The New York Times: Insurers, Pushing For Higher Rates, Challenge Key Component Of Health Law
For several years, the Obama administration has urged state insurance regulators to use tools provided by the Affordable Care Act to hold down health care premiums. Now federal officials will have a chance to practice what they preach as they confront big increases proposed in several states where they are responsible for reviewing rates. Federal officials defer to the insurance commissioners in 46 states deemed to have “effective rate review” programs. But in Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming, the federal government is in charge of reviewing rates. (Pear, 7/16)

The Associated Press: With Millions Covered,' Repeal And Replace' Gets Riskier
Cleveland, we have a problem. As Republicans gather to anoint their presidential ticket, Donald Trump's plan for replacing "Obamacare" appears to be anything but solid. A nonpartisan analysis recently found it would make 18 million people uninsured. ... "I don't think they can credibly do 'repeal' until they have a solid legislative proposal to replace it," said Lanhee Chen, policy director for the 2012 Mitt Romney presidential campaign. "Politically, you can't really do 'repeal' without the 'replace' coming in right behind it." Trump "has made some vague pronouncements, but that's not a plan," he added. Many conservatives are hoping House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., will have the answer. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/18)

Meanwhile, Medicare's program testing accountable care organizations faces hurdles as participants withdraw, and a look at why co-ops are struggling —

Modern Healthcare: Three ACOs Bail On Medicare's Next Generation Program
Medicare's newest program testing accountable care organizations is not even a year old, and three out of 21 participants have already exited. ... The remaining 18 are still within the range of 15-20 ACOs CMS officials thought would participate. But the exiting parties indicate Medicare's payment reforms, which center around quality and the ability to keep costs down, still have not completely won over many hospitals and doctors. (Herman, 7/15)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Why Land Of Lincoln And Other Health Insurance Co-Ops Failed
Failures among member-run health insurance co-ops are forcing thousands of consumers to find new health insurance coverage, while renewing questions about the viability of a once-promising program created by the Affordable Care Act. In Illinois, about 49,000 people must find coverage after state regulators last week ordered Land of Lincoln Mutual Health Insurance Co. to close in the face of steep losses. (Liss, 7/17)

The Tennessean: How Is New TN Medicaid Expansion Plan Different?
The newest plan, the product of House Speaker Beth Harwell’s 3-Star Healthy Task Force, prioritizes veterans and those with mental health needs. However, in order to be enacted, it needs both federal approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and state approval from the legislature. (Tolbert, 7/17)

The Columbus DIspatch: Medicaid Expansion Covers Nearly 500,000 Ohioans For Mental Health, Drug Treatment
Nearly 500,000 low-income Ohio adults, most of them uninsured, received mental health and addiction services under the state’s hard-fought Medicaid expansion. About 100,000 of the new beneficiaries have severe mental illnesses, including psychosis, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. And many of the rest are battling drug addiction. (Candisky and Johnson, 7/17)

Kaiser Health News: Montana Medicaid Expansion By-The-Numbers
Backers of Montana’s seven-month-old Medicaid expansion say they’re pleased with the first set of financial data released this week. State figures say enrollment as of July is nearly double initial projections, at 47,399 of the 25,000 who were expected to enroll by now. And there’s still room to grow: 59,000 Montanans are estimated to be eligible for Medicaid expansion, according to state officials. (Whitney, 7/18)

The New York Times: How Mike Pence Became A Conservative Hero: Unwavering Opposition To Abortion
One by one, Republican women of the Indiana state legislature rose to describe, in anguished terms, why they could not support an anti-abortion measure hurtling toward passage. They hated abortion, they said, but this bill went too far. It would have prohibited a woman from aborting a fetus because it had a disability, such as Down syndrome. ...Indiana’s governor, Mike Pence, waved off the objections of his fellow Republicans: He signed the legislation into law a few weeks later, enacting what advocates and foes agree was a sweeping and unusual set of restrictions on abortion that went further than any other state in the country and openly clashed with legal precedent. (Davey and Barbaro, 7/16)

The Washington Post: Mike Pence Has Made No Secret About His Views On Abortion. Will This Help Or Hurt Trump?
Donald Trump just announced Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his VP running mate. If the name sounds familiar, even if you haven't been paying attention to the days of speculation about the pick, it's probably because of Pence's work regarding women's reproductive rights. The Republican first made national headlines on this subject in 2011 when, as a representative to Congress from his state's 2nd District, he sought to defund Planned Parenthood because it provides abortions. Until that time, the women's health organization had made it through numerous GOP Congresses and never become such a big target. (Cha, 7/15)

The Washington Post: Trump Has A Problem With Female Voters. Pence Could Make It Even Worse.
Donald Trump has already had problems making inroads with female, gay and minority voters. His vice-presidential pick, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, could make things even worse. Pence, the Republican governor of Indiana, has endorsed conservative legislation on abortion, gay rights and immigration both in his home state and while in Congress, where he was consistently ranked as one of the most right-leaning members of the House. He attempted to shut down the government over Planned Parenthood funding, supported a measure that made English the nation’s official language and signed one of the nation’s strictest abortion laws earlier this year. (Zezima, 7/16)

