State Highlights: Md. Lawmakers Consider State Mandate For Insurance; $850M Agreement Reached In Minn. Water Contamination Lawsuit

The Baltimore Sun: General Assembly Weighs Bill To Require Marylanders To Buy Health Insurance 
Responding to the federal repeal of the individual mandate requiring everyone to have health insurance, Maryland lawmakers are considering legislation that would impose the requirement at the state level. “We need to find some way to stabilize the individual insurance market. The premium increases we are facing are really high if we don’t,” said Sen. Brian J. Feldman, a Montgomery County Democrat and sponsor of the bill. (McDaniels, 2/20)

The Wall Street Journal: 3M Agrees To Pay $850 Million To Settle Minnesota Water Contamination Lawsuit
3M Co. will pay $850 million to settle Minnesota’s lawsuit, claiming the manufacturer contaminated water in the state for at least five decades. The deal reached by the company and state’s attorney general was announced hours after a trial over the suit was slated to begin Tuesday. (Tangel, 2/20)

The Wall Street Journal: A Child’s Deformity Caused By Medical Malpractice Extends MetLife’s Woes
When Nicole Herivaux was born at Coney Island Hospital in New York in 1980, doctors made a mistake that left one of her arms useless. Ms. Herivaux’s family sued and reached a settlement on the infant’s behalf. It provided $2,200-a-month in lifetime income paid out by an insurance firm, and lump sums of as much as $200,000 were sprinkled in to help, say, with college costs. (Scism, 2/21)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Lawsuit: La. Prisoners Denied Adequate Mental Health Treatment 
Inmates at the David Wade Correctional Center in Homer filed a federal class action lawsuit Tuesday (Feb. 20) against the Louisiana Department of Corrections and the prison, alleging they "are being held in extreme, abusive conditions." Lawyers from the Advocacy Center and the McArthur Justice Center are representing the prisoners in the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana in Baton Rouge. (Nolan, 2/20)

Georgia Health News: Bill To Allow Nurses Expanded Powers Gets Watered Down
The original proposal would have let advanced nurses work more independently in rural areas of Georgia. ...The Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved legislation relating to advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), yet it was much narrower than what Sen. Renee Unterman, chair of the panel and the bill’s lead sponsor, had sought. (Miller, 2/20)

Pioneer Press: Minnesotans Without Health Insurance Rate Jumps To 6.3 Percent, Says Study
The rate of Minnesotans without health insurance surged last year to 6.3 percent, one of the largest one-time increases since 2001. There are now about 349,000 Minnesotans without health insurance coverage, according to a Minnesota Department of Health and University of Minnesota survey released Tuesday. Minnesota’s uninsured rate stood at 4.3 percent in 2015, the last year the study was conducted. There are now 116,000 fewer Minnesotans with health insurance than then, according to the study. (Nelson, 2/20)

The Associated Press: Centene-Bought Pharmacy Won't Give Missouri Execution Drugs
A Missouri health care company on Tuesday said a pharmacy it recently bought won't provide execution drugs to the state, a pledge that came after media reports that the suburban St. Louis business had been the state's secret source of the drugs for years. (2/20)

Modern Healthcare: Mayo Clinic CEO Noseworthy To Retire 
Dr. John Noseworthy, president and CEO of Mayo Clinic, will retire at the end of the year, the organization announced Tuesday. Noseworthy has been with the Rochester, Minn.-based health system for 28 years, serving the past nine as president and CEO. The health system plans to identify a new chief executive by early fall. Noseworthy told Modern Healthcare that Mayo Clinic is committed to a rotational leadership tradition, with a new president or CEO coming in every seven to 10 years, and the time is right to transition to a new leader. "Mayo Clinic is in a very strong position," he said. "We have clarity and alignment on our future direction, and we have a cadre of proven Mayo Clinic physicians who are ready to lead." (Kacik, 2/20)

Minnesota Public Radio News: Mayo Clinic CEO Stepping Down After 28 Years With Health System
Mayo Clinic CEO Dr. John Noseworthy will step down at the end of this year after 28 years with the clinic, including nine as president and CEO. He has led Mayo through challenging times that included the Great Recession, skyrocketing health care costs, the Affordable Care Act and the launch of the ambitious economic development project known as the Destination Medical Center. (Moylan, 2/20)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: CrescentCare Expands Primary Care, Dental Services In New Comprehensive Care Facility 
CrescentCare's new comprehensive health center at 1631 Elysian Fields Ave. will combine four of its current service sites in New Orleans and add space for expanded dental, primary health and behavioral health services. The facility is expected to open in early 2019. The 65,000 sq. ft. facility includes 32 examination rooms, another eight for dental services as well as space for behavioral health therapy and psychiatric services. (Clark, 2/20)

KCUR: Former Doctor At Kansas City's Children’s Mercy Hospital Faces Sex-Crime Charges In Michigan 
A pediatric rheumatologist who once worked at Children’s Mercy Hospital is facing new charges in Michigan after losing his license over sexual misconduct allegations. Mark Franklin Hoeltzel, 46, was charged last month in a criminal complaint for receiving and possessing child pornography. He was arrested at Detroit Metro Airport last week after undergoing treatment for addiction at a clinic in Philadelphia. (Margolies, 2/20)

Iowa Public Radio: Iowans React To Trump's Proposed "Harvest Box"
The Trump Administration has proposed replacing SNAP benefits with blue apron style food boxes, and calls for cutting food assistance for Iowans drastically in his proposed budget. During this hour of River to River, host Ben Kieffer talks with Ann Keimig of Des Moines about how the supplemental food and nutrition assistance program helped her as a young, single mother. (Moon and Kieffer, 2/20)

The Star Tribune: Strong Sales At Medtronic, But Profit Margins Decline 
Following a quarter of strong sales, but diminished profit margins, Medtronic officials on Tuesday suggested one key to future growth is contracts that link payments for medical devices to good patient outcomes. Medtronic now has more than 1,000 hospitals operating under contracts for a certain combination of heart devices and “antibacterial envelopes” that lower payments to the medical device manufacturer depending on whether patients get infections, said Omar Ishrak, the Medtronic chief executive, during a Tuesday call with investors. (Snowbeck, 2/20)

KQED: Now That Pot Is Legal, Should You Worry About Secondhand Smoke? California Scientist Says Yes
Commercial sales of cannabis to recreational users began Jan. 1 in California. It hasn’t been even two months in this brave new world, but new questions about marijuana’s health impacts are already popping up. Is smoking cannabis bad for your health? (Ortega-Welch, 2/20)