State Highlights: Review Panel Says State Medical Board Ignored Evidence Of Abuse By Ohio State Doctor; California Lawmakers Set For Showdown On Medical Exemptions For Vaccines

The New York Times: Officials Ignored ‘Clear Evidence’ Of Abuse By Ohio State Doctor
Medical regulators found evidence that an Ohio State University doctor had sexually abused students but inexplicably failed to punish him, a review panel said Friday. A working group, largely made up of state and local law enforcement officials, said that “for reasons that simply cannot be determined,” the State Medical Board of Ohio’s inquiry into Dr. Richard H. Strauss’s conduct essentially went dormant, even though it had, in 1996, yielded evidence of wrongdoing. It was ultimately closed years later without any penalties. (Blinder, 8/30)

The Associated Press: California Lawmakers Eye Bills On Vaccines, Guns, Housing
California state lawmakers have just two weeks remaining in their session to sort through hundreds of bills, some addressing volatile topics such as vaccinating children and shootings by police. The session that began in January will end Sept. 13 after lawmakers pile bills on the desk of freshman Gov. Gavin Newsom. He'll have until mid-October to approve or veto the legislation. (9/2)

The Associated Press: Clock Is Ticking On NY Deadline For Student Vaccinations
When New York lawmakers revoked a religious exemption for mandatory school vaccinations, the change sent thousands of the state's parents scrambling to get their kids shots — or get them out of the classroom entirely. Lawmakers did away with the exemption in June amid the nation's worst measles outbreak since 1992. More than 26,000 children in public and private schools and day care centers had previously gone unvaccinated for religious reasons, according to the state Health Department. (9/1)

The Star Tribune: Another Top Official Resigns At Minnesota's Department Of Human Services
Another top official at the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) has resigned, the second departure this week and the latest in an extraordinary string of changes in the agency’s upper ranks. Marie Zimmerman, the assistant commissioner for health care, said Friday she will leave her post in about 10 days. Zimmerman, who first started with the agency in 2011, has been one of the top officials overseeing Minnesota’s Medicaid program, a sprawling operation funded by federal and state dollars, with 1.1 million enrollees. (Howatt, 8/30)

Georgia Health News: Anthem Faces Contract Standoff, Launches New Health Plan In Georgia
September is shaping up as a worrisome time for thousands of Georgia patients. Consumers are being notified that on Sept. 30, the contract between the state’s largest health insurer, Anthem, and Northeast Georgia Health System is due to expire. That would make Northeast Georgia’s Gainesville hospital and other facilities out of network for Anthem members, who would face higher costs to continue to visit the medical system’s facilities. (Miller, 8/30)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Colleges Add Fee For Working Spouses Who Use Health Plan
The Georgia Board of Regents approved a proposal at its August meeting to impose a monthly $100 surcharge on employees whose spouses choose not to join the health insurance plan provided by their own employer. The fees, proposed by the University System of Georgia, take effect in January. (Stirgus, 9/3)

Kansas City Star: Missouri Doctor Who Botched Surgeries Practices At Kansas VA
Now six years after Susan Guillaume’s death from a massive infection, her husband of 46 years was surprised to learn from a reporter that Missouri officials agree urologist Christel Wambi-Kiesse was out of his depth in the operating room. Missouri’s Board of Registration for the Healing Arts recently began seeking disciplinary action against the physician, who the board says was ill-equipped to perform minimally invasive surgical procedures while practicing at an Independence hospital in 2012 and 2013. (Hendricks, 9/1)

Reuters: Oklahoma Hospital Used Dirty Gastroscopes On Almost 1,000 Patients; No Infections Reported
An unnamed hospital in Oklahoma used contaminated gastroscopes in procedures performed on nearly a thousand patients in recent months, device maker Pentax Medical told U.S. regulators last month, putting the patients at risk of exposure to bacteria that can cause infections. (8/30)

Columbus Dispatch: Should Ambulances Always Go To Nearest Hospital? Many Cities Require It, But Central Ohio Officials Say Emergency-Room Diversion Plan Works
For nearly a quarter century, central Ohio hospitals and the Columbus Division of Fire have operated under a partnership that uses a protocol to ensure that critically ill patients receive hospital care quickly while trying to prevent individual emergency rooms from being overwhelmed. But other communities have moved away from the practice of diversion, citing concerns over patient safety. (Doyle, 9/1)

