State Highlights: CVS-Aetna Deal Gets Go-Ahead From Connecticut Regulators; New Legislation In NYC Aims To Tackle High Maternal Mortality Rates

The CT Mirror: Connecticut Insurance Department Approves CVS-Aetna Merger
The Connecticut Insurance Department has approved CVS Health Corp’s $69 billion merger with Hartford-based Aetna Inc. The approval is contingent on Aetna completing the sale of its entire standalone Medicare Part D prescription plan business to a subsidiary of WellCare Health Plans, according to the insurance department’s decision issued on Wednesday. (Rigg, 10/17)

The Wall Street Journal: NYC Council Boosts Benefits For Pregnant Women And New Moms
In an effort to reduce maternal mortality in New York City and ease the postnatal transition for mothers, the City Council on Wednesday passed a package of bills addressing everything from the process of labor and delivery to child care. The legislation—which was introduced this year before Mother’s Day—authorizes studying how the city can provide subsidized child care for its employees. The bills will also require free wipes and diapers at homeless shelters and city-run child-care facilities, lactation rooms for mothers who visit jails or police precincts and revised procedures for reporting maternal mortality by the city health department. (West and Honan, 10/17)

The Associated Press: Virginia Lawmaker Settles Suit; Seeks Mental-Health Reform
A Virginia lawmaker whose son stabbed him before killing himself has settled a lawsuit over the young man's mental-health care. The Roanoke Times reports that Sen. R. Creigh (KREE') Deeds and his family will be paid $950,000 by the state's risk-management fund to settle their suit against Michael Gentry, a former mental-health evaluator with the Rockbridge Area Community Services Board. (10/17)

The Associated Press: Woman: Michigan Pharmacist Refused To Give Miscarriage Drug
A woman says a Michigan pharmacist refused to fill a prescription to help her complete a miscarriage, telling her it was against his religion. Rachel Peterson of Ionia tells the Detroit Free Press the pharmacist worked at a Meijer store in Petoskey. She and her husband were in northern Michigan in July following the miscarriage of their twins. (10/17)

Des Moines Register: Iowa Medicaid Transportation Shift Hurts Disabled Clients, Groups Say
Life for many disabled Iowans now features fewer outings, longer commute times and tighter living arrangements as a result of a state Medicaid policy change that affects their transportation to jobs and day services, a Des Moines Register investigation has found. The findings come less than a year after the Iowa Department of Human Services replaced a longtime "waiver" program used to pay for these transportation services. The change rolled the transportation payments into a new "tier rate" system that is supposed to be revenue neutral. (Clayworth, 10/17)

Dallas Morning News: Hospital Seeks To Vacate Judge's Ruling Keeping 9-Year-Old Girl Alive Through Monday
An extension of a temporary restraining order to keep a brain-dead 9-year-old alive through a ventilator should be vacated, attorneys for Cook Children's Medical Center said. The Fort Worth hospital petitioned the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth to vacate a ruling by state District Judge Melody Wilkerson that granted an extension through Monday for the Grand Prairie parents of Payton Summons, who was brought the hospital in cardiac arrest Sept. 25 and has been there ever since. Emergency room personnel restored her heartbeat, but she had to be put on a ventilator to breathe. (Brumfield, 10/17)

The Associated Press: Shoe-Shiner Who Gave $200K In Tips To Hospital Dies At 76
A part-time shoe-shiner who donated more than $200,000 in tips over 30 years to a Pittsburgh children's hospital died early Tuesday. Albert Lexie died of an undisclosed health condition, according to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center officials. He was 76. Every Tuesday and Thursday for more than three decades, Lexie left his home in Monessen around 5 a.m. to shine shoes at UMPC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh over 30 miles away. (10/17)

Houston Chronicle: Member-Based Health Care Aims To Upend Tradition In Woodlands 
First Primary Care is opening its second membership-based primary care practice in the Houston area as it seeks to upend the traditional business model of medicine. ...The primary care practice will offer same-day appointments for illness and injuries, wellness and preventative medicine, and chronic disease management a membership fee of $100 a month for individuals and $125 for seniors. It is part of burgeoning movement towards concierge-style medicine in this country, where patients are promised stronger and more direct relationships with their doctors for a set fee. Typically, like at First Primary Care, the arrangement is in lieu of traditional health insurance. (Deam, 10/17)

