The Associated Press: Feds Charge 300 In Nationwide Health Care Fraud Sweeps
Health care fraud sweeps across the country have led to charges against 300 people including doctors, nurses, physical therapists and home health care providers accused of bilking Medicare and Medicaid, the government announced Wednesday. The sweep spread from southern California to southern Florida and Houston to Brooklyn, New York, with arrests being made over three days. (6/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Justice Department Announces Biggest Medicare Fraud Crackdown
Federal agents have arrested roughly 300 suspects in what officials call their largest crackdown on Medicare fraud, with charges ranging from taking illegal payments for marketing medications to false physical-therapy claims. (Barrett, 6/22)

Reuters: U.S. Completes 'Takedown' Of Medicare Fraud: Officials
The national sweep resulted in charges against doctors, nurses, pharmacists and physical therapists accused of fraud that cost the government $900 million, the department said. The cases involved an array of charges, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering and violations of an anti-kickback law. This year's sweep exceeded last year's record in which 243 defendants faced charges in a combined $712 million in government losses. (6/22)

The Fiscal Times: Doctors And Nurses Charged In Massive $900 Million Medicare Fraud
In some cases, doctors took part in schemes to submit claims to Medicare and Medicaid for treatments that were not necessary and were never provided. In others, health care providers offered kickbacks to “patient recruiters” to help assemble beneficiary information that could be used in phony filings. One of the biggest scams involved phony billings for costly prescription drugs at a time when Medicare’s drug costs are spiking. (Pianin, 6/23)

The Washington Post: Feds Allege $900 Million In Fake Medical Bills, Kickbacks And Other Health Care Fraud
"They submitted dishonest claims, they charged excessive fees and they prescribed unnecessary drugs," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at a news conference. "As this takedown should make clear, health-care fraud is not an abstract violation. It’s not a benign offense. It’s a serious crime." (Johnson and Zapotosky, 6/22)

And media outlets report on the sweep on a state level —

Los Angeles Times: Nation's Biggest Healthcare Fraud Probe Nets 301 People, Including 22 In Southern California
In Southern California, five physicians were among those arrested in cases involving $125 million in elaborate fraud schemes that targeted Medicare and the military’s medical plan and involved medical billing, unnecessary procedures and high-priced specialized compound medications. The charges in 13 criminals cases filed in federal courts in Los Angeles and Santa Ana include conspiracy, money laundering, kickback schemes and identity theft, according to several federal indictments. (Winton, 6/22)

The Columbus Dispatch: Hilliard-Area Couple To Plead In Home-Health-Care Fraud Case
A Hilliard-area couple who operated a home-health-care agency have agreed to plead guilty to federal charges in a scheme that defrauded the Medicaid program and helped them build a million-dollar luxury home. State and federal officials revealed the local case today, as the U.S. Justice and Health and Human Services departments also announced a nationwide sweep that has led to charges against 301 people — including 61 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals — involved in $900 million worth of false billings. (Price, 6/22)

The Houston Chronicle: 'Largest Medicare Fraud Takedown In History' Nabs 22 In Houston Area
More than 300 people across the nation - including 22 in the Houston area - have been charged with stealing more than $900 million in what federal investigators say is the "largest Medicare fraud takedown in history." The 301 people facing criminal and civil charges of health care fraud include 61 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, according to the Department of Justice. (Banks, 6/22)

The Dallas Morning News: $5 Million Ear Care Scam In Dallas Part Of Nation’s Biggest Medicare Bust
Three Garland residents accused of operating a more than $5 million ear care scam are among dozens of people across the country arrested as part of the biggest Medicare fraud bust in history. Nine others in the Dallas area linked to three separate home health care scams also were charged. (Krause, 6/22)

St. Louis Public Radio: Four In St. Louis Charged As Part Of A Nationwide Crackdown On Health Care Fraud
Four St. Louis-area residents are among hundreds across the nation facing charges of federal health care fraud. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the allegations on Wednesday. All told, more than 300 people in 30 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have been accused of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid. (Lippmann, 6/22)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Delco Podiatrist Among 301 Charged In Massive Medicare-Fraud Bust
A Delaware County podiatrist is one of 301 individuals charged in a nationwide Medicare-fraud bust spanning 36 federal districts and involving approximately $900 million in fraudulent payments. (Chadha, 6/22)

The New York Times: Medicare And Social Security Trustees Warn Of Shortfalls
The Obama administration said Wednesday that the financial outlook for Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund had deteriorated slightly in the last year and that Social Security still faced serious long-term financial problems. The report, from the trustees of the two programs, could inject a note of fiscal reality into a presidential campaign that has given scant attention to the government’s fiscal challenges as the population ages. Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has proposed increasing Social Security benefits and allowing people age 55 to 64 to “buy into” Medicare, while Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has repeatedly said he would not cut either program. (Pear, 6/22)

Modern Healthcare: Trustees' Report Says Medicare Will Be Insolvent By 2028
The Medicare trust fund will be insolvent by 2028, according to the 2016 Medicare trustees' report released Wednesday. The prediction is a departure from the 2030 date the Obama administration outlined in the previous two reports. The estimate is still later than the timeline released by the Congressional Budget Office in January, which estimated the program would be solvent only until 2026. (Dickson, 6/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Social Security, Medicare Face Insolvency Over 20 Years, Trustees Report
The annual report card from the programs’ trustees said Medicare’s hospital-insurance trust fund, which provides coverage to more than 55 million Americans, will exhaust its reserves by 2028, two years sooner than estimated last year. (Timiraos, 6/22)

