State Highlights: San Diego Hepatitis A Breakout Claims 5 Lives; Colorado’s ‘Baby Box’ Effort Aimed At Reducing Infant Mortality

Los Angeles Times: Hepatitis A Outbreak In San Diego County Claims 5th Victim
A fifth person has died in San Diego County’s ongoing hepatitis A outbreak — the state’s largest in two decades, public health officials said Wednesday. The outbreak started in November and has grown among the region’s homeless population. There have been 228 confirmed infections, including 161 people who had to be hospitalized, according to the county’s Health and Human Services Agency. (Sisson, 7/12)

Denver Post: All New Mothers In Colorado Can Receive Baby Boxes, Thanks To New Program
New and expectant mothers across Colorado will soon be eligible to receive a free gift: a cardboard box that health workers hope will reduce infant mortality. The box comes courtesy of The Baby Box Co., a for-profit maker of the kinds of boxes that mothers in Finland have received for decades. The boxes include a basic foam mattress and can serve as a safe sleep space for infants up to about 6 months old. A smattering of other items — such as diapers, wipes and onesies — are also included with the boxes. (Ingold, 7/12)

Sacramento Bee: Single Payer Health Care Still On Wish-List In California
Toni Atkins grew up without health insurance in a “crossroads out in the middle of nowhere. ”The family lived in rural Virginia, where her father worked as a miner and her mother was a seamstress. Her mom broke an arm at one point, reducing the family to one income while medical bills stacked up. “We had to get food stamps. It was excruciating,” Atkins said. (Luna, 7/13)

The Baltimore Sun: University Of Maryland Medical System Board Approves Affiliation With Dimensions Health
The University of Maryland Medical System board of directors executive committee voted Wednesday to bring Dimensions Health Corporation under the UMMS banner. The vote authorizes, Robert A. Chrencik, UMMS president and chief executive officer, to enter into an affiliation agreement with Dimensions in Prince George's County.The Dimensions board voted last month to allow the merger to go through. (McDaniels, 7/12)

Chicago Tribune: Abbott, Silicon Valley Company Partner To Develop System For Diabetes Patients 
When Jeffrey Brewer's son was 15, the boy nearly lost his life because he took too much insulin. The diabetic teen took insulin to eat a large bag of chips late at night. But about 20 minutes later, he forgot about that first dose and took another. He spent two days in the hospital, his father said...Now, Bigfoot Biomedical and north suburban-based Abbott Laboratories hope to help prevent such problems — and make life easier for millions of people with diabetes — with a new partnership announced Thursday. The partnership aims to combine several technologies to make it easier for diabetics to monitor their glucose levels and figure out how much insulin to take throughout the day. (Schencker, 7/13)

The San Jose Mercury News: Patients Of Bankrupt West Contra Costa Hospital Have Limited Time To Claim Medical Records
Get your patient records from Doctors hospital before they are destroyed — that’s the message that went out Tuesday from Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia’s office to anyone ever treated at the former Brookside Hospital, which became Doctors Medical Center before it was declared insolvent and closed its doors to patients in April 2015. (Lochner, 7/12)

Health News Florida: More Rain Means More Mosquitoes In Orange County
There’s a downside to the rainy season in Florida: Mosquitoes. Orange County Mosquito Control has seen a tenfold increase to about 100 calls for service every day. The calls are primarily for nuisance mosquitoes, not the mosquitoes that can transmit Zika virus and other diseases. The county urges residents to drain standing water to cut down on mosquito breeding areas. (Aboraya, 7/12)

Health News Florida: Newtown Celebrates New ‘One-Stop-Shop’ Clinic
A new adult-care clinic in Newtown opened this month.  A community-wide partnership aims to make the clinic a ‘one-stop-shop’ for a variety of needs for the community just north of the city of Sarasota, where access to medical care and other services has been a challenge. (Davis, 7/12)

KQED: Is The New Tobacco Tax Causing A Drop In Smoking? Big Time, Indicators Suggest
Last fall, California voters approved the biggest increase in cigarette taxes since the state first began levying tobacco in the 1950s. Advocates for Proposition 56, which passed with a fairly overwhelming 64 percent of the vote, argued that a $2-per-pack tax hike would hurt pocketbooks enough to nudge millions of California smokers to quit, or at least to light up less frequently. (Levin, 7/12)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Health Officials Launch Tick Study In State Park Amid Rise In Tick-Borne Diseases
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study ticks at Meramec State Park. The research, which began in June, aims to understand how ticks spread rare diseases, such as the Bourbon and Heartland viruses. (Chen, 7/12)

Modern Healthcare: SSM Health To Acquire Wisconsin Hospitals From The Congregation Of Sisters Of St. Agnes
SSM Health will acquire two Wisconsin-based systems from the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes, the Catholic-sponsored providers announced Wednesday. The systems are Agnesian HealthCare and Monroe Clinic. St. Louis-based SSM Health owns St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, Dean Clinic and hospitals in Baraboo and Janesville. The facilities will likely carry the SSM Health brand. (Kacik, 7/12)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Agnesian HealthCare And Monroe Clinic Reach Tentative Agreement With SSM Health
The wave of consolidations among health systems in Wisconsin is set to continue. Agnesian HealthCare, which operates St. Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac and hospitals in Ripon and Waupun, would become part of SSM Health, which operates St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison and hospitals in Janesville and Baraboo, under a tentative agreement announced Tuesday. (Boulton, 7/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Group Seeks Referendum On Flavored Tobacco Ban In S.F.
A San Rafael lawyer has filed a referendum measure to strike down the Board of Supervisors’ ban on flavored tobacco, which passed unanimously in June. ... The group represents tobacco manufacturers R.J. Reynolds and Altria, as well as several vaping advocacy groups and the Arab American Grocers Association, whose members opposed the supervisors’ ordinance, saying it hurt immigrant business owners. (Swan, 7/12)

San Jose Mercury News: San Jose Lobbies Feds To Fund Police Mental Illness Response
Amid a string of high-profile police shootings involving mentally ill people, San Jose officers have joined a national effort to secure federal funding and resources to better train officers who are commonly first-responders to violent mental-health episodes. (Salonga, 7/12)

New Hampshire Public Radio: One Percent Of Keno Profits To Go Toward Gambling Addiction Treatment
More than five decades after establishing the first state lottery, New Hampshire is for the first time dedicating a portion of lottery profits toward treatment for gambling addiction. (Ganley and Brindley, 7/13)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: No Immediate Fix Planned For Ohio Medical Marijuana Testing Lab Rule
As Ohio's fledgling medical marijuana program ramps up, patients, business owners and advocates still have one major concern -- who will test the marijuana? All medical marijuana products must be tested for safety and potency before sale, per state law. But for the first year, testing lab licenses are limited to public colleges. (Borchardt, 7/12)

Columbus Dispatch: Former Buckeye, Browns Players Eye Medical Marijuana Dispensary In Cleveland
Former quarterback Troy Smith, a Heisman winner with the Ohio State Buckeyes, has joined forces with former Browns player Eric Metcalf and high school coach Ted Ginn Sr. to secure the rights to a marijuana dispensary in the Cleveland area. (7/12)