Modern Healthcare: CMS Has A Plan If Federal Judge Strikes Down ACA 
The CMS has a plan to protect pre-existing conditions and Americans' access to care even if a federal judge overturns the Affordable Care Act, CMS Adminstrator Seema Verma said Tuesday. A slew of Republican state attorneys general have challenged the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare reform law, and that lawsuit may be decided any day. (Dickson, 11/27)

Politico Pro: Democratic AGs Look To Shore Up Health Care Defenses After Victories
The blue wave that swept Democrats into control of the House also helped them seize the majority of the country’s attorney general seats, bolstering their defenses against the Trump administration’s most controversial health care moves. Evidence of the party’s new legal advantage became clear this week when Wisconsin Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul confirmed to POLITICO he would quickly withdraw from a 20-state lawsuit against Obamacare his vanquished opponent helped lead. (Ollstein, 11/27)

Modern Healthcare: ACA Reinsurance Lowers Premiums, But Fails To Attract More Insurers 
Reinsurance programs have successfully stabilized individual insurance premiums and boosted enrollment in Alaska, Minnesota and Oregon, but the programs have been less effective at attracting more insurers to sell individual plans in those states, according to a report released Tuesday. The three states were the first to implement reinsurance programs in 2018 under Section 1332 waivers in hopes of shoring up their individual markets amid rising premiums and dwindling insurer participation. Their efforts have proven mostly successful, illustrating the value of pursuing state solutions when federal policy is uncertain, researchers at Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms concluded. (Livingston, 11/27)

In other health law news from the states —

San Francisco Chronicle: Many More Californians Likely To Be Without Health Insurance In Next 5 Years
Up to 800,000 more Californians are likely to be without health coverage in 2023, researchers estimate — reversing a years-long trend of falling uninsured rates in the state following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The number of uninsured Californians is projected to increase to 4.4 million in 2023 unless state officials enact policies to expand coverage, according to a report released Tuesday by the UC Berkeley Labor Center and UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. (Ho, 11/27)

Chicago Tribune: Illinois Lawmakers Override Veto Of Short-Term Health Insurance Bill 
Illinois consumers will only be able to use controversial, short-term health insurance plans for about six months at a time now that the state legislature has voted to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of a bill that sets that limit. Dozens of Illinois consumer advocacy groups had supported the original bill, which took aim at a recent Trump administration change to the rules surrounding short-term plans. Such plans are generally cheaper than traditional health insurance but cover fewer services. (Schencker, 11/27)

The New York Times: Chinese Scientist Who Says He Edited Babies’ Genes Defends His Work
A Chinese scientist who claims to have created the world’s first genetically edited babies said at a conference on Wednesday that his actions were safe and ethical, and he asserted that he was proud of what he had done. But many other scientists seemed highly skeptical, with a conference organizer calling his actions irresponsible. “For this specific case, I feel proud, actually,” the scientist, He Jiankui, said at an international conference on genome editing in Hong Kong. (Belluck, 11/28)

The Washington Post: He Jiankui Defends Gene Editing Research, New Baby On The Way
“We should, for millions of families with inherited disease, show compassion,” he told a packed audience at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong. “If we have this technology, we can make it available earlier. We can help earlier those people in need.” He’s scientific talk chronicled the development of this line of research, from early mouse experiments to primates and eventually a human clinical trial. He said that eight couples were enrolled in the trial, but one dropped out. All had fathers with well-controlled HIV and mothers who were not infected. (Shih and Johnson, 11/28)

Stat: Amid Uproar, Chinese Scientist Defends Creating Gene-Edited Babies
He began more humbly in his first public remarks about his research, with a statement that drew quiet gasps from the audience: “I must apologize that these results leaked before peer review,” He said. In fact, his representatives had reached out to a reporter months ago and allowed extensive filming in his lab to tell the story of his work, as he acknowledged. He meticulously orchestrated the announcement on Sunday — two days before the start of the summit — of his claim that the girls, created from genome-edited embryos, had been born a few weeks ago. (Begley, 11/28)

The Associated Press: Scientist Claiming Gene-Edited Babies Reports 2nd Pregnancy
A Chinese researcher who claims to have helped make the world's first genetically edited babies says a second pregnancy may be underway. The researcher, He Jiankui of Shenzhen, revealed the possible pregnancy Wednesday while making his first public comments about his controversial work at an international conference in Hong Kong. (Marchione, 11/27)

NPR: Chinese Scientist He Jiankui Rebuked By Colleagues Over Gene Experiments
As soon as He finished his initial 15-minute presentation, American Nobel Prize-winning biologist David Baltimore, who chairs the conference, got up to speak. Baltimore noted that scientists had agreed that it would be irresponsible to try to create genetically modified babies until there was much more research to make sure it was necessary and safe, and a consensus had been reached it was prudent. (Stein, 11/28)

The Associated Press: Gene-Editing Chinese Scientist Kept Much Of His Work Secret
The Chinese scientist who says he helped make the world's first gene-edited babies veered off a traditional career path, keeping much of his research secret in pursuit of a larger goal — making history. He Jiankui's outsized aspirations began to take shape in 2016, the year after another team of Chinese researchers sparked global debate with the revelation that they had altered the DNA of human embryos in the lab. He soon set his mind on pushing the boundaries of medical ethics even further. (Larson, 11/27)

The Associated Press: Gene-Editing Scientist Under Scrutiny By Chinese Officials
The National Health Commission on Monday ordered local officials in Guangdong province —where Shenzhen is located — to investigate He's actions. China's state broadcaster, CCTV, reported Tuesday that if the births are confirmed, He's case will be handled "in accordance with relevant laws and regulations." It's not clear if he could face possible criminal charges. (Larson, 11/27)

Stat: Sparse Data On CRISPR'd Embryos Leave Questions Unanswered 
While the world waited for He Jiankui to back up his claim of CRISPR’ing two babies to an international summit of genome editors in Hong Kong on Wednesday morning, STAT asked genomics experts to review the only data He has publicly revealed, in a spreadsheet on the Chinese Clinical Trials Registry. Their verdict: The quality of the data is low, and there’s too little of it, to draw any firm conclusions about what He’s team accomplished. And there is no proof that the two embryos described in the spreadsheet were used to produce the twins whose birth He announced earlier this week. (Begley and Cooney, 11/27)