Reuters: Medicare Program Spending Within Target Rate: Trustees
The Medicare program, which provides health coverage for more than 55 million older as well as disabled people, said that the projected growth rate for per capita spending has not exceeded its target. That put aside the need for the program's regulator, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, to establish a savings target and to initiate mandatory spending cuts, their annual financial report said. As such, the government would not need to immediately set up an Independent Payment Advisory Board to make proposals on the cuts, it said. (Humer and Krauskopf, 6/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Higher Earners Face Steep Hikes In Medicare Premiums
Nearly a third of all Medicare beneficiaries face a steep increase in their premiums next year, the result of a policy that in certain circumstances requires some beneficiaries, including higher earners, to shoulder the burden of rising costs. The government health-care plan’s trustees projected in a report Wednesday that premiums would rise by as much as 22% for wealthier beneficiaries of Medicare Part B, which covers doctor visits and other types of outpatient care. (Tergensen, 6/22)

The Associated Press: Candidates Avoid Medicare, Social Security Finance Woes
The nation's framework for economic security and health care in retirement is financially unsustainable, but you wouldn't know it from listening to the presidential candidates. ... Medicare's trust fund will run out in 2028, and Social Security's in 2034. The candidates have said little to acknowledge the issue, although it's at the root of the government's budget problems. They may not be able to avoid it once in the White House. Health care costs, in particular, can be volatile. And liberals and conservatives agree it's important to act sooner rather than later, to avoid disruptions for retirees and workers. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Ohlemacher, 6/23)

The Hill: Medicare Trust Fund Running Out Of Money Fast
Andy Slavitt, acting head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, underscored the role ObamaCare has played in helping to slow down overall healthcare costs. “Some of this reduction in Medicare spending is the direct result of payment reforms in Affordable Care Act,” Slavitt told reporters. (Ferris, 6/22)

The Associated Press: House Passes $1.1B Zika Bill Over Democratic Opposition
The House has passed a $1.1 billion House-Senate measure to combat the Zika virus, but the GOP-drafted measure is a nonstarter with Senate Democrats and the Obama White House. The measure was unveiled late Wednesday and approved by the House early on Thursday morning by a 239-171 vote that broke along party lines. The vote came after Democrats hijacked the House floor for virtually all of Wednesday and well into Thursday, protesting GOP inaction on gun legislation in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando. GOP leaders called the vote abruptly, permitting no debate, and immediately adjourned the House through July 4. (6/23)

The Washington Post: Bipartisan Talks On Zika Virus Break Down Ahead Of July 4 Recess
Democrats abandoned negotiations on Wednesday in part because Republicans insisted that the funding be partially paid for by cuts to the Affordable Care Act — President Obama’s signature domestic achievement — and by shifting more than $100 million from the Ebola emergency fund, according to Democratic aides. With lawmakers headed for the exits on Thursday for a week of July 4th recess, the breakdown could mean that Congress will leave town once again without providing funding for Zika during the height of mosquito season. The virus is linked to severe birth defects in babies of some pregnant women who are infected. (Snell, 6/22)

The New York Times: Zika Deal In Congress Likely To Be Delayed Until After Recess
As the Republican negotiators announced Wednesday evening that they had reached a tentative agreement — which the House approved early Thursday in a 239-171 vote — Democrats lashed out. They said the proposal was layered with numerous unrelated provisions that they would never accept, including an effort to restrict government financing of Planned Parenthood, the women’s health organization. While Democrats did not have any sway over the House-Senate negotiations, Republicans do not have sufficient votes in the Senate to overcome procedural obstacles and approve the agreement on their own. (Herszenhorn, 6/23)

Stat: House Passes Zika Bill In Early Morning Vote Over Democratic Opposition
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers of Kentucky said the agreement was “the product of careful and thorough deliberations between the House and the Senate, and reflects a responsible compromise that can and should be signed into law.” But Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate subcommittee that funds health programs, called it “a hyperpartisan proposal that is more about throwing red meat to the Tea Party than actually tackling this crisis.” (Scott, 6/23)

Politico Pro: Reid: GOP Zika Deal An 'Attack On Women’s Health'
“A narrowly partisan proposal that cuts off women's access to birth control, shortchanges veterans and rescinds Obamacare funds to cover the cost is not a serious response to the threat from the Zika virus,” Reid said in a statement. “In short, Republicans are trying to turn an attempt to protect women's health into an attack on women's health. Their proposal would be comical except this a public health emergency and it deserves urgency.” (Ehley, 6/22)

The New York Times: House Democrats’ Gun-Control Sit-In Turns Into Chaotic Showdown With Republicans
A Democratic protest demanding votes on gun-control legislation led to pandemonium in the House chamber that did not end until early Thursday, when Speaker Paul D. Ryan and his fellow Republicans reclaimed control long enough to force through a major spending bill. They then abruptly adjourned and left the Capitol. ... Democrats — who do not have enough strength in either the House or Senate to pass legislation on their own — have resorted to spectacle to highlight their anger over the failure by Congress to take any action to tighten the nation’s gun-control laws. (Herszenhorn and Huetteman, 6/22)

NBC News: Doctors Need To Join Gun Control Fight, Medical Journal Argues
American doctors should join the increasingly bitter battle on gun control, the influential New England Journal of Medicine said Wednesday. The medical journal's editorial board joined a growing group of medical professionals taking side in the highly politicized gun debate, even as Democrats staged a sit-in on the floor of Congress and the Senate voted against four proposed firearms measures. (Fox, 6/22)

The Baltimore Sun: Study Of Australia's Gun Laws May Provide Example In United States
As federal lawmakers continue to debate a legislative response to the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, a new study of the two-decade old gun control program in Australia may offer them an instructive example. (Cohn, 6/22)

Meanwhile, a federal appeals court heard arguments in the "Docs Vs. Glocks" case this week —

WABE: Fla. ‘Docs Versus Glocks’ Battle Could Spur Ga. Lawmakers
A federal appeals court in Atlanta heard arguments Tuesday in a case challenging a Florida law that prevents doctors from discussing or recording information about their patients' gun ownership. If the law is upheld, the protections could influence firearms debates in Georgia. The legal battle began with an NRA-backed law meant to stop physicians from harassing patients about the potential dangers of firearms. (Hagen, 6/22)

