies, putting Texas on track to become the first state to explicitly recognize the experimental treatments. The measure now heads to Governor Greg Abbott, who has signaled his support for it. For years, clinics across the country have been offering experimental stem cell therapies for patients with chronic conditions or terminal illnesses, but no state has given them legal validation. Instead, clinics have largely operated under the radar of regulatory authorities, touting treatments for a range of injuries and diseases. (Joseph, 5/30)

Orlando Sentinel: 7 Babies Born So Far With Zika Complications In Florida 
In their second year combatting the Zika virus and the mosquitoes that carry it, state officials say they’re better prepared, but they’re also dealing with the consequences of infections, particularly among pregnant women. Seven babies have been born so far in Florida with lifelong neurological complications, health officials revealed Tuesday. (Miller, 5/30)

California Healthline: California’s New Single-Payer Proposal Embraces Some Costly Old Ways
Three of the dirtiest words in health care are “fee for service.” For years, U.S. officials have sought to move Medicare away from paying doctors and hospitals for each task they perform, a costly approach that rewards the quantity of care over quality. State Medicaid programs and private insurers are pursuing similar changes. Yet the $400 billion single-payer proposal that’s advancing in the California legislature would restore fee-for-service to its once-dominant perch in California. (Terhune, 5/31)

Boston Globe: Massachusetts Wants To Update Its Alcohol Laws. Not Everyone Is Happy 
When Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg last year announced a major push to rewrite the state’s alcohol laws, the message was clear: Our antiquated and confusing booze rules frustrate businesses and consumers... But just as the treasurer’s Alcohol Task Force begins its work in earnest this month, with a series of public hearings and a call for proposed changes, a legion of public health advocates has suddenly jumped into the debate. (Adams, 5/30)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Smoking Statistics: Georgia Tobacco Epidemic, Deaths, Healthcare Costs
In preparation for World No Tobacco Day 2017 on Wednesday, the World Health Organization highlighted the dangers of tobacco use as one of the biggest public health threats in the world. More than 7 million people die every year due to tobacco use, costing households and governments more than $1.4 trillion in healthcare costs and productivity loss, experts wrote in a news release. (Pirani, 5/30)

Denver Post: CVS Opens First Retail Pharmacy In Colorado, Two More Locations Coming This Summer
CVS Pharmacy’s first standalone store in Colorado is now open, and more are already on the way.The 13,500-square-foot drugstore, 16920 E. Lincoln Ave. in Parker, is the first of three CVS Pharmacy locations expected to open this year in the Denver metro area, officials for the Rhode Island-based chain said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday...Walgreens, CVS’s main rival, is already an established presence in Colorado, with 159 locations as of August. Rite Aid also has a number of retail locations in the Denver metro area. (Rusch, 5/30)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: MSOE Students Try To Develop Synthetic Blood Substitute In Ambitious Project
For the past four years, successive teams of seniors at the Milwaukee School of Engineering have worked on a research project not short on ambition: developing a synthetic blood substitute that can transport oxygen in the body... The research project was the outgrowth of a serendipitous discovery by Zhang and Jung Lee, also an assistant professor at the school, while working on a way to encapsulate a drug for colon cancer in natural polymers derived from crab shells and orange peels.(Boulton, 5/30)

The Star Tribune: Twin Cities Mental Health Agency To Pay $4.5M In Federal Fraud Case 
A once-prominent Twin Cities mental health agency has agreed to pay $4.52 million to settle federal charges that it defrauded Medicaid — a case, advocates say, that highlights a need for greater oversight of Minnesota’s large network of in-home counseling services. Complementary Support Services (CSS) submitted thousands of false medical claims and failed to provide adequate supervision of unlicensed practitioners, according to a settlement announced Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis. (Serres, 5/30)

Kansas City Star: Discover Vision Centers Laser Surgery Offers Alternative To Lasik
In SMILE, surgeons reshape the cornea through a “keyhole” incision that is made by a laser that is computer-programmed... The surgery is already popular in Australia and much of Europe, but was not approved in the United States until September because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration process takes longer than other countries’ regulatory schemes. (Marso, 5/30)

