Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Death Of Ill New Jersey Woman After Power Was Shut Off Raises Alarms; Oregon Serves As Model For Adult Foster Care System
Linda Daniels had fallen behind on her electricity bills, her meter run up by medical equipment going around the clock and increasingly hot weather. But on July 3, her family said, they pulled together $500 to pay down her debts, believing it would maintain her service. Two days later, her electricity was shut off. It was a sweltering day and temperatures in Newark soared into the 90s. Ms. Daniels鈥檚 house was stifling, the air so stuffy that her daughter said it was difficult to breathe. Even more serious: Ms. Daniels relied on an oxygen machine, and it required electricity. (Rojas, 7/13)
In a bid to meet the demand for long-term care in the U.S., which is expected to grow in the coming years, some states are turning to adult foster care to offer aging adults physical assistance and emotional support. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Joanne Elgart Jennings reports from Oregon, where adult foster care has existed for more than 40 years, as part of an ongoing series of reports called 鈥淐hasing the Dream,鈥 which reports on poverty and opportunity in America. (Elgart Jennings, 7/15)
It has headlines and bylines, an original story 834 words long, and links to 10 articles from other outlets concerning health policy and drug pricing in New Jersey. But readers expecting journalism from the upstart HealthNewsNJ.com may be in for a surprise: It鈥檚 fake news. In reality, it鈥檚 a campaign site run by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who is facing a re-election challenge from Bob Hugin, the former CEO of the pharmaceutical company Celgene. (Facher, 7/13)
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo took a step closer to voicing full-throated support for legal marijuana on Friday, embracing elements of a state Health Department report that favored legalization. Mr. Cuomo, addressing reporters after an unrelated speech in Brooklyn, said New York would no longer have the option of trying to simply prevent the flow of the drug into the state now that its neighbors in Massachusetts and New Jersey are moving forward with plans to legalize the drug. (Goodman, 7/13)
The eldest child of parents who lived through the Great Depression, Rhonda absorbed values of thrift 鈥 along with habits that inevitably led to her stockpiling a pirate鈥檚 bounty of clutter, including buttons, zippers, old clothes, scraps of fabric, catalogs, greeting cards, college papers and anything that could be repaired or re-used. 鈥溾榃aste not, want not. Take care of what you have, and you鈥檒l never do without. Don鈥檛 throw things away because you never know when you鈥檒l need them,鈥欌 Rhonda says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 what I learned growing up.鈥 (Baker, 7/15)
Tim Dow, cleanup operations manager for ServPro in Manchester, is frequently called by city health and safety agencies and insurance companies to clean up catastrophic clutter in the city and surrounding towns. He says hoarding seems to be especially common in seniors who live alone, and whose families seldom check on them. (Baker, 7/15)
Gov. Mike Parson had vetoed money to pay the three staff members of the Time Critical Diagnosis program, or TCD, a statewide system that seeks to ensure that critically ill patients suffering from trauma, stroke and certain types of heart attack get to hospitals that have the capacity to treat them most effectively. The veto amounted to less than $154,000 out of the state鈥檚 $28 billion budget. (Hancock, 7/13)
Nurses at Vermont鈥檚 largest hospital are back on the job after a two-day strike.The strike of 1,800 nurses from the University of Vermont Medical Center ended at 7 a.m. Saturday after 48 hours. Hospital administrators brought in outside nurses during the strike and say most hospital operations were unaffected by it. The union is seeking about a 22 percent pay increase over three years. The Medical Center offered about a 14 percent pay increase over three years. (7/14)
A sweeping overhaul of the nation鈥檚 foster care system has North Carolina caregivers, social workers and advocates scrambling to figure out how the new laws will affect thousands of children currently living in group homes. The Family First Prevention Services Act, which Congress and the president enacted in February as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act, includes extensive reforms to the way the federal government funds state-level foster care programs. (Gebelein, 7/13)
Emerging technologies are being used to improve the quality and efficiency of everything these days, including patient care. And central Ohio health organizations OhioHealth and Ohio State University鈥檚 Wexner Medical Center are among those applying the latest technology to help make patients healthier and health care professionals more efficient and skillful. (Feran, 7/15)
