State Highlights: Lead Paint Suppliers Settle Decades-Long Battle With California For $305M; Lawmakers Call For Increased Scrutiny Over Puerto Rico’s Medicaid Program

Reuters: California Settles Decades-Long Lawsuit Over Lead Paint, But Outcome Is Bittersweet
When Californian counties and cities first sued paint makers in 2000, they wanted the companies to pay billions to remove dangerous old lead paint from hundreds of thousands of homes. After a 19-year legal struggle, they have finally succeeded in getting the companies to fund a remediation program, albeit on a much smaller scale. Sherwin-Williams, ConAgra Grocery Products Co. and NL Industries have agreed to a $305 million settlement, according to a filing in Santa Clara County Superior Court in California on Wednesday. (7/17)

Reuters: Puerto Rico Faces Tougher Scrutiny Over Federal Medicaid Funding
U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday called for heightened scrutiny of Puerto Rico's Medicaid program as the bankrupt territory seeks increased federal healthcare funding while it deals with repercussions from a government corruption scandal. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce agreed to several accountability measures linked to a $12 billion funding boost over four years for the low-income healthcare program in Puerto Rico. A group of Republican U.S. senators, meanwhile, sought information on whether any safeguards are in place to deter misuse of the island's federal Medicaid dollars. (7/17)

The Washington Post: In D.C., 5,500 Students Are Homeless. The City Is Helping Some Of Them Take Their First Steps To College.
His bed was snugly made, and four pair of sneakers formed a neat line beneath his extra-long twin bed. An iron that Dajon Duvall borrowed from his dorm’s residential adviser sat on a wooden desk that was crammed on his side of the room. Every day, the 18-year-old irons his T-shirts and jeans, a habit he picked up in eighth grade after spending two years living with his mom and younger sisters in hotel rooms in central Florida. (Stein, 7/17)

ProPublica: Illinois Lawmakers Demand Child Welfare Officials Better Serve Spanish-Speaking Families
Illinois lawmakers and advocates are calling on state child welfare officials to better comply with a federal court order to serve Spanish-speaking families, an issue they say has become more critical amid heightened fear among immigrants of interacting with government agencies. The calls come in response to a ProPublica Illinois investigation last month that found that the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has, for decades, repeatedly violated a 1977 federal court order that mandates the agency provide services to Latino families in their primary language. (Eldeib and Sanchez, 7/18)

Politico Pro: Newsom Begins Mental Health Care Crackdown With County Sanctions
California is penalizing 10 rural counties for failing to provide enough mental health practitioners to treat patients with serious conditions, taking an aggressive new stance to demand better care across the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration has withheld a total of $12 million over the past month from mental health plans managed by the 10 counties, mostly situated in the Central Valley, according to data obtained by POLITICO through public records requests. (Hart, 7/17)

The Associated Press: Deaths Related To Retirement Home's Virus Outbreak Rise To 3
Health officials say three people have now died amid a virus outbreak at a northern Virginia retirement community. The Fairfax County Health Department reported the third death Tuesday. Two deaths were reported last week. Officials said they did not know the full medical history of those who died or the extent to which the respiratory illness played a role. (7/17)

The Washington Post: Third Person Has Died After Respiratory Illness Outbreak At Greenspring Village, Fairfax Officials Say
At a news conference Wednesday at the agency’s headquarters, Benjamin Schwartz, director of epidemiology and population health at the Fairfax County Health Department, said tests, including those conducted on 17 samples by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have failed to identify a likely cause. Tests for Legionnaires’ disease have also come up negative. Officials tested for a range of common virus- or bacteria-borne respiratory illnesses. (Kunkle, 7/17)

Miami Herald: APD Redesign Prompts Concerns About Cutting Services
Lawmakers ordered Florida disability administrators this year to restructure its community-based Medicaid program that delivers healthcare to tens of thousands of people with disabilities. But as two state agencies begin to devise the new structure of the program, clients, caregivers and service providers are worrying that the coming changes to lower the agency’s budget might cut critical services to people who need them. (Koh, 7/17)

Pioneer Press: Minnesota DHS Deputies Rescind Resignations After Lourey And Chief Of Staff Quit 
Minnesota’s largest government agency continued to resemble a revolving door on Wednesday, as its two top deputies rescinded their resignations after the commissioner and his chief of staff announced their departures. Chuck Johnson and Claire Wilson, the two deputy commissioners of the Department of Human Services, have agreed to stay at the agency, according to an internal email sent by acting Commissioner Pam Wheelock on Wednesday. (Faircloth, 7/17)

The Star Tribune: Two Minn. DHS Deputies Return After Lourey, Chief Of Staff Resign 
Less than 48 hours after Minnesota Human Services Commissioner Tony Lourey unexpectedly stepped down from his post, two top deputies who had announced their departures the week before decided to rescind their resignations. Wednesday’s turn of events came a day after Lourey’s chief of staff, Stacie Weeks, also announced her plans to resign, extending a dizzying shake-up of top leaders from the state’s largest agency. (Serres and Coolican, 7/18)

Boston Globe: Massachusetts Medical Board Approves Rules On Simultaneous Surgeries
Surgeons will have to document each time they enter and leave the operating room, and who took over in their absence, under a rule approved Wednesday by the state medical board amid controversies over doctors who perform more than one surgery at a time. The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine unanimously passed that rule and another requiring that patients be told the names of junior doctors who will participate in their operations. (Saltzman, 7/17)

