State Highlights: Ga. Senate Panel Amends But OKs Surprise Medical Bill Measure; Conn. Non-Profit Hospitals Fight Bid To Make Them Pay Local Property Taxas

Georgia Health News: After Tweak In Payment Formula, Senate Committee OKs Remedy For ‘Surprise’ Billing
A Georgia Senate panel Thursday passed legislation to halt ‘’surprise’’ medical billing – but not without a last-minute amendment that changed the contentious payment formula. The Health and Human Services Committee approved Senate Bill 8, which will address those situations in which patients get unexpected bills from providers who are not in their network, even though the hospital is a network facility. (Miller, 2/16)

The CT Mirror: CT Hospitals Launch TV Ad To Protest New Tax Proposal
Connecticut’s hospital industry launched a new television ad Thursday to protest Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposal to end nonprofit hospitals’ exemption from local property taxation. The Connecticut Hospital Association announced the commercial will air starting today on network and cable television stations, and also can be seen at http://nomorehospitaltax.org. The commercial opens by listing a variety of occupations and one common thread among the people in all of them: they all pay a price when taxes rise on Connecticut hospitals. (Phaneuf, 2/16)

The CT Mirror: Budget Cuts Cost CT Medical Examiner’s Office Full Accreditation 
The Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) has lost its full accreditation and was downgraded to provisional status because of staffing and facility shortcomings driven largely by budget cuts. The National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME), which ordered the downgrade, will reassess Connecticut’s status in September, the state office announced this week. (Phaneuf, 2/16)

The Star Tribune: Report On Minnesota Hospital Errors Sees Problems With Lost Tissue Samples 
The misplacing of irreplaceable biological specimens has proved to be a vexing problem for Minnesota hospitals, which reported 31 instances in the 12 months that ended last Oct. 6. The state’s 13th annual report on hospital “adverse events,” released Thursday, included 336 reportable mistakes, including operations on the wrong body parts and disabling medication errors. But few were as common as lost tissue samples, which also can have serious consequences. (Olson, 2/17)

KCUR: House Committee OKs Involuntary Hold Plan For Kansans In Mental Health Crisis 
A bill that would allow treatment centers to detain Kansans in mental health crisis for up to three days moved forward Thursday after months of work to develop a compromise. A similar bill proposed last year raised concerns that it would deprive Kansans with mental illnesses of their due process rights. A committee of law enforcement officers, treatment providers, mental health advocates and others met six times between legislative sessions to come up with a compromise bill that still fulfilled the original goal of providing short-term mental health care. (Wingerter, 2/17)

Stat: Texas Board Recommends Sanctions Against Stanislaw Burzynski
Along-running battle between the Texas Medical Board and controversial Houston doctor Stanislaw Burzynski could be coming to a head. The board said this week that it had proposed $380,000 in fines and a stiff set of sanctions for Burzynski’s failure to adhere to proper medical procedures in treating cancer patients. The decision is preliminary, and will be submitted and formally reviewed on March 3. (Tedeshci, 2/16)

Boston Globe: For This Hospital Chaplain, Work Is A Matter Of Life And Death 
As [Alyssa] Adreani, 41, likes to point out, [she] isn’t hanging out in the Newton hospital’s chapel and doesn’t wear a collar or a cross. She makes the rounds of the neonatal intensive care unit, oncology, ICU, orthopedics, and medical/surgical units, following her personal Golden Rule of chaplaincy: “Wear comfortable shoes.” The Globe spoke with Adreani about how hospital chaplains are considered part of the treatment team, sometimes even improving health outcomes. (Atoji Keene, 2/16)

Orlando Sentinel: Lake Nona Partners With Deepak Chopra For Customized Heath App 
Lake Nona is bringing another wellness-oriented initiative to its residents through a partnership with Dr. Deepak Chopra, officials announced on Wednesday during the Impact Forum. Soon, Lake Nona residents will have access to a customized version of Chopra’s new health and wellness app Jiyo. (Miller, 2/16)

Seattle Times: State Regulators Investigating Swedish’s Cherry Hill Hospital, Top Surgeon 
State health regulators have launched an investigation into the practices of Swedish Health Services’ Cherry Hill hospital, days after a Seattle Times report uncovered wide-ranging concerns about patient care at the facility. David Johnson, a spokesman with the state Department of Health, said Thursday a case-management team authorized the new investigation after reviewing The Seattle Times’ findings. Johnson added that the state Medical Commission, which handles issues involving specific doctors, was in the process of investigating complaints filed against Dr. Johnny Delashaw. (Baker, 2/16)

Arizona Republic: New Flu-Tracking App Uses Maricopa County As Beta Site
A California-based health diagnostics company has chosen Maricopa County as the pilot testing site for Communidy, a free web app that allows users to see the age and county of people who currently have the flu. The app, which displays real-time data from doctors’ offices, hospitals, clinics and labs, may encourage people to get vaccinated early, said Machrina Leach, nurse program manager at the Maricopa County Department of Public Health. (Bosch and Jha, 2/16)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: United Community Center Opens Third Residential Treatment Facility
This month, the United Community Center, commonly known as UCC, opened its third residential treatment facility for people working to overcome alcoholism and drug addictions. The $1.1 million residence, named Latinas Unidas II, will enable 16 more women to participate in UCC’s residential treatment program at any given time. The new residence, UCC’s second for women, also will treat women who are pregnant or who have infant children, and the program will include prenatal and post-partum care, child care coordination and parenting classes. (Boulton, 2/16)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Summa Health Gift Establishes Traumatic Stress Chair 
Longtime philanthropists Jim and Vanita Oelschlager have donated more than $4 million to Summa Heath over the last three decades. This week, couple's foundation provided another donation to Summa Health to establish a Chair in Traumatic Stress. Dr. Patrick Palmieri, director of the Traumatic Stress Center, will serve as the first Oelschlager Chair. As director of the Summa Health Traumatic Stress Center, Palmieri is responsible for the center's clinical, training and research activities for patients experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression. (Becka, 2/16)

Health News Florida: Students Discover Lead In Tap Water May Be Common In Older Homes 
Last semester, the students in Laura Manke's community cares class embarked on a project, collecting samples of tap water from their homes.  And testing provided by University of South Florida researchers revealed that all of the 46 samples contained lead.Fortunately, the amount of lead in the water in their homes fell below levels that would trigger action under Environmental Protection Agency standards. But experts, including the EPA, say any amount of lead is not good for the body, especially in children under six. Damage can be permanent. (Ochoa, 2/16)

Pioneer Press: Forest Lake Nurse Avoids Jail Time For Stealing Patient's Medication
A Forest Lake nurse who pretended to check on a patient so he could steal the man’s medication evaded jail time for the offense. Gregory Thomas Welcher, 30, was sentenced in Ramsey County District Court Thursday to five years probation on one count of felony-level theft. He also was ordered to spend one day in jail, but was given credit for the day he already logged at the Ramsey County Correctional Facility. Welcher pleaded guilty to the charge this past December. (Horner, 2/16)

Shreveport Times: Workshop Lets Caregivers Take Care Of Themselves
Social workers seeking a moment of rest from careers steeped in others’ suffering participated in a free “Compassion Fatigue” workshop on Thursday. The workshop, presented by the Noel Memorial United Methodist Church’s arts program, aimed at offering those who take care of others a chance to center and to take care of themselves. (Talamo, 2/16)