State Highlights: Hospital Regulation, Insurance Legislation Move To Front-Burner For Georgia Legislature; Insurer Will No Longer Deny Mass. Residents Plans Because Of PrEP

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Health Care Could Be Big Issue In Georgia Legislature
The flow of hundreds of millions of health care dollars through Georgia could be routed one way or another, depending on what the General Assembly does on two issues in state law that have long percolated and now are on the front burner. One is whether to lift a statewide hospital regulation, and the other involves insurance for those who can’t afford it. (Hart, 1/8)

Boston Globe: Insurer Agrees To Cover People Who Use HIV-Prevention Medication
The insurer Mutual of Omaha has agreed to stop refusing to provide certain types of coverage to Massachusetts residents who take a medication that prevents HIV, amid allegations of discrimination in two separate legal settlements announced Tuesday. In an agreement with Attorney General Maura Healey, the company said it had discontinued the practice of denying life insurance and long-term-care insurance to people who take Truvada, a daily medication that prevents transmission of HIV. (Freyer, 1/8)

KCUR: Missouri Auditor Finds Changes To Home Health Care Saved Far Less Than Expected 
Controversial changes to Missouri's home health-services program by former Gov. Eric Greitens and the Republican-controlled legislature saved one fourth of the $43 million lawmakers had expected, according a state audit. The Republican governor and state lawmakers didn’t take rising costs and sicker patients into account, concluded the report from State Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat. Home-based services allow patients to stay out of nursing homes and keep a portion of their independence. (Fentem, 1/8)

The Associated Press: 2 More Flu-Related Deaths Bring Delaware Toll To 5
Public health officials say two more people have died from the flu in Delaware, bringing this flu season’s death toll in the state to five. The News Journal reports the Division of Public Health announced Monday a 51-year-old Kent County woman and a 55-year-old New Castle County woman had died. Both women were infected with Influenza A and had other, underlying health conditions. Authorities announced the first three flu-related deaths Jan. 2. The 65-year-old man, 73-year-old man and 77-year-old woman were all infected with Influenza A. (1/8)

Georgia Health News: Flu Statistics Worrisome In Georgia, But It’s Too Early To Predict Impact
It’s not clear whether the flu season could be as severe as last year’s, state epidemiologist Cherie Drenzek told the board of the Georgia Department of Public Health. ...H3N2 was the main virus circulating nationally during the last flu season, which led to 154 reported deaths in Georgia and was considered the nation’s worst flu outbreak in at least 40 years. (Miller, 1/8)

Modern Healthcare: Providence St. Joseph Health's Venture Capital Fund At $150 Million 
Providence St. Joseph Health leaders took advantage of their stage time at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday to unveil a second $150 million healthcare venture fund. The Renton, Wash.-based health system's venture capital arm, Providence Ventures, will use the fund, called Providence Ventures II, to target early and growth-stage companies focused on information technology, technology-enabled services, medical devices and healthcare services. (Bannow, 1/8)

Boston Globe: Biz Groups Will Push Lawmakers To Honor Their Promise To End Health Care Assessments
Can the state’s business groups persuade the Legislature to shut off its shiny $300 million spigot, now that the money flows like water? The Legislature adopted new assessments on businesses, ostensibly to help keep up with the state’s Medicaid costs, in mid-2017. The promise: These surcharges would last only two years, with a hard stop at the end of 2019. (Chesto, 1/9)

Concord Monitor: DHHS Pushes Back After Hospital Association Joins Suit Over Psychiatric Care
Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeffrey Meyers criticized the New Hampshire Hospital Association for joining a lawsuit accusing the state of failing to provide timely care to psychiatric patients by keeping them in emergency rooms. “At a time when the state is dedicating itself to rebuilding its mental health system, including significant investments and a new 10-Year Mental Health Plan, it’s disappointing to see hospitals use a lawsuit to walk away from the table, not be part of the solution, and not provide responsible care and services sufficient to meet the needs of the populations they serve,” Meyers said in a statement. (1/8)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Hospitals Move To Intervene In ACLU Suit Against N.H. Over ER Boarding
The New Hampshire Hospital Association has moved to intervene in a lawsuit against the state brought by the ACLU-NH. The lawsuit addresses the current practice of emergency room boarding, where patients who are involuntarily committed for acute psychiatric treatment are sometimes held for weeks in emergency rooms without a probable cause hearing. (Moon, 1/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: Nurse Accuses Zuckerberg SF General Hospital Of Retaliation After Push For Name Removal
A nurse at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital who has urged hospital administrators to drop Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s name from the institution said he filed complaints with state and federal labor boards Tuesday, accusing the hospital of retaliating against him for opposing the Zuckerberg name. The nurse, Sasha Cuttler, retained Washington, D.C., attorney Debra Katz to file the complaints with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the California Department of Industrial Relations. (Ho, 1/8)

