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The nation's largest doctors group on Tuesday voted against a measure that would have dropped its decades-long opposition to single-payer health care proposals. The American Medical Association's (AMA) House of Delegates voted 53 percent to 47 percent against the measure, but adopted a slate of proposals to shore up the Affordable Care Act. (Hellmann, 6/11)

On Tuesday, delegates voted down a proposal to shift the AMA's official stance on single-payer insurance to neutrality. "We proposed this amendment because we are concerned about the AMA's ability to be invited to all healthcare reform conversations," Daniel Pfeifle, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, said on behalf of the Medical Student Section. "As long as we maintain our blanket opposition, our AMA cannot ensure we're part of every conversation." (Frieden, 6/11)

"As long as we maintain our blanket opposition our AMA cannot ensure we are a part of every conversation," said Dan Pfeifle, a fourth-year medical student at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine and an alternate delegate of the AMA's Medical Student Section. Delegates ended up voting overwhelming in favor of adopting a report from the AMA's Council on Medical Service that reaffirmed efforts to improve upon the Affordable Care Act instead of "nationalized" healthcare coverage. (Johnson, 6/11)

As the nation inches closer to the 2020 presidential election, issues with the U.S. health care system are moving into the spotlight. At stake: the future of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare; proposals to expand “Medicare for All”; and ideas to target high drug prices. They’re all topics sure to spark fierce debate in coming months. (Shencker, 6/11)

Supporters of single-payer health care are rallying behind legislation that would transform Massachusetts’ health care system, a sign of lingering frustration with the status quo, even in a state that prides itself on being a leader in access to medical care. The so-called Medicare for All legislation would raise taxes and eliminate private health insurance while putting the state in charge of all payments to doctors and hospitals. (McCluskey, 6/11)

Two health organizations sued the federal government Tuesday to stop a new policy creating obstacles for women seeking abortions. The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association and Public Health Solutions Inc. sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Manhattan federal court, joining other women's groups, organizations and multiple states seeking to reverse the rule announced in February. (Neumeister, 6/11)

The lawsuit claims the rule’s sweeping terms are also likely to embolden refusals to provide a range of other health services. The final rule “imposes a virtually absolute obligation to accommodate employee objections, regardless of impact, giving employees carte blanche to refuse to do core aspects of their job and yet stay in their role,” the lawsuit stated. (Weixel, 6/11)

"Trust is the cornerstone of the physician-patient relationship," Leana Wen, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. "No one should have to worry if they will get the right care or information because of their providers' personal beliefs." HHS pledged to defend the rule vigorously. Planned Parenthood said the rule might affect more than 613,000 hospitals, health clinics, doctors' offices and nonprofits. (Stempel, 6/11)

Moral and religious objections to providing health care sometimes arise in medicine: A medical assistant might not agree with blood transfusions. A nurse might not want to assist in sex reassignment surgery. Last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services put out a new rule that "implements full and robust enforcement" of existing laws that protect what the administration calls "conscience rights" for health care workers. The rule is set to go into effect on July 22. (Simmons-Duffin, 6/11)

Kaiser Health News: Trump Administration Rule Would Undo Health Care Protections For LGBTQ Patients

A new Trump administration proposal would change the civil rights rules dictating whether providers must care for patients who are transgender or have had an abortion. Supporters of the approach say it protects the freedom of conscience, but opponents say it encourages discrimination. The sweeping proposal has implications for all Americans, though, because the Department of Health and Human Services seeks to change how far civil rights protections extend and how those protections are enforced. (Huetteman, 6/12)

Abortion rights advocates are concerned the legal dispute over the last existing abortion clinic in Missouri may have already hindered access to abortion. The license for Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region has been in jeopardy for months as state officials delayed action on its application. To compel the state to act, Planned Parenthood took state officials to court. (Fentem, 6/11)

Missouri's top election official on Tuesday rejected a third petition for a public vote on a new law banning abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft's action came as opponents of the law are fighting in court to force the Republican to approve two similar petitions for a referendum that he rejected last week. (Ballentine, 6/11)

The work of a nationwide network of volunteers and nonprofit groups that assist women trying to end unwanted pregnancies has reemerged as new state restrictions on abortion threaten to force women to travel farther, pay more and wait longer for the procedure. The groups, which help with the cost and logistics of travel, lodging, food, child care and the abortion procedure itself, say they’re working harder and spending more. They’ve also seen an increase in donations for aid to the low-income women who have three-quarters of U.S. abortions and who are most of their clients. (Bernstein, 6/11)

States across the country are tightening regulations on abortion providers in the name of protecting women’s health. But a long-term study of women who sought abortions has found that those who ended their pregnancies reported slightly better health than their counterparts who requested the procedure but were denied. The findings, reported Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, suggests that a woman’s access to abortion may influence her health over time — providing new fodder for the highly charged debate. (Healy, 6/11)

The federal government is appealing a court injunction against a Trump administration action that prohibits family planning organizations from referring pregnant women to abortion clinics. Last month, the administration changed a public health law known as Title X, which from 1970 until now had required health care providers to make information about abortion available to low-income individuals at little or no cost. (6/11)

