State Highlights: Wave Of Hepatitis A Cases Hits Arizona Despite Efforts To Curb It; Higher Wage Proposals Could Hit Conn. Nursing Homes Hard

The Associated Press: Health Officials: Arizona Sees Surge Of Hepatitis A Cases
Arizona is seeing a surge in hepatitis A cases, mostly in the Tucson area but also in metro Phoenix, health officials say. The outbreak of the viral disease that affects the liver began in November and cases have continued to rise since then despite efforts to step up vaccinations. The Arizona Republic reports the outbreak could take months to rein in. (5/5)

The CT Mirror: Minimum Wage Proposal Vexes Connecticut Nursing Homes
Nursing homes receive a fixed amount of state aid for Medicaid patients, who make up the majority of the facilities’ patient pool. For the last decade, that level of aid has barely budged. If a plan to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, up from $10.10, succeeds this year, nursing home operators – wedged between rising labor costs and stagnant funding – say they may be forced to lay off staff or trim benefits to come up with the additional money for the organizations’ lowest paid employees. (Carlesso, 5/6)

The Star Tribune: Minnesota's Rural Hospitals Are Barely Hanging On — For Now 
Across the country, 104 small-town hospitals have closed since 2010, raising concerns that rural Americans are losing access to critical services, from obstetrics to X-rays to chemotherapy. Minnesota lost Lakeside Medical Center in Pine City and Albany Area Medical Center in that period, but still retains the third-highest number of rural hospitals in the nation. The billion-dollar question — literally, considering the economic impact of rural hospitals — is whether Minnesota has managed to insulate itself from the closure wave or just delayed the inevitable for a cluster of money-losing facilities that are barely hanging on. (Olson, 5/5)

Modern Healthcare: Mount Sinai, Holy Name Form Interstate Affiliation
Mount Sinai Health System and Holy Name Medical Center—a 361-bed hospital in Teaneck, N.J.—have inked an affiliation agreement. They will focus on coordinating oncology and cardiology service lines, the institutions said, as well as on genetic research, physician development and recruitment, and potentially graduate medical education. (5/3)

The Associated Press: Judge Says Alabama Failed To Protect Prisoners From Suicide
After 15 inmate suicides in 15 months, a federal judge ruled Saturday that Alabama is putting prisoners in danger by failing to provide adequate suicide-prevention measures. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson wrote that there are "severe and systemic inadequacies" in the Alabama Department of Corrections' care of inmates and the facts behind recent suicides show that unconstitutional conditions persist in state prisons. (5/4)

Arizona Republic: 'A Culture Of Cruelty': Protesters Demand Arizona Prison Reform, Firing Of Corrections Director
Protesters gathered at the Arizona Capitol on Friday afternoon, demanding the firing of Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan, and saying that the state's prison system has a "culture of cruelty." ...The event came three days after groups representing both Arizona prison guards and inmates came together to denounce what they called an "avalanche of negligence" in the state's prison system. (Westfall, 5/3)

Miami Herald: FL Lawmakers Pass Weaker Pre-Existing Conditions Coverage
Florida lawmakers approved a health insurance bill Wednesday that would require insurers to keep covering pre-existing conditions if the Affordable Care Act disappears, though the bill would not keep protections in the federal law to control how much those patients can be charged. The bill, SB 322, which the House approved by a 70-42 vote after the Senate passed it last week, would also expand short-term and association health plans and change requirements for “essential health benefits” covered by insurers, regardless of the status of the Affordable Care Act. (Koh, 5/2)

The Associated Press: Judge Rejects 6-Month Timeout In Major Flint Water Case
A judge on Friday rejected a six-month freeze in the involuntary manslaughter case of Michigan's former health director, who is accused of failing to timely warn the public about a Legionnaires' disease outbreak during the Flint water crisis. A new team of prosecutors said it needed more time to assess and collect evidence after learning about 23 boxes of records in a state basement. But Judge Joseph Farah said the discovery has no practical impact on his next step in the case. (5/3)

Sacramento Bee: Here’s When 39,000 Union Workers Plan 5th Strike Against UC
For months, UPTE-CWA members have voiced job security concerns over a UC Davis Health plan to team up with Kindred Healthcare to build an in-patient rehabilitation hospital at the Aggie Square development in Sacramento. In complaints filed in late April, the union said it has since learned the UC system has outsourcing contracts that will put many more workers’ jobs in peril. (Anderson, 5/6)

Iowa Public Radio: Researchers: West Nile Risk Could Be Higher In Flooded Western Iowa
New research from Iowa State University scientists found western Iowa has the state’s largest presence of a type of mosquito that carries West Nile Virus. Scientists are watching to see whether standing water from March’s flooding will bring more mosquitoes and the risk of the virus to western Iowa this summer. (Peikes, 5/3)

The Baltimore Sun: University Of Maryland Medical Center Seeks 5 Percent Rate Hike Amid Contracts Scandal 
As the University of Maryland Medical System faces fallout from a scandal involving lucrative contracts awarded to its board members, including Catherine Pugh, who has since resigned from the board and as Baltimore’s mayor, the system’s flagship hospital has made a move to charge its patients more. The University of Maryland Medical Center asked state regulators for permission to boost billing by $75 million a year, a nearly 5 percent increase. It’s the largest increase requested by any hospital since the state began capping hospitals’ budgets in recent years under a federally sanctioned program to control health care spending. (Cohn, 5/6)

NH Times Union: Merrimack Center To Offer Health Services, Activities For Adults 
Moving beyond the typical adult day care center approach, a new facility is opening next month that will provide day services for adults that focus on health and wellness. In addition to social activities, Nashua Adult Day Health will offer seniors a variety of health-oriented services that are often difficult to find in one organization under one roof, said Kyle Worth, founder and executive director of the program. (Houghton, 5/4)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Medical Marijuana: Ohio May Allow For Depression, Insomnia, Anxiety
Since January, an advisory committee for the State Medical Board of Ohio has studied the five ailments and whether medical marijuana could help. The three other conditions under consideration are anxiety, autism spectrum disorder and opioid use disorder, the formal term that the medical board uses for opioid addiction. (Saker, 5/5)