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The Obama administration is announcing a series of executive steps aimed at curbing gun violence, including broader background checks and the hiring of additional specialists to process those checks. The White House is also proposing a $500 million investment to improve mental health care. (1/5)

President Barack Obama is directing administration officials to explore ways to expand the use of technology that can ensure a weapon can be fired only by its owner and proposed efforts to invest in mental-health care and include information in the background-check system about individuals who are prohibited from possessing a firearm for mental-health reasons. (Nelson and Fields, 1/5)

Some health providers, courts and state officials have been hesitant to share records because of strict privacy laws. As a result, the federal background check system, known as the NCIS, has significant gaps on people disqualified from owning guns because of mental illnesses. New rules issued Monday by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are intended to make it clear that legal authorities can pass along mental health records that could be valuable in a background check. The rules from the Obama administration, to be published Tuesday, clarify that only limited information about the patient is shared – only a person’s name and the entity that made the ruling. (Ferris, 1/4)

Delivering on its promise to deliver "common sense" gun control, the Obama administration on Monday finalized a rule that enables health care providers to report the names of mentally ill patients to an FBI firearms background check system. While the 1993 Brady law prohibits gun ownership by individuals who have been involuntarily committed, found incompetent to stand trial or otherwise deemed by a court to be a danger to themselves or others, federal health care privacy rules prohibited doctors and other providers from sharing information without the consent of their patients. Under the rule, which takes effect next month, for the first time health providers can disclose the information to the background check system without legal repercussions. (Pittman, 1/4)

"The president is at minimum subverting the legislative branch, and potentially overturning its will," Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan said in a statement before the White House announcement. Republicans have called for more focus on mental health care rather than measures to restrict gun ownership. The White House said it would ask Congress for $500 million in its 2017 budget to boost access to mental health care. (Mason and Rampton, 1/4)

A powerful House Republican is threatening to block President Obama’s executive order on guns by defunding the Department of Justice (DOJ). In a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department, warned against enforcing the new gun restrictions. (Devaney, 1/4)

Gun control has divided Democrats in the past, and Obama barely touched the issue in his first term. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence gave him an “F” in 2009, calling his record an “abject failure.” Yet at the beginning of a year that Democrats hope will end with Hillary Clinton’s election as president and their party winning back control of the Senate, the party believes Obama’s actions will help it send the political message that Republicans are blocking common-sense reforms that would reduce the number of mass killings in the country. (Fabian, 1/5)

The Obama administration Monday urged the Supreme Court to strike down Texas abortion regulations it said effectively would eliminate access to the procedure for large numbers of women across the vast state. The high court is set to hear argument in March on a 2013 Texas law cracking down on abortion providers by requiring clinics offering the procedure to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers and doctors who perform it to hold admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. (Bravin, 1/4)

Intervening in the Supreme Court's first abortion case since 2007, the administration said the new Texas rules for clinics and physicians who perform abortions are far more restrictive than other regulations upheld by the justices over the years. If allowed to take full effect, U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli wrote, the law would close many more of the state's clinics and force hundreds of thousands of Texas women to travel great distances if they seek to terminate pregnancies. ... The administration's "friend of the court" brief siding with the clinics challenging the law comes in one of the most politically charged disputes this presidential election year. (Biskupic, 1/4)

The new year could bring resolution — or at least significant developments — to a long list of high-profile, long-simmering court cases and legal disputes in Texas. Some of the cases have the potential to affect government policies not only in Texas but across the nation — particularly on the hot-button issues of abortion and race relations. (Lindell, 1/4)

December’s omnibus budget package contained a measure to delay a provision of the Affordable Care Act by two years is giving finance chiefs some extra time to prepare. The tax on high-cost employee health plans puts employers on the hook for a 40% levy on any excess cost of health plans above certain thresholds. Even before the delay, many companies and municipalities had already begun to assess whether their plans would trigger additional payments and make preemptive changes to avoid it. (Murphy, 1/4)

President Barack Obama’s willingness to sign a year-end spending package that suspended more than $30 billion worth of taxes mandated by the health care law will energize opponents' efforts to further alter his signature legislative achievement, though the most significant changes may have to wait until after the elections. (Attlas, 1/4)

A Lawrence businesswoman has become somewhat of a poster child for the Affordable Care Act. ... On a recent trip back to Kansas, [Kathleen] Sebelius had lunch at the Ladybird and heard [Meg] Heriford’s story, which she now relates to audiences whenever she’s asked to speak about the ACA and the difference it’s making in people’s lives. (McLean, 1/4)

