State Highlights: Two Veterans Commit Suicide Outside VA Medical Centers In Georgia; Blue Cross Plans To Open 10 Clinics In Texas To Improve Care, Trim Costs

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Two Veterans Kill Themselves At VA Medical Centers In Georgia
Two veterans killed themselves at separate Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals in Georgia over the weekend, refocusing attention on what the VA has called its “highest clinical priority.” The first death happened Friday in a parking garage at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin, according to U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson’s office. The second occurred Saturday outside the main entrance to the Atlanta VA Medical Center in Decatur on Clairmont Road. (Redmon, 4/8)

In case you missed it: Veterans Are Killing Themselves In VA Parking Lots As A Desperate Protest Against A System That They Believed Failed Them

Modern Healthcare: Texas Blues Insurer To Open Primary-Care Clinics
Taking a cue from other insurers that are attempting to gain more control over where their members seek care, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas on Monday announced plans to open 10 primary-care medical centers in Dallas and Houston next year. The clinics, which the Health Care Service Corp.-owned Blues insurer will open in partnership with medical center operator Sanitas USA, will provide a range of services beyond primary care, including urgent care, lab and diagnostic imaging, care coordination, and wellness and disease management programs. Sanitas also operates U.S. clinics with other Blues insurers, including Florida Blue and Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey. (Livingston, 4/8)

Dallas Morning News: Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Texas Tries New Way To Trim Health Costs: Opening Its Own Medical Centers
With the new clinics, Blue Cross — which has over 5 million members in Texas — aims to expand health care access, cut costs and boost outcomes. It's part of the insurer's effort to flip the reimbursement model to reward providers for keeping patients healthy rather than paying service fees for each lab test, doctor's appointment or X-ray. "It really lets doctors go back to being doctors, caring about patients holistically and caring about patient outcomes — not just worrying about their balance sheet," said Dr. Paul Hain, president of the insurer's North Texas market.  (Repko, 4/8)

Boston Globe: Baker Signs Bill Banning Gay Conversion Therapy For Minors
Governor Charlie Baker Monday signed into law a proposal banning gay conversion therapy for minors, making Massachusetts the latest state to outlaw the practice. The proposal bars health care providers from attempting to change “the sexual orientation and gender identity” of any patient younger than 18. (McDonald and Stout, 4/9)

St. Louis Public Radio: Transgender Youth Don’t See Space For Themselves; Court Ruling May Change That
A Missouri Supreme Court ruling from earlier this year is giving advocates hope that stronger protections for transgender youth in school will soon follow. A transgender student sued the Blue Springs School R-IV District for access to the bathroom and other facilities that aligned with the student’s gender identity. The state’s top court ruled in late February in favor of the student. (Delaney, 4/9)

The Associated Press: Facility Probed Over Handling Of Mentally Disabled Residents
The Louisiana Department of Health says a Lake Charles school for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities failed to protect its residents from sexual assault and physical abuse. The American Press reports the agency says those failures show Robinswood isn’t complying with federal and state requirements for nursing homes that participate in Medicare or Medicaid programs. In October, a direct care aid at the school was accused of sexually assaulting a student in 2017. He was fired months later and charged with first-degree rape. Three other school workers were later charged accessory-after-the-fact to first-degree rape. (4/9)

The Associated Press: Medicaid Expansion Fight Delaying Work On Next Kansas Budget
A legislative fight over expanding Medicaid in Kansas is delaying approval of the state’s next annual budget as expansion supporters try to keep Republican opponents from blocking it for another year. Some top GOP lawmakers are conceding that an expansion plan could pass because expansion is a priority for Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and has bipartisan support in the Republican-controlled Legislature. However, opponents hope for time this summer and fall to develop a smaller program than Kelly wants with restrictions she opposes, such as a work requirement for participants. (Hanna, 4/8)

The Baltimore Sun: Al Redmer Jr. Confirmed For Another Term Heading The Maryland Insurance Administration 
Al Redmer Jr. was confirmed Monday by the Maryland Senate for another term as the state’s insurance commissioner, an independent state agency that regulates the state’s $28.5 billion insurance industry. Before being tapped by Gov. Larry Hogan for the post, Redmer served in the General Assembly representing Baltimore County and was House minority leader. He also managed Redmer Insurance Group LLC, and owned Redmer Financial Group. (Cohn, 4/8)

Texas Tribune: View Secret Texas Legislative Budget Board Reports On Health, Efficiency
State-funded mental health services are only reaching 19 percent of eligible Texans. A shortage of funding for newborn screenings has contributed to delays for 75 percent of infants’ initial test results. And dozens of high-value contracts between state agencies and private consulting firms may not be legally binding because of paperwork errors. These are among the findings in a series of reports that a key legislative agency, overseen by Texas House and Senate leaders, withheld from the public. (Walters, 4/8)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Testing All Students For Dyslexia Could Lead To Overdiagnosis.
Senate Bill 48, which awaits the governor’s signature, would eventually require dyslexia screening for every student starting in kindergarten. It also would create teacher training programs to deal with the disorder estimated to affect 10 percent to 20 percent of the population. While Bacallao agrees dyslexia is a real brain disorder, she fears Georgia will now see overdiagnosis as a result of required universal screenings. (Downey, 4/8)