Boston Globe: Against The Odds, Tiny Waltham Biotech Strives To Improve Dialysis Patients’ Lives
As the world’s leading biotech executives descended on the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference this week to talk about gene editing, precision medicine, and other cutting-edge treatments, the folks at tiny Waltham-based Proteon Therapeutics came to promote a less sexy goal. They want to prevent the vein that surgeons create in the arm of kidney patients on dialysis from clogging. (Saltzman, 1/8)

The CT Mirror: Access Health Sees Decline In Black And Hispanic Customer Base
With just one week left in open enrollment, Access Health CT has seen overall high levels of customer engagement and turnout, but a decline in its black and Hispanic base, a health insurance exchange official told Connecticut policymakers Tuesday. Connecticut’s Affordable Care Act marketplace expanded its enrollment period for people seeking coverage in 2019 to Jan. 15. (Silber, 1/8)

Texas Tribune: State Auditor: Texas Agencies Lost Nearly 29,000 Employees Last Year
State Auditor’s Office report released in December found that agency turnover was at 19.3 percent in the 2018 budget year. Auditors said the rate is based on 28,684 employees who voluntary and involuntary left their jobs that year. The top reasons employees said they left were retirement, better pay and benefits and poor working conditions or environments. (Evans, 1/8)

Boston Globe: Cambridge Advances Proposal To Add Gender-Neutral Option To City Birth Certificates
Cambridge officials Monday advanced a proposal to add a gender-neutral option to birth certificates issued in the city while letting those who don’t identify with the gender assigned to them at birth amend the document without having to jump through certain administrative hoops. The policy order, which was introduced this month by Mayor Marc McGovern, was passed unanimously by the City Council during the first meeting of the New Year Monday night. (Annear, 1/8)

KQED: State Launches Probe Into 100,000-Gallon Marin County Sewage Spill
California water quality regulators are investigating an incident in San Anselmo on Sunday that caused at least 100,000 gallons of raw sewage to spill out of manholes in the city. The spill took place during a rainstorm that overwhelmed a Ross Valley Sanitary District sewer improvement project, sending sewage onto portions of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Broadmoor Avenue and Morningside Drive. (Goldberg, 1/8)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Hoboken Doesn’t Want To Become ‘Hard-Partying Pot Destination,’ But It Could Use Marijuana Money
While pot is already sold legally in five western U.S. states, the industry is eager for a market on the heavily populated East Coast. Massachusetts opened marijuana shops in November, and Vermont and Maine are hammering out taxation and regulation issues before legal sales begin. None of those states, though, has the New York area’s residential density and vast year-round tourism. (Young, 1/8)

Health News Florida: Key Lawmaker Expects Change In Marijuana Policy
One of the architects of Florida’s medical-marijuana laws anticipates a “new day in Florida” on marijuana issues after Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis takes over Tuesday as the state’s chief executive. DeSantis, a former congressman closely tied to President Donald Trump, “is going to embrace issues of access and patient care,” according to state Senate budget chief Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island. (Kam, 1/7)

Boston Globe: Social Marijuana Consumption, Home Delivery Up For Discussion
embers of the Cannabis Advisory Board’s public safety subcommittee, which includes law enforcement, marijuana consumer advocates, and municipal lobbyists, will discuss their recommendations for the Cannabis Control Commission, the five-member state body responsible for enacting policies. In 2017, the commission drafted delivery and social consumption regulations but decided last year to postpone licensing such businesses after Governor Charlie Baker and others raised concerns. (Martin, 1/8)