State Highlights: Massachusetts Takes Steps To Help Struggling Community Hospitals; Judge Stops Arkansas From Enforcing Medication Abortion Ban

Boston Globe: Mass. House Seeks $450 Million To Prop Up Struggling Community Hospitals
The Massachusetts House of Representatives on Tuesday will take up legislation that would slap $450 million in new assessments on the health care industry to prop up struggling community hospitals but largely avoids tackling the rising costs of care. (Dayal McCluskey, 6/18)

The Associated Press: Federal Judge Again Blocks Arkansas Medication Abortion Law
A federal judge on Monday again blocked Arkansas from enforcing a law that critics say makes the state the first in the nation to effectively ban abortion pills. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker granted a 14-day temporary restraining order preventing Arkansas from enforcing the restriction on how abortion pills are administered. The law says doctors who provide the pills must hold a contract with a physician with admitting privileges at a hospital who agrees to handle any complications. (Kissel, 6/18)

The Associated Press: VA Launches Investigation Into Impaired Arkansas Pathologist
Federal officials said Monday a pathologist fired from an Arkansas veterans hospital for being "impaired on duty" misdiagnosed seven cases and that more than 30,000 additional cases are being reviewed. The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville said one error may have led to a death. Spokeswoman Wanda Shull said the seven errors were found among 911 cases already reviewed by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Office of the Inspector General. (Grabentstein, 6/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: The Singular Needs Of LGBT Seniors: San Francisco Funds Training For Workers
The city of San Francisco, through its Department of Aging and Adult Services, is funding a $400,000 effort to train hundreds of workers at companies and public agencies on how to better communicate with aging LGBT adults. Primarily aimed at home care aides and staffers at senior centers, it is also offered to organizations that interact with seniors regularly, like Meals on Wheels and public transit employees. (Ho, 6/18)

The Star Tribune: Blue Cross, Mayo Clinic Agree To New Contract
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic have come to terms on a new five-year contract that includes a pledge for "collaborative governance" to provide a better way for deciding when new health care technologies get coverage. Contracts between insurers and hospitals usually make headlines only if the parties can't come to an agreement. But in the case of Blue Cross and Mayo, officials said the contract is noteworthy because of the aspiration for shared decisionmaking on emerging technologies plus a contract duration that spans more years than most agreements. (Snowbeck, 6/18)

Pioneer Press: M Health Fairview Deal Would Create ‘Real Partnership’ With UMN, Doctors 
Fairview Health Services is close to striking a new partnership agreement with the University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Physicians. The governing boards for each have unanimously approved a nonbinding letter of intent to replace the expiring 2013 M Health agreement. The details of an eight-year deal with a 10-year extension option in 2023 are to be worked out by Sept. 1. (Verges, 6/18)

Georgia Health News: Georgia Tech Creating Haven For Health Tech Entrepreneurs
Georgia Tech’s startup incubator is targeting health technology entrepreneurs, thanks to a contribution from a Blue Cross-owned health IT company. Atlanta-based NASCO, which is owned by several Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, is donating funding for Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) for its HealthTech initiative. (Miller, 6/18)

The Star Tribune: Fairview, University Of Minnesota Plan Eight-Year Partnership 
Two years after failing to pull off a high-profile merger, the University of Minnesota and Fairview Health announced plans Monday for an eight-year partnership to share their expertise and generate more money for academic medicine and research. Leaders of the organizations lauded the plans to expand their existing partnership, which provides the U and its physicians with a broad referral network of Fairview patients — as well as financial support for its medical school — and provides Fairview with the U’s expertise in rare and difficult-to-treat conditions. (Olson, 6/18)

Nashville Tennessean: Two Reasons Why TriStar Health Is Investing Big In Orthopedics
Earlier this month, local hospital network TriStar Health announced a big expansion plan for its midtown campus, TriStar Centennial. Included in the project is a $123.7 million plan to add four floors and a joint replacement center to the HCA Healthcare-owned hospital, expected to open early next year. In announcing the project, TriStar representatives said the investments will allow the hospital network to meet the needs of the growing communities its hospitals serve. (Tolbert, 6/18)

California Healthline: New Hospital Leader Fights Price Controls Despite Reputation As A Reformer
In Maryland, Carmela Coyle is known as a reformer. During her tenure as president of the Maryland Hospital Association, she helped establish a first-of-its kind state program that capped hospitals’ yearly revenue — a counterintuitive move for a leader in an industry anxious to defend its bottom line. But here in California, just eight months into her new job as president and CEO of the California Hospital Association, Coyle, 57, has already helped defeat a legislative effort to cap the amount hospitals are paid for medical procedures. And she did so with “scorched earth” vigor, said Anthony Wright, executive director Health Access California, a consumer advocacy group. (Bartolone, 6/18)

Austin American-Statesman: AISD Board Approves Plan That Leaves Some Schools Without Nurses
The Austin school board Monday night approved a $7.1 million student health services plan that will continue to leave some campuses without a school nurse and others with a part-time nurse on site. Seton Healthcare Family, which has provided the district’s student medical services for nearly 25 years, will provide 75 nurses and 48 clinical assistants to the district’s 130 campuses, as well as behavioral health services. (Taboada, 6/18)

The Washington Post: Fairfax Students To Learn About HIV Prevention Pill In Health Classes
High school students in Virginia’s largest school system will learn about daily medication used to prevent HIV as part of their health education. The Fairfax County School Board voted last week to include information about pre-exposure prophylaxis — PrEP — in the district’s family life education curriculum, which includes lessons on sexual health and sexuality. It was one of several vigorously contested updates to the family life curriculum that culminated in a boisterous board meeting that devolved frequently into jeers. (Truong, 6/18)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What Stops A Bullet? Milwaukee Can Look To Innovative LA Jobs Program
Nothing stops a bullet like a job. As a slogan, those seven words were potent enough to power the creation of Homeboy Industries, which began three decades ago in Los Angeles as a nonprofit jobs placement agency for former gang members and men and women transitioning out of prison. (Schmid, 6/18)