Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Telehealth Access Boosted In Atlanta Schools
AP: Atlanta Schools To Give More Students Access To Telehealth
Responding to the pandemic’s toll on student health, Atlanta’s public schools are launching a new program to give most of their schoolchildren remote access to doctors and therapists. The telehealth services should be available to all students — from kindergarten through 12th grade — at 64 of the district’s 87 schools by the end of the school year after the Board of Education last week approved a contract with provider Hazel Health, the district said in a news release. (8/16)
Wyoming Public Radio: Faith-Based Organization Provides Mobile Ultrasounds For Rural Pregnancies
Elevation Healthcare is located in Riverton and has been sending out a mobile care unit to serve pregnancies in small Wyoming communities like Arapaho, Thermopolis, and Shoshoni. Elevation Healthcare is a rebranding of Abba’s House, a faith-based pregnancy crisis center. (Stagner, 8/16)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: St. Louis County Is Paying Extra To Store Bodies At Funeral Homes And In A Trailer
A lack of space at the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s Office is forcing the county to spend thousands of dollars to transport and store bodies at other locations, including area funeral homes. (Landis, 8/16)
North Carolina Health News: NC's State Of Emergency Has Expired. Now What?
There no longer is a state of emergency for COVID-19 in North Carolina even as 61 counties still have high community levels of illness related to the virus and strained health care systems. (Blythe, 8/17)
Roll Call: Democrats Take Insulin Prices To The Airwaves In Nevada
A top Democratic political action committee launched new campaign ads Tuesday about the ongoing effort to reduce out-of-pocket costs for insulin. (Lesniewski, 8/16)
Detroit Free Press: E.Coli Cases Reach A High During The Month Of August
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services have flagged an increase in the number of E.coli related illnesses this month. So far, there have been 98 recorded cases in the month of August. This is a significant increase compared to the 20 reported cases from the same time last year. (Webb, 8/16)
CBS News: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf Signs Executive Order To Protect LGBTQIA+ Community From Conversion Therapy
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed Executive Order 2022-2 on Tuesday, which aims to protect the LGBTQIA+ community in the state from the harmful practices of conversion therapy. Wolf tweeted Tuesday that the bill directs commonwealth agencies to "1) Do everything in their power to discourage conversion therapy 2) Actively promote evidence-based medical treatment for LGBTQIA+ individuals 3) Update policies and procedures to better support LGBTQIA+ Pennsylvanians." (Mandler, 8/16)
Houston Chronicle: Texans Trust GOP For Border And Economic Policy, But Not On Abortion And Guns, Polls Show
In a statewide survey conducted earlier this month by the University of Texas at Tyler and Dallas Morning News, 82 percent of voters voiced support for rape and incest exceptions, while more than seven in 10 said cases should be exempted if the baby is likely to be born with “severe disabilities or health issues.” (Scherer, 8/17)
The Boston Globe: 3 Police Departments Will Share Mental Health Clinician
Three small police departments South of Boston — in Norfolk, Plainville, and Wrentham — are joining forces with a social services agency to avoid arresting people with mental health or substance abuse problems and to get them help instead. (Seltz, 8/16)
And finally, on states' reactions to heat in the workplace —
Stateline: Scorching Summer Tests States' Workplace Heat Rules
More than 130 labor and environmental organizations, led by the nonprofit advocacy group Public Citizen, have called on OSHA to issue emergency rules. The Biden administration in 2021 directed the federal agency to develop workplace regulations for heat exposure, but that process takes on average seven years to implement and could be stalled if the next occupant of the White House is less open to such rules. (Bolstad, 8/16)
