State Highlights: Discrimination In New Orleans’ Health Care System Harms Blacks; ‘Incompetent Staff’ Undermines HIV/AIDS Program In Dallas

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Inequity In City's Health System Has Adversely Affected Black New Orleanians, Report Says 
As New Orleans marks its 300th birthday, the city has yet to achieve health equality for all of its residents, according to a new report The Data Center issued Wednesday (May 30). The report says discrimination in the health care system throughout the city's history has had an adverse effect on the longevity and quality of life of its African-American residents. Even today, the report points out that there 25-year difference in life expectancy between people who live in New Orleans ZIP codes 70124 and 70112, neighborhoods only five miles apart, but where residents are 3 percent and 75 percent black, respectively. (Clark, 5/30)

Dallas Morning News: Dallas County Staffers' Incompetence Hurt HIV/AIDS Program, Feds Say 
A Dallas County office charged with overseeing tens of millions of dollars for HIV and AIDS patients has been plagued with incompetence, poor leadership and a lack of training, according to a scathing federal report. Federal inspectors singled out leaders as "unable to demonstrate requisite skills and knowledge needed to effectively" run the program. Other staff members, meanwhile, "were unable to articulate the full range of responsibilities within their positions, and how their work contributed to achieving" the program's goals, according to Thursday's report by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, which was obtained Tuesday by The Dallas Morning News. (Martin, 5/30)

WBUR: Bill Seeks Changes To State's Involuntary Addiction Treatment Law
Tom Berry, of Pembroke, is urging state lawmakers to look at the tragedy of his son's death and make changes to a law that allows courts to involuntarily commit someone to addiction treatment. The law, known as Section 35, allows someone to ask a judge to civilly commit a person to addiction treatment if the person's substance use is deemed dangerous. ..."He was released with no guidance or notification to the court or his family," Berry said. (Becker, 5/30)

Boston Globe: Tearful Dad Testifies In Favor Of Bill To Notify Families When Drug-Addicted Patients Are Released
On Wednesday, Thomas Berry, 52, of Pembroke fought back tears at the State House while testifying in favor of a bill that would require health providers to notify families of patients released early from their court-mandated treatment under the state’s Section 35 law. ...Had he known his son was on the street, Berry said, he would have brought him to a facility in Falmouth to continue his treatment, which had been the original plan. (Andersen, 5/30)

WBUR: Big Mass. Employers Aim To Cut Health Costs, Starting With $100M In Unneeded ER Visits
Business leaders in Massachusetts often list rising health care costs as a top concern. Now 20 groups -- representing restaurants, retailers, manufacturers and bankers -- have formed a coalition to reduce health costs. And they've selected their first target: avoidable emergency room visits. (Bebinger, 5/30)

California Healthline: In Health Care Arena, The Prize For Calif. Insurance Commissioner Is A Bullhorn
The person who wins the four-way race to become California’s next insurance commissioner will inherit a job with broad authority over policies that cover homes, businesses, cars and even airplanes. But medical insurance? Not so much. The commissioner’s direct control over health insurers is limited, because the California Department of Insurance — headed by the commissioner — regulates only a small slice of the market.Still, the job carries the power of the bully pulpit, amplifying the commissioner’s voice on matters of regional, statewide and national importance. (Bartolone, 5/30)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Sununu Signs Bill Giving Big Tax Break To Biomanufacturing Companies
Businesses that focus on generating human organs won't have to pay state business taxes for ten years under a bill signed into law today by Governor Chris Sununu. Backers of the bill, including companies set to benefit, say it could mean great things for New Hampshire. (Rogers, 5/30)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Inmates Deprived Of Proper Medical Care Under Cuyahoga County Jail Director, Former Nursing Supervisor Says
In a recent letter to members of the Cuyahoga County Council, the former nursing supervisor at the county jail issued blistering criticisms of Director of Corrections Ken Mills, including accusations that Mills' mismanagement of the jail endangered medical staff and deprived inmates of proper care. (Astolfi, 5/30)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Separated From His Birth Mother Because Of His Obesity, 15-Year-Old King Weatherspoon Thrives With Adoptive Mom In His 'Forever Home'
More than 2,300 children are in foster care in Cuyahoga County - 520 of them are in the county's permanent custody. Of those, half are in the process of being adopted, while the rest are in a holding pattern, often waiting until they reach 18 and age out of the system altogether. (Atassi, 5/30)

The Associated Press: Conspirator Gets Prison Term In Massive Health Fraud Scheme
Craig Nordman had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe doctors and money laundering and faced a maximum combined sentence of 25 years, but he received a 21-month sentence in exchange for his cooperation with prosecutors. Since charges were announced in 2013, more than 50 people, including more than three dozen doctors, have pleaded guilty in the scheme involving Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services. The Parsippany, New Jersey-based blood testing lab used a variety of methods to bribe doctors to send patients' blood samples to be tested — and often for tests that weren't necessary. (Porter, 5/30)