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President Trump on Monday signed an executive order directing federal agencies to cut two regulations for every new one that they adopt, a move that could have significant implications for the Food and Drug Administration. Trump, who vowed throughout his campaign to ease the burden of government regulations in order to promote innovation, pledged at the signing ceremony that the order would be “the biggest such act our country has ever seen.” “There will be regulation, there will be control, but it will be normalized control,” he said. (Kaplan, 1/30)

Healthcare industry stakeholders are lauding President Donald Trump's latest executive order which requires executive departments or agencies to remove at least two previously implemented regulations for every new one issued. The order could have major ramifications for healthcare, one of the most regulated industries in the U.S. economy. Providers and vendors face a myriad of rules drafted by numerous agencies and departments, including the CMS, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Food and Drug Administration and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. (Rubenfire, 1/30)

President Donald Trump's crackdown on federal regulations could take months, if not years, to implement and likely faces costly court challenges. The executive order, which Trump signed on Monday, requires that federal agencies and departments identify at least two existing federal rules that can be eliminated every time they issues a new regulation. It also seeks to dramatically limit the cost of rules, declaring that the total price tag of new final regulations combined with repealed regulations "shall be no greater than zero" in fiscal year 2017. (Restuccia, 1/30)

Eight Democratic senators are pressing the White House for answers on how the federal hiring freeze will affect the Food and Drug Administration. President Donald Trump’s memo last week freezing federal hiring did open the door to exemptions for positions needed to fill “public safety responsibilities.” But he did not define public safety — and no one seems quite sure whether the FDA falls into that category. (Kaplan, 1/30)

President Trump’s temporary immigration ban could quickly undermine American health care, which relies heavily on foreign-born labor — including many workers from the Middle East — to fill critical gaps in care, industry specialists say. As many as 25 percent of physicians practicing in the US were born in another country. Rural clinics and public safety-net hospitals, in particular, rely on foreign medical school graduates to take care of isolated and vulnerable populations. (Ross and Blau, 1/30)

President Trump’s executive order on immigration has already had dramatic effects, and promises many more. Health care relies heavily on visa-holders: As many as 25 percent of physicians practicing in the US were born in another country. But thousands of scientists, students, trainees, and even patients are likewise reliant on visas to work, study, and receive health care in the US. (Sheridan, 1/31)

President Trump’s executive order on immigration could worsen the shortage of doctors in the United States, warns the Association of American Medical Colleges. “We are deeply concerned that the Jan. 27 executive order will disrupt education and research and have a damaging long-term impact on patients and health care,” AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch said in a statement Monday. (Hellmann, 1/30)

Teaching hospitals may have to drop residency offers to medical students from countries affected by President Donald Trump’s immigration ban — a move that could exacerbate a shortage of doctors and limit patient care in underserved areas. The Association of American Medical Colleges has identified 260 applicants to U.S. residency programs who are from the seven countries covered by the ban. With the national residency match just 44 days away — in the midst of the 90-day ban — some programs may opt to deny slots to doctors who can't matriculate. One teaching hospital already has instructed its staff to cancel residency offers to medical students from some countries, an anonymous official told the Los Angeles Times. (Diamond, 1/31)

Some of the nation’s leading medical centers have identified more than three dozen patients who were scheduled to come to the United States to receive medical care from the countries subject to President Trump’s executive order on immigration. Johns Hopkins Medicine has found at least 11 patients who live in the Muslim-majority nations targeted by the immigration ban — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen — and who were set to travel to the United States in the next 90 days for medical care. Another major health system, Cleveland Clinic, told STAT that it had nine patients scheduled to come to the United States for care from the affected countries. (Scott and Thielking, 1/30)

Hospitals, medical research institutions and public universities expressed concern over the fallout of President Donald Trump’s executive action over the weekend that impacted immigrants from seven Middle Eastern countries. But several major organizations stopped short of sharply criticizing the order that sparked a series of protests at major airports across the country. The order signed by Trump on Saturday indefinitely bans Syrian refugees from entering the United States and prevents other refugees from entering the country for 120 days. It also blocks citizens of several predominately Muslim countries — Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia and Libya — from gaining entry to the country for 90 days. Confusion ensued over the weekend as the administration appeared to flip-flop several times on key aspects of the policy, like whether legal residents with green cards were exempt from the ban. (Williams, 1/30)

