State Highlights: Calif. Regulators To Hold Hearing On Care1st Acquisition; Conn. Gov. Signs Medical Malpractice Caps Into Law

Los Angeles Times: Blue Shield's $1.25-Billion Deal For Care1st Faces More State Scrutiny
Bowing to demands from consumer advocates, state regulators will hold a hearing next month on Blue Shield of California's proposed acquisition of Medicaid insurer Care1st for $1.25 billion. The California Department of Managed Health Care said both companies will explain their rationale for the deal at the June 8 hearing in Sacramento. The public will also have a chance to chime in. (Terhune, 5/7)

St. Louis Public Radio: Caps On Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Signed Into Law
Limits on monetary damages in medical malpractice lawsuits have been reinstated in Missouri. Gov. Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill 239 into law Thursday at SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital in Jefferson City. The state's Supreme Court overturned the previous limits three years ago. Since 2005 they had been at $350,000. (Howze, 5/7)

Reuters: D.C. Circuit Weighs Fate Of Home Health Worker Wage Rules
A federal appeals court on Thursday heard arguments over whether to revive a Department of Labor regulation that would grant nearly 2 million home-care workers minimum wage and overtime protection, but was struck down in December just weeks before it was to take effect. The arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit before Circuit Judges Thomas Griffith, Sri Srinivasan and Cornelia Pillard, focused on whether Congress intended to include employees of home-health agencies in a 1974 amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act that exempted workers who provide "companionship services" from the law's wage standards. (Pierson, 5/8)

Columbus Dispatch: State Reaches Settlement With Some Medicaid Recipients
More than 200,000 low-income Ohioans have been removed from Medicaid rolls since Jan. 1 through an annual process to determine whether they remained eligible for tax-funded health-care benefits. That’s more than a third of the Medicaid beneficiaries who underwent so-called redetermination in January, February and March, the most-recent statistics available. A soon-to-be disclosed legal settlement could reduce those numbers. (Candisky, 5/7)

Connecticut Mirror: House Votes To Tighten Religious Exemptions On Vaccines
Inspired by the California measles outbreak, the Connecticut House voted 86 to 56 Thursday to require parents to annually declare if they are refusing to vaccinate their children on religious grounds. (Pazniokas, 5/7)

California Healthline: Drug Price Transparency Bill Shelved in California, Push Continues
Drugmakers won skirmishes in California and Oregon last month, but the fight against high prices for specialty drugs appears to be spreading to other states, as well as the national theater. (Lauer, 5/7)

The Denver Post: Digital Health Startups To Mix With Health Providers
Forget accelerators and incubators. The Prime Health Collaborative, a casual group of Coloradans interested in digital health care, wants to become the nation's first digital-health integrator. The organization, which started as a Meetup group in 2012, focuses on growing Colorado digital-health startups, which, by its count, jumped to 120 from 20 in three years. But helping these startups requires more than a monthly meeting. (Chuang, 5/7)

Minnesota Public Radio: Budget Deal Rests On Health And Human Services Spending
With 10 days left in the 2015 session, Gov. Mark Dayton, House Republicans and Senate Democrats have some major differences to resolve. After more closed-door meetings Thursday to try to reach a compromise on a new two-year state budget, they remain far apart in their approaches to many big spending areas, especially health and human services, House Speaker Kurt Daudt said. (Pugmire, 5/7)

Reuters: San Bernardino To Slash Retiree Health Care In Bankruptcy Plan
The southern California city of San Bernardino has proposed virtually eliminating retiree health insurance costs under a bankruptcy exit plan it must produce by May 31, according to an attorney involved in negotiations with city officials. Steven Katzman, who represents a committee of retirees in talks with the bankrupt city, says a tentative deal has been struck under which retirees would sacrifice the city subsidies they currently receive for health care coverage in exchange for a guarantee that San Bernardino continues to fund and not cut current pension benefits. (Reid, 5/7)

The Associated Press: Hawaii Legislature Approves Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
The Hawaii Legislature has approved a plan to create a system of medical marijuana dispensaries 15 years after the drug was legalized in the state. The development could provide relief to the state's 13,000 patients who have been left to grow their own marijuana or buy it on the black market. (Bussewitz, 5/7)

Los Angeles Times: California Men Charged As Ringleaders Of Nationwide Prescription Drug Plot
Thirty-three people have been indicted in a wide-ranging scam to sell more than $150 million in illegal pharmaceuticals in California and several other states, federal prosecutors in San Francisco announced Thursday. Officials said Ara Karapedyan, 45; Mihran Stepanyan, 29; and Artur Stepanyan, 38, were central to the conspiracy, which involved the selling illegally obtained drugs to a Minnesota company that sold the drugs wholesale. (Queally, 5/7)

Kaiser Health News: Staffing An Intensive Care Unit From Miles Away Has Advantages
Carolinas HealthCare System monitors ICUs in 10 of its hospitals from this command center near Charlotte. The command center is staffed 24-7 with a rotating crew of seven to nine nurses and doctors who specialize in critical care. Everyone on the team also does bedside shifts. Carolinas HealthCare started this project about two years ago and says it’s good for staff and patients. (Tomsic, 5/8)