State Highlights: Malloy’s Budget For Conn. Includes Deep Cuts In Health, Social Services; Wis. Legislators Skeptical Of Walker’s Health Plan For Public Employees

The CT Mirror: Malloy Budget Hinges On Big Labor Savings, New Revenues 
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy unveiled a $40.6 billion two-year budget Wednesday that seeks $1.5 billion in labor concessions, imposes $400 million of annual pension costs on municipalities and reorganizes the financial relationship between the state, communities and hospitals. The governor also would increase taxes by close to $200 million, scaling back income tax credits for the middle class and working poor and boosting the cigarette levy by 45 cents per pack. (Phaneuf, 2/8)

The CT Mirror: How Health Care And Medicaid Fare In Malloy’s Budget 
About 9,500 parents would lose Medicaid, fewer seniors would receive home care, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers would receive millions of dollars less from the state, and school-based health centers would see a 10 percent funding cut under the budget plan Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed Wednesday. The plan aims to close a budget deficit projected at nearly $1.7 billion, and many of the individual cuts drew concern from providers and advocates for health and social service programs. Still, some said the plan left them more optimistic than had previous proposals by Malloy. (Levin Becker, 2/8)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Republicans Resist Walker's Insurance Plan
Gov. Scott Walker is banking on saving $60 million in taxpayer funds over two years by changing the way public employees get health insurance, but legislators are deeply skeptical of the proposal. In the state budget he unveiled Wednesday, the governor detailed plans to shift the state to a self-insurance system to cover employee health care costs. But his fellow Republicans who control the Legislature questioned whether the state could generate the savings Walker is counting on and said the change could hurt the insurance market for individuals and small businesses. Republican legislators have resisted the proposal in the past. (Marley and Stein, 2/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Report Cites Deficiencies At Theranos Lab
Theranos Inc.’s lab in Arizona failed to ensure some patients who got potentially inaccurate diabetes test results were notified, according to a federal inspection report obtained through a public-records request. The embattled Silicon Valley company also performed patient blood-coagulation tests on a machine its staff configured improperly, according to the report and the company’s response to regulators. (Weaver, 2/8)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Two More Cases Confirmed In Mumps Outbreak At Marquette University
Two more Marquette University students who live in a residence hall have been diagnosed with mumps, bringing to three the total number of cases confirmed on campus since winter break.... The newly diagnosed students are recovering at home, and the Milwaukee Health Department is following up with those known to have come into close contact with them, Smith said in the email. Mumps is a viral infection spread through coughing, sneezing, talking or occasionally through utensils and cups. It also can be spread by touching unwashed, contaminated surfaces. (Herzog, 2/8)

Arizona Republic: Gov. Doug Ducey Wants 86K Arizona Newborns A Year Tested For This Disease
Hospitals on the reservation include SCID in their newborn screenings. But outside of the Navajo Reservation, Arizona does not screen newborns for the disease, a practice Gov. Doug Ducey wants to change this year in the hopes of giving children like Ava, now 3, a chance at lifesaving treatment. Left undetected, SCID can lead to repeated infections and even death. The screening costs about $6, and Arizona is one of three states across the U.S. that do not screen for SCID. (Wingett Sanchez, 2/8)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Toledo City Council Bans 'Conversion Therapy' 
City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ban "conversion therapy," the controversial psychological treatment that attempts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. The legislation, approved by a 12-0 vote, makes conversion therapy a fourth-degree misdemeanor with an attached fine for each offense, according to the Associated Press. (Pinckard, 2/9)

Boston Globe: OSHA Cites Brookline Psychiatric Hospital 
Workplace safety inspectors have cited Arbour-HRI, a Brookline psychiatric hospital, after discovering that front-line employees suffered broken bones and concussions during interactions with violently ill patients. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said the hospital “has not developed and implemented adequate measures to protect employees’’ from aggressive patients. Nurses and mental health workers were punched, hit, scratched, bitten, and hit with objects including a soda bottle and wooden dresser drawer, the federal agency said. (Kowalczyk, 2/9)

