The Associated Press: Mysterious Paralyzing Illness Found Among Kids In 22 States
U.S. health officials on Tuesday reported a jump in cases of a rare paralyzing illness in children, and said it seems to be following an every-other-year pattern. At least 62 cases have been confirmed in 22 states this year, and at least 65 additional illnesses in those states are being investigated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Similar waves of the same illness occurred in 2014 and 2016. (Stobbe, 10/16)

The Washington Post: Paralyzing Polio-Like Illness Mainly Affecting Children Confirmed In 22 States, CDC Says
The surge has baffled health officials, who on Tuesday announced a change in the way the agency is counting cases. They also wanted to raise awareness about the condition so parents can seek medical care if their child develops symptoms, and so physicians can quickly relay reports of the potential illness to the CDC. “We understand that people, particularly parents, are concerned about AFM,” said Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Despite extensive laboratory and other testing, CDC has not been able to find the cause for the majority of the cases. “There is a lot we don’t know about AFM, and I am frustrated that despite all of our efforts, we haven’t been able to identify the cause of this mystery illness." (Sun, 10/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Cases Of Rare Neurological Condition Rise In U.S.
There is no specific treatment. Immunoglobulin, corticosteroids and other therapies have been used, but there is no evidence they help, according to the National Institutes of Health. Physical therapy can help with recovery. Some patients recover quickly, but others remain paralyzed and require ongoing care, Dr. Messonnier said. The condition is “incredibly rare,” she said, causing fewer than one in one million cases a year in the U.S. She said the CDC knows of one death from AFM, which occurred in 2017. (McKay, 10/16)

Stat: CDC Expresses Concern Over Mysterious Surge In Polio-Like Paralysis Cases
Messonnier said the CDC has definitively ruled out polio — which causes a similar set of symptoms — as the cause. Testing of affected children has turned up a smattering of infections — some by enteroviruses, which is the broad family to which polioviruses belong, but also rhinoviruses, which cause head colds. No one finding can explain all the cases, she said. (Branswell,10/16)

The Hill: CDC Confirms 62 Cases Of Polio-Like Illness Across US 
Messonnier said she parents should seek medical care if their child develops sudden muscle weakness or loss of muscle tone in their arms and legs. (Hellmann, 10/16)

NPR: Acute Flaccid Myelitis Cases Rise; Cause Unclear
Since the condition was first recognized by CDC in 2014, the agency has confirmed 386 cases through Oct. 16, mostly in children. AFM appears to be seasonal, occurring mostly in the late summer and fall, but appears in greater numbers every other year. The number of cases in 2018 is on track to match a similar number of cases in 2014 and 2016. But Messonnier cautioned that it would be "premature" to be confident that this year will be the same as the earlier years. (Neel and Aubrey, 10/16)

Kaiser Health News: Mysterious Polio-Like Illness Baffles Medical Experts While Frightening Parents 
AFM remains extremely rare, even with the recent increase. The CDC estimates fewer than 1 in a million Americans will get the disease. Officials advised parents not to panic, but remain vigilant for any sudden onset of symptoms. They also suggested that children stay up to date with their vaccines and practice good hand washing habits. (Heredia Rodriguez, 10/17)

The Washington Post: Five Kids In Maryland May Have A Polio-Like Disease, As CDC Investigates
Health officials said five kids in Maryland are believed to have contracted a virus this fall that has symptoms similar to polio. The state’s health department said the five reported cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) also are being investigated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and are among dozens of cases the federal health agency is looking into across the country. (Hedgpeth and Moyer, 10/16)

The Star Tribune: Minnesota Reports Seventh Case Of Polio-Like Illness
Minnesota is reporting a seventh case of a rare, paralyzing illness in children that has now been detected in 22 states. Federal health officials are trying to confirm that the child has acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, a polio-like illness that causes paralysis or limited mobility, said Kris Ehresmann, who directs the infectious disease section of the Minnesota Department of Health. (Olson, 10/16)

The New York Times: Is It Possible To Be An Anti-Abortion Democrat? One Woman Tried To Find Out
Joan Barry has been a member of the Missouri Democratic Party for 53 years. As a state legislator, she voted regularly for workers’ rights, health care and programs for the poor. So when the party began writing a new platform after its crushing losses in 2016, Ms. Barry, a member of its state committee, did not think it was too much to ask for a plank that welcomed people like her — Democrats who oppose abortion. (Tavernise, 10/16)

Detroit Free Press: Republicans Air False Medicare Ad Against Elissa Slotkin
A new TV ad released by a national Republican group on Tuesday suggests that Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic challenger to U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, supports a plan that has undermined Medicare, the health care policy for older Americans, by cutting $800 billion from it. The ad is not true. While it is true that the Congressional Budget Office in 2015 estimated that a Republican-proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act – otherwise known as Obamacare – would require an increase in mandatory Medicare spending over a decade by more than $800 billion, that is not the same as suggesting that amount would somehow go toward improving benefits or otherwise strengthening the program. (Spangler, 10/16)