Stat: He Took A Crash Course In Bioethics, Then Created CRISPR Babies 
For someone who has caused a worldwide uproar over what many fellow scientists consider an ethical outrage, He Jiankui of China spent a remarkable amount of time discussing his work — which he claims led to the births of the first babies whose genomes had been edited when they were IVF embryos — with bioethicists, policy experts, and social scientists. Two of them are father and son: Dr. William Hurlbut of Stanford University, a member of the U.S. President’s Council on Bioethics in the early 2000s, and J. Benjamin Hurlbut of Arizona State University, a biomedical historian. (Begley, 11/27)

Stat: UC Berkeley Expert Warned China Scientist Against Gene-Editing In 2017
A year before He Jiankui shocked the world with claims that he had created gene-edited babies, the Chinese scientist confided his plans in a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. The researcher, Mark DeWitt, told no one. But his response at the time was unmistakable: Don’t do it. “I thought it was a terrible idea, with or without any kinds of approvals. I told him that. I said: ‘You’re not ready,’” Dewitt told STAT. (Robbins, 11/27)

KQED: Trying To Understand The CRISPR Baby? Five Things To Read
On Monday, Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced in a YouTube video and via an interview with the Associated Press that he had successfully used the pioneering gene-editing technique CRISPR to genetically modify twin girls. Skepticism and criticism quickly followed. Here's what you need to know. (O'Mara, 11/27)

USA Today: Hundreds In The United States Die Each Year From Alcohol Withdrawal
About 16 million people in the United States have alcohol use disorder, which the National Institutes of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism define as "compulsive alcohol use, loss of control over alcohol intake, and a negative emotional state when not using." For those experiencing the most serious symptom of withdrawal – the shaking, shivering, sweating and confusion of delirium tremens, or the DTs – the death rate has been estimated as high as 4 percent, or 1 in 25. Of patients admitted to one hospital in Spain with alcohol withdrawal syndrome from 1987 to 2003, a research team there found, 6.6 percent died. That's roughly 1 in 15. (O'Donnell, 11/27)

Health News Florida: We're Living Longer ... But A Medical Journal Sees Many Causes For Alarm
The editorial accompanies reports from a massive research project called Global Burden of Disease, which counts cases of disability, illness and death around the world. In sobering words, the editorial warns that mortality rates from various conditions are no longer decreasing, new epidemics (think opioids and dengue) are occurring, and we shouldn't be complacent. The studies themselves show an increase in obesity and a stall in life expectancy increases in countries such as the U.S. and U.K. as well as increasing rates of some conditions such as liver cancer and hypertensive heart disease. (Silberner, 11/27)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Childhood Obesity: Study Finds Moms Weight More Influential Than Dad
After examining the activity levels of 4,424 children and their parents over an 11-year period, scientists learned that children closely followed their mother’s weight loss habits. For example, researcher Kristi Kvaløy pointed out in a university article, a mother dropping two to six kilos (about four to 13 pounds) was linked to lower body mass index in children. (Pirani, 11/27)

The New York Times: The Best Foods For Athletes
More fat? More carbs? What kind? How much? When? Questions about what constitutes an ideal and practical diet for competitive athletes consume and confuse many athletes, as well as their coaches and families. But a new, comprehensive review about the science of sports nutrition published recently in Science provides a lucid overview of what currently is known — and not known — about how athletes should eat. (Reynolds, 11/28)

The Washington Post: Workplace Wellness Programs Work Best When Bosses Buy Into Them 
Studies have shown that successfully adopting a culture that promotes health and wellness can help companies reduce health-care costs, cut absentee rates and perhaps attract top talent. One decade-long analysis by the research organization Rand Corp. of a Fortune 100 employer’s wellness program found that the disease management component generated savings of $136 per member every month, driven largely by a 30 percent reduction in employees’ hospital admissions. (Heubeck, 11/27)

The Washington Post: Hector Hernandez's 'Beer Belly' Was A 77-Pound Cancerous Tumor
It seemed that each pound was going straight to his gut. Hector Hernandez said he has always been “a big guy,” so he did not notice a problem until a couple years ago when his arms and legs seemed to be getting smaller, while his stomach was getting bigger. The 47-year-old from Downey, Calif., said that he also started struggling with heartburn and constipation and noticed that, at times, he had a hard time catching his breath. (Bever, 11/27)

The New York Times: Battle Against Ebola In Congo Pits Medical Hope Against Local Chaos
The battle against Ebola now underway in central Africa is like no other. It is the first for which doctors have both a promising vaccine and treatments to offer. These medical innovations are experimental, but the vaccine seems to work well, the four new treatments have given preliminary hints of curative powers and a clinical trial of them began Monday. (McNeil, 11/27)

WBUR: Why The Abortion Rate In Pakistan Is One Of The World's Highest
The deeply conservative Muslim country is estimated to have one of the highest rates of abortion in the world, based on a 2012 study by the New York-based Population Council, a nonprofit that advocates family planning. The rate that year was 50 abortions for every 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 — roughly four times higher than in the U.S.According to family planning researchers, abortion provisions in the country's penal code are vague. (Hadid and Sattar, 11/28)

Reuters: New Cases Of HIV Rise In Eastern Europe, Decline In The West
More than 130,000 people were newly diagnosed with HIV last year in Eastern Europe, the highest rate ever for the region, while the number of new cases in Western Europe declined, global public health experts said on Wednesday. European Union and European Economic Area countries saw a reduction in 2017 rates, mainly driven by a 20 percent drop since 2015 among men who have sex with men. That left Europe's overall increasing trend less steep than previously. (11/27)

Kansas City Star: Aussie, UK Researchers Swallow Lego Heads To Reassure Parents
Six researchers from Australia and the United Kingdom swallowed yellow Lego heads and kept track of how long it took to poop out the little plastic buggers. And right about now you’re probably asking yourself: Why? The answer: To reassure parents that whenever their kids swallow most small things such as coins - or Lego figurine heads - this too shall pass. (Gutierrez, 11/27)

