First Edition: May 3, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Short-Staffed Nursing Homes See Drop In Medicare Ratings
The federal government accelerated its crackdown on nursing homes that go days without a registered nurse by downgrading the rankings of a tenth of the nation’s homes on Medicare’s consumer website, new records show. In its update in April to Nursing Home Compare, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services gave its lowest star rating for staffing — one star on its five-star scale — to 1,638 homes. Most were downgraded because their payroll records reported no registered-nurse hours at all for four days or more, while the remainder failed to submit their payroll records or sent data that couldn’t be verified through an audit. (Rau and Lucas, 5/3)
California Healthline:
For Those With Developmental Disabilities, Dental Needs Are Great, Good Care Elusive
When Ava Terranove began feeling oral pain last July, her parents took her to her regular dentist. The dentist determined that Ava, who has an autism-like condition, needed two root canal procedures to treat infected teeth. Because of her developmental disability, Ava, now 15, requires general anesthesia for non-routine dental work. The dentist, like most of his peers, was not equipped to provide it. (Tuller, 5/2)
Kaiser Health News:
With Head Injuries Mounting, Will Cities Put Their Feet Down On E-Scooters?
Almost half of the injured Austin scooter riders identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its first-ever study of dockless electric scooters suffered a head injury, with 15% experiencing a traumatic brain injury. The report, presented Thursday both in Austin and Atlanta, where the CDC is headquartered, covers 87 days last fall in Austin when almost 200 people were injured in scooter crashes. Just one of the riders wore a helmet and 33% of those riders were hurt on their first scooter ride. (Jayson, 5/2)
Kaiser Health News:
Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Bye-Bye, ACA, And Hello ‘Medicare-For-All’?
The Department of Justice on Wednesday submitted a brief to a federal appeals court making its case as to why the entire Affordable Care Act should be struck down in the wake of the congressional repeal of the tax penalty for failing to have insurance. Meanwhile, the House Rules Committee held a historic hearing on a “Medicare-for-all” bill, kicking off what is likely to be a lengthy debate that will span the 2020 election. (5/2)
Reuters:
U.S. Health Agency Finalizes Conscience And Religious Freedom Rule
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday released a final rule allowing doctors, nurses and other health workers to opt out of procedures such as abortions and sterilizations which violate their personal or religious beliefs. The rule, proposed more than a year ago, reinforces a set of 25 laws passed by Congress that protect "conscience rights" in healthcare, HHS said. Those laws allow health providers and entities to opt out of providing, participating in, paying for or referring for healthcare services that they have personal or religious objections to, HHS said. (5/2)
The Associated Press:
Trump Defends Clinicians' Right To Refuse To Do Abortions
"Just today we finalized new protections of conscience rights for physicians, pharmacists, nurses, teachers, students and faith-based charities," Trump told an interfaith audience in the White House Rose Garden. "They've been wanting to do that for a long time." The conscience rule was a priority for religious conservatives who are a key part of Trump's political base, but some critics fear it will become a pretext for denying medical attention to LGBT people or women seeking abortions, a legal medical procedure. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 5/2)
The New York Times:
Trump Administration Strengthens ‘Conscience Rule’ For Health Care Workers
The rule was issued by the Department of Health and Human Services’s Office for Civil Rights, which has been substantially expanded under President Trump. The administration has created a conscience and religious freedom division within the office, and the president’s budget sought to expand its funding. It is part of a portfolio of policy changes meant to broaden religious exemptions for certain types of medical practice. The administration has already created new exemptions for the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employer health plans cover contraceptive care, though that change has been delayed in court. Another rule, still in its proposed stage, would modify civil rights requirements that bar discrimination by hospitals and insurance companies against transgender patients and women with a history of abortion. (Sanger-Katz, 5/2)
NPR:
New Conscience Rule Protects Health Care Workers Who Refuse To Give Care
"This rule ensures that healthcare entities and professionals won't be bullied out of the health care field because they decline to participate in actions that violate their conscience, including the taking of human life," OCR Director Roger Severino said in a written statement. "Protecting conscience and religious freedom not only fosters greater diversity in healthcare, it's the law." (Kodjak, 5/2)
The Washington Post:
National Day Of Prayer: Trump Touts New Faith-Based Protections For Health Care Workers
