State Highlights: Georgia Health Officials Confirm 12 Cases, 1 Death From Legionnaires’ Disease; Feds Sign Off On Changes Made To Correct Patient Safety Issues At St. Luke’s In Houston

The New York Times: Woman Dies After Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak In Atlanta
One of a dozen people who contracted Legionnaires’ disease after staying at or visiting a hotel in Atlanta, Ga., has died, officials said this week. The woman, Cameo Garrett, died on July 9 from coronary artery disease, a condition that worsened after she contracted Legionnaires’ disease, Patrick L. Bailey, the director of the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office, said Wednesday. (Brown, 8/7)

Houston Chronicle: St. Luke’s Back In Compliance With Feds
The federal government has relinquished the greater oversight it assumed over Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center earlier this year after a patient death, a significant step forward in the historic Houston hospital’s hoped-for road to recovery. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services officials notified St. Luke’s late last month that it is again in compliance with the agency’s conditions of participation and its supervision has been transferred back to its accrediting body, said Doug Lawson, CEO of the medical center. (Ackerman, 8/7)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Poll Shows Seacoast Residents Support Hospitals Merging
A poll released Wednesday shows that Seacoast residents support the proposed merger between Dover’s Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, Exeter Health Resources and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. WDH was acquired by Mass General through a separate transaction that started three years ago, and Exeter Health Resources has been working with Mass General’s oncology program for 10 years. Officials at the three hospitals announced in May 2018 they had signed a letter of intent to form a new regional nonprofit corporation. That corporation would be the subsidiary of Mass General and would serve as the parent to WDH and Exeter Health Resources. (Haas, 8/7)

The Star Tribune: Minn. Health Officials Declare Outbreak Of Hepatitis A 
An outbreak of hepatitis A has been identified in Minnesota, prompting state health officials to appeal for broader vaccination efforts in high-risk areas such as homeless shelters and jails. While Minnesota has been insulated somewhat from a national hepatitis A outbreak — which has sickened more than 23,000 individuals and caused 233 deaths since 2016 — state officials said Wednesday that a recent uptick in cases is cause for concern. None of the Minnesotans has died, but 23 infections have been identified and 13 patients required hospital care for a virus that can cause severe liver damage. (Olson, 8/8)

Health News Florida: Memo Raises Possibility Of Medicaid Exit
A high-ranking legislative staff member has warned that a proposed constitutional amendment to expand Medicaid could forever lock Florida into the safety-net health care program, taking away the Legislature’s option to walk away from it. The warning was circulated internally among the top staff of House Speaker Jose Oliva and turned over to state economists weighing the costs of the proposed amendment, which would expand Medicaid eligibility to uninsured childless adults. (Sexton, 8/7)

The CT Mirror: Health Officials Share Concerns Over Religious Exemption To Vaccines
Connecticut health officials who gathered in Bridgeport Wednesday to declare their support for vaccines said they are increasingly concerned about the state’s religious exemption, with some calling for lawmakers to erase the provision next year. ...While the Connecticut State Medical Society has not taken a formal position on whether lawmakers should repeal the religious exemption, its president called for more public education on the benefits of immunization. (Carlesso, 8/7)

KCUR: Truman Medical Centers Paid Ransomware Attackers To Unlock Its Computer System 
Kansas City's Truman Medical Centers was hit with a ransomware attack on Tuesday morning that locked the hospital out of parts of its computer system. The attackers demanded money to unlock the data, and the safety net hospital agreed to pay a small amount, Truman said in a statement Wednesday. ...The hospital said that patients’ personal health and financial information is kept on another system and was not affected by the attack. (Margolies, 8/7)

Georgia Health News: 7 Charged In Alleged ‘Egregious’ Abuse Of Disabled Residents In DeKalb County
Seven individuals have been indicted in an alleged abuse scheme victimizing disabled adults in DeKalb County, state Attorney General Chris Carr announced Wednesday. Three of those indicted operated homes for people with mental and physical disabilities, the attorney general said in a press release. (Miller, 8/7)

