State Highlights: Mass. Med Schools Bolster Training Related To Rx Drug Use And Abuse; Florida Squeezes In-Home Care For Frail Adults

The Boston Globe: Medical Schools To Bolster Opioid Lessons
The state’s four medical schools have agreed to incorporate into their curriculum instruction in the prevention and treatment of prescription drug misuse, as part of Governor Charlie Baker’s effort to combat opioid addiction. Under the agreement, expected to be announced Monday, the 3,000 students enrolled in the medical schools at the University of Massachusetts and Boston, Harvard, and Tufts universities will be taught skills designed to prevent painkillers from being misused. (Freyer, 11/9)

The Miami Herald: Squeezed By State, Frail Adults Fight For In-Home Care
For the past 10 months, Adriana Parrales has been confined to her bed, breathing through a ventilator and fighting her insurance company for her life. Her days are spent with nurses monitoring vital signs that can be stable one minute and swing out of control the next, because of a genetic condition that causes debilitating tumors on Parrales’ brain and spine. (Koh and Miller, 11/6)

The Washington Post: Free One-Day D.C. Dental Clinic Gives Hundreds Of People A Reason To Smile
Do you take your teeth for granted? The fact that you still have them, and they don’t cause you pain? Then you are among the fortunate. Hundreds of the region’s less fortunate streamed into the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in downtown Washington on Sunday for a free one-day clinic sponsored by the American Dental Association. (Brown, 11/8)

The Denver Post: Kids In Need Of Dentistry Advocates For Healthy Teeth
On a recent afternoon at Hanson Elementary School in Commerce City, Mariana Martinez-Guzman walked into a small room bearing a brave face. The second-grader was there to get an anti-cavity sealant put on her six-year molars, and she was comporting herself with an alacrity many adults don't share in a dental chair. Amy Whitehorn, a registered dental hygienist, fitted her with a bib and sunglasses, the latter to protect her eyes from UV rays from one of her instruments. (Porter, 11/7)

WBUR: Fentanyl-Related Deaths Up Sharply In Mass.
The number of fentanyl-related overdose deaths is up sharply in Massachusetts. State police, which conducts toxicology tests for the state medical examiner, say that fentanyl was present in 336 people who died of overdoses in a 12-month period that ended on Oct. 6. That’s up more than 50 percent from the previous 12-month period. (Bebinger, 11/6)

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Some States Still Won't Disclose Newborn Testing Data
Despite major improvements in eliminating newborn screening delays throughout the country, some states still won't publicly disclose how quickly hospitals submit tests to detect deadly genetic disorders in newborns. State officials have until Monday to apply for a new federal grant designed to improve the timeliness of newborn screening programs and to track performance of individual states. Although summary data will be made public through the federally funded program, the performance of specific states will not, even though public knowledge of poor performance has sparked huge improvements across the country. (Gabler, 11/7)

The Des Moines Register: Parents: No Place Will Take My Child
When Aaron Harvey was born with a very rare disorder 21 years ago, doctors gave him a year to live. So you could infer the severely disabled young man’s survival this long has been a miracle. Perhaps. But two extraordinary circumstances have benefited him greatly: an at-home nurse for a mother; and a place like ChildServe in Johnston, where he has been cared for since he was 12. In January, though, Aaron turns 22 and will “age out” of the place he considers home. (Rood, 11/6)

The Tampa Bay Times: In The End, It Wasn't Anthony Barsotti's Demons That Killed Him
Anthony Barsotti looks on the verge of death. His skin is ashen, his face gaunt. His mouth gapes as he stares at the ceiling, sporadically sucking in breaths. Three hours earlier, Anthony was a physically healthy 23-year-old living in the state’s care at a Gainesville mental hospital. Then he took a swing at another mental patient and a hospital orderly launched him head-first into a concrete wall. Workers at North Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center have a good chance to save his life this night in July 2010. Instead, as hospital security cameras roll, they make one mistake after another. (Anton, Braga and Cormier, 11/8)

The Associated Press: University Returning $1M Coke Contribution For Health Group
The University of Colorado School of Medicine is returning a $1 million contribution from Coca-Cola to start a group that says it's dedicated to ending obesity. The money was provided to establish the Global Energy Balance Network, which says it is working on an "evidence-based approach to ending obesity." Since a New York Times story noted its funding from Coke in August, the group has been criticized for trying to play down the role sugary drinks play in fueling weight gain and instead playing up the importance for physical activity. (11/6)

The Associated Press: Indiana Program To Get Offenders Treatment, Not Prison Cell
Indiana's first statewide program that pays for addiction and mental health treatment for convicted felons sent to community corrections instead of jail or prison is now underway in a push that's targeting uninsured offenders. Courts, probation and parole officers and community correction managers on could begin referring eligible felons on Nov. 1 to designated drug and mental health treatment centers instead of to jail or prison. Family and Social Services Administration spokeswoman Marni Lemons said it's too early to know how many were referred since the initiative began or how many will eventually take part, but it's expected to number in the thousands. (Callahan, 11/8)