Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Trump Tells California To Manage Its Forests Or Lose Disaster Funds For Wildfires; Idaho Appeals Ruling Ordering Surgery For Transgender Inmate
Los Angeles Times: Trump Threatens To Cut Off Disaster Funding For California Fire Victims
President Trump injected new uncertainty into California’s wildfire recovery efforts, tweeting early Wednesday that he has ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency not to send more disaster funding to state officials “unless they get their act together, which is unlikely.” Neither the White House nor FEMA provided clarification, in response to emails and calls, about whether Trump’s threat was bluster like other tweets he has sent making false assertions while criticizing the state’s fire management, or if he has actually ordered a funding cutoff to thousands of Californians trying to rebuild after the devastating fires late last year. (Wire and Bierman, 1/9)
The Associated Press: Idaho Appeals Ruling Ordering Surgery For Transgender Inmate
Idaho said Wednesday it will appeal a recent court ruling ordering the state to provide gender confirmation surgery to a transgender inmate. The Idaho Department of Correction filed a notice advising U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill that the state will appeal his ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The inmate would be the first in Idaho to get the procedure while in state custody and only the second inmate in the nation to receive the surgery. (1/9)
Boston Globe: A Woman Fleeing A Hospital Is Tased. Is She Protected By Federal Law For The Disabled?
When Athol Police Officer Thomas Cummings found Gray on Main Street, a quarter-mile from the hospital, he called her to come back with him to the facility. Instead, she turned and swore at him. Then she began moving toward him. What happened next is at the heart of a complicated legal question before the US Circuit Court of Appeals, which on Tuesday began to examine what constitutes reasonable force against a person with mental illness and whether a police officer’s tactics for subduing suspects with disabilities can be limited by the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Cramer, 1/10)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Jolt: Hints About Health Care And The Legislature Begin To Surface
Late Tuesday, House Speaker David Ralston named a 15-member special committee to implement recommendations for the improvement of rural health care in Georgia that were generated last month by, yes, another House committee. ...Governor-elect Kemp has also hinted that he would pursue a federal waiver – not concerning Medicaid, but in order to stabilize insurance premiums on Georgia’s Affordable Care Act exchange – another reason to have an insurance specialist as a top negotiator. (Galloway, Bluestein and Hallerman, 1/9)
Arizona Republic: Arizona Bill Would Classify E-Cigarettes As Tobacco Products
Arizona's existing law forbidding e-cigarette sales to youths is inadequate in curbing what has become a crisis in the state, says the sponsor of a new bill targeting minors' access to vaping products. Surrounded by school and public health officials, state Sen.-elect Heather Carter, R-Cave Creek, on Tuesday announced she would sponsor a bill this legislative session to reclassify e-cigarettes as tobacco products. (Innes, 1/9)
Tampa Bay Times: Johns Hopkins Hires Former Prosecutor To Investigate All Children’s Heart Institute
The Johns Hopkins Medicine Board of Trustees has appointed a former federal prosecutor to lead its investigation into the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital’s heart surgery unit, the health system announced late Tuesday. F. Joseph Warin, of the global law firm Gibson Dunn, and his team will review the high mortality rates and other problems at the hospital’s Heart Institute and report back to a special committee of the board of trustees by May, the health system said. (McGrory and Bedi, 1/9)
Kansas City Star: Towns, Hospitals Look To Cut Ties With Struggling EmpowerHMS
EmpowerHMS, the North Kansas City-based company that manages their hospital, owes the city thousands in unpaid utility bills. A check written to the city in December bounced, and Paine, the city administrator, can’t get anybody from the company to resolve it. (Marso, 1/10)
The Associated Press: Arkansas Moves Closer Toward Launching Medical Pot Program