Columbus Dispatch: DNA Test Kits Revealed Cincinnati Fertility Clinic Used Stranger's Sperm
A central Ohio family is suing a Cincinnati fertility clinic, hospital and lab, saying that DNA kits purchased as Christmas gifts revealed that a 24-year-old daughter is not biologically related to her father and may have been fathered by a hospital physician. In the lawsuit expected to be filed Wednesday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, Jennifer and Joseph Cartellone, of Delaware, and their daughter Rebecca Cartellone, of Dublin, name the Institute for Reproductive Health, the Christ Hospital and Ovation Fertility Cincinnati. (Viviano, 8/7)

The CT Mirror: Federal Judge: Prison Hepatitis C Lawsuit Will Advance
A federal judge has allowed a handful of inmates to pursue a class-action lawsuit that could force Connecticut’s prisons to screen and treat thousands of inmates for the Hepatitis C virus — a measure that could save lives and cost the state millions of dollars. The suit alleges that the Department of Correction does not adequately care for its prisoners infected with the disease, putting in jeopardy the health of those entrusted to the agency’s care. (Lyons, 8/7)

Sacramento Bee: CA Auditor Lashes At Agency Charged With Medi-Cal Oversight
In a report released Tuesday, California State Auditor Elaine Howle upbraided the state Department of Health Care Services for its failure to ensure Medi-Cal beneficiaries have adequate access and quality of care in 18 rural counties stretching from Inyo to the south to Tehama and Plumas in the north. Howle looked into the welfare of these Medi-Cal beneficiaries at the behest of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, which wanted to know whether the patients were receiving care comparable to their peers around the state since being transitioned into managed care plans from fee-for-service plans during the Medi-Cal expansion in 2013. (Anderson, 8/7)

Kaiser Health News: Obesity Plagues Hispanics And Blacks In Colorado, Nation’s ‘Healthiest’ State
Colorado stands out on the map of U.S. obesity rates, a cool green rectangle surrounded by more alarming shades of yellow, orange and red. But upon closer inspection, Colorado weighs in as two states: one dangerously heavy and one fit and trim.There are the mostly well-educated, affluent whites, many of whom were drawn to Colorado by high-paying tech jobs and myriad outdoor opportunities. (Hawryluk, 8/8)

The CT Mirror: Office Of Health Strategy Launches Online Health Care Rating System
The state launched an online tool Wednesday intended to help consumers, businesses and health care providers navigate the state’s vast system of hospitals and providers. Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz, who joined employees from the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy at the launch announcement, likened the free tool to Consumer Reports because it will allow users to compare the quality and cost of medical care at 19 of the state’s health care organizations. (Moore, 8/7)

North Carolina Health News: North Carolina Continues To Slow Creation Of Beds For Dementia Patients 
North Carolina is greying, and with it, more people are predicted to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, approximately 170,000 people lived with Alzheimer’s disease in North Carolina in 2018. This statistic is projected to increase by 23.5 percent in 2025, to a total of 210,000 diagnoses. Despite this expected growth, the proposed state budget  has extended a multi-year moratorium on the creation of special care units in nursing and adult care homes, which care for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. (Davis, 8/8)

Boston Globe: Advocates For Homeless Rap Disposal Of Wheelchairs In Police Sweep Of Troubled District
Police conducting a sweep Tuesday in the South End oversaw the destruction of several wheelchairs belonging to homeless people, according to witnesses — resulting in a flurry of condemnation on Twitter, including strong words from a city councilor. Less than 24 hours later, city officials faced heated criticism for their actions during a South End community meeting Wednesday night regarding drug use and homelessness in the neighborhood. (Freyer and McDonald, 8/7)

Modern Healthcare: Baylor Wins False Claims Case Alleging Fraudulent Upcoding
Baylor Scott & White beat a False Claims Act whistleblower suit on Monday that claimed the Texas healthcare giant wrongly billed Medicare for more than $61.8 million over seven years. U.S. District Judge David Ezra in Texas dismissed the whistleblower's complaint, which alleged that a Baylor executive created an upcoding scheme to systematically overcharge Medicare. (Luthi, 8/7)

Modern Healthcare: UPMC, Carnegie Mellon To Use Amazon's AI Tools In Research
UPMC and other prominent Pittsburgh research organizations announced Wednesday they plan to leverage an Amazon division's machine learning capabilities to accelerate breakthroughs in patient care and product commercialization. Amazon Web Services will share its machine learning—a type of AI—and cloud computing resources with the Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance, a big data consortium formed in 2015 that includes UPMC, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. (Bannow, 8/7)