State Highlights: Minnesota Unveils Bill That Would Provide Free Insulin For Diabetics Who Qualify; Navajo Nation Opens First Cancer Clinic On Arizona Reservation

Pioneer Press: Minn. Republicans Unveil Affordable Insulin Plan; Eligible Diabetics Would Get Free Insulin For Up To A Year 
Minnesota Republicans have a new plan to get insulin into the hands of diabetics who cannot afford it, by requiring drug makers to provide free insulin for up to a year to those who qualify. Senate GOP leaders unveiled their bill, dubbed the “Minnesota Insulin Patient Assistance Program,” during a news conference at the Capitol on Thursday. House Democrats will release their proposal next week. The two parties could not agree on an insulin bill before the legislative session adjourned in May and have been trying to hammer out a proposal ever since. (Faircloth, 9/19)

Arizona Republic: Navajo Nation's New Cancer Clinic Makes Tribal History
One of the country's largest Native American tribes, the Navajo Nation, is now the first in the Southwest to have a cancer clinic on reservation land. It's a long time coming. Tribal members, many of them living hours away from cancer centers in urban areas, have a history of delayed diagnoses and untreated cancer. (Innes, 9/19)

WBUR: Navajo Nation Students Awarded Rare Opportunity To Train In Neuroscience
The tribe's 4-year Diné College has teamed up with the University of Arizona to create a neuroscience training program, aimed at advancing Native American scholars in biomedical sciences and increasing their population in graduate schools and research careers. A $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will fund the endeavor.The goal is to mentor 34 students over the next five years in laboratory and research skills. (Mosley, 9/19)

New Hampshire Union Leader: DHHS Apologizes After 300 Families Told Children Tested Positive For Lead
A state agency apologized Thursday after about 300 families were mistakenly informed that blood tests of their children showed elevated levels of lead. The Department of Health and Human Services is required to notify parents when a blood lead level of 3 micrograms per deciliter or higher is found. The letters were incorrectly sent because of a software error, said Lisa Morris, director of the state’s Division of Public Health Services. (Phelps, 9/19)

Miami Herald: DOJ Case Against Florida Putting Kids In Nursing Homes On Track
Florida health administrators may be forced to defend in court their long-controversial policy of institutionalizing frail and disabled children in nursing homes — an approach that federal civil rights lawyers have condemned as cruel and unwarranted discrimination against some of the state’s sickest citizens. An Atlanta appeals court ruled this week that the U.S. Department of Justice may proceed with a lawsuit alleging Florida systematically discriminates against severely disabled and medically complex children by leaving them no choice but to live in institutions — in violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, and other laws. (Marbin Miller, 9/19)

North Carolina Health News: NC Children’s Hospital Cleared For Complex Heart Surgeries 
Three cardiologists from outside the state have reviewed the North Carolina Children’s Hospital pediatric heart surgery program and concluded the program can resume complex pediatric heart surgeries there. The six-page advisory report released this week by UNC Health Care officials acknowledged that new leadership and investment in the program has helped resolve some of the thornier issues exposed several months ago in a New York Times investigative piece. (Blythe, 9/20)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Johnson Controls And DNR In Dustup Over Cleanup Of 'Forever' Chemicals
Regulators and Johnson Controls International are sparring over a state requirement that the company assess the extent of contamination in northeastern Wisconsin where industrial chemicals in municipal sludge have been spread on farmland for decades. The Glendale-based company was to have provided a report to the state Department of Natural Resources on Sept. 3 but did not; and since midsummer, the company and the agency have traded letters over their respective obligations in the matter. (Bergquist, 9/19)