Vermont's Republican governor has signed a bill passed by the Democrat-controlled Legislature that protects women's access to abortion amid proponents' concerns that the U.S. Supreme Court could review Roe v. Wade. After signing the bill in private Monday, Gov. Phil Scott released a written statement saying he has consistently supported a woman's right to choose. (Rathke, 6/11)

Planned Parenthood says it is launching a regional political advocacy group to help protect abortion rights in Maryland, the District of Columbia and northern Virginia. Planned Parenthood is announcing this week that it is creating the political 501(c)(4) group. The announcement comes as abortion restrictions have been approved in state legislatures around the nation. (6/12)

Comedian Jon Stewart scolded Congress Tuesday for failing to ensure that a victims’ compensation fund set up after the 9/11 attacks never runs out of money. Stewart, a longtime advocate for 9/11 responders, angrily called out lawmakers for failing to attend a hearing on a bill to ensure the fund can pay benefits for the next 70 years. Pointing to rows of empty seats at a House Judiciary Committee hearing room, Stewart said “sick and dying” first responders and their families came to Washington for the hearing, only to face a nearly deserted dais. (Daly, 6/11)

“Where are they? It would be one thing if their callous indifference and rank hypocrisy was benign, but it’s not,” Stewart said. “Their indifference cost these men and women their most valuable commodity, time, one thing they’re running out of.” The fund, originally approved for five years in 2010, provides medical treatment for emergency responders sickened by toxic dust inhaled at the World Trade Center site in New York in the days following the attack. (Gibson, 6/11)

In his emotional testimony before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Stewart at times broke down in tears, shouting at the lawmakers and calling them "shameful." "I can't help but think what an incredible metaphor this room is ... a filled room of 9/11 first responders and in front of me, a nearly empty Congress. Sick and dying, they brought themselves down here to speak to no one ... shameful," said Stewart at the outset of his remarks. A little over half of the 14-member subcommittee members were present, mostly Democrats. (Tillett and Segers, 6/11)

Congress is poised to shore up the finances of the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund, months after the trust said it would have to cut back on claim awards for injured and ill first responders and other survivors. Legislation that would fund the trust through 2090 has more than 300 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, and at a hearing Tuesday members from both parties assured survivors that they would act quickly to pass it. The fund was created to pay health-care costs for volunteers and rescue workers who have become sick since responding to the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and United Flight 93 that crashed near Shanksville, Pa. (Rubin, 6/11)

The fund is set to expire in 2020, and the special master who runs it previously announced plans to cut payouts by between 50% and 70% to ensure all are paid. The fund paid out $7 billion in damages when it originally operated from 2001 to 2003, was reopened in 2011 and extended for another five years in 2015. (Kelly, 6/11)

Debate over Congress' proposals to ban surprise medical bills has intensified, as physicians, hospitals and insurers war over legislation. On the surface, the lobbying fight is over which party—hospitals, physicians or insurers—should shoulder more of the out-of-network costs that are currently being offloaded to patients. But House and Senate committees want to go further than that, in order to capture what those costs actually are and curb their inflation. (Luthi, 6/11)

The House Rules Committee on Monday quashed an effort to strike the Hyde Amendment, a 40-year-old ban on federal funding for abortions, from a government spending bill. The amendment offered by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and other progressive Democrats was not included in a list of amendments that will receive votes on the House floor. (Hellmann, 6/11)

A Ways and Means Committee hearing Wednesday on ways to cover all Americans could give Democrats an opportunity to pivot to any health care plan they support but may end up highlighting divisions within the party. The hearing is the third House hearing this year to look at adopting a single-payer health care plan, although the panel will also consider other proposals to expand health insurance coverage, like a public option or allowing people to buy into Medicare. The hearing won’t focus on specific bills, although some proposals will likely come up. (McIntire, 6/11)

Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said today that he and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) will rework the draft of their patent reform bill to assure that it does not sanction "vague business methods" or strangle research. A final draft will be ready sometime after the July 4 recess, he said. Some of the 45 witnesses invited to three hearings on the bill this week and last warned that the draft could allow companies to patent genetic information in a way that blocked medical research. (Ravindranath, 6/11)

The federal government has chosen a military base in Oklahoma as the location for a new temporary shelter to house migrant children and is considering a customs port in southern New Mexico as another option as existing shelters are overwhelmed. The Office of Refugee Resettlement said Tuesday it's dealing with a dramatic spike in the number of children crossing the border without parents. (6/11)

President Trump wants to make it easier for genetically engineered plants and animals to enter the food supply, and he signed an executive order Tuesday directing federal agencies to simplify the "regulatory maze" for producers. The move comes as companies are turning to newer genetic engineering techniques that make it easier to tinker with the traits of plants and animals. (Choi, 6/11)

Doctors should offer a daily HIV prevention pill to healthy people who are at high risk of getting infected with the virus, an influential health care panel recommended Tuesday. The new guidelines aim to help cut the nearly 40,000 new HIV infections in the U.S. each year. Screening people for the HIV virus also is critical. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force reiterated its long-standing advice that everyone ages 15 to 65 — and anyone who's pregnant — should be regularly screened, a step to early, life-saving treatment. (6/11)

