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Martin Shkreli loves to talk. On Tuesday, Mr. Shkreli, 32, will get his chance to talk some more. A congressional committee has served a subpoena on him and ordered him to appear for a hearing to discuss pricing trends and other developments in the drug industry, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. (Goldstein, 1/20)

House lawmakers have issued a subpoena to compel former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, reviled for price-gouging, to appear at a congressional hearing next Tuesday. Shkreli became notorious after his company Turing hiked the price of Daraprim, the only approved drug for a rare and sometimes deadly parasitic infection, by 5,000 percent. Since then, Shkreli has been deluged with criticism from patients, politicians and the media, with some labeling him the “most hated man in America.” (Perrone, 1/20)

A U.S. congressional committee has demanded that former drug executive Martin Shkreli appear at a hearing on drug prices to testify about his former company's decision to raise the price of a lifesaving medicine by more than 5,000 percent, congressional aides said on Wednesday. Shkreli, who is separately facing federal criminal charges that he defrauded investors, has been served with a subpoena to appear on Jan. 26 before the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the aides said. (Lynch and Ingram, 1/20)

Howard Schiller, interim CEO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., is planning to testify at a congressional hearing next week that will explore drug-price increases, according to a company spokeswoman. Valeant has been “providing information” to the House Oversight committee, the company spokeswoman said Wednesday. “Mr. Schiller looks forward to testifying and sharing with the committee how Valeant works to make its drugs available to the millions of patients who depend on them,” she added. (Rockoff, 1/20)

Two top House Republicans have subpoenaed Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, seeking documents involving payments to insurance companies to lower out-of-pocket costs for some people enrolled under the Affordable Care Act. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady and Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton maintain those "cost-sharing reduction" payments must be provided by Congress each year. The administration says they are permanently appropriated under the "Obamacare" law. (1/20)

Instead of following the House's lead and advancing a comprehensive bill designed to spur medical innovation, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will consider a set of narrower bills with the same goal in mind, the panel's chairman said on Tuesday. Following last summer’s House passage of the so-called 21st Century Cures Initiative (HR 6), Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., maintained that his goal was to have a Senate companion measure marked up by the end of 2015. (Siddons, 1/20)

The Senate will not put forth a comprehensive medical innovation bill that would be a companion measure to the House’s 21st Century Cures bill. Instead, lawmakers are opting to work on several smaller bills that have bipartisan support. In recent weeks, aides said committee members hit partisan snags when discussing a bigger bill. The Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will hold three separate markups, deliberating a few “easier” bills in February to “get our sea legs on working on bipartisan FDA/NIH bills,” according to a senior GOP committee aide. The overall goal of the committee’s work will be to accelerate the development and approval of new medical cures. (Owens, 1/19)

Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will vote on at least seven bipartisan bills beginning Feb. 9 ranging from expediting therapies for rare diseases to improving electronic health records. The Senate committee will consider additional bills in March and April, according to a news release. (1/19)

The Senate’s strategy for passing bipartisan biomedical research legislation is a far cry from the House, where the Energy and Commerce Committee spent more than a year working on a final package. That legislation overwhelmingly passed in July, led by Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.). Since the House bill's passage in July, the multibillion-dollar measure has failed to gain any traction in the Senate. Alexander’s plan likely means that Republicans and Democrats failed to strike compromises on funding, which has been a major sticking point. (Ferris, 1/19)

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says his plan for a government-run health care system from cradle to grave is like Medicare for all. But with full coverage for long-term care, most dental care included, no deductibles and zero copays, the Sanders plan is considerably more generous. Think of it as Medicare on growth hormones. Setting aside ideological issues, the scope of Sanders' plan and its lack of detail have raised questions about its seriousness. Some health care experts see it mainly as a political document to distinguish Sanders' revolutionary ideas from Hillary Clinton's incremental approach. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 1/21)

Bernie Sanders may be leading a “political revolution,” but according to former president Bill Clinton, the real “change maker” is his wife, Hillary. Sounding like the spouse of a candidate running behind, Clinton pleaded with New Hampshire Democrats to deliver his family yet another win. ... While Clinton said his wife would preserve President Obama’s Affordable Care Act and improve it, he portrayed the Medicare-for-all, single-payer plan that Sanders has proposed as a liberal fairy tale. (Rucker, 1/20)