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has told federal officials he wants to impose new limits on the state's hybrid Medicaid expansion that's providing coverage to more than 200,000 people. Hutchinson's office on Monday released his formal request to overhaul the state's "private option," which uses federal funds to purchase private insurance for low-income residents. (1/4)

As expected the governor of Arkansas is asking federal officials to consider changes to the state's version of Medicaid expansion. ... In the letter Governor Hutchinson said Arkansas "anticipates submitting an application" in the Spring of 2016 to amend the existing private option program under a section 1115 waiver. The administration's letter to Secretary Burwell includes a waiver application extension. The current incarnation of Medicaid expansion known as the private option expires at the end of 2016. The governor was required by federal officials to continue or seek changes to the waiver, or deviation from traditional Medicaid, a year in advance. (Kaufman, 1/4)

The extension request, submitted on the day of the deadline, notes that state officials expect to seek amendments to the waiver this spring to enact changes such as those proposed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Those changes include charging premiums to enrollees with incomes above the poverty level, subsidizing coverage through employer plans for those with access to job-based coverage, and requiring referrals to job-training programs for unemployed enrollees. (Davis, 1/5)

Longtime Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington state announced Monday that he will not seek re-election for a 15th time when he completes his term at the end of the year. McDermott said he was proud of the many things he has accomplished during his time in office, including reforms to foster care, affordable housing for people with AIDS, but most important, he said, was his work on the national health plan. (1/4)

The House of Representatives will vote on a measure this week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s legacy accomplishment. ... This is the health care repeal bill that the Senate passed before adjourning for the holidays. If the bill clears the Republican-controlled House, it would be the first ACA repeal measure to reach Obama’s desk. (Douglas, 1/5)

A GOP-led effort to repeal the biggest parts of ObamaCare would cost about $42 billion less than previously expected, saving more than a half-trillion dollars over a decade, the congressional budget scorekeeper said Monday. Legislation to gut most of ObamaCare's mandates and taxes, known as Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, would reduce the deficit by $516 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. (Ferris, 1/4)

Federal school meal nutrition standards under fire in Congress improved by 29 percent the overall quality of meals for several thousand students in a Washington state school district, according to a study released Monday. The report comes as the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee chairman and ranking member say they plan a markup this month of child nutrition reauthorization legislation that would revisit the 2010 law that set tougher standards for federal school lunch and breakfast meals. (Ferguson, 1/4)

The nominee, Dr. Robert Califf, is a cardiologist and longtime Duke University researcher who joined the FDA as a deputy commissioner in February. He has received praise from Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and is expected to have relatively smooth sailing. (Sullivan, 1/4)

Hillary Clinton wants to require Florida and other states to require insurers to cover autism treatment, part of a plan to address the disorder she will unveil Tuesday in Iowa. (Leary, 1/5)

Hillary Clinton defended the Affordable Care Act in fierce terms on Monday amid a new Republican effort to unravel the health care law in Congress. (Sarlin, 1/4)

The new ad from a pro-Bush Super PAC touts Bush’s record as Florida’s governor, compared to the records of two other governors vying for the GOP nomination: Chris Christie and John Kasich. ... [The ad says Bush] "led the fight to stop Obamacare expansion in his state." Bush’s term as governor ended two years before President Obama took office, and three years before the Affordable Care Act was signed into law. So what exactly was Bush’s role? (Michelle Ye Hee Lee, 1/5)

After months of negotiations, Community Healthcare System terminated its contract with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield on Dec. 31, which could limit health care choices for thousands of customers. An estimated 30 percent of patients at CHS hospitals have Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, according to Community Healthcare System spokesperson Mylinda Cane, and as a result of the contract ending, those patients will be considered "out of network" and thus face higher out-of-pocket costs for services at Community Hospital in Munster, St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago and St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart. (Lazerus, 1/5)

Insurance policies that pay a lump sum if workers get cancer or another serious illness are being offered in growing numbers by employers. Companies say they want to help protect their workers against the financial pain of increasingly high deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs. But it’s important to understand the limitations of these plans before buying. Critical illness plans have been around for decades, but they have become more common lately as employers have shifted more health care costs onto their workers' shoulders. (Andrews, 1/5)

