State Highlights: Vaccination Records Incomplete In Many Areas; Calif. Nursing Home Chain Files For Bankruptcy

USA Today: Incomplete Vaccination Records Leave Schools Guessing
As the measles outbreak spreads across the country, tens of thousands of children remain in a paperwork limbo — unsure whether they are fully vaccinated, a big unknown in assessing the risk at many schools. A USA TODAY analysis of school vaccination records found that at more than 2,200 public and private schools in 12 states, at least a tenth of kindergarten students had either incomplete vaccination records or had fallen behind schedule in receiving their shots. In some cases, schools dismiss that as a documentation problem, pointing out that many students have had at least one shot. Not knowing can exacerbate a crisis. (Hoyer, 2/17)

The Associated Press: Vape 'Em If You Got 'Em: Jails Sell E-Cigarettes To Inmates
E-cigarettes keep popping up for sale at county jails around the country even as some government officials, schools and health experts urge tighter control over the devices, especially in public buildings. Electronic cigarettes, growing in popularity since their U.S. introduction about a decade ago, are showing up at jails in more than a dozen states, including Ohio, Illinois, South Carolina and Texas. The battery-powered, smokeless devices heat liquid nicotine solutions to produce inhalable vapor. (Cornwell, 2/17)

The New York Times: Facing Suits, A Nursing Home In California Seeks Bankruptcy
A California nursing home fined by the state for substandard care and facing multiple lawsuits by patients and their families has taken the extreme measure of filing for bankruptcy protection in the face of millions of dollars in potential payouts. The action, taken by North American Health Care, which operates more than 30 homes in California and other Western states, is being derided by plaintiffs’ lawyers as a legal maneuver to avoid what could be catastrophic legal verdicts, while defenders of the strategy say they are facing mounting lawsuits from overly aggressive trial lawyers. (Thomas, 2/17)

The New York Times: Sharp Rise In Occupational Therapy Cases At New York’s Schools
The number of children receiving [occuptional] therapy in New York and elsewhere has shot up in recent years, the byproduct of increasing numbers of special-needs students, a new approach toward teaching them and, to a lesser extent, greater academic demands on all young children. ... And it is widely used to give a boost to children who have trouble with their handwriting, typing or other fine motor skills. And widely used it has been. Over the last four years, New York City public schools have seen a 30 percent increase in the number of students referred to occupational therapy, to nearly 42,000 students. (Harris, 2/17)

The Hill: HHS Joins New Push For Health Innovation
The Department of Health and Human Services is supporting an effort by 10 entrepreneurs to come up with solutions to 10 healthcare problems in 10 days. The endeavor is part of a new event in Denver called 10.10.10, which is looking for solutions to tough problems that could become the basis for start-up companies. (Sullivan, 2/17)

Health News Florida: 7,000 More Docs Needed In Next Decade In Florida
The number of doctors practicing psychiatry and general surgery is expected to reach critically low levels in the next 10 years, according to a new study from the state’s teaching hospitals. If Florida continues on its current training and population trajectories, the state will fall nearly 7,000 doctors short in 19 different specialties, said Tim Dall, managing director of IHS Global and author of the Florida Physician Workforce Analysis released Tuesday in Tallahassee. (Shedden, 2/17)

The Associated Press: Sources: New Illinois Governor To Call For Big Budget Cuts
Illinois' new Republican governor on Wednesday will pitch a plan for fixing the state's budget mess that includes deep cuts to Medicaid and higher education and a new plan for reducing pension costs, according to three lawmakers with knowledge of the proposal. ... The three legislators, briefed on details of the plan discussed in a Tuesday meeting between Rauner and legislative leaders, told The Associated Press that the governor will recommend cutting Medicaid by $1.5 billion and reducing funding for higher education by nearly $400 million, or 31 percent. (Burnett and Lester, 2/18)

The Associated Press: Washington State Panel Mulls Bill To Trim Vaccine Exemptions
Personal or philosophical opposition to vaccines would not be an authorized exemption for the parents of school-age children under a measure that received a public hearing before a House committee on Tuesday, drawing at least two dozen opponents to the proposed change. Rep. June Robinson, a Democrat from Everett and member of the House Health Care & Wellness Committee that heard her bill, said she introduced the bill in response to the current measles outbreak that has sickened more than 100 people across the U.S., including in Washington state, and in Mexico. No deaths have been reported. (La Corte, 2/17)

Des Moines Register/USA Today: Bill To Ban 'Conversion Therapy' Advances In Iowa
Iowa could become the third state in the nation to outlaw therapy techniques designed to change the sexual orientation of gay and lesbian youths. A state Senate subcommittee advanced a bill Tuesday that would ban mental health practitioners from providing so-called conversion therapy to minors. (Pfannenstiel, 2/17)

The Boston Globe: Partners Ends Bid To Acquire South Shore Hospital
The state’s most powerful health care system on Tuesday abandoned its three-year effort to acquire South Shore Hospital, the centerpiece in Partners HealthCare’s controversial expansion drive, which had riveted and divided the Massachusetts medical community. (Weisman, 2/17)

WBUR: Partners HealthCare Drops Bid To Acquire South Shore Hospital
Partners HealthCare is withdrawing its bid to acquire South Shore Hospital, state Attorney General Maura Healey’s office announced Tuesday. (2/17)

The Associated Press: Lawmakers Propose Limits To Federal Assistance Programs
[Montana] Republican lawmakers Sen. Fred Thomas and Rep. Art Wittich proposed legislation Monday that they said would rein in abuse of public assistance programs. Thomas introduced Senate Bill 206 in the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Safety Committee. It would require the state to seek federal permission to limit the foods that can be purchased under the supplemental nutrition assistance program. (Noon, 2/17)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: Bill To Increase Nursing Home Staffing Requirements Resurfaces
Advocates for nursing home residents want legislators to mandate that facilities have more and better-trained staff. Nursing home representatives say they would like to provide that, but they don’t have the money or the available workforce to do so. (Marso, 2/17)