KCUR: Missouri's U.S. Senate Race Casts Spotlight On Health Care, Pre-Existing Conditions 
A once-obscure health insurance buzzword — pre-existing conditions — is taking over the U.S. Senate race in Missouri. And the seemingly narrow issue could have a wider effect on the federal health care law, depending on whether Republicans maintain control of the Senate after the Nov. 6 midterm election. Before 2014, when parts of the so-called Affordable Care Act took effect, insurance companies could deny coverage to customer who already had been diagnosed with anything from diabetes to depression. Almost a third of people in Missouri have pre-existing conditions, and GOP Senate candidate Josh Hawley has said he’s looking out for them, especially because his oldest son has an unspecified chronic joint disease. That is, a pre-existing condition. (Smith, 10/17)

OPB: Where They Stand: Oregon's Gubernatorial Candidates On Health Care . 
Months before they began campaigning in earnest against one another in the race for governor, Gov. Kate Brown and state Rep. Knute Buehler had another showdown. The politicians formed up on opposite sides of Measure 101, a January 2018 vote that decided how Oregon would patch a budget hole in its Medicaid program after membership swelled under the Affordable Care Act. (VanderHart, 10/16)

Miami Herald: South Florida Democrats Campaign On Saving Obamacare
Miami-Dade County is home to the largest concentration of Obamacare recipients in the country, and Democrats are spending millions on TV ads, certain that healthcare is the No. 1 issue voters care about this year. Congress’ attempt to repeal Obamacare during the first two years of Donald Trump’s presidency was one of the highest-profile votes that incumbent Republican Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Mario Diaz-Balart had to take. (Daugherty, 10/16)

WBUR: Midterm Election Could Reshape Health Policy
Obamacare — as the Affordable Care Act is commonly known — won't be on the ballot next month. But the fate of the eight-year old health care law could be decided by which party wins control of Congress in November. "Medicare for All" — the progressive alternative to Obamacare — also stands to gain or lose ground. (Horsley, 10/17)

KCUR: How To Tell Missouri's 3 Medical Marijuana Ballot Measures Apart 
Missouri, if you want medical cannabis legalized, the midterms are your chance to make it happen. Voters on Nov. 6 have three separate ballot measures — two proposed amendments and a proposition — on essentially the same question: whether to allow the legal use of medical cannabis to treat conditions like epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma. But the details of exactly how each program would work and how much money they would generate for the state are buried in the fine print. (Smith, 10/16)

Meanwhile, CMS Administrator Seema Verma speaks out against "Medicare For All," a popular Democratic talking point on the trail —

Kaiser Health News: Medicare For All? CMS Chief Warns Program Has Enough Problems Already
The Trump administration’s top Medicare official Tuesday slammed the federal health program as riddled with problems that hinder care to beneficiaries, increase costs for taxpayers and escalate fraud and abuse. Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), said those troubles underscore why she opposes calls by many Democrats for dramatically widening eligibility for Medicare, now serving 60 million seniors and people with disabilities, to tens of millions other people. (Galewitz, 10/16)

Sacramento Bee: California: How Low Can The Uninsured Health Rate Go?
After a streak of steady declines, California’s uninsured rate bottomed out last year with some 2.7 million people still without health coverage. The latest estimates from the U.S. Census offer a fragmented portrait of the remaining people who are uninsured while posing an even bigger question for the state: How much lower can the uninsured rate go? (Finch, 10/17)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Obamacare Plans Will Cost 9 Percent More In Virginia In 2019, Slightly Less Than Early Projections
Virginians who buy their health insurance on the individual market will see an average rate increase of about 9 percent in 2019, slightly less than the 13 percent increase that was anticipated earlier this year, according to the State Bureau of Insurance. The average monthly premium is anticipated to be $796.29, less than the $830.18 from the insurance providers’ initial proposed rates, but up from an average rate of $732.45 in 2018. (Balch, 10/16)

Bloomberg: Obama Officials, Athenahealth Execs Launch Medicare Plan 
A group of former Obama White House officials and executives from health-technology company Athenahealth Inc. will begin selling private health insurance to U.S. senior citizens, backed by $360 million in venture capital funding. The company, called Devoted Health, will sell Medicare Advantage plans in Florida and wants to expand its offerings nationally. The insurance plans are a private-sector alternative to traditional Medicare, subsidized by the government. (Dodge, 10/16)

Boston Globe: This Company, Led By Veteran Athenahealth Execs, Just Raised $300M
The company has begun offering coverage in Florida through the federally supported Medicare Advantage program, Medicare’s private insurance option. Medicare Advantage plans typically cover a broader array of services than general Medicare coverage, usually in exchange for a narrower provider network. The government pays a fixed amount per patient to companies that offer Medicare Advantage plans, which make money if they can keep costs down and patient outcomes up. “We are completely and wholly incentivized to focus on your long-term care,” said DJ Patil, Devoted’s head of technology and a former White House data scientist under the Obama administration. (Rosen, 10/16)