An Arkansas panel on Wednesday named 32 companies it intends to license to sell medical marijuana, two years after voters approved its legalization and following a series of delays that have frustrated patients and advocates. The state Medical Marijuana Commission approved the scores from an outside consultant it had hired to evaluate about 200 applications for dispensaries. (1/9)
Baltimore Sun: Use Drones To Deliver Organs For Transplant? Baltimore Surgeon Says It Would Save Precious Time, Money
At a Southern Maryland airfield, Dr. Joseph Scalea watched a drone carrying a kidney in a cardboard cooler fly 3 miles.The test flight, repeated 14 times, was the culmination of three years’ work by the University of Maryland Medical Center transplant surgeon, who sees the unmanned aircraft as the ultimate method for delivering life-saving organs from donors to recipients. (Cohn, 1/10)
Austin American-Statesman: Water Issues Draw Attention In Texas Town Of Rockdale
This month, the Rockdale City Council could vote to raise water rates to replace miles of corroded pipes. But any rate increase would come as Rockdale is trying to fight out of an economic tailspin as medical facilities close, school enrollment dwindles, drug problems persist, and a manufacturing base evaporates. (Price, 1/9)
St. Louis Public Radio: St. Louis Emergency-Room Doctors Raise Concerns Over Rising Rate Of Scooter Injuries
Since electric rental scooters hit the streets of St. Louis last summer, emergency-room doctors have seen dozens of scooter-related injuries, including broken bones and serious head trauma. Rental services Bird and Lime introduced St. Louis to the motorized scooters in August. Doctors at the Washington University School of Medicine started seeing an increase in scooter-related injuries almost immediately. (Farzan and Petrin, 1/10)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Need Affordable Senior Housing? You May Be Waiting Years As Philly, Nation Grapple With Long Wait Lists.
The new development, called Cantrell Place, had been in the works since 2011 when Montgomery County-based developer Presby’s Inspired Life envisioned the senior housing community. Before finally opening its doors in December, Presby had spent the time drawing up plans, assembling land, and applying for funding over and over again. The 61 one-bedroom units, with space for seniors who make as little as $12,240 and as much as $36,708 annually, had been more than seven years in the making. (McCabe, 1/10)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Smoking In Georgia: The Real Cost Of Being A Smoker
According to WalletHub, the real lifetime cost of smoking per smoker in Georgia is $1,396,882, a yearly cost of $27,390. The Peach State is actually the least costly of all the 50 states (and D.C.), followed by Missouri and North Carolina. (Pirani, 1/9)
The Associated Press: Virginia Firm Says It Has License To Study Medical Marijuana
A research firm in Virginia says it has gotten a federal license to import high-quality extracts of marijuana for medical research. The Virginian-Pilot reported Wednesday that Sanyal Biotechnology will soon embark on a series of critical studies into treatment of various diseases and disorders. (1/10)
The Baltimore Sun: University Of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus Upgrades Behavioral Health Care Unit
Almost a year after an embarrassing patient-dumping incident, the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus announced an overhaul of its behavioral health unit so it can see more patients arriving in crisis at the Baltimore hospital. The move consolidates services between the midtown campus and the medical center’s nearby downtown campus, with admissions expected to rise at the former and drop at the latter. (Cohn, 1/9)
Health News Florida: Court Digs Into Marijuana Smoking Ban
Newly minted Gov. Ron DeSantis has indicated he may drop the state’s appeal of a court decision that said a Florida law banning patients from smoking medical marijuana is unconstitutional. But on the same day the Republican successor to former Gov. Rick Scott was sworn into office, lawyers for the state tried to persuade a three-judge panel to uphold the smoking prohibition. (Kam, 1/9)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: State Clears Hocking College To Test Ohio Medical Marijuana
State regulators gave Hocking College a certificate of operation for its medical marijuana testing lab Tuesday, and school employees were traveling to Northeast Ohio on Wednesday to pick up the first batch of the drug. In other Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program news Wednesday, the state announced 13 companies will receive provisional licenses to begin building medical marijuana processing facilities. (Hancock, 1/9)