Conservative groups welcomed what they call “conscience protections” for health care workers and others, while LGBTQ and women’s groups warned the rule would reduce services and potentially harm patients if providers refuse to deliver certain care, or treat gay and transgender people. “Religious liberty is a fundamental right, but it doesn’t include the right to discriminate or harm others,” said Louise Melling, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union. “This rule threatens to prevent people from accessing critical medical care and may endanger people’s lives. … Medical standards, not religious belief, should guide medical care.” (Cha, Bailey and Goldstein, 5/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
White House Unveils Rule To Protect Health Workers’ Religious, Moral Beliefs
Consumer advocacy groups said Thursday that they planned lawsuits to block the rule, setting the stage for a pitched legal fight against the Trump administration and religious-rights advocates. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who vowed litigation, said the rule jeopardizes crucial funding and exceeds the administration’s legal authority. “We won’t go back to the days when Americans seeking healthcare faced discrimination simply because they were female or LGBTQ,” he said, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer patients. (Armour, 5/2)
The Associated Press:
San Francisco Sues Donald Trump Over Conscience Rights
The city of San Francisco is suing the Trump administration over its new regulation allowing health care professionals to opt out of providing treatments they oppose. City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for Northern California on Thursday, hours after President Donald Trump made the announcement. He argues the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services exceeded its statutory authority when it created the rule. (5/2)
Politico:
Trump Strengthens Protections For Religious Health Workers
The first conscience protections were passed 46 years ago, as lawmakers sought to accommodate health care workers who had objections to theRoe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Those measures and subsequent laws have been at the center of political battles in recent years — George W. Bush's administration pushed to expand conscience protections for religious workers, and the Obama administration rolled them back. (Diamond, 5/2)
The Associated Press:
Lawmaker: Abortion Comments Meant To Criticize Hypocrisy
An Alabama lawmaker who remarked "kill them now or kill them later" during debate on an abortion bill said he was trying to criticize politicians' focus on abortion as they neglect social services. The comments by Democratic Rep. John Rogers of Birmingham drew widespread attention on social media — including condemnation from Donald Trump, Jr. — two days after they were made on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives. (Chandler, 5/2)
The Washington Post:
Alabama State Rep. John Rogers On Abortion: ‘Kill Them Now’ Or ‘Kill Them Later.’
Rogers argued Wednesday that “it ought to be a woman’s choice” about terminating a pregnancy, an autonomy that would disappear entirely if the majority-Republican Alabama Senate passes the “Human Life Protection Act” — a bill that would criminalize abortion at any stage of pregnancy. “I’m not about to be the male tell a woman what to do with her body,” he said, repeating a common refrain among abortion-rights advocates. “She has a right to make that decision herself." (Mettler, 5/2)
The Associated Press:
Pharmaceutical Exec Guilty Of Bribing Doctors To Push Opioid
A pharmaceutical company founder accused of paying doctors millions in bribes to prescribe a highly addictive fentanyl spray was convicted Thursday in a case that exposed such marketing tactics as using a stripper-turned-sales-rep to give a physician a lap dance. John Kapoor, the 76-year-old former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy after 15 days of jury deliberations. Four ex-employees of the Chandler, Arizona-based company, including the former exotic dancer, were also convicted. (Richer, 5/2)
Reuters:
Founder, Execs Of Drug Company Guilty In Conspiracy That Fed Opioid Crisis
Kapoor's 2017 arrest came on the same day U.S. President Donald Trump declared the epidemic that has caused tens of thousands of overdose deaths annually a public health emergency. Kapoor, 76, was found guilty of running a wide-ranging scheme to bribe doctors nationwide by retaining them to act as speakers at sham events at restaurants ostensibly meant to educate clinicians about its fentanyl spray, Subsys. (5/2)
The New York Times:
Top Executives Of Insys, An Opioid Company, Are Found Guilty Of Racketeering
During the 10-week trial, federal prosecutors had detailed Insys’s audacious marketing plan — which included paying doctors for sham educational talks and luring others with lap dances — to spur sales of Subsys, an under-the-tongue spray approved to treat patients with cancer. Company executives were accused of paying doctors to write prescriptions for a much wider pool of patients than the drug was approved for, and of misleading insurance companies so they would cover the potent and pricey medication. With the drug’s sales soaring, Insys became a darling of Wall Street, generating annual sales at one point of more than $300 million. (Emanuel and Thomas, 5/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
Insys Co-Founder, Former Employees Convicted Of Opioid Conspiracy
