First Edition: November 11, 2019

Kaiser Health News: Voters Say Congress Needs To Curb Drug Prices, But Are Lawmakers Listening?
House Democrats are poised to pass sweeping legislation to lower drug prices using strategies President Donald Trump has endorsed. A Trump aide urged the Republican-controlled Senate to vote on a different package curbing drug prices that was drafted by a senior Republican. But at least right now, neither measure appears likely to attract enough bipartisan support to become law. (Huetteman, 11/11)

Kaiser Health News: Sit, Heal: Dog Teaches Military Med Students The Merits Of Service Animals
The newest faculty member at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences has a great smile — and a wagging tail. Shetland, not quite 2 years old, is half golden retriever, half Labrador retriever. As of this fall, he is also a lieutenant commander in the Navy and a clinical instructor in the Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology at USUHS. (Rovner, 11/11)

Kaiser Health News: How Germany Averted An Opioid Crisis
In 2016, 10 times as many Americans as Germans died as a result of drug overdoses, mostly opiates. Three times as many Americans as Germans experienced opioid addiction. Even as the rates of addiction in the U.S. have risen dramatically in the past decade, Germany’s addiction rates have been flat.That contrast, experts say, highlights a significant divergence in how the two countries view pain as well as distinct policy approaches to health care and substance abuse treatment. (Luthra, 11/11)

The New York Times: Examining Conflicting Claims About ‘Medicare For All’
Since Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont drove the idea of “Medicare for all,” or a single-payer health system, to the center of the political debate, few other issues have so divided the Democratic presidential candidates and voters. The result has been a cascade of competing assertions, estimates and statistics about the costs and effects of what would amount to a fundamental overhaul of the size and role of the government and the way Americans receive care. Here’s a fact check of some of these claims. (Qiu, 11/9)

Reuters: Exclusive: Economist Who Backed Warren Healthcare Plan Has Doubts About Her Wealth Tax
A leading economist who vouched for Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren’s healthcare reform plan told Reuters on Thursday he doubts its staggering cost can be fully covered alongside her other government programs. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, also voiced skepticism that the wealth tax provision in Warren’s plan – a key funding mechanism – will produce predicted levels of revenue because those targeted by the tax will seek to dodge it. (11/8)

The Associated Press: Harris Zeroes In On Health Care Before Powerful Nevada Union
Presidential candidate Kamala Harris zeroed in on the Democratic Party’s debate over health insurance Friday as she made her pitch to one of Nevada’s most powerful political forces, the casino workers’ union. Leaders and members of the Culinary Union and its parent organization, Unite Here, have made it clear they don’t favor “Medicare for all” plans like those proposed by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren that would eliminate private insurance. (11/8)

Stat: Democratic Presidential Hopefuls Want To Take On Pharma. Here’s How
President Trump has made drug pricing a key policy tenet of his three-year tenure in the White House. And as his drug pricing policy has grown more aggressive in the past year, his Democratic challengers in the 2020 election have responded in kind. The increasingly aggressive Democratic platform follows roughly a decade of stagnation. Since the mid-2000s, Democratic lawmakers have focused far more on expanding access to health insurance than they have on prescription drug policy. (Facher, 11/11)

The New York Times: Vaping Illnesses Are Linked To Vitamin E Acetate, C.D.C. Says
A form of vitamin E has been identified as a “very strong culprit” in lung injuries related to vaping THC, health officials reported on Friday, a major advance in a frightening outbreak that has killed 40 people and sickened 2,051. Many patients with the mysterious illness have wound up hospitalized in intensive care units, needing ventilators or even more desperate measures to help them breathe. Most are young, male adults or even teenagers. (Grady, 11/8)

Reuters: U.S. CDC Reports ‘Breakthrough’ In Vaping Lung Injury Probe As Cases Top 2,000
In a telephone briefing on Friday, Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), called Vitamin E acetate “a very strong culprit of concern” and referred to the discovery as “a breakthrough” in the investigation. She cautioned that more work is needed to definitively declare it a cause, and said studies may identify other potential causes of the serious injuries as well. (11/8)