Stat: Women Are Calling Donald Trump’s Campaign To Report On Their Periods
One Utah woman called Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Friday with a question: Where should she send her used tampons in case of a miscarriage? An Indiana woman called with a different query: Could she go swimming, or would the chlorine in the water be harmful to her unfertilized eggs? And a Colorado woman had a message for the campaign: She may have lost a couple hundred eggs just today. The flood of calls, reported in comments on Facebook, are part of a social media push started by women in Indiana opposed to a restrictive abortion law passed earlier this year in Indiana that required the remains of a miscarried or aborted fetus to be buried or cremated. In April, women began calling Governor Mike Pence’s office in protest. Now, with Trump’s announcement he has chosen Pence as his running mate, the “Periods for Pence” push is going national. (Robbins, 7/15)

Politico Pro: Pence Plugs Enthusiasm Gap For Anti-Abortion Voters
Donald Trump’s selection of Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate could finally make anti-abortion voters excited to vote for the Republican ticket. Pence’s long record of opposition to abortion has energized anti-abortion voters in a way that Trump has not. Pence wrote a bill to defund Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics nearly a decade ago — long before it became a GOP policy staple — and he has signed numerous restrictions into state law. That gives anti-abortion voters confidence that Trump will be a champion of causes that matter most to them. (Haberkorn, 7/15)

Politico Pro: Seven Ways Pence Disagrees With Trump On Policy
If there are now two poles of the Republican Party, and Donald Trump represents one end, Mike Pence inhabits the other. In choosing the socially conservative Indiana governor as his running mate, Trump is attempting to yoke together different pieces of the fractured Republican identity. When you look at what the two men have actually said on some issues, the ticket looks less like a union of ideological interests than like a clash of opposing camps. (Noah, 7/15)

Meanwhile, Stat looks at the health topics to watch at the convention while hospitals and first responders in Cleveland step up efforts as Republicans and journalists descend on the city —

Stat: 5 Health And Medicine Issues To Watch For At The GOP Convention
Until now, health care hasn’t been a big part of Donald Trump’s campaign for the presidency. But conventions are about more than the nominee, and Republicans are likely to have something to say about issues including Obamacare, abortion, and perhaps even medical research. Here are the five biggest things to watch in health and medicine: (Nather, 7/18)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: RNC To Be Carefully Monitored By Cleveland's Hospital Systems, EMS
The Republican National Convention will be ringed by medical personnel from Cleveland EMS and the city's hospital systems to handle everything from minor cuts and bruises to an incident involving multiple casualties, city and hospital officials said. The medical response plan, 18 months in the making, will concentrate scores of paramedics, physicians and nurses inside Quicken Loans Arena and the streets around it during the four-day convention. The city's four hospital systems will maintain increased staffing and provide medical support around the clock. (Ross, 7/15)

Bloomberg: Top U.S. Health Official Highlights Need For Insurer Competition
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said competition among insurers can reduce costs that consumers face and improve the quality of their health coverage. She declined to comment on her department’s view of Aetna Inc.’s proposed purchase of Humana Inc. or Anthem Inc.’s deal for Cigna Corp. If both mergers are completed, the industry’s five largest companies would be reduced to three. (Tracer, 7/15)

Houston Chronicle: Fancy Amenities Woo Patients While Insurers Cry Foul
With specialty medical services growing quickly here, Houston has become the legal battleground for an increasingly bitter fight between insurers and employers, on one side, and out-of-network providers on the other. At least a dozen lawsuits over provider charges and insurance payments have been filed in U.S. District Court in Houston, with one national insurer accusing a local hospital of racketeering, fraud and paying kickbacks to doctors for referrals. (Sixel, 7/15)

California Healthline: Did Blue Shield Of California Short-Change Consumers On Refunds?
A class-action lawsuit filed earlier this month claims that Blue Shield of California stiffed consumers on more than $34 million dollars in refunds on premiums they paid in 2014. Federal law requires insurers to issue refunds if they don’t spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on medical care or on improving the quality of care. The lawsuit, filed July 1 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, argues that Blue Shield improperly counted as medical expenses certain payments it had made erroneously in 2014 — to providers who were not in its network and patients whose coverage had lapsed. (Bartolone, 7/18)

The New York Times: Makers Of Humira And Enbrel Using New Drug Patents To Delay Generic Versions
The best-selling drugs Humira and Enbrel have a lot in common. They both use biotechnology to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and other autoimmune diseases. And they come with giant price tags approaching $50,000 a year. Now the two companies behind the competing drugs have found common ground in keeping those prices so high: They are deploying new patents to prevent patients and insurers from getting two essentially generic versions of the drugs for less money. (Pollack, 7/15)

