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Democrat Beto O'Rourke jumped into the 2020 presidential race Thursday, shaking up the already packed field and pledging to win over voters from across the political spectrum as he tries to translate his sudden celebrity into a formidable White House bid. The former Texas congressman began his campaign by taking his first ever trip to Iowa, the state that kicks off the presidential primary voting. In tiny Burlington, in southeast Iowa, he scaled a counter to be heard during an afternoon stop at a coffee shop. (3/14)

Mr. O’Rourke arguably first made his name when, after the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016, he live-streamed the sit-in he and other Democratic representatives were holding on the House floor in support of stricter gun laws. The Republican-controlled Congress did not pass any gun control legislation then, but Mr. O’Rourke continues to support similar policies, including universal background checks, magazine size limits and restrictions on some semiautomatic weapons. ... While Mr. O’Rourke supports universal health care — increasingly a litmus-test position for Democratic candidates — he hasn’t committed to a specific way to get there. During his Senate campaign, he suggested that universal health care could take the form of a single-payer system or “a dual system,” in which a government-run program would coexist with private insurance. He has given conflicting messages on the most prominent proposal, “Medicare for all.” (Astor, 3/14)

Before becoming a rising star in the Democratic Party, Beto O’Rourke relied on a core group of business-minded Republicans in his Texas hometown to launch and sustain his political career. To win their backing, Mr. O’Rourke opposed Obamacare, voted against Nancy Pelosi as the House Democratic leader and called for a raise in the Social Security eligibility age. (Epstein, 3/14)

As President Trump stood before a joint session of Congress for his State of the Union address in February, he urged Republicans and Democrats alike to support the audacious goal of stopping the spread of HIV within a decade. “Together, we will defeat AIDS in America and beyond,” he declared. The White House’s 2020 budget request, issued this week, does propose an additional $291 million as a down payment for a new HIV initiative. Yet the $4.7 trillion budget also calls for sharp spending reductions to Medicaid, the public insurance program for the poor on which more than 2 in 5 Americans with the virus depend. (Goldstein, McGinley and Sun, 3/14)

The game is played this way: When the president’s budget is released, claim that any difference over 10 years between anticipated Medicare spending (what is known as the “baseline”) and changes in law intended to reduce spending are devastating “cuts” that will harm seniors who rely on the old-age program. But here’s the problem: Most of these anticipated savings are wrung from health providers, not Medicare beneficiaries. Hospitals and doctors may object, sometimes vehemently, but often these are good-government reforms intended to make the program run more efficiently and with lower costs. Let’s check out the Democrats’ Mediscare spin. (Kessler, 3/15)

HHS Secretary Alex Azar on Thursday acknowledged "absurdity" in the Medicare wage index after several senators complained about wide disparities in payments between states. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Azar said HHS is seeking comments on a revision to the entire wage index system but cautioned that HHS can only change the index so much on its own. (King, 3/14)

The panel is slated to spend two days discussing the administration’s plans to end the HIV epidemic in 10 years, a goal first announced during Trump's State of the Union address in February. The multiyear, multiagency plan would direct “substantial” money to parts of the country most impacted by HIV, including counties in California, Florida and Georgia. (Weixel, 3/14)

Dr. Scott Gottlieb became commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration in 2017 with an ambitious plan to reduce cigarette smoking, a habit that kills nearly half a million Americans each year, by shifting smokers to less harmful alternatives like e-cigarettes. But he was quickly embroiled in an unexpected crisis: the explosion of vaping among millions of middle and high school students, many of whom were getting addicted to nicotine. (Kaplan and Richtel, 3/15)

The newly named acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is poised to take over at a crucial time for the agency, as outgoing Commissioner Scott Gottlieb leaves an ambitious legacy largely unfinished. President Trump’s decision to tap Norman Sharpless as acting commissioner of the FDA is drawing praise from health advocates, who see it as an opportunity for the agency to continue its work uninterrupted. (Weixel, 3/14)

E-cigarette and tobacco makers found departing FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to be an unexpectedly formidable foe. Now, they’re bracing for a cancer doctor with policy chops and savvy communications skills to take his place. (Owermohle, 3/14)

