State Highlights: Calif. Hospitals Could Cut Inpatient Costs 25%, Analysis Finds; CDC Investigating E. Coli Outbreak In Ore. And Wash.

Los Angeles Times: California Hospitals Could Cut Inpatient Costs 25% And Save $10 Billion, Study Says
California hospitals may be wasting $10 billion a year on excessive patient stays despite the state's reputation for tightly managed care, according to a new analysis of state data. The report finds that inpatient costs at 275 hospitals statewide could be reduced by 25%, yielding the $10 billion in savings among patients covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance. (Terhune, 11/5)

NPR: CDC Investigating As E. Coli Outbreak Linked To Chipotle Sickens 39
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is assisting the Washington State Department of Health and the Oregon Health Authority in investigating an outbreak of E.coli infections linked to Chipotle Mexican Grill. Thirty-nine people have been sickened with a strain of E. coli known as Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O26 (STEC O26) in Washington and Oregon. Fourteen people have been hospitalized in those two states. (Aubrey, 11/5)

WJCT: Hospital Officials Push Back On 'Gouging' Claims
Gov. Rick Scott talked Tuesday with Jacksonville residents who said they’ve been the victims of hospital price gouging, while Florida hospital officials are calling Scott’s framing of the issue irresponsible and inaccurate. Florida Hospital Association President Bruce Rueben said Scott’s proposal amounts to price-capping -- something he said won’t work in an ever-evolving health care landscape. (Benk, 11/4)

The Associated Press: Lung Cancer Patient Sues To Get Medical Marijuana ID Card
A New Hampshire woman with late-stage lung cancer filed a lawsuit against the state health commissioner Thursday in hopes of getting a medical marijuana identification card before dispensaries open. Under a state law passed more than two years ago, people suffering from a limited number of diseases and medical conditions can purchase marijuana with approval from their doctors. The Department of Health and Human Services started accepting applications this week from patients and their caregivers, but identification cards won't be issued until the Alternative Treatment Centers get authorization to start dispensing marijuana. (11/5)

The New York Times: Doctor In Sheldon Silver’s Corruption Trial Denies Improper Relationship
Prosecutors alleged that the legislator had “funneled half a million dollars of taxpayer money and other official benefits” to the doctor for his cancer research, and that Dr. Taub in turn steered patients with asbestos-related legal claims to the law firm, which shared its fees with Mr. Silver. Mr. Silver has pleaded not guilty to fraud, extortion and money laundering charges. (Craig and Weiser, 11/5)

The Wall Street Journal: In Sheldon Silver Trial, Testimony Turns To State Grants
Assemblyman Sheldon Silver and Robert Taub, the Columbia University oncologist at the center of one of the politician’s alleged schemes, were close enough that Mr. Silver would occasionally give Dr. Taub gifts such as handmade matzo, the physician testified on Thursday. But though the two “had a friendship,” Dr. Taub said he would keep referring his patients to the former Assembly speaker “because I may need him in the future—he is the most powerful man in New York State,” according to an email the physician sent his nurse in 2010. (Orden, 11/5)

News Service Of Florida: Workers Comp Rates To Drop 5.1 Percent
State regulators issued an order Tuesday that calls for overall workers-compensation insurance rates to drop by 5.1 percent next year. The Office of Insurance Regulation rejected a smaller 1.9 percent decrease proposed by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, which annually proposes rates for workers-compensation insurers. Regulators gave the council, known as NCCI, until Monday to make a new filing with the required changes. The lower rates are expected to take effect Jan. 1. (11/5)

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Painkiller Mix-Up At Butler Memorial Hospital Puts Patients In 'Immediate Jeopardy'
Staff at Butler Memorial Hospital placed patients in immediate jeopardy when they injected them with a narcotic seven times more powerful than the one prescribed by their doctors, according to a state Health Department report. Hospital officials said no patients were harmed as a result of the errors, which occurred between Aug. 24 and 31. (Roche, 11/4)

The Associated Press: Pennsylvania To Seek Stronger Child Immunization Regulations
The Pennsylvania departments of Health and Education say they'll seek changes to immunization regulations for school children that they say will better protect students from illness. The departments said Thursday that they would begin seeking regulatory approval to strengthen the current requirements. Those changes would include requiring students to receive their final dose within the first five school days, or at least show a health care provider's plan to complete a multi-dose immunization. (11/5)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Medical Device Critics Prevail In Clash With Renowned Hospital
A renowned Boston medical center was ordered by a judge Tuesday to stop imposing extraordinary security measures on a Bucks County cancer patient and her husband, who have been sharply critical of Brigham and Women's Hospital. The Massachusetts judge agreed with the couple, Amy Reed and Hooman Noorchashm, that the security was intended to intimidate them, and violated their right to free speech as well as the hospital's own policies. Reed, 42, an anesthesiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, and Noorchashm, 43, a cardiac surgeon at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, have led a highly effective national campaign to ban a gynecological surgical device that Brigham doctors used to perform her hysterectomy two years ago. The tissue-slicing device, an electric morcellator, spread her hidden uterine cancer - a danger that they have since publicized. (McCullough, 11/5)

Stateline: Some States Create Welcoming Environment For Surrogacy
Matt cried at the birth of his son a couple of weeks ago. His husband, Sylvain, was outwardly more composed, but no less transfixed as his newborn blinked his eyes at a bright, unfamiliar world. The woman who gave birth to the child was the calmest of the lot. A paid surrogate, she had had two fertilized eggs (from an egg donor) implanted in her uterus. All her responsibilities toward him ended at birth, while Matt and Sylvain, French nationals recently transplanted to New York City, dove into the deep end of parenting. That all this occurred in Oregon was not an accident. Although the state is home to far fewer surrogacy births than the much more populous California, it nonetheless has earned an outsized reputation as a place that welcomes surrogacy. (Ollove, 11/6)

Health News Florida: Emergency Situation Declared At Florida Women's Reception Center
An oversight board has declared a health care emergency at a Florida women’s prison, according to records obtained by WMFE. The Correctional Medical Authority’s did an audit of the Florida Women’s Reception Center in Ocala. Inspectors found cases including a diabetic prisoner didn’t get insulin for two to three months and an inmate with a golf ball sized lump was denied an MRI in July, and still hasn’t seen a surgeon. (Aboraya, 11/5)