Pioneer Press: Departing Minnesota DHS Commissioner Says State Should Break Up The Agency
Minnesota’s interim Human Services commissioner is leaving the embattled agency with a parting recommendation: Split the department in two. In an email to staff members Friday, Acting Commissioner Pam Wheelock said the Department of Human Services should split off its health care system that deals with mental health, addiction and other treatment services from the agency’s other responsibilities, which range from licensing child-care providers to administering food stamps. The idea of splitting up the department isn’t new. The agency is the state’s largest, with a budget of nearly $18 billion and 7,200 employees. Its services reach more than 1 million Minnesotans. (Faircloth, 8/30)

The CT Mirror: Federal Ruling On Conditions Of Confinement Leaves State Unsure Of Next Step
A federal judge’s ruling earlier this week that the state is imprisoning former death row inmates under cruel and unusual conditions at Northern Correctional Institution could upend the way Connecticut treats prisoners who were originally sentenced to die. State officials would not say Thursday whether they intend to appeal the ruling by U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill. (Lyons, 8/30)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Grady May Become State's Largest Ambulance Service
To Grady executives, the effort is synonymous with its drive to provide quality healthcare to Georgians. ...But a growing chorus of critics wonder if Grady’s widening business strategy for EMS has it veering away from its charitable purpose. (Berard, 8/30)

Columbus Dispatch: More Than 3 Million Ohioans Lack Dental Insurance
For many Ohioans, dental care is nothing to smile at. More than 3 million Ohioans lack dental insurance, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Those without coverage are far less likely to see a dentist for regular preventive checkups or treatment of pain or other problems. (Henry, 9/1)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Opens New Tele-Intensive Care Unit Hub
Patients at hospitals throughout New England who are in need of intensive care can now turn to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Center for Connected Care’s Tele-Intensive Care Unit (TeleICU) Program. Located in a newly renovated, technologically innovative and dedicated space at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, the TeleICU hub is staffed with critical care nurses and board-certified physicians who have undergone advanced training in providing care for critically ill patients. (9/2)

WBUR: Mass. Weighs Bringing In Drug-Sniffing Dogs To Its Psychiatric Hospitals
The Worcester Recovery Hospital is one of six inpatient psychiatric hospitals overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. Built in 2012, it was created to provide state-of-the-art, individualized mental health care.Since 2016, Labonte's overdose was the fifth — and only fatal — overdose at WRCH. In response to his death, DMH imposed new security restrictions. (Becker, 8/30)

The CT Mirror: Whites In Midsize Cities Report Poor Health Compared To Counterparts In Urban Centers
A C-HIT analysis of the results from the recent DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey found that residents in a number of midsize, blue-collar cities reported lower health ratings than residents of the state’s largest cities. The results are likely influenced by economic status, upending the long-held belief that urban centers, with concentrations of poverty, have the lowest health ratings. (Farrish, 9/1)

The Inquirer: Hahnemann Bankruptcy Has A High-Stakes Showdown Set For Wednesday
A major showdown in the bankruptcy of Hahnemann University Hospital and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children is slated for Wednesday afternoon, when a judge in Wilmington will be asked to approve the sale of Hahnemann’s medical residency programs to a consortium of six Philadelphia-area health systems for $55 million. The unexpectedly high price is potentially a “game-changer” for the bankruptcy, Mark Minuti, the bankrupt hospitals’ lead attorney, with Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP, said in court on Aug. 19. The children’s hospital will be subject to a separate sale process this month. (Brubaker, 9/3)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Regent, Baltimore Lawyer Dies Of Cancer In The Middle Of Medical Malpractice Trial 
Katrina Dennis, a regent for the University System of Maryland, lawyer and prolific volunteer, has died after a battle with breast cancer that had led her to sue her doctor and the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center for malpractice. She was a week into what was expected to be a two-week civil trial in Baltimore County Circuit Court, but Dennis was hospitalized and unable to attend. Dennis was seeking about $24 million in damages, but the impact of her death is unclear. (Cohn, 9/1)

Kaiser Health News: Firing Doctor, Christian Hospital Sets Off National Challenge To Aid-In-Dying Laws
A Christian-run health system in Colorado has fired a veteran doctor who went to court to fight for the right of her patient to use the state’s medical aid-in-dying law, citing religious doctrine that describes “assisted suicide” as “intrinsically evil.” Centura Health Corp. this week abruptly terminated Dr. Barbara Morris, 65, a geriatrician with 40 years of experience, who had planned to help her patient, Cornelius “Neil” Mahoney, 64, end his life at his home. Mahoney, who has terminal cancer, is eligible to use the state’s law, overwhelmingly approved by Colorado voters in 2016. (Aleccia, 8/30)