The Washington Post: Vitamin E Acetate Found In Lung Fluid Of Vaping-Related Patients
Vitamin E acetate has already been identified in previous testing by the Food and Drug Administration and state laboratories in vape products that contain THC. New York state’s Wadsworth Center lab was the first to discover it about two months ago in samples from sick patients. Of 595 vaping-product samples linked to patients that have been tested by the FDA, 70 percent contained THC. Half of those THC-containing products also had vitamin E acetate, with concentrations as high as 88 percent, the FDA said Friday. (Sun, 11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Investigators Find Clue To Mysterious Vaping Injuries
Adding the oil can increase profits, because each product won’t need to have as much THC. The substance is safe to ingest but potentially dangerous to inhale, the CDC said. New York state health officials highlighted vitamin E acetate as a substance of concern in early September, when they found high concentrations in THC products submitted by lung illness patients. Investigators from at least one other state, Utah, have also noted finding the substance in THC-containing products. THC is the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. (Abbott and Maloney, 11/8)

NPR: CDC Finds Possible Culprit In Outbreak Of Vaping-Related Lung Injuries
Since the outbreak started in March, scientists have struggled to find a shared cause. The lung injuries have been most commonly linked to products containing THC, but some patients became ill after they reported vaping only nicotine. (Aubrey and Kennedy, 11/8)

Reuters: U.S. To Raise Age Limit For Vaping To 21, Trump Says Ahead Of Action Next Week
The United States plans to raise the age limit for vaping to 21, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday, adding that his administration would issue its final report on such products next week. Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, did not give further details about the administration’s regulatory plans or give a specific date for any announcements. (11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Supports Raising E-Cigarette Purchase Age To 21
The White House is still working out the details of a policy to pursue legislation raising the minimum purchase age for e-cigarettes, according to a person familiar with the matter. It could include traditional cigarettes and other tobacco products, the person said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell earlier this year introduced legislation that would raise the minimum age to purchase all tobacco products to 21, a move that public-health advocates and tobacco companies hope would curb the use of e-cigarettes among teens. Similar bills have been introduced in the House. More than a dozen states have passed or enacted laws raising the minimum age to 21 for all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. (Maloney and Leary, 11/8)

Politico: The VA At A Crossroads
The Veterans Administration is facing an existential question. The effort to bring electronic health records to the VA and a push to make it easier for veterans to see doctors outside the VA system are aimed at improving access to care. But some worry those changes will put the VA on the road to privatization. How will the VA preserve its essence and live up to its founding promise even as it seeks to modernize and provide veterans with better care? Join Dan Diamond and Arthur Allen as they examine that question in a series of conversations on the Pulse Check podcast. (11/11)

Modern Healthcare: Drug Pricing And Surprise Billing Issues Top Health Lobbying Priorities
Healthcare industry groups spent considerable time and money this year lobbying members of Congress on two hot-button issues: surprise billing and drug pricing. It’s likely that the debate will continue into the election year and the next Congress. According to data from the Senate Office of Public Records, the list of the 25 biggest spenders in health lobbying as of Sept. 30 is largely composed of pharmaceutical companies and trade associations, including top spender Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America with $ 22.5 million in the first three quarters of 2019. (caruso and Cohrs, 11/8)

The New York Times: Who Owns H.I.V.-Prevention Drugs? The Taxpayers, U.S. Says
After years of prodding by patient advocates, federal officials on Wednesday sued the drug maker Gilead Sciences, charging that it had infringed government patents on the idea of preventing H.I.V. with a daily pill. The suit, by the Department of Health and Human Services, came as a pleasant shock to many critics of the company, including Democratic members of Congress who had pressed the administration to act. (McNeil and Mandavilli, 11/8)

The Washington Post: A Tiny Pharmacy Is Identifying Big Problems With Common Drugs, Including Zantac
The escalating global recall of Zantac, the heartburn pill that once ranked as the world’s best-selling drug, has its roots not in government oversight or a high-profile lawsuit, but in a tiny online pharmacy here whose founders feared that U.S. drugs might not be as safe as people think. The pharmacy, Valisure, is a start-up with only 14 full-time employees. But since its scientists alerted American regulators that Zantac and its generic form, ranitidine, contained a chemical thought to cause cancer, more than 40 countries from Australia to Vietnam have either stopped sales, launched investigations or otherwise stepped in to protect consumers from possible health risks. (Johnson, 11/8)