There's lots of evidence that preexposure prophylaxis — also known as PrEP — is effective. The Food and Drug Administration-approved pill Truvada contains two antiretroviral medicines (tenofovir and emtricitabine). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites evidence that PrEP can reduce the risk of HIV infection by up to 92% in people who are at high risk and who take the drug consistently. The CDC recommended PrEP several years ago and calls it "a powerful HIV prevention tool," but so far uptake of PrEP has been slow. (Aubrey, 6/11)

AIDS prevention groups said the new recommendation should dramatically widen the availability of PrEP. “Making PrEP available without cost-sharing eliminates a major barrier to this landmark HIV prevention tool,” said Michael Ruppal, executive director of The AIDS Institute. “At a time when out-of-pocket costs are rising for patients as they seek access to medications, this recommendation is a win both for patients and public health.” (Weixel, 6/11)

Oklahoma’s star witness told a state judge that Johnson & Johnson pressed doctors to prescribe its painkillers even as the potentially fatal addictive threat posed by the drugs became clear more than a decade ago. The judge, Thad Balkman, is presiding over the non-jury case and will make the final decision in the first trial where a state seeks to hold a drug maker responsible for contributing to the U.S. opioid epidemic. Oklahoma is seeking $13 billion in damages from J&J. (Harris and Feeley, 6/11)

An Oklahoma judge is declining to approve the state's proposed $85 million settlement with an opioid maker until he's assured it complies with a new law targeting such deals. The attorney general's office says Cleveland County Judge Thad Balkman on Monday ordered attorneys for both the state and Israeli-owned Teva Pharmaceuticals to file additional paperwork before he approves the settlement. (6/10)

Fewer people died of heroin and fentanyl in Maryland in the first quarter of 2019 than during the same period the previous year, preliminary data shows, marking the state’s first decline in fatal opioid overdoses in a decade. Though the data represents a 14 percent decline, or 85 fewer deaths, Maryland public health officials were quick to point out that the opioid epidemic continues at a historic pace, killing more than 500 people in the first three months of this year. (Cox, 6/11)

While syringe exchanges were legalized in 2016, there has been a ban on any state money going to fund them. That might change. Sen. Jim Davis (R-Franklin), who has led the state on opioid legislation the last few years, recently introduced the Opioid Epidemic Response Act, which would lift the ban on state funds going to needle exchanges. It would also decriminalize drug testing equipment, which Davis said is vital as more controlled substances are laced with fentanyl, a drug that can be 100 times more potent than morphine. (Knopf, 6/12)

The man was out of his wheelchair and lay flat on his back just off San Francisco’s Market Street, waiting for the hypodermic needle to pierce his skin and that familiar euphoric feeling to wash over him. The old-timer, who appeared to be in his 60s, could not find a viable vein, so a 38-year-old man named Daniel Hogan helped him. Hogan, a longtime drug user originally from St. Louis, leaned over the older man, eyeing his neck as he readied a syringe loaded with the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. (Rinker, 6/11)

As state lawmakers were unanimously passing a comprehensive bill to address Connecticut’s opioid crisis last week, Hartford was experiencing an unprecedented outbreak of opioid-related deaths, causing alarm among advocates, lawmakers and city officials. Monday, those alarmed officials gathered at the behest of Sen. Richard Blumenthal at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church to discuss measures to effectively address the crisis. (Moore and Radelat, 6/10)

The Care Zone van, funded by the Kraft Center for Community Health at Massachusetts General Hospital, is one of a half dozen or so projects across the country testing models for this theory: If the U.S. wants to end the opioid epidemic, it must make treatment as available as drugs. (Bebinger, 6/12)

A top Virginia Republican who upset much of his party by supporting Medicaid expansion defeated a conservative challenger Tuesday in a state legislative primary that could serve as a political barometer for the coming presidential year. But a lesser-known GOP delegate who also backed expansion lost to a more conservative challenger in a key swing district, which could make it harder for Republicans to keep their majority in the House come November. And in an improbable political comeback, a former Virginia lawmaker who used to spend his days at the state Capitol and his nights in jail after being accused of having sex with his teenage secretary defeated an incumbent senator in a Democratic primary. (Suderman, 6/11)

New Hampshire’s Health and Human Services commissioner is objecting to a Democratic approach to raising Medicaid reimbursement rates, citing the need for more flexibility and throwing a complication into one Senate Democrats’ key budget priorities. In a letter sent to House and Senate budget writers Tuesday afternoon, Commissioner Jeffrey Meyers said that the department had “concern over the methodology used for raising Medicaid rates” in the Senate’s proposed budget and said it could result in redundant or overlapping increases. (DeWitt, 6/11)

State employees and advocates working with poor and low-income Georgians say the decline is the result of several factors — including the institution of work requirements for people the state has identified as able-bodied adults without dependents. The state has gradually reinstated work requirements in many urban and suburban counties over the past several years. It has led to a sharp decrease in enrollment in recent years. (Prabhu, 6/11)

It’s been a big year for ride-sharing: Rival companies Uber and Lyft both went public. Their drivers went on strike, demanding fair wages and better treatment. At the same time, the companies have continued their steady expansion into health care. Both Uber and Lyft have built out robust teams dedicated to the medical transportation market. They see huge potential in tapping into their driver networks to shuttle patients to and from doctors’ appointments. (Thielking, 6/12)

