State Highlights: Union Accuses Mass. Watchdog Overseeing Nursing Ballot Initiative Of Having Bias; Officials Confirm Case Of Legionnaire’s Disease At D.C. Senior Living Community

Boston Globe: Nurses Union Questions Watchdog’s Motive In Weighing Ballot Initiative
The labor union sponsoring a ballot question to regulate nurse staffing in hospitals is slamming the state Health Policy Commission and questioning its role as an independent watchdog as the agency prepares a report on the costs of the ballot measure. In a letter sent late Tuesday, union officials accused the commission of having a bias in favor of hospitals, which are fighting the ballot question. (Dayal McCluskey, 9/26)

The Associated Press: Legionnaire’s Disease Confirmed At Senior Living Community
Health department officials in the nation’s capital say a case of Legionnaire’s disease has been confirmed at a senior living community in Washington. News outlets report the health department has advised the Ingleside at Rock Creek retirement community to implement full water restrictions until filters can be installed on sinks and showers. A letter from the community’s executive director, Frank Beech, says residents are being provided bottled water and supplies in the meantime. (9/26)

Houston Chronicle: Woman's Hospital Of Texas Earns Neonatal Designation 
The Woman's Hospital of Texas has been named a Level IV Advanced Neonatal Intensive Care Unit by the Texas Department of State Health Services, the hospital announced on Wednesday. The designation means the hospital is able to provide the highest level of acute care for premature and critically ill infants born earlier than 32 pounds and weighing less than 3.3 pounds. (Deam, 9/26)

The Washington Post: A Telemarketer Made About 21 Million Robocalls In 3 Months. The FCC Just Fined It $82 Million.
The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday imposed an $82 million fine against a telemarketer who made more than 21 million unsolicited calls to consumers to try to sell health insurance and generate leads. Over a three-month period beginning in late 2016, Philip Roesel and his companies made more than 200,000 calls every day, the FCC said, using a technique known as spoofing in which a person’s caller ID displays a number that is different from the one the caller is using. (Shaban, 9/26)

Modern Healthcare: LifePoint Health CEO Carpenter To Be Replaced By Dill 
LifePoint Health CEO Bill Carpenter will retire after the Brentwood, Tenn.-based health system completes its merger with RCCH HealthCare Partners, LifePoint announced Wednesday. David Dill, LifePoint's president and chief operating officer, will take over as CEO of the merged company. The merger, announced in July, is expected to close later this year. (Livingston, 9/26)

The Associated Press: Appeals Court Hears Johns Hopkins Black Lung Lawsuit
A federal appeals court heard arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by the families of coal miners who were denied benefits for black lung disease after a Johns Hopkins doctor insisted their X-rays did not show the disease. A federal judge in Maryland dismissed the lawsuit in 2017, finding that Dr. Paul Wheeler had immunity as an expert witness for coal companies under Maryland and federal law. (Lavoie, 9/26)

The Star Tribune: Optum Ventures Backs Startup That Uses AI To Aid In Medical Diagnosis 
A venture fund at Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group is part of a $33 million fundraising round for an Iowa startup that’s developing an autonomous diagnostic system featuring artificial intelligence (AI). Called IDx, the company this year received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to market the first medical device using AI to detect greater than a mild level of the eye disease diabetic retinopathy in adults with diabetes. (Snowbeck, 9/26)

St. Louis Public Radio: EPA Approves Final Plan To Dig Out Contaminated Waste At West Lake Landfill
The Environmental Protection Agency has decided how it plans to clean up the radioactive waste at the West Lake Landfill Superfund site. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported late Wednesday that the federal agency has chosen a solution that will remove about 70 percent of the site’s radioactivity, and the waste would be disposed at an off-site facility. (Chen 9/26)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Universal Health Services To Run Behavioral Health Division Hospital
The Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division’s board on Wednesday voted to contract with a for-profit company to provide inpatient care in a new hospital that would open in 2021. The pending contract with Universal Health Services, based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, will culminate a four-year search for an entity to provide care for patients now hospitalized at the Behavioral Health Division’s Mental Health Complex in Wauwatosa. (Boulton, 9/26)

