State Highlights: Maryland Governor Takes Steps To Enact Unique All-Payer Health Model; Group Seeks Ethics Review Of Rep. Jordan’s Ties To OSU Sexual Abuse Case

The Associated Press: Maryland Governor Signs Federal All-Payer Health Contract
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed a contract with the federal government on Monday to enact the state's unique all-payer health care model, which he said will create incentives to improve care while saving money. Hogan signed the five-year contract along with the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Seema Verma. (7/9)

The Associated Press: Ethics Review Sought As Ex-Coaches At Ohio St. Defend Jordan
A watchdog group and a former special counsel to President Barack Obama are seeking an ethics review of U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan even as former colleagues back his statements that he didn't know about sexual abuse of wrestlers while coaching at Ohio State University. Some ex-wrestlers from the late 1980s and early 1990s say they were groped by team doctor Richard Strauss and that Jordan knew then about the alleged abuse as an assistant coach. Jordan, founder of the conservative Freedom Caucus and potential contender for House speaker, denies that and has said he and other coaches would have reported any alleged abuse brought to their attention. (7/9)

Sacramento Bee: Five Health Care Bills That Affect CA Health Care Workers
Among the hundreds of bills on the Legislature's agenda for August are ones that would make key changes in the lives of California health care workers. Here are five to watch. (Chen, 7/10)

The Associated Press: Former VA Pathologist Denies Being Impaired On Duty
A former pathologist denied he was impaired on duty amid an Arkansas Veterans Affairs hospital's investigation into more than 30,000 of his cases dating back to 2005. Dr. Robert Morris Levy of Fayetteville told the Associated Press that the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks fired him as Chief of Pathology because of a DUI which was ultimately dismissed. (7/9)

The New York Times: New Jersey Woman On Oxygen Dies After Electric Company Shuts Off Her Power
New Jersey officials said on Monday they were investigating why a utility company shut off power last week at the Newark home of a woman in hospice care who then died after her electric-powered oxygen tank stopped operating. Family members of the woman, Linda Daniels, said she gasped for air for hours on Thursday until she died of congestive heart failure. The company, Public Service Electric and Gas Company, had cut off power to her home that morning because of overdue bills. (Haag, 7/9)

Stateline: Food Stamp Work Requirements Would Force States To Provide Job Training. Many Aren’t Ready.
The House version of the food-stamp-to-work program Congress is considering this week would require recipients to enroll in job training programs if they can’t find work — but in many states, those programs won’t be fully available for at least another decade. This will have a big impact on the people who depend on food stamps, some 42 million in 2017. The average beneficiary receives about $125 a month, and a family of four must have an annual income of about $25,000 or less to qualify. Many are already working. (Wiltz, 7/10)

The Associated Press: Court: Kansas Did Not Violate Transgender Inmate’s Rights
A federal appeals court says Kansas prison officials aren’t deliberately indifferent to a transgender inmate who says her medical treatment is so poor it violates her constitutional rights. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a lower court ruling in favor of prison officials in a dispute with Michelle Renee Lamb. Lamb was born male but has identified as female since a young age. She receives hormone treatment, testosterone-blocking medication and weekly counseling sessions in prison. But she wants greater doses of hormones and surgery. (7/9)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: New Opioid Report Finds Evidence Of Pill Mills And Doctor Shopping In Ohio
A report released Tuesday by the HHS Inspector General's office also found nearly 5,000 Medicaid recipients in Ohio getting large amounts of the drugs without cancer or hospice care diagnoses. It found more than 700 who appeared to be in serious danger of misusing or overdosing on the drugs. (Eaton, 7/10)

The Oregonian: Child In Clark County Suspected To Have Measles -- 3rd In Area In Two Weeks 
A child in Clark County is suspected of having measles, according to public health officials. They think the child got the infection from someone in Multnomah County, where two cases of measles were identified last week. ...Nine days after the first case, a second case was identified in a person who caught measles from a Gresham child care center the first person visited. There were about 40 people known to have been exposed who've not been immunized, county health officials said last Monday. (Harbarger, 7/9)