The Associated Press: US Waived FBI Checks On Staff At Growing Teen Migrant Camp
The Trump administration has put the safety of thousands of teens at a migrant detention camp at risk by waiving FBI fingerprint checks for their caregivers and short-staffing mental health workers, according to an Associated Press investigation and a new federal watchdog report. None of the 2,100 staffers at a tent city holding more than 2,300 teens in the remote Texas desert are going through rigorous FBI fingerprint background checks, according to a Health and Human Services inspector general memo published Tuesday. (Burke and Mendoza, 11/27)

The Hill: Former Top Refugee Official Waived Key Background Checks For Migrant Camp Staff
The report found that the two main reasons that Lloyd signed the waiver was pressure to move quickly to open the detention camp and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) assumed Tornillo staff had already undergone FBI fingerprint checks. But none of the staff at Tornillo were subject to the FBI background check, the report found. The issues at Tornillo "warrant immediate attention because they pose substantial risks to children receiving care at this facility," the report found. (Weixel, 11/27)

ProPublica: Family Separations Are Still Happening At The Texas Border
The Trump administration has quietly resumed separating immigrant families at the border, in some cases using vague or unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoing or minor violations against the parents, including charges of illegally re-entering the country, as justification. Over the last three months, lawyers at Catholic Charities, which provides legal services to immigrant children in government custody in New York, have discovered at least 16 new separation cases. (Thompson, 11/27)

The Associated Press: Texas Detention Camp For Teen Migrants Keeps Growing
The Trump administration announced in June it would open a temporary shelter for up to 360 migrant children in this isolated corner of the Texas desert. Less than six months later, the facility has expanded into a detention camp holding thousands of teenagers — and it shows every sign of becoming more permanent. (11/27)

And in other related news —

The New York Times: Independent Autopsy Of Transgender Asylum Seeker Who Died In ICE Custody Shows Signs Of Abuse
A transgender woman who died in the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency appeared to have been physically abused before her death in May from dehydration, along with complications from H.I.V., according to an independent autopsy released this week. The finding in the death of the woman, Roxsana Hernandez Rodriguez, 33, who was Honduran and had joined a migrant caravan seeking asylum in the United States, supported ICE’s determination of her cause of death. Still, the conclusion that she was abused raised questions about her treatment during the 16 days she was held. ICE has maintained that she was not abused in its custody. (Garcia, 11/27)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Autopsy: Transgender Migrant Who Died In ICE Custody Had Been Beaten
An independent autopsy conducted on the body of a transgender woman who died in ICE custody in May in New Mexico concluded that she likely died as the result of severe dehydration complicated by HIV infection but also found evidence she had been beaten. The body of 33-year-old Roxsana Hernandez Rodriguez, who was HIV positive when taken into ICE custody, showed deep bruising on the left and right sides of her chest that was not evident externally, according to the independent autopsy conducted on behalf of her family. (Gonzalez, 11/28)

The Associated Press: US Sued For $60 Million After Infant In Detention Later Died
The mother of a toddler who died weeks after being released from the nation's largest family detention center filed a legal claim seeking $60 million from the U.S. government for the child's death. Attorneys for Yazmin Juarez submitted the claim against multiple agencies Tuesday. Juarez's 1-year-old daughter, Mariee, died in May. (11/27)

The Associated Press: At FDA, A New Goal, Then A Push For Speedy Device Reviews
Dr. Jeffrey Shuren was adamant: The United States would never cut corners to fast-track the approval of medical devices. "We don't use our people as guinea pigs in the U.S.," Shuren said, holding firm as the new director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's medical devices division. Again and again in 2011 — four times in all — Shuren was summoned before Congress. Lawmakers accused the agency of being too slow and too demanding in reviewing new devices like heart valves and spinal implants, driving U.S. manufacturers overseas where products faced less rigorous review. Each time, he pushed back. And yet the next year, Shuren and his team adopted an approach that surprised even some of his closest colleagues: The FDA would strive to be "first in the world" to approve devices it considered important to public health. (Perrone, 11/27)

The Associated Press: Insulin Pumps Have Most Reported Problems In FDA Database
When Polly Varnado's 9-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, it didn't take long for the family to hear about insulin pumps. In September 2012, the girl picked out a purple one — her favorite color. Over the next seven months, she proceeded to be hospitalized four times in a McComb, Mississippi medical center with high blood sugar. But when Varnado asked about all her daughter's problems, she said, her doctor blamed user error. (Mohr and Weiss, 11/27)

The New York Times: Juul’s New Product: Less Nicotine, More Intense Vapor
Juul Labs has soared to the top of the United States e-cigarette market in just three years with its high-nicotine products that give off just a wisp of vapor. Now, facing public backlash and overseas restrictions, the company is working on a way to lower the nicotine in its pods — but still maintain a potent punch from the addictive chemical. Juul is developing a pod that is higher in vapor, which, experts say, can enhance the rate at which nicotine is absorbed in the body. (Kaplan, 11/27)

In other health industry news —

The Wall Street Journal: Unilever Looks To Acquire GlaxoSmithKline’s Nutrition Business
Unilever PLC is in talks to acquire GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s nutrition business, people familiar with the matter said, a deal that would hand the consumer-goods giant one of India’s best-known brands. If finalized, a deal would end a monthslong auction process that also drew interest from Nestle SA and Coca-Cola Co. , who were all eager to bolster their presence in one of the world’s most promising consumer markets. (Dummett, Chaudhuri and Roland, 11/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Big Tech Expands Footprint In Health
Amazon.com Inc. is starting to sell software that mines patient medical records for information doctors and hospitals could use to improve treatment and cut costs. The move is the latest by a big technology company into health care, an industry where it sees opportunities for growth. The market for storing and analyzing health information is worth more than $7 billion a year, according to research firm Grand View Research, a business in which International Business Machines Corp.’s Watson Health and UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s Optum already compete. (Evans and Stevens, 11/27)