“Today’s convictions mark the first successful prosecution of top pharmaceutical executives for crimes related to the illicit marketing and prescribing of opioids,” said Andrew E. Lelling, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, whose office prosecuted the case. “Just as we would street-level drug dealers, we will hold pharmaceutical executives responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic.” (Walker, 5/2)
The New York Times:
The Opioid That Made A Fortune For Its Maker — And For Its Prescribers
Selling drugs is a relationship business. It’s best to do it in person. That is why, on a summer evening in 2012, Alec Burlakoff was out for dinner with Steven Chun, the owner of Sarasota Pain Associates. Burlakoff was a sales manager for Insys Therapeutics, an Arizona-based pharmaceutical company with only one branded product, a new and highly potent opioid painkiller called Subsys. Chun was a doctor who prescribed a lot of opioids. (Hughes, 5/2)
Reuters:
McKesson To Pay $37 Million To Resolve West Virginia Opioid Lawsuit
Drug distributor McKesson Corp has agreed to pay $37 million to resolve a lawsuit by the state of West Virginia seeking to hold it responsible for contributing to the opioid epidemic, the state's attorney general said on Thursday. The settlement announced by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey resolves one of hundreds of cases McKesson faces by states and local governments alleging it failed to identify suspicious orders by pharmacies of painkillers. (Raymond, 5/2)
The New York Times:
McKesson, Drug Distribution Giant, Settles Lawsuit Over Opioids In West Virginia
McKesson, the sixth-largest American company in terms of revenue, reported over $208 billion in the last fiscal year. The giant distributor funneled enough hydrocodone and oxycodone to supply every legitimate patient with nearly 3,000 doses, state officials said. Tiny Boone County, with a population of fewer than 25,000, received 1.2 million doses of hydrocodone and oxycodone between 2007 and 2012, the lawsuit claimed. (Rabin, 5/2)
The Washington Post:
West Virginia Reaches $37 Million Opioid Settlement With Drug Shipper McKesson
McKesson distributed nearly 100 million doses of oxycodone and hydrocodone in West Virginia — home to 1.8 million people — between 2007 and 2012, the state charged. That included, for example, 1.3 million doses in Boone County, where 24,629 people lived in 201o. In 2017, West Virginia led the nation with 57.8 drug overdose deaths per 100,000 residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 400,000 people in the United States have died of overdoses to prescription drugs, heroin and illegal fentanyl between 1999 and 2017. (Bernstein, 5/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
McKesson To Pay $37 Million To Settle West Virginia Opioid Lawsuit
West Virginia has felt the pains of the opioid epidemic more acutely than other states. It has the highest age-adjusted rate of opioid overdose deaths in the nation, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In 2017, 81.3 opioid prescriptions were written for every 100 people in West Virginia, the institute said, which was the lowest rate there since it began tracking the data in 2006. (Randazzo, 5/2)
The Associated Press:
Cocaine Deaths Up In US, And Opioids Are A Big Part Of It
Cocaine deaths have been rising in the U.S., health officials said Thursday in their latest report on the nation's deadliest drug overdose epidemic. After several years of decline, overdose deaths involving cocaine began rising around 2012. And they jumped by more than a third between 2016 and 2017. (Stobbe, 5/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
New York Charges 28 People In Opioid Trafficking Probe
The New York attorney general’s office said it has taken down what it called a 28-person narcotics ring, part of what authorities described as an emerging threat of traffickers who distribute only oxycodone. The alleged trafficking ring sold more than $2 million of pills in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Westchester County and Connecticut during a 10-month investigation, prosecutors said. (Ramey, 5/2)
The New York Times:
Amy Klobuchar Proposes $100 Billion For Addiction And Mental Health
Senator Amy Klobuchar on Friday released a $100 billion plan to combat drug and alcohol addiction and improve mental health care, focusing one of the first detailed proposals of her presidential campaign on an issue deeply personal to her. Ms. Klobuchar — who has spoken before about her father’s alcoholism, including memorably at Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing — said she had developed the plan and made it an early focus in part because of that personal experience and in part because of the number of addiction-related stories she had heard from voters. (Astor, 5/3)
The Associated Press:
Klobuchar Releases $100B Substance Abuse, Mental Health Plan
The wide-ranging plan, released Friday, includes funding for early intervention of mental health disorders and drug use, a national suicide prevention campaign, better access to opioid addiction and other types of treatment and recruitment of health care workers to underserved rural areas and cities with the highest need. Klobuchar also says that as president she would prioritize mental health and substance abuse treatment over incarceration for nonviolent offenders, noting she supported drug courts as an alternative to jail when she was the lead prosecutor of Minnesota's largest county. (Burnett, 5/3)
Politico:
Cheat Sheet: How Sen. Amy Klobuchar Would Address Drug Addiction
