Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Texas Hospital To Open 'Detransition Clinic' In Settlement Over Trans Care
The Texas Tribune: Texas Children’s Hospital To Create Clinic Reversing Trans Care
The Texas attorney general has secured an unusual settlement over child transgender care that compels Texas Children’s Hospital to create the nation’s first ever “detransition clinic” in addition to paying the state $10 million. (Langford and Deguzman, 5/15)
AP: Kansas Protects Gender-Affirming Care As Texas Case Attacks It
A Kansas judge on Friday protected access to gender-affirming care for transgender minors as the nation’s largest children’s hospital moved to restrict such care in Texas, buckling under pressure from the Trump administration. Texas Children’s Hospital, based in Houston, said in a statement that it had agreed to a legal settlement “to protect our resources from endless and costly litigation.” The hospital, which serves more than 1 million patients a year, stopped providing hormone treatments for transgender children and teens in 2022, a year before the state banned such care, but still faced a yearslong investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office. (Hanna, 5/16)
Legislative updates —
CalMatters: California Lawmakers Rush $25 Million To Hospitals
A $25 million grant to cash-strapped hospitals became law less than a week after it was introduced — so fast that it caught some hospitals, their advocates, and even some lawmakers, off guard. It also left a litany of unanswered questions: who came up with the narrow criteria, how many hospitals would qualify and whether the funding will be enough to prevent hospital closures in the near term. (Yu and Ibarra, 5/15)
North Carolina Health News: Families With Disabled Children Press Lawmakers To Preserve Funding
Finley Thomas is an 11-year-old girl who’s got a morning makeup and skin care routine. She loves Halloween, dressing up, her older brothers and cheering with her squad. She also uses a wheelchair, has a tracheostomy tube that gets hooked up to a ventilator at night, receives tube feedings for much of her nutrition, and has multiple therapy sessions each week—all the result of a neurological condition she was born with that has recently required a couple of surgeries. (Hoban, 5/18)
Connecticut Public: Effort To Bring Dental Cleanings To Homebound People In CT Failed
When the Connecticut legislature gaveled out on May 6, several bills didn’t make it across the finish line. Among them was a proposal that would have allowed dental cleanings in private residences. (Savitt, 5/15)
Regarding hemp, magic mushrooms, and salmonella —
The Denver Gazette: Colorado Regulators Privately Concede To 'Rampant' Illegal Hemp Sales
A top regulator for Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division acknowledged in a private meeting with industry representatives that the amount of chemically converted hemp being illegally sold as marijuana is far greater than the agency has publicly disclosed. The remarks confirmed testing by The Denver Gazette and ProPublica, which found signs of hemp in marijuana vapes sold at dispensaries, as well as reporting that regulators have discovered that some hemp-derived vapes were contaminated with a toxic chemical. (Osher, 5/15)
NBC News: More Mushroom Poisoning Cases Reported In California In Biggest U.S. Outbreak Ever
California’s monthslong spate of mushroom poisonings, in which four people have died and 43 others hospitalized, has become the largest known outbreak of its kind in U.S. history, experts say. Three cases were reported earlier this week, long after the typical growing season for the mushrooms behind the illnesses, leaving public health officials and mycologists puzzled about why the poisonings have been so widespread and what is causing the trend. (Bush, 5/15)
The Baltimore Sun: Backyard Poultry Salmonella Outbreak Sickens 6 In Maryland
Salmonella outbreaks tied to backyard poultry have sickened at least 184 people across 31 states this year, including six in Maryland, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One person has died and 53 people have been hospitalized, the CDC said in a May 14 notice. More than a quarter of the people sickened were children younger than 5. (Davis, 5/16)
Also —
Asheville Watchdog: In Quest For More Beds, Mission Plans To Keep Staff Lean, CON Application Shows
Mission Hospital has no plans to add staff in key areas – including trauma care, security, and nursing administration – as part of its recently approved, now-contested, 95-bed acute-care expansion, according to its application to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. (Clifford, 5/16)