What do these ads featuring Joe Camel, Kool-Aid Man and the maniacal mascot for Hawaiian Punch have in common? All three were created by Big Tobacco in the decades when cigarette makers, seeking to diversify their holdings, acquired some of America’s iconic beverage brands. They used their expertise in artificial flavor, coloring and marketing to heighten the products’ appeal to children. That tobacco companies once sold sugar-sweetened drinks like Tang, Capri Sun and Kool-Aid is not exactly news. But researchers combing through a vast archive of cigarette company documents at the University of California, San Francisco stumbled on something revealing: Internal correspondence showed how tobacco executives, barred from targeting children for cigarette sales, focused their marketing prowess on young people to sell sugary beverages in ways that had not been done before. (Jacobs, 3/14)

The company whose drugs are at the center of America's deadly opioid epidemic was given a green light Wednesday to accelerate the development of a new opioid antidote. The US Food and Drug Administration granted Purdue Pharma's experimental opioid overdose drug fast-track designation. According to Purdue, its drug, nalmefene hydrochloride injection, has a longer effect than naloxone, another opioid antagonist that is approved to reverse overdoses. The FDA's fast-track designation facilitates the development and expedites the review of drugs that treat serious conditions and fill an unmet medical need. (Kounang, 3/14)

Nurses who helped administer excessive and possibly fatal painkillers to dozens of Ohio hospital patients should have questioned an intensive-care doctor's order for those high doses, the state attorney general said Thursday. Officials are pursuing potential discipline against 25 nurses who worked in the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System with the doctor, William Husel, who was fired in December. (3/14)

Ten men who have been ordered into treatment for addiction filed suit Thursday against several state agencies, alleging that they are unlawfully being held in a prison instead of a treatment facility. The plaintiffs are among the roughly 3,000 men each year who have not been charged with a crime but are civilly committed for addiction treatment in Massachusetts. (Freyer, 3/14)

Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri and a bipartisan group of co-sponsors are pushing to extend a federal pilot program that mental health professionals say has transformed the way they deal with people suffering from behavioral health and addiction crises. ... But federal support for the “Excellence in Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Expansion Act” begins running out in April for two states, and in July for Missouri and five other states that are part of a $1 billion pilot project. (Raasch, 3/14)

The Connecticut Supreme Court dealt a major blow to the firearms industry on Thursday, clearing the way for a lawsuit against the companies that manufactured and sold the semiautomatic rifle used by the gunman in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The lawsuit mounted a direct challenge to the immunity that Congress granted gun companies to shield them from litigation when their weapons are used in a crime. The ruling allows the case, brought by victims’ families, to maneuver around the federal shield, creating a potential opening to bring claims to trial and hold the companies, including Remington, which made the rifle, liable for the attack. (Rojas and Hussey, 3/14)

In a 4-3 decision, justices reinstated a wrongful death lawsuit against Remington and overturned the ruling of a lower court judge, who said the entire lawsuit was prohibited by the 2005 federal law. The majority said that while most of the lawsuit's claims were barred by the federal law, Remington could still be sued for alleged wrongful marketing under Connecticut law. "The regulation of advertising that threatens the public's health, safety, and morals has long been considered a core exercise of the states' police powers," Justice Richard Palmer wrote for the majority, adding he didn't believe Congress envisioned complete immunity for gun-makers. (3/14)

The plaintiffs alleged that Remington unlawfully promoted the rifle to young, civilian men as a weapon with awesome power and ideal for combat. A representative for Remington didn’t respond to requests for comment. Remington had argued the claims were barred by a 2005 federal law that grants the gun industry expansive immunity from liability claims over gun violence. That law, however, has an exception, under which manufacturers may be liable for injuries resulting from violations of state laws dealing with the marketing of their products. (Gershman and McWhirter, 3/14)

The court’s decision was narrow, with the liability for gunmakers based on how they advertise their weapons rather than on the sale of them to third parties who then commit horrible crimes. In its ruling, the court said companies that market military-style guns to civilians as a way of killing enemies could be violating state fair trade laws. (Barbash, 3/14)