WBUR: New IV Drug For Postpartum Depression Gets Boost In Small Study
Sage Therapeutics, a Boston-based pharmacological startup, saw their stocks jump 40% on Tuesday to $48.02 after announcing results from a clinical study that showed SAGE-547, an intravenous drug the company is developing, could be effective in treating postpartum depression. The stock opened at $42.50 on Friday. Ten women with severe postpartum depression were administered the drug and within 60 hours they were in remission from depression while only one woman from the placebo group was found to be in remission, according to the company's news release. (Michaels, 7/15)

Kaiser Health News: Fraud Concerns Emerge As Compounding Drug Sales Skyrocket
Government spending on “compounded” drugs that are handmade by retail pharmacists has skyrocketed, drawing the attention of federal investigators who are raising fraud and overbilling concerns. Spending on these medications in Medicare’s Part D program, for example, rose 56 percent last year, with some of the costliest products, including topical pain creams, priced at hundreds or thousands of dollars per tube. The federal workers’ compensation program has also seen a recent spike in spending. The spending jump, along with a sharp increase in the number of patients getting the compounded drugs “may indicate an emerging fraud trend,” said Miriam Anderson, who helped oversee a June report on the Medicare spending by the inspector general’s office at the Department of Health and Human Services. (Appleby, 7/18)

Stat: How ‘Digitizing You And Me’ Could Revolutionize Medicine. At Least In Theory
To propel research, Obama has proposed spending a $215 million on a Precision Medicine Initiative. The first step: Rally 1 million volunteers (or even more) to give up a slew of intimate details about their health, medical history, diet, lifestyle, genetics — and even the granular details of the bacteria that line their guts. The National Institutes of Health recently awarded $120 million to the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. to create mobile apps, web platforms, biosensors, and other tools to collect and analyze data on those volunteers. ... Leading the effort is Dr. Eric Topol, 62, a cardiologist and geneticist known for his prolific tweeting, rapid adoption of technology, and vociferous criticism of traditional medicine as antiquated and inefficient. (McFarling, 7/15)

ABC News: Treating PTSD With Virtual Reality Therapy: A Way To Heal Trauma
Nearly 8 million adults suffer from PTSD during a given year, according to the National Center for PTSD... One common method for treatment is called “exposure therapy.” The patient recounts their trauma, visualizing it in their imagination, and narrates it to a clinician. By repeatedly confronting and processing the trauma, the brain can start to reduce the level of anxiety and response to those memories. (Quart, 7/18)

Health News Florida: Applications For Florida Telehealth Taskforce Rolling In
A committee tasked with investigating the best way to implement telemedicine in Florida is starting to take shape. A 19-member panel mandated by a law passed last January should be in place next year...The practice involves doctors diagnosing patients from a distance, usually using webcam technology. (Benk, 7/17)

Meanwhile, Pokemon Go could be contributing to a population-wide spike in step counts —

The Washington Post: Pokemon Go Leading To A ‘Population-Level’ Surge In Fitness Tracker Step Counts
Until last week, MacKenzie Olsberg’s nightly commute home from her office in Chicago involved taking a train to a bus and walking a short distance to her home. Now, she skips the bus portion and walks the last mile and a half. All because of Pokémon Go. ... The founders of Cardiogram, an app for Apple Watch that analyzes heart rate data, looked at heart rate and exercise information from 35,000 Cardiogram Apple Watch users, and saw an increase in users’ overall exercise the weekend after Pokémon Go launched. The exercise increase was across the board — the app makers have no way of knowing who was actually using Pokémon Go. On the day of the launch, about 45 percent of users were exercising 30 or more minutes. Two days later, on a Saturday, that number rose to 50 percent. The next day, it hit 53 percent. (Silver, 7/15)

The Des Moines Register: Painkiller, Heroin Epidemic Draws Governors' Resolve
Governors gathered in Des Moines vowed Friday to rein in the rampant abuse of prescription painkillers, heroin and other narcotic drugs... A large “life clock” hung over the conference table. The computerized display estimated how many Americans had died of drug overdoses so far this year. The toll was 15,333 at the 1:30 p.m. start of the meeting. By the 3 p.m. adjournment, the number had hit 15,336. (Leys, 7/15)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Warning: Opioid For Elephants Hitting Ohio Streets
Beware of a new deadly drug, an analgesic used for elephants, which has been spotted in Greater Cincinnati: The Hamilton County Heroin Coalition warned Friday of the powerful opioid carfentanil, which has been identified in local supplies of heroin. The synthetic opioid is 100 times stronger than fentanyl, the analgesic blamed for increasing overdose deaths and 10,000 times stronger than morphine on the streets. (DeMio, 7/15)

The Baltimore Sun: State Medicaid Program Limits Access To A Drug Treatment, Upsetting Advocates
As heroin and other opioid-related overdose deaths continue to rise across Maryland, some who treat addiction are criticizing a move by the state to limit access to a drug treatment used by thousands of patients and considered effective. The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene changed this month the list of drugs preferred by Medicaid to exclude Suboxone Film, a small, medication-infused sheet that dissolves under the tongue and is used to taper addiction by interrupting the effects of opioids in the brain. (Cohn and Marbella, 7/15)

