First Edition: April 17, 2019

Kaiser Health News: Planned Parenthood’s ‘Risky Strategy’ To Update Its Image
The Trump administration is pushing ahead with its reproductive health agenda. It has rolled out changes to the Title X program, which funds family planning services for low-income people, that are designed to have a chilling effect on organizations that provide abortions or include this option in counseling. It also has nominated federal judges widely believed to support state-level abortion restrictions. Against that backdrop, Planned Parenthood, known as a staunch defender of abortion rights, is working to recast its public image. (Luthra and Barry-Jester, 4/17)

Kaiser Health News: Workplace Wellness Programs Barely Move The Needle, Study Finds
A host of studies over the years have provided conflicting results about how well they work, with some showing savings and health improvements while others say the efforts fall short. Many studies, however, faced a number of limitations, such as failing to have a comparison group, or figuring out whether people who sign up for such wellness programs are somehow healthier or more motivated than those who do not. Now researchers from the University of Chicago and Harvard may have overcome these obstacles with one of the first large-scale studies that is peer-reviewed and employs a more sophisticated trial design. (Appleby, 4/16)

Kaiser Health News/Politifact: Hickenlooper Expanded Medicaid, Created State-Run Marketplace To Insure Nearly All Coloradans
Former two-term Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is a rare breed in the 2020 presidential race — he’s running as a moderate. On health care, he supports universal coverage and boasts about Colorado’s record-low uninsured rate. But unlike many of his competitors for the Democratic nomination, he opposes “Medicare-for-all,” the single-payer federal system that would guarantee health care coverage to every American. (Rennie, 4/17)

Politico: Republicans Reject Democratic Attempts To Tighten Vaccine Laws
Most Republicans are rejecting Democrat-led state bills to tighten childhood immunization laws in the midst of the worst measles outbreak in two decades, alarming public health experts who fear the nation could become as divided over vaccines as it is over global warming. Democrats in six states — Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey, Washington, New York and Maine — have authored or co-sponsored bills to make it harder for parents to avoid vaccinating their school-age children, and mostly faced GOP opposition. Meanwhile in West Virginia and Mississippi, states with some of the nation’s strictest vaccination laws, Republican lawmakers have introduced measures to expand vaccine exemptions, although it’s not yet clear how much traction they have. (Allen, 4/16)

The Hill: House Dems Unveil Legislation Aimed At Curbing Youth Tobacco Use
Two Democratic House lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled legislation aimed at tamping down the uptick of tobacco and e-cigarette use in young people. Under the Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act  — spearheaded by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.), the former secretary of Health and Human Services under the Clinton administration — the government would raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21 years of age. (Brufke, 4/16)

The Hill: Sanders Courts GOP Voters With ‘Medicare For All’ Plan 
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is trying to use “Medicare for All” to win over white working-class voters, many of whom supported President Trump in 2016. The 2020 candidate went on Fox News, Trump’s turf, on Monday night for a town hall, where audience members cheered when asked if they would support Medicare for All. Sanders shared the clip on social media several times the following day. (Sullivan, 4/16)

The Hill: Largest Private Insurance Company Slams ‘Medicare For All’ Plans
The CEO of the nation’s largest health insurer on Tuesday sharply criticized “Medicare for all” proposals being debated by Democratic lawmakers and presidential hopefuls, weighing in on a major political fight ahead of the 2020 election. Medicare for all would amount to a “wholesale disruption of American health care [that] would surely jeopardize the relationship people have with their doctors, destabilize the nation’s health system, and limit the ability of clinicians to practice medicine at their best,” UnitedHealth Group CEO David Wichmann said on a conference call. (Weixel, 4/16)

Reuters: FBI Seeks Woman ‘Infatuated With Columbine’ In Colorado Schools Threat
A woman described as “infatuated” with the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, who bought a pump-action shotgun and ammunition after she flew into Colorado on Monday, was an extreme threat the FBI and police said on Tuesday. Columbine and dozens of other Denver-area schools were issued a security threat Tuesday afternoon and a decision will be made early Wednesday as to whether schools will be in session or other security measures taken, officials said in a late night press conference. (4/17)