On Thursday morning, a curious scene emerged on Pennsylvania Avenue: Between the throngs of tourists snapping photos of the Washington Monument and commuters rushing to work, high school students pushed their way toward the White House. At 9 a.m., hundreds of teenagers from the District and suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia left their classrooms and headed to the U.S. Capitol to protest gun violence. “No more!” students chanted while holding signs that read, “I should be writing my college essay, not my will” and “Am I next?” (Smith, 3/14)

Pancreatic cancer has a bad reputation. It is a terrible disease, but most people do not realize there are ways that early detection can help. When the “Jeopardy!” host, Alex Trebek, announced last week that he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, many people assumed that it was an automatic death sentence. Not Mr. Trebek. (Simeone, 3/15)

Measles isn’t only in the headlines these days; it may also be on your airplane. An adult contagious with the disease flew from Asia to San Francisco in February, infecting two others — one adult and one child — during the flight, California health departments said this month. It’s an inauspicious development in a year that has already seen 228 cases of the serious and potentially lethal disease in 12 states, including six outbreaks of at least three people. (Schwartz, 3/14)

Could people’s eyes and ears help fix the damage Alzheimer’s disease does to the brain? Just by looking at flashing light and listening to flickering sound? A new study led by a prominent M.I.T. neuroscientist offers tantalizing promise. It found that when mice engineered to exhibit Alzheimer’s-like qualities were exposed to strobe lights and clicking sounds, important brain functions improved and toxic levels of Alzheimer’s-related proteins diminished. (Belluck, 3/14)

Cuba denounced the Trump administration on Thursday for continuing to refer to health incidents among their diplomats in Havana as "attacks" without presenting any evidence, saying it was part of a broader campaign to damage bilateral relations. Both Canada and the United States have cut back their embassies in Havana to skeletal staffing after diplomats there began complaining about mysterious bouts of dizziness, headaches and nausea two years ago. (3/14)

Thousands of years ago, some of our ancestors left behind the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and started to settle down. They grew vegetables and grains for stews or porridge, kept cows for milk and turned it into cheese, and shaped clay into storage pots. Had they not done those things, would we speak the languages and make the sounds that we now hear today? Probably not, suggests a study published Thursday in Science. (Klein, 3/14)

Modern humans communicate in roughly 7,000 different languages, a compilation of diverse sounds and gestures. Their origins involve a mixture of cultural, historical and social factors that come together to create the way we speak and connect. Biology and physiology, however, have largely stayed out of the linguistic picture, partially because it is challenging to collect both biological and linguistic evidence from the ancient past. In the new study, the research team from the University of Zurich tested an idea put forth in 1985 by linguist Charles Hockett. (Abbott, 3/14)

Based on nationwide death certificate data — which scientists with the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note “underrepresent the true death rate from Alzheimer’s and other dementias” — the disease was found as the primary cause of 261,914 deaths in 2017, up from 84,000 deaths in 2000. “Overall, age-adjusted death rates for dementia increased from 30.5 deaths per 100,000 in 2000 to 66.7 in 2017,” researchers wrote in the new issue of National Vital Statistics Reports. (Pirani, 3/14)

Black men in Philadelphia have the lowest average life expectancy — 69 years — of any population group in the city, driven by high rates of homicide, early cardiovascular disease, drug overdoses, cancer, and death in infancy. More than 40 percent of black men in Philadelphia have hypertension and almost one in three are obese. (Giordano, 3/14)

Eating mushrooms may reduce the risk for mild cognitive impairment, or M.C.I., a type of memory impairment that is often a precursor of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers in Singapore used data on 663 Chinese men and women over 60. None had memory or thinking problems at the start of the study. In one-on-one interviews, they recorded diet information, including questions about six types of commonly consumed mushrooms. They assessed cognitive function with detailed structured interviews and widely used tests of mental acuity. Over the six-year study, 90 in the group developed M.C.I. (Bakalar, 3/14)