Here is the surest way to enjoy the peace of mind that comes with having health insurance: Don’t get sick. The number of uninsured Americans has fallen by an estimated 15 million since 2013, thanks largely to the Affordable Care Act. But a new survey, the first detailed study of Americans struggling with medical bills, shows that insurance often fails as a safety net. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 1/5)

MNsure said Monday it has reached more than 80 percent of its 2016 private-plan enrollment goal. Almost 68,000 people enrolled in 2016 private health insurance plans between Nov. 1 and Dec. 28, MNsure said. (Zdechlik, 1/4)

Approvals for first-of-a-kind drugs climbed last year, pushing the annual tally of new U.S. drugs to its highest level in 19 years. The rising figures reflect an industry-wide focus on drugs for rare and hard-to-treat diseases, which often come with streamlined reviews, extra patent protections and higher price tags. (Perrone, 1/4)

Gilead Sciences Inc. said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted a priority review of its experimental hepatitis C combination drug. The Foster City, Calif., drugmaker filed a new drug application for the treatment—a combination of the biopharmaceutical company’s Sovaldi with velpatasvir—in late October. The FDA is expected to decide whether to approve the combination therapy by June 28. (Stynes, 1/4)

Editas Medicine Inc., the drugmaker whose backers include Bill Gates and Google Ventures, filed to become the first publicly traded company to specialize in a new technology to edit flaws in genes. The company, which uses a gene-editing technique called Crispr, filed Monday for the IPO with an initial size of $100 million. That’s a placeholder amount used to calculate fees and will probably change. (Chen and Barinka, 1/4)

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Active Biotech AB said Monday they were ending the higher-dose portions of two multiple-sclerosis studies with the drug Laquinimod after eight patients suffered nonfatal cardiovascular events. The companies said the incidents occurred in the higher-dose components of a phase 3 and a phase 2 clinical trial. The lower-dose and placebo components of the tests will continue. (Hufford, 1/4)

In hospitals, alarms on patient-monitoring devices create a cacophony of noise day and night—beeping, pinging and ringing so often that doctors and nurses ignore them, turn them off or just stop hearing them. Now, hospitals are adopting solutions to silence or eliminate unnecessary alarms, while ensuring that staffers don’t miss alerts that could signal a life-threatening crisis. Smarter technology and more-precise monitoring practices are helping prevent false alarms, alert nurses to true emergencies, and identify deteriorating patients before an alarm signals a crisis. (Landro, 1/4)

Researchers have found the hallmarks of chronic traumatic encephalopathy throughout the brain of a 25-year-old former college football player who sustained more than 10 concussions during about 16 years on the gridiron. The unnamed athlete, described in a report published Monday by the journal JAMA Neurology, is the youngest patient to get a definitive diagnosis of widespread CTE. (Healy, 1/4)

Now a vaccine for Respiratory Syncytial Virus, as RSV is formally called, is showing promise in early trials at the Johns Hopkins University, giving researchers and doctors hope of stemming the leading cause of hospitization for children less than a year old. Every year, the virus sends an estimated 2 million children under age 5 to the doctor and 57,000 to the hospital, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Cohn, 1/4)

Few types of cancer research have witnessed more progress in the past decade than the fight against the blood cancer known as multiple myeloma. There are 10 multiple myeloma treatments on the market, including three that won Food and Drug Administration approval during a remarkable 15-day span in November. Other medications in the pipeline hold promise to meet patients’ hopes for even further gains. (Winslow, 1/4)

Service dogs are often trained to help veterans with physical disabilities. Now, a growing number are being trained to meet the demand from vets with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues. So far, though, the Department of Veterans Affairs won't help pay for service dogs for PTSD, citing a lack of scientific evidence. But it's launching a study to find out what effect specially trained service dogs can have on the lives of veterans with PTSD. (Silverman, 1/4)

Costly drugs are on all kinds of agendas in 2016. For several years, national and state legislators, insurers, insurance purchasers and consumer advocates have been noting and worrying about rising prices for prescription drugs. All that attention may turn into action this year. (Lauer, 1/4)

The fight over a potential statewide ballot issue to keep down prescription drug prices has begun with major pharmaceutical companies firing the first salvo. Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted on Monday ordered county boards of election to take a second look at the Drug Price Relief Act because of potential problems, including thousands of crossed-out signatures. (Johnson, 1/4)

Investor-owned LifePoint Health has acquired St. Francis Hospital in Columbus, Ga., about a year after the independent hospital began seeking a suitor in light of debt problems and accounting irregularities flagged by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (Barkholz, 1/4)