Tech giants Apple and Microsoft recently wrote the CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to weigh in on their companion interoperability and information-blocking proposals, overwhelmingly voicing support for the two rules. Apple, unsurprisingly, was enthusiastic about the agencies' effort to connect patients with their health data via third-party apps. (Cohen, 6/11)

Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare and the Icelandic company deCODE Genetics are teaming up on a deep dive into the DNA of half a million patients, a collaboration they hope can reveal connections between the makeup of our genomes and our health. The partnership, announced Wednesday and dubbed the HerediGene: Population Study, aims to analyze the genomes of 500,000 patients from Intermountain’s network of clinics and hospitals in Utah and Idaho. Scientists and clinical experts from deCODE and Intermountain will compare the genomic data with patients’ medical histories to gain a better understanding of how our genes influence our health. (Joseph, 6/15)

Three years after Florida’s worst mass shooting, the psychological wounds for many are far from healed. June marks a celebratory month for the LGBTQ community, but in Orlando, it’s the start of a trying time for survivors, families and first responders. Frequent reminders of gun violence on the news don’t help. Nor do the conspiracists who harass victims online and call them hoaxsters. Some victims healed from their physical injuries, but not the rejection of their sexuality from their own families. (Contorno, 6/12)

Beto O’Rourke on Wednesday pledged to reverse President Donald Trump’s restrictions on transgender people serving in the military and push for passage of the Equality Act if elected president. The Texas Democrat, releasing a broad plan for addressing LGBTQ rights, said he would also end the practice of discharging service members who test positive for HIV and reverse the Trump administration’s “deploy or get out” policy affecting service members deemed non-deployable. (Siders, 6/12)

In April, Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman, was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges and sent to the Rikers Island jail complex because she could not afford to pay a $500 bail. Nearly two months later, she was found dead in her cell. The circumstances surrounding Ms. Polanco’s death on Friday, which have not yet been fully explained, quickly garnered national attention, sparking outcry from both transgender rights and criminal justice activists. Adding to their anger was what many saw as hypocrisy on the part of New York City officials. (Gold and Piccoli, 6/11)

A transgender woman who died in a New York City jail had a seizure disorder and other health problems and had been hospitalized weeks before, her family's attorney said Tuesday amid calls for an investigation into her death. A jail officer found Layleen Polanco, 27, unresponsive in her Rikers Island cell Friday. She was pronounced dead soon afterward. (6/11)

Faced with a lack of either federal leadership or journalistic accountability between the years of the CDC’s first report and Koop’s belated one (and for years after), the task of warning against AIDS, agitating for research funding and educating the public about the epidemic fell to individuals living with AIDS or those caring for them. They created their own support structures, their own pamphlets, benefit parties, newsletters and vigils. (Hotchkiss, 6/11)

Many nutrition experts blame processed foods for the obesity epidemic, suggesting that a return to home cooking would turn it around. But now some researchers are pushing back against that idea, arguing that it oversimplifies the obstacles that poor and middle-class families face. The case against processed foods has been growing. A flurry of studies last month provided new evidence that these foods, which are typically loaded with salt, sugar, fat and chemical additives, heighten the risk of obesity and chronic disease. (O'Connor, 6/12)

It can be hard to quantify the problem of elder abuse. Experts believe that many cases go unreported. And Wednesday morning, their belief was confirmed by two new government studies. The research, conducted and published by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, finds that in many cases of abuse or neglect severe enough to require medical attention, the incidents have not been reported to enforcement agencies, though that's required by law. (Jaffe, 6/12)

In 'Billions', a U.S. television show set in the world of hedge funds, traders at the fictional Axe Capital regularly attend sessions with an in-house psychiatrist.In real life, finance professionals are rarely so open about seeking psychological help. On Wall Street and in the City of London, hyperambition and an 'always on' attitude are richly rewarded and people are often wary of revealing something that could be perceived as a weakness. (Cruise, 6/12)

Sales of purported brain-health supplements such as fish oil and jellyfish are expected to reach $5.8 billion by 2023, but in a report released Tuesday, an AARP panel of brain experts called them a huge waste of money for healthy seniors seeking to avoid or reverse dementia. (Anderson, 6/12)

Mike Morrison hardly looks like a revolutionary. He's wearing a dark suit and has short hair. But we're about to enter a world of conformity that hasn't changed in decades — maybe even a century. And in there, his vision seems radical. "We are about to walk into a room full of 100 scientific posters, where researchers are trying to display their findings on a big poster board," says Morrison, a doctoral student in psychology at Michigan State University. (Greenfieldboyce, 6/11)

Kaiser Health News: Never Say ‘Die’: Why So Many Doctors Won’t Break Bad News

After nearly 40 years as an internist, Dr. Ron Naito knew what the sky-high results of his blood test meant. And it wasn’t good. But when he turned to his doctors last summer to confirm the dire diagnosis — stage 4 pancreatic cancer — he learned the news in a way no patient should. The first physician, a specialist Naito had known for 10 years, refused to acknowledge the results of the “off-the-scale” blood test that showed unmistakable signs of advanced cancer. “He simply didn’t want to tell me,” Naito said. (Aleccia, 6/12)