The New York Times: With Medical Bills Skyrocketing, More Hospitals Are Suing For Payment
When a judge hears civil cases at the courthouse in this southwest Virginia town two days a month, many of the lawsuits have a common plaintiff: the local hospital, Ballad Health, suing patients over unpaid medical bills. On a Thursday in August, 102 of the 160 cases on the docket were brought by Ballad. Among the defendants were a schoolteacher, a correctional officer, a stay-at-home mother and even a Ballad employee — all of whom had private insurance but were still responsible for a large share of their bill, the result of large deductibles and co-payments. (Kliff, 11/8)

The Associated Press: Medicare’s Outpatient ‘Part B’ Premium Going Up To $ 144.60
Medicare’s “Part B” premium for outpatient care will rise by nearly 7% to $ 144.60 a month next year, officials said Friday. They blamed rising spending on medications. The $ 9.10 monthly increase follows a smaller $ 1.50 rise this year. It comes after Social Security announced a modest cost-of-living raise for 2020 that works out to about $ 24 a month for the average retired worker. (11/8)

Reuters: Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson Dies Unexpectedly At 60
Bernard J. Tyson, chairman and chief executive officer of not-for-profit health insurer Kaiser Permanente, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Sunday, aged 60, the company said in a statement. Tyson, who held the top job since 2013, was Oakland, California-based Kaiser Permanente’s first black chief executive and a strong proponent for affordable and accessible healthcare. (11/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Bernard Tyson, Chairman And CEO Of Kaiser Permanente, Dies At 60
Kaiser named Gregory Adams, an executive vice president and group president, as interim chief executive and chairman. Mr. Tyson joined Kaiser Permanente roughly 30 years ago and held roles in hospital and health plan operations before succeeding George Halvorson as CEO, Kaiser said. As he rose through the ranks at Kaiser Permanente, Mr. Tyson become a prominent voice for the type of integrated care the nonprofit system delivers, with the health-insurance, hospital and doctor services all closely tied together. (Evans, 11/10)

The Associated Press: Oklahoma Abortion Clinic Takes On ‘Physicians Only’ Laws
An Oklahoma City abortion clinic filed a lawsuit Friday challenging longstanding state laws that allow only physicians to perform abortions in Oklahoma, marking the sixth time in five years that the state’s abortion restrictions have ended up in court. The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of the Trust Women clinic, contends that such laws are unconstitutional because they restrict access to abortions without any valid medical basis. (11/8)

The Associated Press: Texas: Evangelical Women’s Health Group Owes State $ 1.5M
An anti-abortion group that has come under fire for failing to fulfill its promise to provide health services to thousands of low-income Texas women owes the state more than $ 1.5 million for reimbursement payments that were either inflated or that the state shouldn’t have paid at all, according to state investigators. The office of the health inspector general announced Thursday that it had uncovered “serious contractual violations” and was expanding its probe of the Heidi Group, an evangelical nonprofit that started promoting alternatives to abortion in the 1990s, the Houston Chronicle reported. (11/8)

The New York Times: The F.B.I.’s New Approach To Combating Domestic Terrorism: Straight Talk
As a group of prominent black pastors listened, the top federal prosecutor in northern Ohio, Justin E. Herdman, spoke recently at Mount Zion church about the prospect that a gunman could target one of their congregations. The subtext was clear. Mr. Herdman is among a group of federal law enforcement officials who have begun speaking more forthrightly about fighting domestic terrorism from the front lines. They want to reassure a skeptical public that the Justice Department is forcefully combating racist and politically motivated violence in the Trump era, amid their own mounting concerns about a possible surge in attacks sparked by the 2020 election. (Goldman, 11/10)

The Associated Press: Besieged Portland, Oregon, Paramedics Get Defense Training
[Trisha Preston’s] experience is part of a rash of attacks in recent months on paramedics in this Pacific Northwest city as they respond to a growing number of 911 calls for patients in mental health or drug-related crises. The uptick in violence is so severe that the private ambulance company that holds Portland’s 911 contract is training more than 500 of its employees in defensive tactics. The company is trying to better understand what’s happening in the field. “The frequency appears to be increasing. The severity appears to be increasing,” said Robert McDonald, an operations manager with American Medical Response. (11/11)