The Associated Press: $1.6M Grant Toward Development Of A Prostate Cancer Scanner
A researcher at Tulane University in Louisiana has secured a $1.6 million grant to try to develop a scanner that could rapidly check after prostate cancer surgery whether all traces of cancer have been removed. The four-year grant from the National Cancer Institute will let J. Quincy Brown work with engineers, mathematicians and medical doctors on developing a rapid microscopy scanner, according to a Tulane news release Tuesday. The team includes doctors in California and Maryland. (10/17)

St. Louis Public Radio: Anti-Smoking Advocates Urge 'No' Vote On Limited Ban In St. Charles County
Anti-smoking advocates in the St. Louis region will be encouraging their supporters to vote no next month on a proposed smoking ban in St. Charles County because they say it doesn’t go far enough. (Lippman, 10/18)

The Associated Press: California Surgeon, Girlfriend Face New Rape, Other Charges
A California surgeon and his girlfriend were charged Wednesday with crimes against five additional victims in addition to two women they were previously charged with drugging and sexually assaulting. (Taxin, 10/17)

Los Angeles Times: Newport Beach Surgeon Charged With Drugging And Raping 5 More Women
The accusations against the surgeon date to 2009. A woman, who was in her mid-20s at the time, told authorities she began dating Robicheaux after they met at a bar in Newport Beach in September that year. Prosecutors say the doctor raped her at his home after she told him she didn’t want to have sex. She told authorities that she knew Robicheaux had weapons and that she was afraid of him. The surgeon is accused of three felony counts of kidnapping with intent to commit a sexual offense, four counts of rape by use of drugs, two counts of assault with intent to commit a sexual offense, a count of forcible rape, a count of oral copulation by anesthesia or controlled substance, four counts of possession of a controlled substance for sale and two counts of possession of an assault weapon. Those charges could carry a sentence of more than 82 years in prison. (Winton and Sclafani, 10/17)

Texas Tribune: Austin Urges An Appeals Court To Allow Its Paid Sick Leave Ordinance To Take Effect
Saying that the city of Austin's paid sick leave ordinance would "undermine state sovereignty and upend constitutional structure," an attorney for the state of Texas joined lawyers for a conservative think tank on Wednesday in urging a state appeals court to uphold a temporary order blocking the ordinance from going into effect. Passed by the city council in February, the ordinance requires most employers to offer eight days of earned sick leave for a year of work; six days for businesses with fewer than 15 employees. (Lundstrom, 10/17)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinal: School Mobility Takes A Toll On Learning In Districts Beyond Big Cities
Three years ago, La Crosse County won a national award that local leaders could use for any project aimed at improving health.Instead of providing free flu shots or eye exams, organizers put the $10,000 toward something else: Working with two schools to stabilize families on the brink of enrolling their children elsewhere. (Richards, 10/17)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: The Homeless Need Support Services, Not Just Houses, To Keep From Returning To The Streets, Officials Say
Homeless advocate Sage Lewis has moved five people from a controversial tent encampment on property he owns on Broad Street to a house he has acquired, he said. Lewis, who filed a lawsuit Tuesday after the city denied him permission to run the so called Second Chance Village, said he also has asked the city to allow him to move five more homeless people into the house. (Conn, 10/17)

Miami Herald: Miami Beach Passes Rules To Keep E-Cigarettes Away From Teens
Amid skyrocketing teen e-cigarette use nationwide, the city of Miami Beach on Wednesday passed new rules designed to keep the devices away from minors. Although federal law prohibits the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone under 18, teens in Miami Beach say they have been able to order the devices online, get an unscrupulous adult to buy them, or find a smoke shop that doesn’t ask for ID. (Gurney, 10/17)

Iowa Public Radio: Manufacturer Unveils Iowa's First Legal Cannabis Products
MedPharm, Iowa’s only medical marijuana manufacturer, revealed the state’s first legal cannabis products Wednesday at its facility in Des Moines. ...MedPharm is making medical marijuana in the form of tinctures (drops under the tongue) capsules and creams. (Sostaric, 10/17)