State Highlights: Washington State Lawmaker Angers Rural Nurses, Saying They Probably Play Cards; 10 Mass. Health Systems Become Partners, Save Millions

The Associated Press: Washington State Lawmaker's Comments Raise Ire Of Nurses
A Washington state lawmaker has angered nurses and spawned a flurry of viral hashtags and memes on social media by saying that some nurses may spend a lot of time playing cards in small, rural hospitals. State Sen. Maureen Walsh, a Republican representing College Place, Washington, made the comments this week while debating a Senate bill that would require uninterrupted meal and rest breaks for nurses. The bill would also provide mandatory overtime protections for nurses. (4/20)

Boston Globe: Community Hospitals In Mass. Team Up To Save Money
Under the arrangement, called the Massachusetts Value Alliance, hospitals are working together to slash costs by buying some supplies and services together. By teaming up, they have greater leverage in negotiating prices with vendors that sell equipment, software, and other things hospitals need. (Dayal McCluskey, 4/21)

The Associated Press: Idaho, Utah Passengers Had Possible Hepatitis A Exposure
Health officials in Idaho say anyone who used an on-board restroom during a Greyhound bus trip from Salt Lake City to Boise on April 10 might have been exposed to hepatitis A. The Central District Health Department in Idaho is asking anyone who used the restroom to contact them to get information about potential exposure. The district says riders on the bus from Utah to Idaho who were exposed could receive a vaccine to protect them from the virus through April 23. (4/19)

Health News Florida: Senate Positions Health Care Priorities For Passage
The Senate Appropriations Committee changed proposals on the “certificate of need” regulatory process, telehealth and prescription-drug importation programs --- all issues that are priorities of House Speaker Jose Oliva. Some of the changes surprised Republican senators, who complained about the sudden revisions. The moves came after Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, told reporters late Wednesday night that his health-care priorities would pass this session. (Sexton, 4/19)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: NE Ohioans Collaborate To Envision, Build Solutions For Disabled Vets
The team is one of seven in Northeast Ohio that has been working since March 1 to design possible solutions for specific challenges facing six disabled Ohio veterans and a former Israeli counter-terrorism unit member. There were some 4.8 million American veterans receiving VA disability compensation at the end of 2018. (Albrecht, 4/21)

Iowa Public Radio: Rural Food Deserts Grow With Closing Of Jesup's Only Grocery Store
On this edition of River to River, host Ben Kieffer talks with Jennifer Zwagerman, Associate Director of the Drake Agricultural Law Center, about how the closing of Jesup's only grocery store is indicative of a larger trend. Zwagerman says that recent grocery store losses in rural communities across Iowa are a serious concern, both in terms of nutrition and food access and for the broader social and economic health of these communities. (Dewey, Harrop and Kieffer, 4/19)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Health Officials: Get The Measles Vaccine
City officials told Milwaukee residents Friday to make sure they have received the measles vaccine. Residents should review their families' immunizations and make sure children have received both doses of the measles vaccine, the city Health Department said. (Carson, 4/19)

KCUR: Patients Fed Up With Fee-For-Service Doctors Are Finding A Way Around The Insurance Industry 
Patients who are fed up with the bureaucracy of the health insurance industry are ditching the copays and high deductibles for a different way to get primary care. ... In the Kansas City region, 26 direct primary care, or DPC, clinics have formed the Midwest Direct Primary Care Alliance. It consists of doctors who are opting to leave the traditional fee-for-service practice for a private practice offering patients membership-based healthcare services.(Ruiz, 4/20)

Los Angeles Times: Build 10,000 Houses For Homeless In 10 Years? L.A. Is Closer, But It’ll Have To Stretch Funds
In 2016, Los Angeles voters approved a $1.2-billion bond measure to help fund housing for homeless people, with a goal of 10,000 new units in a decade. Now, after hustling to get as many housing projects started as soon as possible, city officials are coming to the end of the money available through Proposition HHH, and it’s not certain that promise will be kept. The city has committed two-thirds of the bond to secure a little more than half the units the measure was intended to subsidize. (Smith, 4/21)

Modern Healthcare: Colo. Governor Commends County's Plan To Address Suicides
Eagle County, Colorado, is best known for the world-famous Vail Ski Resort, but the area also has a dark side that it's trying to combat. The county of roughly 55,000 averages one suicide attempt per day, according to public health director Chris Lindley. One in four of its seventh and eighth graders seriously considered suicide last year, according to the most recent Healthy Kids Colorado Survey. Of that group, 16% have made a plan, some in pacts with others. (Bannow, 4/19)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Madison's Redox Raised $33 Million For Its Electronic Health Records
Madison-based Redox Inc. has raised $33 million from investors that will help it grow its network of customers and double its workforce. Redox, which helps healthcare vendors and providers share data, announced the $33 million round in a news release. (Hauer, 4/19)

Modern Healthcare: Sharp HealthCare Sued For Recording 1,800 Surgeries Without Patient Consent
A former patient has sued San Diego, Calif.-based Sharp HealthCare for allegedly violating her and other patients' privacy after one of its hospitals filmed more than 1,800 surgical procedures including births without patient consent. Amber Snodgrass underwent a caesarean section at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, Calif., in December 2012. She claims she was secretly recorded based on a public statement Sharp HealthCare CEO Chris Howard made in which he admits patients who underwent treatment at Sharp Grossmont's Women's Health Center from July 2012 to June 2013 were filmed without their knowledge. (Castellucci, 4/19)

New Hampshire Union Leader: CMC Is Latest To Join Hospital Building Boom Across NH 
CMC last week confirmed it was moving forward with plans for building up to a six-story addition and demolishing a nearby strip mall in a project estimated to cost $125 million to $175 million. Harvey Construction in Bedford has ongoing projects with multiple hospitals across the state. ...They include a new four-story medical office building on the Concord Hospital campus. The building will handle “an increased demand for specialty services while providing space to accommodate more patients from beyond the Capital Region,” according to a hospital announcement. (Cousineau, 4/21)

Boston Globe: Local Business Sues Amesbury, Alleging Mayor Unfairly Blocked Marijuana Application
CKR Natural Solutions, cofounded by local business owner Kirby Mastrangelo, said in a complaint filed last month in Essex County Superior Court that Amesbury Mayor Ken Gray told the company it needed a special permit from the city’s planning board — a requirement he did not apply to an earlier applicant nor a subsequent one that ultimately was granted a retail marijuana license. Without the special permit, the company said, Gray would not negotiate a host community agreement that would have allowed CKR to apply for a state license and eventually open. (Adams, 4/19)