Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Mass. Lawmakers Urge Investigation Of Nursing Home Company; Measles Exposure Possible At Chicago's O'Hare Airport
Boston Globe: Lawmakers Call On AG To Investigate Company Closing Local Nursing Homes
Eight state legislators are asking the Massachusetts attorney general to investigate a health care company that plans to close four nursing homes and an assisted living facility in Greater Boston, accusing it of misusing state money at the facilities it plans to shut down. ...The letter alleges that senior executives may have mismanaged state funding intended to pay wages and benefits for some of the lowest-paid nursing home workers. (Fox, 1/16)
Chicago Sun Times: Passenger With Measles May Have Exposed Others At O'Hare
A passenger on a flight that landed Wednesday at O’Hare International Airport may have exposed others at the airport to measles. The passenger, who was infectious at the time, arrived on an international flight at Terminal 5 and departed on a domestic flight from Terminal 1, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. (1/14)
Los Angeles Times: Residents Call On Candidates For Governor To Shut Down Aliso Canyon Gas Facility
A mysterious disease is spreading through Kyoko Hibino's neighborhood, but you'd never know it by glancing at her sunny, tree-lined Southern California community, she says. The Porter Ranch resident has suffered bronchitis, heart palpitations, headaches and nosebleeds, none of which amount to a diagnosis by doctors. Hibino said her cat also started getting nosebleeds, and now has cancer. (Lau, 1/13)
Boston Globe: CVS Health Confirms That Aetna Will Stay In Hartford
A spokesman for CVS Health confirmed Friday that it will keep Aetna in Hartford and make the city one of the pharmacy giant’s “centers of excellence,” where it locates major operations of its business lines. ...The insurer last summer announced plans to relocate its headquarters to New York City, in what would have been yet another blow to Connecticut’s economy and its civic pride. (Chesto, 1/12)
Sacramento Bee: California's Lack Of Early Health Screening For Children Delays Proper Treatment
In 2016, less than 21 percent of California parents reported that their young children’s health care providers had them complete a standardized developmental screening tool, according to an analysis of the National Survey of Children’s Health data, which was released recently by the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. ...Formal developmental screening questionnaires are critical for catching issues in children while they’re young enough that intensive interventions might alter the course of their lives. (Wiener, 1/15)
Minnesota Public Radio: In Occupation Where Stress Is Ample, Farmers Have Few Options For Mental Health Care
State reports show that farmers and rural people already lag significantly in access to mental health services. Even more concerning, suicide rates are much higher for farmers than the average worker. (Collins, 1/16)
The Washington Post: What Does Someone With Mental Illness Look Like? A Museum Tries To Answer
What does someone with mental illness look like? That’s a trick question. There is no one face of mental illness, and it crosses boundaries of age, sex, race and economic status. Often, it’s invisible — and it’s common. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 25 percent of adults in the United States have a mental illness. (Blakemore, 1/14)
Marin Independent Journal: California Leading Way To Addressing Rising U.S. Maternal Mortality
In California, where more babies are born than in any other state (approximately 500,000 a year — one-eighth of the U.S. total) — the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) is continuing to take a leading role in adopting new practices to reduce maternal mortality risks as well as life-threatening complications and racial disparities in obstetric care. Run as a collective and directed by Dr. Elliott Main, a visionary practitioner and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford and the University of California-San Francisco, CMQCC provides doctors and nurses with recommendations and toolkits to help improve procedures and safety protocols for obstetric emergencies, including hemorrhage and preeclampsia, the most common causes of U.S. maternal mortality (along with heart disease) and the most preventable. (La Follette, 1/15)
San Jose Mercury News: Three Bay Area Black Female Doctors Share Insights, Journeys
Stanford surgeon Dr. Leah Backhus is an esteemed member of a relatively tiny club in U.S. medicine she sometimes refers to as “two-fers:” female African-American doctors. They represent about 2 percent of the nation’s 877,616 active physicians but are among a growing trend in the country: A report last year from the Association of American Medical Colleges indicated that by 2013, black women 49 and younger made up a greater percentage of the U.S. physician workforce than black men in the same age group. (Seipel, 1/15)
