Washington Post

Supreme Court allows Idaho Couple to challenge EPA on wetlands ruling [Environmental Protection Agency, Clean Water Act, wetlands] – Juliet Eilperin and Robert Barnes report that the Supreme Court unanimously decided that the Environmental Protection Agency had overreached when it prohibited a couple who sought to build on their property, which the EPA said was on protected “wetlands,” from appealing the agency’s determination in court; EPA had ordered construction blocked and the property restored to its former state or the couple would face severe fines; the government argued that the property owner’s lawsuit to overturn EPA’s order would have been premature

Pentagon suspends efforts to recover remains of troops in North Korea [Pentagon, State Dept., North Korea] – William Wan reports that efforts to locate the remains of 5,300 U.S. service personnel assumed buried in North Korea after the Korean war is at another impasse, a casualty of North Korea’s announcement that it would conduct a missile test after raising hopes that it would agree to limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for food aid

Supreme Court expands plea bargain rights of criminal defendants [Supreme Court, right to attorney] – Robert Barnes reports that the Supreme Court voted 5-4 that the right to adequate legal representation guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment applies to plea agreements, not just when a defendant goes to trial, opening the door for a multitude of appeals based on ineffective legal counsel during the plea bargaining phase of a case; Justice Anthony Kennedy once more provided the pivotal vote, joining the Court’s liberal wing in the decision

Obama touts solar in Nev. As part of four-state tour on energy policy [President Obama, energy policy] – Scott Wilson reports that President Obama struck back at Republicans ridiculing his support for solar power and his energy policy in general in a campaign-styled tour of states that included stops at solar manufacturing companies, oil and gas production fields and Cushing, Oklahoma, the southern end of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline

New York Times

To cut costs, postal service turns to rural stores [U.S. Postal Service] – Ron Nixon reports that the Postal Service is increasing its presence in retail stores because most post offices lose money; the agency has proposed closing 3,700 post offices

Wall Street Journal

Spending clash looms on election eve [federal budget] – Damian Paletta and Naftali Bendavid report that it’s déjà vu all over again with the White House and congressional Republicans far apart on spending, which could lead to a partial government shut-down just before the November election

FCC plans new rules on satellite airwaves [Federal Communications Commission] – Amy Schatz reports that the Federal Communications Commission took steps toward developing regulations to open up satellite airwaves for wireless phone use, including technical standards to increase participation of smaller phone companies and avoid technical interference

In the eighth year of a ten-year plan to arrive at nationwide use of electronic health records, the current national coordinator tells one of his predecessors that the country is “on the march.”

Last week Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder announced the launch of an innovative partnership among the federal government, State officials, several leading private health insurance organizations, and other health care anti-fraud groups to prevent health care fraud. This partnership is the Obama Administration’s next step in fighting fraud, designed to compliment the various new tactics implemented since the passage of health care reform in 2010.

According to last week’s press release, the new partnership will help public and private entities share information and best practices in order to better detect and prevent the payment of fraudulent claims. It aims to halt scams that cut across a number of public and private payers and help law enforcement officials more effectively identify and prevent suspicious activities, better protect patients’ confidential information and use the full range of tools and authorities provided by the Affordable Care Act and other laws to combat and prosecute illegal actions.

One goal of this partnership is to develop the ability to spot and stop payments billed to different insurers for care delivered to the same patient on the same day in two different cities. Another potential long-range goal is to use technology and analytics on industry-wide healthcare data to predict and detect health care fraud schemes.

In the last 3 years, the Administration’s efforts have resulted in a record-breaking $10.7 billion recovered from health care fraud.

Washington Post

New counterterrorism guidelines permit data on U.S. citizens to be held longer [Office of the Director of National Intelligence, National Counterterrorism Center, Attorney General Holder] – Sari Horwitz and Ellen Nakashima report that Attorney General Eric Holder has approved new guidelines for the National Counterterrorism Command, a clearinghouse for terrorism data established after 911, including allowing the NCC to maintain records on citizens and non-citizens longer than five years even if the subjects have no connection to terrorism; agencies sharing such data would be allowed to negotiate a shorter period

Army to charge Robert Bales with murder in killing of Afghan civilians [Army, Afghanistan] – Craig Whitlock and Carol Morello report that the Army will charge Staff Sgt. Robert Bales with 17 counts of murder for his alleged unprovoked killing of Afghan civilians in Kandahar Province which has had serious repercussions for U.S-Afghan relations

