State Highlights: Dallas’ Historic Parkland Hospital Moves To New Facility; N.Y.C. Officially Declares An End To Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak

The Associated Press: Dallas Hospital With Link To JFK Moves To New $1.3B Building
About 600 patients were moved Thursday into a new $1.3 billion hospital in Dallas that replaces an aging facility memorialized in U.S. history as the place John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead after his assassination. Some 1,700 staff members and volunteers participated in the move across the street from the old Parkland Memorial Hospital into its new 17-story embodiment, which features about $80 million worth of digital technology and a lobby with a display commemorating the 35th president. (Warren, 8/20)

WFAA: Parkland's Staff Bids Farewell To Old Hospital
Parkland Memorial Hospital nurses and doctors were snapping photos outside the emergency room on Wednesday. "It holds a lot of special memories for me," said nurse Ashley Mildy. The ER that became a worldwide focal point in 1963 after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated is closing its doors on Thursday morning. "There were a lot of touching, healing moments that I can't put a value on," said Jennifer McLellan, another nurse. "When you walk through, you remember those moments and carry them with you forever." (Lopez, 8/20)

The Wall Street Journal: N.Y.C. Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak Over, City Says
New York City’s Legionnaires’ disease outbreak is officially over, health officials said on Thursday, confirming that the Opera House Hotel in the South Bronx was its source. The outbreak, which officials called the worst for Legionnaires’ in the city’s history, killed 12 people and sickened 128 since early July. No new illnesses have been identified since Aug. 3, longer than the disease’s two-week incubation period. (Ramey and MacMillan, 8/20)

North Carolina Health News: Bill Would Require Health Assessments For All New N.C. Public School Kids
Parents sending their kids to North Carolina public schools for the first time this August will face slightly different health assessment and vaccine regulations. Previously, North Carolina required health assessments for kids entering kindergarten, but those entering the public school system at any other grade were exempt. (Herzog, 8/20)

The Associated Press: UCare Asks Judge To Halt Impending Public Program Signups
The health insurance company UCare has asked a Minnesota judge to halt the state’s upcoming sign-up period for public health insurance programs as the coverage provider fights a decision eliminating it from the menu of options. In a Ramsey County lawsuit filed Wednesday, UCare seeks an injunction delaying 2016 enrollments due to start in early September and asks for the right to negotiate new contracts with the state. The company alleges that the state arbitrarily cut it out during a bidding process for those contracts and failed to follow the wishes of dozens of counties which recommended contracting with UCare. (Baskt, 8/20)

The Texas Tribune: In Wealthy Zip Codes, Freestanding ERs Find A Home
Five years after Texas became the first state to permit freestanding emergency rooms, more than 160 of the facilities have set up shop around the state — a presence that suburban commuters and health insurers alike are finding impossible to ignore. Health care experts say the financial success of the freestanding facilities — and the growing bargaining power that comes with it — is leading health insurers to arrange for more of the emergency rooms to be in a patient’s network. That could mean better deals for the Texans who rely on the facilities for quick access to emergency care, mostly in wealthier, suburban neighborhoods. (Walters and Lin, 8/21)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Camden Diocese To Sell Nursing Homes For $40M
The Diocese of Camden announced Thursday that it had reached a $40 million agreement to sell its four nursing and elder-care facilities. It would end more than six decades of hands-on care by the diocese. The diocese put the facilities up for sale in August 2014, saying it could no longer afford to maintain them. Losses, partly due to the way the government compensates nursing-home services, have reached $8 million, officials say. (Burney, 8/21)

Health News Florida: Budget Veto Forces Free Clinics To Adjust
The St. Petersburg Free Clinic is one of 87 programs participating in the Florida Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. Last year, when the group received $4.5 million from the state budget, the clinics served 125,000 uninsured Floridians. The state money bought new equipment, expanded services and allowed some of the clinics to hire additional staff. This year, clinic leaders said they expected double that amount. A total of $9.5 million passed both the House and Senate, for the fiscal year that started July 1. But Governor Rick Scott vetoed the line item a week before the budget went into effect. The clinics got nothing. (Miller, 8/20)

The Washington Post: They’ve Overdosed, Or Seen Other People Die. Now They’re Learning To Save Victims’ Lives.
Baltimore City Adult Drug Treatment Court is the first court in Maryland to teach drug offenders how to save someone suffering from an overdose of heroin, oxycodone, hydrocodone or similar substances. As the number of deaths from opioid overdoses swells locally and nationwide, the demonstration was part of growing number of public health efforts to get naloxone — also known as Narcan — to those best positioned to save lives. (Bui, 8/20)

FOXCT: Greenwich Couple Battles Cancer After Losing Coverage From New State Law
In June, Denise El-Tayyeb says she was faced with the unbearable task of telling her husband that he had stage-three gastrointestinal cancer. A few weeks later, Denise and her husband Akram were dealt another blow. They received a letter, dated July 17, stating that their Husky A health coverage would be terminated starting in August 2016. The letter was the result of a new Connecticut law lowering the income limit for Husky, Connecticut’s version of Medicaid, from 201 percent of the federal poverty level to 155 percent. The law was passed as part of the state’s new budget in an effort to save Connecticut money during a significant shortfall. It did not eliminate coverage for children and pregnant women. (Moller, 8/20)

The New York Times: Nail Salon Sweeps Continue As Violations Are Found In Queens
This was a sweep. But this was not a guns-blazing drama unfolding off Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens. This was a meticulous fact-finding mission through an empty salon that left Mr. Tran with a list of health and safety violations to fix in his tired-looking shop. (Robbins, 8/20)