The Minnesota Democrat’s plan aims to prevent and treat addiction, particularly to opioids. It commits to improving access to care and mental health facilities, including in-patient programs, as well as funding more research. But the plan doesn’t include specifics about expanding access to treatment for people addicted to opioids, and the price tag would likely spark opposition from fiscal conservatives. (Schneider and Ehley, 5/3)
The New York Times:
Where Michael Bennet Stands On The Issues
Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, the 21st Democrat to declare his candidacy for president, is known as a moderate who seeks bipartisan compromise. Here’s where he stands on a few key issues. ... On health care, he and Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia recently introduced a bill that would create a public option called Medicare-X; Mr. Bennet said that he wanted “universal coverage” but that his model was “more practical” than the single-payer ones many other Democrats have come to support. He has specifically criticized “Medicare for all” proposals that would eliminate private insurance. (Astor, 5/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet Enters 2020 Democratic Presidential Race
He has been an ardent defender of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare: He said during his 2010 Senate race that he was willing to lose his seat over his vote supporting it. But he has diverged from some Senate Democrats on a “Medicare for All” single-payer health-care plan, pressing instead for an expansion of Obamacare to include a government-run public option for people unable to get private insurance through their employer. (Thomas, 5/2)
Los Angeles Times:
Health Insurance Deductibles Soar, Leaving Americans With Unaffordable Bills
Soaring deductibles and medical bills are pushing millions of American families to the breaking point, fueling an affordability crisis that is pulling in middle-class households with health insurance as well as the poor and uninsured. In the last 12 years, annual deductibles in job-based health plans have nearly quadrupled and now average more than $1,300. Yet Americans’ savings are not keeping pace, data show. And more than four in 10 workers enrolled in a high-deductible plan report they don’t have enough savings to cover the deductible. (Levey, 5/2)
Los Angeles Times:
Three Kids, A Health Plan And $15,000 In Medical Debt: A Working Family Tries To Make Ends Meet
Clarisa Corber hopes someday to get medication for depression and acne. Her husband, Zack, an apprentice pipefitter and former high school football player, needs a doctor to look at his knees, which swell when he climbs too many stairs. The Corbers wish they could put something in a college fund for their three children. Both parents, who are 33, dream of moving the family out of the cramped, 1,000-square-foot house they rent in a crime-plagued Topeka neighborhood known as the Dirty South. (Levey, 5/2)
NPR:
High-Deductible Health Plans Keep Some Middle-Class Workers From Needed Care
Workers with a steady paycheck already know that wages have been stubbornly slow to rise. Meanwhile, those who get health insurance through a job have seen their deductibles shoot up. In fact, says Noam Levey, a health care reporter for the Los Angeles Times, deductibles have, on average, quadrupled over the last dozen years. As a result, even some people who have health insurance are having trouble affording medical care. We talked with Levey about his latest reporting into how the issue is affecting workers and their families. (Martin, 5/3)
The Associated Press:
Budget Office: $177B In Added Costs From Trump Drug Plan
The Trump administration's plan to ease the financial hit of prescription drugs prices for Medicare beneficiaries will cost taxpayers another $177 billion over 10 years, congressional budget experts said on Thursday. The estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office could affect prospects for one of the administration's centerpiece proposals to make prescription drugs more affordable for patients. President Donald Trump and leading lawmakers of both parties want to act before the 2020 elections. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 5/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
Cigna Posts Strong Results For First Full Quarter After Express Scripts Deal
Cigna Corp. raised its earnings projection for the year, saying first-quarter results showed strong performance for its health-insurance and pharmacy-benefits businesses. Cigna’s first-quarter profit rose by 50%, reflecting its $54 billion acquisition of Express Scripts Holding Co., which closed in December. The earnings beat analysts’ expectations. The company became the latest managed-care firm to report strong results, though share prices in the industry have been dragged down by investor concern about policy issues, including drug rebates and some Democrats’ discussion of universal government coverage. (Wilde Mathews and Chin, 5/2)
The New York Times:
Parents Of Babies Too Young To Vaccinate Feel Trapped By Measles Outbreak
Roberta Traini gritted her teeth through the small talk at the Barnes & Noble checkout, grabbed her purchases and hustled her 5-month-old daughter, Gretha, into the chilly April air, where it was safer to breathe. “I was freaking out in there,” Ms. Traini said, jabbing her finger at the store. “I needed to buy a present for a birthday, so I was forced to go. I was nervous the whole time.” This is life during a measles outbreak for parents of babies: a maelstrom of fear, isolation, truncated plans and, not infrequently, unfiltered fury. (Bosman, 5/2)
