Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Florida Community Still Struggles With 5,000 Homeless One Year After Hurricane; Troubled VA Medical Center Once Again Infested With Flies
The Associated Press: A Year After Michael, Florida Community Still In Crisis
A year after Hurricane Michael , the Florida county hardest hit by the Category 5 storm is still in crisis: Thousands in Bay County are homeless, medical care and housing are at a premium, domestic violence has become a problem and severely diminished mental health services are overwhelmed with backlogs. (10/9)
New Hampshire Public Radio: Flies Once Again Lead To Closure Of Manchester VA Operating Room
One of the operating rooms at the Manchester VA Medical Center has been closed again due to the presence of flies. A spokesperson for the Manchester VA says the operating room was closed as soon as staff discovered the issue. The other two operating rooms remain open. (Biello, 10/9)
Wyoming Public Radio: Tribal Leaders Seek Help With Recruitment, Retention Of Indian Health Service Workers
Members of the Eastern Shoshone Business Council are back from Washington D.C., where they met with Indian Health Service (IHS) officials about healthcare staffing on the Wind River Reservation. Councilwoman Karen Snyder said she and Councilman Leslie Shakespeare made the cross-country trip to IHS's federal headquarters because the program's regional office is plagued with many of the same issues as Wind River's local clinics. (Maher, 10/10)
North Carolina Health News: ‘One Stop Shop’ Aids Rural Residents With HIV
That idea of addressing social conditions — income, transportation and education, among others — to improve health is not new. These so-called social determinants of health make up 60 percent of the risk for premature death, with health care and genetics accounting for the other 40 percent, according to an influential 2007 New England Journal of Medicine study. Conversations about social determinants came to the fore in recent years even as North Carolina announced it will transform how it pays for Medicaid, moving from a fee-for-service model to pay based on health outcomes. (Engel-Smith, 10/10)
Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Health Care Modernization Task Force Members Announced
The governor's office has announced appointments to the newly-created Health Care Modernization Task Force, a group that is being tasked with brainstorming strategies to improving healthcare policy in Tennessee. Gov. Bill Lee announced his plan to assemble the task force during his first State of the State address in early March. It wasn't until this week when membership to the 25-member task force was made public. (Allison, 10/9)
Health News Florida: Advocates: DACA Cancellation Could Impact 7,200 Florida Children
Immigration advocates say 7,200 Florida children could be harmed if their parents lose Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – or DACA - benefits that allow them to stay in the country. The United States Supreme Court will consider oral arguments Nov. 12 in a case brought by the Trump Administration that would take away those benefits. The Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics recently joined nearly three dozen organizations and leaders in asking the U.S. Supreme Court, through an amicus brief, to keep the benefits in place. (Miller, 10/9)
Los Angeles Times: Amid Safety Concerns In Civic Center Area, LAPD Beefs Up Patrols
As the homelessness crisis grows in downtown Los Angeles, government employees have told authorities they don’t feel safe entering and leaving buildings and retail shops in the Civic Center area, officials said. Now, the Los Angeles Police Department has shifted assignments for some officers each morning and late afternoon for several hours to the 20-square-block area to ease concerns about the increased homeless population near office buildings and the L.A. Mall. (Puente and Smith, 10/9)
Boston Globe: Resident Is Diagnosed With Boston’s First Case Of Measles Since 2013
The Boston Public Health Commission issued a measles warning Wednesday after a person was diagnosed with the respiratory virus, the first case confirmed in a city resident since 2013, officials said. In a statement, the commission said the case was diagnosed on Oct. 6, and identified five public places the person visited during the period when they were most contagious. (Anderson, 10/9)
WBUR: Boston Resident Tests Positive For Measles
A Boston resident has tested positive for measles. It's the first reported case in the city since 2013 and the third this year in Massachusetts, according to the Boston Public Health Commission. The resident tested positive on Oct. 6, according to a Wednesday afternoon statement by the commission. (Salese, 10/9)
Des Moines Register: New Report Shows More Than 50,000 Youth In Iowa Have Obesity
More than 50,000 children in Iowa ages 10 to 17 are obese, a new report from a national health philanthropy organization says. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Thursday published a childhood obesity report based on data from 2017 and 2018. It shows that 16.4% of Iowa children in the age group have obesity. Iowa has the 14th-highest obesity rate in the age group in the nation, according to the report, titled "State of Childhood Obesity: Helping All Children Grow up Healthy." (Rodriguez, 10/10)
New Orleans Times-Picayune: STDs Are On The Rise Across US And Louisiana Remains Near Top Of The List
New cases of three of the most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise across the U.S., federal health officials said, and despite some improvements, Louisiana remains among the states with the highest rates of infection. An annual report released this week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the number of people diagnosed with chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis are on the rise in the U.S. for the fifth year in a row. Louisiana ranks second for new cases of chlamydia, fifth for gonorrhea and seventh for early-stage syphilis, the report said. (Woodruff, 10/9)
Tampa Bay Times: Tampa Bay May Be Facing A Tough Flu Season
One area hospital has seen a sharp increase this month in children coming in with flu-like symptoms. Health officials are urging people to get a flu shot. (Griffin, 10/9)