The Associated Press: Couple Who Prayed For Healing Plead Guilty In Baby’s Death
Two members of an Oregon church that shuns traditional medicine in favor of prayer and anointing the sick with oils pleaded guilty Monday to negligent homicide and criminal mistreatment in the death of their newborn daughter, who struggled to breathe for hours as family and friends prayed over her but did not seek medical care. Sarah Mitchell and her husband, Travis Lee Mitchell, had originally been charged with murder by neglect and criminal mistreatment in the 2017 death of the premature baby. They each were sentenced to almost seven years in prison, with credit for 13 months in custody awaiting trial and credit for good behavior. (7/9)

Reveal: This Cafe Serves Food Bought With Rehab Participants’ Food Stamps
Under federal law, some rehabs are allowed to use their clients’ food stamps to buy food for people in their program. ... But instead of buying food for their clients, Recovery Connections’ leaders, Phillip and Jennifer Warren, used the food stamps to purchase food for themselves, more than two dozen former participants said. (Harris and Walter, 7/9)

MPR: Fixing The Bottlenecks In Minnesota's Mental Health Care
Mental health institutions in Minnesota are facing a growing line of patients who require treatment, but don't have the beds to serve them. This line is compounded by a priority admissions statute signed into law in 2013 which requires jail inmates to be transferred to a mental health institution within 48 hours of being committed by a state judge. (Kwan, 7/10)

St. Louis Public Radio: St. Louis County Syphilis Rates Continue To Rise With Highest Jump In 5 Years
The rate of syphilis cases in St. Louis County increased 42 percent between 2016 and 2017, the largest increase in at least five years, according to data released by the county’s health department. ...Experts attribute the increase to people practicing unsafe sex and not knowing enough about symptoms or treatments for the disease. (Fentem, 7/9)

The Baltimore Sun: WellDoc Adds Hypertension To Diabetes Management App 
WellDoc, a Columbia-based health care technology company, announced that it has integrated hypertension and weight management coaching into its BlueStar app, which helps people manage type 2 diabetes. People with diabetes and hypertension, common diseases that often occur together, have more than double the risk of stroke and heart attacks, and company officials say the app aims to help them better manage the chronic conditions. The diseases also increase risk of eye, kidney and nerve disease. (Cohn, 7/9)

Health News Florida: You Could Be Sharing Your Pet’s Medicine Soon To Combat Mosquito-Borne Illnesses
A recently published study suggests medicine used to kill fleas and ticks in household pets might be effective at stopping mosquito-borne outbreaks in humans. University of Florida’s Derrick Mathias says the drugs still need to pass safety tests in humans and animals. (Prieur, 7/10)

Seattle Times: Is Station 31 Making Seattle Firefighters Sick? Study Hopes To Find Answers About ‘Cancer House’ 
For years, firefighters at Seattle’s Station 31 have worried that the place where they barbecue steak and try to sleep between calls might be making them sick. Red flags were first raised in the early 2000s, after a string of firefighters were diagnosed with cancer. But a subsequent study found no link between the station and the illness. Studies have shown that firefighters, in general, are at greater risk of getting cancer than the general population because of their routine exposure to carcinogens. Nonetheless, the fear has remained, and Station 31 is still known as “Cancer House.” (Wu, 7/9)

Boston Globe: Marijuana Cultivators Expanding, But Supply Crunch Predicted
Calculating the amount of marijuana Massachusetts will consume — and, in turn, how much must be grown and the price for which it can be sold — is the daily work of a small army of consultants hired by cannabis operators. Their estimates span a surprisingly wide range, a reflection of the long list of variables in play as the industry gets underway. (Adams, 7/10)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Former NFL Player Gets 21 Years In Health Care Fraud Case: Report 
A former NFL player who starred as a linebacker for the University of Florida was sentenced Monday (July 9) to 21 years in prison for his role in a scheme to bilk about $20 million from the TRICARE program for U.S. military members, veterans and their families, the Gainesville Sun reported. Monte Grow, 46, was convicted in February by a Miami federal jury on 17 counts of health care fraud conspiracy and money laundering, the newspaper reported. In addition to the prison sentence, Grow was ordered to pay $18.8 million in restitution. (Chatelain, 7/9)