State Highlights: Despite Outcry, Texas Stands Firm On Fetal Remains Rule; Union Calls On N.J. AG To Force Resale Of Prime Hospitals

Texas Tribune: Texas Not Budging On Rule Requiring Burial Or Cremation Of Fetal Remains
Despite intense outcry from the medical community, reproductive rights advocates and funeral directors, Texas isn't budging on a proposed rule to require the cremation or burial of fetal remains. Following an initial public comment period that sparked medical concerns and a legal threat, Texas health officials have re-submitted for public consideration a proposed rule change that prohibits hospitals, abortion clinics and other health care facilities from disposing of fetal remains in sanitary landfills, instead allowing only cremation or interment of all remains regardless of the period of gestation — even in instances of miscarriages. (Ura, 9/22)

Modern Healthcare: SEIU Urges N.J. Attorney General To Force The Sale Of Five Prime Hospitals
The powerful Service Employees International Union is urging the attorney general of New Jersey to force the sale of five Prime Healthcare Services' hospitals in response to a federal lawsuit against the hospital chain alleging it fraudulently billed Medicare beneficiaries. SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West sent a letter Thursday to New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino calling on him to use his authority to force the resale of Prime's five hospitals in the state in order to protect “their charitable assets and protect the quality and accessibility” of services as the system faces a lawsuit that could potentially affect its Medicare participation, according to a news release. (Castellucci, 9/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Diagnostic Laboratory Executives Accused Of Fraud
Executives who ran Health Diagnostic Laboratory Inc., a bankrupt Virginia blood-testing lab that health regulators accused of paying kickbacks to doctors, have been sued for allegedly carrying out illegal business practices that plaintiffs say caused the company more than $600 million in damages. Health Diagnostic Laboratory’s top leaders “continuously violated the law” and paid themselves millions through “self-dealing and improper transactions” that prompted the company to file for bankruptcy in June 2015, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Va. (Stech, 9/22)

Dallas Morning News: Is Key Critic's Flip-Flop A Sign That Telehealth Can Now Take Off In Texas? 
The executive director of a Texas organization that has been leading the fight to limit telemedicine services in the state will be leaving next month to direct the telehealth program at an academic medical school. Mari Robinson will be departing the Texas Medical Board to join the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, the Texas Tribune reported Wednesday.  Her role will be temporarily filled by Scott Freshour, the board's general counsel. Telehealth, also referred to as telemedicine, is a service that allows patients to connect with doctors and other health care providers through smartphones, computers and other devices. Patients can sometimes provide photos or videos to supplement their descriptions. (Rice, 9/22)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: UnitedHealthcare Adds Nemours To Network
UnitedHealthcare has added Nemours Children's Health Network to its insurance network for families in individual and employer-sponsored plans, but not for those in Medicaid plans, the two organizations said Thursday. The new contract, covering Nemours facilities and physicians in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, takes effect Oct. 1. UnitedHealthcare, the nation's largest health insurer, said it covers 240,000 people in Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania through employer-sponsored and individual plans. Its network has 12 hospitals and more than 5,000 physicians and other care providers, United said. (Brubaker, 9/22)

The Star Tribune: Mental Illness In Hennepin Jail Far Higher Than Previous Estimates, New Study Finds 
More than half of all inmates in the Hennepin County jail suffer from a mental illness of some kind — far more than previously thought — and they are more likely to reoffend than other inmates, according to a detailed new jail study. The findings, based on a one-day survey of 680 inmates, are likely to buttress ambitious new efforts by the county to break the pattern of offenders with mental health problems cycling in and out of courts and jails without receiving adequate treatment. (Serres, 9/22)

Miami Herald: FIU Mobile Mammogram Unit Offers Free Screenings To Needy Women
Launched in November 2014 by the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University, the mobile mammogram unit is funded by the Braman Family Foundation. It’s named after Norman Braman’s sister-in-law, Linda Fenner, who died of breast cancer in 2005 at age 54. Since its inception, the center has served nearly 1,400 women and diagnosed 12 breast cancer cases. Eight of these cases were detected in the early stages. (Horton, 9/22)

Health News Florida: State Wins Lawsuit In Placement Of Kids In Nursing Homes
U.S. District Judge William Zloch  issued a 28-page ruling that said the Justice Department did not have legal standing to file the lawsuit under part of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under that part of the law, Zloch wrote, such cases can only be filed by a “person alleging discrimination,” which doesn't apply to the Justice Department. The Justice Department filed the lawsuit in 2013 amid a controversy about whether the state Medicaid program had improperly placed medically fragile children in nursing homes instead of providing community-based services. (9/22)