News-Press.com: Born High: Florida Battles Rising Cases Of Addicted Newborns
Florida's collective addiction to painkillers and drugs like heroin continues to take a toll on the state's most vulnerable victims: newborn babies. The number of children born physically dependent on drugs — particularly opioids like methadone, heroin and oxycodone — have nearly doubled since 2010, despite continuing public awareness campaigns and a state effort to mitigate the problem, newly obtained hospital records show. (Gluck, 7/16)

The New York Times: Twist In Zika Outbreak: New York Case Shows Women Can Spread It To Men
The first case of female-to-male sexual transmission of the Zika virus has been documented in New York City, raising the prospect that the disease could spread more widely beyond the countries where it is already endemic and largely transmitted by mosquitoes. For months, there has been growing concern about the dangers of sexual transmission, but until now the virus has been thought to pass only from men to women or between two men. (Santora, 7/15)

The Washington Post: First Case Of Zika Spread Through Female-To-Male Sex In NYC
A week after the couple had sex, the man developed fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes. He went to the same doctor who had diagnosed Zika infection in the woman. The doctor suspected sexual transmission of the virus and alerted the health department. The man, who also is in his 20s, had not traveled outside the country during the year before his illness, did not have other recent sexual partners and had not been bitten by a mosquito in the week before he got sick. Blood and urine samples were collected from the man, who tested positive for the virus in his urine. (Sun, 715)

NPR: First Case Reported Of A Woman Infecting A Man With Zika Through Sex
Based on this case, the CDC is revising its recommendations for how people can protect themselves from getting infected with the Zika virus through sexual contact. Currently the CDC recommends that pregnant women whose male sexual partner has traveled or lived in a place where Zika is spreading use a barrier method of contraception, such as a condom, or refrain from sex during the pregnancy. The CDC now recommends that pregnant women whose sexual partners are female take the same precautions. (Stein, 7/15)

In other Zika news —

Los Angeles Times: Before The Spread Of The Zika Virus, The Vatican Allowed Contraceptive Use In Limited Situations
On his flight from Mexico back to the Vatican in February, Pope Francis made an unexpected comment about the Zika virus, saying that the outbreak — blamed for serious birth defects around the world — may justify the use of contraceptives. ... “It is a crime,” the pope responded. “It is to throw someone out in order to save another. That’s what the Mafia does.” “On the other hand,” he continued, “avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil,” and, in extreme situations, the use of contraceptives could be justified, despite the church’s ban. (Weinberg, 7/16)

NBC News: Zika Virus Hotspot: Houston's Two Cities
It only takes 15 minutes to drive from Houston's glittering medical center — home to the soaring pink granite walls of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center — to the Fifth Ward. But the voyage takes you straight from the First World into the Zika zone. (Fox, 7/15)

Meanwhile, West Nile mosquitoes are thriving in Massachusetts —

The Boston Globe: West Nile Virus Mosquitoes Don’t Mind The Drought
This summer’s drought has been tough on most Massachusetts mosquitoes, who have seen their numbers tamped down by the hot, dry weather. But one species thrives in these conditions — and that’s the species that carries West Nile virus. ... As a whole, entomologists say they’re seeing fewer mosquitoes than normal this year, partially because of moderate to severe drought conditions across much of the state. Mosquitoes need hot, humid conditions to proliferate, and the lack of rainfall hasn’t provided that. Many of the state’s 51 species of mosquitoes, including those that transmit Eastern equine encephalitis, have diminished ranks, although the state confirmed its first detection of EEE in a mosquito sample Friday. (Wang, 7/16)

Stat: Pediatricians Take On New Role: Fighting The Bigotry And Violence That Hurts Kids
America’s pediatricians are tired of watching their patients traumatized by gun violence and racism. Now, they’re launching an effort to do something about it. The American Academy of Pediatrics on Monday issued recommendations that children under 6 be shielded from on-screen violence, that video games stop awarding points for shooting living targets, and that the media avoid downplaying the proven link between virtual and real violence. (Weintraub, 7/18)

Kaiser Health News: Emotional Healing After A Flood Can Take Just As Long As Rebuilding
Most of the front door of Rachel Taylor's little yellow house in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, is pasted with paw prints where her dog struggled to get inside during the flood last month. He was too big to carry through the rising waters. Across the street, nestled between two battered houses, an empty lot is marked by a cross with an array of flowers and photos — a small memorial for a family washed away by the torrent. ... But once the full extent of the damage set in, Taylor says, she developed severe nausea and carsickness to the point of not being able to drive. A number of people, she says, have chalked up her symptoms to nerves. "You know, the stress level. You don't realize your body is just having a response to this." (Lofton, 7/18)

In other news, many in the public health sphere are growing frustrated by the lack of gun violence research —

