State Highlights: Litigation Could Undermine Project For Sorely Needed Public Hospital In D.C.; Proposal For Parental Sign-Offs For Abortions Advances In Florida

The Washington Post: GWU Sues Corporate Hospital Partner, Leaving Fate Of Southeast Project Uncertain
George Washington University is suing its corporate partner in one of the Washington region’s foremost hospitals, crossing a new threshold in a dispute that could affect plans to build a new medical center east of the Anacostia River. The lawsuit, filed last week in D.C. Superior Court, alleges that Universal Health Services (UHS) — a Pennsylvania-based health-care corporation that owns hospitals across the country — has improperly diverted more than $100 million from George Washington University Hospital. (Jamison, 12/10)

Miami Herald: FL Senators Advance Parental Consent For Abortions
A key Florida Senate committee voted Tuesday, along party lines, to advance a bill that would require parental consent for abortion, overcoming a procedural hurdle by Democrats last month to stall the legislation. The 6-3 vote also begins moving what is likely to be one of the legislative session’s most controversial bills through the more moderate Senate, which looks likelier this year to pass the proposal. (Koh, 12/10)

The Associated Press: New Judge To Decide On Removing Life Support For Texas Baby
A new judge will consider if a Texas hospital can take a 10-month-old girl off life support despite her family's opposition after the impartiality of the previous judge was questioned. A temporary restraining order stopping Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth from removing life-sustaining treatment for Tinslee Lewis was set to expire Tuesday. But after the removal last week of Tarrant County Juvenile Court Judge Alex Kim, a new hearing on the family's request for a temporary injunction will now be held Thursday in Fort Worth. (12/10)

The Associated Press: Lab Owner To Plead Guilty In Medicare Kickback Scheme
A Pennsylvania business owner has agreed to plead guilty in a $127 million kickback scheme involving his genetic testing labs. Ravitej Reddy is scheduled to plead guilty to federal charges that he conspired with out-of-state marketing companies to pay kickbacks for lucrative lab tests at his two testing facilities, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Tuesday. A plea hearing is scheduled for Jan. 10. (12/10)

North Carolina Health News: Community Clinics Brace For Funding Lapse 
Across North Carolina, community health centers are contending with what has become an unpleasant tradition: planning for a potential federal funding lapse. The nation’s safety net clinics — 250 of which are in North Carolina — serve thousands of uninsured and underinsured patients and enjoy bipartisan support. But a battle between Congress and President Donald Trump over funding a border wall at the U.S.-Mexico border has stalled the passage of a full federal budget, which includes funding for community health centers. (Engel-Smith, 12/11)

The Washington Post: With Dozens Of Kids Orphaned By The Opioid Crisis, This Md. County Has A New Outlook On Trauma Services
Growing up in a Cecil County trailer park, Ray Lynn has been shaped by tragedy. He went from seeing drug addiction firsthand in his neighborhood as a child to tackling the problem as a police officer decades later. “I can name you friends that are dead because of it,” he said. (Davis, 12/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Frontier Airlines Is Sued For Pregnancy Discrimination
When Renee Schwartzkopf, a flight attendant with Frontier Airlines, gave birth in 2017, she didn’t tell her employer that she planned to breast-feed her son after returning to work. Ms. Schwartzkopf said she knew of another flight attendant who had asked to pump milk during flights and was told no. As the primary breadwinner in her family at the time, she couldn’t afford to lose her income if she requested permission and was denied, then forced to choose whether to quit or take unpaid leave. (Weber, 12/10)

The Advocate: Free Hepatitis C Tests To Be Offered In Local Walmarts 
In hopes of halting the spread of hepatitis C, state officials are working with Walmart to offer free testing at rural stores across the state. The idea is to screen and educate patients in places they already frequent, rather than making them go out of their way to hospitals or clinics. ...The program was announced Tuesday at a Walmart in Watson, which will serve as one of 10 pilot program sites through Feb. 1. (Kennedy, 12/10)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cleveland’s HIV/AIDS Program Failed To Test Highest Risk Populations, Reach Out To Exposed Partners Quickly
Several of the deficiencies the Ohio Department of Health cited as reasons for not renewing Cleveland’s $1.5 million HIV/AIDS grant are core to preventing infection and eradicating the epidemic, experts in the field told The Plain Dealer. (Dissell, 12/10)