Modern Healthcare: Anthem's $16M Breach Settlement Reminds Others To Assess Their Cyber Risks 
Anthem's record-breaking data breach settlement on Monday has put providers and insurers on notice that ignoring cybersecurity risks could come with a hefty pricetag. The nation's second-largest insurer will pay HHS' Office for Civil Rights $16 million over a 2015 data breach that affected almost 79 million people, the largest data breach ever reported to the agency. Other healthcare organizations face similar threats, especially if they have large sets of data that can entice hackers, according to cybersecurity experts. (Arndt and Livinsgton, 10/16)

The Wall Street Journal: UnitedHealth Raises Full-Year Earnings Projection
UnitedHealth Group Inc. raised its full-year earnings projection for 2018 and offered reassurance about its early outlook for next year, as the company pointed to growth drivers including the continuing expansion of private Medicare plans. UnitedHealth said Tuesday it expects to earn $12.80 a share on an adjusted basis this year, compared with the range of $12.50 to $12.75 a share it previously suggested. (Wilde Mathews and Chin, 10/16)

The Star Tribune: UnitedHealth Group Predicts Medicare Growth 
With quarterly profits again soaring beyond expectations, UnitedHealth Group executives on Tuesday predicted more growth in the market for Medicare health plans, which includes new offerings in Minnesota. The Minnetonka-based company's UnitedHealthcare division is the nation's largest health insurer and largest seller of Medicare Advantage plans, which a growing number of beneficiaries purchase as a way to obtain government health benefits through a private insurer. (Snowbeck, 10/16)

Modern Healthcare: CHI-Dignity Merger Cleared By Vatican 
The Vatican has given the ecclesiastical green light to the proposed merger between Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health, a deal that would create the nation's largest not-for-profit hospital company by revenue. In a Sept. 4, 2018 letter, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith said it had reviewed the agreement between the two not-for-profit hospital systems and would allow the bishops in the local dioceses where the newly formed entities will exist to decide the matter. (Meyer and Bannow, 10/16)

Stateline: How Fentanyl Changes The Opioid Equation
More than a decade into the opioid epidemic, illicit fentanyl and related synthetic drugs are now driving the nation’s spiraling overdose death toll. Involved in nearly half of the roughly 200 U.S. drug overdose deaths every day, fentanyl appears to be here to stay. ...As governors in the hardest-hit New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states call for intensified law enforcement efforts and stiffer penalties for fentanyl dealers, public health officials are saying this latest drug scourge underscores the urgent need to get more people into treatment, particularly those who use heroin. (Vestal, 10/17)

NPR: They're Down About Drugs, Jobs, But Rural Americans Aren't Ready To Give Up Hope
Rural Americans are preoccupied with the problems of opioid and drug addiction in their communities, citing it as a worry on par with concerns about local jobs and the economy, according to a new poll from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "For many years, the opioid crisis was seen as affecting only a few states — West Virginia, Kentucky and New Hampshire among others. But it never was just about those states," says poll co-director Robert J. Blendon, a professor of public health and health policy at Harvard. "It's now at the same level of a very serious economic plight that people are really worried about. It affects elections, and it affects how people elected from rural areas view their priorities." (Neel and Kodjak, 10/16)

The Associated Press: Melania Trump To Focus On Opioids, Newborns In Hospital Tour
First lady Melania Trump will travel to Philadelphia to meet with families of children who were affected by exposure to opioids while in the womb. Mrs. Trump is being joined on her Wednesday visit to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. The hospital has provided care to mothers with opioid use disorder and their newborn children for more than 45 years. (10/16)

Chicago Tribune: Chicago-Area Hospitals Sending Opioid Overdose Patients Home With Antidote 
Patients treated for opioid overdoses at two Oak Lawn hospitals are now leaving those facilities with medication that might save them the next time they overdose. Advocate Christ Medical Center and Advocate Children’s Hospital recently started sending home naloxone with patients who come to their emergency rooms with opioid overdoses or opioid addictions, and a number of other local hospitals are considering similar measures. Naloxone is used to block the effects of opioids during overdoses. (Schencker, 10/16)

Tampa Bay Times: Emergency Rooms And Jails The Focus As Hillsborough Task Force Takes On Opioid Epidemic
The opioid addiction epidemic is expected to claim the lives of almost 300 people in Hillsborough County this year. Those who don’t overdose face an increased risk of addiction to drugs like heroin and fentanyl. Now, the county’s Opioid Task Force is proposing a $13.7 million fix to tackle the epidemic in Hillsborough, which it says will lower the number of victims and reduce the high cost of treating them. (O'Donnell, 10/17)

Kansas City Star: Overland Park Doctor Named In Opioid Company Kickback Scheme
Internal emails from an opioid manufacturer under federal indictment for an alleged kickback scheme show that company executives held Overland Park doctor Steven Simon as one of their models for their sales force. The emails are included in a report released Tuesday by U.S. Senate committee staffers and provide new details about Simon’s relationship with Insys Therapeutics. (Marso, 10/16)

The New York Times: Domestic Violence Awareness Hasn’t Caught Up With #MeToo. Here’s Why.
When Kaylee Kapatos posted on Facebook this month that she was a survivor of domestic violence, using the hashtag #WhyIStayed, the response among her friends was muted. Only the week before, she had posted about sexual assault with the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport and got what she called “overwhelmingly positive feedback.” “It’s totally different,” said Ms. Kapatos, 25, who works as a residence life coordinator at Michigan Technological University. “People just don’t want to talk about it.” (Mervosh, 10/16)