Some of the nation’s leading health groups are concerned that the Trump administration action on immigration could hurt patients by blocking U.S. entry to health professionals or those seeking treatment. “We are concerned that, without modification, President (Donald) Trump’s executive order on immigration could adversely impact patient care, education and research,” said Rick Pollack, the president and CEO of the American Hospital Association. (McIntire, 1/30)

A native of Iran, Arina Yaghoubi, has battled leukemia since she was 14. While her disease was in remission, she left home to enter James Madison University in Virginia, only to have the disease return. Yaghoubi, 21, has been successfully treated at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, with her mother by her side for the last nine months and is now cancer free. But with the ban President Trump has placed on immigrants from certain Middle Eastern countries, her mother is afraid to go home and her father can't enter the United States. (Moore, 1/31)

In the wake of President Trump's executive order on immigration, area hospitals are scrambling to assist and reassure medical staff without citizenship and foreign patients scheduled for treatment. Some are also speaking out on moral grounds against the order.St. Vincent Charity Hospital said the order "sends a message of intolerance" in direct conflict with the hospital's faith-based Catholic mission. (Zeltner, 1/30)

Rep. Tom Price got a privileged offer to buy a biomedical stock at a discount, the company’s officials said, contrary to his congressional testimony this month. The Georgia Republican tapped by President Donald Trump to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services testified in his Senate confirmation hearings on Jan. 18 and 24 that the discounted shares he bought in Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd., an Australian medical biotechnology company, “were available to every single individual that was an investor at the time.” (Grimaldi, 1/30)

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) was part of an exclusive group that was able to buy stock in a biotech company at a discount, the company told The Wall Street Journal. Price, President Trump’s nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, was among fewer than 20 people that received a 12 percent discount on shares of Innate Immunotherapeutics, the Journal reports. The company's statement appears to contradict Price’s testimony to the Senate Finance Committee last week, when he said that the discounted shares “were available to every single individual that was an investor at the time.” (Sullivan, 1/30)

The chief executive officer of an Australian biomedical company at the center of a Trump administration confirmation battle denied impropriety Monday, even as Senate Democrats called to postpone a vote for Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Tom Price. In an email interview with McClatchy, Innate Immunotherapeutics CEO Simon Wilkinson disputed that Price got insider or privileged information about the company before he purchased the stock. The company stood to benefit from legislation that allows for speedier clinical drug trials. (Clark and Hall, 1/30)

Rep. Tom Price offered glimpses into how he’d like to change Medicaid in his responses to questions posed by Senate Finance Committee members, with a theme of pushing more financial responsibilities to the states and individuals. The committee on Tuesday likely will advance Price's nomination as Health and Human Services secretary to the Senate floor over Democrats' objections. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., asked Price to explain how states could respond to public health crises if Congress were to limit the flow of federal money to Medicaid through the adoption of an approach such as block grants, which Price supports. Nelson cited the Zika virus as an example of an unforeseen health threat that states needed federal assistance in addressing. (Young, 1/30)

President Trump’s nominee for education secretary will likely get a thumbs-up on Tuesday from a Senate committee, advancing her nomination to the Senate floor. But Michigan billionaire and philanthropist Betsy DeVos faces fierce opposition from education and civil rights groups, many of whom have stood up to oppose her in just the past few days. ... Groups that advocate for students with disabilities, among others, oppose her confirmation, saying in a few cases that they doubt DeVos even understands the details of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the 1975 law that guarantees a “free appropriate public education” to disabled students. (Toppo, 1/30)

A group of brain performance centers backed by Betsy DeVos, the nominee for education secretary, promotes results that are nothing short of stunning: improvements reported by 91 percent of patients with depression, 90 percent with attention deficit disorder, 90 percent with anxiety. The treatment offered by Neurocore, a business in which Ms. DeVos and her husband, Dick, are the chief investors, consists of showing movies to patients and interrupting them when the viewers become distracted, in an effort to retrain their brains. ... But a review of Neurocore’s claims and interviews with medical experts suggest its conclusions are unproven and its methods questionable. (Fink, Eder and Goldstein, 1/30)