Bill Clinton acknowledged he was in Senator Bernie Sanders’s backyard as he took the stage Wednesday in New Hampshire. “I know we’re running against one of your neighbors,” Mr. Clinton told the crowd at a campaign rally in Concord. So, as he laid out the differences between Mr. Sanders and Hillary Clinton, he did so with compliments before dwelling on the contrasts. ... But on health care, he took a more direct criticism of Mr. Sanders’s plan: “I don’t want to talk about the merits, I want to talk about the practical reality here.” ... "It’s a recipe for gridlock.” (Corasaniti, 1/20)

Ohio Gov. John Kasich praised the New Hampshire Legislature on Wednesday for expanding Medicaid under the president's health care overhaul law — a rare move for GOP presidential contender — saying that the decision saved lives. "I took $14 billion dollars over the next two years back to Ohio from Washington to meet our challenges, and you did it here. I want to compliment you for it," Kasich told the 400-member body. "Lives have been saved; people have some hope." (1/20)

On the stump, Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina regularly recount struggles within their own families over drug addiction. A viral video of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie speaking about the overdose death of a close friend gave his campaign a boost in the Granite State. But even as they strike powerful emotional chords about the toll of drug abuse, a review of candidates’ statements and policy outlines shows that few offer concrete proposals to combat the national scourge of opiate addiction. (Jan, 1/20)

A Wyoming legislative committee voted Wednesday to reject Gov. Matt Mead's suggestion that the state expand Medicaid to offer coverage to about 20,000 low-income residents. The Joint Appropriations Committee voted to strip Medicaid expansion out of the state Health Department budget in the recommendations it will send to the full Legislature. Lawmakers convene in Cheyenne next month to craft a two-year state budget. Despite Wednesday's committee vote, the full Legislature could still consider a stand-alone bill on the expansion issue or consider it as a proposed amendment to the committee's budget recommendations. (Neary, 1/20)

The legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee has rejected a request by Governor Matt Mead to include Medicaid Expansion in the state budget. Casper Republican Representative Tim Stubson says expanding Medicaid in the budget would remove some cost containment provisions that lawmakers included in previous legislation. He noted a study that said expansion would pull 5-thousand people out of the state’s insurance market. (Beck, 1/20)

The Department of Health and Hospitals is now forecasting that Louisiana's Medicaid rolls could swell to nearly 450,000 people after initially projecting that as many as 300,000 uninsured could be covered under the federally funded program. The department had originally based its projections based on U.S. Census data that counted about 306,000 people as uninsured. But there is also a population of about 130,000 people who are part of the state program who are eligible to receive screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STI) even if they aren't eligible for Medicaid coverage. (Litten, 1/20)

During one of the final weekends of the 2016 open enrollment period, MNsure enrollment centers statewide will host special weekend hours on Saturday and Sunday, in an effort to help any Minnesotans who have not yet enrolled in health insurance coverage. MnSure CEO Allison O'Toole said the free, in-person enrollment help can be critical, especially when Minnesotans have questions about what kind of coverage they should be purchasing for themselves or their family. (1/20)

Federal health officials visited Northeast Ohio on Wednesday to mount a last-minute push to get people to sign up for Obamacare before the Jan. 31 open enrollment deadline. During a press conference, officials also released updated data showing that 226,156 Ohioans have enrolled in coverage this year, including 81,207 in the Akron-Cleveland area. (Ross, 1/20)

The number of people who have enrolled for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act stands at 97,909 with less than 11 days before the final deadline to get 2016 coverage. Jan. 31 is the deadline for people to sign up at HealthCare.gov for coverage. (1/21)

