State Highlights: NYC Health System Aims To Recoup $11.5M In Denied Claims From UnitedHealthcare; Health System In Md. Warns 500,000 Patients Of Data Breach

Modern Healthcare: NYC Health & Hospitals Seeks $11.5M From UnitedHealthcare In Denied Medical Claims 
NYC Health & Hospitals and UnitedHealthcare are heading to arbitration over $11.5 million in denied inpatient medical claims, the nation's largest public health system said Tuesday. The majority of the denied claims submitted between July 1, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2017, were for emergency department visits involving patients covered by UnitedHealthcare's Medicaid program and Medicare plan, a spokeswoman for the health system said. None of the denials stemmed from behavioral health, ambulatory care or other services, she said. (Livingston, 5/22)

The Baltimore Sun: LifeBridge Data Breach Exposes Personal Information Of 500,000 Patients
LifeBridge Health has notified 500,000 patients that their personal information may have been exposed in a cyber attack recently discovered by the health system. Indication of an attack was first detected in March and an investigation by a national forsenic firm hired by the hospital determined that the data breach took place Sept. 27, 2016. The health system notified patients by letter last week. (McDaniels, 5/22)

Iowa Public Radio: Sheriff Hopes New Mental Health Access Centers Help Ease Burden On Law Enforcement
Sherriff’s deputies in Iowa are increasingly spending time on mental health cases. They are tracking down people who are court-ordered to enter mental health treatment and transporting patients between hospitals and commitment hearings. (Moon, Nebbe and Sostaric, 5/22)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: 7 Pa. Patients Infected After Use Of No-Rinse Foam
Seven patients in Pennsylvania hospitals and one in New Jersey have contracted potentially serious infections after the use of a cleansing foam, U.S. government officials said. ...The infection, which also was identified in seven California patients, was caused by bacteria called Burkholderia cepacia. This microbe poses little risk to healthy people but can cause serious respiratory infections in those with weakened immune systems or chronic lung disease, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. (Avril, 5/22)

The Star Tribune: Union Workers Settle Contract Dispute At Mayo's Albert Lea Hospital 
The Mayo Clinic Health System and its union workers in Albert Lea have reached a new labor agreement after a protracted and contentious labor battle. SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, which represents nearly 80 employees at the hospital, said the agreement provides for raises over the next three years that will range between 7.25 and 10 percent. Union members approved the new contract on Monday. (Howatt, 5/22)

The Associated Press: Texas Governor's School Safety Talks To Tackle Gun Control
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's meetings on school violence and safety promised to wade into the thorny issue of gun control with the next round, even though the Republican has been a staunch supporter of gun rights and worked to expand them in the state in recent years. Abbott called for a series of high-level policy meetings after a high school near Houston became the latest to have a mass shooting. Eight students and two teachers were killed last week at Santa Fe High School and more than a dozen wounded. (5/23)

Miami Herald: Suicide Rate Up For Florida Women, Other Health Data Improves
Death rates for heart disease and lung cancer have dipped among Florida women, but suicide rates and measurements of poor mental health have gone up, according to a report released Tuesday on health disparities among women in the state. The report, released by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, found the suicide rate among Florida women rose during a 14-year period to a level above the national average, and that experiences of poor mental health have also become more prevalent among women. (Koh, 5/22)

Dallas Morning News: Dallas ISD Trustee's Baby Girl Undergoes Successful Heart Transplant Surgery 
Olivia Solis has never left the hospital. Born with a critical congenital heart defect, the first child of Dallas ISD trustee Miguel Solis and wife Jacqueline Nortman has spent nearly all her young life in intensive care. But the gift she received on her three-month birthday gives her a ray of hope that things will change for the better. Olivia received a new heart, successfully undergoing a heart transplant procedure at Children's Medical Center Dallas that went from Monday evening into the early hours of Tuesday morning. (Smith, 5/23)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: WEA Trust Buys Health Plan From Mayo Clinic Health System
WEA Trust has bought the Health Tradition Health Plan from Mayo Clinic Health System in what will be WEA Trust’s first entry into the market for health insurance sold to private employers. Health Tradition, which insures about 7,000 people in southwestern and western Wisconsin, had planned to close. (Boulton, 5/22)

NPR: Unnecessary C-Sections Targeted By Covered California
Covered California, the state's health insurance marketplace under the Affordable Care Act, has devised what could be a powerful new way to hold hospitals accountable for the quality of their care. Starting in less than two years, if the hospitals haven't met certain designated targets for safety and quality, they'll risk being excluded from the "in-network" designation of health plans sold on the state's insurance exchange. "We're saying 'time's up,'" says Dr. Lance Lang, the chief medical officer for Covered California. "We've told health plans that by the end of 2019, we want networks to only include hospitals that have achieved that target." (Dembosky, 5/23)

The Associated Press: Woman Who Shot Kansas Abortion Doctor Moved To Halfway House
An anti-abortion activist who shot and wounded a Kansas abortion doctor and firebombed clinics in Oregon and other states in the 1990s was released Tuesday from federal prison to a halfway house to finish her sentence, sparking fears for the safety of abortion clinic workers. The Federal Correctional Institution in Waseca, Minnesota confirmed Rachelle "Shelley" Shannon has been released, and sent to a halfway house where she will finish a 20-year sentence related to two Oregon cases of arson and other crimes targeting abortion clinics. Her final release date is Nov. 7. (5/22)

California Healthline: California Hospitals Urge Moms To Favor Breast Milk Over Formula
Wendy Wan, 31, said American infant formula is advertised in her native China as the most nutritious food for a newborn.“It sounds like it’s premium,” said Wan, who gave birth in early May at Beverly Hospital here. Wan said she was skeptical of the ads and had planned to feed her baby son only breast milk. But when her milk failed to come in quickly, she didn’t hesitate to supplement it with formula. “I prefer breastfeeding, but I think it’s almost the same,” she said from her hospital bed the day after her son was born. (Gorman, 5/22)

The Associated Press: Mother: 15-Year-Old Son Killed Himself After Being Bullied
A Minnesota woman says her 15-year-old son killed himself after months of being bullied and assaulted, and that school staff didn't do enough to support the boy, who had mental health issues and learning disabilities. Faith Elsharkawy says she can't be certain that her son Jacob LeTourneau-Elsharkawy, who was a freshman at Chisago Lakes High School, was bullied because her family is Muslim. But she says the bullying began when he was in 8th grade, after she started wearing a hijab. (5/22)

The Washington Post: Court Sides With Transgender Va. Student In His Fight To Use The Boys’ Bathroom
A federal judge in Virginia sided Tuesday with a transgender teenager who spent most of his high school years fighting to use the boys’ bathroom, ruling that school officials violated his constitutional rights. Gavin Grimm sued the Gloucester County School Board after it barred him from the boys’ bathroom. The case made Grimm, now a 19-year-old activist in Berkeley, Calif., the face of a national fight for transgender student rights and ascended to the Supreme Court. (Balingit, 5/22)