President Donald Trump said he will announce his nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday as he looks to quickly put his stamp on the court by restoring its conservative majority, even as Democrats geared up for a Senate confirmation fight. Trump, set to fill the lingering vacancy on the nation's highest court left by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, said on Monday he will reveal his choice at the White House at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, two days earlier than previously planned. (1/30)

It's the last day to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. And at Whitman-Walker Health, a community health center near downtown Washington D.C., people have been streaming in looking for help choosing an insurance plan. Katie Nicol is a senior manager who oversees the five so-called navigators whose sole job is to help people sign up for insurance coverage. "We've been busy, you know, consumer after consumer all day," she said in an interview Monday. She expects to be busier Tuesday. (Kodjak, 1/31)

Overnight Tuesday is the deadline to sign up for coverage under the federal health care law. Even if the ultimate fate of "Obamacare" is uncertain, there's been no change for this year. About 11.5 million people had enrolled as of Dec. 24. (1/31)

This year’s deadline to sign up for Obamacare is tomorrow. It may be the last time to ever sign up for this kind of coverage. Late last week, the Trump administration decided to pull ads promoting last-minute sign-ups, although it reversed that decision shortly after. But it may hurt efforts by insurance companies to get procrastinators — usually young, healthy individuals — on board. (Gorenstein, 1/30)

With a looming Tuesday deadline to sign up for insurance subsidized under the Affordable Care Act this year, consumers face all the usual fine-print complexities, plus new questions raised by the repeal-and-replace tumult in Washington. Chief among them: Will my health coverage – or the subsidy that makes it affordable — disappear? Probably not, experts say, because the law's complexity and the potential chaos of such a sudden change will likely delay legislation, even as President Trump took actions last week that could slow last-minute enrollment. (Sapatkin, 1/30)

As the fourth and possibly final Obamacare enrollment period draws to a close on Tuesday, outreach workers nationwide are pulling double duty: assisting enrollees and trying to overcome actions by the Trump administration that have made their work more difficult. Procrastinators have until Tuesday, January 31 at 11:59 p.m. to enroll in a 2017 health plan in the individual marketplace. Those who miss the deadline for personal reasons like relocation, getting married or having a baby can qualify for an extension. (Pugh, 1/30)

While talk of repeal and replace has dominated the recent conversation about the Affordable Care Act, consumers have quietly been signing up in record numbers. As open enrollment in the individual marketplace for Obamacare comes to a close on Tuesday, local officials say nearly 1.8 million people in Florida have signed up. That's more than the same time last year, despite premium increases, fewer insurers participating in the marketplace and general uncertainty about the future of Obamacare.  (Ochoa and Aboraya, 1/30)

With one day left in the sign-up period for private insurance coverage, the Connecticut health insurance exchange’s enrollment has slowed down compared to past years, and the marketplace’s chief executive thinks confusion about the future of Obamacare could be a factor. (Levin Becker, 1/30)

Californians are continuing to sign up for health insurance through the state-run marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act, despite uncertainty over the future of the federal health care law. Some 327,000 new people, about the same number as last year, have signed up for insurance plans during open enrollment, which runs from Nov. 1 to Tuesday, according to figures from Covered California. The figure represents the number of new signups through Jan. 24. (Ho, 1/30)

Covered California’s fourth annual open enrollment period, set to end Tuesday, has been rocky for many consumers. During this period, two Covered California errors have affected roughly 50,000 policy holders, leading to higher-than-expected premiums or the potential loss of their tax credits. (1/31)

House Republicans have filed four separate bills intended to stabilize the individual insurance market while they pursue their strategy of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. The bills, to be discussed at an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Thursday, address issues that insurers say have increased their costs and unbalanced the risk pool, thus driving up premiums and making the individual market a less viable business for them. But consumer advocates caution that these measures could make coverage and care less accessible and affordable for lower-income, older, and sicker people. (Meyer, 1/30)