In other health and technology news —

Stat: America's Scattershot Medical Records Could Frustrate Promise Of ‘Big Data’
Doctors, researchers, and companies have made big promises about how machine learning and AI may someday change medicine. But a particularly American issue may be holding doctors and data scientists here back: electronic medical records. Machine learning algorithms only work if they have data — lots and lots of data. The conclusions they draw about what might happen to a particular person will generally only work if an algorithm has been trained with a bunch of records of people who have some similar characteristics. And especially in the traditional “doctor’s office,” companies that want to work on AI and machine learning must somehow pull in information from a plethora of EMRs — a burden not often seen in other countries. (Sheridan, 11/27)

Reuters: Atrium Health Says Data Of About 2.65 Million Patients Involved In Breach
Atrium Health, previously Carolinas HealthCare System, said on Tuesday data of about 2.65 million patients including addresses, dates of birth and social security numbers may have been compromised in a breach at its third-party provider AccuDoc Solutions. Atrium, which provides healthcare and wellness programs throughout the Southeast region in the United States, said a review revealed an unauthorized access to AccuDoc's databases between Sept. 22 and Sept. 29. (11/27)

The Washington Post: One Of The Biggest Challenges Of Kicking Addiction Is Getting And Keeping A Job
After years of drug addiction and homelessness, Kenny Sawyer found himself staring at a job application at Hypertherm , a New Hampshire company that makes industrial cutting tools. He was sober at last. He really wanted this job. But the application asked whether he had been convicted of any felonies. Sawyer hadn’t. But he decided later that the company would want to know he had been jailed for misdemeanor assault after a fight over a crack purchase years earlier. He called to volunteer that information, well aware that a scrape with the law could cost him the opportunity. (Bernstein, 11/27)

In other news on the opioid crisis —

The Associated Press: Denver Trying Again For Possible 1st US Drug Injection Site
Despite federal opposition, Denver is trying again to become what could be the first U.S. city to open a supervised drug injection site, a strategy that some liberal cities have tried repeatedly to launch to reduce overdose deaths fueled by a nationwide opioid epidemic. The Denver City Council voted 12-1 on Monday to approve a measure that would allow one site to open for at least two years under a pilot program. But there are still several hurdles to clear. (Slevin, 11/27)

The Washington Post: FDA Finds Heavy Metals In Kratom Products Used For Pain And Opioid Withdrawal
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it had found high levels of heavy metals such as lead and nickel in some kratom products. The regulator has been clamping down on the substance, which advocates say helps ease pain and reduce symptoms of opioid withdrawal, but which the FDA says has similar effects to narcotics such as opioids and has resulted in dozens of deaths. (11/27)

Tampa Bay Times: Heartbroken
The internationally renowned Johns Hopkins had taken over All Children’s six years earlier and vowed to transform its heart surgery unit into one of the nation’s best. Instead, the program got worse and worse until children were dying at a stunning rate, a Tampa Bay Times investigation has found. Nearly one in 10 patients died last year. The mortality rate, suddenly the highest in Florida, had tripled since 2015. (McGrory and Bedi, 11/28)

San Francisco Chronicle: California’s Right-To-Die Law Upheld By State Appeals Court
A state appeals court rejected a challenge Tuesday to California’s right-to-die law for terminally ill patients, overturning a judge’s ruling in May that had briefly blocked enforcement of the law. The statute, in effect since June 2016, allows a dying adult patient to take lethal drugs that a doctor has prescribed. (Egelko, 11/27)

The Washington Post: Active-Shooting Alarm Was Set Off In Error At Walter Reed, Navy And Bethesda Center Say
For more than an hour Tuesday, patients, staff and visitors were locked down and barricading themselves in offices during what they were told was a report of an active shooter that drew swarms of Montgomery County police to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda. But why that alert went out and whether it was a false alarm that sparked a genuine response or a drill preparation gone awry was murky for hours after the event in statements issued by the U.S. Navy and the officials at the medical campus near Washington. Through the afternoon, differing explanations were offered. (Hermann and Morse, 11/27)

The Associated Press: 3 More UMd Adenovirus Cases Diagnosed After Student’s Death
Three more cases of adenovirus have been confirmed at the University of Maryland, College Park, attended by an 18-year-old who died of complications from the respiratory infection. News outlets report the three new cases over Thanksgiving break bring the total number of cases at the school to nine, including freshman Olivia Paregol, who died Nov. 18. (11/27)

Dallas Morning News: Novus Co-Founder Reaches Plea Deal With Prosecutors In $60 Million Health-Care Fraud Scheme 
The former vice president of marketing and co-founder of a shuttered hospice company has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors for his role in a $60 million health-care fraud scheme. Samuel D. Anderson has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, according to court documents. Anderson was one of the co-founders for Novus Health Services, and Optim Health Services, which essentially operated as one company with the same employees and an office in Frisco. (Wigglesworth, 11/27)

The Baltimore Sun: New Head Of State's Largest Health Insurer Sees Broad Mandate To Improve Care, Cut Costs
The new CEO of Maryland’s largest health insurer wants to explore means of lowering health care costs for all state residents, as well as expanding its own reach through the Medicare and Medicaid government health programs. Brian D. Pieninck, named president and CEO of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShied as of July, discussed what he aims to achieve heading the carrier in his first expansive remarks to the media. (Cohn, 11/26)

Seattle Times: Seattle’s Polyclinic To Join UnitedHealth Group As Changes Sweep The Healthcare Industry 
In yet another move that shrinks the local community of independent physicians, The Polyclinic, a 101-year-old Seattle-based physicians’ group, will sell a controlling stake to UnitedHealth Group, one of the largest players in a business being reshaped by cross-industry acquisitions. The deal, announced Tuesday by Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth Group CEO David Wichmann during an investor meeting in New York, would merge Polyclinic’s 210-physician practice with a United Health subsidiary known as OptumHealth that manages physicians’ groups around the country and is also acquiring the Everett Clinic. (Roberts, 11/27)

Tampa Bay Times: Pasco Schools Psychologist Comes Under Fire In Transgender Flap
The wrath of conservative groups opposed to what they see as special treatment of transgender students has come down hard on Pasco County schools in the past few weeks. And a district school psychologist who strives to help LGBTQ students adjust as they struggle with their identity has come directly into the crossfire. (Solochek, 11/27)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Judge Rejects Imprisoned Westlake Cardiologist’s Challenge To Federal Criminal Case
A Westlake cardiologist serving two decades in federal prison for subjecting patients to unnecessary heart tests has lost a challenge to his criminal convictions. Dr. Harold Persaud argued in a motion to vacate that lawyers who represented him at trial did not properly object to allowing testimony from experts federal prosecutors used at trial. (Heisig, 11/27)

