State Highlights: Medical Company Faces Criminal Charges Following Milwaukee Inmate’s Death; $7.5M Funds Approved in N.J. For Women’s Health

The Associated Press: Prosecutors Charge Health Company In Milwaukee Jail Death
A company that provides health care for inmates at the Milwaukee County jail faces criminal charges because employees lied about checking on a man who died of dehydration, prosecutors said Wednesday. The Milwaukee District Attorney's Office charged Miami-based Armor Correctional Health Services Inc. with seven misdemeanor counts of intentionally falsifying health records. The company is the latest defendant to be charged in the death of 38-year-old Terrill Thomas, who spent seven days without water in his cell as punishment in April 2016. (2/21)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County Jail's Health Care Contractor Charged
The criminal complaint, filed Wednesday, alleges Armor Correctional employees "engaged in a pattern and practice of intentionally falsifying entries in inmate patient health care records." When investigators compared inmates' medical records with jail surveillance footage, they saw Armor Correctional employees walking past cells without stopping or never showing up at all, despite notes that they had checked on inmates. (Luthern, 2/21)

The Associated Press: Murphy Reverses Christie, Approves $7.5M For Women's Health
New Jersey's new Democratic governor signed legislation Wednesday setting aside about $7.5 million for family-planning and women's health, reversing course on former Republican Gov. Chris Christie's handling of the issue. It's the first bill that Gov. Phil Murphy has signed into law since succeeding Christie, who vetoed the spending throughout his two terms. (2/21)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Lawmakers, Hospitals Concerned Insurer Denying More ER Claims
The Ohio Hospital Association and state lawmakers are working to combat Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield's new practice, which could leave Ohio policyholders with thousands of dollars in ER bills, according to Thursday morning's Capitol Letter, cleveland.com's daily Statehouse newsletter. Anthem began denying non-emergency claims Jan. 1 in response to rising visits to the ER that can be 10 times as costly as an urgent care center, said Jeff Blunt, an Anthem spokesman. (Hancock, 2/22)

The Baltimore Sun: In Baltimore And Beyond, Parents Are Creating Employment Opportunities For Adult Children With Autism 
Like other parents of adult children with autism and other developmental disabilities, Michael and Jennifer Myers had long anguished over how to forge a path for their son after he left school and many support services went away. A generation ago, parents of children with disabilities pushed for protections in the school system. Today’s parents are pressing to integrate their children into jobs in health care, retail and information technology. They are part of a burgeoning national movement, increasingly encouraged by state and federal government policies, to get more people with developmentally disabilities into the workplace. (Wenger, 2/22)

Pioneer Press: Minnesota Hospitals See Another Increase In 'Adverse Health Events'
A sexual assault on a patient in Hibbing is among 341 “adverse health events” that occurred at Minnesota hospitals and surgical centers between October 2016 and October 2017, according to an annual report released Thursday. The events ranged from falls resulting in serious injury to pressure sores to “surgery/other invasive procedure performed on wrong patient,” according to the report compiled by the Minnesota Department of Health. The statewide number of the 29 categories the state tracks was up for the fourth straight year, noted state Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm in a news conference. (Lundy, 2/22)

Minnesota Public Radio: Serious Medical Errors Rising In Minnesota
Minnesota health officials say the number of cases of seriously flawed medical care in hospitals and surgery centers has been rising over the last four years. These errors are referred to "adverse events" and state officials say they should occur rarely at most. (Zdechlik, 2/22)

The Star Tribune: Mayo Clinic Sees Big Jump In 2017 Earnings
Mayo Clinic earnings jumped by nearly 50 percent last year as the Rochester-based health care system lost less money on Medicaid patients while benefiting from more philanthropy, strong investment returns and efficiency gains. The improved financial performance with Medicaid came after Mayo’s chief executive encouraged workers to “prioritize” patients with private insurance in certain cases, rather than government insurance programs, according to a Star Tribune report last year. (Snowbeck, 2/21)

The Associated Press: Florida Doctor Facing Long Medicare Fraud Sentence
A federal judge is likely to sentence a prominent Florida eye doctor once accused of bribing Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey to about two decades in prison Thursday for stealing $73 million from Medicare by convincing elderly patients to undergo excruciating tests and treatments they didn't need for diseases they didn't have. (2/22)

Modern Healthcare: Mercy Health And Bon Secours To Merge 
Mercy Health and Bon Secours Health System plan to merge to form a 43-hospital entity that serves seven states, the organizations announced Wednesday. The combined system would have $8 billion in net operating revenue and $293 million in operating income. More than 57,000 associates and 2,100 employed physicians and advance practice clinicians would work in more than 1,000 locations across the East Coast, Ohio and Kentucky, including more than 50 home health agencies, hospices, skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities. (Kacik, 2/21)

