State Highlights: Conn. Governor’s Proposal To Cut Money From Meals For Seniors Draws Fire; Calif. Doctor Put On Probation Over Vaccine Exemptions

The CT Mirror: Meals For Seniors Caught In Latest Feud Over CT Budget Cuts
Top Republican lawmakers again are sparring with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy about how the governor cuts spending to achieve legislatively mandated savings targets. In the latest dispute, Republican lawmakers are balking at the governor’s plans to cut $2 million from an elderly nutrition program. Malloy must find $21.5 million in savings in the General Fund once the new fiscal year gets underway on Sunday. (Phaneuf, 6/29)

San Jose Mercury News: California Doctor, Renowned Vaccine Skeptic, Placed On Probation For Exempting Child From All Vaccinations
Dr. Bob Sears, a renowned Dana Point pediatrician who has been sought out by parents who wish to opt out of the state’s mandatory vaccine requirements, has been placed on probation for 35 months by the Medical Board of California. The June 27 order, which will go into effect on July 27, allows Sears to continue his medical practice but requires him to go through 40 hours of educational courses for each year of probation and a professional ethics course. (Bharath, 6/30)

The Associated Press: Pharmacy Chain, Ohio Health Department Sued Over HIV Mailing
A class-action lawsuit has been filed with the Ohio Court of Claims against CVS Caremark and the state Health Department over a mailing that might have publicly disclosed the identity of 6,000 HIV patients. The Columbus Dispatch reports the lawsuit filed by a Cleveland-area attorney says the state shared private medical information with CVS last summer without patients' authorization, allowing CVS to make a marketing pitch to non-customers about its pharmacy services. (6/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Long Islanders Take Shelter From Tick Threat This Summer
Fear of tick-borne illnesses in eastern Long Island has some residents choosing to spend their summer inside their homes rather than the great outdoors. John Rasweiler, 65, who lives in Southold on the island’s North Fork, said that even just a simple walk across his lawn from his car to the front door of his home could lead to a parasite bite. “And in the 10, 15 seconds that I’m crossing that, I have actually picked up ticks,” he said. (Korte, 7/1)

Sacramento Bee: Health Care Giants Are Racing To Roseville. Here’s What It Means For Patients – And The Region’s Economy
Roseville leaders are eagerly anticipating the addition of about 1,200 jobs, added growth and economic opportunity stemming from three expansions at Kaiser Permanente, Adventist Health and Sutter Health over the next several years. ...In the third quarter of 2017, more than 25,000 residents of Placer County worked in the fields of health care and social assistance, up 37 percent from 2012, according to California's Employment Development Department. (Browning, 6/30)

San Jose Mercury News: Jahi McMath Death Could Cost Family Millions In Legal Fight
Jahi McMath’s tragic saga came to an end last week, but the legal battle between her family and the hospital they claim was responsible for her brain damage grew even more heated after her lawyers announced the Oakland teen had been removed from the machines that kept her breathing for nearly five years. The decision could cost the family millions of dollars in their medical malpractice suit against UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland and some doctors, experts say, because the cost of future medical care is a major factor in determining damages. (Gafni, 6/30)

KQED: Jahi McMath, Teen At Center Of Medical And Religious Debate On Brain Death, Has Died
This legal battle spurred a nationwide debate over brain death — and what constitutes death. The Uniform Declaration of Death Act, which has been in place since 1981, defines death as the "irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem." (Chow, 6/30)

Denver Post: $385.5 Million Wrongful Death Verdict Against DaVita Hinged On Testimony Over Risks Of Cost-Saving Product
A federal jury ordered dialysis giant DaVita Inc. to pay the families of three dead patients a combined $385.5 million after hearing testimony that the company did not adequately warn kidney doctors that a product that saved the company money put patients at risk of cardiac arrests. Trial testimony in the wrongful death lawsuit also excoriated DaVita for a “flawed and secretive adverse event reporting system.” (Osher, 6/30)

The Star Tribune: Minnesota-Based Medica Is Expanding Into Missouri, Oklahoma 
Medica plans on growing next year into the individual health insurance markets in Missouri and Oklahoma, bringing to eight the tally of states where the Minnetonka-based carrier expects to sell nongroup coverage. While many health insurers over the past two years have fled red ink in the individual market under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medica has grown from its base in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin into Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. (Snowbeck, 6/29)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Homeless: City Shelter Sites Face Neighbor Opposition
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is scouring the city for plots of land where three 200-bed homeless structures in large tent-like structures could open. But in a sign of how difficult the process may become, multiple City Council members said they would oppose shelters on city-owned parcels in their districts that meet space requirements - and the council member representing the North Sacramento area said his part of town is off limits until his colleagues do their part first. (Lillis and Hubert, 6/30)

Arizona Republic: West Valley Relies On Phoenix For Help With Rising Homeless Population
As the number of people facing homelessness in the West Valley rises, cities are scrambling to refine their ordinances, such as for urban camping. They're also working to offer services like the crisis intervention team and misdemeanor repeat offender unit Scott works for in Peoria. (Fifield and Boehm, 7/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: La Taqueria Workers’ Risky Complaints Over Unpaid Overtime, Health Care Bring Reforms
Owner Miguel Jara, 75, has often spoken to the media about how much he values his workers, several of whom have cooked at La Taqueria for more than a quarter-century. Yet in November, San Francisco’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement and the California Labor Commissioner fined La Taqueria for numerous labor violations, including unpaid overtime, sick pay and health care costs. (Kauffman, 6/30)

Detroit Free Press: UFC Champ, Woodhaven Doc Tied To $112M Health Care Scam
A body-building doctor.  A cage fighter. A handful of boxers  — and lots of urine samples. Mix 'em up, and you have the makings of a $112-million health care scam that's landed a one-time philanthropic physician behind bars, accused of plotting with fighters of all sorts to steal millions of dollars from Medicare through bogus billings and referrals. The accused is Dr. Frank Patino of Woodhaven, a body-building enthusiast who in 2014 made headlines when he donated 300 hams to the needy.  Now, he's accused of schmoozing and scheming with an Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Famer, a Triple-X cage fighter and a Michigan professional fighter known as Joshua Burns, who was charged Thursday with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. in a bribery and kickback scheme. (Baldas, 6/29)

Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Company CEO Indicted In $2.5 Million Medicare Fraud Case
The CEO of a Tennessee company that sold knee, wrist and back braces has been federally indicted for allegedly paying more than $1.2 million in bribes to sales representatives who referred her customers, allowing her to bill Medicare for more than $2.5 million in tainted claims. Brenda Montgomery, 70, of Camden, the owner of CCC Medical, Inc., has been charged with conspiracy and bribery, according to a federal indictment that was unsealed Thursday. The bust was part of a nationwide health care fraud takedown, which led to hundreds of arrests in a host of unconnected cases across the nation. (Kelman, 6/29)

Des Moines Register: Two Iowa Nurses Charged In Federal Crackdown On Health Care Fraud
Two Iowa nurses face federal health care fraud charges for using the identities of patients to obtain prescription drugs, prosecutors allege.  The charges are part of a national crackdown announced Thursday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar III.  (Tendall, 6/29)