State Highlights: In Face Of Growing Soda Tax Movement, California Law May Pre-Empt More Measures; Connecticut Aims To ‘Get To Zero’ On HIV Infections

The New York Times: California Banning Soda Taxes? A New Industry Strategy Is Stunning Some Lawmakers
For years, the soda industry had an ironclad strategy when a city wanted to enact a soda tax: Spend a lot of money, rally local businesses, and shoot it down. That strategy worked again and again, until it didn’t. In 2014, Berkeley, Calif., passed the nation’s first tax on sugary drinks, which have been linked to heart disease, obesity and tooth decay. Two years later, six communities, including three more cities in California, enacted similar bills. (O'Connor and Sanger-Katz, 6/27)

The CT Mirror: Connecticut Launches Campaign To End New HIV Infections
The new Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) campaign, dubbed ‘Getting to Zero,’ will attempt to dissipate new HIV infections, AIDS-related deaths, and stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV/AIDS. Public health officials announced the campaign at the state Capitol before a room of advocates and people diagnosed with the virus, some clad in red shirts bearing the ‘0-0-0’ slogan. (Silber, 6/27)

The Associated Press: US: Care Lacking At Troubled Washington Psychiatric Hospital
A patient at Washington state's largest psychiatric hospital received a new feeding tube but wasn't monitored for pain medications, vital signs or wound care. Another didn't receive doctor-ordered treatment for head, eye and toe injuries, while a patient prescribed an oxygen test every half-hour after an asthma attack was only checked a few times. (6/27)

The CT Mirror: Malloy Will Release Long-Delayed Hospital Payments This Week
With preliminary federal approval for a new state taxing arrangement with hospitals already secured, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration announced Wednesday it would release the funds before the fiscal year ends on Saturday. Though Connecticut could wait until all federal approvals are secured, “I believe it is in the best interest of both the state and the hospitals” to release funds now, state Office of Policy and Management Secretary Ben Barnes, Malloy’s budget director, wrote to the Connecticut Hospital Association. (Phaneuf, 6/27)

The Star Tribune: UnitedHealthcare And Aetna-Allina Are Pushing For Health Care Business In Minnesota 
Two big national health insurers are moving forward with plans to become more competitive in the state's insurance markets for employer groups and individuals who qualify for Medicare. A new joint-venture company launched last year by Minneapolis-based Allina Health System and Aetna, the Connecticut-based health insurance giant, announced details Wednesday about the insurer's executive leadership team, which includes three people with experience at other local health plans. (Snowbeck, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Wisconsin High Court Caps Some Malpractice Damages At $750K
The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the state's cap on noneconomic medical malpractice damages on Wednesday, reversing an appellate ruling that awarded $15 million to a woman who had all four limbs amputated after a mishandled infection. The court ruled 5-2 in a long-running case closely watched by doctors, hospitals and the insurance industry. Chief Justice Patience Roggensack wrote that the cap doesn't run afoul of equal protection guarantees and that the Legislature had a rational basis for setting it at $750,000. She noted that lawmakers argued the cap would keep health care affordable and provide reasonable compensation for injuries. (6/27)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Sherrod Brown Nabs Endorsement From Ohio Doctors Group
The Ohio State Medical Association, a professional group representing Ohio doctors, has endorsed U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown for re-election. The group announced its endorsement Wednesday morning, citing Brown's support for the expansion of Medicaid eligibility, his support for reversing cuts to Medicare payments and his advocacy in Congress in fighting the opioid crisis. (Tobias, 6/28)

The Baltimore Sun: CareFirst Patient Care Program Saves More Than $1 Billion In Health Care Costs
A CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield program that better coordinates patient care has saved nearly $1.2 billion since it launched eight years ago, officials with the insurer said Wednesday. Last year, the savings on the cost of care for the insurer’s members was $223 million. The initiative, which CareFirst calls the Patient-Centered Medical Home program, gives incentives to primary care physicians to better coordinate the care of their patients once they leave their office. That can mean making sure they take their medication and get refills on prescriptions and come to follow-up appointments. The doctors work with nurses to achieve this. (McDaniels, 6/27)

Chicago Sun Times: Federal Oversight Of Cermak Health Services Dissolved
Cermak Health Services is free from an eight-year-old consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, a U.S. District court decided Tuesday. The county-operated hospital, located at Cook County Jail, was found to have “systematically violated inmates’ constitutional rights by the use of excessive force by staff.” In a statement from the Department of Justice when the decree went into effect in 2010, officials also cited “the failure to protect inmates from harm by fellow inmates, inadequate medical and mental health care, and a lack of adequate fire safety and sanitation” as a reason for the decree. (Hinton, 6/27)

