State Highlights: Mass. Gov. Proposes Plan To Penalize Employers That Don’t Offer Insurance; Ga. Grapples With Nurse Shortage

Boston Globe: Baker To Propose Assessment For Companies That Don’t Offer Employee Health Insurance 
Governor Charlie Baker, seeking to rein in the continued rise in medical spending, is proposing to penalize employers $2,000 per worker if they do not provide health insurance, and to also place new limits on hospital prices. Baker administration officials said Tuesday that they want to bring back a provision of Massachusetts’ landmark 2006 health care law that was later axed: requiring employers with more than 10 full-time workers to pay a penalty if they fail to offer “adequate” health insurance. (Dayal McCluskey, 1/17)

WBUR: Gov. Baker Plans Measures To Address Escalating MassHealth Costs 
Companies that do not offer their employees health insurance would pay a $2,000 annual assessment per full-time worker to the state under a plan Gov. Charlie Baker plans to offer later this month to blunt the impact of escalating, enrollment-driven costs in the state's Medicaid program, the State House News Service has learned. The proposal -- the bulk of which is expected to be filed within the governor's budget due on Jan 25. -- would also impose growth caps on the rates health providers can charge for medical services in an effort to control the cost of care in the commercial market and make it more affordable for employers. (Murphy, 1/17)

Georgia Health News: Georgia Has Too Few Nurses, And The Problem Could Get Much Worse
A shortage of nurses is gripping Georgia, and all hospitals are looking for RNs, she says. One key factor fueling Georgia’s nursing shortage, Fort adds, is that the state’s population “is growing fairly rapidly, and our elderly population is growing fairly rapidly.” Hospital systems across Georgia confirm to GHN that there’s a shortage of RNs in the state. (Miller, 1/17)

The Baltimore Sun: Patients Ending Up With Large Bills For Out-Of-Network Doctors They Did Not Select 
Privately insured Maryland patients typically pay several times more for out-of-network medical services and procedures than what Medicare pays for the same services, according to new research from John Hopkins. They face unexpectedly large bills after doctors who were not part of their insurance companies' network of approved providers are assigned to treat them at hospitals. (McDaniels, 1/17)

The Baltimore Sun: Nation's Drug Czar Highlights Baltimore's Efforts At Curbing Drug Addiction 
Just days from the end of his tenure as the nation's drug czar, Michael Botticelli visited Baltimore's health department on Tuesday to highlight the efforts of local officials to combat the nation's opioid epidemic and warn against a scaling back of health insurance coverage for addiction treatment. Millions of people have gained access to addiction treatment through insurance provided under the federal Affordable Care Act, he said. That's now under threat from the GOP-led Congress and the incoming administration of Donald Trump, which have pledged to repeal the law known as Obamacare. (Cohn, 1/17)

KCUR: Appeals Court Cuts Award To Health Care Foundation From $434M To $188M
An appeals court has cut by more than half the $434 million in damages awarded to the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City in its breach-of-contract lawsuit against hospital giant HCA. In a long-anticipated decision, the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City on Tuesday reduced the judgment to $188 million, finding a capital expenditures commitment HCA made when it acquired the assets of Health Midwest 14 years ago was partly met by HCA’s construction of new hospitals in Independence and Lee’s Summit.  (Margolies, 1/17)

Seattle Times: State Senator Wants To Ban Safe-Injection Sites For Drug Users
A Republican state senator has introduced a bill that would ban safe-injection sites for heroin users in Washington state. The bill by Sen. Mark Miloscia, R-Federal Way, comes after a task force last year recommended two King County pilot sites for users to inject heroin under medical supervision. Supporters say the pilot sites could reduce overdose deaths, cut down on needles littering sidewalks and bring down the cost of emergency medical services used by addicts. (O'Sullivan, 1/17)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: South Jersey Woman Gets A Transplant After Craigslist Kidney Donation Is Canceled
A South Jersey woman who made national news by finding a kidney donor on Craigslist a year ago only to have the transplant fall through announced Tuesday that she had the life-saving procedure last month. Nina Saria, 34, a wife and mother from Egg Harbor City, was able to get a new kidney from her mother Nana Gulua, who lives in the Republic of Georgia. But Saria, who discussed her surgery Tuesday in the Barrington office of Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.), said she might not have had the transplant if Menendez had not intervened with federal officials to grant her mother permission to travel to the United States. (Giordano, 1/17)

Los Angeles Times: Gardens Regional Hospital And Medical Center To Close After Failing To Find Buyer
A struggling Hawaiian Gardens hospital will close because it could not find a buyer willing to set aside a state-mandated level of funding for uninsured patients who can’t afford treatment. Gardens Regional Hospital and Medical Center found an interested buyer in a bankruptcy auction in July, according to court documents, but the state attorney general’s office said in November that it would approve the $19.5-million sale to Strategic Global Management Inc. only if, among other things, the new operator agreed to provide $2.25 million per year in charity care for six years. (Ehehad, 1/17)

Texas Tribune: How One Transgender Boy Sees The "Bathroom Bill" Debate 
A new bill would mandate that people use bathrooms in public schools, government buildings and public universities based on “biological sex.” A business group and families with transgender members are working to oppose it. (Rocha and Dehn, 1/18)

Miami Herald: Florida Ranks In The Middle Of All States In The Financial Cost Of Smoking 
Tobacco use can be blamed for about 500,000 deaths in the U.S. each year and is the leading cause of lung cancer, according to the American Lung Association. It is also the leading cause of preventable death. Second-hand smoke can be harmful, too. Since 1964, smoking-related illnesses have killed 2.5 million non-smokers. What’s more, the dangerous habit is expensive. Americans spend more than $300 billion on tobacco–related services every year, including almost $170 billion in direct medical care and more than $156 billion in lost productivity. (Veciana-Suarez, 1/17)

The Star Tribune: Pioneering Spinal Surgery In The Womb Boosts Babies' Odds In Minneapolis 
A team of Minneapolis surgeons is helping to pioneer a bold advance in prenatal medicine — operating on fetuses with spinal deformities while they're still in the womb, then leaving them in place until they are ready to be born. Doctors with the Midwest Fetal Care Center, a collaboration between Children's Minnesota and Allina Health, have performed six open fetal surgeries, each one to halt the physical and cognitive degeneration caused by open spina bifida, an incomplete closing of the skin and backbone over the spinal cord. (Olson, 1/17)

Iowa Public Radio: A Program Designed To Stop The Bleed 
West Des Moines is becoming the first city in Iowa to sign on to the national program known as Stop the Bleed. The effort is meant to train citizens to become first responders in cases of mass injuries. The White House launched the project in partial response to the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Stop the Bleed is designed to train and equip people to save lives in emergency situations involving serious bleeding.  (Dillard, 1/17)

Tampa Bay Times: State Begins Medical Marijuana Rule Process 
Tuesday morning, the Florida Department of Health published its initial proposed rules for a statewide medical marijuana program and announced public hearings. But the rules essentially merge new patients into an existing, small medical cannabis program already functoning in the state, diverging from some of the key ideas pushed during the November election by backers of Amendment 2, the constitutional amendment that expanded medical marijuana. (Auslen, 1/17)