Our bodies seem to adjust to prolonged, repeated physical exertion and its energy demands by burning fewer — instead of more — calories over the course of the day, even if our exertions continue at the same level, according to a surprising new study of energy expenditure conducted during a 20-week running race across the United States. The study is among the first to quantify the upper limits of human daily energy expenditure and endurance, whether someone is running across the country, competing in the Tour de France or pregnant. (Reynolds, 6/12)

Brintellix, an antidepressant, sounded so much like Brilinta, a blood thinner, that it led to dozens of medical errors — until Brintellix was changed to Trintellix in 2016. That's the kind of mistake that a new prediction model developed by researchers at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute aims to prevent. (Goldberg, 6/10)

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) has signed a bill that will require people convicted of certain sex offenses to undergo “chemical castration” as a condition of parole — a requirement meant to keep perpetrators from committing similar crimes. Ivey signed the bill Monday — the last day under Alabama law that she could have done so after the state legislature passed it on May 31. Gina Maiola, a spokeswoman for Ivey, said the law will apply to people who commit sex offenses after Sept. 1 of this year. (Iati, 6/11)

Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama has signed a so-called chemical castration measure into law, her office announced on Monday, leaving the state poised to set a stringent new parole condition for certain sex offenders. Supporters of the law contend that it will enhance public safety and reduce the risk of convicted sex offenders committing similar crimes once they are released from prison. But critics of the law, which will take effect in September, think it may prove unconstitutional. (Blinder, 6/11)

New York City health officials expressed optimism that the measles outbreak is slowing, while a bill in Albany seeking to repeal the religious exemption to New York’s school-vaccination requirements appears to be moving forward. As of Monday, there were 588 confirmed cases of measles in New York City, up from 566 cases on June 3, according to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The majority of the confirmed cases is in unvaccinated children ages four and younger. The cases are concentrated in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, where there is a large, insular ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. (West and Vielkind, 6/11)

The year 2017 was a deadly one for North Carolina prison officers. Five died in two separate incidents. Both made statewide headlines and lawmakers vowed to do something. ...In response, the state senate formed a special committee to investigate ways to improve prison safety and make correction facilities more desirable places to work. The committee met several times over the past year and released its final recommendations on Monday. Two of the senators’ eight recommendations are to improve the mental health of officers and inmates. (Knopf, 6/11)

The proposal to legalize surrogacy in New York was presented as an unequivocal progressive ideal, a remedy to a ban that burdens gay and infertile couples and stigmatizes women who cannot have children on their own. And yet, as the State Legislature hurtles toward the end of its first Democrat-led session in nearly a decade, the bill’s success is anything but certain. (Wang, 6/12)

Residents of the Twin Cities metro area are not the only ones whose health is affected by air quality. A new analysis by the Minnesota Department of Health found in 2013 that as many as 10 percent of deaths and 5 percent of hospital visits statewide were due in part to air pollution. That means polluted air played a role in up to 4,000 deaths, 800 visits to the emergency room and 500 hospital stays statewide. The “Life and Breath” report looked at the two main types of air pollution: fine particles and ground-level ozone. The 2013 data is the latest available. (Magan, 6/11)

Health officials are watching pockets of Texas closely because of the number of parents requesting exemptions under Texas’s broad vaccine exemption law. Texas is one of 16 states that allow parents to bypass vaccine requirements for enrolling their kids in school by claiming a conscientious exemption, along with citing medical or religious concerns. (Byrne and Cheng, 6/12)

The federal government has found MD Anderson Cancer Center in violation of serious hospital requirements for patient care and safety and notified the hospital it will come under more aggressive government oversight in the aftermath of an “adverse event” involving a blood transfusion. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services noted the deficiencies earlier this month in letters and reports issued following investigations conducted at MD Anderson after the cancer center reported the event in December. The center is currently developing plans of corrective action, which will be submitted next week. (Ackerman, 6/11)

A clinical psychologist said the use of solitary confinement and a physical restraint device at a state-run school for deliquent teenage boys "falls way outside of professional standards." Washington D.C.-based psychologist Andrea Weisman testified in federal court on Tuesday that techniques used by the Boys State Training School in Eldora could be further traumatizing to a population of youth that statistically have experienced high levels of trauma. (Krebs, 6/11)

New research from the University of New Hampshire shows many towns outside the I-93 corridor lack access to grocery stores and farm stands. That’s among the findings of a new report from UNH’s Carsey School of Public Policy that maps every grocery store and farmers market across the state. (Moon, 6/11)

A proposed ballot measure to offer free mental health care to all San Franciscans would be a gargantuan undertaking meant to hit at the heart of the city’s homelessness crisis. But with no guaranteed source of funding, public health officials say it could also force the city to more than double its budget for those services. (Thadani, 6/11)

Nurses with Children's Minnesota will vote Thursday whether to authorize a strike at the organization's two Twin Cities hospitals amid a contract dispute over health benefits. The vote would be the first in the 2019 bargaining cycle as nurses negotiate new contracts with the major Twin Cities hospitals, a group that includes the Allina, Children's, Fairview and HealthEast systems, as well as Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park and North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale. (Olson, 6/11)