The Washington Post:
Colorado Vaccine Bill: Kyle Mullica, Lawmaker Behind Controversial Bill, Gets A Death Threat
Kyle Mullica, a freshman member of Colorado’s House, came into office this past January with a sense of mission. An emergency-room nurse, he had run a campaign based on his experience in the world of medicine, in an era where anxiety about health care is high. Even with his experience, he was surprised when during an introductory meeting with an official from the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment, he was told that Colorado was at the bottom nationwide for the percentage of children in kindergarten who were vaccinated against diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella. He had seen people coming into the ER with “vaccine-preventable” diseases like whooping cough, he said, but he was still shocked. (Rosenberg, 5/2)
Reuters:
Maine Senate Rejects Ending Religious Exemptions For Vaccinations
An effort to end all non-medical exemptions for childhood vaccinations in Maine was in limbo on Thursday after the state Senate voted to amend it to allow parents to keep opting out on religious grounds. The bill had passed the Democratic-controlled state House of Representatives last month, making Maine one of at least seven states considering ending non-medical exemptions amid the worst outbreak of measles in the United States in 25 years. (5/2)
The New York Times:
F.D.A. Won’t Ban Sales Of Textured Breast Implants Linked To Cancer
A type of breast implant linked to a rare cancer can still be sold in the United States, even though it has been banned in many other countries, the Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday. The implants, which have a textured or slightly roughened surface, as opposed to a smooth covering, have been associated with a cancer of the immune system called anaplastic large-cell lymphoma. The vast majority of the cases have occurred in women with textured implants, mainly those made by Allergan. But the F.D.A. said that the risk, though increased, was still low, and that there was not enough data to justify banning the implants. (Grady and Rabin, 5/2)
The Associated Press:
Breast Implants Tied To Rare Cancer To Remain On US Market
In recent years, the FDA and other regulators around the world have grappled with the recently confirmed link to a rare cancer and the thousands of unconfirmed complaints of other health problems that women attribute to the implants, including arthritis, fatigue and muscle pain. FDA regulators said in a statement that while they don't have definitive evidence that implants cause those chronic ailments, women considering implants "should be aware of these risks." To that end, the agency said it will consider adding a boxed warning — its most serious type — to breast implants and a checklist describing various potential harms for patients considering them. (Perrone, 5/2)
The Washington Post:
FDA Won’t Ban Breast Implants Linked To Cancer At This Time
As of last Sept. 30, the FDA had identified 457 cases of implant-related lymphoma and nine deaths worldwide. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reported 16 disease-related deaths worldwide as of Jan. 1, 2019. The FDA officials also addressed “breast implant illness” a constellation of autoimmune problems that includes joint and muscle pain and allergies and fatigue — a topic that was repeatedly raised at the March hearing. The agency said it “doesn’t have definitive evidence demonstrating breast implants cause these symptoms,” but added that evidence supports “that some women experience systemic symptoms that may resolve when their breast implants are removed” — and that women should be made aware of the risk before getting implants. (McGinley, 5/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
FDA Won’t Ban Certain Breast Implants Despite Cancer Concerns
The agency said Thursday it doesn’t have definitive evidence demonstrating implants caused such symptoms, but it said some problems may get better when implants are removed. “We believe women considering a breast implant should be aware of these risks.” (Maidenberg and Burton, 5/2)
The New York Times:
Leana Wen Of Planned Parenthood Wants To Tackle The ‘Fundamental Unfairness In Our System’
When Leana Wen became president of Planned Parenthood last year, she had big shoes to fill. Her predecessor, Cecile Richards, emerged as a major voice on issues involving public health and women’s rights during her 12 years in the job. But Dr. Wen, who is 36, came with her own eye-popping credentials. She was born in Shanghai and immigrated to the United States when she was 7, living first in Utah, then in Los Angeles. She skipped high school and started college when she was 13, aspiring to be a doctor. (Gelles, 5/2)
The Washington Post:
Caster Semenya Ruling Uses An Unscientific Definition Of Who Is Female, Critics Say
In ruling against Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya, the highest court in international sports effectively imposed an exacting definition of who should be considered male or female based on a single factor — testosterone levels. The Wednesday decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport has prompted an outcry from human rights groups and medical researchers who call the idea “unscientific” and say it sets a dangerous precedent for using biological measures to justify discrimination. (Cha, 5/2)
