A Spotlight On Chemical Incidents, As Texas Leads List For Number This Year

Indianapolis Star: Truck Accidents Driving Increase In Hazmat Spills In Midwest
USA TODAY analyzed a decade's worth of data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration about the movement of hazardous chemicals across Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio. Here are the most important takeaways revealed in the data, as well how reporters evaluated the information. (Oung, 7/25)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Leads The Country In Chemical Incidents. Here’s How To Prepare
A chemical fire, explosion or toxic release occurs every two days in the U.S., according to data compiled by the Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters, a group of environmental justice organizations. At least 25 chemical incidents have occurred in Texas so far this year, the most of any state, according to the data, which is compiled from news, industry and government reports. Chemical incidents can impact the health of people living and working nearby. (Martinez and Douglas, 7/26)

AP: East Palestine Church Hosts Chemical Exposure Study In Wake Of Train Disaster
More than five months after a train carrying noxious chemicals derailed down the street from the hydraulic equipment supply store where he works, Tim Cumberlidge is still trying to find out exactly what he was exposed to. “It’s not been a good ordeal all around. You can’t get a straight answer,” said Cumberlidge, warehouse manager at Brushville Supply and Hardware. The cleanup workers in neon vests, visible from the store, are still blocking the street, a constant reminder of the accident and a significant hindrance, he said, for customers and business. (Post, 7/25)

In news from California —

AP: Covered California Health Insurance Premiums Will Go Up Next Year, But Many Consumers Won't Feel It
Monthly health insurance premiums for roughly 1.7 million people in California will go up an average of 9.6% next year — the largest increase in five years — but state officials said many consumers won’t feel those hikes because taxpayers will pay for them. The federal Affordable Care Act lets people who don’t get health insurance from their job buy coverage from a marketplace. Most states let the federal government run their marketplaces for them. But California runs its own marketplace called Covered California. (Beam, 7/26)

CBS News: SF COVID-19 Response Led To One Of Lowest Death Rates About U.S. Cities, Study Finds
San Francisco's response to the COVID-19 crisis resulted in one of the lowest coronavirus-related death tolls among U.S. metropolitan cities, a study has found. According to the study conducted by University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) researchers and the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH), the city implemented "one of the most intensive, inclusive and multi-pronged" COVID responses in the U.S., leading to one of the lowest fatality rates among U.S. cities across all ages and ethnicities. (7/25)

Los Angeles Times: The GOP And The NRA Want To Stop Gun Violence Research. California Is A Target
California is the epicenter of American gun violence research, largely because it maintains an extensive repository of firearms data and, unlike other states, has historically made much of the data available to scientists studying the root causes of gun deaths. A lawsuit brought by gun-rights activists now threatens that longstanding data infrastructure. And although the federal government began funding gun-violence research again in 2019, following a two-decades-long drought, that funding is under threat from House Republicans, who have vowed to kill it. (Tucker Smith, 7/25)

KFF Health News: Pain Clinic Chain To Pay $11.4M To Settle Medicare And Medicaid Fraud Claims
The owner of one of California’s largest chains of pain management clinics has agreed to pay nearly $11.4 million to California, Oregon, and the federal government to settle allegations of Medicare and Medicaid fraud. The U.S. Department of Justice and the states’ attorneys general say Francis Lagattuta, a physician, and his Lags Medical Centers performed — and billed for — medically unnecessary tests and procedures on thousands of patients over more than five years. It was “a brazen scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid of millions of dollars by inflicting unnecessary and painful procedures on patients whom they were supposed to be relieving of pain,” Phillip Talbert, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, said in a statement this month. (Thompson, 7/26)

On other developments across the country —

Chicago Tribune: Cook County Records Deadliest Year For Opioid Overdoses In 2022
Cook County recorded the deadliest year for opioid overdoses in 2022, according to the medical examiner’s office, a record that’s unsurprising to advocates and public health officials who said this signals a need for more harm reduction strategies. In 2022, there were 2,000 deaths, surpassing 1,935 deaths in 2021. The large majority of deaths involved fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. (La, 7/26)

Fox News: Tuberculosis At The Border: Doctors Issue Warnings Of ‘Drug-Resistant Strains’
Cases of tuberculosis (TB) — an illness that kills more people than any other infectious disease — rose in the U.S. during 2022, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And some doctors are concerned that limitations of testing at the border could be partly to blame for the surge. (Rudy and Siegel, 7/25)

Health News Florida: Tampa General Hospital Agrees To Purchase Three CHS Hospitals In Hernando And Citrus Counties
With the purchase of three hospitals from Bravera Health, Tampa General is expanding its “geographic footprint” into Hernando and Citrus counties. The agreement, estimated at $290 million, includes Bravera Health Brooksville, Bravera Health Spring Hill and Bravera Health Seven Rivers. The purchase, announced Tuesday, also includes clinics and outpatient services, according to Bravera’s parent company, Community Health Systems. (Mayer, 7/26)

Modern Healthcare: Community Health Systems To Sell 3 Florida Hospitals
Community Health Systems has agreed to sell three Florida hospitals to Tampa General Hospital in a deal valued at about $290 million, the for-profit system announced Monday. The transaction, which is expected to close later this year, includes Bravera Health Brooksville in Brooksville, Bravera Health Seven Rivers in Crystal River, and Bravera Health Spring Hill in Spring Hill. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. (Hudson, 7/25)

News Service of Florida: State Settles Class-Action Lawsuit Over Incontinence Supplies For Adults With Disabilities
The state Agency for Health Care Administration has reached a settlement in a class-action lawsuit that is expected to lead to the Medicaid program providing incontinence supplies to adults with disabilities, according to court documents. Lawyers for the state, two women with disabilities and the advocacy group Disability Rights Florida this past week asked a federal judge to approve the settlement and put the lawsuit on hold while the Agency for Health Care Administration moves forward with a rule-making process. (Saunders, 7/25)

The CT Mirror: What's Causing Baby, Toddler Deaths In CT? Report Offers Insights
A new report examining deaths of young children in Connecticut over the past several years found that babies and toddlers are dying of fentanyl overdoses — a new concern in the state — and that unsafe sleep deaths have remained an issue. (Monk, 7/25)

NPR: Ammon Bundy Ordered To Pay $50 Million. But Will The Hospital Ever See The Money?
A jury has ordered anti-government extremist Ammon Bundy and associates to pay more than $50 million in damages to Idaho's largest hospital in connection with armed protests last year that led to a security lockdown. (Siegler, 7/25)

Politico: Murphy Announces DOH Commissioner Pick To Replace Persichilli
Gov. Phil Murphy plans to nominate a physician from Cooper University Health Care to be the next commissioner of the Department of Health, his office announced Tuesday. The pending nomination of Kaitlan Baston follows the reported retirement of current Commissioner Judith Persichilli later this summer. Perischill oversaw the state health department starting in 2019 and during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. (Han, 7/25)