The Associated Press: Heightened Alert After Threat Locks Down Columbine
All schools in the Denver area were urged to tighten security because the threat was deemed “credible and general,” said Patricia Billinger, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Public Safety. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI say Pais traveled to Colorado from Miami on Monday night and bought a pump-action shotgun and ammunition. (4/17)

The New York Times: Officials Seek Woman ‘Infatuated’ With Columbine Who Made Threats In Denver Area
“Her comments, her actions that we have heard about from others tend to cause us great concern that she may pose a threat to a school,” he added. If authorities find Ms. Pais, it is not clear if they can arrest her. The bulletin sent to local police said they did not have probable cause for arrest, but that officers should detain her “and evaluate mental health status.” (Turkewitz, 4/16)

Denver Post: Since Columbine Shooting, Colorado Schools See Increase In Lockdowns, Reported Threats
March 7, 2018, started as an ordinary day in Fruita, but it rapidly took a harrowing turn when parents received a call that their children’s schools were in lockdown. In the post-Columbine world, almost everyone knows the formula: locks, lights, out of sight. Try to make yourself as difficult to see — and shoot — as possible, in the hopes that a gunman will pass by a dark, silent room. One woman posted on Facebook that she had “heart palpitations” while she waited for news of her granddaughter, who was attending Fruita 8/9. Another said her “heart stopped” when she read that Fruita Monument High School was on lockdown. (Wingerter, 4/16)

The Associated Press: 2020 Hopeful Hickenlooper Meets Columbine Shooting Survivors
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday met with survivors of the Columbine High School attack and other survivors of the state’s mass shootings just four days before the 20th anniversary of the Columbine massacre. Hickenlooper, who is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has been touting gun control measures he signed following the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, which killed 12 people. (4/16)

The New York Times: Gun Research Is Suddenly Hot
In 1996, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped funding research into the causes of gun violence. And for decades the field suffered from neglect: low funding and a corresponding limited interest in academia. Then came a series of high-profile mass shootings. And donations from billionaires. A result has been a recent surge in state and private funding for gun research, and a revival in interest among journal editors and young academics beginning their careers. (Sanger-Katz, 4/17)

Denver Post: Columbine High School Shooting: Little Gun Control Has Passed The Last 20 Years
More than 200 lives have been claimed in American school shootings since the massacre at Columbine High School 20 years ago this week. That total doesn’t include hundreds more murdered in mass killings in nonschool settings, such as the 2017 Las Vegas shooting (58 killed) or the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Fla., the year before (49 killed). (Aguilar, 4/14)

The Associated Press: School Shootings’ Effects On Police Officers Understudied
The first SWAT team members to see the horror in the Columbine High School library had to step around bodies and ignore a wounded student’s plea for help as they searched for shooters they didn’t know had already died by their own hands. As member Grant Whitus put it, officers carried something home with them that day, a level of trauma and a sense of futility that stayed with them for years and may have contributed to the team’s demise. (4/17)

Los Angeles Times: LAPD Records Drop In Shootings By Officers But Still Leads The Nation
The use of deadly force by Los Angeles police and the number of suspects killed in violent encounters dropped in 2018, officials reported Tuesday. Even with reductions, the LAPD led the nation in fatal police shootings last year, with 14, the report said. Los Angeles police officers fired their weapons 33 times last year compared with 44 shootings the previous year — a 25% decrease, according to the report presented to the Police Commission. It’s the second-fewest incidences of police shootings since 1989, the report said. (Puente, 4/16)

The Associated Press: Michigan AG: No Abortion Prosecutions If Roe Is Reversed
Michigan’s attorney general said Tuesday that she will not enforce a state abortion ban if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. Democrat Dana Nessel, speaking at a Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan conference, told the crowd of abortion rights supporters that it is “likely” the 1973 decision legalizing abortion will be struck down by the high court’s conservative majority. Michigan is among 10 states that still have pre-Roe abortion bans on the books. (4/16)