Des Moines Register: New LGBTQ Clinic Opening At Methodist Medical Center In Des Moines
A new LGBTQ clinic is opening at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines that will specialize in providing primary care services for LGBTQ patients in central Iowa, according to a news release from UnityPoint Health. Health care providers in the clinic will be knowledgeable about LGBTQ health care and special services people in the community may need. Staff have undergone Safe Zone Training through One Iowa, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, to better understand and treat patients, according to UnityPoint. (Ta, 4/8)

California Healthline: Big Soda Pours Big Bucks Into California’s Capitol
Dinners at an expensive restaurant in Maui — with ocean views. Tickets to professional sports games. A free screening of “Black Panther” at a Sacramento IMAX theater. And a $250,000 donation to a group that funds the governor’s travel. That’s just a sampling of the $11.8 million that soft drink companies and their lobbyists spent at the state and local levels in the past two years in California to block proposals such as taxing sugary beverages and slapping health warnings on their drinks, a California Healthline analysis found. “They exercise extraordinary influence in this building,” state Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) said of the industry. “We don’t underestimate the power of the opposition.” (Young, 4/8)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County Jail Ordered To Release Woman For Medical Treatments
A judge on Monday ordered a woman released from the Milwaukee County Jail by 6 p.m. after hearing that she has been denied the medical treatment releases he ordered at her sentencing nearly a month ago. ...In the morning, Borowski had ordered someone from the jail's command staff to appear at a 1:30 p.m. hearing to explain why Korin Jesse-Hudy, 34, wasn't given Huber privileges or electronic home detention to allow needed treatment for surgical follow-up care and management of her diabetes. (Vielmetti, 4/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: With Black Babies, Moms At High Risk In SF, Project Pairs Them With Caregivers
Contributions from the San Francisco Foundation’s Community Health Innovation Fund and the San Francisco Health Plan — $465,000 and $500,000, respectively — will allow SisterWeb to take referrals from doctors at San Francisco General Hospital and UCSF Medical Center for women who are 10 to 28 weeks pregnant and identify as black or Pacific Islander. A special emphasis is being placed on these women because they have the city’s most dire birth outcomes. (McBride, 4/8)

The CT Mirror: New DCF Commissioner Emphasizes Importance Of Safe Sleep For Babies
Faith Vos Winkel, the state’s Assistant Child Advocate, said Connecticut loses “on average a classroom size of children just to safe sleep issues” every year. She said that from 2013 to 2018, the state lost 123 infants to sleep-related deaths, noting that number does not include children who die of other causes. (Megan, 4/8)

Sacramento Bee: UCD Health, Adventist Open Cancer Care Center In Chico
UC Davis Health and Adventist Health will cut the ribbon on a joint cancer care center in Chico at 4 p.m. Tuesday, providing an alternate treatment home for patients displaced by the Camp Fire and subsequent closure of Adventist Health Feather River Cancer Center in Paradise. ...Since the fire erupted in November, about 120 cancer patients have been getting their chemotherapy treatments at Adventist Health Rideout Cancer Center in Marysville, 46 miles away from the Paradise facility. (Anderson, 4/9)

Ventura County Star: Entrepreneurs Pitch Their Ideas At Startups Ventura County
Camarillo resident Matt Reynolds wants to redefine the concept of at-home healthcare, and his idea resonated with some of Ventura County’s veteran business experts. Reynolds, 36, was one of 10 local entrepreneurs who participated in Startups Ventura County over the weekend. The three-day annual event, which the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce began running four years ago, is intended to help Ventura County’s entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners get their ideas up and running. Reynolds, who co-founded Care Exchange, won the event’s $10,000 first place prize. Care Exchange would be a digital homecare marketplace that would allow care seekers to find professional caregivers for themselves or their loved ones. Though Reynolds only began actively working on the business while going through his MBA program in 2014, his interest in personalized healthcare stemmed from caring for a childhood friend who suffered from muscular dystrophy. (Hersko 4/8)

Health News Florida: Florida Getting Closer To Allowing Edible Medical Marijuana
The Florida Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services has finalized its rules for how medical marijuana growers can get licensed to make and sell edibles. Holly Bell is the director of the cannabis program for the agriculture department. She said the big concern is safety from food poisoning and allergen contagion. (Aboraya, 4/8)

The CT Mirror: Judiciary Committee Green Lights Marijuana Legislation
A bill that would legalize recreational marijuana and erase the criminal records of people who have committed low-level drug offenses – the second piece in a package of cannabis-related legislation – cleared a key committee Monday over the objections of lawmakers who fear the change will make it easier for children to get the drug. Although the measure would ban the sale of marijuana to people younger than 21, several members of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee argued that legalizing it would make it more enticing and available to children. (Carlesso and Phaneuf, 4/8)