State Highlights: Virginia Governor Names New Behavioral Health Leaders; Ben Carson In Los Angeles On Homelessness Fact-Finding Mission

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Northam To Change Mental Health Commissioners To Lead System Transformation
Gov. Ralph Northam will name a new leader for Virginia’s behavioral health system, as the state prepares for crucial decisions to transform the way it delivers services to people with mental illness, addictions and other behavioral disabilities. ...Melton, a nationally recognized family practitioner and addiction expert from Southwest Virginia, will replace Dr. Jack Barber, a psychiatrist and 30-year veteran who has served as acting behavioral health commissioner for three years. (Martz, 4/24)

Los Angeles Times: HUD Secretary Ben Carson Tours Women's Homeless Center On Skid Row
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson toured a homeless women's center on L.A.'s skid row Tuesday as part of a fact-finding trip to local public-private partnerships and faith-based programs tackling homelessness and job training. Carson, whose agency provided a record $109 million last year to L.A.'s battle with one of the nation's worst homelessness problems, also met with county and business homelessness leaders and stopped at a faith-based drug treatment residential center in Echo Park. (Holland, 4/24)

Houston Chronicle: Life-Threatening Pregnancy Complications On The Rise In Harris County
Life-threatening, pregnancy-related complications — the iceberg beneath the surface of the U.S. maternal health crisis — are on the rise in Harris County, according to a new report. The report not only confirmed the Harris County rate is worse than that of the state and nation, it found that it increased more than 50 percent between 2008 and 2015. Texas’ rate of life-threatening, pregnancy-related complications went up 15 percent in the same time period. (Ackerman, 4/24)

Concord (N.H.) Monitor: N.H. Hospitals Rebuff Senator’s $38M Escrow Plan, Demand Payments From State
A plan by Senate President Chuck Morse to set aside $38 million in escrow was intended to address a looming budget shortfall the state faced over a hospital payment lawsuit. Now, New Hampshire’s hospitals are threatening more lawsuits. In a heated, two-hour hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, hospital representatives squared off with senators over the plan, which comes after a March federal district court ruling put the state on the hook for up to $38 million more than budgeted for in payments. Morse’s plan, presented as an amendment to House Bill 1102, would take the money from the state’s general fund and set it aside for the hospitals, but it would hold the money in escrow until all legal appeals are exhausted. (DeWitt, 4/24)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Ochsner, Acadia Healthcare Open New Behavioral Health Center In LaPlace
River Place Behavioral Health, an 82-bed inpatient facility, opened Tuesday (April 24) in LaPlace. The joint venture between Ochsner Health System and Acadia Healthcare, announced two years ago, repurposes the existing River Parishes Hospital building to provide much needed mental healthcare services in the region. Recently updated population estimates for the region show a need for more than 400 additional behavioral health beds than are currently in the greater New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas, according to data cited by Ochsner Health System in a news release. The River Place facility is a step toward filling part of the gap, the release said. (Clark, 4/24)

Minnesota Public Radio: Minnesota STD Cases Hit Record High Number
Minnesota health officials say sexually transmitted disease cases in the state rose to a record level in 2017. Overall the number of cases in Minnesota jumped 8 percent last year. ...Gonorrhea transmissions rose 28 percent; chlamydia infections 4 percent. (Zdechlik, 4/24)

The New York Times: Tisch Fund Gives $10 Million To Initiative For Arts And Mental Health
The Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund has pledged $10 million to fund arts programs focused on mental health issues in New York City. The new initiative is an open-ended commitment that seeks to improve the lives of those with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, fight stigma around mental illnesses and help people overcome trauma. The nonprofit Arts & Minds, for example, takes people with Alzheimer’s disease into museums for tours and hands-on projects in order to spur emotional connections and stimulate memories. (Chow, 4/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: A Warning On Health-Care Price Setting As Envisioned By AB3087
AB3087 proposes to task an independent state agency with setting payment rates for all health-care providers. Such authority conveys substantial power to alter the market. However, the temptation for regulators to overreach presents a threat to rate setting’s success. (Clemens and Ippolito, 4/24)

St. Louis Public Radio: Poverty, African-American Population Linked To Smaller Babies In St. Louis And Missouri Bootheel
Regions of the state with combined high poverty rates and concentrated African-American populations have higher percentages of low birth weight babies, according to data from the U.S. Census and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The data indicates that geography, race and poverty – and the resulting chronic stress those factors cause – can combine to create lower health outcomes for infants. (Fentem, 4/25)

Seattle Times: Nap Mats At Some Seattle Child-Care Centers Contain Potentially Harmful Chemicals 
Afternoon naps are a time-honored tradition in many child-care centers, as toddlers snuggle up on soft mats to drowse, daydream or fidget. The possibility that those mats could be exposing kids to toxic chemicals might come as a surprise to most parents and day-care workers. But a new analysis found potentially harmful flame retardants in the majority of mats at some day cares across Seattle. The study was a small pilot, sampling only seven child-care centers in neighborhoods from the University District and Wallingford, to South Seattle and the Central District. Nap mats in all but one of the centers contained the flame-retardant chemicals. (Doughton, 4/24)

Boston Globe: Compromise Bill To Create New Kind Of Dental Provider Advances
After resisting for years, Massachusetts dentists are now throwing their support behind legislation that would create a new kind of midlevel provider of dental care. ...The compromise would require dental therapists to have a master’s degree and to pass a clinical exam. For the first 2,500 hours or first two years of practice, whichever is longer, dental therapists would have to work under the direct supervision of a dentist, and in the same location as that dentist. (Dayal McCluskey, 4/25)

Columbus Dispatch: Audit: Columbus Health-Services Provider Owes $2 Million
America’s Home Health Services owes a total of $2.13 million, including interest, to the Ohio Department of Medicaid.The company billed the state a total of $4.59 million from July 2013 to June 2016, according to an audit by the state auditor’s office released Tuesday. (Leckrone, 4/24)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Supporters Try To Salvage Paid Family Leave Bill
Supporters of a paid family and medical leave bill are trying to salvage their plan after a key Senate committee decided it wasn’t ready for passage. The bill passed the House three times with bipartisan support, despite opposition from Gov. Chris Sununu and Republican leadership along the way. (McDermott, 4/25)

The Washington Post: Settlement Reached In Police-Custody Death Of Man With Down Syndrome
The family of Robert Ethan Saylor, a man with Down syndrome who died after three off-duty Frederick County sheriff deputies forced him from a movie theater, have reached a settlement with the state of Maryland, the deputies and the management company of the shopping center where the theater is located. The $1.9 million settlement will mark the end of a long-standing lawsuit and comes more than five years after Saylor’s death led to public outrage and a call for better training of law enforcement officials. (Vargas, 4/24)