State Highlights: Hawaii Governor Signs Aid-In-Dying Bill Into Law; Denver Sales Tax Hike Would Raise Millions For Mental Health Services

The Associated Press: Medically Assisted Suicide Becomes Legal In Hawaii
Hawaii became the latest liberal-leaning state to legalize medically assisted suicide Thursday as the governor signed a measure into law allowing doctors to fulfill requests from terminally ill patients to prescribe life-ending medication. "It is time for terminally ill, mentally competent Hawaii residents who are suffering to make their own end-of-life choices with dignity, grace and peace," Gov. David Ige said. (4/5)

Denver Post: Denver Sales Tax Hike Would Raise Millions For Mental Health Care, Substance Abuse Treatment 
A group of health care advocates and a Democratic state lawmaker are seeking a 0.25 percent sales tax increase in Denver to raise money for mental health and substance abuse treatment in the city, which they say is lacking. The proposed November ballot measure would raise $45 million in its first year and continue for 10 years. (Paul, 4/5)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Mayo-Smith Calls For Release Of Investigations Of Manchester VA
Dr. Michael Mayo-Smith was the leader of the VA new England Health Care System until last month, when he abruptly retired. He says the VA chose to take a no-response approach and wait for public interest in the allegations to wane. (Biello, 4/5)

KCUR: Kansas Regulators Say Quick Action Needed To Protect Residents Of Failing Nursing Homes 
Kansas officials are attempting to expedite their takeover of 15 financially troubled nursing homes, saying they need to move quickly to protect hundreds of elderly and disabled Kansans who reside in the facilities. Normally, the state would need orders from 15 separate judges to take control of the facilities, which are scattered across the state. But the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services is hoping to accelerate the process by consolidating all the cases under a single Johnson County District Court judge. (McLean, 4/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: Dialysis Clinics’ Revenue Would Be Capped Under California Ballot Measure
The none-too-euphoniously named “California Limits on Dialysis Clinics’ Revenue and Required Refund Initiative” needs 365,880 valid signatures to go before the voters in the fall. While the large number of raw signatures makes it likely the measure will qualify, it probably be at least a month before the secretary of state can make that official. The initiative, sponsored by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, argues that dialysis companies are overcharging patients and insurance outfits, even as patient care is suffering, especially in low-income communities. (Wildermuth, 4/5)

The Washington Post: A Bisexual Maryland Lawmaker Argues Against Conversion Therapy - After Her Father, A State Senator, Urged Her To Undergo It.
The Maryland state senator opposed a bill to ban “gay conversion therapy” for minors. On the Senate floor, Sen. Bryan W. Simonaire (R-Anne Arundel), who also opposed same-sex marriage, suggested that families should be able to use “loving” conversion therapy. What he did not say last week was that he and his wife recommended that their daughter — Del. Meagan Simonaire (R-Anne Arundel) — seek counseling when she told them she was bisexual. The 27-year-old told her story on the floor of the House of Delegates on Wednesday, shortly before the House gave final approval to the bill to ban conversion therapy. (Chason, 4/5)

Chicago Tribune: 10 Years After Federal Law To Protect Insurance Coverage Of Mental Illness, Advocates Question If It's Working 
When his adopted son, then 10 years old, started to hear voices and act violently, Matthew Timion knew the boy needed psychiatric help. He did not realize how difficult it would be to pay for it. Timion, a computer programmer who at the time lived in Oak Park and now lives in Moline, said he was in a continual fight with his private insurance and the state to fund his son’s stays at numerous psychiatric hospitals. (Elejalde-Ruiz, 4/5)

The Associated Press: New Law Puts Focus On Suicide Prevention Efforts In Virginia
As suicides have risen in Virginia - including a 29 percent increase among children in 2016 - Gov. Ralph Northam has signed legislation calling on state officials to report how they are addressing the problem. House Bill 569, introduced by Del. Wendy Gooditis, D-Clarke, requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to report annually its progress and activities on suicide prevention. The report will go to the governor and General Assembly. (Malone, 4/5)