The Hill: House To Vote On Long-Delayed Mental Health Bill In July
The House will vote on a long-delayed mental health reform bill in July, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) office said Wednesday. The announcement is another major step forward for the legislation, which had been delayed for years but finally was voted out of committee this month. The committee vote came after House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) worked to make major changes to the bill, scaling back many of the more sweeping, costly provisions. The bill ended up passing committee this month by an overwhelming vote of 53-0, smoothing the path to passage by the full House. Democrats have called the bill a good first step but argued that without major new funding, the measure is incomplete. (Sullivan, 6/22)

The Hill: White House Slams GOP's ObamaCare Replacement Plan
President Obama's chief spokesman on Wednesday ripped the House Republicans’ long-awaited plan to replace ObamaCare, calling the proposal too little, too late. “For six years now, Republicans have vowed to put an ObamaCare alternative on the floor of the Congress. And for six years now, they have broken that promise,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. (Fabian, 6/22)

Politico Pro: How Ryan's Health Plan Could Help Trump
House Republicans just gave Donald Trump a viable path to repeal and replace Obamacare, according to the budget expert who wrote Sen. John McCain's health plan in 2008. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who was McCain's top economic adviser during the 2008 campaign, told POLITICO's "Pulse Check" podcast that House Speaker Paul Ryan's health care plan released Wednesday is a major milestone for the party and for this fall's elections, too. (Diamond, 6/23)

Politico Pro: Kentucky Threatens End Of Medicaid Expansion Without Waiver Approval
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin today issued an ultimatum to the federal government, saying that if CMS refuses to accept his plan for Medicaid expansion there will be no expansion at all. Kentucky wants to revamp its Obamacare program by tightening benefits and refusing coverage to those who don’t pay new monthly premiums it plans to charge. Bevin announced the proposal at a news conference. (Pradhan, 6/22)

New Orleans Times Picayune: Department Of Health Enrolling 2,500 People Per Day Into Medicaid
Louisiana Department of Health officials had enrolled more than 220,000 people into the state's Medicaid expansion as of 9 a.m. Wednesday (June 22), with 9,000 of those people coming from the food stamp rolls. (Litten, 6/22)

And Connecticut hopes to ease the transition for people who will be moving off of Medicaid —

The CT Mirror: First Access Health CT Transition Fair For Medicaid Is A Bust
Some 14,000 low-income parents will lose their state-sponsored Medicaid health insurance coverage Aug. 1, so Connecticut’s health care insurance exchange held an enrollment fair Wednesday to help them find a replacement plan. Nobody came. "We gotta get the word out there," said Debra Eastman, assistant manager of storefronts and community enrollment partner sites for Access Health CT. (Constable, 6/22)

Modern Healthcare: Senators Push Justice Department To Halt Health Insurance Mergers
Seven Democratic U.S. senators—including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut—are urging the U.S. Department of Justice to block the pending health insurance mega-mergers in one of the strongest stances to date against the deals. (Herman, 6/22)

Reuters: Democratic Senators Ask Justice Department To Block Insurance Megamergers
Seven Democratic senators urged the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday to block two mergers of major health insurance companies, saying that the proposed deals would mean higher premiums and lower-quality healthcare for consumers. The department is reviewing Aetna Inc's $33 billion plan to buy Humana Inc and Anthem Inc's $48 billion proposal to buy Cigna Corp. If approved, the deals, both of which were announced last July, would reduce the number of national health insurance carriers from five to three. (Bartz, 6/22)

The CT Mirror: Blumenthal Asks DOJ To Stop Aetna-Humana, Anthem-Cigna Mergers
Sen. Richard Blumenthal and six other Democrats on the Judiciary Committee asked the Justice Department on Wednesday to block two proposed mergers involving Connecticut health insurers, Aetna-Humana and Anthem-Cigna. “We are deeply concerned by the detrimental impact that both of these mergers would have on premium prices, jobs and health care costs for consumers and businesses,” the senators said in a joint statement. The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division is reviewing the mergers. (Radelat, 6/22)

Also, a new Reuters analysis details how the merger could trigger higher costs for large companies —

Reuters: Exclusive: Analysis Suggests Anthem Deal Could Raise Health Costs
As questions mount over whether health insurer Anthem Inc's (ANTM.N) proposed $48 billion purchase of Cigna Corp (CI.N) will win U.S. antitrust approval, an exclusive analysis produced for Reuters suggests the merger could lead to higher costs for large companies offering workplace medical benefits. (Humer and Bartz, 6/23)

The Hill: New Shots Fired In Drug Pricing War
The pharmaceutical industry is opening a new line of attack against health insurers in the escalating battle over drug prices. Global drug lobby the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) is accusing insurance companies of funneling cash into a little-known outside group that recommends its own drug prices with hopes of driving down overall costs. (Ferris, 6/22)

Stat: Medicare Part D Spending On Compounded Drugs Is Skyrocketing
As federal regulators try to crack down on compounding pharmacies over safety concerns, a new report finds that spending by the Medicare Part D program for these medicines rose more than 600 percent over the past decade. And federal auditors say the trend raises questions about whether the drugs, which are customized for specific patient needs, were medically necessary or dispensed appropriately. (Silverman, 6/22)

Fox News: Company Offers Patients Cheaper Way To Obtain Prescription Drugs
A New York startup company wants to make the process of obtaining prescription drugs easier and cheaper for patients across the nation— including those people who don’t have health insurance. Blink Health, founded by brothers Geoffrey and Matthew Chaiken, boasts savings of up to 95 percent on more than 15,000 different medications including Prilosec, Propecia and Xanax. (6/23)

The Associated Press: AstraZeneca’s Flu-Vaccine Spray Fails Again; U.S. Panel Recommends Shot
AstraZeneca PLC’s nasal-spray version of the flu vaccine failed to protect children for three years in row, prompting an expert panel to recommend that doctors stop giving it to patients. Health officials said FluMist didn’t work at all against the flu strain that made most people sick last year, while the traditional flu shot worked reasonably well. “We could find no evidence (the spray) was effective,” said Dr. Joseph Bresee, a flu expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which presented preliminary study results to the federal advisory committee on immunization. (6/22)