The Dallas Morning News: Lack Of Data On Gun Violence Is An Embarrassment, Researchers Say
Public health research has helped the United States slash smoking rates, tackle the AIDS epidemic and reduce deaths from car accidents to some of their lowest levels in recorded history. The country needs to take the same approach with gun violence, say a growing number of experts. They have spoken out in the wake of a series of mass shootings, including the July 7 ambush in Dallas that killed five law enforcement officers and injured 11 officers and civilians. (Kuchment, 7/15)

WBUR: Ethical Dilemma: Do I Game The System To Get My Patient A Heart?
This is the system we have to navigate: The United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, has established criteria to make sure that donor hearts go to the patients with the most severe disease. The criteria are based on which treatments a doctor has seen fit to prescribe, on the assumption that they’re a good indication of how critical your illness is. Generally, that's a good assumption. Except that the system itself creates a perverse incentive. (Movsesian, 7/15)

NPR: Wellness Programs Take Aim At Workplace Stress
Stress has long been shown to increase the risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and a number of mental health problems. And a recent poll finds that a substantial number of working adults say stress is a critical health issue they face at work. The poll was conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. So what are employers doing about it? Fifty-one percent of the people in our poll said their workplace has a formal wellness or health improvement program. (Neighmond, 7/18)

Wyoming Public Radio: Using Horse Traditions To Reduce Teen Suicide On Wind River Reservation
It’s called the Horse Culture Program because the reservation’s two tribes, the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Arapaho, have a long history with horses. After Europeans brought them to the Americas, many tribes adopted them to a new, more nomadic way of life, pursuing herds of bison and other big game. Now the Horse Culture Program is using that history to combat the modern day problem of teen suicide. “It started as a suicide prevention initiative to help them understand and express their feeling,” Sage says, “because sometimes when we’re hurting or feeling sad, we don’t know how to say that.” (Edwards, 7/15)

The Washington Post: A Cure For AIDS Is No Longer Unthinkable
Not many years ago, the idea of defeating the resilient virus that causes AIDS was far-fetched. But as 18,000 people gather this coming week in Durban, South Africa, for the 21st International AIDS Conference, the prospect of a cure is plausible enough that it is attracting increasing amounts of money, scientific research and attention. Discussion of a cure will lead off the conference, which comes little more than a month after the United Nations committed to action to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, despite formidable obstacles. Leaders of the global battle against HIV have described 2016 as a pivotal year in their effort. (Bernstein, 7/16)

Wyoming Public Radio: Handing Over The Camera To People With HIV
Photographer Gideon Mendel had won several prestigious awards for his pictures of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. But in 2007, he decided to hand over the camera to his subjects. He co-founded an organization called Through Positive Eyes and began teaching basic digital camera skills to people who were HIV positive, then encouraged them to capture images of their own lives. Since 2008, they have hosted workshops in 10 cities around the world: Mexico City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Bangkok, Port-au-Prince, London and, most recently, Durban, South Africa. (Adair, 7/16)

Stateline: Money, Personal Preferences Push States On Long-Term Care
Facing a wave of aging baby boomers, many states are trying to make it easier for frail seniors to stay in their homes — as many prefer — instead of moving into more costly nursing homes. States have a huge stake in where aging seniors and disabled people end up getting long-term care because many of them won’t be able to afford to pay for their care and will have to rely on Medicaid, the health care program for the poor and disabled. Each state has its own Medicaid program, funded jointly by the state and the federal government. (Bergal, 7/18)

The Des Moines Register: Medicaid Managers Are Slow To Pay Bills, Agencies Say
Iowa’s shift to private management of its Medicaid program continues to spark complaints, especially from agencies that provide services to the 560,000 Iowans covered by the public insurance. Many agency leaders say they’re going into debt because many of their bills continue to be rejected for trivial or unclear reasons, more than three months after private firms took control of Iowa’s Medicaid program. (Leys, 7/17)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Sherrod Brown Urges Medicaid To Fix System That Leaves Millions Of Kids Untested For Lead Poisoning
Sen. Sherrod Brown is calling for new measures to bolster chronically low lead poisoning testing rates in Ohio and nationwide. In a letter to the head of the federal agency that provides health insurance to the needy, Brown and Democratic senators from two other states today asked to increase screening levels and improve the response when tests show a child has been poisoned. Hundreds of thousands of children under the age of six are poisoned by lead each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Dissell and Zeltner, 7/15)

The CT Mirror: With Two Weeks Left, Medicaid Transition Reaches 26 Percent
Over the last two weeks, Connecticut’s health insurance exchange has helped another 1,400 low-income individuals transition from their state-sponsored Medicaid plans as they prepare to lose them after July 31. State lawmakers approved legislation two years ago that would make eligibility levels more stringent for parents and caregivers on HUSKY A, which is the state-sponsored Medicaid program for low-income children, parents and caregivers. The change in the eligibility level will cause about 14,000 parents and caregivers to lose coverage at the end of July. (Constable, 7/15)