As part of their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans say they will take rapid steps to stabilize the individual health insurance market and roll back onerous ACA rules though executive branch actions. But legal experts say they'll be constrained in revising or eliminating these regulations by the formal rulemaking process, which can take months. Now conservative legal activists are pushing Republicans to make unprecedented use of a 1996 law they claim would allow the Congress to swiftly ax ACA-related and other rules issued over the entire length of the Obama administration. Experts say it's very possible congressional GOP leaders may try this, but that this approach is legally untested and would be politically explosive. (Meyer, 1/30)

A leader of the Republican effort to revamp President Barack Obama's health care law says the message from GOP lawmakers at last week's private strategy session was for "a very deliberate, thoughtful approach." ... Texas GOP Rep. Kevin Brady chairs the House Ways and Means Committee. He says lawmakers told leaders: "Let's not rush. Let's get it right." (1/30)

A political group that backs House Republican leaders is using a $1.3 million television ad campaign to press two dozen representatives to back GOP efforts to scuttle President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. And most of the lawmakers they're aiming at are Republicans. The 30-second spots are by the American Action Network. They come as Republicans struggle to unite behind a plan to replace Obama's law, nicknamed "Obamacare." (Fram, 1/31)

The commercials, from American Action Network, will target eight House Democrats, all of whom reside in districts that Trump won in November. “Rising premiums and deductibles. Washington intruding between doctors and patients. Expensive mandates that destroy jobs. Rick Nolan supports Obamacare, and Minnesota families are paying the price,” says the commercial targeting Nolan, a Democratic congressman from Minnesota’s Iron Range. “We deserve better.” (Isenstadt, 1/31)

A conservative group funded by the Koch brothers is pushing for high-risk pools and a freeze on Medicaid expansions as lawmakers try to coalesce around a replacement for ObamaCare. Freedom Partners began circulating a memo on Capitol Hill Monday with specific reforms it thinks lawmakers should pass, including: the creation of high-risk pools at the state level to cover people with pre-existing conditions; the elimination of the ObamaCare mandate, which required everyone buy insurance or pay a penalty; and the expansion of access to health savings accounts, so people can save and pay for healthcare with pre-tax dollars. (Hellmann, 1/30)

A lack of clarity into what the Trump administration will do about the Affordable Care Act and drug prices is unnerving many patients with cancer and other chronic diseases, who worry that the alternative to high premiums and deductibles could lead to worse solutions than the high out-of-pocket costs they have now. Assurances that people with pre-existing health conditions will still be able to get insurance through any ACA replacement plan offers only partial solace to many cancer and heart patients. They know the details of any plan will determine whether they are better or worse off financially. (O'Donnell, 1/31)

The Affordable Care Act extended 100% coverage for a range of preventive healthcare services, including some types of cancer screening, to seniors on Medicare. That first-dollar coverage likely saved lives by increasing diagnoses of early-stage colorectal cancer by 8% among Medicare beneficiaries during the first three years it was in effect, a new study in Health Affairs reported. Now experts fear Republicans will eliminate the law's mandate for full coverage of recommended preventive services in taxpayer-financed and employer-based health plans. The GOP proposals also would erase the requirement that individual plans offer minimum essential benefits in 10 categories, including mental health and substance abuse, maternity care and prescription drugs. (Meyer, 1/28)

If you’re on Medicare and think you don’t have to worry about the growing threat to the Affordable Care Act, you might want to check your confidence at the door. And if you’re not quite at the magical age of 65, when Americans become eligible for the federal health insurance program, you might want to start fretting, too. Some ACA provisions that have helped the 65-and-over set might go bye-bye if it’s repealed, as Republicans have threatened for years. (Veciana-Suarez, 1/30)

Short-term health plans have been around for decades, bridging coverage gaps for people who are between jobs or have recently graduated from school, among other things. After the health law passed, some people gravitated toward them because they were willing to trade comprehensive coverage for a cheaper sticker price — even if it meant paying a tax penalty for not having the comprehensive coverage required in the law. Sales increased. Now, as Republicans look for ways to weaken the health law’s coverage requirements and explore the possibility of not enforcing the requirement that people have health insurance, short-term plans may be poised to grow even more. If that happens, consumer advocates warn it could be bad for consumers. (Andrews, 1/31)