Meanwhile, a campaign to get men involved in preventing sexual violence becomes a flash point in Texas —

The Washington Post: Masculinity Is Not A ‘Mental Health Issue,’ University Of Texas Clarifies After Right-Wing Fury
Colleges and universities are walking a tightrope as they accept the burden of molding student values, sometimes finding themselves in conflict with Americans committed to a more traditional worldview. Nowhere is the friction more pronounced than in Texas, as illuminated by the story of how the state’s flagship university got caught in the maw of the culture wars. A campus effort to question assumptions about masculinity has become a flash point revealing how much influence right-wing media wields in debates over gender and sexual violence, as President Trump warns that the #MeToo movement holds dangers for men. (Stanley-Becker, 10/17)

The New York Times: Why White Supremacists Are Chugging Milk (And Why Geneticists Are Alarmed)
Nowhere on the agenda of the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, being held in San Diego this week, is a topic plaguing many of its members: the recurring appropriation of the field’s research in the name of white supremacy. “Sticking your neck out on political issues is difficult,” said Jennifer Wagner, a bioethicist and president of the group’s social issues committee, who had sought to convene a panel on the racist misuse of genetics and found little traction. But the specter of the field’s ignominious past, which includes support for the American eugenics movement, looms large for many geneticists in light of today’s white identity politics. (Harmon, 10/17)

NPR: Microsoft Pioneer's Legacy: Allen Institute For Brain Science
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who died Monday, made his fortune from software that ran computer brains. But Allen's own passion was for the human brain. "The human brain works in, so far, mysterious and wondrous ways that are completely different than the ways that computers calculate," he told NPR during an interview in 2003. "Things like appetite or emotion, how do those function in the brain?" (Hamilton, 10/16)

The New York Times: A Device That Makes Running Faster And Easier
A newly invented wearable device could provide support, succor and an unexpected boost in speed to runners who might otherwise not be able to keep up with their training partners or former selves, as well as people who might like to try running but fear it is just too hard. The device, a kind of lightweight harness worn around the midsection and legs, can increase someone’s running efficiency by about 8 percent or more, according to a new study, making running feel much easier and also raising interesting questions about whether and how we should augment natural human abilities. (Reynolds, 10/17)

The Associated Press: Obesity Surgery May Lower Heart Attack Danger In Diabetics
Obesity surgery may dramatically lower the danger of heart attacks and strokes in patients with diabetes, new research suggests, reinforcing evidence that benefits extend beyond weight loss. The study tracked about 20,000 severely obese patients with Type 2 diabetes. Those who had weight loss surgery had a 40 percent lower chance of developing a heart attack or stroke in the five years following surgery compared to those who got usual care with diabetes medicines or insulin. (Johnson, 10/16)

The Washington Post: Concussions Were Down 13 Percent During The NFL Preseason, League Says
The number of concussions suffered by NFL players during the preseason dropped 13 percent this year, the league announced Tuesday. The decrease came after the league enacted a plan to reduce concussions, following a 2017 season in which concussions were up. There were 79 concussions suffered by players during preseason practices and games this year, NFL officials said during the owners’ fall meeting. That was down from 91 concussions suffered by players during the same time frame last year. (Maske, 10/16)

NPR: Veterinarians Asked To Euthanize Animals Improperly Feel 'Moral Distress'
In some ways, it can be harder to be a doctor of animals than a doctor of humans. "We are in the really unenviable, and really difficult, position of caring for patients maybe for their entire lives, developing our own relationships with those animals — and then being asked to kill them," says Dr. Lisa Moses, a veterinarian at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals-Angell Animal Medical Center and a bioethicist at Harvard Medical School. (Goldberg, 10/17)

Kaiser Health News: FDA Allows Food Makers To Fortify Corn Masa To Halt Birth Defects, But Few Do
Two years after the Food and Drug Administration allowed manufacturers to add folic acid, a crucial B vitamin that prevents terrible birth defects, to their corn flour, very few have done so. A new research report found that only 10 percent of corn masa flour and no soft corn tortillas contained folic acid, which can help prevent devastating neural tube birth defects, including spina bifida and anencephaly. The grain is a staple food in the diet of Hispanics, who have higher rates of the disabling and sometimes fatal defects. (Aleccia, 10/16)

Modern Healthcare: Outpatient Surgery Clinics Will Get Quality Grades From Leapfrog
Leapfrog Group will start publishing safety and quality performance of hospital outpatient surgery departments and ambulatory care centers in 2020, the group said Tuesday. Like its hospital safety grades, the outpatient data will be available to the public. Leapfrog will ask the centers to voluntarily submit performance data. The group has asked centers for input on which questions it should ask on the surveys. (Castellucci, 10/16)