Sacramento Bee: UC Davis Medical Center Gets Interim Chief
Brad Simmons, the chief operating officer at UC Davis Medical Center, will take over as the interim chief executive officer of the teaching hospital as CEO Ann Madden Rice leaves to become president of Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis in mid-October. Simmons’ appointment is pending approval by the University of California Board of Regents. He has served as the second-in-command at the medical center since 2016. (Anderson, 9/26)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: South Milwaukee Fire Department Receives Carcinogen-Blocking Hoods
Knowing how danagerous the exposure to carcinogens at the workplace can can be, South Milwaukee Fire Chief Joseph Knitter has always taken the long-term health of his firefighters seriously. ...So his department receiving a donation of 35 particulate-barrier hoods, which are designed to reduce exposure to carcinogens released during fires, was a pleasant surprise. (Hughes, 9/26)

The CT Mirror: Bringing Legitimacy To A Workforce: The Road To Certification For Community Health Workers
Community health workers across the state help to bridge the gap between the health care system and communities, said Tiffany Donelson, vice president of programs at Connecticut Health Foundation. ...Despite their value to the health care system and the underserved communities they reach, however, there is still no sustainable funding for the majority of the workforce because their services are not covered by insurance. (Werth, 9/26)

Boston Globe: Independent Expert To Conduct Sweeping Safety Review Of Natural Gas Networks In Mass.
The Baker administration will hire an independent evaluator to conduct a sweeping safety study of the natural gas distribution networks in Massachusetts, a process that will be financed by the utilities under an emergency order linked to the fatal Merrimack Valley gas explosions. The push to hire the evaluator was announced Wednesday by the state Department of Public Utilities, the state agency in charge of overseeing natural gas distribution systems in Massachusetts. (Ellement and Chesto, 9/26)

The Star Tribune: Minneapolis Fire Chief Eyes Smaller Vehicles For Medical Calls
A smaller vehicle operated by the Minneapolis Fire Department may begin responding to some health emergencies around downtown next year, one way the department is dealing with its growing volume of medical emergency calls. The move would also help the department get reimbursed for some of its work. The experiment, which could expand in the future, will be detailed at a City Council hearing on Thursday. (Roper, 9/26)

MPR: Council OKs Plan To Move Minneapolis Homeless Camp Onto Red Lake Land
The Minneapolis City Council on Wednesday signed off on a plan that would relocate a growing homeless encampment along Hiawatha Avenue to property nearby owned by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa. Tribal leaders on Friday offered the land just south of the Franklin Avenue light rail station to use as a "navigation center" after the council delayed a decision on two other possible sites. (Nesterak, 9/26)

The Associated Press: In Minneapolis, Leaders Grapple With Sudden Homeless Camp
When a disturbed woman pulled a knife on Denise Deer earlier this month, she quickly herded her children into their tent. A nearby man stepped in and the woman was arrested, and within minutes, 8-year-old Shilo and 4-year-old Koda were back outside sitting on a sidewalk, playing with a train set and gobbling treats delivered by volunteers. (9/27)

The Washington Post: ‘This Is A Home’: First Of Seven New Homeless Family Shelters Opens In D.C.
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) on Wednesday celebrated the completion of the first of seven new shelters for homeless families, marking a major step in her ambitious and sometimes contentious plan to replace the rundown megashelter at the former D.C. General Hospital with a network of smaller lodgings scattered across the city. (Nirappil, 9/26)

The Associated Press: Virginia Picks First 5 Medical Cannabis Dispensaries
Virginia regulators have picked five companies to open the state’s first medical cannabis dispensaries. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that after more than five hours of private discussion Tuesday, the Virginia Board of Pharmacy gave initial approval to five of the 51 applicants. Each of the state’s five health service areas will feature a dispensary. (9/26)