Miami Herald: Nova Orthodontic Patients Possibly Exposed To Viruses
Patients of the Nova Southeastern University orthodontics clinic in Davie may have been exposed to viruses, including HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, due to a failure by some dentists to properly sterilize equipment, university administrators said Tuesday. NSU officials informed patients of their possible exposure to disease on Nov. 23 in a letter signed by Linda Niessen, dean of the College of Dental Medicine. (Chang, 11/27)

The Star Tribune: Minnesota Clinics Report Sharp Slowdown In Medical Spending Growth 
Health care spending at Minnesota clinics slowed sharply last year as physicians discouraged unnecessary procedures and steered patients to lower-cost sources for prescription drugs, lab tests and imaging scans. But some clinics did considerably better than others. The total cost of care for privately insured patients rose just 2 percent from 2016 to 2017, at a time when some health care economists had predicted at least 5 percent growth, according to a report released Tuesday by Minnesota Community Measurement, a health care nonprofit. (Olson, 11/27)

Pioneer Press: Study: Young Minnesotans With Diabetes Struggle To Manage Blood Sugar Levels 
Young adults with diabetes are struggling to manage their blood sugar levels, putting them at greater risk of ending up in the hospital than older adults, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. The research, released on Monday, found that young adults age 18 to 44 were more likely to have high blood sugar. They also are three to five times more likely than older adults to be hospitalized due to out-of-control blood sugar levels. (Faircloth, 11/27)

Denver Post: Former Colorado Inmate Files Federal Lawsuit, Alleges He Was Encouraged To Kill Himself While He Was Suicidal 
A former inmate who says he was suicidal during his time in a Fremont County jail alleges in a newly filed federal lawsuit that he was restrained for a month without mental health treatment and encouraged to go ahead and kill himself. ...The case is among numerous lawsuits filed against Correctional Healthcare Companies, located at 6200 S. Syracuse Way in Greenwood Village, and its affiliates. Plaintiffs’ attorneys in Colorado and around the country have alleged CHC has shown a pattern of profit-motivated medical neglect that has cost offenders their lives or caused permanent injury. (Mitchell, 11/27)

The Star Tribune: UnitedHealth Group Buying Seattle Clinic
UnitedHealth Group is acquiring a large Seattle-based clinic for primary and specialty care that further expands the Minnetonka-based company’s growing business that provides care directly to patients. Chief Executive David Wichmann told investors meeting Tuesday in New York that the deal to purchase Polyclinic will supplement the Everett Clinic business in the Seattle area that UnitedHealth is acquiring through a separate deal for DaVita Medical Group. (Snowbeck, 11/27)

Des Moines Register: Pregnant Iowa Teens Thrive Under Guidance Of A Doula
The Des Moines-based nonprofit has offered doulas since 2004 to help young mothers such as [Victoria] Dicks navigate what can be an overwhelming situation. The group says the program is working. ...The [Young Women's Resource Center] often serves women who have experienced abuse, and those traumatic experiences can affect how they approach pregnancy and bond with their child, said Ashley Ezzio, a doula and the center's childbirth and perinatal specialist. (Ryan, 11/27)

San Jose Mercury News: Gunman In Thousand Oaks Mass Shooting Fired 50-Plus Shots, Tossed Multiple Smoke Grenades, But Still No Motive
The gunman who terrorized the packed Borderline Bar and Grill earlier this month fired 50-plus rounds striking 13 victims, with only one surviving, and tossed multiple smoke grenades that added to the confusion that night, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub told reporters on Tuesday, with officials still searching for the killer’s motive. Ian David Long, 28, of Newbury Park had seven high-capacity, 30-round magazines in his possession, five of which were found fully loaded after the suspect fatally shot 12 people and then took his own life, Ayub said. (Gazzar, 11/27)

MPR: An Old Minnesota Jail Is Now A Leader For Inmate Mental Health
The new, $52 million jail opened this fall in Moorhead with 209 beds. Its 18-bed behavioral health unit is in the back of the building. Soundproofing helps keep the noise down, and inmates housed there can get mental health care without leaving the unit. (Gunderson, 11/28)

California Healthline: California To Track Deaths From Flu More Closely, Including Seniors
California’s Department of Public Health says the flu killed 329 people under age 65 in the last flu season, from October 2017 to August 2018. But that is likely only a small fraction of the total deaths in the nation’s most populous state because the department didn’t count the hundreds of deaths of people 65 and older. The state figure could account for just 1 in 10 flu deaths. (Rowan, 11/27)

Boston Globe: Getting Food To Those Who Need It, With Heaping Portions Of Dignity And Compassion On The Side
According to the Greater Boston Food Bank, one in six Bostonians is food insecure. One in 11 people in Eastern Massachusetts is food insecure, and one in nine is a child. ...Finances are particularly stretched during New England winters, when heating costs spike. Something has to give. Often, it’s the groceries. And so these organizations make a crucial difference. They serve food, but they also provide something else: dignity and compassion. (Baskin, 11/27)

KQED: Ag Official: E. Coli Outbreak Could Hurt Salinas Valley Lettuce Growers For Years
The E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce that has sickened dozens of people in the United States and Canada could hurt the Central Coast's farming industry for years, according to one of the region's top agricultural officials. The Food and Drug Administration announced on Monday that the romaine tied to the outbreak appears to be from the Central Coast, and that romaine produced outside that region is safe to eat as long as it's labeled correctly. (Goldberg, 11/27)

San Jose Mercury News: Tainted Romaine Link To Salinas Valley Frustrates Farmers
Lettuce is king on California’s Central Coast, where row crops and produce stands line the roadways in a region that boasts of being the Salad Bowl of the World. So it struck deep when federal authorities this week linked a rash of severe bacterial infections to romaine lettuce from California’s Central Coast. Now farmers who adopted a host of safety measures after local spinach was tied to a deadly 2006 outbreak fear another battle to win back consumers’ trust. (Woolfolk and Hagemann, 11/27)

