State Highlights: In N.Y., Cuomo Feels Push Back On Proposed Public Health Program Cuts; Texas Lawmakers Revisit Bid To Crack Down On Bad Nursing Homes

The Associated Press: NY Lawmakers: Cuomo Is Moving To Cut Funds To Fight Cancer
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing a $25 million reduction to programs that fight cancer, diabetes and other public health challenges — a move intended to eliminate inefficiencies that is being fought by some lawmakers and health advocates who oppose the cuts. (2/22)

Houston Chronicle: Lawmakers Renew Effort To Crack Down On Bad Nursing Homes
Two years after falling short in a high-profile bid to crack down on bad nursing homes, some Texas state lawmakers are trying again. State Sen. Charles Schwertner kicked off the effort by introducing a trio of bills to make it harder for nursing homes and other long-term care facilities and home and community services agencies to avoid discipline and lawsuits when they are found to have done wrong. (Rosenthal, 2/22)

Arizona Republic: Arizona Senate OKs Bill That Would Let Providers Opt Out Of 'Right To Die' Efforts​
Despite growing concerns that Arizona legislation to protect the religious freedoms of health-care workers could undermine patients' end-of-life decisions, the Senate approved the bill Wednesday. Senate Bill 1439, which is sponsored by Sen. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, and pushed by the conservative Center for Arizona Policy, would protect from discrimination a health-care provider that refuses to participate in any service or provide any item that results in the death of an individual. (Beard Rau, 2/22)

Health News Florida: PTSD Coverage For First Responders Could Expand Under New Bill 
Democratic State Senator Victor Torres filed a bill Tuesday to allow first responders to get worker’s compensation coverage for post-traumatic stress disorder. The bill makes PTSD and mental conditions more easily eligible, and it removes the requirement that first responders also be hurt physically. Jessica Realin’s husband was diagnosed with PTSD after cleaning up the Pulse Night Club tragedy. (Aboraya, 2/22)

KQED: After Introduction Of New Bill, Nurses Rally For Universal Health Care 
Chanting “Medicare for all is our fight, health care is a human right,” nurses and healthcare activists rallied in Sacramento Wednesday to support a new bill that would create universal health coverage for Californians. State Senators Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) introduced Senate Bill 562 last week. The bill would cover all residents of the state, even those who are undocumented. (Klivans, 2/22)

The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly.com: Nurses At Delaware County Memorial Call Two-Day Strike
Nurses at Delaware County Memorial Hospital will go on strike for two days next month to protest stalled labor contract bargaining and unfair labor practices, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals said Wednesday. The union, known as PASNAP, won the right a year ago to represent 370 registered nurses and technical employee at the Drexel Hill facility, which was purchased in July 2016 by Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. as part of the hedge-fund backed firm's acquisition of Crozer-Keystone Health System. (Brubaker, 2/22)

Boston Globe: Doctor Says He Brought Needed Care To Bermuda 
When he returned to his native Bermuda in the early 1990s to open a medical clinic, Dr. Ewart Brown felt as if he had stepped back in time. On the small island, care that was readily available to patients he treated in one of LosAngeles’s poorest neighborhoods was out of reach. That stark portrait eventually led Brown to a partnership with Lahey Hospital and Medical Center — one that is now the subject of a civil racketeering lawsuit that has uncovered a little-noticed relationship between the Burlington-based hospital and the small British territory. (Murphy and Dayal McCluskey, 2/23)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: These High-Tech Mannequins Help LSU Medical Students Learn How To Save Your Life
...Faculty and staff at LSU's Health Sciences Center (HSC) considered the flight simulators used by airplane pilots. The LSU team realized that a similar training system could be used in medical education, in order to more efficiently and ethically judge students' competency. As a result, in 2001, LSUHSC began using high-tech medical mannequins to simulate human patients. LSU faculty and staff helped develop life-size mannequins that breathe and blink, have heartbeats and blood pressure, talk and even have names. The mannequins are programmed to simulate various medical conditions and injuries, allowing medical students to engage with mock patients in a low-risk, controlled environment. (Harrison, 2/22)

The CT Mirror: School-Level Immunization Data Could Be Released Under Proposal 
Wondering how many children at your kid’s school aren’t vaccinated? If you live in Connecticut, there’s no way to find out.But that could change under a legislative proposal favored by the state Department of Public Health, which is currently prohibited from releasing data on immunization rates by school. The state health department already gets data from schools on the number of vaccine-exempt students, the number who have been fully immunized and those who have received some but not all vaccines. (Levin Becker, 2/22)

Tampa Bay Times: In Harm's Way: Gun Injuries And Deaths Among Florida Kids Have Spiked. One Child Is Shot Every 17 Hours.
Gun injuries are a growing problem for Florida's children, rising along with the increasing availability of firearms across the state, the Tampa Bay Times has found. To determine how many kids are shot each year — accidentally, intentionally or during the commission of a crime — the Times looked at millions of hospital discharge records for patients across Florida, as well as data collected by the state's 24 medical examiners. The analysis found that, between 2010 and 2015, nearly 3,200 kids age 17 and under were killed or injured by firearms. Put another way, a child in Florida was shot, on average, every 17 hours. (McGrory and Humburg, 2/23)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Iranian Doctor At Dartmouth-Hitchcock Reunites With His Wife 
A resident doctor at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center said he was “shocked, relieved, happy” when he was able to hug his Iranian wife Wednesday for the first time in nine months. Dr. Omid Moghimi said President Trump’s ban on residents of seven countries to travel to the United States meant his wife, Dorsa Razi, couldn’t get her final immigration interview in late January or a required visa needed to come to the United States. But a federal court blocked the travel ban, giving her a reprieve to gain the necessary approvals. Moghimi said he had worried he might not see his wife “for several more months if not for a year. (Cousineau, 2/23)

Columbus Dispatch: Fifth Child Dies As Flu Spreads Across Ohio
Despite the relatively mild 2016-2017 winter so far, Ohio is close to matching the number of children — six — who died during the 2014-15 flu season. One child died last flu season and none in 2013-2014. Adult flu deaths are not reported in Ohio, and health officials could not release whether the children who died had received a flu vaccine. (Viviano, 2/22)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Chronic Pain Considered For Medical Marijuana Use In New Jersey
Chronic pain may be added to the list of ailments that qualify for medical marijuana treatment in New Jersey, according to the chairman of a Health Department advisory panel that took emotional testimony from patients Wednesday in a crowded meeting room at the War Memorial. The panel will decide in the coming months whether to recommend that the health commissioner expand the list, which now has about a dozen ailments, including terminal cancer, multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy. (Hefler, 2/22)

Iowa Public Radio: Medical Marijuana Bill Advances; Similar Bill Failed Last Year 
Patients and their advocates made a return trip to the Iowa Capitol Wednesday, arguing once again for the legalization of medical marijuana in Iowa. A new bill is under consideration in the House to regulate the growing, manufacturing, and distribution  of cannabis oil. This is a working vehicle. -Rep. Jared KleinEarlier legislation is about to expire. It allows epilepsy patients to travel out of state to acquire the drug, which has created numerous obstacles. (Russell, 2/22)