The patient walks woozily out to the ambulance from a tan house on a tree-lined street. Anthony Savoy, the head medic, calls ahead to University Hospitals, which has the closest emergency room. Savoy wants to make sure the ER has space for the patient. The man gets in that day, but it was by no means guaranteed. For years, it’s been common practice for University Hospitals to switch its status to diversion. That means when Savoy would call the hospital, people in the emergency department would say they didn’t have the room or the staff to handle the patient. The EMS team then would have to drive to another hospital — often the Cleveland Clinic — about a mile away. (Tribble, 1/5)

The VA St. Louis Health Care System has cut the waiting time for appointments in recent months, but the improvement is “fragile,” says Patricia Ten Haaf, who is leaving the agency after serving as its acting director since May. “As of the beginning of December, our average wait times for primary care, mental health care and specialty care are all five days or under,’’ she said. (Leonard, 1/5)

Gov. Nikki Haley isn’t expected to release her proposed executive budget until mid-January, but the South Carolina Medicaid director already said his agency needs millions more from the General Assembly next year. If it doesn’t get the extra funds, the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services, which administers the low-income Medicaid program, will consider scaling back services or cutting reimbursement rates paid to doctors and hospitals. (Sausser, 1/4)

CMS last week officially approved a five-year, $6.2 billion federal 1115 waiver for California, also known as Medi-Cal 2020. The waiver approval means California can move forward on four reform fronts over the next five years. (Gorn, 1/4)

A nonprofit group that represents service providers for Kansans with developmental disabilities will look for a new leader this year, during an important transition in how the state provides Medicaid coverage for those services. Tom Laing announced Monday that he will retire in September after 22 years as the executive director of InterHab in Topeka. (Marso, 1/4)

The woman in charge of the St. Louis Planned Parenthood -- and the owner of the pathology lab the facility contracts with -- could face jail time and a fine for failing to comply with a Missouri Senate subpoena. Mary Kogut, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, and James Miller, owner of Brentwood-based Pathology Services, Inc., were issued subpoenas in November for documents and witnesses to appear before a Missouri Senate committee investigating the abortion and health care provider. Neither appeared before the Senate committee or sent the documents requested, even though Miller testified a month prior in front of a House committee investigating the same matter. (Stuckey, 1/4)

A Republican-led Missouri legislative panel has recommended that the leader of a Planned Parenthood chapter should be held in contempt for refusing to share abortion-related documents with lawmakers. The request targeting Mary Kogut, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, came from the Interim Committee on the Sanctity of Life, a panel Missouri senators launched last year after anti-abortion activists released videos they said showed Planned Parenthood personnel negotiating the sale of fetal organs. ... A letter from a Planned Parenthood attorney sent last month cited patient privacy concerns and questioned the Senate's authority to subpoena private organizations, among other concerns. (Ballentine, 1/4)

A Missouri lawmaker is proposing that the state make it a crime for a woman to use drugs while pregnant in an effort he says could encourage women to seek treatment but that opponents say could do the opposite. Rep. Jered Taylor, a Republican from Nixa, said his bill is intended to get women into treatment before they give birth. He said the bill could push offenders into drug court, where their sentences would be deferred if they completed treatment. But threatening pregnant women with legal penalties could drive them away from seeking health care, said Farah Diaz-Tello, a spokeswoman for National Advocates for Pregnant Women. (Aton, 1/4)

A group aiming to overturn California’s new law allowing terminally-ill patients to obtain lethal drugs said Monday that it did not collect enough signatures to qualify a referendum for the November ballot. (Koseff, 1/4)

When she first heard that California's new aid in-dying law was signed, Dr. Carin van Zyl was relieved to hear that assisted death would be an option for her if she ever needed it herself. But as a palliative care doctor at the University Of Southern California Keck School Of Medicine, she's worried the law might lead people to consider lethal medications over other options that may better accommodate their wishes. (Chen, 1/4)

As a state task force on heroin and opioid misuse wraps up its official work, lawmakers involved say the real work is just beginning. About ten proposals recommended by the task force will start going through a joint public hearing process in the Legislature next week, with a goal of sending several pieces of legislation to the governor’s desk by the end of the month. (McDermott, 1/4)

A special legislative task force wrapped up its work vetting substance abuse bills Monday, and now the focus is turning to actually passing the legislation. The Legislature reconvenes Wednesday, and tackling drug addiction is poised to become the No. 1 priority for both political parties. ... While many of the policy measures are moving forward smoothly, it’s the spending bills that will face the biggest test. (1/4)

