State Highlights: Calif. Introduces Bill To Increase Mental Health Services For Veterans; Conn. Lawmakers Look To Boost State’s Bioscience Industry

Los Angeles Times: California GOP Lawmakers Introduce Bills To Boost Healthcare And Jobs For Veterans
Republican state lawmakers unveiled a package of six bills Tuesday aimed at improving job training and healthcare services for California veterans. "Our veterans have served this country bravely and it is only right for us to recognize their contribution and see that when they do come home they receive the care and assistance they deserve," said state Sen. Janet Nguyen of Garden Grove, who authored three of the measures. (Dillon, 3/28)

The CT Mirror: Lawmakers Set Aside Partisanship To Back Bioscience Industry 
While partisan politics has bogged down many state legislative debates, Democratic and Republican leaders announced Tuesday they can agree on how to better support and plan the growth of Connecticut’s bioscience industry. Top leaders in the Senate and on the Commerce Committee highlighted three bills that develop a strategy to elevate Connecticut to a national leader in biomedical research. (Phaneuf, 3/28)

The Baltimore Sun: Disparities Persist In Health Of Marylanders, Ranking Says 
Baltimore is the least healthy jurisdiction in Maryland followed by several Eastern Shore counties, according to an annual ranking that has changed little over the past several years despite improvements in some of the city's worst statistics.Wealthier suburban counties such as Montgomery and Howard were ranked as the healthiest in the state. The 2016 rankings by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin show a striking gap in the rate of premature death between the healthiest and least healthy areas of the state. Those living in Baltimore lost three and a half times the number of years of life than those in Howard. (Cohn, 3/29)

KCUR: For Low-Ranking Counties, Health Improvements Require Long-Term Effort
The two counties at the bottom of Kansas’ health rankings this year share a great deal: high rates of poverty and smoking, and difficulty accessing providers. But the latest rankings suggest the counties might be starting to diverge on one important factor: how likely their residents are to die prematurely. Residents of Labette County in southeast Kansas took the unenviable title of Kansas’ least-healthy people from Wyandotte County in the 2017 County Health Rankings released Wednesday. (Wingerter, 3/29)

San Jose Mercury News: Dialysis Centers: California Bill Proposes To Improve Staffing, Inspections 
California could become one of almost a dozen states in the country to require higher staffing levels at dialysis clinics that help treat tens of thousands of these patients if a bill by a Southern California legislator becomes law. The proposal also would mandate annual inspections of each facility. (Seipel, 3/28)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Crozer-Chester Cited For Using Dirty Scope On Patient
A state health inspector cited Crozer-Chester Medical Center for allowing an improperly cleaned  endoscope to be used in a surgical procedure, exposing the elderly patient to possible infection. Endoscopes — a group of tubular instruments used to look at various organs inside the body during procedures — are notoriously hard to clean and have been linked to  infections, some fatal, at hospitals around the country in recent years.  The American Journal of Infection Control reported last month that microbes grew on 60 percent of endoscopes in a small study even after rigorous cleaning. (Sapatkin, 3/29)

Boston Globe: Organogenesis Buying Alabama Firm That Supplies Tissue Products For Surgeries
Organogenesis Inc., a Canton company that sells wound care and tissue regeneration products, is scheduled to announce Tuesday that it’s buying a leading supplier of tissue products used in many spinal and orthopedic surgeries. It did not disclose how much it’s paying for NuTech Medical Inc., of Birmingham, Ala. The acquisition will give Organogenesis entry into a market where annual sales total an estimated $450 million and are projected to reach more than $750 million by 2020. (Weisman, 3/29)

Iowa Public Radio: Bill To Limit Benefits For Injured Workers On Its Way To The Governor 
A controversial bill to limit benefits for injured Iowa workers won final legislative approval last night, passing the Iowa Senate on a partisan vote of 29 to 21. Backers say the current system has become biased against employers. (Russell, 3/28)

Houston Chronicle: Pakistani Girl Receives New Lungs After Houston Donors Helped Her Onto Transplant Waiting List
When [the Iqbals] came to Texas Children's Hospital more than a year ago, there was no guarantee doctors here would be able to save their daughter, who was born with cystic fibrosis. Just to get on the transplant list as an international patient, the family needed to raise $650,000. After months of fundraising, a surge of donations in January pushed them past the goal following a story in the Houston Chronicle. One reader cut a check for more than $100,000, and within days, Maira was added to the waiting list. (Hixenbaugh, 3/28)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly-Based InstaMed Riding Health-Care Payment Trend
Steadily increasing deductibles mean American consumers pay an ever-larger slice of their health-care bills out of their own pockets. That may be a bummer for family finances, but it is exactly what Bill Marvin and Chris Seib banked on in 2004 when they founded InstaMed, a payments network for the health-care industry based in Philadelphia and Newport Beach, Calif., after a 2003 federal law created Health Savings Accounts, which allow consumers to save pre-tax dollars to pay for health care expenses. It was immediately clear, InstaMed chief executive Marvin said, that the money flow in health care was going to completely change if deductibles went to more than $2,000 dollars and the consumer had to pay the first claims because of the deductible. (Brubaker, 3/28)

Tampa Bay Times: Medical Marijuana Bill Moves In Florida House, But Draws Critics For Being Too Restrictive 
A powerful Florida House Republican said Tuesday he'll consider revising his plan for medical pot after drawing criticism from marijuana supporters. House Majority Leader Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, who's shepherding the lower chamber's bill (HB 1397) to expand the distribution of voter-approved medical marijuana, said he's willing to compromise to ensure the Legislature puts something into law. (Auslen, 3/28)

Boston Globe: Brockton Dispensary To Offer Statewide Medical Marijuana Delivery 
In Good Health, which was the state’s second medical marijuana dispensary when it opened in Brockton in 2015, is set to become the first to offer home delivery of the drug across most of Massachusetts. Beginning Monday, the nonprofit said, registered medical marijuana patients everywhere except the islands will be able to order marijuana buds, edibles, and oils on In Good Health’s website for delivery the next business day. (Adams, 3/29)