State Highlights: National Experiment Aims To Help Seniors Age In Place; Suicides, Drugs Take Toll On Missouri

Stateline: On-Site Health Care Could Help Seniors Stay At Home 
The nation’s older population is growing rapidly — it’s projected to nearly double by 2050. Many seniors want to stay in their homes, but when they grow older and more infirm, that isn’t always possible. Nor are there enough services — access to transportation and doctors, help managing medication — to make it easier for them to stay at home, according to a 2017 report by the Office of Policy Development and Research in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). (Wiltz, 9/24)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Missouri Life Expectancy Drops As Suicides, Overdoses And Homicides Climb
Missourians’ life expectancy dropped in 2018, fueled by an increase in suicides, overdoses and homicides, according to a report released this month by the state Department of Health and Senior Services. The report, released annually by the department, said life expectancy last year dropped to 77.0 years from 77.1 years in 2017 — down from a peak of 77.8 years in 2012. That means Missourians are living 1.6 fewer years than the nation as a whole, according to the report. (Suntrup, 9/23)

Columbus Dispatch: Federal Judge Allows Transgender Birth Certificate Lawsuit To Proceed
Four transgender individuals who sued state officials over a policy barring changes in sexes originally recorded on birth certificates are closer to potential courtroom proceedings in a complaint they filed more than a year ago. A trial date has not yet been set and won’t take place this year, but a federal judge in Columbus this month denied state officials’ motion to dismiss the suit, allowing the case to move forward. (Kovac, 9/23)

San Jose Mercury News: Many California Teens Say They Don’t Know Where To Find, Can’t Afford Mental Health Services
According to a study released this spring, many young Californians don’t know where to find mental health services and don’t think they can afford it if they could find it. Earlier this year, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, in partnership with California’s Mental Health Services Oversight & Accountability Commission, surveyed 485 Californians, ages 13 to 24, about mental health, access to mental health services, and what they’d like to see in that area in California. The resulting report, “California Youth Mental Health: Understanding Resource Availability and Preferences,” was released May 28. (Yarbough, 9/23)

San Francisco Chronicle: Where Are The Empty Treatment Beds In SF? The Health Department Wants To Find Out
San Francisco health officials are rolling out a plan to fix a confounding problem: Many treatment beds in the city sit empty every night, despite thousands of people struggling with homelessness, mental illness and drug addiction on the streets. Mayor London Breed and Dr. Anton Nigusse Bland, the city’s director of mental health reform, plan to launch an online tool that will show, in real time, which of San Francisco’s hundreds of treatment programs have open slots. (Thadani, 9/23)

Boston Globe: Bayer To Invest In Longwood Lab Focused On Chronic Lung Conditions
German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG will invest more than $30 million over the next five years to create a lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital to develop drugs to treat chronic lung diseases. The lab in the Longwood Medical Area will employ about 20 scientists from Bayer, Brigham, and Massachusetts General Hospital. The three organizations will equally share the rights to any discoveries made as part of the venture. (Saltzman, 9/24)

Colorado Sun: How A “Warm Handoff” Is Making Mental Health Care A Regular Part Of Doctor Visits In Boulder
To get the mental health care that would rescue her, [Gina] Manchego didn’t have to get a referral from her doctor or call for an appointment, or worry whether the therapist was accepting new patients or her insurance. She didn’t even have to drive to a mental health clinic. That’s because Boulder Community Health has absorbed mental health care into 10 of its primary care clinics, a model that is attracting national attention and buy-in from the insurance industry. The clinics aim for a “warm handoff,” a direct introduction from physician to mental health specialist. (Brown, 9/23)

The Associated Press: Judge Tosses Lawsuit Challenging Md. Conversion Therapy Ban
A federal judge has thrown out a psychotherapist’s lawsuit challenging Maryland’s ban on treating minors with conversion therapy, the practice of trying to change a client’s homosexual orientation. U.S. District Judge Deborah Chasanow’s ruling on Friday rejected Christopher Doyle’s claims that the state law violates his First Amendment rights to free speech and religious freedom. (Kunzelman, 9/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Insurance CEO Took Leave After June Arrest Following Traffic Incident
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Chief Executive Patrick Conway went on leave after he was arrested in June after an allegedly alcohol-related traffic accident, according to the company and the state’s top insurance regulator. Dr. Conway has returned to his post at the major health insurer. State Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey said the health insurer didn’t disclose the incident or the CEO’s move at the time to state officials and added that he thought disclosure was needed for accountability and transparency. (Scism, Wilde Mathews and Bauerlein, 9/23)

The Baltimore Sun: St. Louis Biotech Company Moves To Baltimore To Develop Fake Blood For Real Emergencies 
A small biotechnology company developing a synthetic blood for use when supplies are low or unavailable is moving to Baltimore from St. Louis and affiliating with the University of Maryland BioPark. During a trauma, blood loss is the leading cause of preventable death, but bags of blood aren’t always available, such as on the battlefield or at a mass casualty scene. There is no real blood substitute, though some products are in the works. (Cohn, 9/23)

Modern Healthcare: Ballad Staffers Cite Issues With Morale, Leadership Post-Merger
Morale is low at Ballad Health’s hospitals since the merger became official in 2018, according to several current and former nurses and doctors. They say they’ve watched many colleagues leave, fed up with being overworked, with management that doesn’t listen and changes to pay and benefits. ...System executives say that’s not true, that the health system is weathering the same nursing shortage as the rest of the country. They say nurse turnover here is no different than before the merger. (Bannow, 9/23)

The Associated Press: Students Seeks To End Ban Of Blood Donations By Gay, Bi Men
Several University of Virginia students want to overturn a ban that prohibits sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating blood.The Daily Progress reports Austin Houck and others have banded together to create Homoglobin, a social welfare organization with branches at other schools including Virginia Tech and the College of William & Mary. The Food and Drug Administration instituted a lifetime donation ban on gay and bisexual men at the height of the AIDS epidemic in 1983. (9/24)