Stat: Nasal Flu Vaccine Is Not Working And Should Not Be Used This Season, Expert Panel Concludes
An expert panel that advises the US government on vaccines said on Wednesday that the nasal mist influenza vaccine used by millions should not be administered this coming flu season. (Branswell, 6/22)

The New York Times: Abortion Pill Orders Rise In 7 Latin American Nations On Zika Alert
Orders for abortion pills by women in seven Latin American countries with Zika outbreaks increased after health officials in those countries warned that the virus might cause severe birth defects, according to a women’s organization supplying such pills. Orders from women in Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela roughly doubled, while those from Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras went up by from 36 percent to 76 percent, researchers said in a study published Wednesday by The New England Journal of Medicine. (McNeil and Belluck, 6/22)

Stat: Abortions In Latin America May Be Rising Because Of Zika Virus Fears
Abortions — legal or otherwise — may be increasing in Latin American countries where the Zika virus is spreading, new research suggests. The data, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, provide an early glimpse of a hard-to-track phenomenon that may be altering the way this unprecedented Zika outbreak is recorded in the annals of medical history. (Branswell, 6/22)

NBC News: Zika Virus Epidemic Has Doubled Abortion Requests, Study Finds
The epidemic of Zika virus has caused a spike in requests for abortion help in countries that ban or restrict abortions, researchers said Wednesday. Zika virus can causes severe birth defects if a woman is infected during pregnancy, and officials have cautioned women to avoid getting pregnant if they live in Zika-affected zones or to avoid going to affected regions if they are or could become pregnant. (Fox, 6/22)

Reuters: Zika Fears Sent Latin American Women Seeking Abortion Alternatives: Study
Fearing the effects of the Zika virus on their unborn children, pregnant women in Latin America increasingly have sought out abortion pills online from a nonprofit aid agency, a new study has found. (Steenhuysen, 6/22)

NPR: Has Zika Pushed More Women Toward Illegal Abortions?
Based in the Netherlands, Women on Web has a small team of doctors at its headquarters who review the requests and email back and forth with each woman to determine if there are any health issues that would prevent safe use of the drug. If there are none, the doctor then authorizes a partner group in India to ship two drugs designed to induce abortion during early pregnancy. They're mailed to the woman's home. (Aizenman, 6/22)

The New York Times: A Cautionary Tale Of ‘Stem Cell Tourism’
A growing number of clinics, often in places like Russia or China, but also in Europe and elsewhere, say on websites that they can treat, even cure, diseases like muscular dystrophy, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and spinal cord injury as well as strokes, by injecting patients with stem cells that, in theory, could develop into a missing nerve, a muscle or other cells and repair damage from an illness or an injury. Reports by injured athletes of seemingly miraculous results have contributed to a growing interest among desperate patients. Estimates are that tens of thousands of patients around the world have had such treatments and that the industry is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. ... Academic researchers say stem cells hold enormous promise, but they are proceeding cautiously with clinical trials because stem cells divide rapidly and can form tumors in laboratory animals. In lab studies, stem cells also can quickly accumulate mutations like those in cancer cells. (Kolata, 6/22)

The Boston Globe: He Went Abroad For Stem Cell Treatment. Now He’s A Cautionary Tale.
When Jim Gass suffered a stroke in 2009, it soon was clear that standard rehabilitation would not repair the damage. Unwilling to accept life in a wheelchair, Gass decided his only option was to fly overseas for experimental stem cell treatment. At clinics in Argentina, China, and Mexico, doctors injected Gass with what they described as stem cells from several sources, including fetal tissue, in attempts to reverse his partial paralysis. Clinics tout the treatments online as cutting edge and curative. (Kowalczyk, 6/22)

KQED: Stem Cells: Where Science, Hope And Hype Meet
When stem cells burst on to the public scene 20 years ago, hand-wringing and excitement in equal measure ensued. Scientists had known about these precursors to different types of cells since the 19th century, but it wasn’t until 1998, when researchers developed a method to derive stem cells from human embryos and grow them in the laboratory, that the excitement began to build. After discovering that these cells could transform into any kind of specialized cell in the body (a quality called “pluripotent”), the research team expressed hope stem cells could be used to aid in drug discovery or replace diseased or damaged tissue. (Venton, 6/22)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Cellular Dynamics Makes Hire To Prepare For Stem Cell Therapies
Cellular Dynamics International Inc., a Madison company at the forefront of making human cells that might someday be used to help cure disease, has hired an executive to lead its cell manufacturing. Derek Hei is CDI's new vice president of clinical manufacture, quality and regulatory activities, the company said. Hei was previously director of Waisman Biomanufacturing, a facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he established biotherapeutics and cell therapy contract manufacturing. (Gallagher, 6/22)

The Wall Street Journal: The Chinese Connection Fueling America’s Fentanyl Crisis
Last spring, Chinese customs agents seized 70 kilograms of the narcotics fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl hidden in a cargo container bound for Mexico. The synthetic opium-like drugs were so potent that six of the agents became ill after handling them. One fell into a coma. The cargo had traveled through five freight forwarders before reaching customs, obscuring its exact origins, according to an internal U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration intelligence briefing reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. One thing is clear: The shipment and a host of others, detailed in the DEA briefing, court documents and interviews with government officials in multiple countries, are part of a vast drug-distribution network beginning in China that feeds lethal fentanyl to the Americas. (Whalen and Spegele, 6/22)

The New York Times: New Ways To Treat Pain Meet Resistance
In recent months, federal agencies and state health officials have urged doctors to first treat pain without using opioids, and some have announced plans to restrict how many pain pills a doctor can prescribe. But getting the millions of people with chronic pain to turn to alternative treatments is a daunting task, one that must overcome inconsistent insurance coverage as well as some resistance from patients and their doctors, who know the ease and effectiveness of pain medications. (Meier and Goodnough, 6/22)

