State Highlights: Texas Study Finds Most Pregnancy-Related Deaths To Be Preventable; Court Revives Autism-Accommodation Lawsuits Regarding Disney Parks In Fla., Calif.

Austin American-Statesman: Texas Study: Most Pregnancy-Related Deaths Avoidable
Most pregnancy-related deaths in Texas in 2012, which saw the highest number of maternal deaths to date, could have been prevented, according to a new state report. The most common causes of pregnancy-related deaths were heart issues, hemorrhaging, and infection. (Chang, 8/21)

Health News Florida: Autism Accommodation Lawsuits Revived Against Disney
In a detailed, 65-page ruling, a federal appeals court Friday said a trial is needed in a legal battle about whether Disney theme parks have taken adequate steps to meet the needs of customers who have autism and cannot wait long times for rides. ...The appeals court decision came in 30 consolidated cases that involve allegations under the Americans with Disabilities Act and deal with Disney parks in Florida and California. (Saunders, 8/21)

CNN: Suicide Rates In Rural America Are Soaring. One Family Is Working To Change That.
The suicide rate in rural America is 45% greater than in large urban areas, according to a study released last fall by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A more recent CDC report said Montana's suicide rate leads the nation, coming in at nearly twice the national average. A third long-touted CDC study, currently under review, listed farming in the occupational group, along with fishing and forestry, with the highest rate of suicide deaths. (Ravitz, 8/21)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Asks To Add Addiction Treatment To St. Louis Health Program For Poor, Uninsured
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has asked the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to add anti-addiction drugs and services to the Gateway to Better Health program. Substance abuse treatment is an important service to add to Gateway’s short list of benefits, said Robert Freund, CEO of the St. Louis Regional Health Commission, which operates and monitors the program. (Fentem, 8/21)

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State Announces New Office To Replace Troubled Sexual Civility Center
Ohio State University announced Tuesday the creation of a new centralized office to address issues involving sexual misconduct and gender harassment. The school promised in June that it would create a new office by the start of fall semester, after closing its troubled Sexual Civility and Empowerment Center and eliminating four positions. The closure followed an independent review that found the center had failed to properly report and handle some students’ sexual-assault complaints. (Woods, 8/21)

St. Louis Public Radio: St. Louis Doctors Change Antibiotic Treatment Tactics For Premature Infants To Curb Drug Resistance
Pediatricians are changing how they talk about about antibiotic treatment for preemies, due to the growing threat of drug-resistant organisms and recent research on the long-term effects of early antibiotic exposure. Doctors want to choose antibiotics that are strong enough to treat the infection, but at the same time, they don’t want to apply so much pressure to microbes in the infant’s body that it causes them to develop drug resistance, when bacteria develop the ability to defeat drugs designed to kill them. (Chen, 8/21)

Georgia Health News: Georgia Tech Teams With ‘Big Data’ Experts To Study Medical Imaging
Last week, the American College of Radiology’s Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute announced a five-year, $3 million research partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology to establish the Health Economics and Analytics Lab (HEAL), with the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Tech. HEAL will apply big data analytics and artificial intelligence to large-scale medical claims databases — focusing on medical imaging — to better understand how health care delivery and payment models affect patients and providers. (Thomas, 8/21)

The Post-Crescent: Lincoln Hills Mental Health Program Gets Upgrade From National Group
Conditions at the state's troubled youth prison are showing signs of improvement with an endorsement from a national group that rates mental health training programs in correctional institutions and elsewhere. The American Psychological Association on Tuesday said the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls' psychology internship program was now in good standing and in compliance with industry regulations that govern safety, quality and credibility. (Kyle, 8/21)

Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt Opening Transgender Health Clinic In Nashville
Vanderbilt University Medical Center will open a new clinic dedicated to transgender patients on Friday, expanding a limited-yet-growing number of options for transgender-tailored health care in Tennessee. The clinic, which is intended as a comprehensive health care provider, will offer primary care, medical specialists, mental health services, hormone therapy and guidance both before and after transition surgery, according to an announcement from the hospital. (Kelman, 8/21)

KCUR: Fearing Cuts To Healthcare, Some Transgender People In Kansas City Embrace Crowdfunding 
Medical expenses are the category most often used on GoFundMe, which is the largest crowdfunding platform. And in recent years, campaigns have snowballed for one particular kind of medical care: gender confirmation surgery. GoFundMe has nearly 5,000 active campaigns for transgender surgery, a number that's doubled since 2014 and includes more than a dozen campaigns in the Kansas City area. The company's website even has a special page to help guide people through the steps of transitioning and their costs. (Smith, 8/22)

USA Today: Las Vegas Shooting: Doctor Faces Discipline Over Drug Records
A Nevada state licensing board has accused a doctor and his staff of accessing the private prescription drug records of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock before similar details were published by a media outlet. The doctor, Ivan Goldsmith, an internal medicine and weight-loss specialist who owns the Trimcare clinic in Las Vegas, is scheduled to appear before the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy on Sept. 5 to face possible discipline over the disclosure of Paddock's prescription drug records, according to pharmacy board officials.  (Alltucker, 8/21)