State Highlights: Over-Sedation Crisis In Kan. Nursing Homes Won’t Be Fixed By Proposed Regulations, Groups Say; Lead Poisonings Still Higher In Cleveland Children

Kansas City Star: Kansas Anti-Psychotic Use Informed Consent Bill Gets Hearing
Kansas ranks as one of the worst states for the overuse of anti-psychotic drugs to sedate nursing home residents. But new regulations on the practice faced stiff opposition during a hearing Tuesday in Topeka from groups that represent the state’s doctors, hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. (Ryan and Marso, 3/20)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cleveland Kids Still Poisoned By Lead At 4 Times The National Average, State Data Shows
About 12 percent of city children under 6 who were screened for lead in 2016 and 2017 had a level of the toxin in their blood that required action, according to new data released by the Ohio Department of Health. The numbers of children poisoned in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have remained mostly stable for several years following more than a decade of steep decline. (Dissell and Zeltner, 3/21)

Boston Globe: Nurses Union, Hospitals Battle Over Ballot Question Setting Patient Limits
A ballot initiative backed by the Massachusetts Nurses Association would set strict limits on the number of patients assigned to a nurse at one time, for all hospital units in the state. Union nurses say they are often overburdened, leaving them unable to give the best possible care and increasing the risk of patient falls, infections, and other complications. (Dayal McCluskey, 3/20)

Sacramento Bee: 2 Sacramento Hospital Groups Reach Settlements With Labor Unions
Both Dignity Health and Kaiser Permanente announced Monday that they had reached major contract agreements with labor unions representing thousands of employees at the two companies. The roughly 15,000 members of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West concluded voting Friday, ratifying a five-year contract with Dignity that will increase pay by 13 percent over the term of the deal. (Anderson, 3/20)

The CT Mirror: Home-Care Contract Wins Bipartisan Support Ahead Of Vote 
A bipartisan coalition of Connecticut lawmakers and the governor voiced support Tuesday for a proposed contract that will raise wages, provide workers’ compensation and increase training programs for about 8,500 home-care workers. The House and Senate are scheduled to vote on the contract Wednesday, which would increase wages to $16.25 per hour by 2020. (Rigg, 3/20)

Chicago Tribune: Tempus, Chicago Company Using Data To Help Personalize Cancer Care, Gets $80M In New Funding
Tempus, a Chicago-based technology company that uses data to help personalize cancer care and improve its efficiency, said Tuesday it has received $80 million in funding from a group of new and existing investors. The company, led by Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky, has received $210 million in investment since it was founded in 2015. The latest fundraising round puts Tempus’ value at approximately $1.1 billion, according to a source close to the deal. A valuation of more than $1 billion gives the company “unicorn” status, a label few Chicago startups can claim. (Bomkamp, 3/20)

Modern Healthcare: St. Joseph Health Creating Regional Board For Northern California Hospitals 
St. Joseph Health will soon institute a regional board to oversee key moves like capital planning, joint ventures and hiring and firing of chief executives for four Northern California hospitals that currently make such decisions in-house. The four hospitals—Santa Rosa (Calif.) Memorial Hospital, Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka and Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna—each will continue to operate community boards, but they will not have fiduciary oversight. St. Joseph Health teamed up with Providence Health & Services to form the 50-hospital Providence St. Joseph Health in 2016. (Bannow, 3/20)

Sacramento Bee: Sutter And Insurance Giant Aetna Hire Industry Veteran To Lead Joint Venture
After a nationwide search, Sutter Health and Aetna announced Tuesday that they have selected health industry veteran Steve Wigginton to lead a health plan the two companies founded in June 2017. (Anderson, 3/20)

The Roanoke Times: Report Finds Death Rates Rise For White, Middle-Class Virginians
Life expectancy rates have been dropping for several years in the U.S., a phenomenon not seen in other industrialized nations. Researchers looking at the trends have found that death rates for younger, white Americans are rising nationwide and have been studying contributing factors. (Rife, 3/20)

Georgia Health News: Alzheimer’s Deaths In Georgia Show Major Increase
Georgia’s death toll from Alzheimer’s disease has increased by 201 percent since the year 2000, and now exceeds 3,700 people annually. That jump was included in new statistics on the disease released Tuesday by the Alzheimer’s Association at a state Capitol news conference. (Miller, 3/20)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Akron City Council Hears Health Experts As It Mulls Raising The Legal Age To Buy Tobacco To 21
Ohio has the 8th highest smoking rate in the U.S., and while numbers of smokers in other states are declining, in the Buckeye State they're on the rise. Those statistics were delivered to Akron City Council's Health & Social Service committee on Monday by Cleveland Clinic Akron General's chief cardiologist Robert Schweikert. (Conn, 3/20)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Altria Subsidiary Asks FDA To Review Smokeless Tobacco Brand As A "Modified Risk" Product
Tobacco giant Altria Group Inc. has submitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market one of its smokeless tobacco products as potentially less risky to health. Henrico County-based Altria said Tuesday that its U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. subsidiary submitted the “modified risk” application to the FDA for its Copenhagen Snuff Fine Cut moist smokeless tobacco product. (Reid Blackwell, 3/20)

Georgia Health News: Legislative Twists: A Standoff On Nursing Bill, And A Boost For Sports Medicine Center
A wild day in health care at the state Capitol on Tuesday began with a morning legislative hearing on something Democrats have sought for years: Medicaid expansion. No vote was taken on the expansion legislation, which was presented to the House Appropriations subcommittee on health. (Miller, 3/20)

Sacramento Bee: Homeless Patients Bused From Las Vegas Hospital Now Part Of Lawsuit
Mentally ill people who were cast out of a Las Vegas psychiatric hospital and issued Greyhound bus tickets to cities across the country without proper consent, care or planning soon will have their day in court. A Nevada court has ruled that James Flavy Coy Brown, whose 2013 bus trip took him to Sacramento, and potentially hundreds of others who had similar experiences, may as a group pursue damages against Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas, Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services, which oversees the hospital, and various treatment professionals. (Hubert, 3/21)