State Highlights: Only 22% Of California Towns Have Strong Wildfire Evacuation Plans; NYC Mayor Shifts $150M In Savings For Health, Energy Needs

The Associated Press: Many Fire-Prone California Towns Don't Plan For Evacuations
Wildfire surrounded Darrel Wilken and the three hospital patients in his car. But instead of evacuating Paradise, they were stuck in traffic along with thousands of others. Cars burned in front of them. Trees, homes and buildings exploded into flames as the gusting firestorm destroyed nearly everything around them. (4/25)

Bloomberg: De Blasio Uses NYC Budget Savings For Spending On Health, Energy 
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city is on track to wrest $916 million of savings from his streamlining push, allowing him to finance building, health and other programs while holding spending at about $92.5 billion in the coming year. Those savings exceed the $750 million goal he set in February. Rather than cut spending, unused funds will be shifted to finance $150 million “in additional critical needs identified since February,” the mayor said as he presented his final spending plan for fiscal 2020. The proposal will likely be modified before it’s approved by the City Council over the next two months. (Goldman, 4/25)

Los Angeles Times: After Inmate Dies Of Legionnaires', Stockton Prison Works To Kill Bacteria
California state officials have initiated a chlorine water treatment to clear out deadly bacteria that are the source of Legionnaires’ disease from several facilities in the Central Valley. The measure is part of a larger investigation into the source of two confirmed cases of the disease at a Stockton facility, one of which resulted in the death of an inmate in March. The treatment, which began Wednesday morning, came after environmental testing showed Legionella bacteria were present at the California Health Care Facility and the Northern California Youth Correctional Center, the state corrections department said in a news release. The process aims to disinfect water systems in about 115 buildings. (Diaz, 4/25)

The Associated Press: California Prison Escapes Double With New Community Programs
California's attempt to ease inmates back into the community is coming at a price: more prisoners, some with violent convictions, walking away before their time is up. Fifty of the state's more than 126,000 prisoners absconded last year, almost half of them from a program that allows male inmates to serve the final year of their sentences in community centers to get help with substance abuse, mental and other health issues, jobs, education, housing, family reunification and social support. (4/26)

Health News Florida: ‘Tobacco 21’ Proposal Draws Debate In Florida
After paying billions of dollars to settle lawsuits about the dangers of cigarettes, the tobacco industry is engaged in another public-relations battle, one that is swirling in the Florida Capitol, other state houses throughout the country and in Congress. The issue, known as “Tobacco 21,” focuses on raising the smoking age from 18 to 21, a concept that’s supported by the American Heart Association as well as a company many people blame for a teen vaping epidemic. (Kam, 4/24)

The CT Mirror: Union Suspends Plans For May 1 Strike At Nursing Homes
The state’s largest healthcare workers’ union has suspended indefinitely a planned May 1 strike at 20 nursing homes to allow negotiations to continue, a union spokesman confirmed Thursday. And sources said Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration has proposed additional state funding for nursing homes, though it’s unclear whether it would be sufficient to fund the raises sought by New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199 SEIU. (Phaneuf, 4/25)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Governor Signs Bill To Let Private Cancer Center To Grow
Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday signed House Bill 186, unlocking future growth for Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Georgia and ending a decade-long battle between CTCA and the state’s nonprofit hospitals. CTCA, a private health care business, won. What it means for Georgia patients is clear: more opportunity to receive treatment at CTCA’s campus in Newnan. (Hart, 4/25)

Seattle Times: Washington Legislature Passes Bill Mandating Hospitals Give Rest And Meal Breaks To Nurses 
Nurses and other hospital staff would get regular rest and meal breaks and other guarantees in their schedules under a bill that received final approval in both chambers of the Legislature on Wednesday. The issue became a sensation in the past week when an Eastern Washington lawmaker suggested nurses in small hospitals with relatively few patients don’t need mandated breaks, because their schedules are such that they probably spend part of their shift playing cards. (Camden, 4/25)

Kansas City Star: KU, St. Luke’s Join Suit That Delays Liver Transplant Change
The federal government has delayed changing the way donor livers are distributed, a proposal that hospitals in Kansas and Missouri said would have led to longer waits — and more deaths — for Midwesterners who need a transplant. The change was supposed to go into effect at the end of this month but will be put off for at least two weeks as a federal judge in Atlanta weighs a lawsuit brought by more than a dozen transplant centers that believe they stand to lose from the new policy. (Marso, 4/25)