How much would Californians be willing to spend to keep Obamacare in the Golden State? That’s a question lawmakers might be asking residents in the months to come as President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress scurry to repeal the Affordable Care Act and scramble for a plan to replace it. (Seipel, 1/30)

With repeal of the Affordable Care Act looming, the health care world is buffeted by an unusual level of uncertainty. Advocates of the repeal plan say it will be an improvement over the ACA, while defenders of the 2010 health law paint a dire picture of what could come next. Health organizations large and small are feeling apprehensive, wondering what will happen in Washington. (Miller, 1/30)

Missourians, along with the rest of the nation, are anxiously watching to see what becomes of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act.  The House and Senate have already passed measures that would allow them to begin peeling back parts of the law through a budget process. The 2010 law brought the country’s uninsured rate to historic lows, and those who gained coverage and are protected by the law’s ban on denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions are waiting to see the Republicans’ plan for a replacement. (Liss, 1/31)

Mayor Kenney joined a chorus of local officials who say repealing the Affordable Care Act without replacement would have a devastating impact, particularly on Philadelphia residents. Kenney and city controller Alan Butkovitz sent a joint letter to the three congressmen and two senators representing Philadelphia, Monday, saying more than 220,000 Philadelphians would lose their health insurance if the Affordable Care Act is repealed without an appropriate replacement. (Terruso, 1/30)

Hundreds of medical students and faculty members gathered at Northwestern University's school of medicine in Chicago on Monday to voice their opposition to the dismantling of Obamacare. The demonstration was part of a larger White Coats for Coverage effort organized by medical students across the country and came a day before the annual deadline to enroll in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), former President Barack Obama's healthcare law. (Chiarito, 1/30)

Before they get to work on reforming the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Congress and the White House might want to take a closer look at the last time they tried it – a $16 billion dollar fix called the Veterans Choice and Accountability Act of 2014, designed to get veterans medical care more quickly. NPR and local member stations have been following that money – including the $10 billion dollars for vets to get care outside the VA system. The Choice Act also channeled about $2.5 billion for hiring more doctors, nurses and other medical staff at VA medical centers. (Walsh, Murphy, Bisaha and Lawrence, 1/31)

The Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction, Vt. experienced one of the worst budget deficits among New England VA hospitals last year. The hospital needed an additional $8.5 million to meet expenses at the end of the last fiscal year,  roughly four percent of its total budget. The VA regional office in Massachusetts, known as VISN 1, provided that funding. The White River Junction, Vt. VA hospital serves more than 26,000 veterans in Coos, Grafton, Sullivan and Cheshire Counties in New Hampshire as well as the entire state of Vermont. (Biello, 1/30)

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst filed legislation on Monday eliminating federal funding for Planned Parenthood and overturning an Obama administration rule barring states from defunding the women’s health organization. The moves were cheered by organizations that oppose abortion and the use of federal dollars in aiding family-planning organizations that also provide abortion services. The moves also drew protests on Monday from abortion rights advocates at Ernst’s downtown Des Moines office. (Noble and Leys, 1/30)

State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, has been placed under the protection of the Texas Department of Public Safety after receiving death threats following his filing of a bill to criminalize abortion in Texas. (Svitek, 1/30)

As part of his promise to tackle drug addiction, [New Jersey Gov. Chris] Christie is pushing to mandate insurance coverage for substance-abuse treatment. But the plan is raising concerns over costs and availability of treatment beds. Legislation advanced Monday by Senate and Assembly committees would require that people with insurance be covered for 180 days of inpatient and outpatient substance-abuse treatment without needing prior authorization. The treatment would have to be considered “medically necessary” by the person’s doctor, psychologist, or psychiatrist, although insurers could review the necessity of inpatient benefits after 28 days. (Hanna, 1/30)

A 6-year-old boy is being credited with saving his father from what rescue crews say would have been a fatal overdose of fentanyl late Friday afternoon. Police Lt. Richard Mann said the boy, whom police have not identified, saw that his father was ill and ran outside to find a neighbor.“ He flagged down a neighbor and said, ‘My daddy is hurt,’” Mann said. Had the boy not run for help, his father “would not have made it,” said Fire Department Capt. Michael Newhall. (Seufert, 1/30)