The Associated Press: Oklahoma Lawmakers Send Abortion ‘Reversal’ Bill To Governor
Doctors who perform medication abortions could face felony charges for not informing women about the possibility of reversing the process under a bill that is heading to the Oklahoma governor’s desk. The state House voted 74-24 on Tuesday for the bill. It requires abortion providers to tell women who are taking medication to terminate their pregnancies that the process can be reversed after they take the first of two pills. Several Democrats argued the bill would force doctors to provide scientifically dubious information to their patients. (4/16)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Halts U.S. Sales Of Pelvic Mesh, Citing Safety Concerns For Women
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday ordered the two remaining medical device companies selling surgical mesh for the repair of pelvic organ prolapse to stop all sales and distribution in the United States. It is the most stringent action the F.D.A. has taken in the lengthy legal and medical battles over vaginal mesh, a synthetic product that has been implanted in millions of women to strengthen weakened pelvic muscles that can cause the bladder, the uterus and other organs to sag into the vaginal area. (Kaplan and Goldstein, 4/16)

The Washington Post: FDA Orders Manufacturers To Halt Sales Of Vaginal Mesh Used In Many Pelvic Procedures
The FDA action specifically affects surgical mesh used for the transvaginal repair of pelvic organ prolapse, which occurs when the muscles and tissues supporting the uterus, bladder or rectum become weak or loose. That can allow organs to drop or press into the vagina. The regulatory action does not apply to mesh used for other conditions, such as hernias or stress urinary incontinence. (McGinley, 4/16)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Orders Makers Of Women’s Surgical Mesh To Stop Selling The Products
Transvaginal mesh is used to treat a condition called pelvic organ prolapse, in which organs like the bladder, uterus and others sag into the vaginal area. It is estimated that about one in eight women has surgery in her lifetime to treat the condition. The condition can be treated with conventional surgery that uses a woman’s own tissue. But some surgeons have maintained that the synthetic mesh product can lead to a more permanent repair. Mesh products also are used in hernia repair and urinary incontinence treatment, but these uses carry a lesser risk in the view of surgeons and they remain on the market. (Burton and Nakrosis, 4/17)

The Associated Press: US Halts Sales Of Pelvic Mesh Tied To Injuries In Women
Tens of thousands of lawsuits have been filed against mesh manufacturers by women who have reported pain, bleeding and infection tied to the devices. In some cases, the mesh can shift out of place, puncturing internal organs or the abdomen wall. Those problems sometimes require multiple surgeries to remove or reposition the mesh. Starting in the 1990s, gynecologists adapted surgical mesh to treat pelvic collapse in women, which can cause the bladder or reproductive organs to slip out of place, causing pain, constipation and urinary issues. The FDA first approved the mesh specifically for that use in 2002 and manufacturers promoted mesh as a way to speed patients’ recovery time compared to surgery with stitches. (4/16)

Reuters: U.S. Health Officials Probe Multi-State Salmonella Outbreak
U.S. federal health officials said on Tuesday an investigation is underway over a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Newport infections linked to frozen ground tuna, which were imported into the United States by seafood retailer Jensen Tuna. No deaths were reported so far, but seven people have been hospitalized, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a statement. (4/16)

The Associated Press: Judge Wants Faster Identification Of Separated Families
A judge said Tuesday it appeared the Trump administration could identify potentially thousands of children who were separated from their families at the border in much less time than the one to two years officials want to complete the work, though he was reluctant to impose a deadline. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw asked lawyers for the administration and for the American Civil Liberties Union to reach an agreement before an April 24 hearing that will include Jonathan White, a U.S. Health and Human Services Department official who led a previous effort that reunited more than 2,700 children with their families. (Spagat, 4/16)

The Associated Press: US Wants To Build More Tents At Border To Detain Migrants
The Trump administration wants to open two new tent facilities to temporarily detain up to 1,000 parents and children near the southern border, as advocates sharply criticize the conditions inside the tents already used to hold migrants. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a notice to potential contractors that it wants to house 500 people in each camp in El Paso, Texas, and in the South Texas city of Donna, which has a border crossing with Mexico. (4/16)

