State Highlights: Doctors At Boston Hospitals Warned To Disclose Financial Ties Amid Sloan Kettering’s Crisis; Roundup Cancer Case Verdict Faces First Court Test

Boston Globe: Boston Hospitals Warn Doctors To Disclose Industry Ties
Amid an unfolding ethics crisis at a prominent New York cancer center, Boston hospitals are warning doctors that they must publicly disclose all their financial relationships with pharmaceutical and device companies. ...The hospitals’ actions were triggered by a series of lapses at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, including the failure of its chief medical officer to disclose millions of dollars in payments from pharmaceutical and other companies. (Kowalczyk, 10/9)

The Associated Press: Jury's $289M Award In Roundup Cancer Suit Heads To Court
A San Francisco jury's $289 million verdict in favor of a school groundskeeper who says Roundup weed killer caused his cancer will face its first court test Wednesday. Agribusiness giant Monsanto will argue at a hearing that Judge Suzanne Bolanos should throw out the verdict in favor of DeWayne Johnson. Attorneys for the company say Johnson failed to prove that Roundup or similar herbicides caused his lymphoma, and presented no evidence that Monsanto executives were malicious in marketing Roundup. Bolanos was not expected to rule immediately. (10/10)

The CT Mirror: More Than Half Of CT Health Care Systems In The Black In 2017
Nine of the 16 health systems in Connecticut ended 2017 in the black, according to a report by the state Office of Health Strategy. Collectively, the systems took in about $14.2 billion in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, 2017. (Rigg, 10/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: Ex-ER Psychiatrist: More Inpatient Treatment Needed In SF
I sat down with Dr. Paul Linde, who for a quarter-century worked in the psychiatric emergency room at San Francisco General Hospital before leaving to work part-time as a primary care psychiatrist. He described San Francisco’s revolving door for mentally ill homeless people, the shortage of treatment beds and how California’s newly passed law strengthening the conservatorship program might help. (Knight, 10/9)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Infant Deaths: Milwaukee Mayor Calls On Faith Leaders For Help
Mayor Tom Barrett and Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik are calling on faith leaders to help them combat infant deaths in Milwaukee. Barrett and Kowalik spoke Tuesday at an event celebrating that more than 30 local churches have become "Strong Baby Sanctuaries," where pregnant women and new families can find information on community resources. (Spicuzza, 10/9)

The Wall Street Journal: People Can Now Choose Male, Female Or X On NYC Birth Certificates
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday signed into law a bill that will create a third gender option on birth certificates. Under the new law, birth certificates can list gender as “male,” “female” or “X,” allowing people who don’t identify as either male or female to better reflect their identities. (Honan, 10/9)

Chicago Tribune: Walgreens Cutting Some Employee Benefits After Announcing $100M Pay Boost 
Walgreens is changing the benefits it offers employees and eliminating health insurance for most of its eligible retirees, just months after announcing it would boost hourly wages for store employees. Starting in 2019, employees of the Deerfield-based drugstore chain won’t qualify for paid time off unless they work at least 30 hours a week, said Walgreens spokesman Brian Faith. Currently, employees can qualify for paid time off if they work at least 20 hours a week. (Schencker, 10/9)

North Carolina Health News: Florence Adds To Woes Of Struggling Water And Sewer Systems
After Florence, dozens of water and sewer systems  throughout North Carolina are struggling. Many have been struggling since Matthew, two years ago. Dozens more were underwater before either storm hit, with shrinking economies and populations that make it difficult for them to cover routine expenses and service the debt on their water and sewer infrastructure. (Ross, 10/10)

Sacramento Bee: Chiropractors Allege One Call Using Illicit Kickbacks
California chiropractors allege in a lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court that an aggressive middleman in the workers’ compensation arena is employing a novel kickback scheme to steer patients to providers willing to share more of their fees with the company. Sacramento-based California Chiropractic Association asserted in its court complaint that One Call Care Management is violating business and professions codes that have gotten health care practitioners prosecuted for fraud. (Anderson, 10/9)

Denver Post: 41 Colorado Children Diagnosed In Viral Infection Outbreak
The Colorado Department of Health is investigating an unprecedented outbreak of rare viral infections with neurological complications among young children, state officials announced Tuesday. State health officials, in conjunction with the experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said they have found 41 cases of enterovirus A71 infections in children this year — a majority of them in the Denver area. (Tabachnik, 10/9)

KUT News: How A Sudden Setback Can Lead To An Eviction
Since 2017, 12 families a day on average have been evicted from their homes in Travis County. Many people had lost a job, experienced a medical emergency or had a roommate leave without notice. According to an analysis of five years of eviction data by KUT, the threat of eviction in Travis County is nearly three times more common than reported by Eviction Lab, a new project to publish nationwide eviction data. (McGlinchy, 10/10)

WBUR: Boston Makes Big Strides, But Won't Meet Goal Of Ending Chronic Homelessness In 2018
They're employees of the city and state, homeless service providers, and the local public health commission and housing authority. They've been working for the last three years toward a goal of eliminating chronic homelessness in the city by the end of 2018. (Joliocoeur, 10/9)

Boston Globe: Coming, But Not So Soon: Cannabis Cafes
Cannabis cafes where consumers could enjoy marijuana together may be coming to a small number of Massachusetts cities and towns chosen to participate in a Cannabis Control Commission pilot program, marijuana regulators said Tuesday — though they cautioned that such businesses are unlikely to open for months or even years. Commissioners said they would partner with a handful of municipalities that want to host “social consumption” businesses. (Adams, 10/10)