Modern Healthcare: Could Sanders' Plan To Lower Drug Prices Backfire?
Sen. Bernie Sanders' bill threatening to cut pharmaceutical companies' patent protections if their drug prices are too high has been hailed by some patient advocates as one of the first solid solutions to one of the healthcare industry's most talked about issues. But drug industry insiders and analysts warn the loss of revenue caused by the Vermont independent lawmaker's plan could drive pharmaceutical companies to invest less in developing breakthrough medications. (Johnson, 11/26)

Stat: Pharma-Backed Group Attacks A Controversial Insurance Tool 
As more insurers and employers use a new tool called copay accumulators to fend off copay assistance from drug makers, the pharmaceutical industry is fighting back with an analysis that suggests employers should think twice because they may be at risk for doing so. Copay accumulators have been embraced over the past year by a growing number of insurers and employers in hopes of limiting prescription drug spending. The reason is that accumulators do not count the value of any copay assistance cards or coupons — which drug makers often readily provide — toward out-of-pocket medicine costs that are applied toward deductibles. (Silverman, 11/26)

The Hill: Representing Patients’ Voices
[Bob] Hugin became the first target of Patients for Affordable Drugs Action, the group’s political arm.The group spent $3.5 million on ads against Hugin — just a fraction of all spending in the hotly contested race, but money [David] Mitchell said was critical to informing New Jersey voters about the Republican’s record. (Hellmann, 11/27)

Roll Call: Grassley’s Move To Finance Committee Could Bolster Drug Price Efforts
Sen. Charles E. Grassley’s return to the helm of the Finance Committee could put him in a position to address high prescription prices, although former aides say his biggest initial contribution to the drug debate will be his zeal for accountability. Mark Hayes, a former Finance chief health counsel under Grassley, said the Iowa Republican’s well-earned reputation for oversight can be a catalyst for action. “While the legislative process can often present its challenges, shining a light on an issue can often get change moving faster,” Hayes said. (Siddons, 11/26)

The Hill: GOP, Dems Have 'Rare' Opportunity To Work Together On Drug Prices, Says Advocate
Lauren Blair, the communications director at the Campaign for Sustainable Drug Pricing, said on Tuesday that Democrats and Republicans have the chance to come together on lowering drug prices in 2019. "This is a rare bipartisan opportunity that we see," Blair told Hill.TV's Buck Sexton and Jamal Simmons on "Rising." "People on the left and the right campaigned on this, and so now, there's enough public pressure from the American people that there's going to need to be action," she continued. (Manchester, 11/27)

FierceHealthcare: Drug Prices A Bipartisan Bright Spot Following Midterms, Experts Say
Although the results of the midterms signal a likely end to the uncertainty caused by partisan wrangling for the next couple of years, experts say there is room for Democrats and Republicans to make at least incremental changes ahead of the 2020 presidential race. Drug prices especially could offer an opportunity for legislators to reach across the aisle and pass some incremental measures, said Chris Jennings, founder and president of Jennings Policy Strategies. (Minemyer, 11/27)

Kaiser Health News: Chronically Ill, Traumatically Billed: The $123,000 Medicine For MS
Shereese Hickson’s multiple sclerosis was flaring again. Spasms in her legs and other symptoms were getting worse. She could still walk and take care of her son six years after doctors diagnosed the disease, which attacks the central nervous system. Earlier symptoms such as slurred speech and vision problems had resolved with treatment, but others lingered: she was tired and sometimes still fell. This summer, a doctor switched her to Ocrevus, a drug approved in 2017 that delayed progression of the disease in clinical trials better than an older medicine did. (Hancock, 11/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Drugmakers Gain More Access To China, But At A Price
China is approving foreign drugs at a record pace, opening the door to its lucrative market for the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, while also extracting big discounts. Regulators have greenlighted dozens of outside drugs for use in China over the past 21 months, some within a few weeks. The approvals follow a series of policy moves by China to provide its 1.4 billion people access to new, lifesaving drugs, especially those that treat cancer. (Rana and Roland, 11/27)

Stat: Pharma Reaches Tentative Deal With U.K. Over Pricing And Access
The U.K. government and the pharmaceutical industry have reached a tentative agreement to widen access to medicines and encourage innovation that involves spending caps on brand-name medicines and faster cost-effectiveness assessments, among other things. The voluntary deal calls for the National Health Service to adopt newer medicines faster for five unidentified therapeutic categories. (Silverman, 11/26)

FiercePharma: Pharma Caps U.K.’s Branded-Drug Spend Growth At 2% In Exchange For Faster Drug Launches
How much are pharma companies willing to pay in exchange for a faster trip to market in the U.K.? As it turns out, a cap of 2% on total branded-drug sales growth should do. And that’s a deal the industry is billing as a big savings for the government next year—$1.2 billion, to be exact. But there’s a catch: The 2% cap is actually higher than annual spending growth at the National Health Service over the past five years. (Liu, 11/26)

Stat: Roche And Novartis Lose Battle In Europe Over Off-Label Repackaged Drugs
In a setback for the pharmaceutical industry, a European Union court ruled that government health systems can cover the cost of a drug that has been repackaged for unapproved uses, a decision that appears to reflect concerns about the rising prices for medicines. At issue is a long-running drama over a prescription drug that is used to treat age-related macular degeneration and efforts by two large drug makers to maintain market share. In this instance, the European Court of Justice sided with Italian authorities, who sought to reimburse the cost of the Avastin cancer drug to treat the vision problem, a common disease among the elderly that can lead to blindness. (Silverman, 11/21)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: An Opportunity For Bipartisanship On Medicare Drug Prices
Despite bitter partisanship in Washington, politicians of all stripes should agree that reducing Medicare drug costs without harming patient care is a pretty good idea. One reason for America’s high cost of health care is that many medicines are much more expensive here than abroad. In fact, an analysis by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found the typical price of Medicare Part B drugs was 80 percent higher in the U.S. than in other industrialized nations. (11/24)