It was a fire that crossed mountain ranges and valleys, that spanned multiple counties and shocked Californians by its sheer scale — by far the biggest wildfire in modern state history. And yet a newly disclosed investigation suggests it was probably started by a single man and a single spark. In a report released in recent days, forensic investigators found that a rancher started the fire when hammering a metal stake in his backyard to snuff out a wasp nest. Sparks flew, igniting dry grass stalks and spreading fire quickly across the desiccated landscape. (Fuller, 6/11)

The budget deal includes funding to increase the state’s paid family leave plan from six to eight weeks. Lawmakers on Sunday also proposed increasing the pay replacement from 60 percent of wages to 90 percent of wages. The budget would end sales taxes on diapers and feminine hygiene products like tampons for two years. (Bollag, 6/12)

In recent years, two sets of Georgia siblings made the headlines for their combined longevity. Such joint achievements are probably signs of good genes and healthy environments, but some individual supercentenarians had nothing in their backgrounds to explain why they made it to extreme old age. The only unusual thing about them was that they kept on living. (Dyer, 6/11)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed legislation creating a state-regulated hemp industry, which will allow farmers to grow hemp and hemp-derived products, such as cannabidiol (CBD). The law makes it legal for Texas farmers to grow and cultivate hemp and for the Texas Department of Agriculture to regulate the process, including inspections, fee collections and licenses. (Weixel, 6/11)

June 4 marked the first day Missouri posted application forms for patients who want medical marijuana ID cards, which is unprecedented in the state’s history. The application forms are also for would-be marijuana businesses — dispensaries, growers and others. Patients may file the applications beginning July 4, and businesses Aug. 3. (Hamdan, 6/11)

The Ohio State Medical Board is scheduled to decide Wednesday whether to add anxiety and autism to the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana in the Buckeye State. Physicians could recommend medical marijuana for any new conditions immediately following the vote. (Borchardt and Saker, 6/11)

While some members expressed concern about patients smoking medical marijuana, the Florida Board of Medicine has approved forms for doctors to use in ordering smokable pot. The board Friday agreed to change its medical-marijuana rules so that physicians can certify that the benefits of smoking marijuana for medical use outweigh the risks. It also agreed to change mandatory informed-consent forms that physicians and patients must fill out together. (Sexton, 6/11)

After weeks of anticipation, Jacobus Pharmaceutical, a small, family-run drug maker, has priced its rare disease drug at $80 a tablet, or less than half the price of a similar pill sold by its upstart rival, Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (CPRX). And the move is likely to set up a closely watched battle amid what is already one of the more unusual pharmaceutical tales of the year. At issue are rival treatments for Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, or LEMS. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration approved the Jacobus drug for children ages 6 to 17, potentially adding unforeseen competition for Catalyst, which only last December won an FDA endorsement to market its own treatment for adults. (Silverman, 6/10)

Floridians could eventually gain access to cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and other countries under legislation signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Ron DeSantis, if the federal government gives it a green light. The Republican governor signed the bill in The Villages, home to one of the state's largest retirement-age communities. The U.S. overall spends 30% to 190% more on prescription drugs than other developed countries and pays up to 174% more for the same prescription drug, according to a legislative bill analysis. (Anderson, 6/11)

AbbVie already has high hopes for newly approved immunology drug Skyrizi as its old megablockbuster Humira starts to fall. Now, it has rolled out results to back longer-term use of the new IL-23 inhibitor in plaque psoriasis. After continuous treatment for two years, 72% of Skyrizi patients saw a 100% improvement in the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI 100), a commonly used evaluation of psoriasis in clinical trials. Using static physician global assessment (sPGA), a metric that resembles assessments physicians perform in clinical practice, investigators recorded 73% patients achieved clear skin. (Liu, 6/11)

Democratic presidential candidate Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) doesn’t support single-payer health care — even though it’s the health care policy he’s covered by. Single-payer health care refers to a health insurance plan for everyone that is paid for by one entity, such as the government. But as a veteran, Moulton said he knows firsthand "the good, the bad and the ugly" of such an approach. His service makes him eligible for health coverage through the Veterans Administration health system, which single-payer advocates often cite as an American success story. (Pousoulides, 6/7)

If you asked me in January whether Congress would stick it to pharma this Congress, I’d say the odds were pretty darn good. Now I’m not only doubting Congress will inflict any pain on the industry, I’m starting to think the so-called reforms both Republicans and Democrats are pushing may leave the industry better off than when Congress gaveled in this January. Hear me out: One of the big ideas Congress is talking about in earnest right now is capping what seniors can pay out of pocket each year at the pharmacy counter through Medicare Part D. (Florko, 6/11)

A liberal nonprofit is launching a website and a five-figure digital advertising campaign exposing the Trump administration’s ties to the pharmaceutical industry. The new initiative from Restore the Public Trust, which has trained its fire on several members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, aims to undercut the administration’s claims to be committed to lowering prescription drug prices. (Marans, 6/5)