Kaiser Health News: States Act To Safeguard Young Cancer Patients’ Chances To Have Children
When Katherine Frega was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma eight years ago at age 17, she was so sick that all she could focus on was starting chemotherapy to treat her aggressive blood cancer. It was her dad who thought to ask the oncologist, “How is this treatment going to affect her ability to have children?” The oncologist discussed the risks but stressed that Frega needed to start treatment right away. (Andrews, 10/17)

Reuters: Why It’s So Hard To Diagnose Zika
When a Zika epidemic was at its height in the Americas two years ago, diagnostics makers began working feverishly to create diagnostic tests for a virus that few in the U.S. had heard of. Those efforts have now largely stalled, as public concern has waned, health experts say, and the development of inexpensive tests that can quickly detect Zika infections and distinguish them from similar mosquito-borne diseases remains elusive. (10/17)

Reuters: Mothers Of Babies Afflicted By Zika Fight Poverty, Despair
Nearly three years after a Zika outbreak in Brazil caused thousands of cases of microcephaly and other devastating birth defects in newborns, Reuters returned to check on the mothers and their children. Zika, the first mosquito-borne virus known to damage developing fetuses, has since disappeared from headlines, but world health officials fear its spread to new populations. In Angola, dozens of babies born with microcephaly since 2017 appear linked to the same strain of Zika that hit Latin America. (10/17)

The New York Times: ‘No Word From My Son’: Dozens Still Missing As Hurricane Michael Death Toll Rises
Nicholas Sines was last heard from at his tiny apartment in Panama City more than a week ago. As Hurricane Michael was bearing down on the Florida Panhandle, his mother, Kristine Wright, urged her son to get out before it was too late. “I begged him,” she said. “Please go to a shelter.” “I’m staying here,” he told her. (Blinder, 10/16)

Bloomberg: California Calls Out Judge Who Said Coffee Needs Cancer Warning
California said a state judge who earlier this year ruled that coffee requires a cancer warning is too biased to oversee a new lawsuit that challenges the state’s proposal to exempt the beverage from the requirement. The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment on Monday filed a request to disqualify Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle. Separately, a California Court of Appeals last week stayed the third phase of a trial before Berle, scheduled to start Oct. 15, on what coffee retailers and brewers would have to pay for failing to warn consumers that coffee contains a chemical known to cause cancer. (Pettersson, 10/16)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: East Jefferson General Hospital's Bond Rating Is Downgraded Again, Fifth Time In Five Years
East Jefferson General Hospital's bond rating has fallen for the fifth time in less than five years, with Moody's Investors Service dropping it to Caa1 and forecasting more fiscal trouble ahead. Hospital officials said Tuesday (Oct. 16) they are considering selling some real estate to generate cash. Moody's downgrade on Friday was the latest warning to a publicly owned hospital that has been struggling for six years with stiff competition locally and the evolution of health care administration nationally. Throughout that period, board members of the 420-bed hospital and Jefferson Parish officials have tried but so far failed to arrange a lease or management agreement with a larger partner. (Broach, 10/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Hornblower, Alcatraz Ferries Pay $2.75 Million Settlement For San Francisco Health Care Violations
A San Francisco-based ferry company and its affiliate paid the city $2.7 million to settle violations of health care laws for illegally denying health insurance and benefits to hundreds of employees over four years, officials said Tuesday. The San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement found that Hornblower Yachts and Alcatraz Cruises created “complex policies” as a way of denying health benefits to 421 employees who qualified for them under the Health Care Accountability Ordinance and the Health Care Security Ordinance, according to the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. (Hernandez, 10/16)

Columbus Dispatch: Report: Two Columbus Neighborhoods Among Lowest In Ohio For Life Expectancy Rates
Franklinton and the Hilltop are among the four communities with the lowest life expectancy rates in Ohio, according to a new report. The poor, African Americans, people with disabilities and people without high school degrees are among those hardest hit by the health-related disparities. (Viviano, 10/16)

Des Moines Register: Dementia Patients With Aggression Turned Away From Iowa Nursing Homes
Nursing homes aren't required to report when they turn away potential residents, so there are no solid numbers on how often it happens. But families and Iowa and national experts say the problem is growing. They say its causes include a shortage of money, increasingly strict regulations and the burgeoning population of relatively young — and strong — adults struck with early onset Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. (Leys, 10/16)

Denver Post: Colorado Addressing Youth Suicide Crisis With Collaborative Effort
Pledging to tackle a statewide crisis in youth suicides, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia H. Coffman on Tuesday announced a first-of-its-kind collaboration with hospitals and nonprofit organizations to increase access to pediatric mental health treatment. The Attorney General’s Office will provide a $2.8 million grant to support Partners for Children’s Mental Health, a program led by Children’s Hospital Colorado that brings together nonprofits, pediatric experts, government agencies and partners across the state. (Tabachnkik, 10/16)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Feds: Atlanta Medical Execs Sent False Blood Work Results To Patients
Two executives of an Atlanta medical group have been arraigned on federal charges alleging they submitted more than 4,500 fraudulent claims for allergy treatments. CEO Shailesh Kothari, who also goes by Shue Kothari, ran Primera Medical Group with COO Timothy McMenamin, who was also charged in the scheme, federal officials said in a press release. (Godwin, 10/16)