The perceived threats are many, and they come from the highest level: President Trump has a long history of expressing doubts about the safety of vaccines — and promoting the debunked notion that they cause autism — despite broad scientific consensus that they’re safe. During his campaign, Trump met with a group of anti-vaccine advocates including the discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield, who seeded the anti-vaccine movement with fraudulent science. Wakefield popped up again last month at one of Trump’s inaugural balls. (Robbins, 1/31)

Screening for lung cancer using low-dose CT scans can save lives, but at a cost: Tests frequently produce anxiety-producing false alarms and prompt unnecessary procedures. A study from the Veterans Health Administration lays out the considerable effort required by both patients and doctors to undertake screening. (Harris, 1/30)

Cancer researchers are testing whether a generic drug that has been used for more than 40 years to treat parasitic infections may also help fight cancer. The tests of mebendazole are part of a growing effort to take a fresh look at old medicines to see if they can be repurposed for new uses. (Aubrey, 1/30)

An emergency room nurse took one look at Sarah Porter — an athletic sophomore at the University of Maine — and diagnosed her as faking a stroke. Porter hadn’t uttered the word “stroke,” so it was terrifying when the nurse told her, “No one your age in good health has a stroke. You’re just trying to avoid taking your finals.” Porter tried to respond. But she couldn’t: “There was a disconnect between what was in my head and what was coming out in my speech.” That’s because she wasn’t faking. (Hallett, 1/30)

Smartphone applications paired with sensors to monitor babies’ vital signs may appeal to parents anxious to make sure infants sleep safely through the night, but there’s no medical evidence proving that these products work, a new paper suggests. These apps — linked to sensors in babies’ socks, onesies, leg bands and diaper clips — are marketed as tools to help parents keep tabs on breathing, pulse rate and oxygen levels in the blood and to sound alarms when infants are in distress. But they aren’t tested or approved for U.S. sale, as medical devices are, and there’s little evidence to suggest these monitors are safe or effective, said Christopher Bonafide, lead author of the opinion piece in JAMA. (1/30)

If there was any lingering doubt, toss Hyland's homeopathic teething remedies – they may be toxic to babies, the FDA said over the weekend. A lab analysis by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found that the teething tablets parents use to soothe fussy babies have contained elevated levels of the toxic substance belladonna, which puts babies at risk. (Haller, 1/30)

Lahey Health and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) are again proposing to merge. It's the fourth time in at least six years that word has surfaced of a deal between these two major systems. This time there’s a letter of intent and some details about what would be the largest hospital merger in Massachusetts since the mid-1990s. (Bebinger, 1/30)

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health said Monday that they plan to merge, moving forward after years of on-again, off-again talks with a deal they hope could better match the market clout of Partners HealthCare. The merger would be the largest among hospital systems in Massachusetts since the 1994 formation of Partners, the state’s largest health network. The combined organization would start out with eight hospitals, nearly 29,000 employees, and $4.5 billion in annual revenue. (Dayal McCluskey, 1/30)

State senators on Monday twice voted overwhelmingly in favor of continuing to make hospitals pay toward a fund that helps to generate nearly $1 billion for health care in Georgia. The legislation, Senate Bill 70, now heads to the Senate Rules Committee, the gateway to a Senate floor vote. (Hart, 1/30)

Allina Health will restrict visitor access at its hospitals starting Tuesday to reduce the risk of vulnerable patients catching the flu after an announcement by state health officials that the virus is active across much of Minnesota. The precautionary step occurs whenever the Minnesota Health Department declares that influenza is widespread across the state, said Allina spokesman Tim Burke. The department made that announcement late last week as part of its weekly tracking of the flu, which so far has been relatively mild in Minnesota. (Olson, 1/30)