Health News Florida: Florida Moves To Implement Medical Marijuana Without Lawmakers Input 
The Florida Legislative session ended without a deal on medical marijuana. The biggest fights were over how many growers to allow and how many retail outlets they could operate. So now, to meet deadlines baked into Amendment 2, the Florida Department of Health put a notice out last week that it will develop medical marijuana rules without lawmakers input. (Aboraya, 5/30)

The New York Times: Drug Lobbyists’ Battle Cry Over Prices: Blame The Others
Hundreds of independent pharmacists swarmed the House and Senate office buildings one recent afternoon, climbing the marble staircases as they rushed from one appointment to the next, pitching lawmakers on their plan to rein in the soaring drug prices that have enraged American consumers. As they crowded into lawmakers’ offices, describing themselves as the industry’s “white hats,” they pointed a finger at pharmacy benefit managers like Express Scripts and CVS Health, which handle the drug coverage of millions of Americans. (Lipton and Thomas, 5/29)

The New York Times: A Look At Major Drug-Pricing Proposals
Several bills that seek to tackle the high cost of prescription drugs are moving through Congress, and the Trump administration has also signaled that it may take action. Here’s a list of the major drug-pricing proposals under consideration. (Thomas, 5/29)

Bloomberg: When The Patient Is A Gold Mine: The Trouble With Rare-Disease Drugs
The average U.S. patient on an orphan drug last year relied on a $136,000 therapy, a figure that’s climbed 38 percent since 2010...Having to rely for profits on a small number of customers who are each potentially worth millions of dollars causes side effects of its own. For years, the sales culture at Alexion was so pressure-packed that aggressive phone calls to doctors were among its milder transgressions. Ethical lines were routinely crossed, troubling many of its workers, according to interviews with more than 20 current and former employees and more than 2,000 pages of internal documents. (Elgin, Bloomfield and Chen, 5/24)

The Wall Street Journal: High-Priced Drugs Raise Costs For Seniors In Medicare Part D
Carole Siesser, a retiree in Delray Beach, Fla., started taking a bone-growth drug made by Eli Lilly & Co. after she fell and fractured her spine. After two years, the medicine helped to heal her back. It also cost her $5,600 of her own money to help cover the roughly $26,000 annual price, even though she has Medicare. “They really take advantage of the seniors,” Ms. Siesser, 79, said of pharmaceutical companies. “There’s no competition, so they can charge what they want.” (Walker, 5/29)

Kaiser Health News: Drug Rebates Reward Industry Players — And Often Hurt Patients
Medicare and its beneficiaries aren’t the winners in the behind-the-scenes rebate game played by drugmakers, health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, according to a paper published Tuesday in JAMA Internal Medicine. The paper, which dives into the complex and opaque world of Medicare drug price negotiations, finds that rebates may actually drive up the amount Medicare and its beneficiaries pay for drugs — especially for increasingly common high-priced drugs — and it offers some systemic solutions. (Tribble, 5/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Big Pension Funds Oppose Election Of Six Mylan Directors
A group of institutional investors unhappy over high executive pay at Mylan NV are taking aim at six board members at the EpiPen maker. Four major pension funds launched a campaign late Tuesday urging fellow Mylan shareholders to oppose the re-election of Chairman Robert J. Coury and five other directors at the company’s June 22 annual meeting. Mr. Coury, Mylan’s former chief executive, received nearly $100 million in 2016, when the company ignited a public furor over hefty price increases on its lifesaving allergy medicine. (Lublin, 5/30)

Stat: Battle Over A Pricey Drug Now Engulfs The University Of California
Dozens of advocacy groups are urging one of the largest American universities not to pursue a patent for a pricey cancer drug in India, opening another front in an ongoing battle over access to the medicine. At issue is the Xtandi prostate cancer treatment, which was originally invented at the University of California, Los Angeles, and has become a flashpoint in a wider debate in the United States over the extent to which Americans should pay high prices for medicines that were developed, at least in part, with taxpayer dollars. (Silverman, 5/25)

Sacramento Bee: Soaring Drug Prices Prompt CA Bills To Control Costs 
From presidential campaign promises to congressional hearings on the price of EpiPens, 2016 was the year that public anger over the rising cost of prescription drugs boiled into a national outrage. California lawmakers responded this session with a half-dozen measures targeting players across the complex supply chain that brings medications to patients and determines what they pay. To tackle what those legislators say is a problem of drug affordability, however, they’ll first have to agree on who is to blame. (Koseff, 5/29)

