State Highlights: Physician Alleges Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center Retaliated Against Him For Raising Safety Concerns; Humana Fined By Texas For Out-Of-Network Bills

ProPublica: “They’ve Got To Execute You”: St. Luke’s Doctor Faces Discipline After Raising Patient Care Concerns
ProPublica and the Houston Chronicle reported in May that some St. Luke’s doctors complained internally in 2015 and 2016 about problems that led to poor outcomes in the hospital’s heart transplant program. ... Rios’ case also opens a window into St. Luke’s use of peer review, a confidential process intended to assess and discipline doctors accused of negligence or wrongdoing, but one that legal and health care experts say is sometimes manipulated by hospitals in order to punish outspoken physicians. (Hixenbaugh and Ornstein, 10/11)

Modern Healthcare: Texas Fines Humana For Out-Of-Network Anesthesiology Bills
In an unusual enforcement action against an insurer for out-of-network billing, Humana will pay Texas a $700,000 fine for failing to maintain an adequate number of in-network anesthesiologists at its contracted hospitals in four counties. It's the latest development in a running national battle over surprise out-of-network bills, which a bipartisan group of U.S. senators recently targeted with draft legislation. The problem is particularly pronounced in Texas, which lacks a comprehensive system for shielding patients from contract disputes between insurers and providers, unlike California and other large states. (Meyer, 10/11)

Iowa Public Radio: Washington State Strikes Down Death Penalty, Citing Racial Bias
The Washington Supreme Court has struck down the state's death penalty, saying that it is imposed arbitrarily and with racial bias. ... Thursday's ruling makes Washington the 20th state to abolish capital punishment. (Kennedy, 10/11)

San Antonio Press Express: Texas Leads In Penalized Nursing Homes
Texas leads the nation in the number of nursing homes penalized with payment suspensions. Over the past three years, Texas nursing homes were hit 260 times with this extreme sanction. That’s 21 percent of all Texas facilities. (Doroshow, 10/11)

The Associated Press: Michigan Doctor Charged In Legionnaires' Death Gets Accolade
A senior Michigan medical executive who is charged in the death of a man due to a Legionnaires' outbreak linked to Flint's lead-tainted water crisis has been recognized for her eminent career in health care. The Flint Journal reports that Dr. Eden Wells has been awarded the Roy R. Manty Distinguished Service Award. (10/11)

Dallas Morning News: 8 Cases Of Rare 'Polio-Like' Condition Reported In Texas  
At least seven children and one adult in Texas have been diagnosed this year with a rare condition that threatens lifetime paralysis, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working to confirm additional cases. The condition, acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), affects the nervous system, primarily through the spinal cord. It weakens a person's muscles and nerves, according to the CDC. (Smith, 10/11)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Typhus Outbreak Adds Fuel To The Debates Over Homelessness And Housing
A man hospitalized for dehydration a few months ago at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center started suffering a severe fever, and doctors weren’t sure why. The patient was homeless, a clue to doctors that he might have typhus. Every year people contract flea-borne typhus in Southern California, mostly in Los Angeles County. Doctors did a blood test. (Karlamangla, 10/11)

Kaiser Health News: ‘Grossly Unfair’? Widower Takes Ban On Military Injury Claims To Supreme Court
More than four years after Navy Lt. Rebekah Daniel bled to death within hours of childbirth at a Washington state military hospital, her husband still doesn’t know exactly how — or why — it happened. Walter Daniel, a former Coast Guard officer, demanded explanations from officials at the Naval Hospital Bremerton, where his wife, known as “Moani,” died on March 9, 2014. He says he got none. No results from a formal review of the incident, no details about how the low-risk pregnancy of a healthy 33-year-old woman — a labor and delivery nurse herself — ended in tragedy, leaving their newborn daughter, Victoria, now 4, without a mom. (Aleccia, 10/11)

The Associated Press: Judge Issues Injunction Of Maryland Retiree Drug Dispute
A federal judge has ruled the state of Maryland can’t force state retirees onto a federal prescription drug plan until a lawsuit is decided. U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte issued the ruling this week. Four Maryland state retirees filed the lawsuit last month. They contend Maryland can’t force them to enroll in Medicare Part D when open enrollment begins Oct. 15. (10/11)

Sacramento Bee: California Health Care Workers Authorize Strike
AFSCME Local 3299 announced Thursday morning that the 15,000 patient-care technical workers in its ranks voted to authorize a strike against the University of California after reaching a deadlock in labor contract negotiations. The strike vote received approval from 96 percent of AFSCME 3299 members, AFSCME leaders said, and the patient-care workers will be joined on the picket line by 9,000 employees in AFSCME’s service unit and 15,000 members of the UPTE-CWA union, who voted to join in solidarity. (Anderson, 10/11)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Volunteer Program Offers Free Rides To Cancer Patients To And From Treatment 
For many cancer patients, getting to and from treatment can be one of the biggest barriers to successfully fighting the disease. The ACS conducted a national survey of hospital social workers who reported that about 125,000 cancer patients require transportation services each year to keep up to date with their treatment appointments. To address the need, the organization launched the Road to Recovery Volunteer Program to recruit drivers able to provide rides to and from patients' cancer-related medical appointments. They have recruited 24 volunteer drivers so far in the New Orleans area, including Sandra Waguespack, a retired nurse who took Boatner to his radiation appointment on Tuesday (Oct. 9). (Clark, 10/11)

Denver Post: Grand Junction-Based Community Hospital In Acquisition Talks With Centura Health
A Grand Junction hospital is looking to join Centura Health’s system, saying Thursday that it has signed a letter-of-intent to pursue exclusive negotiations with the Centennial-based provider. Community Hospital said in a statement that the decision to enter talks with Centura Health “reflects its long-term commitment to preserve and expand options for compassionate, high quality health care in the Grand Valley.” (Seaman, 10/11)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jury Awards $780,000 To Transgender State Employee
A federal jury in Madison has awarded $780,000 to two transgender state employees who were wrongfully denied insurance coverage of transition surgeries. A judge last month ordered that care is covered, and the trial this week was only to determine the damages due to the plaintiffs, University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student, Alina Boyden, and Shannon Andrews, a researcher at UW School of Medicine. (Vielmetti, 10/11)

The CT Mirror: Number Of CT High Schoolers Vaping Doubled Over Two Years
The number of Connecticut high school students who used vaping products, such as e-cigarettes, doubled from 2015 to 2017, according to a new study released by the state Department of Public Health. Overall, 14.7 percent of high school students reported “currently” vaping in 2017, compared to 7.2 percent in 2015. (Rigg, 10/11)

Miami Herald: Miami Beach, FL, Man Admits $8.4 Million Medicare Fraud
The owner of a West Miami-Dade pharmacy became the latest South Florida healthcare fraudster to plead guilty Tuesday in Miami federal court, admitting to running an $8.4 million Medicare fraud. Miami Beach resident Antonio Perez, Jr., 48, will be sentenced Dec. 18 on his one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. (Powell, 10/11)

San Francisco Chronicle: Southeast Neighborhoods Grapple With RVs — Next Phase Of The Homeless Crisis
More than a dozen camper vans flanked the University Mound Reservoir in San Francisco’s Portola neighborhood Tuesday, spreading along University Street, past the antebellum senior center and alongside a row of abandoned greenhouses around the block. To residents who flocked to a neighborhood meeting that night, the vehicles are a source of frustration and a vexing symbol of the city’s inability to solve its homeless crisis. (Swan, 10/11)