When the Los Angeles bike unit made its debut patrolling a triathlon in 2004, it had 20 cyclists. The team is now one of the largest in the U.S., with 120 cyclists on the roster and 60 bikes. ... Across the country, bike medics patrol airports, sports arenas, downtown entertainment areas and special events such as festivals, concerts and marathons. They are especially useful when roads are closed or congested, said Mike Touchstone, past president of the National EMS Management Association, a professional association of EMS managers. Medics on bikes can navigate crowded streets and sidewalks swiftly and go up and down stairs, escalators and elevators. (Bergal, 1/30)

Heart-bypass and valve surgeries continue to be a good bet for patients in Pennsylvania, even as the widespread use of stents and statins means that hospitals perform far fewer procedures than they did years ago, a new state report found. Post-surgery death rates ranged from 1 percent to 4 percent at most facilities during a recent two-year period, the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council said Tuesday. The report also found that patients are increasingly unlikely to end up back in the hospital within 30 days of discharge – a quality-of-care indicator sure to please insurers seeking to rein in costs. (Avril, 1/31)

So goes another morning at the new Kansas City Assessment and Triage Center at 12th and Prospect. The center is struggling to meet a pressing need: aiding people in severe mental distress whom police in the past too often delivered to the county jail or the nearest hospital emergency room — usually bad choices. Several forces, marshaling $3 million annually, united to create the crisis center to ease the strain on the community and the police. (Robertson, 1/30)

A study published this month found that vertiginous Summit County has the lowest rate of death from any type of cancer in the United States. The high-country county — known for ski resorts such as Breckenridge and Keystone — also ranks no worse than third nationally in any of the study’s lists of counties with the lowest death rates for 10 specific kinds of cancer. But the good news for Colorado mountain-dwellers doesn’t end there. Pitkin, Eagle, Hinsdale, San Miguel and Grand counties all ranked in the top 10 nationally for lowest overall cancer death rate, while Routt, Mineral and Douglas — the only Front Range county mentioned in the study — also showed up in lists for the lowest death rates from specific types of cancer. (Ingold, 1/30)

The budget that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will present to the legislature Feb. 8, in an attempt to close $3 billion in deficits over the next two years, is only a portent of a far greater, long-term challenge facing the the state. Simply, the bill is coming due in ever-increasing amounts for the 80-year failure of one of the richest states in the nation to adequately save for retirement benefits promised to teachers and state employees. Hobbled by debts accumulated by generations of governors and legislators, Connecticut for at least 15 years to come is likely to face a bleak and politically dangerous menu of options that could shape the state’s economy and quality of life. (Phaneuf, 1/30)

Much of the focus on state government’s surging retirement benefit costs has been on their likely impact on programs and taxes over the next two decades.And while that effect probably will be huge, those costs already have sapped significant funding from key priorities, particularly since the last recession ended seven years ago. ... Connecticut’s health care and social safety net, hailed by some but criticized by others as too generous, has sustained cuts. (Phaneuf, 1/31)

A former inmate at Wisconsin's teen prison filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Monday over a suicide attempt that left her severely brain damaged. The lawsuit by former Copper Lake School for Girls inmate Sydni Briggs and her mother alleges psychiatrists and prison officials failed to put protections in place even though Briggs had sent signals she was suicidal. She told a therapist she was thinking about suicide and twice scratched her arms so hard they bled, the suit says. (Marley, 1/30)

Another morning in the motel room, and there were more appointments to attend to. Today it wouldn’t be the blood tests, which weeks before had established Heavenz Luster’s lead levels as higher than anything seen in Washington in decades, or another injection to remove that lead — she had already had 18 — or another cognitive evaluation or visit to a nearby CVS pharmacy for more medication. Today it would be the behavioral therapists. Her parents, who silently watched the 2-year-old babble and stare at nothing, would finally know the severity of her brain damage. (McCoy, 1/30)

A Chevy Chase financial firm and a Rockville lawyer are asking a judge to dismiss federal allegations that they bilked scores of lead-paint poisoning victims out of the full value of their damage settlements. Lawyers for Access Funding LLC and attorney Charles Smith filed the motions Monday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. The company says the case involves issues of state law already being litigated in state court. (1/30)