A class of drugs is emerging that can attack cancer cells in the body without damaging surrounding healthy ones. They have the potential to replace chemotherapy and its disruptive side effects, reshaping the future of cancer care. The complex biological medicines, called antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), have been in development for decades, and are now generating renewed excitement because of the success of one ADC in late-stage testing, a breast cancer treatment called DS-8201. (Matsuyama, 6/11)

Kansas can no longer put off care for Medicaid patients with hepatitis C because of a recent legal settlement. But hundreds of the state’s prison inmates not covered by that lawsuit will have to wait another year for the pricey treatment. That raises concerns about whether the delay constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution, civil rights lawyers say, because inmates have the right to medical care. (Llopis-Jepsen, 6/11)

The Maine Senate unanimously passed four bills aimed at lowering prescription drug prices on Tuesday.Sen. Ned Claxton is a Democrat from Auburn and a retired doctor. “I know there is no magic wand when it comes to reducing drug and health care costs, but I do know Mainers deserve action on drug prices now,” says Claxton. (Leary, 6/11)

Congress isn't feeling much urgency to help the fledgling market for biosimilars. Why it matters: Advocates say that they need lawmakers' help soon, or else drugmakers will see biosimilars as a lost cause and the system will lose its only check on the cost of biologics. (Owens, 6/12)

They are the secret middlemen in the chain of rising prescription drug costs. Now there’s a substantial body of evidence that pharmacy benefit managers are costing public and private health insurance policies — and consumers — untold millions.A new report from the state’s Health Policy Commission, the office charged with riding herd on health care costs, documents part of the problem. Its title, “Cracking Open the Black Box of Pharmacy Benefit Managers,” tells us much of what we know — or, frankly, what we don’t know — about the role these middlemen play and the pressing need to shine some light on that dark corner. (6/11)

We have arrived at a special moment in health care. Innovative, life-changing gene therapies are here that will cure or ease debilitating diseases. Yet these expensive treatments are entering a market structure that was not built to price them. Congress will likely need to play a part in developing a new paradigm for financing such treatments. As a senator and a physician, I have been following this issue closely, and see several possible paths forward. There are multiple issues to address. (Bill Cassidy, 6/12)

n an effort to force reductions in prescription drug prices, the Trump administration risks sending those prices through the roof. Thankfully, the Department of Health and Human Services late last month delayed the expected finalization of a new rule that would radically upend the pharmaceutical market for Medicare Part D. Good. Sometimes it is better, as the criminal Fagin sang in "Oliver," to “think [we]’d better think it out again.” (Quin Hillyer, 6/7)

In his four years as chief executive officer of Sanofi, the French pharma giant, Olivier Brandicourt has been unable to convince investors that he can overcome the company’s challenges, and its stock has declined 17.9%. Come September, it will be Paul Hudson’s turn. The Novartis Holding AG pharma head seems like a solid choice for a tough turnaround job. Investors have already received Hudson positively, sending shares up 5% in Europe. There’s reason for optimism. While Sanofi’s issues aren’t entirely of Brandicourt’s making, it’s past time for new blood. (Max Nisen, 6/7)

Harnessing the power of the immune system to destroy cancer has dominated the biotech industry over the past decade. And for good reason: CAR-T therapies, checkpoint inhibitors, oncolytic viruses, and other next-generation immunotherapies can be incredibly effective at treating cancer — in some patients. That last phrase is the big caveat of immuno-oncology therapies: They don’t work in everyone, but only in very specific subsets of patients. While a promising way to make these therapies work in broader patient populations is to combine different immuno-oncology therapies, we first need to understand which patients will respond to treatment and why. (Grey Wilkinson, 6/7)

Pushing to cut prescription drug prices, Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott is drawing fierce opposition from groups that usually are allies – those on the political right, who are condemning his proposal as “socialism.” Scott rarely hears criticism from solid conservatives. But Scott, himself, may be an unusual advocate for lowering drug prices.The multi-millionaire former governor and his wife, Ann, have been longtime investors in Gilead Sciences, the controversial manufacturer of Hepatitis C medication that cost U.S. and Florida taxpayers millions of dollars when used to treat Medicaid patients and prison inmates. (John Kennedy, 6/11)

Merck & Co. seems to have it in for investment bankers, at least when it comes to potential IPO fees. The drug giant announced Monday that it was buying closely held cancer-treatment developer Tilos Therapeutics for up to $773 million, a few weeks after shelling out $1.05 billion for another oncology startup, Peloton Therapeutics, on the eve of its IPO. Buying private and relatively early-stage biotech firms has a lot to recommend it. (Max Nisen, 6/10)

Medicare’s prescription drug benefit is known as the one federal entitlement program that routinely comes in under budget. Now, a new push is on in Congress to make changes to the program that could increase costs. (Avik Roy, 6/11)

I was 14 and pregnant when I first felt the weight of the whispers. Not the ones about me, though I heard those, too. The heavy whispers were about my grandma — Lois Thurman — the woman I would never meet. I caught words and phrases here and there, like “hemorrhaged” and “back alley,” and put the pieces together. By the time I sat down in a free clinic to take a pregnancy test, I knew my momma’s momma had died after having an abortion. An illegal one in Illinois. It was 1965, and she was 23. (Erica Thurma, 6/11)