Abortion and race, two of America’s most volatile topics, have intersected in recent flare-ups related to the disproportionately high rate of abortion among black women. In Congress, Rep. Sean Duffy, a white Republican from rural Wisconsin, lambasted black members of Congress for failing to decry these high abortion numbers. The next day, Rep. Gwen Moore, a black Democrat from Milwaukee, fired back — accusing Duffy and his GOP colleagues of caring about black children only before they are born. In Missouri, a white GOP state legislator, Rep. Mike Moon, introduced a “personhood” bill that would effectively outlaw all abortions, and titled it the All Lives Matter Act. (Crary, 1/20)

Wisconsin Republicans took another step Wednesday in their push to defund Planned Parenthood, with the state Senate passing two bills that would cost the organization millions of dollars every year. One bill would require abortion providers to bill Medicaid only for the actual acquisition costs and dispensing fees for birth control drugs, a change that would cost Planned Parenthood an estimated $4.5 million per year. The other would take away about $3 million in federal grant money the organization receives every year. (Richmond, 1/20)

Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate on Wednesday approved bills overhauling the state's century-old hiring process and cutting funding for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. The Senate took up the bills reducing government payments to Planned Parenthood as a separate measure backed by abortion opponents remained stalled. The legislation that isn't advancing — at least for now — would ban research on aborted fetal tissue. (Marley and Stein, 1/20)

Some abortion clinics say they may have to close if the state establishes tough new standards that scored their first approval in the Florida House on Tuesday. Under the legislation (HB 233), abortion clinics in Florida would be held to the same or more stringent licensing standards than surgical centers, including staffing levels and building construction requirements. Supporters say the regulations, which would be determined by the Agency for Health Care Administration, would help protect women who seek out abortions. (Auslen, 1/19)

A Democratic-backed bill in the Iowa Senate designed to improve access to contraceptives, especially in rural Iowa, passed a first hurdle at the statehouse Wednesday. Under the bill, women on Medicaid, the government health care program for low-income Iowans, would receive a full year of birth control pills, instead of the current limit of three months. (Russell, 1/20)

State and federal law enforcement agencies pledged Wednesday to band together to crack down on doctors and other health care providers who illegally prescribe or dispense opioid painkillers. Attorney General Maura Healey said the overprescribing of opioids is contributing to the spike in overdoses and deaths in Massachusetts. On Wednesday, Healey announced her office has formed a task force with the FBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other state agencies to share information and collaborate on investigations. She said the number of opioid prescriptions in Massachusetts has increased by 140 percent since the mid-1990s, with 4.6 million prescriptions given out last year. (LeBlanc, 1/20)

People 25 to 44 years old are hardest hit by the opioid overdose epidemic that has left thousands dead in Massachusetts, according to new data from the state Department of Public Health. On Wednesday, the state released for the first time a demographic portrait of the still-growing health crisis, and that report found certain groups bear a disproportionate burden. The numbers show that overdose deaths in the first nine months of 2015 remained high — higher than the same period the year before, despite policy-makers’ focus on combating heroin and prescription painkiller abuse. (Freyer, 1/21)

There isn't enough time to wait and see if already-enacted laws targeted at combating Tennessee's prescription drug abuse problem have had a positive effect, a doctor told lawmakers Wednesday. The comment came from Dr. Robert Pack, associate dean for academic affairs at Eastern Tennessee University's College of Public Health, who was asked about concerns from some in the medical community that passing several pieces of legislation aimed at the state's prescription drug problem could result in an "over-correction." (Ebert, 1/20)

Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's proposal to provide basic medical coverage to people who fall in the so-called "Medicaid gap" has been split into two separate bills, meaning the plan will have to pass through two separate committees to succeed. The Republican governor's program, if approved, would create a new program to provide basic medical care to nearly 78,000 Idahoans who make too much to qualify for Medicaid but also don't qualify for health insurance subsidies. (Kruesi, 1/20)

Variations in prices for the same service at different hospitals in Massachusetts do not reflect different qualities of care and have not evened out over time, according to a Health Policy Commission report released Wednesday. The report found that higher prices “are not generally associated” with better care, and that prices vary across the different types of hospitals — academic medical centers, teaching hospitals, community hospitals — as well as within each individual group. (Lannan, 1/20)