NPR: A Small Town Bands Together To Provide Opioid Addiction Treatment
Bridgton, Maine, is the kind of place people like to go to get away. It's got a small main street with shops and restaurants, a pair of scenic lakes, a ski resort and plenty of hiking trails. But about 10 years ago, Bridgton, a town of just 5,000 residents, began showing signs of a serious drug problem. "I had a lot of young people calling the agency to come into treatment," says Catherine Bell, director of Crooked River Counseling, a substance abuse treatment center in Bridgton. "They were using needles. They were shooting heroin and it was like, really bombarded." (Sharon, 6/22)

The Tennessean: Surgeon General: Recast Opioid Addiction As Illness
The path to solving the country's opioid abuse epidemic is an opportunity to recast addiction as an illness rather than a crime in many cases and to find efficient ways to treat pain, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told an auditorium of medical students and doctors Wednesday at Meharry Medical College. (Fletcher, 6/22)

And in other opioid news —

The Associated Press: Nearly 1 In 3 On Medicare Got Commonly Abused Opioids
Nearly 12 million Medicare beneficiaries received at least one prescription for an opioid painkiller last year at a cost of $4.1 billion, according to a federal report that shows how common the addictive drugs are in many older Americans' medicine cabinets. With an overdose epidemic worsening, nearly one-third of Medicare beneficiaries received at least one prescription for commonly abused opioids such as OxyContin and fentanyl in 2015. (Johnson, 6/22)

Reuters: Heroin Use At 20-Year High In U.S. Drug 'Epidemic', U.N. Says
A heroin "epidemic" is gripping the United States, where cheap supply has helped push the number of users to a 20-year high, increasing drug-related deaths, the United Nations said on Thursday. (Nasralla, 6/23)

The Associated Press: New York Sets 7-Day Limit On Initial Opioid Prescriptions
New York is limiting opioid drug prescriptions to seven days of painkillers following a patient's initial visit to a doctor. ... The changes also require insurers to cover initial inpatient drug treatment without prior approval; extend from 48 to 72 hours the time someone can be held for emergency treatment; and add 2,500 addiction-treatment slots statewide. (Virtanen, 6/22)

The Washington Post: Scientists Just Doubled The Number Of Known Contagious Cancers
All along the western Canadian coast, mussels are dying. Their blobby bodies are swollen by tumors. The blood-like fluid that fills their interiors is clogged with malignant cells. They're all sick with the same thing: cancer. And it seems to be spreading. For all its harrowing, terrifying damage, the saving grace of cancer has always been that it dies with its host. Its destructive power comes from turning victims' own cells against them and making them run amok. But when molecular biologist Stephen Goff biopsied these mussels, he found something strange. The tumor cells didn't have the same DNA as their host. (Kaplan, 6/22)

The New York Times: Cancer Is Contagious Among Clams. What About Us?
With eight contagious cancers now on the books, Dr. Murchison has started to wonder if they are not as peculiar as previously thought. “They might be emerging fairly often,” she said. So should people worry about an outbreak of infectious cancer? “I don’t think we should be starting to panic,” Dr. Murchison said. There have been rare reports of people transmitting cancer. An estimated 0.04 percent of organ transplant recipients contract cancer from the donor organ, for example. But in these cases, the cancer does not spread like a true parasite from host to host. Yet it’s not inconceivable that a human cancer might gain that power. (Zimmer, 6/22)

Sacramento Bee: Survivor’s Hope Becomes Law: Cancer Clusters Will Be Tracked
President Barack Obama signed “Trevor’s Law” on Wednesday, legislation named after a Boise man that will require the federal government to document and track cancer clusters around the nation. ...Trevor’s Law will require the government to document and track childhood and adult cancer clusters in Idaho and around the nation. In 2013, [Trevor] Schaefer joined cancer activist Erin Brockovich and others to testify for the legislation on Capitol Hill. (Hotakainen, 6/22)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Task Force Meets On Seacoast Cancer Cluster
Officials from the state Departments of Health and Human Services and Environmental Services, along with lawmakers and area residents met in Portsmouth today for the first meeting of a new task force on the investigation of a cancer cluster on the Seacoast. (Moon, 6/22)

The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Boy, 15, Who Beat Cancer Twice, Pushes For More Federal Research Money
Now 15, Grant (Reed) is a survivor of two tumors. Wednesday, he walked across Capitol Hill, meeting with lawmakers from Ohio, urging them to support giving more federal dollars for cancer research, part of Nationwide Children's Hospital's annual lobbying day in Washington. During his State of the Union address in January, President Barack Obama announced a new cancer “ moonshot” initiative to accelerate cancer research. ... This month, a Senate panel passed a spending bill that gave the National Institutes of Health a $2 billion boost. The House has yet to pass an alternative. But the Reeds are hopeful. (Wehrman, 6/23)

The Baltimore Sun: Hopkins, Three Other Cancer Centers Collaborate On Life-Saving Treatments With Celgene
Prominent cancer centers in Baltimore, New York and Pennsylvania -- including the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins -- said Wednesday they would collaborate with the biopharmaceutical company Celgene Corp. to accelerate research that could produce new, life-saving cancer therapies. (Cohn, 6/22)

NPR: Asthma-Free With No Hay Fever? Thank Your Older Sibling
Older siblings may be good for something after all. Infants whose mothers have been pregnant previously may have more active immune systems that protect them against asthma and hay fever, according to a paper in the June issue of Allergy. Researchers have noted a positive relationship between older siblings and allergies since at least 1989, when a study following British children for 23 years found that the more older siblings a child has, the less likely she or he will be allergic to airborne particles like dust and pollen. But exactly how older siblings boost younger sibling health has continued to flummox scientists. (Jacewicz, 6/22)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Unsafe Sleep Conditions Tied To Most Sudden Infant Deaths
The vast majority of babies who experienced sudden unexpected infant death in Wisconsin during 2013 and 2014 were exposed to multiple risks for unsafe sleep, according to a report released Wednesday by Keeping Kids Alive in Wisconsin. During that two-year period, 119 babies died of SUID, which is the death of an infant less than 12 months old that occurs suddenly and unexpectedly and whose cause is not immediately obvious before an investigation. Though a disproportionate number of African-American babies died, SUID claimed the lives of children of all ethnicities in 33 of Wisconsin's 72 counties, according to the report. (Stephenson, 6/22)