North Carolina Health News: Creative Community Workers Support Those Recovering From Eastern Hurricanes 
Fanning was among thousands of people touched by catastrophic storms in Eastern North Carolina — Matthew in 2016 and Florence in 2018. A group including students from the UNC-Chapel Hill nursing school spent a week in March helping out in eastern counties. They spent part of a day working where Fanning was having lunch, one of the projects of Wilmington’s Anchor church. ...It’s taken an evolving mix of public, private and nonprofit efforts to make a dent in the widespread health and human problems aggravated by the storms. Tamatha Arms, an associate professor of nursing at UNC-W, said at the lunch that families she’s encountered continue to suffer financial stress as well as a long list of physical and mental issues. (Goldsmith, 4/26)

Boston Globe: Workplace Deaths In Massachusetts Declined Slightly Between 2017 And 2018, Report Finds
While the total number of workplace deaths in Massachusetts declined slightly between 2017 and 2018, the number of on-the-job deaths stemming from violence almost doubled in the same period, according to a report issued Thursday. The findings from the latest annual report by worker advocacy group Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health and union organization Massachusetts AFL-CIO indicate that despite progress in recent years to increase workplace safety, more needs to be done. (Reyes, 4/25)

Kaiser Health News: Hospitals Chafe Under Medicare’s New Payment Rule For Off-Campus Clinics
Eric Lewis’ plans for expansion have derailed. As chief executive officer of Olympic Medical Center, he oversees efforts to provide care to roughly 75,000 people in Clallam County, in the isolated, rural northwestern corner of Washington state. Last year, Lewis planned to build a primary care clinic in Sequim, a town about 17 miles from the medical center’s main campus in Port Angeles. (Heredia Rodriguez, 4/26)

Modern Healthcare: Judge Tosses UPMC Suit To Block State Open-Contracting Proposal
A federal judge dismissed UPMC's lawsuit to block the Pennsylvania attorney general's efforts to force UPMC to keep its provider network open to Highmark Health and other health plans. U.S. District Judge John Jones ruled Wednesday that UPMC can't sue over Attorney General Josh Shapiro's statements about UPMC's provider network, since they have not led to action and his proposed rule is still under review in state court. (Meyer, 4/25)

The Washington Post: Kissing Bugs: Bloodsucking Insect Found In Delaware
It’s like “Sleeping Beauty” with a dose of nightmare fuel: A flat-bodied, six-legged insect moves toward you as you slumber, bound for the blood that surges around your eyes and lips. It crawls on your face. And the poop it leaves behind can be deadly. The triatomine bug, also known as the notorious kissing bug, has been an obscure threat in the United States, with the highest density in Latin America and some Western states. (Horton, 4/25)

Modern Healthcare: Hackensack Meridian Health Taps Theresa Brodrick As Chief Nurse
Hackensack Meridian Health appointed Theresa Brodrick as its chief nurse executive, the Edison, N.J.-based health system announced Thursday. Brodrick will oversee non-physician clinical affiliation partnerships, nursing education and research, patient safety and clinical quality of nursing, nursing-driven patient experience and Magnet certification. (Kacik, 4/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Scientists Tackle Connecticut’s Tick Problem
A team of scientists is trying to get a better grasp of Connecticut’s tick population. With funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station are for the first time actively collecting ticks statewide to test for organisms that cause human diseases, including Lyme disease. The new program, which started this month, is targeting 40 locations across Connecticut, mainly in state parks, forests and land trusts. Nearly 60% of the state is forested, making it a prime habitat for ticks. (Scott, 4/25)

The CT Mirror: Senate Authorizes Pilot Program For Production, Sale Of Hemp
Lawmakers in the Senate cleared the way Thursday for a blooming hemp industry in Connecticut, authorizing a pilot program for the production and sale of the crop. Proponents said they wanted to move quickly so farmers could begin planting seeds in June – the start of the growing season. They held up the proposal as a catalyst that could revive ailing sectors of the state’s farming industry. (Carlesso, 4/25)