Houston Chronicle: Breast Cancer Survivor Starts Mental Health Support Group In West Houston 
Emilia Yonge, a 47-year-old breast cancer survivor, wants others like her to have a supportive, nurturing place to retreat to when they feel the need to recharge and mentally refocus. It’s why she created a support group in September called ‘Breast Friends Forever,’ which meets every first Friday at Texas Oncology at Memorial Hermann in Memorial City and every second Friday at the Spring Valley Medical Center in West Houston. (Iracheta, 10/16)

MPR: Growing Hemp And CBD Oil Industry Face Legal Uncertainty
Although it hasn't been approved for medical use, customers use CBD oil to treat everything from anxiety to restless leg syndrome.As demand grows for the oil, farmers and entrepreneurs in Minnesota want a piece of the market. But the murky legal status of the supplement, and hemp itself, is a challenge for an industry that already brings in an estimated $700 million a year nationally. (Collins, 10/17)

WBUR: Adult-Use Cannabis Will Soon Be Able To Be Lab-Tested, As The Law Requires
The Cannabis Control Commission is expected to vote Thursday to grant final licenses to two, independent marijuana-testing laboratories. Under law, retail cannabis sales cannot be made until products are tested by a licensed lab. (Brown, 10/16)

Stat: A Growing Number Of States Consider Legislation To Treat Pharma As A Utility 
As prescription drug costs continue to frazzle Americans, lawmakers in several states are pushing to create commissions that would set prices that health plans, pharmacies, and state programs would pay for medicines, much like the rate-setting bodies that control public utilities. Over the past year, legislation was introduced in three states — Maryland, New Jersey, and Minnesota — and advocacy groups are seeking legislators to introduce bills in at least two more states — Maine and Oregon — in coming weeks, according to sources familiar with the efforts. (Silverman, 10/10)

CQ: 'No Silver Bullet' For The Drug Pricing Conundrum
President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to rein in soaring prescription drug costs helped propel him into office, and even earned him some accolades from Democratic lawmakers — like Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland — who cheered his support for letting Medicare negotiate drug prices. Trump has since abandoned that call. Instead, his administration has taken a series of minor steps outlined in a drug pricing “blueprint” geared toward promoting lower prices through competition — a solution more in the traditional GOP vein. (Clason, 10/15)

The Wall Street Journal: By Adding Patents, Drugmaker Keeps Cheaper Humira Copies Out Of U.S.
Cheaper copies of the world’s biggest-selling drug will roll out across Europe this week after a key European patent for Humira expires Tuesday, but U.S. patients and insurers will have to wait to access less-expensive versions of the blockbuster drug. The reason: a formidable wall of patents built up by Humira-maker AbbVie Inc., that prevents the developers of “biosimilar” versions launching their products in the U.S. (Loftus and Roland, 10/16)

Stat: Cost-Effectiveness Watchdog May Sell Drug Makers 'Early Scientific Advice'
For the past few years, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review has filled an important void in the U.S. by assessing the extent to which new medicines — notably, high-priced treatments — may be cost effective. But a plan to charge drug makers for advice prior to product launches prompted skepticism from a Wall Street analyst who believes such a move would, if nothing else, help the pharmaceutical industry. (Silverman, 10/15)

Stat: Merck Scraps Plans To Sell A Biosimilar Of Lantus In Crowded Insulin Market
In an unexpected move, Merck (MRK) scrapped plans to market a biosimilar version of the widely used Lantus insulin only a year after winning tentative U.S. regularly approval. The decision was disclosed in a regulatory filing by Samsung Bioepis, its development and commercialization partner, which noted Merck “suddenly” canceled their contract and returned $155 million. Merck subsequently explained in a statement that the about-face was prompted after assessing the “anticipated pricing and cost of production.” Although Merck was also locked in patent litigation with Sanofi (SNY), which sells Lantus and had prevented a timely product launch, the move underscores the increasingly crowded insulin market confronting drug makers. (Silverman, 10/12)

Nashville Tennessean: Bredesen Outlines Plan To Lower Prescription Drug Prices In United States
With an overt attempt at bipartisanship that touches on President Donald Trump's "America first" approach to governing, Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Phil Bredesen announced a proposal Tuesday aimed at lowering drug costs in the United States. Speaking to the Economic Club of Nashville at a Tuesday event inside Bridgestone Arena, Bredesen outlined a plan that he said would significantly lower the price of prescriptions for Americans. (Ebert, 10/16)

Philly.com: Is Pa. Getting Shortchanged On Drug Costs? Legislators Want To Know.
Is the state of Pennsylvania paying far more than it should for prescription drugs? The auditor general is looking into that possibility, and a hearing Tuesday before the state senate health and human services committee will examine the companies at the center of the inquiry: the pharmacy benefit managers that handle many aspects of prescription benefits for health plans, including Pennsylvania's Medicaid program. (Dunn, 10/16)