The New York Times: Employee Wellness Programs Yield Little Benefit, Study Shows
Companies have long embraced workplace wellness programs as a way to improve workers’ health and reduce overall medical spending, but a new study may prompt employers to rethink those efforts. The study, published on Tuesday in JAMA, a medical journal, looked at the experience of 33,000 workers at BJ’s Wholesale Club, a retailer, over a year and a half. While workers who enrolled in the wellness program reported that they learned to exercise more and watch their weight, the research found no significant differences in outcomes like lower blood pressure or sugar levels and other health measures. (Abelson, 4/16)

The Associated Press: Johnson & Johnson Posts Strong Revenue In 1Q
Lower sales overseas and higher costs for research and litigation pushed Johnson & Johnson’s first-quarter profit down 14%, but the health care giant beat profit and revenue expectations, pushing up its shares. The maker of Tylenol and psoriasis drug Stelara on Tuesday said unfavorable currency exchange rates reduced revenue by nearly 4%, leaving total sales flat at $ 20.03 billion, though that edged out analysts’ muted projections. (4/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Higher Prescription-Drug Sales Aid Johnson & Johnson Results
Analysts said the quarterly results and updated full-year forecast show J&J is navigating through its challenges, which also include competition from lower-cost generic drugs. “To us, the good far outweighs any possible questions or concerns investors could have on the quarterly performance,” SVB Leerink analyst Danielle Antalffy said in a research note. (Loftus and Chin, 4/16)

The Associated Press: UnitedHealth Beats Expectations All Around, Stock Still Lags
UnitedHealth Group beat first-quarter expectations and hiked its 2019 forecast, but shares of the nation’s largest health insurer continued their slump as investors worry about growing Congressional scrutiny of how the company and its competitors do business. Shares of health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, have bounced up and down this year, as Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders launched a renewed push for a “Medicare for All” plan that could replace private coverage and as Congressional committees grilled PBM executives over their role in soaring drug costs. (4/16)

The Wall Street Journal: UnitedHealth Boosts Profit Targets After Upbeat First Quarter
Officials at the company, the parent of the nation’s biggest health insurer, weighed in during a call with analysts on issues such as Democrats’ proposals for universal government coverage and moves by the Trump administration to change the handling of drug rebates in the Medicare program. The recent focus in Washington has helped push down the shares of the entire managed-care sector. Shares in UnitedHealth, which are off 11% this year, closed down 4% on Tuesday. Competitor Anthem Inc. was down nearly 7% on Tuesday, while Cigna Corp. was off nearly 8%. Analysts suggested the drops were due to the continued policy overhang. (Chin and Wilde Mathews, 4/16)

The New York Times: Opioid Users Call Kratom A Godsend. The F.D.A. Says It’s A Menace.
The steep rise in the number of people suffering opioid addiction has helped spawn the widespread use of another substance: kratom, a green powdered herbal supplement that is widely available and virtually unregulated. Derived from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia and sold in the United States online and in bodegas and head shops, kratom has long been used as a mood booster, energy supplement and pain reliever. (Oppel and Kovaleski, 4/17)

The Associated Press: CVS Fined $ 535K For Filling Forged Percocet Prescriptions
Drugstore chain CVS Health has agreed to pay $ 535,000 to resolve federal allegations that it filled dozens of Percocet prescriptions its pharmacists should have known were forged. The U.S. attorney for Rhode Island and the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New England office announced the penalty Tuesday. (4/16)

The Associated Press: Trump, First Lady To Address Opioid Crisis At Atlanta Summit
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will discuss the opioid crisis at an Atlanta summit. The White House announced the April 24 appearance at the Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit on Twitter Tuesday, saying the Trumps will speak “about their fight to end the opioid crisis in America.” Trump has declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency and is spending billions of dollars to combat it. Opioid abuse claimed nearly 48,000 American lives in 2017. (4/16)