The Washington Post:
CDC Urges Helmet Use To Prevent Severe Head Injuries While Riding Scooters
Head trauma tops the list of severe injuries involving the use of electric scooters — injuries that in many cases could have been prevented with the use of a helmet, according to an investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Austin public health department. Almost half of the riders identified in the study had a severe injury, such as a broken leg, and half reported that a surface condition such as a pothole or crack in the street may have contributed to their injury, according to the report, released Thursday. Fewer than 1 percent of those injured were wearing a helmet. (Lazo, 5/2)
NPR:
Editing Genes To Change Human Traits Is A Tall Order
Scientists continue to speak out against the prospect of producing engineered embryos that could lead to "designer babies." Leaders of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy sent a letter on April 24 to Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services, adding their voices to the call for a moratorium on experiments that could alter the genes passed down to future generations. This move follows a widely criticized experiment in China last year that apparently produced children with edited genomes. (Harris, 5/2)
The Washington Post:
In ‘Lawless’ World Of Service Dogs, Many Families Suffer
All the counseling, therapy and medication did little to ease 9-year-old Sobie Cummings’ crippling anxiety and feelings of isolation. A psychiatrist suggested that a service dog might help. To Glenn and Rachel Cummings, Mark Mathis seemed like a dream come true. His kennel, Ry-Con Service Dogs, was just a couple of hours away, and he, too, had a child with autism. But what clinched the decision were Mathis’ credentials. “In 2013, Mark was certified as a NC state approved service dog trainer with a specialty in autism service dogs for children,” stated an online brochure. (Breed, 5/3)
The Associated Press:
Baltimore Shifts To New Political Era After Mayor Resigns
After ex-Mayor Catherine Pugh's rapid collapse amid multiple public corruption investigations, Baltimore city employees are pulling down her official portraits as the city quickly shifts into a new era with Mayor Bernard "Jack" Young at the helm. Young, a fellow Democrat and a longtime leader of the City Council, automatically replaced Pugh after her resignation Thursday afternoon. (5/2)
The Washington Post:
Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh Resigns Amid 'Healthy Holly' Book Scandal, Health Problems
Pugh’s downfall is rooted in her “Healthy Holly” books, which feature illustrations of African American children and parents and promote healthy eating and exercise. She reportedly was paid nearly $800,000 for the series — an enormous amount in the world of children’s literature — by entities that included the University of Maryland Medical System, on whose board she sat. (Schwartzman and Hermann, 5/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
Baltimore Mayor Pugh Resigns In Book-Sales Scandal
Ms. Pugh, 69 years old, took a leave of absence from the job April 1 to cope with what her office said was severe pneumonia. City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young has filled in as mayor and will finish her four-year term, which ends in 2020. The 15-member council will elect a new president. The book deals, which date to 2011, when Ms. Pugh was in the state Senate, are now the subject of several criminal investigations, including probes by federal law-enforcement officials and the state prosecutor. (Calvert and Kamp, 5/2)
ProPublica:
Pediatrician Who Treated Immigrant Children Describes Pattern Of Lapses In Medical Care In Shelters
For months, she’d been noticing a lax attitude about the medical needs of children at the federally funded immigrant youth shelters run by the Center for Family Services, a nonprofit based in Camden, New Jersey. So, she decided to review the charts of the 90 CFS patients the community health center had seen. Children, including infants, were showing up as many as 10 weeks late for their booster vaccines, increasing their risk of contracting infectious diseases, she said. (Grabell, 5/3)
The Associated Press:
Panel Raises Questions About $13M In Tax Credits To Hospital
A Camden hospital chaired by one of New Jersey's most powerful Democrats collected $13 million in state tax incentives by claiming it was considering moving some of its operations to Philadelphia when that was apparently not an option, a task force found on Thursday. The task force, which is investigating the state Economic Development Authority's use of business tax credits, presented its findings on the Cooper Health System at it second public hearing since Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy established it earlier this year. The roughly seven-hour hearing included testimony from current and former officials at the authority as well as other experts. (5/2)
The Associated Press:
Medicaid Provider To Return $4.5 Million To Delaware
A Maryland-based nonprofit organization that serves people with developmental disabilities in the mid-Atlantic region has agreed to return $4.5 million in Medicaid funds to Delaware following a two-year investigation of its billing practices. Delaware’s attorney general’s office said Thursday that in returning the money, Chimes is not admitting any liability. (Chase, 5/2)