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Betty Valdez has chronic lung disease, known as COPD, high blood pressure, kidney disease, arthritis and diabetes. Remembering when to take her 20-plus medications is difficult. Getting up from a chair is a significant obstacle, making any regular exercise unlikely. With a primary care provider and help at home, maintaining her current health would be a challenge. Without them, the 65-year-old Valdez spent a lot of time in the emergency room. (Pelcyger, 7/27)

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are a fast-growing part of the medical marketplace, getting paid more often for procedures people generally associate with doctors, such as electrocardiograms, pelvic exams and even helping with heart bypasses, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data finds. Medicare billing records show 15% more nurse practitioners and 11% more physician assistants received payments in 2013 than in 2012 for all types of care. During that same year, the number of general practice physicians paid by the insurance program for the elderly and disabled dropped by 5%. (Ungar and Hoyer, 7/27)

Despite medical evidence showing the benefits of breastfeeding and how to prevent cot deaths, some doctors are not passing on the information to new mothers in the United States, researchers said on Monday. In a survey of more than 1,000 new mothers funded by the National Institutes of Health, they found that about 20 percent of women did not receive guidance on breastfeeding or on placing infants to sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). (7/27)

U.S. adults should be screened for depression, according to a proposal from a government-backed panel of medical experts. With this proposal, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force broadens its 2009 recommendation that adults be screened in doctors' offices if staff-assisted depression care is available. (Seaman, 7/27)

Each time mental illness is cited as a possible factor in a high-profile mass killing in the United States, there’s a collective sigh among mental health professionals here. Even as they see an opportunity for serious discussions of problems and remedies, they also worry about setbacks to their efforts to destigmatize mental illness. “Most people who suffer from mental illness are not violent, and most violent acts are committed by people who are not mentally ill,” said Dr. Renee Binder, president of the American Psychiatric Association. If, hypothetically, everyone with mental illness were locked up, “you might think you were safe, but you are not,” Binder said. (7/27)