Georgia Health News: Five Unreported Cases Started Cobb County Measles Outbreak
The recent Cobb County measles outbreak began in October with five cases that were not reported to public health officials. Health officials didn’t learn of the October cases — all within one family — until they began investigating the six additional cases that emerged in November in the suburban Atlanta county. (Miller, 12/10)

Miami Herald: New Report Sheds Light On Florida Immigration Detention
National civil rights and immigration lawyers are calling on state and federal officials to mandate complete oversight of all adult immigration detention facilities in Florida following a scathing report by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Americans for Immigrant Justice released Monday. The 104-page report highlights “substandard” conditions at Florida’s four adult detention centers — Krome Service Processing Center South Miami-Dade, Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Monroe County Detention Center in Key West and Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Fla. (Madan, 12/10)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: A Look Inside The Progress At Children’s Hospital Expanded Mental Health Facility 
Children's Hospital New Orleans is close to opening a new 51-bed unit for children in need of inpatient mental health services, expanding its current 39-bed facility amid what experts say is a shortage of treatment options in Louisiana for kids with mental illness. The 70,000-square-foot building, set to open next month, is part of a $300 million renovation and expansion plan at the hospital's Uptown campus. (Woodruff, 12/10)

The Oregonian: Woman Files $3M Lawsuit Against Medical Providers, Claims Meningococcal Diagnosis Was Delayed
An Oregon State University student who visited Portland-area medical providers amid a meningococcal outbreak at her Corvallis campus in 2017 — but was not immediately diagnosed with the disease — has sued the companies for $3 million. Julia L. Hanson, then a 21-year-old Oregon State student, was eventually diagnosed with the disease, according to the lawsuit. She nearly died, had a prolonged hospital stay and suffers from permanent brain damage and other negative effects, the lawsuit claims. (Ryan, 12/10)

The Advocate: Our Lady Of The Lake, NeuroMedical Center To Announce New Partnership 
Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center and The NeuroMedical Center are set to announce a new partnership that will expand stroke and neurological care in Baton Rouge and statewide. Gov. John Bel Edwards will attend a press conference Wednesday morning, along with Scott Wester, president and chief executive officer of Our Lady of the Lake, and Dr. Gregory Fautheree, president of The NeuroMedical Center Clinic, to detail an announcement. (Boone, 12/10)

Health News Florida: Panel Grapples With Substance Abuse, Mental Health Concerns Among Physicians
A state licensing board continues to grapple with how best to address mental-health issues and substance abuse among medical students and physicians across Florida. A Florida Board of Medicine subcommittee last week agreed to reduce a look-back period for mental health and substance abuse on a licensure application from five years to two years. But a day later, the full Board of Medicine raised concerns that it could put the public’s health at risk. (Sexton, 12/10)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Ranks Among Least Healthy States In The Nation, Report Finds
Georgia ranks among the least healthy states in the nation, according to a new report. The rankings, released by the United Health Foundation, put Georgia at No. 40 for overall healthiest states. The foundation has been putting out its “America’s Health Rankings Annual Report” for 30 years. It looks at factors like behaviors, community and environment, policy, clinical care and health outcomes. (Kueppers, 12/10)

The Star Tribune: Woman Sues Over Denial Of Emergency Contraceptives At Two Minn. Pharmacies
Andrea Anderson says she asked the pharmacist at her drugstore in north central Minnesota more than once why he couldn't fill her prescription for emergency contraception. The 39-year-old mother of five in McGregor, Minn., initially thought the man on the phone was concerned that the medication would not interact well with her allergy and asthma medication. But she said the pharmacist at Thrifty White kept insisting it was a matter of his own discomfort. (Montemayor, 12/10)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Black Leaders Question Mercy’s Plan To Open Health Clinic In Ferguson 
The founder of a black midwife-led health center that opened three years ago in Ferguson to address stark racial disparities in maternal health care is claiming hospital giant Mercy is violating an agreement with plans to open a similar clinic in Ferguson. A letter was published Monday in the St. Louis American, signed by area black female leaders and politicians, demanding an apology and that Mercy stop all plans to build its clinic. (Munz, 12/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF To Open First Site For Homeless Living Out Of Vehicles. Is It Enough?
The lot is being dubbed a “Vehicle Triage Center,” where people will have daily access to case managers, portable toilets and a portable shower three times a week. While city officials hail it as a productive first step toward addressing vehicular homelessness, others see it as an inadequate response to the crisis and a veiled attempt to clear RVs from residential neighborhoods. (Thadani, 12/10)