The Washington Post: Suicide Screening In ER Could Save Lives
Edwin Boudreaux remembers the first time he was left in charge of a patient as a graduate student training to be a psychologist. The patient had come in for routine diabetes treatment but it quickly became apparent she was suicidal. “She was so suicidal, I had to walk her from our clinic to the emergency department just to make sure nothing would happen in between,” Boudreaux said. (Wan, 11/8)

The New York Times: A New Generation Stakes Out A New Path For Charitable Giving
This week, the Huntsman family — one of the most philanthropic in the United States — made a $ 150 million gift to the University of Utah to establish the Huntsman Mental Health Institute. The gift was a continuation of the large-scale charitable giving by the family’s patriarch, the billionaire industrialist Jon Huntsman Sr., who died last year, and his wife, Karen. Mr. Huntsman was one of the most philanthropic men of his generation. He was among the first to give away over $ 1 billion in his lifetime — long before Warren Buffett and Bill Gates created the Giving Pledge to induce billionaires to commit to donating at least half of their fortune to charity. (Sullivan, 11/8)

Reuters: Culture Change Is The Cutting Edge Of Mental Health Benefits At Work
Many companies offer employee assistance programs, mindfulness apps or in-office counseling. But experts say a culture shift toward openness, from the C-suite on down, is most effective. That translates to peer counseling, colleagues sharing their experiences and open dialogue. Companies take a myriad of approaches to this challenge. At SAP, considered a thought leader on employee mental health, the company calls its system the Employee Care Cycle. That starts with prevention and destigmatization, said Torsten Paul, SAP’s director digital health & well-being. (11/8)

NPR: Mass Shootings And Lack Of Health Care Access Lead To High Stress In Latinos
Mass shootings, health care concerns and the upcoming 2020 presidential election top the list of Americans’ worries these days. That’s according to a new survey out this week from the American Psychological Association. Overall, 71% said mass shootings were a significant source of stress in their lives, up from 62% last year. Hispanic adults were most likely to report stress over mass shootings (84%). (Neighmond, 11/9)

The Washington Post: Exploring The Long Fight Against Lead Poisoning In The United States
Pure. Healthy. Modern. Today, you might see those words on a product in a natural foods store or an upscale juice bar. But in the early 20th century, they were used to describe lead. Cheap and durable, lead was ubiquitous in everything from paint to gasoline to plumbing. But though the dangers of lead poisoning were known in the United States, regulation lagged for decades. Meanwhile, lead poisoning became a public health crisis. (Blake, 11/9)

The New York Times: Experts Back Mandatory Bike Helmets But Not All Cyclists Are Sold
It is a message that was drilled into bicyclists when they were children learning to ride for the first time: Wear your helmet so that you do not crack your skull. In some states, that is the law — for minors, anyway. But there are no statewide laws mandating that all cyclists, including grown-ups, wear helmets. The National Transportation Safety Board begs to differ. (Fortin, 11/9)

The Washington Post: Hypnotherapy As An Alternative To Anesthesia? It’s Used In Some Places For Minimally-Invasive Surgeries, Preoperative Anxiety, Pain
Diane Fresquez rests on an operating table at Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc hospital in Brussels, a pale blue cap on her head. She’s having her two tiny parathyroid glands removed. But for this operation, Fresquez is awake. Cradling her head with two hands and stroking her forehead is Fabienne Roelants, an anesthesiologist who is using hypnosis to get Fresquez through the procedure. (Bruno, 11/9)

NPR: Chronic Pain Eased With Meditation And Lower Doses Of Opioids
There’s new evidence that mind-body interventions can help reduce pain in people who’ve been taking prescription opioids — and lead to reductions in the drug’s dose. In a study published this month in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers reviewed evidence from 60 studies that included about 6,400 participants. They evaluated a range of strategies, including meditation, guided imagery, hypnosis and cognitive behavioral therapy. (Aubrey, 11/11)

The Washington Post: My Mom Kept Her Breast Cancer Diagnosis A Secret From Me. It’s An All-Too-Common Tale.
Just before my junior year of high school, as the last precious days of summer vacation shrank away, my mom sat me down for a serious conversation. She calmly told me that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer — a year earlier. I must’ve looked at her as if I’d just witnessed someone get hit by a truck. She quickly explained that it had been localized stage one, which meant she hadn’t needed chemotherapy, just a small operation and seven weeks of radiation. She said she didn’t tell me because she didn’t want to worry me over something that was no big deal. (Hirschlag, 11/9)