Labor Dept.: Green jobs account for 2.4% of employment in 2010 [Labor Dept., green technology jobs] – Sarah Halzack reports that 3.1 million “green jobs” were created in 2010 according to the Labor Department’s first survey of this category of job creation, which includes manufacturing of hybrid cars, production of solar power and weatherization construction projects

Court orders FDA to examine antibiotics use on animals [Food and Drug Administration] – Dina ElBoghdady reports that in response to a lawsuit by health and consumer groups, a federal court has ordered the Food and Drug Administration to pick up where it left off in 1977 when it proposed a ban the use of penicillin and two forms of tetracyline to increase animal growth based on the agency’s concerns about their safety to humans; there is growing concern that over-use of antibiotics in animals will lead to drug-resistant “superbugs”

Holder has become voice of the president on controversial racial issues [Attorney General Eric Holder] – Krissah Thompson and Sari Horwitz reflect on Attorney General Eric Holder’s role as the administration’s point person on issues involving race, most recently ordering the Justice Department’s Civil Right Division to investigate the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida

New York Times

Dartmouth President is Obama’s pick for World Bank [President Obama, World Bank] – John Cushman Jr. reports on President Obama’s nominee to head the World Bank — South Korean-born Jim Yong Kim, president of Dartmouth College, and a physician who lead the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS effort

U.S. rejects environmental reviews on mortgages linked to drilling [Agriculture Dept., National Environmental Policy Act] – Ian Urbina reports that the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said his agency will not require extensive environmental reviews before issuing mortgages to landowners who lease their land for oil and gas drilling, a reversal of the what agency officials had told landowners and congressional offices in emails

House votes to kill a Medicare cost panel [Health and Human Services, Medicare, Affordable Care Act] – Robert Pear reports that the House of Representatives voted 223 to 181, mostly along party lines, to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board established by the Affordable Care Act whose job is to recommend cuts in Medicare spending if the rate of growth of health care costs exceeds certain targets

Wall Street Journal

SEC probes rapid trading [Securities and Exchange Commission, high-frequency trading] – Scott Patterson and Jean Eaglesham report on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation of high-frequency stock trades, which is blamed for the 2010 “flash crash,” when stock prices plummeted and then rebounded within a matter of minutes; the agency is focusing on “computer-driven trading platforms of exchanges”

Bernanke says low rates didn’t fuel bubble [Federal Reserve] – Kristina Peterson and Jeffrey Sparshott report that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told students at George Washington University that the Federal Reserve’s low interest rates did not cause the housing bubble, noting that housing prices had begun to rise in the 1990s and that there were housing booms around the world under different monetary policy

Fed hosts global gathering on easy money [Federal Reserve] – Jon Hilsenrath reports that the world’s central bankers will gather in Washington for a conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve to discuss practices such as “quantitative easing,” the purchasing of bonds to reduce credit costs and stimulate the economy, a tactic that was used by the Federal Reserve

Nationwide, as physicians and health care systems adopt electronic health records, health information technology is becoming integral to the practice of medicine. But current medical education and professional development curricula do not systematically prepare physicians to use electronic health records and the data these systems collect. We detail how training in meaningful use of electronic health records could be incorporated into physician training, from medical school, through licensure and board certification, to continuing medical education and the maintenance of licensure and board certification. We identify six near-term opportunities for professional organizations to accelerate the integration of health information technology into their requirements.

NYLN is now accepting applications for its Governing Board. Board members must be U.S. citizens between the ages of 14 and 28, have a disability and believe in full-inclusion. Find out more about what Board members do by joining an informational call on September 24. Applications should be postmarked no later than September 29.

Washington Post

Bernanke: US job market improving but still far from normal with further gains uncertain [Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke] – AP reports that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a national business group that he is puzzled by the unusual coupling of slow economic growth with a steep decline in unemployment, which makes him cautious about projecting an economic recovery — the reason economists believe the Fed will keep interest rates near zero in the short term

In speech to South Korean students, Obama describes a North Korea their social networks can’t reach [President Obama, North Korea, South Korea] – David Nakamura reports that while in South Korea for an international conference on nuclear security — including efforts to bring pressure on North Korea to scale back its nuclear arms program — President Obama spoke to South Korean students, contrasting their open, democratic society that has been able to prosper with the isolated, totalitarian North Korea that remains impoverished

Senators want feds to look into employers asking for Facebook passwords during job interviews [Justice Dept., U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, on-line privacy] – AP reports that Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have asked the Justice Department and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate whether employers asking potential hires for their Facebook password is lawful, specifically whether it violates laws that “prohibit intentional access to electronic information without authorization and intentional access to a computer without authorization to obtain information”

