State Highlights: With NYC Hate Crimes Rising, Mayor Opens Office To Combat Them; ‘Hot Spots’ Initiative Lowers Hospitalization Rates For Children From Poor Ohio Areas

The Wall Street Journal: New York City Opens Office To Combat Hate-Crimes Increase
A former executive of the Anti-Defamation League was named the director of a new office that will work to stem the surge in hate crimes in New York City, including two over Labor Day weekend at Rockaway Beach, city officials said Tuesday. Deborah Lauter will helm the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, a new agency that Mayor Bill de Blasio created as the city has seen a rise in hate-crime complaints this year, many of them anti-Semitic incidents. (Honan and Chapman, 9/3)

Modern Healthcare: Cincinnati Children's Lowers Hospitalization Rates Among Poor
Researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center say an initiative that involved identifying "hot spots" for social needs among children living in neighborhoods with high rates of morbidity and poverty could be a potential model for health systems across the country. Results of a new study published Tuesday in Health Affairs showed the medical center reduced the number of days children spent in the hospital by 20% for patients living in two low-income neighborhoods that were studied over a three-year period. (Johnson, 9/3)

Tampa Bay Times: Former Nurse Sues St. Joseph’s Hospital Claiming Unsafe Staffing In Emergency Room
A St. Joseph’s Hospital nurse is suing her former employer over unsafe workplace conditions, which include allegations of “dangerously" low staffing levels in the emergency room. A lawsuit filed in Hillsborough County circuit court claims that Marie David, a Pinellas County resident, worked as a registered nurse for BayCare, the operator of 15 hospitals around Tampa Bay, for more than 10 years including the last five years at St. Joseph’s in Tampa. (Griffin, 9/3)

North Carolina Health News: Budget Impasse Delays Initial Nov. 1 Rollout Of Medicaid Managed Care
The standoff between North Carolina’s state government power brokers over the state budget and Medicaid expansion has claimed a victim: the planned roll-out this fall of Medicaid managed care. N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Sec. Mandy Cohen announced Tuesday morning she was pushing back the Nov. 1 start date of Medicaid managed care, given the uncertainty caused by the lack of a state budget more than 60 days into the fiscal year that started on July 1. (Ovaska-Few and Hoban, 9/4)

The Wall Street Journal: ER Visits Precede First-Time Entry Into New York Homeless Shelters, Study Shows
New York City physicians have long observed a higher-than-average use of the emergency department by the homeless. What was less understood is how visits to the emergency room are connected to first-time shelter use. In a new study to be published Tuesday, researchers found that 39.3% of first-time adult shelter users visited the emergency department for treatment or were hospitalized in the year before the shelter entry. In the year after departing a shelter, 43.4% of first-time shelter users went to the emergency department or were hospitalized. (West, 9/3)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: With Hahnemann Closure, Some Pennsylvania Senators Learn They Can’t Please Everybody
As Hahnemann University Hospital closes, some state lawmakers representing the Philadelphia region have put on their advocacy hats. But the state senators, about a dozen of them, upset a labor union representing some of the 2,500 workers losing their jobs as a result of the Center City institution’s closure. (Brubaker, 9/4)

The Oregonian: Portland’s Troubled Psychiatric Center Gets New Leader 
Portland’s troubled mental health hospital has a new leader, according to operator Legacy Health. Melissa Eckstein will take over as president of Unity Center for Behavioral Health on Sept. 30. She replaces Chris Farentinos, who served as director of behavioral health services for Legacy since 2013. ...Farentinos presided over the opening of Unity, which was supposed to offer a humane alternative to hospital emergency rooms for people in mental health crisis. However, patients and staff at the center immediately reported dangerous conditions. (Harbarger, 9/3)

Kansas City Star: Attorneys For Kansas Foster Children Say Kids Still Harmed
Attorneys representing foster children in Kansas have filed a motion to amend their ongoing class-action lawsuit, insisting even more vulnerable kids in the state are being harmed. Since the suit was filed in November, children still bounce from placement to placement and are subjected to “night-to-night” stays, only compounding the instability they feel, according to court records filed late Friday. Children in state custody also continue to be deprived of the mental health treatment they need, attorneys said. (Bauer, Thomas and Shorman, 9/3)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Sununu Signs 2 Bills Restricting Use Of PFAS-Based Firefighting Foam, Fabrics
Governor Chris Sununu signed two bills Tuesday banning the use of some products that contain harmful PFAS chemicals. The industrial compounds have been linked to a wide array of health problems. (Ropeik, 9/3)

Iowa Public Radio: Study Finds Rural Iowans Less Likely To Receive Guideline-Recommended Cancer Care
A recent study by the University of Iowa found many rural Iowans may not be receiving care that meets an accrediting group’s standards. The study found that 40 percent of rural Iowans diagnosed with breast, lung and colorectal cancers were being treated in hospitals not accredited by the Commission on Cancer. (Krebs, 9/3)

KQED: Kaiser Permanente Health Care Workers Protest As Contract Negotiations Stall
About 1,000 health care workers protested in Oakland Monday to show Kaiser Permanente they’re serious about a potential strike in October, after negotiations for a new contract stalled. Kaiser Permanente employees and their families rallied at Mosswood Park in Oakland and then marched to Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center. (Klivans, 9/3)

California Healthline: A Young Woman, A Wheelchair And The Fight To Take Her Place At Stanford
Sylvia Colt-Lacayo is 18, fresh-faced and hopeful, as she beams confidence from her power wheelchair. Her long dark hair is soft and carefully tended, and her wide brown eyes are bright. A degenerative neuromuscular disease, similar to muscular dystrophy, has left her with weak, underdeveloped muscles throughout her body, and her legs are unable to support any weight. Each time she needs to get in or out of her wheelchair — to leave bed in the morning, use the bathroom, take a shower, change clothes — she needs assistance. (Gold, 9/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Two SF Homes For Elderly And Formerly Homeless Plan To Close Amid Rising Costs
At least two residential care facilities in San Francisco that provide long-term care for 26 vulnerable people — some elderly, others formerly homeless — plan to shut their doors in the next few months, the latest in a spate of board-and-care closures around the city. Officials with both facilities say they’ve been socked by the rising costs of doing business in San Francisco and a stagnant state reimbursement rate to run the homes. (Thadani, 9/3)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: $80 Million Investment For Philadelphia Health-Care Firm
Pareto Health Inc., a Philadelphia company that organizes health coverage for groups of businesses that pay medical bills directly, announced Wednesday that it had received an investment of more than $80 million from Great Hill Partners, a Boston private equity firm. Pareto, founded in 2011 by Swarthmore College graduate Andrew Cavenagh, has 800 employers with 100,000 enrolled employees as customers and expects to triple in size in the next three years as employers continue looking for ways to trim the cost of providing health insurance benefits. (Brubaker, 9/4)