In an issue watched closely by doctors, hospitals and insurers, a House panel Tuesday approved a proposal aimed at protecting patients from surprise charges when they need emergency care. That can occur, for example, when patients need emergency care and are treated by doctors who are not part of the networks of the patients' insurers. In such cases, patients can get billed for differences between what their insurers pay and additional amounts that are charged. The bill would make insurers responsible for paying for emergency services and would include an arbitration process to resolve differences between insurers and health-care providers. (1/20)

Florida Hospital Orlando's water tested positive for the respiratory germ Legionella last week leading the hospital to hire a firm to flush its water system. Hospital officials said that there are currently no confirmed cases of hospital-acquired Legionnaires' disease. They added that the hospital's water is safe to drink. (Miller, 1/21)

An Ohio program designed to help Medicare beneficiaries understand complex health care benefits and options has been named the best of its kind in the nation. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rankings being released Thursday show the Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program scored best over 54 similar programs in other states and territories. Ohio's program was ranked last four years ago. (1/21)

Citing declining patient volumes and a need to save money, Mississippi's state Health Department announced Wednesday that it was closing nine health clinics and reducing the number of days each week the 37 other clinics are open. The clinics do not provide primary medical care but do provide other services, including immunizations and family planning. Spokeswoman Liz Sharlot, though, said clinic usage for major services has fallen 44 percent over the past five years, in part because patients now have other options to obtain services the department has provided, ranging from Medicaid and new federally subsidized health insurance to flu shots at drug stores and supermarkets. (Amy, 1/20)

Months after California's Legislature failed to act, a coalition of health experts and the state’s schools chief on Wednesday launched a petition drive to qualify an initiative for the November ballot that would raise the cigarette tax by $2 per pack. The measure would reduce smoking and raise money to expand treatment services for Medi-Cal patients, support anti-smoking campaigns and boost medical research, said Tom Steyer, co-chairman of the Save Lives Coalition. (McGreevy, 1/20)

Legislation that would raise Washington’s smoking age to 21 has more support than keeping the legal age to buy tobacco at 18, according to a poll released Wednesday. The survey of 500 registered voters by independent pollster Stuart Elway says 65 percent back hiking the age to 21, while 35 percent oppose it. The survey was taken Dec. 28-30 and had a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. (Orenstein, 1/20)

When patients need an air ambulance, the first priority is getting them the care they need as fast as possible. So, patients don’t always know who is going to pick them up or if the ambulance is an in-network provider. That can lead to surprise expenses if the companies ask patients to pay the bill or any balance left after the insurance plan’s out-of-network coverage is applied. (Cates-Carney, 1/21)

Public health officials in Alabama are working to contain a tuberculosis outbreak. They used federal money to pay for tests on more than 1,000 people in one of the poorest counties in America, and found 47 people who are infected and need treatment to keep the disease from spreading. They'll keep using the grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to pay people to follow through on recommended chest X-rays. Those who complete the whole course of medication will get $100 each. (1/20)

In making his case for universal health care, Senator Bernie Sanders has reignited a debate over whether the U.S. should have a single-payer system. It would simplify the administration of health insurance, but his proposal is nevertheless ill-advised -- not least because it’s possible to simplify billing and claims processing in health care without making such an extreme change. (Peter R. Orszag and Timothy G. Ferris, 1/21)

So Bernie Sanders has a health-care plan. It sounds wonderful. It covers everything, from dental to long-term care. There will be no co-pays or deductibles. You will not have to hassle with an insurer over what’s covered. There’s just one small problem, which is how Sanders is planning to pay for this. Yes, his health care plan lays out revenue estimates in great detail. But the revenue estimates and the cost estimates are perhaps just a trifle too rosy for me to take seriously. (Megan McArdle, 1/20)

If you’ve successfully landed on the beaches, but your forces are still taking heavy fire, what do you do? Do you concentrate on trying to hold the line and make further advances or do you sit in a circle and design a better landing craft? The problem with Bernie Sanders’ health care vision isn’t the vision. His raw outline for a greatly simplified and less expensive health-care system is excellent in theory. The problem is the politics — the reality of which battle-scarred Hillary Clinton clearly has the better grasp. (Froma Harrop, 1/20)