The Washington Examiner: Both Parties Can Work Together To Lower Drug Prices
Healthcare was a key issue for voters in the split-decision midterm elections. So are we in for more partisan divide and no progress? Not necessarily. We simply need to reframe the debate to find common ground. The Democrat-controlled House won’t consider Obamacare repeal, and the Republican Senate won’t consider Medicare for all. But there are ways to make constructive changes without relying on ideologically charged policies which can’t advance in this environment. (Jeff Stier, 11/27)

The Washington Post: This One Letter Sums Up A Lot That’s Wrong With The American Medical System
President Trump brought down the price of prescription drugs. Or so he says. At Monday night’s reelection rally in Mississippi for Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, he told the audience, “Drug prices are starting to come down.” Perhaps he should tell it to Hedda Martin, a disabled dog walker from Grand Rapids, Mich. Martin, 60, experienced her 15 minutes of fame over the Thanksgiving break, after a letter she received from Spectrum Health’s Richard DeVos Heart & Lung Transplant Clinic, denying her a heart transplant, went viral. (Helaine Olen, 11/27)

WBUR: Insulin Inflation Is Killing People. Something Needs To Be Done 
At least three diabetics died in 2017 from rationing insulin, a flashpoint in the battle to reduce stratospheric U.S. drug prices. With 30 million Americans having diabetes, the disease is the nation’s seventh leading cause of death. Against that grim backdrop, insulin prices rose 270 percent during the past decade; insulin can cost patients hundreds of dollars a month. (Rich Barlow, 11/27)

The Washington Post: Why Prescription Drug Prices Have Skyrocketed
The high cost of prescription drugs is on everyone’s agenda. In more than 40 states, pharma-related bills are pending or recently passed. President Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid each have advanced proposals to bring down prices. Congress passed an anti-gag clause bill, letting pharmacists give more information to patients to help them save on costs. ...How did we get here? The answer can be found in this country’s shadowy and byzantine system for negotiating drug prices and rebate deals. (Robin Feldman, 11/26)

Bloomberg: Crispr Fears, Designer Baby Outrage Won't Last As Ethics Evolve 
It’s too soon to know whether a Chinese researcher who claims to have successfully edited the genomes of newly born twins is telling the truth. But if he is, and if the girls turn out to be healthy and normal, it heralds a significant change in the scientific and ethical status of human gene editing. The outrage might not last long. (Noah Feldman, 11/27)

The New York Times: Editing Babies? We Need To Learn A Lot More First
Sooner or later it was bound to happen: A rogue scientist in China claims to have edited a gene in two human embryos and implanted them in the mother’s womb, resulting in the birth of genetically altered twin girls. We’re no longer in the realm of science fiction. If true, this hacking of their biological operating instructions, which they will pass on to their children and generations to come, is a dangerous breach of medical ethics and responsible research and must be condemned. (Eric J. Topol, 11/27)

Bloomberg: Crispr-Edited Baby In China Would Be A Repeat Of Natural Mutation
A Chinese scientist claims to have ushered in the age of genetic enhancement this week, with the announcement that he had tweaked the DNA of two human embryos, now twin girls, endowing at least one of them with resistance to HIV. This kind of thing has always ended badly in movies, but like any advance in medical technology, it could help people and it could do harm.If the claim is true, this is new territory on two fronts. It would be the first time scientists have changed the human germline — the genes that could be passed down for centuries to come. And beyond that, it would be the first time that genetic engineering of any kind has been used for human enhancement rather than to correct a genetic disorder. (Faye Flam, 11/27)

USA Today: Gene Editing Babies Is An Unethical Procedure. Ban Scientists From US
A Chinese research group claims it has produced a genetically-modified human baby. It was only a matter or time. By doing so, this group — and anyone else who attempts the same — is flouting every ethical guideline and every law that currently applies within the sort of country that could support such research. There’s no good justification for bringing experimental human embryos to term. (Terence Kealey, 11/27)

The Hill: Republicans Shouldn't Embrace ACA Rules About Pre-Existing Conditions
Americans might assume that now that Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives, that there will be little change to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But the issue remains live due to a pending multi-state lawsuit, Texas v. United States, that could reverse the ACA’s protections for pre-existing conditions.Most Republican candidates failed to adequately address the issue of pre-existing conditions ahead of the midterm elections and for this they paid a political price. Voters said they trusted Democrats more on pre-existing conditions than Republicans (58-34 percent) and health-care voters broke for Democrats 3-to-1. The GOP sorely needs to demonstrate leadership on the issue of pre-existing conditions, not just by rejecting the ACA, but by offering a better solution. (Hadley Heath Manning, 11/27)

The Washington Post: Trump Is Ready To Deal. Are Democrats?
When President Trump first took office, many conservatives’ greatest fear was that he would be too quick to cut deals with the Democrats. He had previously been a Democrat and had staked out heterodox positions on everything from spending to entitlement reform, the national debt, the minimum wage, trade and health care. During the 2016 campaign, Trump even endorsed universal health care, declaring, “This is an un-Republican thing for me to say . . . I am going to take care of everybody . . . [and] the government’s gonna pay for it.” Conservatives were aghast. They need not have worried. Democrats showed little interest in negotiating bipartisan bills with Trump. (Marc A. Thiessen, 11/27)

Omaha-World Herald: 'Medicare-For-All' Is No Health Care Cure-All
This week, congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., tweeted out a letter from Spectrum Health to one Hedda Elizabeth Martin. The letter described the clinic's rejection of a heart transplant for Martin based on lack of a "more secure financial plan for immunosuppressive medication coverage." The clinic added, "The Committee is recommending a fundraising effort of $10,000." Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, "Insurance groups are recommending GoFundMe as official policy -- where customers can die if they can't raise the goal in time -- but sure, single payer health care is unreasonable."First off, Ocasio-Cortez is simply incorrect. (Ben Shapiro, 11/27)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Editorial: A Hidden Cost Of Medicaid Expansion
Medicaid’s underpayment of physicians — one might say, its fleecing of physicians — has been a chronic problem for years, and the need to boost reimbursements comes as no surprise to anyone in the industry, least of all to Governor Northam, who is a physician himself. An obvious question arises: When the governor and his legislative allies were selling Medicaid expansion to the public, why didn’t they include reimbursement reform as part of the package? (11/27)