Los Angeles Times: As Homicides Drop In L.A., More Women Are Being Killed — Often By Intimate Partners
When Michelle Malander was rushed to a Mission Hills hospital with a broken skull, her relatives already suspected who her attacker was. For 14 years she’d been trapped in a cycle of abuse at the hands of her boyfriend, who once knocked out her front tooth. Another time he had cracked her wrist. This time, Malander, 29, was beaten to death in the RV she shared with him in Pacoima. Her boyfriend, Hector Lopez, was later convicted of her murder. (Cruz and Lee, 9/19)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Bill Would Focus On Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women
A group of lawmakers Wednesday announced legislation that would create a task force to address missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Experts who have studied the issue say the legislation would be a good first step, but efforts to help Native American women shouldn’t end there. (Zettel-Vandenhouten, 9/19)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Leaked Memo Shows Depth Of Dysfunction In Atlanta’s AIDS Housing Crisis
Hundreds of lower-income residents with HIV/AIDS, who face health challenges and often discrimination, depend on HOPWA for rent subsidies in safe, affordable housing. But according to the memo the city had used federal dollars to pay for “substandard” housing for its low-income clients and had overcharged them for rent over four years, HUD found. It had yet to come up with a plan to pay them back. It could not reliably say how many families it helped or how much money it spent on various activities. (Mariano, 9/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Vaccine Law Targeted In Potential Maine Ballot Question
Opponents of vaccination requirements in Maine are close to getting a question added to the March ballot that would ask voters to overturn a state law eliminating nonmedical vaccine exemptions for school children. The state legislature, which is controlled by Democrats, passed the law earlier this year amid worries about low immunization rates among students. The law still allows for medical exemptions, but no more for religious and philosophical reasons. The law gave children now enrolled in school until 2021 to get their required shots. (Kamp, 9/19)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Anderson Healthcare Plans Second Building On Edwardsville Campus 
Anderson Healthcare and Kindred Healthcare LLC announced this week that Illinois regulators have approved their plan for a $22 million, 34-bed rehabilitation hospital on Goshen Road in Edwardsville. “We look forward to expanding our existing relationship with Anderson Healthcare to build and operate this facility, to address the growing need for inpatient rehabilitation services in the state,” said Russ Bailey, chief operating officer of Kindred Rehabilitation Services, part of Kindred Healthcare in Louisville, Kentucky. (Barker, 9/20)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New Data Shows The Gap In Health Care Based On Income, Race, Geography
For the first time, researchers have compiled detailed information on the differences in health and health care experienced by people in Wisconsin depending on their race, income, health coverage and geography. The information will provide public health departments, health systems, social service agencies, community groups and policymakers with benchmarks for tracking progress in lessening the entrenched disparities in health in the state. (Boulton, 9/19)

Houston Chronicle: 2 Deaths Linked To Imelda As Hundreds Flooded Throughout Southeast Texas 
Heavy rainfall from now-downgraded Imelda wreaked havoc Thursday for much of Southeast Texas, where officials are dealing with impassable roadways, downed trees, power outages,  hundreds of high-water rescues and in one small town, a hospital evacuation. At least two deaths have been linked to the storm. A man pulled from a submerged van in east Harris County died, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a tweet. In Jefferson County, a man was electrocuted and drowned while trying to move his horse, according to authorities there. (Iracheta, 9/19)

Propublica and WBUR: MIT Media Lab Dumped Chemicals In Excess Of Legal Limit, Keeping Regulators In The Dark
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab have dumped wastewater underground in apparent violation of a state regulation, according to documents and interviews, potentially endangering local waterways in and near the town of Middleton. (Song and Larkin, 9/20)

Des Moines Register: UnityPoint Health Opening Express Care Clinic In West Des Moines
UnityPoint Health will open a new express walk-in care center in West Des Moines next week designed to serve patients in about 30 minutes. UnityPoint Clinic – Express is located at 180 Jordan Creek Parkway, just west of Jordan Creek Town Center near Giordano’s restaurant. The clinic will provide walk-in care for patients of all ages, including X-ray and lab services. A medical professional will greet the patient entering the clinic and remain with them throughout the visit. (9/19)

The Associated Press: 3 Dead In Fire At Wisconsin Group Home For Mentally Disabled
Three residents have died in a fire at a group home for intellectually disabled people in eastern Wisconsin Thursday, officials said. Two residents escaped the fire, which started about 6 a.m. at the Fond du Lac group home, while three others were found dead on the second floor, fire officials said. The residents who escaped alerted firefighters that others were still inside, according to Fond du Lac Fire Chief Peter O'Leary. (9/19)

Sacramento Bee: Feds Charge Sacramento Nurse In $31 Million Medicare Scheme
A Sacramento registered nurse has been charged in a massive Medicare fraud scheme that cost the federal health care program $31 million in payouts, court documents say. John Eby, whose Facebook page says he is a nursing care coordinator at Mercy General Hospital, was charged in a two-count information filed in Sacramento federal court Thursday with conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks and receipt of health care kickbacks. (Stanton, 9/19)