The New York Times: Deaths Of 3 Infants Traced To Contaminated Equipment, Hospital Says
The infants at the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa., neonatal intensive care unit were tiny, with some born 27 weeks premature. In July, some started to get ill. One by one, the number of sick babies climbed to eight. Between August and September, bacterial infections claimed the lives of three of them. At a news conference last month, officials at the hospital, which is about 150 miles northwest of Philadelphia, said they were at a loss about the source of the infections. (Ortiz, 11/8)

The Washington Post: 3 Infants Dead After Bacteria Infections From Donor Breast Milk At Geisinger Hospital
“I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I’ve seen a lot, and I have not seen conduct like this from a medical provider,” said Matt Casey, a Philadelphia-based lawyer representing Cepeda’s parents, as well as another family who lost one of their twins. Casey says findings that Geisinger’s breast milk measurement materials led to the infections have reinforced his belief that Geisinger — which runs sites around Pennsylvania — was negligent both in cleaning its equipment and in taking steps to save lives once red flags surfaced. (Knowles, 11/8)

The New York Times: ‘It Was Horrible’: Man Killed In Gruesome Brawl At Homeless Shelter
Edwin Rivera was woken up early on Sunday morning by loud thuds coming from the floor above him. He thought it was probably a fist fight. After getting out of his bed in the homeless shelter on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Mr. Rivera went upstairs to break up the brawl and found a gruesome scene: Blood was splattered on the walls, and one of the men who had been fighting was gasping for life. (Goldbaum, 11/10)

The Washington Post: Homeless Veterans Set To Move Into Permanent Digs, With A Touch Of Stardom
Clifton Braxton sat in his Buick Encore in the parking lot of Washington’s VA Medical Center last week and showed how he could transform the vehicle into a bedroom. An Air Force veteran who served during the Vietnam War, he struggled with substance abuse for many years and has been homeless off and on for a quarter-century. Each night he parks in a different lot in the District or Maryland. (Bahrampour, 11/10)

The Associated Press: 10 Hospitalized From Oklahoma Facility After Flu Shot Mix-Up
Ten people at an Oklahoma care facility for people with intellectual disabilities were hospitalized after they were apparently accidentally injected with what’s believed to be insulin rather than flu shots, authorities said. Emergency responders were called Wednesday afternoon to the Jacquelyn House in Bartlesville, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Tulsa, on a report of an unresponsive person and found “multiple unresponsive people,” Bartlesville Police Chief Tracy Roles said. (11/8)

The Associated Press: Georgia High School Students Sickened By Unknown Substance
Four high school students outside Atlanta were being treated Friday at area hospitals after ingesting an unknown substance and one student was arrested. In a statement, Henry County Schools spokesman J.D. Hardin says emergency personnel and school resource officers responded to a medical emergency at Locust Grove High on Friday morning. (11/8)

The Associated Press: Authorities Accuse Virginia Doctor Of Unnecessary Surgeries
Federal prosecutors are accusing a Virginia physician of performing unnecessary surgical procedures on women without their knowledge or consent. A U.S. magistrate ordered 69-year-old Javaid Perwaiz of Chesapeake held without bond until at least an upcoming detention hearing. The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk reported Perwaiz was arrested Friday and charged with one count each of health care fraud and making false statements relating to health care matters. (11/9)

The Associated Press: Nursing Home Settles Allegations Of Improper Care For $ 381K
A Delaware nursing home operator has agreed to pay $ 381,000 to settle allegations of providing substandard and worthless services to residents. The Delaware Department of Justice said Friday that the settlement resolves allegations that, from 2011 through 2017, Newark Manor Manor Nursing Home, also known as Premiere Healthcare Inc., persistently failed to provide adequate nursing care and supervision. (11/8)

NPR: First Medical Cannabis Graduate Program Offered In Maryland
Summer Kriegshauser is one of 150 students in the inaugural class of the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Master of Science in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics, the first graduate program of its type in the country. This will be Kriegshauser’s second master’s degree and she hopes it will offer her a chance to change careers. (Austermuhle, 11/9)