The Associated Press: Obama Signs Major Overhaul Of Toxic Chemicals Rules Into Law
President Barack Obama has signed into law the first overhaul of toxic chemical rules in 40 years. Obama is joined at a White House signing ceremony by lawmakers from both parties who supported the bill. He says for the first time in U.S. history, the country will be able to regulate chemicals effectively. (Lederman, 6/22)

Los Angeles Times: Kaiser Permanente Nurses Are Preparing To Strike Over Wages And Staffing
About 1,300 nurses at Kaiser Permanente’s Los Angeles Medical Center are set to begin a four-day strike Thursday. The nurses, members of the California Nurses Assn. and National Nurses United, are seeking a contract to improve staffing levels, wages and patient care. The nurses contend that inadequate staffing levels at the hospital harm patient care and don’t allow for proper rest and meal breaks. (Edelen, 6/23)

Pioneer Press: Allina Health Nurses’ Strike Enters 4th Day
The strike by nearly 5,000 nurses against Allina Health in the Twin Cities continued Wednesday with no resolution. The weeklong walkout is centered on health insurance for the nurses, which work in five area hospitals and are represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association. Wednesday was the strike’s fourth day. The striking nurses say they will return to work at 7 a.m., Sunday, June 26. (6/22)

WBUR: Nurses Threaten Strike At Brigham And Women's Hospital
The Massachusetts Nurses Association has threatened a one-day strike at Brigham and Women's Hospital on June 27 if the hospital and the union can't come to an agreement on a new contract. It would be the first strike in 30 years by nurses in a Boston hospital. The nursing union is asking for larger wage raises than the hospital has proposed, better insurance options for new nurses, and a better staff to patient ratio. (Doherty and Bruzek, 6/22)

KQED: Effort To Expand Parental Leave Law Stalls In Assembly Committee
A bill that would have expanded California’s parental leave law stalled in an Assembly committee Wednesday, and politics may have played a role in its demise. SB1166, from Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), would have required employers with 10 or more employees to allow eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave to bond with a new child. Currently, the law is limited to employers with 50 or more employees. The measure was a priority of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus. (Orr, 6/22)

Chicago Tribune: Chicago A Hot Spot For Home Health Fraud
The metropolitan area is one of 27 geographic "hot spots" identified by an analysis of Medicare claims data by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General. The examination found dozens of home health agencies and physicians in the Chicago area whose recent Medicare claims have characteristics similar to those observed in cases of fraud. (Sachdev, 6/22)

The Baltimore Sun: Two Telehealth Projects Gain Funding Under Pilot To Show The Technology's Value
Two private medical practices with offices around Maryland will receive grants from the Maryland Health Care Commission totaling more than $115,000 to demonstrate the value of telehealth technology. (Cohn, 6/22)

Health News Florida: PriceCheck: It Pays To Shop Around For MRIs In Florida
When it comes to health care in Florida, it pays to shop around. The cost of a common MRI can vary by thousands of dollars depending on where you go to get it. (Ochoa, 6/22)

Health News Florida: Florida Health Department Reports Measles In Miami
The Florida Department of Health reports a child in Miami-Dade County has come down with a case of measles. (Mack, 6/22)

The Houston Chronicle: Veterans: Report Validates Wait-Time Allegations At Houston VA
After moving to Houston two years ago, Bora Chang finally started receiving overdue medical treatment for injuries incurred during a decade of military service and a rocket attack in Iraq. ... But then, earlier this year, schedulers at the VA Medical Center in Houston began canceling her physical therapy appointments, often haphazardly and without warning, she said. Chang's complaint echoes that of other local veterans, who have previously raised concerns about the problems obtaining timely appointments at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center or its outlying clinics. ... They - and local veterans' advocates - say their concerns were vindicated by a report from the VA's Office of Inspector General released this week that found local VA officials were manipulating scheduling in a way that obscured the long wait times for appointments. (Barned-Smith and Ketterer, 6/22)

The Des Moines Register: Ex-Planned Parenthood Manager's Lawsuit Moves Ahead
A former Iowa Planned Parenthood manager who has become a prominent abortion opponent can push ahead with a fraud lawsuit against her old employer, a federal judge ruled this week. (Leys, 6/22)

Savannah Morning News: Effingham Hospital CEO Norma Jean Morgan To Collect $725,000 Severance
The severance agreement for Effingham County Health System CEO Norma Jean Morgan calls for her to continue receiving her salary and health benefits for 28 months after her May 25 retirement, with the salary totaling $725,000. The four-page severance agreement, obtained under Georgia’s Open Records Act, calls for Morgan to receive health benefits during the 28 months at the same cost she was paying as an employee. ...The agreement calls for both parties to refrain from making disparaging or defamatory comments about each other. (Rigsby, 6/22)

California Healthline: Saving Lives And Saving Money
As health care costs continue to rise, attention has turned to a tiny number of expensive patients like Meade, called super-utilizers. A program that started in Orange County has taken a different approach to treating Meade and other high-cost patients: Over the past two years, it has tracked them, healed them and saved a ton of money along the way. Meade received more than a million dollars worth of care in each of the two years before he entered the program, according to Paul Leon, CEO of the Illumination Foundation, a homeless health services group based in Irvine. Leon’s foundation runs the program, known as Chronic Care Plus, which has stabilized Meade and found him housing. (Gorn, 6/23)

The Washington Post: D.C. Revises Lead Contamination Rules After Libraries Tested Above U.S. Guidelines
On the same day the D.C. Public Library announced it found excessive lead contamination in four libraries, city officials said they will lower the maximum acceptable level of lead in public drinking water, making the District’s standards far stricter than those required by the Environmental Protection Agency. Six water fountains and one sink in the city’s public libraries were found to exceed the EPA’s maximum lead contamination level of 15 parts per billion, library officials announced Tuesday. (Schmelzer, 6/22)