Birth order, according to conventional wisdom, molds personality: Firstborn children, secure with their place in the family and expected to be the mature ones, grow up to be intellectual, responsible and conformist. Younger siblings work harder to get their parents’ attention, take more risks and become creative rebels. That’s the central idea in psychologist Frank J. Sulloway’s “Born to Rebel,” an influential book on birth order that burst, like a water balloon lobbed by an attention-seeking third-born, onto the pop psychology scene two decades ago. (Guarino, 3/14)

For Savannah Treviño-Casias, this week’s news about the college admissions cheating scandal was galling, considering how much red tape the Arizona State University senior went through to get disability accommodations when she took the SAT. “It felt like such a big slap in the face,” said Treviño-Casias, 23, who was diagnosed in sixth grade with dyscalculia, a disability that makes it more difficult to learn and do math. “I was pretty disgusted. It just makes it harder for people who actually have a diagnosed learning disability to be believed.” (Feder Ostrov and Ibarra, 3/14)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes to send experts to Congo in the next few weeks to train international and local personnel in the fight against a raging Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 600 people and is far from under control, the CDC director said Thursday in an interview. Because of the worsening security situation, the CDC experts would not be based in the epicenter of the outbreak, in conflict-ridden parts of eastern Congo. Armed attacks against Ebola treatment centers in North Kivu province have increased in recent weeks. (Sun, 3/14)

Yoga exercises are often recommended to help control urinary incontinence in women, but there is no solid scientific evidence to show yoga works. Incontinence affects up to 15 percent of middle-aged and older women, and although there are medications and surgeries to treat it, the first approach is usually bladder training and exercise. Some find an appealing treatment in the relaxation, bodily postures and breath control of yoga. (Bakalar, 3/14)

Over the past decade or so, rates of depression, psychological distress, and suicidal thoughts and actions have risen significantly among people age 26 and younger, with some of the highest increases among women and those at higher income levels, according to a study of a broad swath of young Americans. The report, published Thursday in the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Abnormal Psychology, looked at survey data from more than 600,000 adolescents and adults. (Bahrampour, 3/14)

A study published Thursday finds that U.S. teens and young adults in 2017 were more distressed, more likely to suffer from major depression, and more prone to suicide than their counterparts in the millennial generation were at the same age. Researchers also found that between 2008 and 2017, Gen Z’s emotional distress and its propensity toward self-harm grew more than for any other generation of Americans during the same period. By 2017, just over 13% of Americans between the ages of 12 and 25 had symptoms consistent with an episode of major depression in the previous year – a 62% increase in eight years. (Healy, 3/14)

Understanding exactly why these trends are on the rise is always a challenge, says Twenge, since researchers can only point out correlations, not causes. But, she says, since the trends are "pretty large in a fairly short period of time, that helps us narrow what the likely cause might be. "She thinks the rise in smartphone and social media use is a significant factor. By 2012, smartphones had become widespread, she says, and it's around that same time that social media began to dominate young people's lives. For example, in 2009 about half of high school seniors visited social media sites every day. That's climbed to about 85 percent today, with Instagram and Snapchat replacing Facebook as the main "go to social media site," she says. (Neighmond, 3/14)

Rural skilled-nursing facility occupancy levels continue to decline, making them susceptible to closure or consolidation, researchers at the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care said. While average occupancy levels in urban and rural areas have relatively stabilized over the past year, there is still a significant gap between the two at 83.7% and 80.4% as of the fourth quarter of 2018, NIC data show. Skilled-nursing facilities in rural and urban areas were around 87% full in 2012. (Kacik, 3/14)

Kaiser Health News: Nursing Home Fines Drop As Trump Administration Heeds Industry Complaints

The Trump administration’s decision to alter the way it punishes nursing homes has resulted in lower fines against many facilities found to have endangered or injured residents. The average fine dropped to $28,405 under the current administration, down from $41,260 in 2016, President Barack Obama’s final year in office, federal records show. The decrease in fines is one of the starkest examples of how the Trump administration is rolling back Obama’s aggressive regulation of health care services in response to industry prodding. (Rau, 3/15)

