State Highlights: Calif. Struggles To Expand Care For Mentally Ill Inmates; New Ore. State Hospital Chief Pledges To Raise Level Of Care

Los Angeles Times: California's Mentally Ill Inmate Population Keeps Growing. And State Money Isn't Enough To Meet Needs, Lawmaker Says
Gov. Jerry Brown has earmarked $117 million in his new state budget to expand the number of treatment beds and mental health programs for more than 800 mentally ill inmates found incompetent to stand trial. State officials said they have struggled to keep up with the needs of a population that has jumped in size by 33% over the last three years, as judges are increasingly referring defendants to treatment. But one state lawmaker says additional funds are not enough. (Ulloa, 2/2)

The Oregonian: Oregon State Hospital Hires New Superintendent 
Officials with the Oregon Health Authority announced Thursday that Dolly Matteucci has been hired to lead the Oregon State Hospital, filling a void atop the state psychiatric institution that has gone without a permanent superintendent for a year. Matteucci, who will take the helm in mid-March, will arrive from California, where she has served as executive director of Napa State Hospital since 2010. That hospital serves more than 1,200 patients with an annual budget of $305 million, compared to Oregon's 600-some patients and $250 million annual budget. (Friedman, 2/1)

Denver Post: 69 Coloradans Got Aid-In-Dying Prescriptions During Law’s First Year, Report Says
Sixty-nine Colorado patients were prescribed aid-in-dying medication during 2017, the first year of the law approved by voters, and 50 of those patients filled the prescription, according to a report by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released Thursday. Although 56 of those 69 patients died, the data don’t reveal which ones died as a result of the drugs, or even if the deceased had filled their prescription. (Simpson and Brown, 2/1)

The Associated Press: Feds To Pay $42M To Parents Of Boy Hurt By Forceps Delivery
The federal government has withdrawn its appeal and agreed to pay $42 million to the parents of a young Pennsylvania boy left disabled from brain injuries apparently caused by the use of forceps during his birth, the parents' lawyers and the government announced Thursday. "The government recognized that their issues on appeal were without merit and that the verdict was just and appropriate," said Regan Safier, of Kline & Specter, a Philadelphia law firm. "The judge recognized the catastrophic injuries suffered by this child and awarded the money necessary to care for him over his lifetime." (2/1)

Modern Healthcare: Washington Residents' Tab For Unnecessary Care In A Year: $280 Million-Plus
Roughly 622,000 Washington state residents received low-value services over one year, which collectively cost about $282 million, a new report found. The not-for-profit Washington Health Alliance's study found that 45.7% of the 1.5 million total services it analyzed from July 2015 to June 2016 were unnecessary and wasteful according to recommendations from the Choosing Wisely campaign. (Castellucci, 2/1)

The Associated Press: Nurses With A Mission: Send Older ER Patients Home With Help
When 86-year-old Carol Wittwer took a taxi to the emergency room, she expected to be admitted to the hospital. She didn't anticipate being asked if she cooks for herself. If she has friends in her high-rise. Or if she could spell lunch backward. "H-C-N-U-L," she said, ruling out a type of confusion called delirium for the geriatrics-trained nurse who was posing the questions in a special wing of Northwestern Memorial Hospital's emergency department. Wittwer's care is part of a new approach to older patients as U.S. emergency rooms adapt to serve the complex needs of a graying population. (2/2)

KCUR: Planned Parenthood Great Plains Names New President And CEO 
The regional office of Planned Parenthood has selected a new president and CEO. Brandon Hill, formerly executive director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health at the University of Chicago, assumed the role on Thursday. Hill says he's eager to move from reproductive research to advocacy. (Smith, 2/2)

Texas Tribune: Health Agency Leader: "We Welcome" Audits Into Contracting Issues
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission won’t fight an auditor coming through their doors — in fact, they welcome it. That’s what Charles Smith, executive commissioner for the state health agency, said just one day after his staff was blasted by state leadership for mishandling state contracts. (Evans, 2/1)

The Associated Press: UAE Gives Johns Hopkins $50M For New Stroke Care Institute
The United Arab Emirates says it’s making a $50 million gift to Johns Hopkins University for a new institute for stroke research in Baltimore and in Abu Dhabi. The UAE ambassador to the U.S., Yousef Al Otaiba, released a statement in partnership with Johns Hopkins on Thursday ahead of a planned announcement in New York. The statement says the Sheikh Khalifa Stroke Institute in Baltimore and Abu Dhabi will focus efforts by Johns Hopkins’ to develop new tools for stroke diagnosis, treatment and patient recovery. (2/1)

The Baltimore Sun: Johns Hopkins Gets $50 Million From UAE For Global Stroke Center 
The United Arab Emirates has donated $50 million to Johns Hopkins Medicine to create an institute to transform treatment for stroke patients across the globe. Officials from the Baltimore health system and the Middle Eastern nation gathered in New York City Thursday, at the United Arab Emirates’ permanent mission to the United Nations, to announce plans for the Sheikh Khalifa Stroke Institute. (McDaniels, 2/1)

San Jose Mercury News: California Failing Youngest And Poorest Children, Study Says
Among findings in the 2018 California Children’s Report Card, only half of California’s 3- and 4-year-olds attend preschool — now considered a critical launchpad for a child’s learning — and just one-quarter of infants and toddlers have access to licensed child care. Only 14 percent of low-income children are in publicly funded child care. (Noguchi, 2/1)

Orlando Sentinel: Local Health Departments To Offer Free Preventive HIV Drug
Before year’s end, Central Floridians who are at high risk of HIV infection will be able to get the preventive drug Truvada at no coast at their local health department. The state health department rolled out the program last October as part of its efforts to reduce new HIV infections. (Miller, 2/1)

Los Angeles Times: L.A.'s Homelessness Surged 75% In Six Years. Here's Why The Crisis Has Been Decades In The Making
Some of the poorest people in the city spend their days in the shadow of Los Angeles City Hall, napping on flattened cardboard boxes. On any given day, as many as 20 people take to the City Hall lawn, across the street from LAPD headquarters. They're there to "escape the madness" in downtown streets, a 53-year-old homeless man named Lazarus said last week. At night, they fan out to doorways or deserted plazas to wait for daybreak. (Holland, 2/1)

Sacramento Bee: CA Marijuana Crimes Easier To Clear From Records Under Bill
When California voters legalized recreational weed in 2016, they made the law retroactive, allowing residents to petition to overturn or reduce old convictions for possession, cultivation and distribution of marijuana. But it is a difficult and expensive legal procedure, advocates say, and many people are not even aware they are now eligible to clean up their records. (Koseff, 2/2)