The Star Tribune: Allina Hospitals, Clinics Weather Overnight Computer Network Failure
Allina Health, one of Minnesota’s largest clinic and hospital systems, suffered a computer network failure on Wednesday night, but officials said medical care was not affected and there is no evidence that it was caused by a malicious hack or external tampering. “We have no evidence that this was the result of anything coming from outside our systems,” Allina said in a written statement provided by spokesman David Kanihan. He said the organization is still trying to pinpoint the cause. (Olson, 4/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: Millions Sought To Stem Arrests At California Foster Care Shelters
A California lawmaker is calling for $22.7 million in state funding to help prevent unwarranted arrests of abused and neglected children in the state’s residential foster-care facilities — a disturbing practice exposed in a Chronicle investigation last year. The three-year budget proposal, to be introduced next week by Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Carson (Los Angeles County), comes as arrests continue across the state at county children’s shelters, despite pledges of reform. (de Sá, Dizikes and Palomino, 4/5)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ascension Wisconsin Cutting Services At St. Joseph Hospital
Ascension Wisconsin will no longer provide surgical and other services at St. Joseph hospital as part of a long-term plan to lessen its financial losses and transform the Milwaukee hospital’s role in the largely low-income neighborhood. The health system will continue to operate its emergency department — one of the busiest in the state — and will continue to provide obstetric care, including operating its neonatal intensive care unit, at the hospital. (Boulton, 4/5)

Modern Healthcare: NYC Comptroller Seeks More Control At UHS, Other Companies 
New York City's comptroller isn't giving up on his uphill battle to get proxy access to for-profit hospital chain Universal Health Services. Scott Stringer is the custodian of about 136,000 UHS shares owned by five New York City public employee pension funds and retirement systems. For the third consecutive year, his office is calling upon fellow shareholders to vote for a change to the company's bylaws that would let certain outside shareholders with at least 3% ownership for at least three years nominate up to 25% of its board members. (Bannow, 4/5)

Sacramento Bee: Fired After Stephon Clark Comment, Ex-Kaiser Nurse Raises $25,000-Plus On GoFundMe To Help Pay Bills
Faith Linthicum, the nurse who wrote that Stephon Clark "deserved it," launched a GoFundMe page Saturday and already has surpassed her fundraising goal of $25,000. She said she will use the funds to help pay for rent, food and other expenses. (Anderson, 4/5)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Family And Medical Leave Bill Gets More Scrutiny In Senate Committee
In its first hearing on the proposal, the Senate Finance Committee heard from a bipartisan group of lawmakers, an economist and even a doctor urging them to endorse a paid family and medical leave program. But they also heard from the Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Employment Security, Richard Lavers, who cautioned that setting up such a program would require a significant time, money and staff resources. (McDermott, 4/5)

The Associated Press: Woman Sues Idaho Fertility Doctor For Using His Own Sperm
A Washington state woman is suing an Idaho fertility doctor after discovering through an online ancestry website that the man had secretly fathered her. Kelli Rowlette and the parents who raised her, Sally Ashby and her then-husband Howard Fowler, filed the lawsuit in Idaho district court in March against Dr. Gerald Mortimer, his wife and the Obstetrics and Gynecology Associates of Idaho Falls. (4/5)

Miami Herald: Tampa Woman Gives Birth At Marathon's Post-Irma Makeshift Hospital
Baptist Health South Florida owns both Fishermen’s and Mariners, and plans to rebuild a $40 million campus at the Marathon hospital’s location. But that could take up to three years, said Rick Freeburg, CEO of both hospitals. (Filosa, 4/5)

The Associated Press: Oregon County, State Clash Over List Of Pot Grow Sites
A state agency has refused to provide a county sheriff and prosecutor in Oregon with a list of medical marijuana grow sites, marking the latest friction over marijuana between local and state officials. On March 13, Oregon Health Authority official Carole Yann told Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel and Sheriff Shane Nelson that the law doesn't permit the agency to provide the list. (4/5)

Denver Post: Colorado Could Allow People -- Including Kids -- With Autism To Use Medical Marijuana
In a clash of deeply felt testimony, parents in tears pleaded with Colorado lawmakers on Friday to pass a bill allowing their children with autism to use medical marijuana as a treatment.“ ...Psychiatrists and the head of the state Health Department, though, opposed writing such a permission into law, saying there isn’t enough evidence to know that cannabis would do more good than harm, even though they sympathize with the frustration families feel. (Ingold, 4/5)