New York Times

The wall between contractors and politics [Federal Election Commission, Citizens United] – The Times argues in favor of the historic ban on government contractors contributing to political campaigns, which has come under question following the Citizens United decision that lead to unions and corporations contributing huge sums of money to political action campaigns

Health act arguments open with obstacle from 1867 [Supreme Court, Affordable Care Act] – Adam Liptak reports that the first day of the three-day argument in front of the Supreme Court about the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act focuses on an procedural issue: whether the penalty for not purchasing health insurance as required by the ACA is a tax, and if so, whether a 1867 law that prohibits court review of a tax until after it has been paid prohibits courts from hearing challenges to the ACA’s mandate because the penalty would not be paid until 2015

Wall Street Journal

Panel finds failings by U.S. agency in deadly mine blast [Mine Safety and Health Administration] – Kris Maher reports that had the Mine Safety and Health Administration — which is charged with enforcing mine safety regulations — done its job, it could have mitigated or prevented the explosion at the Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia where 29 miners died, according to a report by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which earlier found that Massey Energy was primarily responsible for the disaster

Trust buster takes hard line as e-book probe continues [Justice Dept., Antitrust Division] – Thomas Catan reports that the acting head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, Sharis Pozen, warned electronic-book publishers that the agency wouldn’t hesitate to bring charges for collusion on e-book pricing, as the Department continues its investigation of Apple and five publishers

FTC urges Congress to pass digital-privacy law [FTC, digital privacy] — Julia Angwin reports that the Federal Trade Commission is calling for Congress to pass a law to protect the privacy of digital consumers after a two-year study — urging brokers who buy and sell names, addresses, and other personal information to give the owners of those tidbits the right to see their data

Policy-based incentives for health care providers to adopt health information technology are predicated on the assumption that, among other things, electronic access to patient test results and medical records will reduce diagnostic testing and save money. To test the generalizability of findings that support this assumption, we analyzed the records of 28,741 patient visits to a nationally representative sample of 1,187 office-based physicians in 2008. Physicians’ access to computerized imaging results (sometimes, but not necessarily, through an electronic health record) was associated with a 40–70 percent greater likelihood of an imaging test being ordered.

The electronic availability of lab test results was also associated with ordering of additional blood tests. The availability of an electronic health record in itself had no apparent impact on ordering; the electronic access to test results appears to have been the key. These findings raise the possibility that, as currently implemented, electronic access does not decrease test ordering in the office setting and may even increase it, possibly because of system features that are enticements to ordering. We conclude that use of these health information technologies, whatever their other benefits, remains unproven as an effective cost-control strategy with respect to reducing the ordering of unnecessary tests.

Washington Post

On health-care hearing’s last day, Supreme Court weighs Medicaid expansion [Supreme Court, Affordable Care Act] – Robert Barnes and N.C. Aizenman report that three days of arguments before the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act left the impression that the conservative Justices would carry the day and strike down the law’s requirement that almost everyone purchase of health insurance, and possibly strike down the entire law; the last day’s argument addressed the ACA provision that expands the Medicaid program for the poor by promising more federal money to states if they cover more individuals, which states argue is tantamount to blackmail

New York Times

Language deemed offensive is removed from F.B.I. training manuals [FBI] – Michael S. Schmidt and Charlie Savage report that FBI training manuals addressing Arab-Americans and Muslims that suggested agents could “bend” the law if necessary and interfere with their individual freedoms has been removed, as has derogatory stereotypes about Asians and Arabs in the training materials

Union chief says new rules for immigration detention are flawed [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] – Julia Preston reports that the union representing employees of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, who are responsible for detaining illegal immigrants subject to deportation, told a House Judiciary Subcommittee that the administration’s new rules for detention centers – a response to harsh conditions that led to deaths – would make the system more dangerous to ICE agents and detainees

The radon threat is still with us [Environmental Protection Agency, radon] – Bill Field, professor of occupational and environmental health at the University of Iowa, urges the EPA and Congress to step up efforts to reduce exposure to radon – a known cause of lung cancer – including providing funds for radon testing in homes and schools

Wall Street Journal

U.S. military commanders move to mend Pakistan rift [Pakistan] – Tom Wright reports that the highest level U.S. military commanders in the region met with senior Pakistani military commanders for the first time since the U.S. accidentally killed two dozen Pakistani troops near the Afghan border in November and Pakistan closed vital supply routes to the U.S. and NATO, although lower level meetings have continued; he reports that the two countries’ mutual needs have kept a rupture in relations from widening

