State Highlights: Stakes Sky-High In Cincinnati’s Health Commissioner Battle; Hospital Closures Cripple Rural Tenn. Communities

Cincinnati Enquirer: The War Over The Cincinnati Health Department
Just-released city government emails reveal an intense behind-the-scenes struggle over who will become the next health commissioner, a job that will oversee nearly $50 million in private and taxpayer money spent next year on the health of Cincinnati's residents. Former Mayor Dwight Tillery, who runs a health nonprofit dependent on city grants for funding, went to Mayor John Cranley to intercede in the process, the emails say. Cranley then made phone calls to some board members to encourage them "to follow their consciences," his spokesman said. (Saker, 7/10)

The Tennessean: Rural Tennessee Struggles With Changing Face Of Health Care
Tennova Healthcare, owned by Community Health Services, announced in March that the hospital would shutter its doors in May. The company cited several issues, including structural problems with the building, fewer patients and less federal funding. A slew of other rural community hospitals in Tennessee and across the country are facing the same problems that are outweighing financial benefits for the larger companies that own the facilities. The changes affect the economy and culture of a community. (Boucher, 7/10)

The Tennessean: Haywood County Leaders Scramble To Fill Void Of Lost Hospital
Haywood, a county of 18,000 that sits off Interstate 40 between Memphis and Jackson, Tenn., lost Haywood Park Community Hospital in summer 2014. Its ambulances average 15 calls a day, up from nine before the hospital closed. A day with 20 runs is not uncommon. (Fletcher, 7/10)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: In Philly, Doctors Bring Specialty Care To Communities That Need It Most
Medical practices are making it easier for patients to multitask, offering eye exams at primary-care offices or dental services at pediatric visits, and taking blood pressure at barbershops. Some of the changes are attempts to make things easier for busy families. Other offerings are intended to reach people who can't afford to see a doctor or dentist or eye doctor regularly. (Fallik, 7/10)

The Baltimore Sun: Upper Chesapeake Gets Grant To Improve Community's Health
The State of Maryland has awarded a four-year $9.2 million grant to major health care services providers in Cecil and Harford counties to create local teams to assist people with treatment of multiple chronic conditions that typically cause them to make frequent hospital visits. (Anderson, 7/8)

Wyoming Public Radio: Court Ordered Mental Health Placements Are Costing Millions
Wyoming’s Title 25 program is $13 million dollars over budget and a group of legislators and others were told this week that reforms and policy changes are needed to slow down that spending. Title 25 covers court ordered hospitalizations for mental health and substance abuse patients. The state hospital doesn’t have enough beds to house those who need services, so the state has to pay private providers for that care. (Beck, 7/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Bronx Project Sees Health In Affordable Housing
A 150-year-old health-care institution in the Bronx has a new prescription for wellness that starts with affordable housing. SBH Health System, which includes St. Barnabas Hospital, has joined with developers L+M Development Partners and Hornig Capital Partners LLC to create a 450,000-square-foot complex designed to address many of the hurdles to healthy living facing low-income residents in the Bronx. (Morris, 7/10)

California Healthline: Vaccines Are Not Just For Kids
The word “immunization” has long evoked images of nervous children wincing as they get injections to protect them from measles, mumps and other diseases. Now California’s doctors are turning their attention to adults, who haven’t been as diligent about getting their own shots. The California Medical Association Foundation, the charitable arm of the Sacramento-based physicians’ organization, published a vaccine schedule last year to inform doctors and patients about recommended vaccines for adults. (Gorman, 7/11)

The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Paramedic In Wrongful Death Under New Investigation
A Columbus Fire Division paramedic involved in the death of a woman and a $1.2 million city settlement with her family is now under investigation for letting his paramedic certification lapse. ... records kept by the Ohio Emergency Medical Services show that (James) Amick let his paramedic certification expire three times in the past 10 years. ... Amick’s failure to get re-certified is the subject of an internal investigation, Fire Chief Kevin O’Connor said last week. (Sullivan, 7/11)

Sacramento Bee: Black Children Die At Alarming Rate In Sacramento County, And Here’s Why
Between 2010 and 2015, African American children died at well above the rates of any other racial or ethnic group in Sacramento County: Nearly one-quarter of the 873 children under age 18 who died in the county during that six-year time frame were black, even as black youths made up just 11 percent of the population in that age group. During that time period, the death rate among black children was more than twice the rate of white children and about three times the rate for Latino and Asian children, according to a Sacramento Bee review of state death certificates. (Caiola, 7/10)

The Des Moines Register: Union: In-Home Care Workers Go Weeks With No Pay
Many Iowans who are supposed to be paid by the state for providing in-home care for disabled people have gone for weeks or months without pay because of the state’s shift to private management of its Medicaid program, the state workers’ union alleged Friday....The dispute involves Iowans who work in a program that lets people with disabilities or long-term illnesses choose someone to provide services such as bathing, medication and feeding assistance in their homes. (Leys, 7/8)

Orlando Sentinel: Health Central Hospital Opening New ED Next Week
Health Central Hospital is opening its new 52-bed emergency department next week, bringing an upgrade and expansion to its existing ER. The new emergency room has 10 more rooms than the old one. It opens on Wednesday. (Miller, 7/11)

Sacramento Bee: Brain-Dead Toddler Could Return To U.S. Next Week After Central America Treatment
A brain-dead Vacaville toddler, whose family waged a legal fight to keep him on life support, could be coming home after six weeks in a Central American hospital. An air ambulance return trip to the U.S. was scheduled Friday morning for 2-year-old Israel Stinson, “but there were administrative hiccups with the (U.S.) hospital,” said Alexandra Snyder, an attorney with the Life Legal Justice Foundation, one of two nonprofit legal groups handling Israel’s case. Snyder said it’s likely the boy and his parents will leave an unidentified Central America country early next week on a medical flight to an East Coast hospital, where he’ll be treated by a pediatric specialist for “technology-dependent” children, such as those on ventilators. (Buck, 7/8)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: For Chesco's Low-Income Residents, A Place To Go For Everything From Medicine To English Lessons
Delivering bilingual health care and social services to 5,500 mostly low-income residents of southern Chester County annually, [La Comunidad Hispana] tends to basic human needs, with no concern about who can or cannot pay. Its staff quickly found a home for the woman, gave her emergency medical treatment, and counseled her. (Gerniger, 7/9)