The Charlotte Observer: Leader Of $10 Million Medicaid Fraud In Charlotte Found Guilty
A Charlotte woman who prosecutors say was the leader of a $10 million Medicaid fraud scheme was convicted in federal court Friday. Cynthia Teresa Harlan, 48, was found guilty of one count of health care fraud conspiracy, three counts of making false statements relating to heath care matters, three counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of obstruction of a health care fraud investigation, said U.S. Attorney Jill Rose. (Stone, 7/15)

The New York Times: New York Public Hospitals Use Emojis To Reach Young People About Sex
The birds and the bees are no longer confined to uncomfortable living-room conversations. They will start popping up as emojis in teenagers’ Facebook feeds on Monday. Eggplant and peach emojis will appear with the words: “Need to talk to someone about ‘it’?” A monkey emoji with its hands over its mouth will offer advice on how to get confidential access to emergency contraception. The social media posts are part of a campaign by NYC Health & Hospitals to reach young people ages 12 to 21 and encourage them to seek confidential care for sexual and reproductive health, like testing for sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, at one of the 20 YouthHealth centers across the five boroughs. (Schmidt, 7/17)

The Washington Post: In Quest For New Prince George’s Hospital, New Management Seen As A Must
The state officials weighing an effort by Prince George’s County to launch a new regional medical center have one common concern: Dimensions Healthcare System, the long-troubled nonprofit that has operated hospitals in the county for decades. Early this year, when Gov. Larry Hogan (R) balked at giving millions of dollars to keep existing county hospitals afloat while the new one is built, he wanted assurances that Dimensions would not play a role in running the new medical center. (Hernández, 7/17)

San Antonio Express-News: Change In Abortion Statistics Adds To Confusion In Texas
Texas quietly changed the way it records abortion statistics, skewing the amount of time a woman is considered pregnant by two weeks and adding a new layer of confusion as lawmakers seek to rewrite abortion rules struck down this summer by the U.S. Supreme Court. (Zelinksi, 7/15)

The Boston Globe: East Boston Health Center Tries To Adapt To A Gentrification Neighborhood
For nearly five decades, the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center has cared for impoverished families and new immigrants, providing them with job training, English classes, and other social and medical services. But for the newest residents of East Boston, the health center is considering altogether different offerings: spin classes, Zumba, and cooking demonstrations from local chefs. They are an effort to accommodate a changing neighborhood that is experiencing a development boom and surge of young professionals drawn to its more affordable housing, authentic ethnic vibe, and proximity to downtown. (Conti, 7/17)

The Tennessean: Premise Health Expands Mid-Market Employer Reach
Premise Health, a company that runs on-site clinics for employers, is expanding its portfolio of clinics that serve groupings of employers. Premise bought TransformHealthRx, a company out of Statesboro, Ga., that offers clinics and wellness centers to employer groups in addition to onsite clinics. (Fletcher, 7/15)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Universities To Launch Online Counseling
Faced with soaring demand for mental health services from students struggling with depression and anxiety, three Texas universities plan to launch an online counseling program this fall replacing face-to-face therapy with informational videos, online exercises and video consultations that cut the time spent on each individual by nearly 70 percent. Texas A&M University, the University of North Texas and Baylor University hope the online service will help reach more students using 10- to 20-minute video conferences with counselors — a fraction of traditional 50-minute face-to-face sessions. But some psychology experts worry that the shortened sessions won't provide much help and will come with privacy risks. (Pattani, 7/16)

Sacramento Bee: Fighting Poor Nutrition Among California Seniors – With A Food Truck
California is a leading state in which seniors have become among “the hidden poor,” according to a 2015 study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Nearly 1 in 5, or about 772,000, of California’s adults older than 65 cannot afford basic needs such as food, housing, transportation and health care, but often do not qualify for public assistance, the study found. “If you’re running out of money at the end of the month ... the easiest thing is to cut down on food or eat food that is inexpensive or not nutritious,” said Steven Wallace, associate director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and co-author of the report. (Agha, 7/17)

Tampa Bay Times: As Children In Pinellas County Struggle To Find Dental Care, Health Department Steps In With Day Of Free Care
Dozens of parents who packed into the same waiting room with their children had faced similar dilemmas. Some didn't have dental insurance and wouldn't be able to come up with the money to have their children's teeth cleaned, fixed or X-rayed. Others with Medicaid said they're up against a shortage of providers and long waiting lists. (DiNatale, 7/16)

Minnesota Public Radio: Olmsted County Works To Contain Whooping Cough Outbreak
Olmsted County officials are working to contain a pertussis outbreak. Since January, the county has had 127 cases, a number they haven't seen since a pertussis spike four years ago. The bacterial infection, commonly known as whooping cough, originated in teenagers. Schools posed the highest risk for spreading the disease. (Bartyzal, 7/15)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Vaccine To Prevent Meningitis Added To School Requirements
For the first time in 10 years, a new vaccine has been added to the requirements for Missouri schoolchildren. Students entering the eighth and 12th grades will need to have a meningococcal vaccine before school starts this fall...With the new rule, Missouri joins a majority of states that have adopted the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics. (Bernhard, 7/15)