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills wants to expand access to abortions by allowing nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certified nurse-midwives to perform procedures in Maine. Mills said Thursday her bill would expand access to abortions, particularly for women in rural areas. Democrats won the Legislature in November and promised to expand women's health access. (3/14)

A Georgia Senate committee listened to emotional testimony Thursday over a proposal that would ban most abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. The committee did not take a vote, and it was unclear when they might. Women in Georgia can currently seek an abortion during the first 20 weeks of a pregnancy. A fetal heartbeat is generally detectable at around six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant — especially women who aren't trying to conceive. (3/14)

Senators in Arkansas approved a measure Thursday that imposes a new requirement on doctors who perform abortions, the latest in a series of restrictions on the procedure in the state that are moving quickly through the Legislature. The Senate voted 29-5 in favor of the proposal, which would require doctors who perform abortions to be board-certified or board-eligible in obstetrics and gynecology. The measure now heads to the House. (3/14)

Kentucky’s legal feud with abortion-rights defenders expanded on Thursday as the Republican-dominated legislature voted to ramp up the state’s restrictions on the procedure. Hours after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking one abortion bill, the group vowed to return to court to challenge Kentucky’s newest and most restrictive measure — which would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. A fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy. (Schreiner, 3/14)

A well-known Florida surgeon who specializes in transgender health care has resigned from his position at the University of Miami amid an uproar over pictures he posted on Instagram that showed surgical procedures and patients’ genitals alongside captions and hashtags that mocked transgender people and Asians. The surgeon, Dr. Christopher Salgado, 50, worked at the L.G.B.T.Q. Center for Wellness, Gender and Sexual Health at the University of Miami Health System until last month. Interspersed with photos of himself smiling with friends and colleagues, he posted images and text on his Instagram account, @sexsurgeon, that many people found disturbing. He deleted the account last month. (Stack, 3/14)

Salgado, a 50-year-old section chief for the hospital's LGBTQ Center for Wellness, Gender and Sexual Health, told the AP in an email Thursday that he had posted various photos of gender-reassignment patients' genitalia and that all of the patients had given their consent. But he said the hashtags, which "I had never seen in my life," were added by someone who had hacked his account. Salgado said the petition was sent by a patient with gender dysphoria who was going through a difficult time in life. Salgado said he loves the transgender population and has spent years caring for them. (3/14)

Maryland would use state tax forms to identify uninsured residents and refer them to options for no-cost or low-cost health care under a bill moving forward in the General Assembly. The bill, if approved, would add a question on state tax returns asking taxpayers if they have health insurance. Those who answer that they don’t have health insurance would be referred to the state's Medicaid program or the health exchange, where individuals can buy health insurance plans. (Wood, 3/14)

The Georgia Legislature appears set to go another year without passing legislation addressing surprise billing, leaving Georgia hospital patients to face potentially thousands of dollars in unexpected doctor bills. Senate Bill 56, a proposal that aims to protect properly insured patients who go to emergency rooms from receiving additional surprise doctor bills after the fact, was debated Thursday before a Georgia House Insurance subcommittee. (Hart, 3/14)

The Connecticut State Medical Society, which had long opposed the so-called aid-in-dying measure, recently adopted a position of “engaged neutrality,” meaning the group will allow its doctors to decide whether they want to prescribe a lethal dose of medication if such a practice is legalized. That, coupled with a new crop of lawmakers who appear more open to the proposal, may give the bill better odds this year, supporters said. (Carlesso, 3/14)

Legislators voted Thursday to advance a bill that seeks to lower the cost of prescription drugs in Connecticut, a frustration for seniors, the uninsured, and people on high-deductible health care plans. Members of the Insurance and Real Estate Committee voted 12-8 to send the measure to the House floor, even as Republicans raised objections to it. (Carlesso, 3/14)

HB 21, sponsored by Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen, R-Fort Myers, passed the House’s Health and Human Services committee 14-3 despite continued concerns from hospice and nursing home groups about their inclusion in the bill. The measure, at the top of House Speaker José Oliva’s healthcare deregulation checklist, allows the state to determine whether hospitals and other healthcare facilities can build or add beds. (Koh, 3/14)