The New York Times: Don’t Count On 23andMe To Detect Most Breast Cancer Risks, Study Warns
In 2010, Dr. Pamela Munster mailed her saliva to 23andMe, a relatively new DNA testing company, and later opted in for a BRCA test. As an oncologist, she knew a mutation of this gene would put her at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer. She was relieved by the negative result. Two years later, after she learned she had breast cancer, she took a more complete genetic test from a different lab. This time it was positive. A study of 100,000 people released earlier this month suggested that this experience could be widespread. Nearly 90 percent of participants who carried a BRCA mutation would have been missed by 23andMe’s test, geneticists found. (Murphy, 4/16)

NPR: CRISPR Research Moves Out Of Labs And Into Clinics Around The World
The powerful gene-editing technique called CRISPR has been in the news a lot. And not all the news has been good: A Chinese scientist stunned the world last year when he announced he had used CRISPR to create genetically modified babies. But scientists have long hoped CRISPR — a technology that allows scientists to make very precise modifications to DNA — could eventually help cure many diseases. And now scientists are taking tangible first steps to make that dream a reality. For example, NPR has learned that a U.S. CRISPR study that had been approved for cancer at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia has finally started. (Stein, 4/16)

The New York Times: 10 Years After An Exercise Study, Benefits Persist
The workouts we completed years ago may continue to influence and improve our health today, according to a fascinating new study of the current lives and health of people who joined an exercise study a decade before. The findings suggest that the benefits of exercise can be more persistent than many of us might expect, even if people are not exercising to the same extent as they previously did. But the impacts also may depend on the types and amounts of exercise involved. (Reynolds, 4/17)

The New York Times: Parents Mourning Stillbirth Follow Familiar Patterns On YouTube
For 24 agonizing hours, Monica Franco-Pineda prepared to deliver a stillborn baby. She and her husband, Walter, had learned on Oct. 14, 2010, four days past her due date, that their son, Gabriel, no longer had a heartbeat. “I had a lot of time to digest what was going to happen,” she remembers. Mrs. Franco-Pineda, a flight attendant and photographer in British Columbia, spent part of this time searching online for answers to her questions: What would it be like to give birth to a baby who wasn’t alive? How would he look? What did other people do? Her online research led to her discovery of videos that memorialize stillborn children, posted by parents who had undergone stillbirth themselves. Watching these helped her to feel less alone. (Ro, 4/16)

The Associated Press: Telemedicine, Walk-In Clinics Cloud Role Of Family Doctor
Lisa Love hasn’t seen her doctor of 25 years since she discovered telemedicine. Love tried virtual visits last summer for help with a skin irritation and returned for another minor problem. She doesn’t feel a pressing need to seek care the old-fashioned way, especially since she also gets free health screenings at work. No more waiting for the doctor’s office to open. Convenience rules in health care now, where patients can use technology or growing options like walk-in clinics and urgent care centers to get help whenever they need it. (4/16)

The Associated Press: Baby Boy Receiving Treatment After He Was Born Without Skin
Doctors are working toward a diagnosis and care plan for a baby boy who has spent the first three months of his life in hospitals after he was born without skin. Ja’bari Gray has been hospitalized since his birth on Jan. 1 at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, the San Antonio Express-News has reported. With most of his skin missing, except for on his head, he was initially diagnosed with aplasia cutis, a rare congenital absence of skin. (4/16)

The Washington Post: A Crisis In Kentucky Shows The High Cost Of Clean Drinking Water
When the well water here turned brown and started tasting salty, Heather Blevins’s parents hooked their property on Dead Man’s Curve into the municipal supply. It seemed like a blessing until new hazards emerged: Today, Blevins says, the tap water smells of bleach, occasionally takes on a urine-colored tinge, and leaves her 7- and 8-year-old children itching every time they take a bath. “The way the water is now, I’d rather have well water,” said Blevins, 44, who keeps a constant eye on the county water district’s Facebook page to watch for pipe breaks and boil-water advisories. Blevins, who says her water rates rocketed recently from $ 19 to almost $ 40 a month, sets aside money from her $ 980 Social Security check for bottled drinking water and chemical-free baby wipes to keep her allergy-prone children clean. (Stead Sellers, 4/16)