North Carolina Health News: Study: North Carolina Minors Have Easy Online Access To E-Cigs
...Though today’s youth smoke far fewer cigarettes than their counterparts did 20 years ago, an emerging market for electronic cigarettes is providing a new outlet for nicotine use among young people. Despite a state law prohibiting the sale of these products to people younger than 18, a study by UNC-Chapel Hill researchers found that North Carolina minors can easily obtain electronic cigarettes over the internet. (Allf, 6/22)

California Healthline: As Marijuana Legalization Initiative Heads For California Ballot, Health Groups Weigh In
With an initiative to legalize marijuana in California likely heading to the November ballot, medical providers, health care experts and industry groups are sharply divided over the controversial measure. It is already legal in California to use cannabis with a doctor’s prescription. The Adult Use of Marijuana Act would allow adults 21 years and older to possess up to one ounce of it and grow up to six plants for non-medical use. The initiative also would impose a 15 percent tax on recreational marijuana sales. (Ibarra, 6/23)

Kaiser Health News: In Alameda County, A Big Data Effort To Prevent Frequent ER Visits
Almost every day, a patient comes into Dr. Arthur Sorrell’s San Francisco emergency room still wearing a wristband from another hospital nearby. “There are folks who have a life of going from emergency department to emergency department, and that’s how their day is spent,” said Sorrell, an emergency physician and administrator at Sutter Health. "It’s sad and tragic, but that’s what happens.” The wristband is at least a hint. Without it, emergency room staff often have no idea they are sharing patients with other hospitals just a mile away. So they treat those patients completely independently, often repeating tests unnecessarily, assigning them multiple case managers when only one is needed and offering contradictory advice. (Gold, 6/22)

Stat: Breaking The Cycle Of Despair: One Woman’s Battle For The Health Of Appalachia
[Electra] Paskett, a 59-year-old New York transplant, has spent considerable time here and in other towns across the region, trying to figure out why cancer rates have remained so stubbornly high. Even as the death rate from cancer has steadily declined for years across much of the country, the mortality rate in Appalachia is down only slightly from what it was in 1968 — and in some counties the rate has increased. (Bob Tedeschi, 6/20)

The New Yorker: The Shadow Doctors
Despite the onslaught, doctors and international N.G.O.s have forged an elaborate network of underground hospitals throughout Syria. They have installed cameras in intensive-care units, so that doctors abroad can monitor patients by Skype and direct technicians to administer proper treatment. In besieged areas, they have adapted hospitals to run on fuel from animal waste. (Ben Taub, 6/19)

The Atlantic: The Unconscionable Difficulty Of Getting Health Insurance For A Newborn
Before I gave birth, I made three calls: one to Oscar, my health-insurance company; one to the New York state exchange through which I receive my insurance, thanks to the Affordable Care Act; and one to Child Health Plus, New York’s “health insurance program for kids,” through which my toddler daughter receives her coverage and with which I wanted to enroll my son. (Ester Bloom, 6/20)

The Nation: The Devastating Process Of Dying In America Without Insurance
Doris Portillo keeps the door to her father’s old room closed to avoid remembering the last few months of his life. It’s a small room, barely large enough for a bed, a small bureau, and a television, all of which are long gone. This is where she, her siblings, and her nephew cared for her father, Aquilino Portillo—feeding him, lifting him out of bed to take him to the bathroom, doing their best to clean the sores that festered beneath his weight. (Mark Betancourt, 6/20)

Stat: When A Patient Nears The End, A Feared Therapy Can Also Comfort
Before making the 15-minute ride from Yale-New Haven Hospital to Connecticut Hospice, the man was told he had maybe three days before his heart would fail completely. He couldn’t catch his breath. His eyes were wide, his fingertips dusky from lack of oxygen. (Bob Tedeschi, 6/21)

The Atlantic: ‘Using Against My Will’
Adrian Silva, 52, is a sober addict who spent most of his adulthood getting high and cycling through jails in Southern California. We recently met in a Santa Ana Starbucks to talk about his drug use—which continued even while he was in jail—his criminal past, and the redemption he found at the Orange County Community Court’s drug program. An edited version of our conversation follows. (Juleyka Lantigua-Williams, 6/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Will Medicare Premium Increases Be An Issue In November?
Buried in the Medicare trustees report released Wednesday are a few lines that could cause political controversy. “In 2017 there may be a substantial increase in the Part B premium rate for some beneficiaries,” the actuaries write—which means seniors will find out about increases shortly before Election Day. Higher-than-expected Medicare spending in 2014 and 2015 set the stage for a large premium adjustment in 2016. But, notably, the absence of inflation thanks to the drop in energy prices last year meant that seniors receiving Social Security benefits did not receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment. (Chris Jacobs, 6/22)

The Washington Post: How Health Care Creates Wage Inequality
There’s a largely unknown paradox at work. Companies that try to provide roughly equal health insurance plans for their workers — as many do — end up making wage and salary inequality worse ... Paying for expensive health insurance squeezes what’s left for wage and salary raises. (Robert J. Samuelson, 6/22)

The Wall Street Journal: House Republicans Have A Better Idea
Donald Trump has already squandered six weeks by insulting a “Mexican” judge born in Indiana, offering conspiracy theories, and needlessly attacking defeated rivals. His fundraising is dismal and his staffing inadequate. All this comes at the expense of focused attention on his Democratic opponent. ... Meanwhile, the Republican House is methodically laying out a comprehensive agenda to spread prosperity, protect the nation, uphold the Constitution, reform health care. ... Last week, the House GOP also released a detailed proposal to replace ObamaCare with a package of reforms centered on the patient and doctor. These include making health insurance portable so workers can take it from job to job, increasing the use of health savings accounts, permitting insurance sales across state lines, allowing small businesses and individuals to band together to get lower prices, expanding wellness programs and reforming medical liability. (Karl Rove, 6/22)

