Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
San Francisco To Start New Court Process For Unhoused People With Mental Illness
Axios San Francisco: San Francisco To Roll Out Newsom's Mental Illness Court Next Week
Starting in October, San Francisco will implement a new civil court process aimed at helping people with untreated schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders get off of the streets. CARE court — the result of legislation championed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom — will allow first responders, family members, behavioral health providers and others to directly petition the court for behavioral health services. (Chen, 9/28)
Modesto Bee: CARE Court Program Will Begin Monday In Stanislaus County
Starting Monday, a program including Stanislaus County and the Superior Court will try to assist people who aren’t getting treated for severe mental illness. Stanislaus is one of seven counties in the state’s CARE Court pilot program aiming to get people with untreated mental disorders off the streets and into housing and treatment. Many of these adults are not sheltered and exhibit behavior that could lead to injury or incarceration. (Carlson, 9/28)
AP: Los Angeles City And County To Spend Billions To Help Homeless People Under Lawsuit Settlement
Los Angeles County and city will spend billions of dollars to provide more housing and support services for homeless people under a lawsuit settlement approved Thursday by a federal judge. The county ends more than two years of court battles over LA’s response to the homelessness crisis by agreeing to provide an additional 3,000 beds by the end of 2026 for people with mental health and drug abuse issues. (Jablon, 9/29)
Axios: Blue Cities Question Their Embrace Of Progressive Drug Measures
Blue cities that have taken the most progressive — and often controversial — steps to tackle the nation's drug crisis are beginning to question those strategies amid rising political backlash. Public health experts emphasize policies that prioritize saving the lives of drug users — like so-called safe injection sites — but the worsening fentanyl problem is testing the patience of even the seemingly most tolerant cities. (Owens, 9/29)
In other news from across the states —
AP: Houston Creates $5M Relocation Fund For People Near Polluted Rail Yard
Houston officials on Wednesday approved $5 million for a fund to help relocate residents from neighborhoods located near a rail yard polluted by a wood preservative that has been blamed for an increase in cancer cases. (9/28)
Houston Chronicle: Concrete Plant Near LBJ Hospital May Endanger Patients, Officials Say
Houston community leaders are pushing back against a company’s effort to build a concrete crushing plant across the street from Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, just as the Harris Health System prepares for a possible expansion of the LBJ hospital campus. ... In a statement, Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, Harris Health’s CEO and president, said the hospital already treats many patients with conditions associated with exposure to pollutants from concrete plants. “Further contributing to the pollution in the vicinity will exacerbate these conditions,” he said. (Gill, 9/28)
The New York Times: Vulnerable New Yorkers Suffer As Some Services Decline Under Mayor Adams
The city’s eight sexual health clinics saw nearly 95,000 annual visits before the pandemic; that number has dropped to nearly 62,000 over the last year, according to data from the Health Department. Only five of the clinics offered sexual health services, and a sixth reopened in July. As for tuberculosis — a highly infectious disease that has higher rates in some other countries from which people emigrate to New York — one of the city’s four clinics, in Washington Heights, closed as part of the pandemic response and has not reopened. (Rubinstein and Fitzsimmons, 9/29)
The Washington Post: Sixth Circuit Ban Trans Youth Health Care In Kentucky And Tennessee
After a very active legislative session in which more than a dozen states passed restrictions on gender-affirming care, many of the laws are now being challenged in court as unconstitutional. Federal courts have started to weigh in, offering conflicting decisions. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit is the latest of these. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit issued a ruling Thursday evening that allowed Tennessee and Kentucky to enforce laws banning gender-affirming medical care for minors, such as puberty blockers and hormones. (Javaid, 9/28)
Axios Des Moines: Iowa Ranked 12th Most Obese State In 2022
Around 37.4% of Iowa adults were considered obese in 2022 — up from 36.4% the previous year, according to a report by non-partisan health advocacy group Trust for America's Health. Iowa's obesity rates have trended upward for the last decade and underscore a host of complicated issues, such as eating and sleep patterns, lack of activity, genetics and environmental factors. (Ta, 9/28)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Wills Eye Hospital To Provide Free Vision Care To Children Ages 6 To 17
Wills Eye Hospital will once again offer free vision care and screenings for Philadelphia-area children at its annual “Give Kids Sight Day,” slated for Saturday, Oct. 7, at its Walnut Street location in Center City, from 8 a.m. to noon. The event is geared toward helping uninsured or underinsured children, ages 6 to 17, gain access to vision care. Children will get an eye exam and an eyeglasses prescription, along with two free glasses frames. (Ruderman, 9/29)
The CT Mirror: Yale Cites 'Mounting Concerns' About Prospect Hospital Deal
Yale New Haven Health officials acknowledged Thursday for the first time they have growing concerns about the completion of a deal to buy Waterbury, Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals and said the acquisition is “more at risk” as time passes without approval from the state. The three hospitals are owned by Prospect Medical Holdings. (Carlesso and Altimari, 9/28)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: SSM Building Children's Hospital To Replace Cardinal Glennon
SSM Health is building a new, 14-story pediatric hospital to eventually replace Cardinal Glennon, officials announced on Thursday. They said the new building, planned just north of St. Louis University Hospital at Chouteau Avenue and South Grand Boulevard, will be better suited for the more complex — and often, larger — equipment that hospitals now use in pediatric care. (Merrilees, 9/28)
St. Louis Public Radio: Cardinal Glennon To Build New Children's Hospital In St. Louis
SSM Health and Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital on Thursday announced plans to build a new hospital in St. Louis at the corner of Grand Boulevard and Chouteau Avenue. Officials say the new hospital will be better equipped to meet the increasing demand for specialized pediatric treatments for newborns, children and teenagers in the region. (Fentem, 9/28)
Minnesota Public Radio: New Ulm Medical Center To Close Its 10 Bed Residential Addiction Services Unit
New Ulm Medical Center is planning to close its 10 bed residential addiction services unit. In an email statement on Thursday Allina Health said it made the decision to move away from the hospital-based residential addiction service to a new partial hospitalization and day treatment program. (Yang, 9/28)
Also —
KFF Health News: These Appalachia Hospitals Made Big Promises To Gain A Monopoly. They’re Failing To Deliver
Five years ago, rival hospital companies in this blue-collar corner of Appalachia made a deal. If state lawmakers let them merge, leaving no competitors, the hospitals promised not to gouge prices or cut corners. They agreed to dozens of quality-of-care conditions, spelled out with benchmarks, and to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in charity care to patients in need. (Kelman and Liss, 9/29)
KFF Health News: She Received Chemo In Two States. Why Did It Cost So Much More In Alaska?
Emily Gebel was trying to figure out why she was having trouble breastfeeding. That’s when she felt a lump. Gebel, a mother of two, went to her primary care doctor in Juneau, Alaska, who referred her for testing, she said. Her 9-month-old was asleep in her arms when she got the results. (Zionts, 9/29)