Los Angeles Times: More Transparency Proposed For Prescription Drug Price Increases Under Bill Passed By California Senate
Alarmed by skyrocketing prices for some prescription drugs, the California Senate on Tuesday approved a measure aimed at increasing pressure to hold down costs to consumers by requiring more public reporting of price hikes. The lawmakers approved a bill that would require drug manufacturers to notify health plans and state purchasers such as the prison department of increases in the wholesale cost of drugs in writing at least 90 days before the new costs were to take effect. (McGreevy, 5/30)

Stat: Maryland Adopts A Law That Punishes Price Gouging On Generics
Abill that would allow the Maryland attorney general to take legal action against generic drug makers for price gouging became law on Friday by default, after Governor Lawrence Hogan Jr. declined to sign the legislation over constitutional concerns. The outcome was praised by consumer activists, who decried a “Wild West” pricing atmosphere, but lambasted by the generic industry trade association, which maintained the law would have a “chilling” effect on competition and “no material impact” on lowering drug costs in the state. (Silverman, 5/26)

NPR: State Wants Drugmaker To Set An Affordable Price For Zika Vaccine
The U.S. Army is planning to grant an exclusive license to the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur, Inc. to manufacture and sell a Zika vaccine the Army developed last year. And that has Rebekah Gee, Louisiana's secretary of health, worried about paying for it. "God forbid we have a Zika outbreak. We're in the middle of a fiscal crisis, we're already cutting services to people and we're already potentially cutting our funding to fight the Zika virus," Gee says. (Kodjak, 5/30)

The Hill: The Myth Of Sky-High Drug Prices
Politicians from both parties have come to a rare consensus: drug prices are spiraling out of control. To bring prices down, most Democratic senators and a dozen of their Republican colleagues want to legalize importation of price-controlled drugs from Canada. And Democrats and the Trump administration have both called for Medicare, the public insurance program for older and disabled Americans, to impose its own de-facto price controls. (Robert A. Freeman, 5/24)

Morning Consult: Patient Safety Must Be The First Priority For Approving New Biosimilars
The Food and Drug Administration will hold an Advisory Committee meeting today to approve a new biosimilar, the fifth drug approved by the FDA in this new class of treatments that are highly similar to, but not exact copies of, biologic treatments. While biosimilars have the potential to increase access to drugs that may improve the lives of patients, the FDA must first put in place critical guidances to ensure patient safety. (Larry LaMotte, 5/25)

RealClear Health: The True Goal Of The FDA Should Be Drug Innovation
Last week, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions met to consider legislation that would reauthorize the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) user fee programs. These programs make up a large part of the agency’s budget. This process will continue over the next several weeks. (Jordan Reimschisel, 5/29)

Medpage Today: Can We Lower Drug Costs?
It's no secret that U.S. prescription drug spending outpaces that in other countries. In fact, in America, per capita drug spending is higher than that in all other countries, researchers reported in JAMA. Even patients within the United States pay different prices for their prescription drugs, according to which government system or insurer is involved in the patient's coverage. (Lisette Hilton, 5/27)

Bloomberg: Trump's Quiet On Drug Pricing, But His FDA Isn't
Scott Gottlieb, the Trump administration's FDA commissioner, generally gets a big thumbs-up from the pharmaceutical industry. But he may end up making some drugmakers unhappy. An ex-FDA official, physician, industry consultant, and biotech investor, Gottlieb is seen as industry friendly and was certainly preferable to some other less experienced and more extreme candidates the White House floated. But he seems to have a mandate that includes getting drug prices under control -- a topic he mentioned in his initial remarks to FDA staff on May 15. (Max Nisen, 5/24)

Boston Globe: Trump Should Put Consumers First In Zika Deal
The Trump Administration, led by a president who repeatedly boasts that his business acumen will bring jobs back to American soil, now seems poised to strike a deal that will Make France Great Again. Or, more specifically, enrich the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur by granting an exclusive license to patents for a Zika vaccine. There’s no question that a vaccine for the mosquito-borne scourge is urgently needed. The virus, which can cause severe birth defects and paralysis, is nothing less than a full-blown global health emergency. Zika has been reported in 84 countries, according to the World Health Organization, and is exploding in Puerto Rico, with 40,000 confirmed cases — and health officials believe that as many as 1 million have been infected, according to NPR. Some 5,000 US cases were reported in 2016. (5/30)

