Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Calif. Vaccine Law Opponents File Petitions To Repeal It; D.C. Mayor Wants To Enlist Private Ambulances To Improve Response Times
The San Jose Mercury News: California Vaccine Law Opponents Submit Petitions To Repeal The Legislation
With a deadline looming, opponents of a new law requiring vaccines for most schoolchildren delivered petitions on Monday signed by thousands of people to county registrars across the state -- an important step in a campaign to repeal the legislation. Senate Bill 277 is loathed by a segment of California parents who believe some vaccines are unsafe for some children. State Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, introduced the bill earlier this year to boost vaccination rates in pockets of the state where he believes too few children are protected from infectious diseases. (Calefati, 9/28)
Los Angeles Times: Foes Of California Vaccine Law File Petitions For Referendum
Opponents of California’s tough new vaccine law filed petitions Monday seeking to put a referendum on the issue on the November 2016 ballot, but it may be a month before elections officials determine whether the ballot measure qualifies. Former Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, who led the largely volunteer effort, issued a statement saying he hopes the law "will go down in infamy," added that the referendum effort was "sabotaged," but did not disclose how many signatures were being turned in by today's deadline. (McGreevy, 9/28)
The Washington Post: D.C. Mayor Wants To Use Private Ambulances To Improve 911 Response
D.C. . Mayor Muriel E. Bowser will propose using private ambulances to transport non-serious patients to hospitals, a change that comes after instances in which no city ambulances were available in life-or-death situations. (Davis and Williams, 9/28)
The Chicago Tribune: Legislation Aims To Improve Access To Care For Mentally Ill Children
New legislation signed recently by Gov. Bruce Rauner aims to give severely mentally ill children better access to residential treatment and intensive community services. The measure moves the Individual Care Grant program — the main funding source for families struggling to afford treatment — from the Department of Human Services to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which should create more flexibility and efficiency, lawmakers said. (Miller Rubin, 9/28)
WBUR: Mass. Doctors Join To Vent Frustrations With Electronic Health Records
“Imagine,” said Dr. Steven J. Stack, president of the American Medical Association. “In a world where a 2-year-old can operate an iPhone, you have graduate-educated physicians brought to their knees by electronic health records.” Has anyone ever summed up better the monumental frustrations that many doctors encounter when grappling with electronic medical records? (Goldberg, 9/28)
The Wall Street Journal: NYC Investigates New Outbreak Of Legionnaires’ Disease
New York City health officials are investigating seven cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the Bronx, about two months after an outbreak of the same type of pneumonia killed 12 people in the borough and sickened more than 100. The new cluster is associated with the Morris Park section of the Bronx, and is unrelated to the earlier outbreak, which was centered in the South Bronx, city officials said Monday. (Gay, 9/28)
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Feds Award Minnesota Hospitals $2.5 Million To Continue Patient Safety Training
The trade group for hospitals in Minnesota has won more federal funding for programs that are designed to prevent patients from suffering harm during hospital stays. Last week, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced $110 million in funding to 17 national, regional or state hospital associations and health systems for what are called “Hospital Engagement Networks,” which work to improve patient safety. (Snowbeck, 9/28)
KQED: Mexican Indigenous Immigrants’ Dire Need For Medical Interpreters
Imagine you are rushed to the hospital as pain radiates through your chest. Doctors whirl around you, but you don’t know what’s happening because everyone is speaking a foreign language. That’s what happened to farmworker Angelina Diaz-Ramirez, 50, after she had a heart attack in a Monterey County green bean field in 2012. (Raff, 9/28)
Pioneer Press/The Chicago Tribune: NorthShore To Become 'Official Health Care Partner' Of Highland Park High School
Township High School District 113 has agreed to allow NorthShore University HealthSystems to refer to itself as an "official health care partner" of the Highland Park High School athletics program and use school logos for promotional purposes. The school's booster organization, the Giants Club, has been negotiating a new sponsorship agreement with the health care network, which includes Highland Park Hospital, that would increase NorthShore's involvement with the athletic program for a two-year term in exchange for a financial contribution. (Berkowitz, 9/28)
Los Angeles Times: Mitch Katz Poised To Lead L.A. County's Consolidated Healthcare Agency
Amid a major reorganization of Los Angeles County's healthcare bureaucracy, physician and administrator Mitch Katz is poised to become arguably the most powerful nonelected official in the nation's largest local government. Katz currently heads the Department of Health Services, a system of county hospitals and clinics with 20,000 employees and an operating budget of $4.8 billion. Now, over the objections of a vocal group of critics, county supervisors appear prepared to place him atop a significantly larger agency that will consolidate his department with separate county mental health and public health operations. The new super health agency would account for nearly a third of the county's $27-billion budget. (Sewell, 9/29)
Kansas Health Institute: Role Of Government At Center Of Sedgwick County Health Funding Debate
The debate over the size and role of government isn’t just polarizing national politics. It is also at the center of a dispute in Sedgwick County over public health funding. (McClean, 9/28)
Los Angeles Times: Ex-Inmates Want L.A. County To Stop Dumping Mentally Ill Inmates On Skid Row
A group of former Los Angeles County jail inmates said Monday that a recent legal settlement between the Sheriff's Department and federal authorities will perpetuate the cycle of people with untreated mental illness bouncing back and forth between jail and skid row. The former inmates are seeking changes in the settlement that was reached this year as part of an effort to end abuse of inmates by sheriff's deputies and to improve chronically poor treatment of mentally ill inmates. (Sewell and Change, 9/28)