Columbus Dispatch: Advocates For Disabled Sue To Gain Access To Juvenile Detention Facility
Disability Rights Ohio filed a federal lawsuit today charging that the Multi-County Juvenile Detention Center in Lancaster violated state and federal law by repeatedly refusing advocates access to incarcerated juveniles.The agency, which provides protection and advocacy services for people with disabilities, said its employees were refused access to inmates by the juvenile facility, which serves Fairfield, Hocking, Licking and Perry counties. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Columbus against the detention center and Dana C. Moore, the superintendent. (Johnson, 9/22)

The CT Mirror: Connecticut Has Baby Bust, Slow Growth And Aging Population
Connecticut women are having fewer children than those in most other states, its population continues to age, and growth is lagging. Those are some of the findings in the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest American Community Survey, which provides demographic estimates between the decennial counts of the nation’s population. The census bureau said that in 2015 Connecticut women ranked 49th in fertility among the states and the District of Columbia. (Albert, 9/23)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Randalls Store Works With Quest To Provide Medical Tests 
Through a partnership between national medical firm Quest Diagnostics and Albertsons Cos. -- Randalls' parent company -- Quest has built a patient service center near the grocery store's pharmacy at 3131 W. Holcombe Blvd. The service center is one of 12 such centers opened nationwide as part of a pilot that Quest is testing in four markets in the U.S., including Houston, said Chris Grant, director of national patient services for Quest. The centers have been running since Sept. 1 and Grant said that feedback has been positive. (Smith, 9/22)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Pa. Court Overturns Gov. Wolf's Home Care Order
In a 4 to 1 decision, Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania said Gov. Wolf exceeded his authority with a Feb. 2015 executive order that allowed  the establishment of an intermediary between certain home aids paid under a Medicaid waiver and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. ... Critics of the order said the move amounted to forced unionization. The selected intermediary, United Home Care Workers of Pennsylvania, is a joint venture of two union,  Service Employees International Union and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. (Brubaker, 9/22)

Columbus Dispatch: Diarrheal Disease Outbreak Grows To Nearly 800 Cases
After grueling months of skyrocketing numbers, a highly contagious diarrheal disease outbreak in central Ohio could soon taper off, health officials say. The number of diagnosed cryptosporidiosis cases in Franklin and Delaware counties reached 792 as of Thursday, based on recent figures from public health officials. That number, which increased by about one-third over the past two weeks, has continued to climb since the outbreak was first detected in late July. (Widman Neese, 9/22)

Cleveland Plain-Dealer: Teens Take Aim At Lead Poisoning Crisis With 'Forgotten Homes' Track
"Forgotten Homes" is one track from a soon-to-be released CD called "Drop the Lead" created by student interns with Fresh Camp, a non-profit that teaches youth to create music and socially-messaged shirts that amplify their voices and ideas. The effort explores the roots and intersections of two persistent Cleveland problems – lead poisoning and gun violence. (Dissell, 9/22)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Cell Therapy Brings Hope For Quadriplegics
Today, [Lucas] Lindner is one of a small group of recent quadriplegics who have shown improvement in the weeks after receiving the treatment. He regained movement in his fingers and arms. Then, his big toes. "Things started changing,” he said. Whether the progress continues, whether it can definitively be attributed to the treatment and whether it becomes a breakthrough therapy remains to be seen. (Fauber, 9/22)

Health News Florida: The Money Behind Medical Marijuana Looks Like 2014 – Dejà Vu
United for Care has gotten more than 3,000 contributions from individuals and corporations this year, but the vast majority – about 2,800 – are $100 or less. Drug Free Florida, on the other hand, has only gotten 21 donations in 2016 – but the average donation is more than $136,000. And while John Morgan may be the public face of the medical marijuana campaign, Barbara Steifel has given the campaign $50,000 dollars more than John Morgan this year. (Aboraya, 9/22)

Nashville Tennessean: New Freed-Hardeman Dickson Health Wing Helps Future Nurses
The first-ever nursing class at Dickson Freed-Hardeman started this fall. Greeting those 12 students on the lower floor of the Renaissance Center — now 17 years old but still strikingly contemporary — is the newly created Health Sciences Wing of the university. The wing will officially be unveiled to the public 2 p.m. Thursday next week. The classrooms, labs and offices comprise nearly 7,000 square feet with hospital equipment and simulation mannequins for training. (Gadd, 9/22)