Modern Healthcare: House GOP Health Plan May Face Political Problems With Tax On Employer Plans
The new House Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare lacks specifics because it would have to broadly tax employer health plans to raise enough money to adequately fund insurance subsidies, a prominent Republican health economist says. On Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan and key House Republican committee chairman presented a 35-page white paper laying out their vision for how to control U.S. healthcare spending and help Americans access and afford health insurance. After fully repealing the Affordable Care Act, the GOP leaders said they would offer everyone who doesn't have Medicare, Medicaid, or employer coverage a refundable tax credit in an unspecified amount, adjusted only by age. (Harris Meyer, 6/22)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: The Reach Act, A Bipartisan Bill To Reduce Needless Maternal And Baby Deaths, Needs More Sponsors
Given this situation, it is refreshing and eye-opening to find out that there is a bill advancing in Congress that is bipartisan, supported in the House by a total of 57 Republicans and 90 Democrats. It does not involve new taxes and can help save lives. In Ohio, it is co-sponsored by three Republicans (U.S. Reps. Steve Chabot, Dave Joyce and Steve Stivers), and three Democrats (U.S. Reps. Joyce Beatty, Marcy Kaptur and Tim Ryan). What is this bill? It is the "Reach Every Mother and Child Act" (H.R. 3706 and S. 1911). Many members of Congress have decided to come together and support an issue related to the health of mothers and children worldwide. The goal of the Reach Act is simple: to end preventable maternal, newborn and early childhood deaths. (John Hosek, 6/22)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Time For Wisconsin To Expand Medicaid
The Affordable Care Act was designed to provide access to affordable health care to all. While millions of individuals have received care under the ACA, we still have millions more who have no affordable insurance coverage simply because they live in Wisconsin or the other 18 states that have chosen not to fully implement the ACA. Unfortunately, when the Supreme Court made Medicaid expansion optional in the states, many states, including Wisconsin, refused to expand and strengthen their Medicaid programs because of political ideology. (Sara Finger, 6/22)

The Seattle Times: Veterans Have Earned The Right To Reproductive Services
In what sounds like a bad summer action movie, members of Congress are being called upon to defend injured U.S. soldiers against a small but fierce coalition of religious extremists. Sadly, this battle is actually happening this week in our nation’s capital, and the extremists, though outnumbered, appear to be getting the upper hand. The fight is over whether veterans hurt in Iraq and Afghanistan should receive medical help they need to have children. (6/21)

Stat: ‘You Are A Coward’: Hate And Misperceptions About Substance Abuse Are Broader Than I Thought
For more than 50 years, the medical community has recognized that people with alcoholism and substance-use disorders are suffering from diseases, not from failures of will or character. Today, there’s more frank and open discussion about drugs and alcohol than at any point in history. Movie stars, athletes, and politicians talk openly and unapologetically about their struggles and their pasts. Nevertheless, a stigma remains attached to these fatal, often misunderstood conditions. (Seth Mnookin, 6/23)

The Seattle Times: Lawmakers Should Fix Mental-Health System, Not Politicize It
Newly appointed Western State Hospital CEO Cheryl Strange was facing possible jail time for refusing to comply with a court order to admit a patient currently being held at a Pierce County community hospital. Western State is full, and Strange said she wouldn’t override the hospital’s waiting list, where other patients who are sicker have priority. The problem at Western State is capacity to house patients, not the decision-making of its leaders. The decisions Strange, as CEO, is making are the same ones hospital leaders and clinicians make daily. Our ethical obligation, always, is to treat the sickest patient first. Treating a patient with a broken leg before a patient with a heart attack would be ethically untenable. Mental illnesses have the same variations in urgency that physical illnesses do. (Cassie Sauer, 6/22)

The Washington Post: The Critical Public-Health Benefits Of The HPV Vaccine
A decade ago, the world of medical research celebrated the introduction of the first vaccine proven to protect people from an identified cancer-causing agent. Studies over subsequent years affirmed the effectiveness and safety of the HPV vaccine and its potential to spare tens of thousands of people from having to suffer horrible cancers. Yet, inexcusably, pediatricians and family doctors remain reluctant to recommend the vaccine. A new campaign targeting these doctors aims to boost use of this lifesaving vaccine. (6/22)

The Dallas Morning News: Politics Aside, We Should View HPV Vaccine As A Godsend
...For more than a decade, we have had a safe, efficient, cost-effective vaccine to prevent HPV. Yet vaccination rates remain stubbornly low — a frustrating circumstance arising from misinformation and woefully ham-fisted politics. (6/22)

Louisville Courier-Journal: Region Lacking In Care For Sickle Cell Disease
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a hereditary blood disorder that causes an abnormality of the red blood cells. It is most prominent in the African-American community with 1out of every 365 African-Americans being born with SCD. While Hispanics are the second most impacted group with 1 of every 16,000 suffering with the disease. (Jo Ann Orr, 6/22)

The Seattle Times: How Seattle Can Address Public-Health Inequities
Seattle faces a dilemma common to nearly every U.S. city: How will it tackle the growing inequity between the wealthiest and poorest residents? Against a backdrop of prosperity, housing costs have skyrocketed. Homelessness is in a state of emergency and food insecurity is spreading ... Most people think the best way to improve health is through health care, but that’s not the full story. Research shows that up to 90 percent of what determines our life expectancy is where and how we live, work and play. (Leana S. Wen, 6/21)

San Antonio Express-News: Coal Tar Ban Would Ensure Public Safety
On June 30, City Council members will have an opportunity to ban harmful, carcinogenic chemicals from seeping into our drinking water. Coal tar-based sealcoat products — which are commonly used in the paving of driveways, parking lots and roadways, and contain high concentrations of chemical compounds known to be toxic — have no place in our city. (Ron Nirenberg, Vincent R. Nathan and Doug McMurry, 6/22)