The Washington Post: The GOP’s Utter Confusion On Health Care
As with the Middle East “peace process” the quest for a health-care bill to pass the Senate rests on a false assumption: All we need are really clever negotiators and the will to pursue a deal. Call this the myth of the “there must be a solution.” It’s as false for health care as it is for peace in our time between the Israelis and the Palestinians. On health care, we are solemnly instructed to watch  the 13 or so GOP senators who are supposedly working on this task. They are fully engaged! Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is talking to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)! The problem is not primarily in that group or even in the Senate. It’s not even in the House, although recalcitrant and irresponsible leaders who would vote to transform the health-care system are problematic. (Jennifer Rubin, 5/30)

The New York Times: The G.O.P. Health Care Bill Is Fixable
Throughout the 2016 campaign — and for months afterward — Donald Trump promised that his replacement for Obamacare would provide “insurance for everybody.” Last week’s Congressional Budget Office report makes clear that the House Republican health care bill falls well short of that goal. But we now have a road map for how Senate Republicans can do better: by ensuring that more low-income Americans can afford coverage. (Avik Roy, 5/31)

The Kansas City Star: False Choices In GOP Health Care Proposal
In his May 10 guest commentary, U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder painted a confusing picture of American healthcare. He alleged that the failing Affordable Care Act is forcing millions to lose health care coverage because of limited marketplace options and unaffordable premiums for now skyrocketing insurance. He falsely asserted a binary choice: Either transition the country to “socialized medicine,” or embrace what he characterized as a “return to personalized medicine” in the form of the Republicans proposal — the American Health Care Act. (Emily Riegel, 5/30)

The Washington Post: The GOP Hates Red Tape — Except When It Comes To Giving Poor People Health Care
As a law student learning to represent people seeking welfare benefits, I was taught that forms had to be filled out flawlessly. No crossing out words. No white-out. No misspellings. The slightest error would provide an excuse to deny the cash needed for rent, food or a growing child’s shoes. Republicans revile such bureaucratic rigidity when it inconveniences businesses or the wealthy. Yet they embrace it when it hurts the most vulnerable. We’ve seen this Republican red tape with onerous voter-ID requirements. The American Health Care Act passed by the House to repeal Obamacare is the latest example. (Noah Zatz, 5/30)

San Antonio Press-Express: When ‘Help’ Means A Kick In The Teeth 
It’s a given that federal budgets in final form do not much resemble the budgets proposed by the White House, no matter who is president. At no other time in modern history has it been more important that this be true. President Donald Trump’s budget, if enacted, would be a nightmare for America. By slashing and remaking Medicaid and today’s version of food stamps, it shreds the safety net, with responsibilities shifting to the states — many of which, like Texas, consider being called misers in this regard a badge of honor. (5/30)

The Washington Post: Why Trump’s Plan To Slash Food Stamps And Medicaid Could Cost Him Crucial Support
Coming from any other Republican, the request for the federal budget that President Trump submitted to Congress last week would not have been a surprise. But because Trump campaigned on a populist economic platform and not a traditional conservative one, his budget flummoxed political operatives and observers in the media. (Max Ehrenfreund, 5/30)

Forbes: Error In CBO Report Hurts Debate Over Healthcare Reform
It is possible both for the Republican's American Health Care Act to be a seriously flawed bill and for the Congressional Budget Office to have unfairly maligned it in the report it issued last Wednesday afternoon. So, I come today not to plead the virtues of the AHCA, but to argue that the CBO's lambasting of it is likely to prevent useful debate over the future of American health care. While a result-oriented person might not worry too much if the AHCA is killed off too readily, they might start to care when perpetuation of the same CBO methodologies kills off other more realistic reforms even as Obamacare falters. Unfortunately, because America trains people to have their eyes glaze over when it comes to numbers and popular culture reinforces perpetual innumeracy, the CBO's projections are likely to be treated as oracle, monopolizing conversation in a climate of analytic ignorance. (Seth Chandler, 5/30)