North Carolina Health News: For Mental Health Support, NC Hospital Hires Those Who Live With It
There are two groups of people most familiar with mental illness: psychiatrists and those who live with it. So Cherry Hospital is hiring both. Cherry, a psychiatric inpatient treatment facility in Goldsboro, is the first state-run hospital in North Carolina to add certified mental health peer support specialists to its staff. The hospital has five peers who are integrated throughout the hospital. (Knopf, 7/18)

Columbus Dispatch: First Responders Still Can't Get PTSD Coverage Under New Workers' Comp Budget
A long-term budget for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation — without coverage for first responders’ post-traumatic stress disorder — won easy passage in the General Assembly on Wednesday. A conference committee of House and Senate members voted unanimously to approve a compromise bill. The House then OK’d the measure 71-13, and the Senate voted 22-9, sending it to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature. (Ludlow, 7/17)

Modern Healthcare: OSF HealthCare Aims To Expand Reach In Chicago
OSF HealthCare and Little Company of Mary Hospital & Health Care Centers expect to merge. The Catholic hospitals Wednesday said they're finalizing agreements to combine, as well as seeking regulatory and church approval. Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed. The merger would give Peoria, Ill.-based OSF, a 13-hospital network, a clinical presence in the Chicago area. Little Company of Mary, which has 12 sites of care, including a 298-bed community hospital in south suburban Evergreen Park, would gain deeper pockets, better pricing and advanced technology. (Goldberg, 7/17)

Arizona Republic: Arizona To Improve Availability Of HIV Prevention Drug PrEP
Officials with Arizona's Medicaid program on Wednesday announced plans for wider use of the drug PrEP to help reduce one of the highest rates of new HIV infections in the country. In a joint announcement with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Robert Redfield, officials with the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System said they'd be promoting more availability of Truvada for PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) as a way of preventing new HIV infections in people who are currently HIV negative but at risk for contracting the virus. (Innes, 7/17)

Detroit Free Press: Beaumont Health Wayne Hospital Rallies For Better Wages, Healthcare
Beaumont Health employees and union members rallied Wednesday to express frustrations regarding what they consider low wages, inadequate staffing and unaffordable health care while they say contract negotiations with their employer stall. About 100 workers from Beaumont hospitals in Wayne, Trenton and Taylor and members of Michigan's SEIU Healthcare union stood at the corner of Venoy Road and Annapolis Street at the Beaumont Hospital in Wayne on Wednesday afternoon with signs, chants and megaphones. (Bauman, 7/17)

Sacramento Bee: CA Food Stamp Legislation Could Increase CalFresh Sign Ups
California, a state with the nation’s highest poverty rate, consistently ranks near the bottom when it comes to enrolling low-income people in CalFresh, the state’s name for the federal food stamp program. That translates to a lot of federal money that California forsakes each year. Low-income Californians would have received an additional $1.8 billion in 2016 in federal funding if CalFresh reached every eligible person, estimates California Food Policy Advocates, a non-profit that promotes greater access to food for low-income people. (Botts, 7/18)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 1,900 Lead Service Lines Replaced In Milwaukee
About 1,900 lead service lines in Milwaukee were replaced between Jan. 1, 2017, and June 30 of this year, even as the city struggles to find contractors for the effort. "One of the biggest issues right now is contractor capacity," Milwaukee Water Works Superintendent Karen Dettmer told the city's Public Works Committee Wednesday. Contractors work on private lead service lines and in certain instances on public ones. (Dirr, 7/17)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Communities Plan Cooling Centers As Summer Scorcher Hits N.H.
The oppressive heat and humidity that’s expected to bake New Hampshire has prompted several communities to announce plans to offer cooling centers. Heat advisories and warnings are possible beginning Friday as temperatures climb into the lower 90s and a humid air mass settles over the region. Forecasters say the worst of the heat will come Saturday, when the combination of temperatures in the upper 90s and high humidity levels will make it feel like over 100 degrees in central and southern parts of the state. (Schreiber, 7/17)

The Washington Post: Court Strikes Down Virginia Law For ‘Criminalizing An Illness’ In Targeting Homeless Alcoholics
A divided federal appeals court this week struck down a Virginia law for “effectively criminalizing an illness” by targeting homeless alcoholics for buying, consuming or having alcohol. The narrowly decided case reversed an earlier ruling from a three-judge panel of the same court, provoked lengthy, passionate dissent and indicated deep divisions on a court known for its civility and genteel traditions. In its 8-7 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit invalidated the law as “unconstitutionally vague” because it does not provide fair warning to would-be offenders and singles out homeless alcoholics based on their addiction to alcohol. (Marimow, 7/17)

Boston Globe: Boston’s First Recreational Marijuana Store Receives Preliminary License, Could Open Within Months
Boston inched closer Wednesday to having its first recreational marijuana store, possibly within months, as state regulators granted a provisional license to a planned shop in Dorchester. The license for Pure Oasis also marked the first granted to a member of the state’s economic empowerment program, which aims to help people from communities disproportionately harmed by pot criminalization. (Martin, 7/17)