Bernie Sanders is a democratic socialist who thinks the United States needs a "political revolution." His plan to replace our health insurance system with "Medicare for All" is in some ways a dramatic break with the status quo. But it rests on an old and thoroughly conventional formula: Promise voters that they will get more and better health care without paying for it. Simply expanding Medicare to include everyone would be a big enough step. But Sanders' plan is to Medicare what a Tesla is to a Toyota. (Steve Chapman, 1/20)

Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky is dismantling the state’s highly successful exchange on which people buy private health insurance policies or enroll in Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. His shortsighted and pointless show of defiance against the Obama administration’s health care reforms could harm thousands of people in Kentucky, who may fall between the cracks as the state shifts their coverage from its own exchange, known as Kynect, to the federally run exchange at HealthCare.gov. (1/21)

As Iowa’s 118 community hospitals and 71,000 hospital employees work daily to bring healing and wellness to all Iowans, the state’s reckless rush toward privatization of the Medicaid program has been a source of extreme concern. Most concerning are the myths about privatization perpetuated by our own governor, including during his interview with the Des Moines Register editorial board, as he tries to promote what is simply a bad idea for Iowa and, especially, for 560,000 vulnerable Iowans who depend on Medicaid. (Kirk Norris, 1/20)

In his final State of the Union address, President Obama said he would put Vice President Biden in charge of a “moonshot” program to conquer cancer with the same level of effort that went into the Apollo lunar missions. Some cancer researchers say the idea of curing cancer with a massive government program relies on an outmoded, simplistic model of the disease. But even if a “victory” against cancer is unrealistic, how can government best be used to reduce its threat and lethalness? (1/19)

Unlike dietary supplements, which were explicitly excluded from rigorous FDA regulation in 1994, homeopathic products can actually be substantially regulated by the FDA, since the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act allows them to be sold as “therapeutic.” We believe that, at minimum, regulators should reconsider the way homeopathic drugs are marketed, so that consumers who are seeking conventional medicines at pharmacies don’t become confused. In August, the FTC submitted comments to the FDA recommending that the agencies better harmonize their approaches to regulating homeopathic products and their advertising. ... The recent actions by the FDA and FTC may finally signal the end of homeopathic drugs’ century-long evasion of regulatory scrutiny. (Scott H. Podolsky and Aaron S. Kesselheim, 1/21)

The aerial view of the concept of data sharing is beautiful. What could be better than having high-quality information carefully reexamined for the possibility that new nuggets of useful data are lying there, previously unseen? The potential for leveraging existing results for even more benefit pays appropriate increased tribute to the patients who put themselves at risk to generate the data. The moral imperative to honor their collective sacrifice is the trump card that takes this trick. However, many of us who have actually conducted clinical research, managed clinical studies and data collection and analysis, and curated data sets have concerns about the details. (Dan L. Longo and Jeffrey M. Drazen, 1/21)

As patients strive to manage their own health and illnesses, many wonder how to get a copy of their health data to share with their physicians, load into apps, donate to researchers, link to their genomic data, or have on hand just in case. To seek diagnosis or better care, many patients are taking steps outside traditional doctor–patient relationships. Some join 23andMe to obtain genetic information. Others bring data to the Undiagnosed Diseases Network at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Patients are coalescing with others with the same disease in what the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute calls patient-powered research networks. But such patients have found no easy way to get copies of their electronic health records (EHRs). (Kenneth D. Mandl and Isaac S. Kohane, 1/21)

Managing the care of high-cost patients is a key concern of physicians and health systems that are forming accountable care organizations (ACOs) and entering into alternative payment contracts tying reimbursement to performance on cost trends and quality measures. The logic is simple: given that a small percentage of patients (often those with complex or multiple medical conditions) account for the majority of health care spending, directing additional resources and services toward patients who are likely to incur high costs and experience poor outcomes ... Can tactics honed among the elderly be successfully applied to other high-cost populations? (Brian W. Powers and Sreekanth K. Chaguturu, 1/21)