NH Times Union: Hampton Nursing Facility Denies Role In Death Of Elderly Woman
A Hampton nursing facility denies that it played any role in the death of an elderly woman whose family claims died as a result of a bad hair perm.The lawyer for Oceanside Center and Oceanside Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center disputes some of the allegations made in a wrongful death suit filed late last year following the death of 89-year-old Betty Pettigrew in 2015. (Schreiber, 2/8)

Detroit Free Press: Detroit Hospitals See Hope For Heart Attacks With New Pump
Five health systems in southeastern Michigan have joined forces to save heart attack victims, using a new tiny heart pump. Since July, doctors from Henry Ford Health System, Beaumont, DMC Heart Hospital, St. Joseph Mercy Health System and St. John Providence Ascension have used Impella pumps, inserted in cardiac patients dealing with cardogenic shock, which has led to an 80% survival rate. When in cardogenic shock, patients' heart function plummets, which leads to low blood pressure and not enough blood flowing to vital organs. (Meyer, 2/8)

The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly.com: Money Fight Starts In North Philly Health System Bankruptcy
There is not much money to fight over in the bankruptcy of North Philadelphia Health System, which owed $24.8 million to its 30 largest unsecured creditors, according to its Dec. 30 filing. That explains the intense interest in the $692,000 that NPHS received from a New Jersey trust last Thursday. Before a hearing on the matter Wednesday in Center City, NPHS and three creditor groups reached a preliminary deal, which they detailed in U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Magdeline D. Coleman’s courtroom. (Brubaker, 2/8)

The Baltimore Sun: Center For Health Security At Hopkins Awarded $16 Million Grant
The Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will study biosecurity and pandemics with the help of a $16 million grant announced Wednesday. The three-year grant from the Open Philanthropy Project will help the center study responses to serious biological risks and how technology could change those risks, improve biosafety practices, and increase awareness of biosecurity and pandemic challenges, according to the center. (Wells, 2/8)

Tampa Bay Times: Hernando Residents Tapped To Participate In National Health, Nutrition Survey 
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, ongoing in Hernando County through March 8, will result in some answers to such questions and, likely, in revised national standards and recommendations regarding diet and physical and mental health. In the survey's 55th year nationwide, this appears to be the first time Hernando County residents have been sampled, officials said. (Gray, 2/9)

Austin American Statesman: Critics Accuse UT Medical School Of Misspending Local Tax Dollars
The University of Texas Dell Medical School has spent millions of dollars on administrative and educational expenses using local tax dollars that are supposed to go only for indigent care, two activists and a former state senator charged Wednesday in remarks before UT’s governing board. The allegations echo previous complaints but were delivered with a stronger assertion of misspending and more detail. They were leveled by former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos of Austin and two local lawyers, Fred Lewis and Bob Ozer. (Haurwitz, 2/8)

Los Angeles Times: Southern California Gas To Pay $8.5 Million To Settle Lawsuit Over Aliso Canyon Leak
Southern California Gas Co. will pay $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by air quality regulators over the Aliso Canyon gas leak and will fund a study of community health effects. The settlement with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, announced Wednesday, resolves a dispute over the months-long leak of methane from the gas company’s Aliso Canyon storage facility above the Porter Ranch neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Barboza, 2/8)

Health News Florida: Doctors Among Concerned Public Commenters At Amendment 2 Meetings 
The Florida Department of Health held workshops across the state this week to get input from the public about how best to implement Amendment 2, which expands the use of medical marijuana. Florida voters passed it last November, but state officials are still trying to work out regulations. (Miller, 2/8)

Orlando Sentinel: Orlando-Area Doctors, Patients, Growers Have Their Say On Medical Marijuana Rules
Dozens of people with ailments including cancer, chronic pain and multiple sclerosis implored the Florida Department of Health on Wednesday night to loosen the regulations for medical marijuana and allow them to get treatment faster. Voters in November approved a constitutional amendment that allows doctors to recommend full-strength marijuana for a wide variety of ailments including glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, ALS, Parkinson's disease, Crohn’s disease and PTSD. Now the department’s Office of Compassionate Use is scrambling to figure out how to regulate the drug within the required six months of the effective date of the amendment, which was Jan. 3. (Jacobson, 2/8)