State Highlights: Strict Abortion Ban Divides Voters In Louisiana Governor’s Race; NYC Public Hospital Back In Step With Surplus of $36M

The Associated Press: Abortion Ban Opponents Conflicted In Louisiana Governor Race
At the height of Louisiana's debate over a strict new abortion ban, phone calls poured into Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards' office, from people urging him to jettison the measure and threatening to withhold votes for his reelection bid as he signed the new law. So many hundreds of calls bombarded the governor's office in opposition to the ban on abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy that workers couldn't physically log all the complaints into a computerized system. (10/10)

The Wall Street Journal: New York’s Public Hospital System Regains Financial Footing
The nation’s largest public hospital system is in the black after years of financial woes. NYC Health + Hospital, with 11 hospitals serving New York City’s neediest population, closed the fiscal year on June 30 on budget and with a surplus of $36 million, hospital officials said Thursday. Revenue was $7.51 billion and expenses were $7.48 billion. The city’s hospitals appear to be exiting a troubled period after a forced overhaul that began in 2016. State and federal budget cuts, plus increased costs in treating uninsured New Yorkers, forced the hospital system to tighten its belt and shrink staffing. (West, 10/10)

Boston Globe: Doctors, Hospitals Criticize New Regulations For Surgeries And Other Practices
Three months after the state medical board voted to tighten regulations on how doctors practice medicine, the rules are facing stiff resistance from Massachusetts hospitals and physicians, and it’s unclear to what extent they are being obeyed. The regulations, which medical experts describe as among the most-far reaching in the country, require doctors to provide more information to patients who are considering surgery and to document each time a lead surgeon enters and leaves the operating room. (Saltzman, 10/10)

The Associated Press: Virginia School To Add Nursing Students Amid State Shortage
A Virginia university is planning to add new slots to its nursing program as the state struggles with a shortage of nurses. The Roanoke Times reports that James Madison University will add 23 students each semester starting in January. The school currently admits 90 students a semester. The newspaper says the admissions increase is meant to help address the state’s nursing shortage. (10/11)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: VA Surgeries Cancelled Because Of Problems
The Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center has sharply reduced surgeries as it overhauls operations, the latest sign of significant troubles at the hospital for the area’s military veterans. The Decatur facility stopped performing routine surgeries because of serious problems involving medical procedures, two employees told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Quinn, 10/10)

Houston Chronicle: United Healthcare Terminates Contract With Houston Methodist; 100,000 Plan Members Affected 
As many as 100,000 UnitedHealthcare plan members could lose in-network access to all eight Houston Methodist hospitals and dozens of its out-patient facilities on Dec. 31 after the insurer announced it was dropping the major hospital system from its network. The move would affect anyone with a UnitedHealthcare employer-sponsored plan as well as those covered under the insurer’s Medicare Advantage program for seniors, both the hospital and the insurance company confirmed on Thursday. Medicare Advantage enrollment for 2020 begins next week. (Deam, 10/10)

Arizona Republic: How Did Women In Arizona Adoption Scam Get Government Health Care?
The adoption scandal involving Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen raises serious questions about how the pregnant women he brought to Arizona were able to get government health care. That's because people from the Marshall Islands, where the women were from, do not qualify for Medicaid in Arizona unless they are U.S. citizens or lawful, permanent U.S. residents of at least five years. There are a few exceptions, including refugees and asylees. (Innes, 10/10)

Modern Healthcare: Seven Cases Of Legionnaires' Disease Reported At McLaren Macomb Hospital
Macomb County health officials are investigating seven cases of Legionnaires' disease reported at McLaren Macomb hospital in Mount Clemens, Mich. Six of the seven cases were reported since the middle of September, according to a Wednesday news release from the Macomb County Health Department, which is handling the investigation alongside the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. (Nagle, 10/10)

Texas Tribune: Texas Department Of Public Safety Sued Over Its Waist Size Policy
The state has put another stamp of approval on the Texas Department of Public Safety’s controversial new policy to measure state troopers’ physical fitness by their waistlines. After a lengthy Thursday morning meeting with agency officials rattling off studies and standards used to come up with their often-changing physical fitness tests and measurements, the three-member Public Safety Commission unanimously adopted DPS’s fitness program, certifying it is in line with scientific standards and federal law. (McCullough, 10/10)