The Associated Press: Oregon Foster Care System Targeted In Federal Lawsuit
Oregon’s foster care system has failed to shield children from abuse and they are sometimes forced to stay in refurbished jail cells and homeless shelters, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The 77-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court details stories of foster children being neglected or harmed while under Department of Human Services care, including a 16-year-old girl sent to a juvenile jail after she had previously tried to kill herself. (4/16)

The New York Times: Stanford Clears Professor Of Helping With Gene-Edited Babies Experiment
Stanford University has cleared Stephen Quake, a bioengineering professor, of any wrongdoing in his interactions with a Chinese researcher who roiled the scientific world by creating the first gene-edited babies. “In evaluating evidence and witness statements, we found that Quake observed proper scientific protocol,” said a letter from the university to Dr. Quake, obtained by The New York Times on Tuesday. Referring to the Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, by his nickname, JK, the letter said that Stanford’s investigators concluded that Dr. Quake did not “directly participate in any way in JK’s research, including in the conception or performance of the work.” (Belluck, 4/16)

Los Angeles Times: To Steer Her Child Away From Obesity, A Mother Turns Her Life Upside Down
Early childhood obesity is one of the most intractable health issues facing Los Angeles County, where about 20% of 3- and 4-year-olds are obese. Among school-age children, 45% are overweight or obese by the time they reach fifth grade — higher than the percentage of Californians as a whole. (Boyd-Barrett, 4/16)

The Washington Post: D.C. Housed The Homeless In Upscale Sedgwick Gardens Apartments. It Hasn’t Gone As Planned.
The SWAT team, the overdose, the complaints of pot smoke in the air and feces in the stairwell — it would be hard to pinpoint a moment when things took a turn for the worse at Sedgwick Gardens, a stately apartment building in Northwest Washington. But the Art Deco complex, which overlooks Rock Creek Park and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is today the troubled locus of a debate on housing policy in a city struggling with the twin crises of homelessness and gentrification. (Jamison, 4/16)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Opens A Homeless Shelter In Hollywood. But Those Still Outside Are Facing A Crackdown
A new shelter has opened in Hollywood, sweeping 72 people off the aging entertainment district’s sidewalks. But the opening has triggered a crackdown on street camps that advocates warn is criminalizing homeless people. The $ 3-million Schrader shelter, between Sunset and Hollywood boulevards, is the second facility to open its doors under Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “A Bridge Home” initiative. (Holland, 4/16)

Denver Post: Colorado Teenage Suicide: As Numbers Rise, Kids Say Adults Need To Catch Up
Suicide has become a reality teenagers face across Colorado, as the number of youths killing themselves has increased, solidifying it as the leading cause of death in this state for individuals between the ages of 10 and 24. Between 2015 and 2017, there were 533 suicides by teens and children, up from 340 such deaths between 2003 and 2005, according to a report by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. But even as multiple high school students in the Denver area have died by suicide in recent weeks, and many students can name friends or classmates who have died or tried to harm themselves, teenagers say they struggle to find people to talk to as openly as they would like to about mental health. (Seaman, 4/14)

ProPublica: Cook County Judge Loosens Unusual Restrictions On Publishing Details Of Child Welfare Case
A Cook County judge Monday lifted part of her previous order prohibiting ProPublica Illinois from publishing some details of a child welfare case it has been investigating, conceding that the restriction was “overbroad.” At the same time, Patricia Martin, the presiding judge of the Cook County Juvenile Court’s child protection division, continued to block the news organization from publishing the names or pictures of the minors involved in the case. While acknowledging the constitutional right of ProPublica Illinois to publish, the judge ruled that her restriction on disclosing the identities is necessary to protect the children. (Dumke and Mills, 4/15)