Minnesota’s medical marijuana program needs extra state funding to cover the costs of its patient database and inspections of drug manufacturers, just a few of the regulations that make it one of the most restrictive such laws in the country. It’s the latest reminder of the financial constraints on the program borne from the heavy restrictions on Minnesota’s 2014 law. (Potter, 1/30)

It is uniformly accepted dogma that our health cost crisis is caused by skyrocketing insurance premiums. This idea is completely false. It aids the most powerful lobbying group, health care, in continuing to protect hospitals, drug companies, labs and physicians from price competition. (Steven I. Weissman, 1/31)

At the forefront of the agenda is repealing Obamacare and rebuilding our health care system in order to provide quality health care, at an affordable price, to the citizens of our country. ... What the American people wanted is starkly different from what they received. They were told “reform” would help everyone, but now only 4 percent of Americans are currently receiving coverage through an Obamacare exchange, while millions have been harmed. Americans never wanted a complete government takeover or to lose the doctor they trusted. ... And most importantly, they did not want false promises about access and costs. (Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Rep. Michael C. Burgess, R-Texas, 1/31)

U.S. Rep. Tom Price, nominated as President Donald Trump’s health secretary, belongs to a doctors’ group that considers Medicare “evil” and physicians who accept it “immoral.” That is one of many controversial positions taken by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. ... The association has promoted an array of discredited theories: childhood vaccines cause autism, illegal immigrants spread disease and abortion causes breast cancer, among others. ... Price’s membership raises questions about his commitment to preserving Medicare, the primary health insurance for elderly Americans for the past five decades. (Alan Judd, 1/30)

The government currently bars people from admission to the U.S., or from getting a green card, if they are deemed likely to need cash benefits like Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. But of course, there are also substantial non-cash benefits available to people legally living in the U.S., especially health-care services like Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program or Obamacare subsidies. Barring individuals who might benefit from those programs would significantly reduce the number of lower-skilled immigrants who are eligible to stay in the U.S. legally. One obvious result of that is that we could expect to spend less on Medicaid. But a less obvious impact is that Obamacare’s insurance pools might end up less stable, with fewer people. (Megan McArdle, 1/30)

The GOP has been screaming about federal budget deficits and the national debt for years and cutting social programs like Social Security and Medicare. Democrats and progressives, in contrast, would like to expand those social insurance programs in light of millions of Americans coming up short on retirement funding and healthcare expenses. The operating word is both battles is "budget." The way to either gut or expand social insurance is through Congressional action. This war is heating up again. In Senate testimony on Tuesday, budget director nominee Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), said he would cut Social Security and Medicare spending. (John Wasik, 1/30)

If you’re on Medicare and think you don’t have to worry about the growing threat to the Affordable Care Act, you might want to check your confidence at the door. And if you’re not quite at the magical age of 65, when Americans become eligible for the federal health insurance program, you might want to start fretting, too. Some ACA provisions that have helped the 65-and-over set might go bye-bye if it’s repealed, as Republicans have threatened for years. (Ana Veciana-Suarez, 1/30)

Today, a Republican president and Congress face a similarly daunting task: Replace Obamacare. Millions of Americans rely on it for health-care coverage, including lower-income people covered under the law's Medicaid expansion. (1/31)

Public understanding about how our health system operates is woefully low: surveys show only one in five adults has functional knowledge about how to choose a physician, hospital or insurance plan, or compare treatment options. The lexicon we use in our industry lends to this confusion: powerful words and phrases that convey something different depending on the user’s intent. (Paul Keckley, 1/31)

If the Affordable Care Act is repealed, coverage of birth control with no co-payment is one of many benefits that Americans could lose. Now legislators in Oregon have introduced a bill intended to protect access to birth control in the state, along with a broad range of other reproductive health care services, including abortion. (1/31)

At 8 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, President Trump is set to unveil his pick to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant for almost year since the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia. When he does so, we are going to learn a lot about either Trump's commitment to keeping his promises, or the conservative movement's commitment to principle. Make no mistake, Trump’s promise to appoint pro-life justices is perhaps the most important promise for him to keep. President Clinton's voters once chose to overlook his problematic peccadilloes because, "It's the economy, stupid." Trump's conservative base did the same last year, also because of a pre-eminent concern. (Steve Deace, 1/30)