The Columbus Dispatch: Meningitis Vaccine Required This Year For Ohio 7th-, 12th-Graders
Before the new school year, parents will have to make sure their children receive the meningococcal vaccine. Lawmakers added the vaccine to the list of required immunizations last year for students entering seventh grade and 12th grade; the change takes effect in the coming weeks. Ohio allows parents who object to vaccines to opt out. In Ohio, 74 percent of young people are vaccinated, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the U.S., vaccine coverage is close to 79 percent. (Fochesato, 7/18)

The New York Times: Obamacare’s Kindest Critic
History will almost surely rank health care reform as one of President Obama’s greatest accomplishments. About 20 million Americans have insurance that might otherwise have been unaffordable, and the law has cost much less than anticipated. But one senior administration official thinks the Affordable Care Act has fallen short. His name: Barack Obama. ... He recommends that the government offer its own health insurance, a so-called public option, on the exchanges in some parts of the country. That could help make health care more affordable in rural areas and smaller cities where only two or three insurers sell coverage. Republicans and some moderate Democrats fear that this could be the first step to a single-payer health care system. But there might be more support for a policy that is intended strictly for people in places with few choices. (7/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Public Misperceptions About Obamacare Premium Increases
News reports across the country are mentioning outsize proposed premium increases from some plans in some marketplaces. Many news reports have been careful to say that these outsize increases are not typical, nor the whole story. But there is a wider misperception about Obamacare premium increases: Many Americans insured through their employers wrongly believe that these large premium increases apply to them though only a much smaller group is affected. (Drew Altman, 7/15)

Modern Healthcare: Why Assume Healthcare Cost Controls Will Fail?
Last week, two well-respected groups of government economists predicted the end is nigh for the era of restrained growth in healthcare spending. Ignore them. They've been wrong before. They will be proven wrong again. Every summer, the actuaries at the CMS and the money minders at the Congressional Budget Office—economists all—offer their outlooks for future healthcare spending. Every year since the onset of the Great Recession and through the economy's slow-but-steady recovery, they've projected the current era of slow growth is coming to an end. (Merrill Goozner, 7/16)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals, Systems Play Critical Leadership Role In Boosting Our National Health Security
America's hospitals and health systems must be prepared for anything, but as the range of threats to health in our communities becomes broader and the threats hit more quickly and frequently—whether it's the devastation of natural disasters or emerging threats such as the Zika virus—provider organizations will need to play bigger roles in heading off problems before they spiral into crises. To support resilient communities that can meet and overcome threats to our health security, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established the National Health Security Preparedness Index as a streamlined tool to better understand the nation's capabilities. (Paul Kuehnert, 7/16)

Los Angeles Times: Feds Say Prime Healthcare Has Figured Out How To Make Money From Hospitals — Through Fraud
Making a profit in the hospital business is tough. At least, that’s the explanation for the surge in hospital mergers we’ve been seeing recently. According to the federal government, however, one California-based hospital chain has figured out how to squeeze the absolute maximum income from Medicare and other government programs and send the money directly to its bottom line. The chain is Prime Healthcare, and the feds say its technique involves systematic fraud. (Michael Hiltzik, 7/15)

Lexington (Ky.) Herald Leader: Bevin Health Plan Prudent, Enhances Recipients’ Dignity
In a state of just 4.3 million citizens, we should all find it alarming that in the last decade, the number of those enrolled in Kentucky’s Medicaid program has more than doubled from 600,000 to just under 1.4 million. We have some huge challenges. ... As I followed the criticisms and judgments since the administration announced Kentucky HEALTH, I think this is one of those situations when a sensitive issue is touched, like health care for the disadvantaged, and everyone immediately retreats to a defensive position, often hearing only what they are expecting to hear. What fails to be reported and seems to get missed are many of the actuarial facts. For instance, Kentucky’s managed care organizations are paid more and their average profits are greater than any other state in the nation. (State Rep. Addia Kathryn Wuchner, 7/17)

Lexington (Ky.) Herald Leader: Medicaid Waiver Misguided, Harmful
Kynect and expanded Medicaid have been among of the most extraordinary accomplishments Kentucky has made in the last 30 years. We are talking about 440,000 people in Kentucky who now have a primary care provider, who can get an eye exam, who can see specialists, who can get a dental exam, an x-ray and their teeth cleaned once a year. It has been a tremendous step forward. For some reason Gov. Matt Bevin wants to reverse this progress. (K.A. Owens, 7/17)

The Des Moines Register: Providers' Medicaid Nightmare Becomes Reality
Gov. Terry Branstad insisted his plan to privatize administration of Medicaid would save the state money. It made no sense that handing billions of public dollars to for-profit companies would miraculously reduce spending in the health insurance program for 560,000 Iowans. His administration provided no meaningful details about how savings would be achieved. The public was just supposed to have faith and hope for the best. Now perhaps it is becoming clear how the Medicaid belt will be tightened: by not paying health care providers for services. (7/16)

