State Highlights: Colo. Rural Hospitals Face Budget Squeeze; Calif. Dept. Of Public Health Throws 14 Penalty Flags

Denver Post: State Budget Cuts Could Cost Rural Colorado Hospitals Millions, Cause Service Reductions, Layoffs
From his modest office at Lincoln Community Hospital, an hour and a half east of Denver, Kevin Stansbury views the state budget from a different lens. At the Capitol, the debate is focused on balancing $26.8 billion. In Hugo, population 750, the dollar signs are people...Now Lincoln Community faces the prospect of cuts to services, layoffs or worse. It is one of a dozen or so rural hospitals poised to lose millions as part of a deal at the Capitol to balance the budget by trimming hospital payments for uncompensated care. (Ingold, 4/23)

Denver Post: How Colorado’s Hospital Provider Fee Works
Here’s how it works: The hospitals pay fees to the state based on the number inpatient days and outpatient hospital charges. The money is pooled and matched near dollar-for-dollar by the federal government. Minus administration costs, the larger pot of money is then redistributed to hospitals based on a formula that redistributes the wealth. The formula gives more to hospitals that serve large populations of Medicaid patients and those in rural areas. Not all hospitals get back the money they put into the system, and Colorado uses some of the fee collections to cover the Medicaid expansion population under the Affordable Care Act. (Griffin, 4/23)

Los Angeles Times: California Department Of Public Health Issues Penalties To 3 Los Angeles County Hospitals
The California Department of Public Health has issued penalties to 14 California hospitals, including three in Los Angeles County, for incidents that could have caused serious injury or death to patients, the state health agency announced this week. The penalties — as well as more than $1.1 million in fines — were issued for incidents between 2012 and 2016. The Department of Public Health conducted an investigation in each case. (Branson-Potts, 4/21)

The Baltimore Sun: Report: Maryland Better Prepared Than Average For Public Health Emergency
If Maryland were to be hit by a public health emergency — such as a natural disaster or an outbreak of a serious disease — officials here are better prepared than in many other states, according to a new survey. On a 10-point scale, Maryland rates 7.5 for its efforts to prepare for and respond to such emergencies, according to the 2017 National Health Security Preparedness Index.The index is compiled annually by the nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to assess preparedness for "community health emergencies." The foundation looks at more than 100 measures, such as monitoring food and water safety, flu vaccination rates, and numbers of paramedics and hospitals. The measures are grouped into six categories that are given a ranking on the 10-point scale. (Wood, 4/22)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missourians Living With Disabilities Can Save For Long-Term Care Under New State Program
The Missourians Achieving a Better Life Experience, or MO ABLE, accounts can be used to pay for qualified expenses related to living with disabilities and special needs. People can contribute up to $14,000 a year, and those who do get a tax deduction of up to $8,000, or $16,000 if married and filing jointly. (Lecci, 4/24)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: $100 Million Cancer Treatment Center, 60 Jobs Coming To New Orleans 
A Tennessee-based health care company plans to develop a $100 million cancer treatment center in New Orleans, Greater New Orleans Inc. announced Friday (April 21). The 30,000-square-foot space, to be called the Louisiana Proton Therapy Center, will be housed within the University Medical Center campus on Canal Street and provide an alternative to radiation therapy for cancer patients. Provision Healthcare, a cancer care firm based in Knoxville, partnered on the project with UMC, LCMC Health and LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans. GNO Inc. estimates that the new center will create 60 new direct jobs with an average salary of around $100,000, plus another 63 new indirect jobs. (Lipinski, 4/21)

New Hampshire Public Radio: N.H. Continues To Make Millions Off Alcohol, But Spends Little To Curb Impact
New Hampshire is one of 17 states in the country that control liquor sales. But unlike many of these states, New Hampshire has no sales or income tax, so state-run liquor stores have become quite a lucrative source of revenue. (Sutherland, 4/24)

Kansas City Star: Smart Home Ideas Being Developed At KU Could Improve Health
Researchers now want to explore the possibilities of a house or apartment crammed with sensors that track everything from how you look in the mirror, to the way you walk from bedroom to kitchen, to what you flush down the toilet. A home outfitted with the right sensors might hail an ambulance when you collapse with a heart attack, or mean the difference between living alone and surrendering to nursing home care. (Canon, 4/21)

The Star Tribune: Eight TB Cases Found In Ramsey County, All Drug-Resistant
Health officials are investigating a cluster of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis cases in eight elderly Hmong residents in Ramsey County, but say the risk to the general public is low. The outbreak first appeared in 2016, but just one case has been recorded this year and no new cases have been detected since state officials notified health care providers last month. (Howatt, 4/21)