Bloomberg: The Romaine Scare Is Actually Sort Of Reassuring
Is nothing safe anymore, now that the U.S. government is warning of the danger of leafy greens? The alert not to eat romaine lettuce came just in time to foil plans some Americans might have made for a light, healthy item to add to our traditionally heavy Thanksgiving dinners. While people should take seriously the recent outbreak of E. coli food poisoning that triggered the alert, the fact that it was flagged early shows that the agency once known as the CDC deserves its upgraded name as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Faye Flam, 11/27)

USA Today: Suicide Kills 45,000 Men, Women And Children A Year. Society Shrugs.
If a killer roaming America left 45,000 men, women and children dead each year, you can bet society would be demanding something be done to end the scourge.  Well, such a killer exists. It's called suicide, and the rate of it has been steadily climbing. Yet the national response has been little more than a shrug, apart from raised awareness whenever a celebrity — fashion designer Kate Spade and renowned chef Anthony Bourdain, to name two this year — is tragically found dead by their own hand. USA TODAY's comprehensive look at this public health crisis and its ripple effect, published Wednesday, includes a daughter's heart-wrenching narrative of losing a mother to suicide, as told by former Cincinnati Enquirer Managing Editor Laura Trujillo.Although suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in America, efforts to understand and prevent it fall dismally short. (11/28)

USA Today: NIH And NIMH: We're Deeply Committed To Reducing Suicide
Suicide is a human tragedy and a major public health concern, and the National Institutes of Health is deeply committed to bringing the very best science to this critical issue. NIH expenditures on research related to suicide are far more extensive than the USA TODAY analysis implies. Research demonstrates that most individuals who die by suicide suffer from some form of mental illness, whether diagnosed or not. Annually, NIH spends an estimated $68 million on suicide and suicide prevention research and an additional $2.7 billion on mental health research. By improving the diagnosis and management of mental illnesses, we can effectively reduce the risk of suicide. (Francis S. Collins and Joshua A. Gordon, 11/28)

Boston Globe: If We Want To Fight Hate, We Need To Do A Better Job Tracking It
One of the first steps to combating hate incidents will be for the government to get a better handle on when, where, and to whom the are occurring. (11/27)

Stat: A Dispatch From The Front Lines Of Acute Flaccid Myelitis
To parents and the press, the “new” disease that is paralyzing kids is a mystery. Media coverage of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), which causes sudden limb weakness and paralysis in children, has given families the impression that health care providers and public health officials are sitting quietly and helplessly, flummoxed in the face of a disease that threatens children’s health. That just isn’t so. Parents have a right to be concerned about this illness. But they should also know that AFM is rare, a one-in-a-million event. It does not spread within families, hospitals, or towns. Although a virus called enterovirus D68, along with other viruses that cause respiratory and diarrheal illness, has been linked to the disease, a single definitive cause hasn’t yet been identified. This isn’t because we aren’t looking: Physicians, scientists, and public health officials are working tirelessly to find answers and the best treatments. (Roberta L. Debiasi, Elizabeth M. Wells and Jessica Carpenter, 11/28)

The Hill: Congress, It's Time To Follow Your Doctor's Prescription On Climate Change
In reality, Congress is the patient and the condition is climate change. Over 97 percent of climate scientists have concluded, based on the evidence, that human-caused climate change is happening.Doctors, like me, who have conducted research on the health implications of climate change have concluded, again based on the evidence, that climate change threatens the health of Americans in many ways.  These threats range from more air pollution that increases the risk of heart and lung disease to deaths, illnesses and mental health impacts of wildfires and extreme weather events like the recent devastating fires in the west and destructive hurricanes in the southeast. (Mona Sarfaty, 11/27)

The Washington Post: There’s A Looming Long-Term Care Crisis. Are You Prepared?
We often talk about the significant cost of long-term care, but there’s something else to consider.Live long enough — many of us will see our 90s — and you’re likely to need help with basic activities such as eating, dressing and bathing. The cost of this care could decimate your retirement savings. The annual median cost of a stay in a private nursing home room is $100,375, according to a recent Genworth Financial report. A home health aide could run $50,336 a year. (Michelle Singletary, 11/27)

Stat: PEPFAR, An 'Emergency' Response To AIDS, Is Still Saving Lives
As a treatment program, PEPFAR is a success. But it is much more than that. Following science, PEPFAR now provides proven HIV prevention interventions, including circumcision and the use of antiretroviral medicines for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). ...The House of Representatives approved the PEPFAR reauthorization on Nov. 13. I hope the Senate will swiftly follow suit. Earlier this year, the Senate proposed a $50 million increase for PEPFAR, while the House proposed an additional $41 million for USAID’s TB program. For this year’s reauthorization, increasing funding for the program will be critical. We know what to do: Diagnosing and treating everyone with HIV leads to normal life spans and stops the spread of the virus. On its own, that won’t be enough to end the threat of HIV. The quests for a vaccine and a cure continue. (Myron S. Cohen, 11/28)

Kansas City Star: Medical Marijuana Users In Missouri Could Be Fired If High
Much discussion has centered on a federal law that prohibits legal pot users from possessing or buying firearms and ammunition. Another legal conundrum is percolating: Will employees be allowed to toke pot legally while off the clock without repercussions from their employer?Missouri officials are hard-pressed to create the appropriate balance between an individual’s right to possess or use a legal substance and maintaining a safe work environment. But it is a necessary endeavor. The variety of medical marijuana laws from coast to coast is confusing. (11/27)

Georgia Health News: Effort To Overhaul Liver-Transplant Protocols Would Cost Georgians’ Lives
Any day now the Health Resources and Services Administration, the federal agency that oversees the system by which deceased people’s donor organs are allotted for transplant throughout the country, is expected to issue new rules that will, quite literally, be making life-and-death decisions. But that is not the only direction from which the current system is under assault. This past summer, six patients from New York, California and Massachusetts sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), and the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the nonprofit currently awarded the contract to implement organ sharing. (Dr. Raymond Rubin, 11/26)