State Highlights: Audit Of Colo. Insurance Exchange Still Finds Deficiencies; Indian Reservation Declares Public Emergency Over Opioid Crisis

Denver Post: Connect For Health Colorado Is Making Progress To Fix Accounting Troubles
Colorado’s health insurance exchange has made progress in addressing repeated accounting troubles but still fails to always follow its own policies when it comes to contracts and purchases, according to a state audit released Tuesday. The audit of the exchange, known as Connect for Health Colorado, found that 11 percent of payments analyzed — which came out to about $50,000 — did not have the proper documentation. The same was true for nearly $4 million in contract costs. In one instance, the audit found that Connect for Health’s general counsel signed off on a nearly $3 million database contract despite not having the authority to do so for contracts that big. (Ingold, 7/25)

The Star Tribune: Red Lake Indian Reservation Declares Public Health Emergency Over Drug Epidemic
A rampant heroin and opiate epidemic on the Red Lake Indian Reservation has prompted tribal leaders to declare a public health emergency, seek outside help in addressing the crisis and consider the extraordinary step of banishing tribal members involved in drug dealing. ... Overdoses on the northern Minnesota reservation have increased significantly in the past few months, tribal leaders said, adding that the problem has worsened with the arrival of more heroin and more of it laced with deadly fentanyl. (Smith, 7/26)

Los Angeles Times: Pasadena Officer Who Investigated Overdose Was Skeptical Of USC Med School Dean's Story, Recording Shows
The police officer who last year questioned the then-dean of USC’s medical school about his role in the drug overdose of a young woman expressed skepticism at Dr. Carmen Puliafito’s account, according to an audio recording that was made by the officer and released Tuesday. Puliafito told the officer he was at the Pasadena hotel room where the overdose occurred as a family friend to help the woman, who was later rushed to Huntington Memorial Hospital. (Elmahrek, Pringle, Parvini and Hamilton, 7/25)

Miami Herald: Jackson Health Proposes $1.9 Billion Spending Plan For 2018
Jackson Health System is counting on growth in its core operations — plus an estimated $442 million from Miami-Dade taxpayers — to break even on a proposed $1.9 billion spending plan for 2018 approved by hospital trustees on Tuesday. Salaries and benefits for Jackson’s 12,000 full-time employees, who will receive an average 2 percent pay raise next year, tops the hospital system’s list of expenses for next year at about $1.1 billion or 59 percent of the total. (Chang, 7/25)

The Star Tribune: Minneapolis Menthol Tobacco Sales Restriction Vote Delayed Until Aug. 2
Opponents of restricting menthol tobacco sales in Minneapolis claimed victory Tuesday after a City Council committee failed to vote on the ordinance and send it to the full council, though members will vote on the proposal Aug. 2. An already-depleted Health, Environment and Community Engagement Committee fell to three members and lost its quorum when Council Member Alondra Cano stepped out near the end of a lengthy public hearing, delaying the vote. (Belz, 7/25)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Doctor Grapples With State's High Rate Of Deaths In Childbirth
Twice as many United States women are dying in childbirth today as in 1990, even though all other wealthy nations have seen declines in maternal mortality rates. ...Dr. Shilpa Babbar, who specializes in high-risk pregnancies at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in St. Louis County, said that rising rates of obesity and women having children later in life may help explain these figures. (Bouscaren, 7/26)

Boston Globe: Children’s Hospital Expands Reach In Heart Treatment With Cleveland Clinic Collaboration
Boston Children’s Hospital plans to make complex heart treatment for children available to more patients through a new collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic, the hospitals announced Wednesday. In its latest move to grow out of state, Children’s will become a part of the Cleveland Clinic’s national network of cardiovascular care providers. (Feiner, 7/26)

Health News Florida: Nonprofit Group: HIV Infections Up In Florida
A nonprofit that serves Central Florida residents with HIV and AIDS says the rates are going up. ...[Joshua] Meyers said the Ryan White figures show 600 new HIV infections in Orlando last year, which made Orlando the city with the sixth highest infection rate in the country – up from No. 8. (Aboraya, 7/25)

KQED: California Decides All Drinking Water Must Be Tested For A Toxin. But Who Pays?
The State Water Resources Control Board on July 18 adopted the strictest possible standard (5 parts per trillion or less) for the contaminant in public drinking water. ...Statewide, the tap water of about a million Californians is known to contain TCP at levels higher than that, according to data from the state water board. (O'Neill, 7/25)

Minnesota Public Radio: Threats To Drinking Water Supplies Intensifying, Health Dept. Says
Minnesota's public drinking water supplies are in good shape, according the state's Department of Health, but a new report also warns agencies should remain prepared for that to change. ...Minnesota also needs to be prepared to address other pollution in the water supply, including nitrate contamination, which the report states is an ongoing concern for a several areas of the state. (Richert, 7/25)

The Star Tribune: Baby Deliveries To End At St. Joseph's Hospital In St. Paul
Facing changing demographics and a steep dropoff in demand, the state’s oldest hospital will discontinue maternity care this year. HealthEast Care System’s St. Joseph’s Hospital made the move because fewer women are choosing the St. Paul facility for their baby deliveries. Health system leaders announced the decision Tuesday, noting that women will still be admitted for maternity care through Sept. 7 and that babies will still be delivered until Sept. 10 at HealthEast’s flagship hospital — Minnesota’s first hospital when it was founded in 1853. (Olson, 7/25)

Texas Tribune: Texas Senate Approves Teacher Bonuses, Benefits — But Not Pay Raises
The Texas Senate on Tuesday approved legislation to give teachers bonuses and to improve retired teachers' health benefits — but only after the bill's author removed a controversial provision requiring school districts to cover the cost of teacher pay raises. The upper chamber voted 28-3 to give initial approval to Senate Bill 19, authored by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, which would borrow money from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to pay for $193 million in statewide teacher bonuses and inject $212 million into a faltering state-run health insurance program for retired teachers. (Swaby, 7/25)

Pioneer Press: St. Joseph's Hospital Plans To Close Maternity Ward
Minnesota’s oldest hospital will no longer be a destination to deliver babies. St. Joseph’s Hospital in downtown St. Paul will close its maternity ward Sept. 10, according to Fairview HealthEast, which operates the 164-year-old downtown hospital. The decision comes after HealthEast merged with Fairview Health Services earlier this year and is the result of mothers choosing to give birth in the suburbs, according to a Fairview HealthEast statement Tuesday. (Orrick, 7/25)

Kansas City Star: Kansas City Chatbot To Help Prescription Filling
A Kansas City team this week won an award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for developing a robotic chat app that could steer you to a place where that prescription won’t break your budget. Project Helix — a collaboration of KC Digital Drive and two consulting outfits — aimed to help patients navigate the dizzying worlds where prescriptions, pharmacy prices and often inscrutable insurance plans overlap. (Canon, 7/25)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin DNR Says Milwaukee Industrial Barrel Plants Broke Environmental Laws
Three Milwaukee-area industrial barrel refurbishing plants have been cited by state regulators for violating 19 environmental laws, including misrepresenting information and sending hazardous ash to a landfill not permitted to handle such waste. Inspectors found that the plants handled, stored and shipped hazardous waste without permits, failed to keep numerous required records, and continued to spew putrid odors over neighborhoods three years after similar smells were noted by inspectors. (Diedrich and Barrett, 7/25)