The Oregonian: Student Who Walked Into Parkrose High School With Gun, Prompted Mass Fear, Is Sentenced To Mental Health Help 
A teenager who carried a loaded shotgun into a classroom at Parkrose High School in May -- causing a massive scare before one of the school’s security guards subdued him -- was sentenced Thursday to three years of probation and any mental health treatment that he needs. Investigators say Angel Granados-Diaz, then 18, was suffering a mental health crisis and didn’t intend to hurt anyone but himself. (Green, 10/10)

Georgia Health News: State Waiver Proposal Coming Soon; Hospital Transparency Rules Unveiled
State officials are expected to have at least one health care waiver proposal ready for an agency board to consider in early November. The waiver development is a central part of Gov. Brian Kemp’s strategy to improve Georgia health care. The state has a high uninsured rate, and its health rankings on various measures lag behind most other states. (Miller, 10/10)

North Carolina Health News: Ocracoke & Hatteras Health Care Professionals Pull Together 
Hundreds of others of the island residents had as much as 4 or 5 feet of water in their homes. Even in houses high enough to avoid the water, often the heating and electrical systems in their crawl spaces were totaled. Along with almost everyone’s cars. That’s what happened to the Ocracoke Health Center too. ...The clinic’s heating and ventilation system was ruined, along with the electrical system, insulation and all of the data lines. Ballance said their pre-storm routine is to take portable equipment, put it on top of the desks and tables, and cover it in plastic. (Hoban, 10/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Killings Show Limits Of New York’s Homeless Outreach
In the weeks before Randy Santos allegedly bludgeoned four homeless men to death in Manhattan, he was sleeping in an abandoned building on East 183rd Street in the Bronx. At the time, Lydia and Segundo Segarra, who lived on the Bronx block, hired him to perform odd jobs on their property. The first time he worked for them was unremarkable, Ms. Segarra said. But the second time, Mr. Santos looked lost, leading her husband to encourage Mr. Santos to seek psychiatric help at nearby St. Barnabas Hospital, she said. (Blint-Welsh, 10/10)

Health News Florida: Florida Lawmaker Takes Aim At Health Care Titles
Rep. Ralph Massullo, a dermatologist from Lecanto, has filed a bill for the 2020 legislative session that would change state law and allow health-care licensing boards to take disciplinary action against providers who are not physicians but use monikers that could imply they are, such as “anesthesiologist.” The bill (HB 309) comes on the heels of a unanimous decision by the Florida Board of Nursing in August to allow John McDonough, an advanced practice registered nurse, to identify himself as a “nurse anesthesiologist” without facing repercussions. (Sexton, 10/10)

Los Angeles Times: Medical Marijuana OK At K-12 Schools In California After Gov. Newsom Signs New Law
Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill that paves the way for parents in some California school districts to bring medical cannabis to their students at K-12 campuses, breaking with former Gov. Jerry Brown, who had vetoed similar legislation last year. The measure, signed late Wednesday, allows medical cannabis that is not in smoking or vaping form to be administered to students by parents on campus if their school board has approved a policy providing the access. (McGreevy, 10/10)

Los Angeles Times: Measles Warning At Arclight And Erewhon On L.A.'s Westside
Los Angeles County officials are warning that residents may have been exposed to measles earlier this month. Health officials have confirmed that a person who spent time at a movie theater and stores on the Westside has been diagnosed with measles. Considered one of the most contagious diseases in the world, measles spreads through coughing and sneezing but can linger in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves the room. (Karlamangla, 10/10)

Texas Tribune: Texas Medical Marijuana Licensing Registration Shut Down Early
A week into opening the application process for medical cannabis dispensaries to apply for permits in Texas, the Texas Department of Public Safety — without warning — suspended the process. ...The move by the state agency came as a shock to advocacy groups who were eager for the state to move forward on medical cannabis expansion months after the Legislature expanded the list of conditions that qualify for the medicine under the Compassionate Use Program to include seizure disorders; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS; terminal cancer and autism. (Samuels and Fernandez, 10/10)