People born in New Hampshire will be able to obtain a revised birth certificate identifying them as male, female or neither male nor female as long as they have a notarized statement from their health care provider, if a bill passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday becomes law. HB 446, which passed the House in a bipartisan 224-125 vote, establishes a procedure for an individual to “obtain a new birth certificate to reflect a sex designation other than that which was assigned at birth.” (Solomon, 3/14)

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said the state’s 40 mental health centers are now all offering walk-in mental evaluations. Northam said Thursday that the a person in need of a mental health assessment can get one at the state’s Community Services Boards without an appointment instead of waiting days or weeks for an appointment. Last year lawmakers and the governor approved extra funding to make sure every Community Services Board could offer same-day assessments. (3/15)

In their first full action of the 2019 legislative session, Florida lawmakers — many of them grudgingly — ceded to a demand by Gov. Ron DeSantis and overwhelmingly approved a proposal doing away with the state’s ban on smokable medical marijuana. DeSantis issued an ultimatum to the Legislature shortly after the Republican governor took office in January, threatening to drop the state’s appeal of a court decision that found the smoking ban ran afoul of a 2016 constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana. (Kam, 3/14)

The proposed legislation mandating all sexual assault kits undergo expedited DNA-testing technology would cost the Department of Public Safety millions of additional dollars each year, even though it wouldn't replace traditional testing methods. This is the latest version of controversial Senate Bill 1475, which initially proposed requiring anyone fingerprinted by the state be part of an extensive statewide DNA database. (Burkitt, 3/14)

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) made a surprise visit to the White House on Wednesday to discuss judicial vacancies and urged President Trump to replace the city’s troubled hospital for veterans. Bowser joined a scheduled meeting between senior adviser Beverly Perry, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Kevin Donahue and the mayor’s top lawyer, Ronald Ross; and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone. Bowser said that after the meeting, the White House counsel offered to take her and her aides for an impromptu visit with the president in the Oval Office. (Nirappil, 3/14)

The acting director of Rhode Island’s 911 emergency system has been removed from his post after state police learned he’d been training 911 call takers in CPR without proper certification. The revelation came less than 48 hours after The Public’s Radio requested verification of Gregory M. Scungio’s Red Cross certifications in an email to Rhode Island State Police. The inquiry was part of an ongoing examination of emergency medical services in Rhode Island, in conjunction with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network. (Arditi, 3/14)

Children’s Minnesota, which runs the state’s largest pediatric hospital, has named an antitrust compliance officer under an agreement with the state attorney general following alleged violations of state and federal antitrust laws. Children’s denied any wrongdoing as part of the legal agreement, which was struck in November with former Attorney General Lori Swanson. Swanson alleged that Children’s agreed to not market in 2016 a tele-health service in certain ZIP codes near an unnamed health care system due to concerns the marketing might threaten a proposed business relationship between the health care groups, according to a court filing called an Assurance of Discontinuance. (Snowbeck, 3/14)

Public health officials say they’ve seen a big increase in acute hepatitis A infections in Georgia. Hepatitis A is a highly contagious liver infection. It can range from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a severe illness lasting several months. (Miller, 3/14)

Before last November’s election, as the debate over a ballot question to regulate nurse staffing intensified, several members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association wanted to display their support by wearing “Yes on 1” pins. But hospital executives who strongly opposed the ballot measure known as Question 1 sometimes intimidated nurses who expressed their support this way, according to the nurses union. (Dayal McCluskey, 3/14)

Providence St. Joseph Health's effort to streamline operations and improve productivity systemwide is not coming cheap—in fact, the restructuring shrunk its operating income last year. The Renton, Wash.-based health system drew just $3 million in operating income last year on $24.4 billion in total operating revenue. Excluding those asset impairment, severance and consulting costs, the system said its 2018 operating income would have been $165 million. The restructuring costs are being spread across 2018 and 2019. (Bannow, 3/14)

