State Highlights: Calif. Gov. Signs Key Health Bills; New York Issues Updated, Emergency Guidance For Home Health Care Employers

California Healthline: Governor Inks Support For Some Key Health Bills, Nixes Others
Wielding his pen, Gov. Jerry Brown has reinforced the Affordable Care Act, stood up to pharmaceutical companies and boosted testing for childhood lead poisoning. Facing a Sunday deadline to approve or reject measures passed by the legislature this year, Brown weighed in on some key health care bills, including measures to protect Californians who buy insurance for themselves. (Bartolone and Ibarra, 10/16)

Modern Healthcare: New York Issues Emergency Regs On How It Pays Home Care Workers For 24-Hour Shifts
The state Department of Labor has issued an emergency update to its minimum-wage regulations that reinforces its longstanding guidance to home health care employers to pay workers for just 13 hours of a 24-hour shift. The policy, known as the '13-hour rule,' helps control state spending on home care, which accounts for about 11% of the Medicaid budget. But it conflicts with three New York appellate court decisions issued in April and September that threw the home care industry into a panic. The rulings said home health aides who don't live full time with their elderly or disabled clients should be paid for every hour of a 24-hour shift. (Lewis, 10/16)

The Oregonian: Oregon Voters Will Decide Whether To Overturn $340 Million In Health Care Taxes 
An effort to overturn part of Oregon's $550 million health care tax plan qualified for the ballot on Monday, which means voters will decide whether to keep the taxes in a Jan. 23 special election. State lawmakers passed the taxes earlier this year to raise money so they could balance the state's Medicaid budget and stabilize the individual insurance market. Oregon's health agency faced a budget gap due to reasons including the long-planned ramp down of federal support for states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. (Borrud, 10/16)

Austin American-Statesman: State Creates Mental Health Task Force For Harvey-Affected Schools
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath on Oct. 11 announced the establishment of the Hurricane Harvey Task Force on School Mental Health Supports to deliver needed attention to schools and higher education institutions impacted by the storm. (Sterling, 10/16)

The New York Times: On Health, De Blasio Focuses On Crises And Inequality
Four years ago, Bill de Blasio, then the city’s public advocate and a mere mayoral hopeful, took part in a rally in Midtown Manhattan to protest the imminent closing of Long Island College Hospital. Surrounded by dozens of singing and cheering hospital workers, he chanted “No Hospital, No Peace,” and helped block the entrance to the offices of the chancellor of the State University of New York. The police arrested Mr. de Blasio and charged him with disorderly conduct. (Santora, 10/16)

The Washington Post: A 2-Year-Old’s Kidney Transplant Was Put On Hold — After His Donor Father’s Probation Violation
A father in Georgia who had prepared to donate a kidney to his 2-year-old son said last week that he is being forced to wait after a recent stint in county jail. Anthony Dickerson's son, A.J., was born without kidneys, and Dickerson, who is a perfect match, was ready to donate one of his, he told NBC affiliate WXIA in Atlanta. He was arrested days before the planned transplant but released from Gwinnett County Jail this month to undergo surgery. Now, he said, the transplant center at Emory University Hospital has put it on hold — in a case that one expert called befuddling. (Bever, 10/16)

The CT Mirror: Malloy Counters With ‘Lean, No-Frills, No-Nonsense’ Budget
In a bid to end Connecticut’s budget stalemate and persuade legislators to abandon a legally questionable deferral of contributions to the state’s underfunded pension system, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy unveiled his fourth budget proposal for the new biennium Monday. It asks lawmakers to reduce tax increases by accepting deeper cuts to town aid, education and social services. (Phaneuf, Pazniokas and Rabe Thomas, 10/16)

Georgia Health News: An Alarming Trend: Premature Births Go Up In Georgia
Georgia’s preterm birth rate rose in 2016 after years of decrease, a disturbing trend that is mirrored by national data, state officials said Monday. Preterm birth is when a baby is born too early, before 37 weeks of pregnancy have been completed. It’s also called premature birth. (Miller, 10/16)

The Washington Post: Puerto Rican Families Draw Water From Superfund Site
Every 10 minutes or so, a truck or a van pulled up to the exposed spigot of an overgrown well, known as Maguayo #4, that sits not far from a bustling expressway and around the corner from a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop. Fencing around the area had been torn open, and a red and white “Peligro” sign, warning of danger, lay hidden beneath debris and dense vegetation. One after another, people attached a hose to draw water for bathing, washing dishes and, in some cases, drinking. They filled buckets, jugs, soda bottles. (Hernandez and Dennis, 10/16)

Kaiser Health News: On Back Roads Of Appalachia’s Coal Country, Mental Health Services Are As Rare As Jobs
Every other month, Tanya Nelson travels 32 miles from the heart of Appalachia’s coal country for an appointment with the nearest psychiatrist for therapy and to renew prescriptions. But the commute, which should take less than an hour through the winding mountain roads of southern West Virginia, consumes her entire day. Nelson, 29, needs treatment for bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety. But she does not drive, so she must use a van service to keep her appointments. It makes numerous stops along the highway, picking up other travelers, and usually doesn’t return to her home in New Richmond, W.Va., until day’s end. (Connor, 10/17)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: BioEnterprise To Oversee Struggling Global Center For Health Innovation
BioEnterprise, which promotes and nutures healthcare companies and bioscience technologies, will oversee marketing, promotion and tenants at the struggling Global Center for Health Innovation. The nonprofit company was retained Monday by the Cuyahoga County Convention Facilities Development Corp., the nonprofit organization that oversees the Huntington Convention Center and Global Center. (Farkas, 10/16)

Reuters: U.S. Nursing Home Chain Faces Landlord Showdown Over Default
The fate of one of the largest U.S. nursing home operators, HCR ManorCare, will reach a critical court deadline on Thursday in a battle over months of unpaid rent, a growing problem in an industry where eviction would put thousands of elderly out on the street. Many nursing home chains spun off their properties to real estate companies over the last decade to unlock value. Now those landlords need to deal with operators behind on their rent without harming thousands of elderly residents. (Rucinski, 10/16)

Orlando Sentinel/Tampa Bay Tribune: Proposed Bills Would Require Alarms In Day-Care Center Vans To Prevent Child Deaths
wo Democratic state lawmakers on Monday unveiled bills they say would save the lives of children by requiring alarms in vehicles used by day-care centers and large family child-care homes. (Harris, 10/16)