New Hampshire's Executive Council has unanimously approved the appointment of a longtime government lawyer as acting commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services. (1/5)

Lisa Freeman recently tried an experiment: Before having a medical diagnostic test, she tried to figure out what it would cost. “It took no less than five phone calls, and I still never got to the end of the thing,” said Freeman, executive director of the Connecticut Center for Patient Safety. A major state law passed last year aims to change that, with a host of transparency provisions that begin rolling out this month. They’re aimed at making it easier for patients to learn the cost of their medical care ahead of time, including any charges they might face if they seek care outside their insurer's network. (Levin Becker, 1/5)

After leading Rx Outreach since its spin off from Express Scripts in 2010, Michael Holmes is stepping aside as president of the nonprofit organization, effective Jan. 5. (Liss, 1/5)

A nurse serving a 10-year state prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter in the 2011 death of a 14-year-old cerebral palsy patient pleaded guilty Monday to two federal counts of Medicaid fraud. (Gokavi, 1/4)

Dental insurance doesn’t mean access to care. Part of the problem: Washington has one of the nation’s lowest reimbursement rates for dental care provided through Medicaid, the state-administered health-care program for low-income patients. As a result, the state’s poor, particularly Native Americans and other minorities, generally have lousy oral health. (Drabold, 1/4)

Hoping to prevent foster children from ending up in unstable living conditions, a group of social services agencies from around the state, led by The Institute for Innovation & Implementation at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, is using a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to tackle the issue in five Eastern Shore counties. (McDaniels, 1/4)

Forcing [Delaware] state government retirees to pay more for their health care and consolidating certain administrative functions of school districts are among the likely recommendations of a state panel looking at government spending. The expenditure review committee was created by an executive order signed by Gov. Jack Markell in September, with an eye toward more efficient use of state taxpayer money. The panel faces a Jan. 29 deadline for reporting its findings and recommendations to Markell and members of the legislature's budget-writing Joint Finance Committee. (Chase, 1/4)

You can set your watch by it, or at least your calendar. If it's a day of the week ending in "Y," the House congressional majority is preparing to vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. These days are no exception: A repeal vote in the House is scheduled for this week, linked to a provision to cut funding for Planned Parenthood. Both will be DOA at the president's desk. What's lost in this openly partisan waltzing around is that many aspects of the ACA are in dire need of fixing. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/4)

The recent action by the Republicans in the Senate to repeal ObamaCare through the procedural vehicle of reconciliation appears to be delayed. The passage by the House of numerous repeal bills has allowed Republicans to achieve a campaign promise from virtually every campaign since 2010. Maybe the president should sign one of these bills. Let's see what would happen. (Former Rep. Bill Owen, D-N.Y., 1/4)

Although a study released last month indicated that Kansas would at least break even or perhaps realize financial benefits from expanding its Medicaid program, there seems to be little chance that expansion even will be discussed in the upcoming legislative session. ... Legislative leaders who oppose that expansion were quick to discredit the study, saying that the firm that conducted it was biased and that a five-year analysis was too narrow. However, they didn’t present any hard data to repute the study’s conclusions. (1/5)

Over the past several years, arguments for Medicaid expansion in Florida have been made using sound economic, budgetary and public health rationales, only to collapse under the reflexive antipathy toward the Affordable Care Act of Gov. Rick Scott and conservatives in the state House of Representatives. So let's reset the debate and look at Medicaid expansion by itself in the context of the long and successful history of other state/federal partnerships that have been a hallmark of Republican governance for more than a century. (Ron Pollack, 1/4)

After one of her operations, my sister-in-law left the hospital so quickly that she couldn’t eat for days; after other stays, she wasn’t discharged until she felt physically and mentally prepared. Five days after his triple heart bypass surgery, my stepfather felt well enough to go home, but the hospital didn’t discharge him for several more days. You undoubtedly have similar stories. Patients are often left wondering whether they have been discharged from the hospital too soon or too late. They also wonder what criteria doctors use to assess whether a patient is ready to leave. (Austin Frakt, 1/4)

Our kids are being poisoned every day in their schools. It's not from lead paint or pipes, but by the food and drinks being served to them — the cheapest to make and deadliest to eat and, in some instances, the same food fed to the inmate populations in our state prisons. (Aaron Maybin, 1/4)