After several security breaches exposed the data of tens of thousands of patients at Children’s Mercy Hospital, its new CEO is making changes to better protect medical information. ...Kempinski said O’Donnell’s 25-year tenure had clearly taken Children’s Mercy “to new levels” and it was on its way to becoming one of the top five children’s hospitals in the country, in terms of research and clinical care. (Marso, 3/14)

The chief executive officer and the chief operating officer of a defunct Atlanta medical group were sentenced to prison Thursday after being convicted of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and aggravated identity theft. Shailesh Kothari, who also goes by Shue Kothari, was the CEO of Atlanta-based Primera Medical Group, Inc., and he was sentenced alongside his former COO Timothy McMenamin, U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak said in a news release. (Hansen, 3/14)

A Gov. Mike DeWine-appointed group released a report Thursday afternoon with 75 recommendations on how to improve mental health and addiction treatment and prevention. The RecoveryOhio Advisory Council was made up of people who work in the mental health and addiction fields, state agency leaders and law enforcement officers. (Hancock, 3/14)

Interventional cardiologist Jerrold Glassman, MD, spent the first week of March schussing down Park City's powdery slopes. He even braved black diamond runs, belying the fact that this July, he'll be 69 years old. "A 60-year-old today is not the 60-year-old of three decades ago," he said proudly. "Skiing is my passion and I'm going back up tomorrow." He and his ski buddies, older physicians like himself, dodge moguls some 30 days a year. A new app tracks his stats, like altitude, speed and distance, and said he did 25 downhill miles that day. (Clark, 3/14)

A whistleblower accused Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Systems of submitting hundreds of millions of dollars in false claims to HHS for federal incentive payments for meaningfully using electronic health records. The lawsuit, unsealed by a federal court in Miami on Thursday, claimed that CHS made it a priority for its hospitals to submit attestations for incentive payments because they were an important source of revenue for the system. The two whistleblowers, who worked for CHS as recently as December 2016, allege the for-profit system received more than $450 million in EHR incentive payments between 2012 and 2015. (Livingston, 3/14)

The lawsuit filed by 10 men civilly committed to Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Center (MASAC), a minimum security prison in Plymouth, alleges that because the state no longer allows women to be involuntarily committed to prisons for addiction treatment, it should not do so for men, either. MASAC is overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Correction. (Becker, 3/14)

Two giants of Oregon health care are set on a collision course as they both attempt to revive their heart transplant programs. Providence Health & Services announced on Thursday it intends to have its transplant unit up and running in six months to a year. In the middle of Providence’s press conference, Oregon Health & Sciences University went public with its own plan to restart a transplant unit, after it abruptly shut it down in August. (Manning, 3/14)

A Sacramento area pain management clinic made an $860,000 settlement to resolve allegations of submitting fraudulent Medi-Cal reimbursement claims.Advanced Pain Diagnostic & Solutions Inc. and its owner, Dr. Kayvan Haddadan, were accused of knowingly submitting claims to the state Medicaid program for a service provider who was excluded from Medi-Cal coverage, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California. (Moleski, 3/14)

One question arising from health-care problems at the Cuyahoga County jails is why the administration of County Executive Armond Budish did not raise wages for jail nurses last spring after saying it had set aside money to do so. Cleveland.com recently posed that question to the county as part of its ongoing coverage of problems at the jails, where eight jail inmates died last year and where the U.S. Marshals Service found evidence of “inhumane” treatment of the people behind bars, including a lack of adequate health care. (Astolfi, 3/15)

Michigan health officials have confirmed that a traveler from Israel who was infected with the measles may have spread the virus while visiting Oakland County March 6-13. The traveler, who visited businesses, a religious institution and a synagogue, also traveled to New York, which is in the midst of its worst measles outbreak in decades. Measles are spreading nationally, too. In all, 228 measles cases in 12 states have been reported from the start of the year through March 7, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Shamus, 3/14)

