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“The most dangerous of wealthy nations for a child to be born into.” That’s how global health researchers characterized the United States in a January 2018 report published in Health Affairs that sounded alarm bells about the country’s high infant mortality rate. U.S. babies, they found, were three times as likely to die of premature birth and 2.3 times as likely to die of sudden infant death syndrome than infants in comparably rich countries. Anne Driscoll, a demographer and statistician at the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, has been analyzing possible causes for years and has previously looked at maternal age, the rural-urban divide and other factors. Driscoll and her colleague Danielle Ely teamed up in a report released Wednesday to delve into infant mortality in two of the country’s most impoverished regions: Appalachia and the Mississippi River Delta region. (Eunjung Cha, 9/25)

The California Health Care Foundation, working with researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, urged state legislators in a report released Wednesday to take bold steps to improve the quality of Medi-Cal managed care plans. ...Researchers and the foundation leaders pointed out that quality measures for for-profit health insurers paled, on average, when compared with those of nonprofit and public carriers, so the foundation advised lawmakers to “reconsider the role” that for-profit insurers play in the Medi-Cal arena. (Anderson, 9/25)

A joint public health initiative led by a drug-maker association, law enforcement and public health officials will make 800 prevention kits available to homes to reduce youth access to prescription drugs. The Capital Area Public Health Network made the announcement Tuesday that a $38,000 grant from the Rx Abuse Leadership Initiative (RALI) gives it enough money to buy the kits and market their availability. (Landrigan, 9/24)

State officials are urging residents to be cautious after a second Connecticut resident died of Eastern Equine Encephalitis, a rare but serious illness caused by mosquito bites. The second patient, who lived in Old Lyme, was described as an elderly person. Officials did not release the resident’s name or age. (Carlesso, 9/24)

Virginia is rolling out a new initiative intended to reduce the need for law enforcement agencies to transport people for treatment of a mental health crisis. Local newsoutlets report the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services gave lawmakers a new look at the new transportation service that will be available soon. Under the program, some people under temporary detention orders who otherwise would be transported in the back of a police car, possibly handcuffed, will ride unrestrained apart from a seat belt in an unmarked Dodge Durango. (9/24)

Four southern Ohio doctors, including one from Green Township, were charged Tuesday in connection to several alleged "pill mills" and health care fraud schemes, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. George Griffin, 70, Thomas Romano, 69, Troy Balgo, 53, and Freeda Flynn, 66, were four of 13 individuals charged in the second coordinated law enforcement action of the Appalachian Region Prescription Opioid strike force. (Mitchell, 9/24)

The city spent four hours in federal court on Tuesday defending its 2017 law banning so-called conversion therapy from a legal challenge mounted by a Christian evangelical legal advocacy group.U.S. District Judge William Jung said he’ll issue a ruling by Oct. 4 on whether Tampa’s ban is legal. (O'Donnell, 9/24)

The New York City Council is going to repeal its a ban on gay conversion therapy over concern the Supreme Court could end up reversing the law. Gay conversion therapy is the practice of trying to change a person's sexual orientation from gay to straight. It’s been discredited by the American Psychiatric Association, among other organizations, but it’s still legal in more than 30 states. (Hobson and Hagan, 9/24)

Democratic Senate and House leaders have reached a budget agreement with Gov. Chris Sununu, capping three months of partisan jockeying and weeks of intensive meetings, officials announced Tuesday. With hours to spare ahead of a session of the full House and Senate on Wednesday, top officials released a blueprint of a budget agreement they say they’ll bring before lawmakers tomorrow. (DeWitt, 9/24)

In a rare criminal action against a senior care facility, the state’s top prosecutor has filed dozens of criminal charges against the staff and former owner of a northern Minnesota senior home where residents were allegedly beaten, robbed and denied vital medical care. The assisted-living facility, Chappy’s Golden Shores of Hill City, Minn., had its license revoked early this year after an investigation by the Minnesota Department of Health found multiple violations of state care regulations. (Serres, 9/24)

A cluster of three suicides in less than a week among one ship’s crew has shocked the United States Navy, raising questions about why the suicide rate in the service has climbed sharply in recent years, despite sustained efforts at prevention. The three deaths were all sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush, which is in dry dock in Norfolk, Va., for extensive repairs. (Philipps, 9/24)