All of a sudden, abortion opponents have abandoned rape and incest exceptions to abortion bans. Louisiana became the latest state to do so last month, following Ohio, Mississippi and, most notoriously, Alabama. That same month, younger abortion foes in groups like Students for Life of America fired off a letter asking the Republican Party to stop supporting exceptions that before this year had long been standard components of anti-abortion legislation. (Mary Ziegler, 6/11)

“There is no middle ground on abortion,” blared one headline in the wake of Joe Biden’s abrupt abandonment of his decadeslong support for the Hyde Amendment, which prevents the use of federal funds for abortions. “No middle ground” may be true among likely participants in Iowa’s Democratic caucuses. But it is not the case for the electorate as a whole, or even among Democratic voters. There is a nuanced center on this long-contested issue, and Mr. Biden would be ill-advised to abandon it. (William A. Galston, 6/11)

For decades, Catholic Democratic politicians have been justifying their pro-choice position by telling us that they were personally opposed to abortion but could not impose their religious view on others. For most, the argument was a fig leaf to justify their shameful failure to protect innocent unborn life. But it appeared that Joe Biden really believed it. For more than 40 years, Biden supported the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funding for abortions. In 1994, when a constituent wrote to Biden, urging him, “Please don’t force me to pay for abortions against my conscience,” Biden replied, “I agree with you.” (Marc A. Thiessen, 6/11)

Scott Kohan woke up in an Austin, Texas, emergency room after an attack that broke his jaw. The hospital was within his insurance network. But the oral surgeon who set his jaw wasn’t. Mr. Kohan’s insurer refused to pay the surgeon’s $8,000 bill. He’s not alone. An estimated 51% of ambulance rides, 22% of emergency-department trips, and 9% of elective cases, in which patients have time for due diligence, lead to surprise bills. These typically come from providers who refuse to join insurance networks so they can charge astronomical fees. (Benedic Ippolito, 6/11)

The evidence is compelling.In the most thorough study yet published on the effects of concealed carry laws, a team led by Stanford University law professor John Donohue found that state laws making it easy to carry concealed firearms lead to more violent crime. The Stanford analysis follows a stream of previous studies reaching similar conclusions about so-called right-to-carry (RTC) laws. It’s the most definitive refutation of the “more guns, less crime” thesis promoted by the gun lobby — which, not surprisingly, remains hostile to peer-reviewed research on the causes of gun violence. (6/11)

Jon Stewart returned to TV today just as we left him: sitting behind a desk, anxiously clicking his pen as he carefully crafted an argument and called for justice. It could’ve been a monologue aired on any episode of “The Daily Show.” Almost. But instead of Comedy Central, Stewart appeared on our screens via C-SPAN. Instead of laughter, he instilled despair; his one-liners now cutting to our hearts rather than our funny bones. He’s still angry as ever, but he’s moved from the peanut gallery into the front row. (Brian Boyle, 6/11)

In his application for an Ohio medical license in 2013, Dr. William Husel wrote, “My passion is taking care of sick patients in the ICU. Please give me the opportunity to practice what I love doing.” How then did he go from doctor to accused murderer? And how could tragedy have been prevented? These are pressing questions about the Ohio critical care physician who is charged with prescribing massive doses of fentanyl that killed 25 patients. William Husel pleaded not guilty in one of the largest murder cases ever brought against an American doctor. (Alyssa Burgart and James Lozada, 6/12)

As a neurosurgeon whose career has focused on academic research and training the next generation of doctors, I am convinced that the time has come to expand Medicare’s support for residency training to ensure all Americans have access to the care they deserve now and into the future.Currently, the country faces a severe physician workforce shortage — one that will only worsen as more Americans obtain health insurance and baby boomers continue to reach retirement age. By the year 2032, the United States will see a shortage of up to nearly 122,000 physicians — a shortfall of roughly 25,000 to 66,000 specialists and 21,000 to 55,000 primary care physicians, according to a 2019 study conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). (Alex B. Valadka, 6/11)

People choose careers in medicine to treat human beings — not their diagnoses — and to alleviate suffering of the body as well as of the mind and the soul. Western medicine has historically been rooted in an obstinate focus on disease processes rather than on the people with the disease, a tendency to treat the physical while ignoring the existential and the psychosocial. It’s hard to feel compassion toward a disease, so what you’re left with is mechanistic, depersonalized patient care. (Zachary G. Jacobs, 6/12)

Recently passed legislation in the state of Alabama (HB379) mandates that “as a condition of parole, a court shall order a person convicted of a sex offense involving a person under the age of 13 years to undergo chemical castration treatment, in addition to any other punishment for that offense.” That language appears to suggest that “chemical castration” is being mandated as both treatment and punishment. There is precedent for mandated medical interventions, as evidenced by the fact that for decades children were required to receive a smallpox vaccination. There is no precedent, nor should there be, for utilizing a mandated medical intervention as a criminal sanction. (Fred S. Berlin, 6/11)

Three clear takeaways emerged from a presentation by Supervisors Hillary Ronen and Matt Haney on their plan to offer free mental health care to all San Franciscans: It’s well intentioned, it’s going to be very expensive — and it’s a long way from being fully cooked. (6/11)