State Highlights: Transgender Prison Nurse Wins Discrimination Suit In Iowa; New York City Introducing Bill To Change Ambulance Sirens To ‘Hi Lo’ System

The Associated Press: Jury Sides With Transgender Employee In ‘Historic’ Iowa Case
A jury ruled Wednesday that an Iowa prison warden discriminated against a transgender employee by denying him the use of men’s restrooms and locker rooms in a verdict that advocates call “historic.” Jurors also found that the state executive branch discriminated against Jesse Vroegh by offering medical benefits that would not cover his gender reassignment surgery. After making those findings, the eight-member jury awarded $120,000 in damages for emotional distress to Vroegh, 37, a former nurse at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville. (Foley, 2/13)

Des Moines Register: Transgender Prison Nurse Wins Suit Against State Of Iowa
Gender identity — or the gender a person identifies as, no matter what sex organs he or she was born with — has been included in the Iowa Civil Rights Act since 2007, meaning transgender Iowans have legal protections against discrimination in education, employment, housing and public accommodations. (Crowder, 2/13)

The Wall Street Journal: New York City Council Members Want To Dial Down Sirens
The piercing wail of an ambulance, the one that disturbs sleep and triggers dogs to howl, should be replaced with the more European, two-tone sound, according to New York City council members who are expected this week to introduce legislation that would mandate a citywide siren change. (West, 2/13)

The Associated Press: New Mexico Reverses Course On Medicaid Charges For Patients
New Mexico reversed course Wednesday on its plans to charge some patients covered by Medicaid a monthly insurance premium of $10 and co-payments of $8 on certain brand-name drugs and visits to the emergency room for routine medical care. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced in a new release that the state will seek federal approval to reverse cost-sharing and enrollment provisions instituted by her Republican predecessor that were designed to conserve state spending on Medicaid. (Lee, 2/13)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Summa Health Among Top Five Percent Of U.S. Hospitals, According To Healthgrades Health Care Rating Service
Akron’s Summa Health System announced this week it achieved the Healthgrades 2019 America’s 250 Best Hospitals Award. The distinction places Summa Health’s clinical performance in the top five percent of more than 4,500 hospitals assessed nationwide as measured by Healthgrades, a Denver-based online resource for information about physicians and hospitals. (Goist, 2/13)

California Healthline: Can California Beat The Federal Government In Lowering Drug Prices?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he’s done waiting for the federal government to curtail the rising cost of prescription drugs. Newsom has his own plan to ease that financial burden — one he hopes other states can join or replicate. The Democratic governor said he intends to use California’s might as the world’s fifth-largest economy to demand lower prices directly from drug companies for millions of Medicaid enrollees, state government workers and, eventually, Californians in the private sector. (Young, 2/14)

The Baltimore Sun: Hospital Accreditation Agency Seeks Review Of Shooting Outside University Of Maryland Medical Center
The agency that accredits the nation’s hospitals has asked the University of Maryland Medical Center for a review of the Feb. 4 shooting of an employee in the affiliated School of Medicine just outside the hospital. The 24-year-old victim was near an ambulance bay off Redwood Street when he was shot in the face and buttocks by a man police say he knew. He was taken into the medical center’s Shock Trauma Center in critical condition, roiling both the university and hospital staffs as well as the larger Baltimore medical community. (Cohn, 2/14)

Boston Globe: Mass. Won’t Conduct Rigorous Review Of Partners’ R.I. Proposal
Officials at Massachusetts’ health care watchdog agency Wednesday indicated that they will not conduct a rigorous review of Partners HealthCare’s latest proposed acquisition, saying the deal would have little effect on residents in the state.Partners, Massachusetts’s largest network of doctors and hospitals, is seeking a takeover of Care New England Health System of Providence. The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission has studied — and has criticized — Partners’ past expansion plans. But this transaction is different because its greatest effects would be felt in Rhode Island. (Dayal McCluskey, 2/13)

Texas Tribune: Texas Legislature Eyes State Jail Reform In 2019
In the run-up to the 2019 legislative session, the leaders of both the House and the Senate asked committees to study the state jail system, which holds around 21,500 inmates in 17 jails, according to the House Committee on Corrections. That led to a report from the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence that referred to the system as a “complete failure,” and lawmakers in both chambers listed bolstering local pretrial and probation initiatives as a top priority. (Marfin, 2/14)