The Baltimore Sun: Bon Secours Health System To Merge With Mercy Health Of Ohio 
Marriottsville-based Bon Secours Health System announced Wednesday that it is merging with Mercy Health of Ohio to create a Catholic health system that will span seven states. The merger, expected to be completed by the end of the year, will create the fifth largest Catholic health system in the country, with $8 billion in operating revenue and 43 hospitals (McDaniels, 2/21)

Bloomberg: Missouri Hospital Becomes Second Municipal Bankruptcy Of 2018 
A hospital district in Pilot Knob, Missouri, filed for protection from its creditors Wednesday, marking the second municipal bankruptcy of the year. The Iron County Hospital District, which owns a local hospital, listed liabilities between $10 and $50 million and assets between $1 million and $10 million. The district has about $6.5 million in bonds outstanding, said Daniel Doyle, a lawyer at Lashly & Baer who is representing the district. (Albright, 2/21)

Detroit Free Press: Worker May Have Exposed Hundreds To Tuberculosis In 3 Mich. Counties
Health officials are notifying people in three counties that they may have been exposed to tuberculosis, a potentially fatal bacterial disease, through a healthcare worker.   The worker may have had contact with more than 600 people while working in three facilities — two hospitals and a senior rehabilitation and long-term care facility —  in Oakland, Livingston and Washtenaw counties between May 1, 2017 and Jan. 31, 2018, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. (Patterson and Zaniewski, 2/21)

Dallas Morning News: UT Southwestern Withdrew $2 Million Grant From A Cancer Researcher Who Allegedly Falsified Data | Health Care
A researcher who was awarded a $2 million dollar grant last year from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas intentionally falsified data in previously published studies, according to the federal agency that oversees misconduct in research. The Office of Research Integrity said in a report this week that Colleen Skau selectively omitted data, overstated numbers and falsified measurements that were included in studies published in the official journal of the National Academy of Sciences in 2015 and the peer-reviewed research journal Cell in 2016 . At the time, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institutes of Health. (Rice, 2/21)

Nashville Tennessean: Yazoo Brewing, Elizabeth Cook Help Musicians Get Health Care
Last year, Americana musician Elizabeth Cook teamed up with Yazoo Brewing Company to create El Lagarto, a beer with benefits. El Lagarto was released last October in conjunction with Nashville's inaugural "Heal the Music Day." Half of the beer's sales revenue was earmarked for the Music Health Alliance, a local nonprofit that helps members of the music industry access health care. (Thanki, 2/21)

San Jose Mercury News: Google Fired Transgender Man For Opposing Bigotry: Lawsuit
Google fired a disabled, queer, transgender engineer for opposing discrimination, harassment and white supremacy among his fellow Googlers, a lawsuit filed Wednesday alleged. The site reliability engineer, Tim Chevalier, claimed in the suit that the Mountain View tech giant’s workplace culture was discriminatory toward minorities. (Baron, 2/21)

Georgia Health News: Bill Would Allow Lower Tax On ‘Modified Risk’ Tobacco Product
A Georgia House panel approved a measure Wednesday that would allow a “modified risk’’ tobacco product to have a tax that’s half of what exists now for cigarettes sold in the state. The FDA has yet to approve such a product to be sold in the U.S. — or to be marketed as being less harmful. (Miller, 2/21)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: One Of Louisiana's 1st Medical Marijuana Pharmacies Plans To Open In Metairie
One of the state's first marijuana pharmacies is looking to open in Metairie nearly two years after Louisiana lawmakers authorized the use of medical marijuana for certain conditions. The Rx Greenhouse last month got preliminary approval from the state Pharmacy Board and plans to be operational by Sept. 1, according to CEO Dr. Sajal Roy, who is also a pharmacist. (Bacon-Blood, 2/21)

San Jose Mercury News: Will California Use Its Budget Surplus To Help The Homeless?
Responding to pleas from 11 big-city mayors grappling with the alarming rise of homelessness, California lawmakers on Wednesday announced two proposals that would devote over half of the state’s $6.1 billion budget surplus to the crisis. A bipartisan bill from Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, and backed by Republican Assemblyman Brian Maienschein of San Diego, calls for a one-time infusion of $1.5 billion in matching funds for cities. (Murphy, 2/21)

Boston Globe: Top Cannabis Regulator: Massachusetts Should Consider Government-Run Bank For Pot Companies
Massachusetts should consider creating a state-run bank to serve recreational marijuana companies, the state’s top cannabis official suggested Wednesday, warning that an all-cash industry would create security risks and regulatory headaches. With recreational pot sales scheduled to begin in July, Cannabis Control Commission chairman Steve Hoffman said no local banks or credit unions have committed to providing financial services to recreational marijuana shops and other licensed cannabis operations, wary they will run afoul of federal restrictions. (Adams, 2/22)