State Highlights: Bill Moves Forward In Tenn. Committee To Help Severely Disabled Children; N.C. Hospitals Test Drones To Transport Blood Samples

Nashville Tennessean: Plight Of Families Raising Kids With Disabilities Moves Lawmaker To Tears
After testimony brought one lawmaker to tears and inspired emotional commentary from several others, the House Insurance Committee moved the bill forward. The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee also unanimously approved the legislation. The bill will next be taken up in the House and Senate finance committees, but any further action will likely be delayed until after Gov. Bill Lee's supplemental budget appropriation is announced in the coming weeks. Supporters of the legislation are hopeful Lee might include some funding for the bill in that budget. Currently in Tennessee, nearly all children with severe disabilities who come from middle- and high-income families do not qualify for the state's Medicaid program. As a result, many parents shoulder the burden of thousands of dollars in medical bills for the therapies and vital equipment that private insurance does not cover. Others simply cannot provide their children the care they need because the cost is too much. (Bliss and Ebert, 3/26)

The Associated Press: Hospital Using Drones To Fly Blood Samples Between Buildings
A pioneering use of drones to fly blood samples across a North Carolina hospital campus launched Tuesday in the latest move to expand their roles in business and health care. The short trips between WakeMed buildings in Raleigh mark the first time the Federal Aviation Administration has allowed regular commercial flights of drones carrying products, according to UPS and drone company Matternet, which partnered with the hospital on the program. (3/26)

Modern Healthcare: WakeMed Using Drones In Pilot With UPS, FAA
Medical staff at WakeMed Health & Hospitals are testing a new way to transport lab samples across the health system's Raleigh, N.C., facilities: drones. The program, part of the Federal Aviation Administration's pilot program to assess drone use for various applications, kicked off in August. Spearheaded by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the first arm of the project involved testing drones from aerial delivery company Matternet on WakeMed's campus. (Cohen, 3/26)

The Washington Post: United Medical Center Needs $40 Million Taxpayer Bailout, D.C. Officials Say
The District’s only public hospital will require a $40 million taxpayer subsidy to stay afloat, city officials have determined, the latest and largest in a series of government bailouts for the struggling facility over the last several years. United Medical Center — the only hospital east of the Anacostia River and a key provider of medical services for low-income residents of Southeast Washington — is running a projected annual operating deficit of tens of millions of dollars, hospital officials testified at a D.C. Council health committee hearing Tuesday. (Jamison, 3/26)

New Hampshire Public Radio: N.H.'s Child Advocate Reviewing How DCYF Handles Cases Of Infants Born Exposed To Drugs
The state Office of Child Advocate has announced it is currently reviewing how the Department for Children Youth and Families handles cases of infants born exposed to drugs. The Office of the Child Advocate says it opened the review in December of last year after it received concerns about how DCYF was handling the cases. In two cases in 2018 infants, died after DCYF closed assessments for neglect as unfounded. (Moon, 3/26)

Concord (N.H.) Monitor: Infant Deaths Prompt DCYF Review By State Child Advocate 
The state’s child advocate has opened a review into the Division for Children, Youth and Families’ response to babies born exposed to drugs after several children died after the agency opened investigations into the families. Director of the Office of the Child Advocate Moira O’Neill said a full report on DCYF’s handling of babies born exposed to drugs is expected to be released in July 2019. (Willingham, 3/26)

Pioneer Press: Hastings Treatment Center Had ‘Management Issues,’ Now Being Run By Nonprofit NuWay 
A Minneapolis nonprofit has taken over the management of Hastings’ Cochran Recovery Services. The 42-bed drug and alcohol treatment center is now being operated by NuWay, a South Minneapolis-based provider of recovery services. In a statement this week, NuWay said Cochran’s board of directors hired them to manage the Hastings nonprofit two weeks ago and then stepped down “in the face of management issues.” Before dissolving, the board fired Cochran’s executive director, Richard Terzick, according to NuWay. (Ferraro, 3/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Mayor De Blasio’s Wife Defends Mental-Health Initiative
ThriveNYC officials defended the funding and effectiveness of the city’s mental-health initiative during a New York City Council hearing Tuesday, as lawmakers pushed to understand how the sprawling program is structured and if it reaches the seriously mentally ill. Chirlane McCray, wife of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, said her signature three-year-old initiative with a $250 million annual budget is designed to “fill the gaps” in the city’s mental-health programs, as well as introduce innovations. (West, 3/26)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Expands Smoking Ban To Vaping Tobacco And Smoking Pot In Public
It's about to get harder to find a place to vape and smoke cannabis in Los Angeles County. The Board of Supervisors updated the county’s legal definition of "smoke" and "smoking" on Tuesday, expanding an existing ban on using tobacco products at beaches, parks and government buildings to include electronic cigarettes and pot. The supervisors also clamped down with new restrictions on smoking at beach parking lots, bus stops, outdoor bars and some common areas of county-owned golf courses in unincorporated areas. (Stiles, 3/26)