Forbes: Who Receives More Wasteful Care: Medicaid Enrollees Or People With Private Insurance?
Specifically, do Medicaid enrollees receive fewer unnecessary services than people with private insurance, because of the relative stinginess of Medicaid reimbursement? Or do they receive more, because people on Medicaid have more need or greater demands? The answer is – yes and yes. Medicaid enrollees receive more of some unnecessary services and fewer of some other unnecessary services. (Peter Ubell, 5/31)

RealClear Health: ACA Employer Mandate’s Reporting Measures Are Stifling American Businesses
Congress can and should still move forward with important health care reforms to ease the burden on millions of American businesses and workers. The National Restaurant Association and the one million foodservice locations we represent urge our elected officials to make a few basic changes to relieve the burdens on our businesses that are stifling growth and impacting our ability to hire new employees. Regardless of the AHCA passage, there are a number of legislative and regulatory issues impacting restaurants, and further actions are still necessary to truly reform the Affordable Care Act (ACA) so it works for all Americans. (Robin Goracke, 5/30)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Maybe It's Time For US To Learn From Other Countries' Health Care Systems
The U.S. has the best educated doctors, nurses and medical technicians. We have the best equipped hospitals. We lead the world in medical research and developing life-saving drugs. Why then are we so deficient in delivering health care, spending twice as much as the rest of the world, abysmally poor in infant mortality, life expectancy and the ability to insure everyone? (Nick Hoesl, 5/30)

WBUR: From Emergency Room To Nowhere: The GOP Health Care Bill Threatens Opioid Addiction Treatment
Frighteningly, the recent Congressional Budget Office report reveals that the current version of the Republican health care bill eliminates the requirement for essential health benefits and threatens this solution. If insurers do not cover Suboxone, outpatient providers will be unable to continue prescribing this medication to discharged patients. For emergency physicians like us, this means that while we may be able to start patients on these lifesaving medications, there may be no outpatient physicians able to continue the treatment, effectively creating a bridge to nowhere. (Nathan Kunzler and Alister Martin, 5/31)

Detroit News: Michigan Needs Medicaid
Since Republicans in Congress voted to rip health care away from 23 million people and gut Medicaid, I’m worried for my family’s future. I’m 61 years old. Severe osteoporosis has left me confined to bed. My bones are fragile, my teeth break easily, and I need help getting around. My husband is also disabled, which makes caring for our daughter, who has Down syndrome, particularly challenging. We’re able to live at home as a family — instead of separate nursing homes — thanks to home care services we receive through Medicaid. (Lisa Walker, 5/31)

Bloomberg: States Where Single-Payer Health Care Could Work (If It Could Work Anywhere) - Bloomberg
The second thing to say is that New York and California represent absolutely the best possible scenarios for single payer in this country. If they can’t make it work (and I’m betting they can’t), then single payer cannot be done in this country--full stop, end of story, print as written. These states are, obviously, extremely liberal and firmly under the control of the Democratic Party. That is a huge advantage in the battle for single payer. But it is not the only advantage that they have. New York and California are also, for example, very big. That’s important for a state looking to move toward single payer. (Megan McArdle, 5/30)

The New York Times: Gov. Walker Would Drug Test The Poor
As he prepares to run for a third term, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, ever the devotee of low-road, right-wing politicking, is hoping the Trump administration will allow his state to be the first in the nation to mandate the drug screening of childless individuals who apply for Medicaid help. “It borders on immoral,” Lena Taylor, a Democratic state senator, warned, accusing Mr. Walker of indulging in a “meaningless contest to see how cruel and discriminatory we can be to the poor.” (5/31)

The Washington Post: No State Would Be Immune From The GOP’s Health-Care Bill
In the wake of projections warning that the Republican health-care legislation would lead to 23 million more people not having health insurance, some might find comfort in the thought that progressive states would have the option to preserve some of the Affordable Care Act’s protections for people with health problems in their states. (Linda J. Blumberg, 5/30)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Self-Insurance Works For Quad/Graphics, And It Will Work For Wisconsin
Here in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker has proposed the state become self-insured in an effort to better control costs while at the same time improving the quality of health care provided to state employees. Quad/Graphics made the move to self-insurance 26 years ago without regrets. It has made health care coverage affordable for our company which, today, employs nearly 20,000 people nationwide and 7,500 right here in Wisconsin. (Joel Quadracci, 5/30)