Stat: Price Hikes Contributed A Lot To Sales Growth For The Biggest-Selling Drugs
Despite all the debate over prescription drug costs, what is not always clear is just how much price hikes matter to the pharmaceutical industry. And a new analysis finds, not surprisingly, they matter a lot. Overall, price increases contributed a whopping 61 percent of the 28 percent growth in U.S. sales for 45 of the biggest-selling medicines over the past three years. Put another way, price hikes generated roughly $14.3 billion of the $23.3 billion in sales growth for those medicines from 2014 to 2017, according to a report by Leerink analyst Geoffrey Porges. (Silverman, 10/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Prescription Drugs Power Johnson & Johnson Results
But sales were less impressive in the New Jersey-based health-care conglomerate’s other two units, with consumer-product sales up 1.8% and medical-device sales down 0.2% for the quarter. “Our positive view on pharma is offset by ongoing challenges to the company’s medical device and consumer franchises,” JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott wrote in a research note. “While today’s consumer results were encouraging, we believe it remains too early to call for a broad recovery in these businesses.” (Loftus and Chin, 10/16)

Reuters: J&J Beats Profit Estimates, Lifts Outlook On Pharma Unit Strength
Johnson & Johnson reported slightly better-than-expected third quarter profit and raised its full-year forecast on Tuesday as increased demand for cancer drugs and immune disorder treatments powered strong results for its pharmaceutical unit. Shares of the healthcare conglomerate were up 2.3 percent at $137 in morning trading after it raised its adjusted 2018 earnings forecast to a range of $8.13 to $8.18 per share from a prior view of $8.07 to $8.17. (Mishra, 10/16)

Bloomberg: UnitedHealth Bought Pharmacy Avella To Build Optum Unit 
UnitedHealth Group Inc. bought Avella Specialty Pharmacy last quarter, a previously undisclosed deal by the health-services giant that will further boost its already-growing pharmacy offerings. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, and UnitedHealth declined to provide any further details about the takeover, which was identified in the company’s third-quarter earnings press release on Tuesday. (Tozzi, 10/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Roche Sales Buoyed By New Drugs
Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Roche Holding AG said Wednesday that its nine-month group sales rose on year, buoyed by new drugs. The Basel, Switzerland-based company said its nine-month group sales rose to 42.08 billion Swiss francs ($42.55 billion) up from CHF39.43 billion the year before. In the pharmaceuticals division, sales rose to CHF32.70 billion, up from CHF30.63 billion the year before. In a conference call with reporters, Roche Chief Executive Severin Schwan said 90% of that growth came from new medicines. (Mancini, 10/17)

Bloomberg: Trump's Drug-Ad Price Shaming Won't Fix The Problem
Naming and shaming has become a signature part of President Donald Trump’s drug-pricing efforts. A series of tweets earlier this year managed to push pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer Inc. to temporarily halt price increases. The tactic is being taken to a new level with the administration’s plan, officially revealed Monday afternoon by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, to force drugmakers to disclose the list price of medicines available under Medicare or Medicaid in their TV ads. The thinking is, if pharmaceutical companies have to reveal what they charge in such a conspicuous way, they may not price medicines so highly to begin with and may be less inclined to increase prices. (Max Nisen, 10/15)

USA Today: Your Prescription Drugs: Transparency In TV Ads Is Overdue
Hours before Alex Azar’s announcement, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America made its first countermove, announcing an alternate plan to publicize prices. It would disclose prices and co-payments of drugs advertised on TV on a new website starting in the spring. PhRMA denounced the government's plan to disclose list prices directly on TV  as “confusing, misleading” and not “what patients want or need.” Azar's response? The sudden volunteer effort was certainly coincidental, he said, adding that “placing information on a website is not the same as putting it right in an ad.” We agree. If companies want to advertise the benefits of their drugs, they ought to reveal the prices at the same time and place. (10/16)

Bloomberg: Drug-Price Transparency Won’t End The Patent Games
Late last week, Sandoz Inc., the generics division of Novartis AG, settled a patent lawsuit with AbbVie Inc. over Humira, a so-called biologic drug that treats rheumatoid arthritis and just so happens to be the biggest money-maker in all of pharma. With 2017 sales of $18.4 billion, Humira accounts for an astonishing 65 percent of AbbVie’s revenue. The settlement will enable Sandoz to bring a generic version — called a biosimilar — to the U.S. market at the beginning of 2023, while paying AbbVie a royalty. This mirrored similar settlements with Mylan NV, Amgen Inc. and Samsung Bioepis Co. Ltd. that will allow all of them to sell generic Humira at staggered dates in 2023. (A fifth company, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, is continuing to litigate over the Humira patents.) (Joe Nocera, 10/16)

Forbes: Requiring That Drug Advertisements Include List Prices Promotes Misinformation
The largest problems in the health care industry are often created by reformers envisioning themselves as free market saviors, when in reality they are merely advocates for more intrusive government regulations. The Trump administration’s proposal to require that drug advertisements include the medicine’s list price is such an example. On its face, requiring price disclosure appears to promote transparency and free markets. Why shouldn’t consumers know the price of a good before they purchase it? Of course, consumers should. The problem is that, like many products, it is not possible to convey one price that accurately reflects the cost that any individual consumer will pay. Prices for soda, a much simpler product, exemplifies the types of problems that can arise. (Wayne Winegarden, 10/16)