Arizona Republic: Protesters Rally Outside Walgreens That Denied Woman Miscarriage Medicine
A group of protesters assembled Wednesday outside a Peoria Walgreens where a pharmacist refused to fulfill a woman's prescription miscarriage medicine on moral grounds. Around 20 people groups including Indivisible Arizona CD 6, a progressive organization founded following President Donald Trump's election, Planned Parenthood and #Fight4Her, a campaign to end the "global gag" rule, stood and waved signs at the intersection of Peoria Avenue and 91st Avenue. (Mo, 6/27)

Texas Tribune: After Santa Fe Shooting, Student Gun Control Activists Emerge In Texas
American teenagers, some of them survivors of recent mass school shootings, have increasingly mobilized to combat the continuing deaths this year. ...Now after tragedy hit home in Texas, students from Santa Fe High School are turning into gun control activists themselves. (Greene, 6/28)

The Star Tribune: Health Care Startup Bind Raises $70 Million
Bind, the Minneapolis-based startup pushing what it calls "on-demand" health insurance, said it has raised $70 million to fund national expansion plans. Backers include Ascension Ventures, a St. Louis-based fund connected to several large nonprofit hospital systems, and UnitedHealthcare, the Minnetonka-based health insurance giant. Funding also comes from Lemhi Ventures, where Bind's founder Tony Miller is managing partner. (Snowbeck, 6/28)

The Baltimore Sun: Government Sues Towson Home Care Franchise Alleging ADA Violation 
A federal agency is suing a Towson home-care franchise, saying it violated a woman’s civil rights when it terminated a job offer after her tuberculosis test came back positive. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s lawsuit alleges Towson-based Home Instead Senior Care violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it rescinded the job applicant’s offer in March. (Solomon, 6/28)

KCUR: Nurses At Research Medical Center Protest Staffing Amid Contract Negotiations
Nurses at Research Medical Center are protesting what they say are high turnover rates and inadequate staffing at the hospital. The nurses say Research has too few nurses dealing with too many patients. They complain the hospital is often out of compliance with its own staffing requirements and, as a result, nurses are leaving the hospital in droves. In 2017, Research hired 188 registered nurses but 169 quit at the same time , according to National Nurses United, which represents nurses at both Research and another HCA Midwest Health-owned hospital, Menorah Medical Center. (Tulp, 6/27)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Chapman Family Cancer Wellness Centers Help Atlanta Cancer Patients
Thomas F. Chapman Family Cancer Wellness Centers provide comprehensive cancer services and programs to those affected by cancer at any phase in their journey. Cancer treatment involves more than medical care, and the four Chapman centers across the Piedmont health care system — in Atlanta, Fayette County, Newnan and Henry County — offer integrative services from licensed, certified professionals that address nutrition, peace of mind, creativity, physical movement and other health and wellness issues. (Figueras, 6/27)

California Healthline: Should ‘Gender-Affirming Health Care’ Be On The Radar For California’s Foster Kids?
As a 12-year-old girl, Phoenix Moncada was petrified and confused by the physical changes of puberty — and resorted to cutting, or self-mutilation, over and over again. At the time, a social worker, foster parents and therapist pigeonholed the child, known then as Christina, as a troubled, pubescent girl who acted out for attention. But Moncada, now 21, says the behavior reflected more than adolescent insecurities. (Young, 6/27)

Kaiser Health News: Squeezing Water From Air: Mysterious Machine Is A Lifeline On Caribbean Island 
The machine pulls clean water out of thin air — literally. Sitting atop metal stilts in front of this island’s condemned hospital, an imposing, hunter-green shipping container serves as a lifeline for local residents in need of drinking water. Nine months ago, Hurricane Maria slammed Puerto Rico and damaged the system that feeds drinking water from the main island to Vieques. Moses West, 59, a retired Army officer from Texas, brought in the machine made by his company to help fill the void. (Heredia Rodriguez, 6/28)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Neighboring States Have Loosened Their Pot Laws, But Marijuana Is Still Illegal In N.H.
It’s the summer of weed for neighboring states that have legalized recreational marijuana. The road to New Hampshire, though, remains one big “pot” hole. Pot is still illegal here. (Tuohy, 6/27)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati A Test Site For Weed Drug That FDA Has Just Approved
A lifelong researcher on the mystery of brain seizures, Privitera was running a clinical study on a medical-marijuana drug and epilepsy. Under unusual government scrutiny, the study turned in such astonishing results that on Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug, Epidiolex, the first time the government has signed off on a disease treatment made from the marijuana plant. (Saker, 6/27)

WBUR: Cannabis Businesses Hope To Shed Stoner Stereotype By 'Professionalizing Industry'
Recreational marijuana sales are legal in Massachusetts starting Sunday (though, there aren't any stores actually licensed and open to make sales). But most of the state's cities and towns have either a ban or a moratorium on retail sales. That leads to the question: Have our attitudes on marijuana changed since the 2016 ballot question, when a little more than 53 percent of the state voted to legalize recreational marijuana? (Oakes and Amer, 6/28)