The Des Moines Register: Democratic Party, McGuire Are Out Of Touch On Abortion
My friend, Dr. Andy McGuire, recently articulated her position on abortion in the Register (New abortion law puts government between a woman and her doctor, May 12). Dr. McGuire is a Democratic candidate for governor. I am a lifelong yellow-dog Democrat, but I disagree with her position and find it both inadequate to the moral questions inherent in abortion and politically anachronistic. Dr. McGuire argues that “for nearly every medical procedure, government should stay out of the way, so doctors and patients can make the best decisions.” Such a position simply cuts off any further discussion and makes medical decisions sacrosanct. It implicitly defines abortion as nothing more than a medical procedure. (George W. Appleby, 5/30)

The Washington Post: Another Deadly Consequence Of Climate Change: The Spread Of Dangerous Diseases
With President Trump’s decision on U.S. participation in the Paris climate accords expected in the next few days, there has been widespread discussion of the many consequences that climate change will have for us and our children, including extreme weather events, displacement of people, submergence of lands and devastation to our oceans. But one of the most potentially deadly effects has been far less discussed: an increase in the spread of dangerous epidemics and the risk of a global pandemic. (Brian Deese and Ronald A. Klain, 5/30)

Boston Globe: Trump Should Put Consumers First In Zika Deal 
The Trump Administration, led by a president who repeatedly boasts that his business acumen will bring jobs back to American soil, now seems poised to strike a deal that will Make France Great Again. Or, more specifically, enrich the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur by granting an exclusive license to patents for a Zika vaccine. (5/30)

Boston Globe: The World Is Healthier And Safer Than Ever — Why Does Trump Want To Reverse Course?
For all the fear-mongering and incessant focus on alleged threat that defines how we talk about the world outside America’s borders, the reality is that we are living in a moment of extraordinary progress and promise... But without a commitment to ensuring that this bright present continues into the future, there’s no guarantee it will last. Virtually everything that Donald Trump is doing on foreign policy risks reversing these gains (and I haven’t even mentioned his undermining of efforts to fight global climate change). (Michael Cohen, 5/30)

The Atlantic: Tiger Woods and America's Drugged-Driving Problem
Shortly after being arrested for driving under the influence near his home in Florida Monday, golf legend Tiger Woods issued a statement saying the incident was the result of “an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications”—not alcohol. According to police documents, he blew a .000 breathalyzer and had fallen asleep in his car. (Olga Khazan, 5/30)

The New York Times: How We Really Die
Over recent years, without much media fanfare, something fascinating occurred, a reminder that for all the ways in which we seem to be sliding backward, we’re lurching forward, too. The developing world turned a corner — thanks to medical advances, rising wealth and more — and communicable diseases like malaria and AIDS now kill fewer of its people than noncommunicable ones like heart disease, strokes, respiratory ailments and diabetes do. (Frank Bruni, 5/31)

Louisville Courier-Journal: Closing Outpatient VA Centers Fail Veterans
Each year, Memorial Day serves as a reminder that there is a cost to freedom. The brave men and women in our U.S. military and their families have given of themselves to protect this great nation and they have earned our admiration and our respect. It’s because of this that we must continue to stand with our veterans and advocate alongside them to demand the very best our nation can offer in health care. (Angela Leet, 5/30)

The New York Times: Trying To Embrace The Cure
Lately, the online patient support group I am part of, the XLH Network — short for X-linked hypophosphatemia, the genetic illness I and two of my children share — has been blowing up with news of a soon-to-be-released cure. KRN23 is a recombinant antibody that restricts excessive production of a hormone that prevents people with XLH from absorbing phosphorus, leading to our short stature, crooked legs, poor teeth and other symptoms of our type of dwarfism. Ultragenyx, the company responsible for KRN23, has carried out adult tests with no ill effect. Pediatric tests are still underway, but this looks like the real deal. This is truly a cure. It is hard to explain to anyone who does not have a condition like mine why this feels so bittersweet. But it does. (Sheila Beck, 5/31)