Georgia Health News: Push For Hospital Transparency Gets New Energy, Platform
This year’s legislative fight over Georgia’s certificate-of-need system is different from those in the past, which focused almost entirely on typical CON battles over hospital building projects or authorization of medical services. State Reps. Matt Hatchett (R-Dublin) and Terry England (R-Auburn), among others, have now emphasized a new issue in the push to change CON: financial transparency. They are stressing the importance of disclosure of non-profit hospitals’ financial holdings. (Miller, 3/26)

Arizona Republic: Judge Orders Hacienda Rape Suspect To Take HIV Test
A Maricopa County Superior Court Judge ordered the former Hacienda HealthCare nurse accused of raping and impregnating an incapacitated woman under his care to undergo testing for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases Tuesday. The state motioned for Nathan Sutherland, who turns 37 at the end of the month, to give the test results to the victim. Judge Roger Hartsell signed off on the order last month, but defense attorney Edward Molina requested a hearing on the matter as he argued the move was unconstitutional. (Burkitt, 3/26)

MPR: Two More Minnesota Cities Make 21 The Legal Age For Tobacco Purchases
As state lawmakers consider banning tobacco sales statewide to people under 21, city councils in Albert Lea and Arden Hills passed their own ordinances Tuesday. The two Minnesota cities joined more than two dozen other cities and counties across the state in adopting policies requiring people to be 21 years old to buy tobacco products. (Zdechlik, 3/26)

Boston Globe: On Beacon Hill, Lawmakers, Advocates Push To End Child Marriage
Senator Harriette Chandler, a Worcester Democrat and lead sponsor, said parents sometimes allow — or even encourage — children to marry before they have the legal resources or financial independence to navigate the world. ...Representative Kay Khan, a Newton Democrat, noted that it’s difficult for a teenager to extract herself from a problematic marriage. (Ebbert, 3/26)

Bloomberg: Centene Holds Takeover Discussions With WellCare 
Centene Corp. has held discussions about a potential takeover of managed-care provider WellCare Health Plans Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. There’s no guarantee that talks will lead to an agreement, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the details aren’t public. WellCare shares rose as much as 15 percent to $265 in late trading in New York. Based on Tuesday’s closing price of $231.27, the company has a market valuation of about $11.6 billion. (Hammond, 3/26)

Austin American-Statesman: Rise In Homelessness Comes Amid New Efforts To Tackle Issue
An annual “point in time” count found 2,255 unsheltered homeless people in Austin and nearby Travis County this year, up 5 percent from 2018, city and community leaders said Tuesday at a news conference. The count, performed Jan. 26, involved more than 500 volunteers counting the number of people sleeping on streets, in parks, under bridges and in cars and tents throughout the city. (Findell, 3/26)

Modern Healthcare: Fired Cardiologists Sue DMC, Tenet, Alleging Retaliation For Quality Complaints
Two cardiologists who contend they were fired for reporting quality problems over a four-year period at Detroit Medical Center have sued the six-hospital system, parent company Tenet Healthcare Corp. and four executives for alleged retaliation. Dr. Mahir Elder and Dr. Amir Kaki, who held various positions at DMC and were top admitters and proceduralists for patients with heart problems, said they reported to DMC executives multiple problems of dirty instruments, unnecessary procedures on patients performed by other doctors, lack of nursing staff, cutbacks of critical lab and support services and failure of top DMC and Tenet executives to investigate alleged incidents of Medicare and Medicaid fraud, according to a 41-page lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit. (Greene, 3/26)

Dallas Morning News: Expert Witnesses Differ Over What Medical Data Mean In Forest Park Bribery Trial
Data is only as good as who's crunching it. Jurors hearing the Forest Park Medical Center bribery and kickback trial in Dallas have gotten two very different conclusions from the same medical billing and claims data for certain surgeries that are at the heart of the case. An expert witness for the defense told jurors Monday and Tuesday that her analysis of the data shows that surgeries Dr. Michael Rimlawi and Dr. Douglas Won performed at Forest Park fluctuated over the years and revealed no clear patterns. (Krause, 3/26)