The New York Times: For Suicidal Veterans, A Frayed Lifeline
Veterans make up 8.5 percent of America’s adult population but account for 18 percent of its suicides. In 2014, according to new data from the Veterans Affairs Department, 7,403 veterans killed themselves. That is about 20 deaths a day. This is a national emergency, and attacking it is the primary mission of the V.A.’s Veterans Crisis Line, a call center based in Canandaigua, N.Y. ... Since 2007, the crisis line has been an all-purpose safety net for many thousands of veterans in free fall. But the net is badly frayed, according to watchdog reports and news accounts from the first six months of the year. (7/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Democrats’ Zika Obstruction
Senate Democrats have taken their latest political hostages, and this time they’re pregnant women at risk for Zika virus infections. After demanding immediate emergency funding for months, they walked out on their own bill on Thursday to use the issue as a campaign bludgeon against Republicans. ... Democrats now claim the measure would have “banned” Planned Parenthood from the health-care providers list and restricted funding for birth control. In fact, Planned Parenthood simply isn’t on the specific list of public health clinics and community health centers that will receive additional and immediate social-services block-grant funding in Zika-hit locales like Puerto Rico. (7/15)

Connecticut Health I-Team/San Francisco Chronicle: Susan Campbell: Playing Politics With Zika
Federal officials have known about the seriousness of the Zika virus for more than a year, yet important funding has been tied up in the worst kind of Washington impasse. In late June, a bill that would have earmarked $1.1 billion for Zika funding was sunk by a series of non-related riders. Democrats did not support the Republican-written bill, which came attached with provisions that cut funding from Planned Parenthood, as well as lift a ban on displaying the Confederate flag at military cemeteries. What the Stars and Bars has to do with birth defects is beyond the scope of this column. Attaching riders to bills is not new politics, but in the case of an encroaching epidemic, doing so seems peculiar, at best. (Susan Campbell, 7/16)

San Antonio Express-News: It’s Common Sense To Test Blood Donors For Zika
The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center recently began testing for the Zika virus when donors give blood. These tests are optional — about 18 percent of donors so far have said no thanks — but it’s just common sense to do it. (7/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: Minor Or Emergent? When To Go To The ER
There are over 136 million emergency room visits each year in the United States. It is estimated that more than 50 percent of all ER visits could have been avoided had the patient visited their primary care physician first. Indeed, a leading reason for long emergency room wait times is the fact that many patients commonly utilize the ER for their routine health care. In addition, as many individuals still remain uninsured, some of these patients recognize that it is illegal for an emergency room to turn anyone away seeking health care; thus making it a convenient alternative to visiting a doctor to address their non-emergent ailments. Unfortunately, these unnecessary visits lengthen the waiting time for those truly requiring the services of the facility while increasing the excessive costs associated with these institutions. (Michael Schwartz, 7/17)

Stat: For Some Chronic Pain Patients, ‘Without Opioids, Life Would Be Torture’
As the nation begins responding to the epidemic of overdoses and deaths caused by opioids, some people with chronic pain who have relied on these powerful painkillers for years are finding them harder to get. A survey conducted by the Boston Globe and Inspire, a health care social network of 200 online support groups with 800,000 members, found that nearly two-thirds of respondents reported that getting prescribed opioid medication had become more difficult in the past year. STAT asked three Inspire members with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome — a painful condition that affects the connective tissues that support the skin, bones, blood vessels, and other organs and tissues — to talk about their experiences with opioids. (Patrick Skerrett, 7/15)

Los Angeles Times: Breast Milk Is Best And Free, So Why Is It A Luxury For American Moms?
In an immaculate mid-century spread nestled in the canyons of Beverly Hills, a Hollywood actress plucks her sleepy infant daughter from the co-sleeper bassinet attached to her bed and settles in for a cozy breastfeeding session. Soon, the child’s live-in nurse swoops in to bathe the baby. Across town on L.A.’s East Side, a Guatemalan immigrant clutching her 2-month-old son in a blanket makes her way through the parking lot at a generic brick building. Inside, she waits to receive her monthly voucher from the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly known as WIC. Later, she will redeem it for infant formula and groceries. (Jennifer Grayson, 7/17)

Stat: Prevention Must Be At The Forefront To Meet Global HIV Goals
Thanks to a spate of scientific advances, this decade could be the beginning of the end of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. But it won’t be if the focus stays only on scaling up treatment. It is undeniably good that more people will be treated for HIV, live longer and better lives, and fewer will die of AIDS. But as long as we regard essential components of HIV prevention as secondary, millions of people will continue to be infected with HIV. That means the epidemic will rage on, and the costs of treatment will continue to escalate. (Peter Piot and Mitchell Warren, 7/18)