Federal budgets and class warfare [federal budget] – As Congress once again grapples with the deficit, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg argues that only a serious deficit reduction plan will spur businesses to invest in the economy, and he supports the Simpson-Bowles commission’s plan that caps spending, slows the growth in entitlement programs such as Social Security and raises revenue via tax reform; Bloomberg says the President’s proposal to eliminate the Bush-era tax cuts for all but the wealthiest doesn’t make a dent in the deficit, while Republican presidential candidates have not offered realistic deficit reduction plans

Recent legislation and delivery system reform efforts are greatly expanding the use of electronic health records. For these efforts to reach their full potential, they must actively involve patients and include patient-reported information about such topics as health behavior, preferences, and psychosocial functioning. We offer a plan for including standardized, practical patient-reported measures as part of electronic health records, quality and performance indexes, the primary care medical home, and research collaborations. These measures must meet certain criteria, including being valid, reliable, sensitive to change, and available in multiple languages. Clinicians, patients, and policy makers also must be able to understand the measures and take action based on them. Including more patient-reported items in electronic health records would enhance health, patient-centered care, and the capacity to undertake population-based research.

A single-center study found that percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures performed during the middle of the night do not adversely affect the safety and effectiveness of procedures performed the next day by the same operator. Findings now available in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), show late night work while on call does not worsen performance of the interventionist doing PCIs the next day.

Washington Post

EPA to impose first greenhouse gas limits on power plants [Environmental Protection agency, greenhouse gases] – Juliet Eilperin reports that the Environmental Protection Agency will, for the first time, propose limits on greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants; coal power plants will not be able to meet them without costly pollution control systems, requirements which the coal industry claims will effectively ban new coal plants

SEC’s new safety mechanism contains fallout from trading glitches on BATS [Securities and Exchange Commission] – David S. Hilzenrath reports that a mechanism initiated by the Securities and Exchange Commission after the 2010′s “flash crash” worked as intended when on a new stock exchange, BATS, Apple stocks dropped precipitously, triggering a circuit breaker that halted trading for five minutes

FTC urges transparency law for Internet data brokers [Federal Trade Commission, online privacy] – Cecelia Kang reports that the Federal Trade Commission added its voice to those calling for legislation to protect consumers’ online privacy in a report that endorsed a law to require “data brokers” such as Lexis Nexis and Choicepoint to explain how and why they collect their data and allow consumers to see the data collected on them; however, the agency said a mandatory “do not track” web option for consumers was unnecessary at this juncture, and it preferred self-regulation by businesses that use the information to market to individuals, at least for now

New York Times

For Justices, a matter of framing the core issue on health care [Supreme Court, Affordable Care Act] – Adam Liptak previews the second day of the three-day Supreme Court oral argument on the health care law, in which litigants will present different legal theories for their opposition to or support for the law: those supporting the law will argue that the federal government has a right to enact the law, including the requirement that almost everyone purchase health insurance, under its power to regulate interstate commerce, while those opposed to the law will argue that the law intrudes into constitutionally protected  individual liberties

Government’s not dead yet [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] – Joe Nocera finds that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is an example of a government agency with a passion for good government in the tradition of FDR’s New Deal and President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs

Wall Street Journal

Fed signals resolve on rates [Federal Reserve] – Jon Hilsenrath and Kristina Peterson report on remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the Fed’s low interest rate policies are still necessary, based in part on uncertainty as to whether the decline in unemployment will continue; Bernanke’s comments sparked an uptick in stock prices

Children who develop asthma by age seven have deficits in lung function and increased bronchial responsiveness as neonates, a new study from researchers in Denmark suggests. “Previous research on the relationship between neonatal lung function and the development of asthma has been conflicting,” said lead author Hans Bisgaard, MD, DMSci, professor of pediatrics at the University of Copenhagen and head of the Danish Pediatric Asthma Centre. “Our study shows that children with asthma by age seven already had significant airflow deficits and increased bronchial responsiveness as neonates.

The traditional separation between primary health care providers and public health professionals is impeding greater success in meeting their shared goal of ensuring the health of populations, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. Integration of these fields will require national leadership as well as substantial adaptation at the local level, said the committee that wrote the report.

Greater lifetime exposure to the stress of traumatic events was linked to higher levels of inflammation in a study of almost 1,000 patients with cardiovascular disease led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.