MedPage: Yes, Drug Prices Are Too High
The Trump administration and other experts have been calling for pharmaceutical manufacturers to lower their prices and make drugs more affordable for patients. In this exclusive MedPage Today video, Jack Lewin, MD, chairman of the National Coalition on Health Care, discusses several tools the government could use to get drug prices to drop. (10/16)

Stat: A New Era For Drug Pricing: The 'Accountable Choice'
Can we trust people to make good decisions about their own health? As a society, we are of two minds on this matter. The fundamental institutional structures of the health care system presume that patients are uninformed and unengaged and must be protected from their own irrational decisions. Yet at the same time, and now with growing force, we are restructuring the system on the presumption that individuals can — and should — take active, informed, and cost-conscious roles as consumers. (James C. Robinson, 10/11)

Bloomberg: Allogene’s Monster Biotech IPO Defies Market Rout
In a standout year for biotech IPOs, Allogene Therapeutics Inc.’s market debut may be the most remarkable yet. The company raised $324 million Wednesday in a richly priced stock sale that instantly made Allogene one of the biggest biotech IPOs yet. On Thursday, in the teeth of a messy market, the shares climbed some 30 percent on their first day of trading. (Max Nisen, 10/11)

Portland Press Herald: Mary Mayhew Brings Maine Failures To Washington
Prior experience is a key part of any job interview, so we’re sure Mary Mayhew’s new boss at the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services looked deep into her work history. If so, they would have seen this assessment from the Office of the Inspector General: “Maine failed to demonstrate that it has a system to ensure the health, welfare and safety of the 2,640 Medicaid beneficiaries with developmental disabilities.” The inspector general’s report covered 2½ years of Mayhew’s tenure as commissioner at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, beginning two years after she was named to the job – and it did not reflect well on her. Under Mayhew’s lead, DHHS failed to meet its most basic obligations to residents with severe disabilities, hardly a ringing endorsement of the person who now oversees the Medicaid program nationwide. (10/17)

The New York Times: 1,495 Americans Describe The Financial Reality Of Being Really Sick
The whole point of health insurance is protection from financial ruin in case of catastrophic, costly health problems. But a recent survey of people facing such problems shows that it often fails in that basic function. The survey, of some of the country’s most seriously ill people, found that even with health insurance, more than a third of the respondents had spent all or most of their savings while sick. They are often faced with deductibles and co-payments; treatments their insurance won’t cover; and financial challenges — like lost work — that health insurance alone can’t address. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 10/17)

The Hill: American Patients Face Too Many Hurdles In Regard To Health-Care Access
In my many years as lawmaker, rarely have I seen an issue as complex and contentious as the debate around health care in this country. Yet, common ground did and still does exist. Policymakers today are advancing bipartisan policies that break down barriers and reverse a number of misaligned incentives that can jeopardize the doctor-patient relationship. (Former Sen. Tom Coburn, 10/16)

Bloomberg: If Republicans Won’t Confront Entitlements, Who Will?
Entitlement reform is more than an accounting exercise. At stake is the health care and retirement security for future generations. The sooner we act, the better we will be able to protect those who will be affected by the change. Conservatism has seen this issue as an exercise in advancing the common good. The GOP’s turn away from reducing future entitlement spending is bad for conservatism, which has prided itself on promoting the common good and possessing a serious governing vision based on objective reality and prudent judgment. (Michael R. Strain, 10/16)

The Hill: Short-Term Insurance Policies Likely To Cause Long-Term Problems
It is completely understandable why a small business owner would offer these short-term policies. Costs for large corporations have stabilized, but small businesses continue to see healthcare costs skyrocket, even with the ACA in place. Something must be done to address this, but in the midst of a nationwide opioid, mental health and mental illness epidemic, businesses should consider the short- and long-term ramifications of their policy choices. Similarly, individuals without access to employer-based health care have seen prices rise significantly, making short-term plans much more viable. As they consider their options, they must be aware of the potential shortfalls of short-term plans. (Scott Olson, 10/16)

The New York Times: The Lasting Pain Of Children Sent To Orphanages, Rather Than Families
President Trump is considering reviving the policy of separating immigrant families at the border. He is doing so not despite the policy’s cruelty, but because of it — he considers it an effective deterrent. Whether it deters Latin American immigration is unclear. But the stories of children taken from their parents, locked into institutions, and even being lost in the system, are certainly heartbreaking to many Americans. They grab us like no other issue concerning immigration. Those stories touch us because we know that children belong with their families, whenever possible. (Tina Rosenberg, 10/16)

Stat: Restoring Trust In Medical Research Among African-Americans
All of Us requires informed consent. That means participants are able to learn all of the details of the program before deciding to join. This process was designed to encourage transparency and make the aims of the program clear. Enrollees can also withdraw from the research pool at any time. We believe that this model of informed consent, combined with sharing information about the program’s goals and recruiting more black participants, will help change negative perceptions in our community, one physician and one patient at a time, while also contributing to groundbreaking medical research that will benefit our society for generations. (Randall C. Morgan, 10/17)