State Highlights: Gov. Cuomo Touts N.Y.’s Progress In Fight Against AIDS; Judge Advises Iowa To Throw Out One Of Four State Medicaid Management Contracts

The New York Times: Cuomo To Highlight New York’s Progress In AIDS Fight
Prescriptions for Truvada, a drug that protects against H.I.V. infection, have more than tripled since summer 2014 among people enrolled in Medicaid in New York State. Separately, the transmission of H.I.V. infections from mother to child dropped to zero in the state for the first time since the AIDS epidemic began. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, will highlight both statistics in a speech at the Apollo Theater in Harlem on Tuesday as part of World AIDS Day, portrayed as signs of progress toward the ambitious goal he announced last year to effectively end the AIDS epidemic by 2020 in the state that was once its epicenter. (Bernstein, 11/29)

Des Moines Register: Judge Recommends Throwing Out 1 Of 4 Medicaid Contracts
An administrative law judge has recommended that Iowa throw out one of the four contracts awarded to for-profit companies that are in line to manage Iowa’s Medicaid program. The ruling calls for the state to reverse the contract awarded to WellCare, a company that has faced millions of dollars in fines for fraud or mismanagement in other states and last year saw three former executives sentenced to prison for fraud convictions. (Clayworth, 11/26)

Health News Florida: Feds Propose Fix For Surprise Medical Bills
Florida legislators have been grappling with the problem of balance billing—also known as “surprise billing”—and now the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed a broader rule aimed at fixing the issue. Balance billing is what happens when a patient goes in for a procedure and gets surprised with a bill because one of the providers or treatments in the process isn’t covered by the insurance company. For example: If someone goes to an in-network hospital for an operation and sees an in-network surgeon, there still might be an out-of-network specialist who has to be consulted while the patient is under anesthesia. Depending on the insurer, that patient can be on the hook for a surprisingly large bill for the out-of-network treatment. (Mack, 11/29)

NPR: Missouri Hospital Counts On Procedure Price List To Increase Business
Price transparency can be hard to come by in health care. Putnam County Memorial Hospital, a small hospital in Missouri, is banking its future on having its prices out in the public. (Sable-Smith, 11/30)

The Columbus Post-Dispatch: Getting Copies Of Medical Records Costly For Ohioans
Ohioans seeking copies of their medical records often pay hospitals, doctors and other health-care providers some of the highest fees in the nation, according to a Dispatch analysis. Most states have statutes that specify the maximum amounts that can be charged for copying medical records. (Sutherly, 11/29)

The Associated Press: Assaults On Staff At Western State Hospital Costing Millions
A psychiatric patient “head-butted” a nurse so hard she fell back and her head was slammed against a door, causing injures that kept her home for three months. An agitated patient knocked a nurse onto a concrete floor, causing injuries that forced him out of work for seven months. A nurse who tried to stop a patient attack was in hurt so seriously that her recovery took more than two years. Hundreds of employees at Washington state’s largest psychiatric hospital have suffered concussions, fractures, bruises and cuts during assaults by patients, resulting in millions of dollars in medical costs and thousands of missed days of work. (Bellisle, 11/27)

The Battle Creek Enquirer: Ex-Mental Health CEO Pleads Guilty, Will Pay $1M
The former CEO of a Battle Creek mental health care agency will pay more than $1 million after pleading guilty to felony charges Wednesday and could face up to 17 months behind bars. Under a plea agreement, Erv Brinker will pay $510,000 in restitution and an additional $510,000 in civil penalties, totaling $1,020,000. For nearly 25 years, Brinker led Summit Pointe before he was fired for cause in mid-February. It brought to an end the independent mental health agency’s months-long internal investigation in which issues were raised about conflicts of interest with longstanding vendors and the pension plan. (Bowman, 11/25)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Supervisors Choose Mitch Katz To Head Health Agency
Los Angeles County supervisors have officially announced that Dr. Mitch Katz, who heads the county hospital system, will run a new health super-agency that contains the hospital system and the departments of mental health and public health. Katz's selection was seen in county circles as a foregone conclusion, but the supervisors formalized the decision in a closed-door meeting Tuesday. (Sewell, 11/25)

The Associated Press: In Medical Marijuana States, 'Pot Doctors' Push Boundaries
The green-typeface slogan "WE'ED like to be your doctor!" —unmistakably weed-friendly — has attracted hundreds of medical marijuana patients in less than a year to Dr. Bodo Schneider's clinics in southern Illinois and suburban Chicago. In New Jersey, Dr. Anthony Anzalone has a similar following at his three clinics, marketed online with a marijuana leaf logo and a "DrMarijuanaNJ" web address. The two marijuana-friendly doctors in states with similar laws face starkly different treatment by government regulators. When it comes to oversight of boundary-pushing doctors, enforcement practices vary in the 23 states allowing medical cannabis. (Johnson, 11/27)

The Daily Journal: Make Way For Babies: Advocates Seek To Build On Mississippi's Success
Mississippi’s record drop in infant mortality means 64 more toddlers are disrupting Thanksgiving celebrations today. The state saw 64 fewer infant deaths from 2013 to 2014. When combined with an increase in the number of births in 2014, the infant morality rate dropped from 9.7 per 1,000 births in 2013 to 8.2 in 2014. That’s a 15-percent drop between 2013 and 2014, and a 28 percent drop since 2005. (Morris, 11/25)

The Associated Press: U. Of C. Part Of Push For Person-Centered Health Care
Every time JoAnna James took her husband, Lawrence, to the doctor, she left the hospital without understanding what was wrong with him. “You ask them to break it down so you can understand what they are saying,” the 67-year-old woman says of doctors, “and they make you feel like there is something wrong with you.” (11/27)

Politico: War Over Soda Taxes Coming To A Polling Place Near You
Government do-gooders and conservatives who are worried that America is becoming a nanny state have one more thing to fight about in 2016: soda taxes. Public health advocates, flush from victories in Mexico and Berkeley, California, are plotting to bring voter referendums and legislation to tax soda in as many as a dozen U.S. cities in 2016. It’s all part of an international strategy backed by billionaires in New York and Texas, including former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, to reduce consumption of sodas, juices and other sugary drinks in the fight against spiraling rates of obesity, diabetes and other diet-related diseases. (Bottemiller Evich, 11/29)

The Associated Press: VA Foster Care Program Offers A New Kind Of Home For Senior Veterans
Morning coffee at the kitchen table. Roque (Rocky) Riojas, 93, sits at one end, Bronze Star cap on his head, World War II shrapnel in his leg, and he’s telling how his son always comes to visit. At the other end of the table, Theodosia Mobley, 84, who fought in Korea, scoffs: “He doesn’t always come to visit.” They are part of a new Veterans Affairs program that places military veterans in homes of people willing to open a door. Pretty much like the foster kid system. Most of these vets are old and alone. They have health problems and nowhere else to go other than a nursing facility, and they don’t want to go there. (Bradley, 11/27)