California law gives teenagers the legal right to consent to abortions, obtain birth control, get tested for HIV or vaccinated for sexually transmitted diseases, even if their parents object. Should they also have the right to seek out immunization for other serious and potentially deadly diseases such as measles, tetanus and polio? It’s a reasonable question here — and everywhere — as measles cases continue to surge globally and in the U.S., and faith in vaccinations has eroded to the point that the World Health Organization listed vaccine skepticism as one of the biggest threats to human health in 2019. (3/15)

It is no secret that the Trump administration and the president seemingly have problems with two key constituencies: women and people of color. Attacking head on the heartbreaking tragedy of maternal mortality among African American women could mitigate, at least a bit, the administration’s reputation for misogyny and racism. Politics aside, it is the right thing to do. (Robert M. Hayes, 3/14)

Set your smartwatch alarm. You’re about to be barraged by tons of hype about the health benefits of the Apple Watch. Unfortunately, it won’t include essential information and data that can put these claims in proper perspective. Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted how an Apple Watch detected a rapid heartbeat in an 18-year-old girl, who said the device saved her life. Now, with the presentation on Saturday of findings from an enormous Apple Watch study at the American College of Cardiology meeting in New Orleans, the hype meter is about to go to 11. (Larry Husten, 3/15)

One thing you can say about any member of the Trump administration: They are consistent in their hatred of almost anyone who needs a financial helping hand. And they will pursue that hatred to the point of damaging the American economy. The Trump administration’s new budget, released Monday, includes staggering proposed cuts to social welfare programs and needs such as Medicare, Medicaid, housing and education. These cuts are not just mean, though they are indeed very, very mean. They are also a form of economic sabotage. (Olen, 3/14)

In the summer of 2000, the Human Genome Project successfully concluded with the first fully sequenced human genome. To commemorate this accomplishment the White House hosted an epic celebration. In his remarks on that June day, President Clinton echoed the hopes of scientists from all over the world when he said that: "In coming years, doctors increasingly will be able to cure diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes and cancer by attacking their genetic roots…In fact, it is now conceivable that our children's children will know the term cancer only as a constellation of stars." (Paul Glimcher, 3/14)

A proposed ban on menthol cigarettes marks a new chapter in a decades-long debate over the science of addiction, the public health costs, the marketing practices of tobacco companies, the politics of tobacco control in vulnerable populations, and the FDA’s authority. (Keith Wailoo, 3/14)

Agnes McKeen lives in Klamath Falls, Ore. About three years ago, at 16, Agnes’s son Harrison took his own life. “In losing Harrison I lost all direction for every ounce of love that a mother has for her child; I lost any idea of where to direct that love. Just because Harrison’s gone doesn’t mean my love for him went away,” she says. “And I had to learn to love that which is not physically here. And now my son’s energy is woven into the fabric of the universe, and that’s where I directed my love. … So now my love goes to the community.” She expresses it by trying to help people prevent suicide and deal with the grief that comes in its wake. (David Brooks, 3/14)

On January 14, Trump administration rules that would broadly allow employers to deny contraceptive coverage to their employees on the basis of religious or moral objections were temporarily blocked by a federal court. But the legal battle is likely to continue. (Cynthia H. Chuang and Carol S. Weisman, 3/14)

The National Residency Matching Program is an admirable invention. Now more than 30 years old, it is the system through which medical students get their first paid, professional positions. It corrected past abuses that took advantage of students, often pressuring them to accept binding offers within 24 hours of a residency interview. The Match is sufficiently noteworthy that its creator, Alvin Ross, won a Nobel Prize in economics for his work on matching theory. His algorithm continues to place half of U.S. medical school graduates in their first-choice programs. Other professions and selection processes could be improved by using a similar matching system. Yet the Match and what leads up to it are having growing pains. (Alison Volpe Holmes and Mona M. Abaza, 3/15)

Angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) are one of four drug classes recommended for the initial treatment of hypertension. These medications are commonly used not only for hypertension — a condition present in 45.6% of U.S. adults — but also for heart failure and chronic kidney disease. On January 25, 2019, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and Director of the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Janet Woodcock released a statement updating the public on large-scale voluntary recalls of various products containing ARBs. (J. Brian Byrd, Glenn M. Chertow and Vivek Bhalla, 3/13)