Georgia Health News: House Panel Backs Curbs On ‘Step Therapy’ Rules For Medications
The insurer drug protocols that the Atlanta family faced are known as “step therapy.’’ They require that a patient “try and fail” on one or more meds before insurers provide coverage for a drug that was originally prescribed. The House Insurance Committee on Wednesday passed legislation that would help patients obtain exceptions to these drug requirements. (Miller, 2/13)

Health News Florida: Lawmakers Weigh ‘Advanced’ Birth Centers
Despite concerns about safety and potential effects of competition on hospitals, the Senate Health Policy Committee this week unanimously passed a measure (SB 448) by Chairwoman Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, that would authorize “advanced birth centers” and allow them to offer certain women access to Caesarean deliveries and epidurals. The bill would allow the facilities to keep women for up to three days. (Rodriguez, 2/13)

Denver Post: Colorado Childbirth Deaths Bill Seeks To Reduce Maternal Mortality Rates
House Bill 19-1122 would make several significant changes to Colorado’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee. The most important change, according to the bill’s sponsors, is giving committee members protection from being subpoenaed in malpractice lawsuits, which means they could get better, more honest answers and review deaths as they happen rather than waiting at least three years to investigate. (Staver, 2/13)

The CT Mirror: Like Its Neighbor, CT Purdue Suit Targets Sacklers
Connecticut is taking a slightly different approach in its litigation against Purdue Pharma than Massachusetts, whose amended lawsuit against the Stamford-based company detailed scandalous allegations against its owners, saying they personally contributed to the nation’s opioid epidemic. But both states say they are after the same thing– they want to hold Purdue Pharma and the enormously wealthy Sackler family accountable for their role in a national epidemic. (Radelat, 2/13)

Seattle Times: People With Disabilities Can Save For College, Life Expenses With New Washington State Savings Plan
Called the ABLE Savings Plan, it allows parents and adults to set aside money in a special account for a broad range of living and educational expenses without jeopardizing disability funding, such as Medicaid, Supplemental Security and other federal benefits. The account’s growth is tax-free, and the money is invested in the account-holder’s choice of a blend of stocks and bonds. Starting in June, the plan will charge a $35 annual maintenance fee. State legislation required that ABLE had to be self-supporting, and the money goes to the state and the company that runs the program, Sumday, for administrative costs. (Long, 2/13)

The Star Tribune: UnitedHealth Group Names Former Mayo CEO Noseworthy To Board Of Directors
Dr. John Noseworthy, the Mayo Clinic chief executive who retired in December, has been named to the board of directors at UnitedHealth Group, the Minnetonka-based company that stands alongside Mayo as one of Minnesota’s most prominent health care organizations. UnitedHealth Group made the announcement Wednesday morning. In a statement, the board’s Executive Chairman Stephen Hemsley called Noseworthy “an exceptionally talented and compassionate physician.” (Snowbeck, 2/13)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Unreimbursed Special Ed Expenses Cost Schools $1 Billion Annually
Wisconsin school districts spend about $1 billion a year on special education costs not reimbursed by the state, forcing them to dip into general funds intended for all students, according to a new report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum. The low reimbursement rates, it said, place "a considerable burden on local districts," particularly those with high numbers of poor and minority students, where they exacerbate already existing inequities. (Johnson, 2/13)

Miami Herald: Florida Psychotherapist Gets 3 Years For $3.1 Million Fraud
A Dania Beach licensed mental health counselor with memberships in multiple national professional organizations became a multilevel healthcare fraudster. And for keeping the fraud rolling at Margate’s Reflections Treatment Center, Tina Marie Barbuto was sentenced in federal court in West Palm Beach to three years in federal prison for attempt and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. (Neal, 2/13)

Sacramento Bee: Camp Fire, Woolsey Fire Cleanups In California Underway
Thrown together as disaster-response teammates in the new era of wildfires, California and federal officials have not exactly gotten along. The state’s emergency services chief last summer accused the feds of “re-victimizing” wildfire survivors in Sonoma and Napa counties by allowing cleanup crews to damage property and over-scrape the remnants of homes destroyed in the blazes. (Bizjak, 2/13)

KCUR: Months Before Medical Marijuana Is Available In Missouri, Clinic Opens Its Doors In Kansas City 
Medical marijuana is not yet available for purchase in Missouri, but patients may be able to jump start the process and get it with the help of a newly opened clinic. The Green Clinic opened for business in a loft in the River Market in Kansas City on Wednesday afternoon, with two full-time doctors on staff to determine whether patients qualify to obtain medical marijuana. (Smith, 2/13)