The Star Tribune: Misconception Over Vaccine Helps Fuel Minn. Measles Outbreak 
A measles outbreak in Hennepin County has sickened 12 children — all of them unvaccinated and all of them from Somali families, according to the department — throwing a spotlight on low immunization rates among Somali children. Now state and county public health workers are doing their best to contact Somali parents and underscore the value of immunization. (Mahamud and Howatt, 4/22)

The Oregonian: OHSU And Portland State To Address Gun Violence As Public Health Issue In Community Forum 
Public health professors, physicians and students at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital want to go beyond "stitching up'' gunshot and stab wounds of victims who end up in the emergency department. On Saturday, the school will host a community forum to bring together doctors, police and families affected by shootings, domestic violence or suicides, seeking to play a larger role to reduce violence in the metro Portland area...The conference was born out of anger and concern after the June mass shooting at a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, which left 49 people dead and 53 wounded, followed by a sniper's attack on Dallas police in July, killing five officers. (Bernstein, 4/21)

The Washington Post: ‘Heartbreaking’: Medical Standoff Leaves Man With Cerebral Palsy Stranded At Hospital For Weeks
Alex Scott cannot speak.If he could, he might be able to answer a crucial question that has pitted the people who speak for him against one another and left him stranded in a Northern Virginia hospital for three weeks. At issue: Does the 45-year-old with cerebral palsy need a feeding tube? (Vargas, 4/21)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Volunteer 'Health Pals' Help Seniors Navigate Medical Care
Penn's Village is one of around 200 similar organizations around the country that help people who may not have family members nearby age in place by linking them with volunteers and reputable service providers. Stella Buccella, another Penn's Village volunteer, drove Nettis from her home near the Philadelphia Museum of Art to Jefferson that morning and picked her up afterward. Some volunteers just visit or help seniors with technology. Penn's Village has about 275 members. A full membership costs $600 a year. Limited funding is available to help low-income residents with dues. (Burling, 4/24)

Iowa Public Radio: Scavo High School Receives Grant Funds To Become A Trauma Sensitive School 
Scavo High School is planning to use $23,000 from the Mid-Iowa Health Foundation to become what’s known as a “trauma sensitive school.” The community schools coordinator for Scavo, Lyn Marchant, says the money will help teachers and students recognize the connection between strife at home and performance in school. (Dillard, 4/23)

San Jose Mercury News: Patients Can Teach The Next Generation Of Doctors, Stanford Experts Say
One of the most effective ways of making medicine more inclusive is to have doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, psychologists and occupational therapists all work together to learn about each patient as a person, and help them manage their care... To bring this into practice, medical school programs across the country are starting to bring engaged patients into the classroom, allowing them to share their story and become more than just a statistic in a textbook. (Bansal, 4/23)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Death, Rapes, And Broken Bones At Philly's Only Residential Treatment Center For Troubled Youth
Shortly after David Hess died in a struggle with staffers at Wordsworth last fall, the state shuttered the West Philadelphia facility, decrying it as “an immediate and serious danger” to the children who lived there. ... Interviews, court records, state inspection reports, and police records reveal a trail of injuries to children, from broken bones to assaults to the suffocation death of Hess. Along the way, lawyers, licensing inspectors, and others found conditions there appalling and sounded the alarm with little success.  (Phillips and Palmer, 4/22)

The Associated Press: Prosecutors: Dentist Pulled Tooth While Riding Hoverboard
Prosecutors say an Alaska dentist charged with Medicaid fraud pulled a sedated patient's tooth while riding a hoverboard. Seth Lookhart was charged with 17 counts of Medicaid fraud after prosecutors say he billed Medicaid $1.8 million last year for IV sedation used in procedures that didn't call for it. (4/21)

Iowa Public Radio: Does Iowa’s New Workers’ Comp Law Give Shoulder Injuries The Cold Shoulder? 
A new law limits the amount of compensation an Iowa worker can receive for a shoulder injury. Critics say the change makes workers disposable, but proponents point out that the law also provides tuition so injured employees can retrain for new careers. (Boden, 4/23)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Nursing Home Inspectors Fail To Meet Federal Deadlines Amid Serious Understaffing: A Critical Choice
The agency that provides Ohio's nursing home inspectors -- the officials charged with making sure the state's most vulnerable receive proper care -- is understaffed by at least a dozen employees and, for years, has failed to meet federal deadlines for evaluating facilities... A key deadline for inspecting the state's nursing homes has not been met since fiscal year 2011, records show. (Caniglia and Corrigan, 4/23)

WABE : Atlanta Health Care Startup Modeled On Bitcoin Technology 
One Atlanta health care technology startup, Patientory, wants to make it easier for patients to access and share their electronic medical records using technology known as blockchain, which is behind the digital currency Bitcoin. Currently, many hospitals may keep things on one central server. (Shamma, 4/21)