After nearly two decades on the force, former LAPD Officer Jonathan Hall ended his career the way many veteran officers do these days, claiming job-related injuries across most of his body. With the help of a boutique Van Nuys law firm that specializes in workers鈥 compensation cases for cops and firefighters, Hall filed claims saying he鈥檇 injured his knees, hips, heart (high blood pressure), back, right shoulder 鈥 even his right middle finger. (Dolan, Menezes and Garcia-Roberts, 7/15)
As the relatively young chief of surgery at the old Fallston General Hospital more than a quarter of a century ago, Dr. Roger Schneider wasn鈥檛 bashful about complaining about the poor condition of the building, or the need for more better trained physicians. He recalled a meeting with Frederick Mitchell, who was then chairman of Upper Chesapeake Medical Systems, owner of Fallston General and Harford Memorial hospitals, 鈥渨ho told me it was time to put up or shut up,鈥 and offered him a seat on the Harford County nonprofit鈥檚 board of directors. (Vought, 7/13)
Now that hundreds of Cleveland property owners and tenants have received orders to vacate homes deemed dangerous due to unaddressed lead hazards, many are asking: What happens next? It's a question city officials are still working through, too. (Zeltner, 7/15)
CVS Health is apologizing after a black customer says white store managers in Chicago accused her of trying to use a phony coupon. Camilla Hudson posted cellphone video of one of the managers appearing nervous. Morry Matson's left hand shakes as he calls police around 11:30 p.m. Friday. The 53-year-old Hudson says another manager directly challenged her when she tried to use a manufacturer's coupon for a free product. She tells The Associated Press that he was "hostile." (7/15)
Pennsylvania officials disclosed on Friday that they recently had to shut down the state's online system for requesting birth and death records for about a week after someone with apparent inside knowledge made unauthorized changes. State officials told The Associated Press the changes were "cosmetic modifications" but the intrusion triggered an extensive cyber investigation. (7/13)
The term 鈥渧irtual credit cards鈥欌 sounds like some futuristic version of the typical plastic. But to many doctors, dentists, hospitals and other medical providers, it鈥檚 very much a part of their present day. And not always desirable. (Miller, 7/13)
Philadelphia teens are increasingly ditching cigarettes in favor of flavored cigarillos, cigars about the size of a cigarette. Data from the city鈥檚 health department shows cigarette use decreased nearly 3 percent from 2011 to 2015. Yet cigar use (including cigarillos) doubled overall, and nearly tripled among black teens, a city survey showed. (Pattani, 7/16)
A company that manufactures and distributes nutritional ingredients for use in a wide range of products is moving from the town of Waukesha to a much larger, yet-to-be-built facility in Big Bend, where it also plans to grow hemp on-site. Connoils, currently housed in a 7,300-square-foot facility on Pine Hollow Court in the town of Waukesha, plans to build a 24,000-square-foot production, warehouse and office building on 9.2 acres at the south end of Guthrie School Road, north of Interstate 43 in the village of Big Bend. (Dohr, 7/13)
The California Department of Public Health has fined Redwood Springs Healthcare Center, a skilled nursing home in Visalia, $100,000 for a patient death. The 176-bed nursing home on East Houston Avenue received the most severe penalty possible under state law from the California Department of Public Health. (Anderson, 7/12)
Fletcher Cleaves and his roommate decided to stop at Buffalo Wild Wings聽and pick up some chicken before watching the Titans game that frightening September night nearly a decade ago. Both freshman football players at Lambuth University, they had just finished practice,聽running plays with the starters for the first time. (Bliss, 7/16)
Rules and regulations on clean linen for health care facilities are set forth by an accrediting agency, the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC). Many health facilities do not process their own linens, but instead use accredited services. (Kanne, 7/15)
In California, doctors are prescribing food as medicine to treat low-income patients with congestive heart failure. The program delivers medically tailored meals to 1,000 patients in eight counties across the state. (Young, 7/13)
Cannabis retailers soon may be able to deliver marijuana anywhere in California, no matter what city or county rules say. Also, it鈥檚 likely that medical marijuana patients will be allowed to buy edibles infused with cannabis more potent than currently permitted under state law. (Staggs, 7/14)
Thousands of people are expected to attend a free health clinic later this week in Southwest Virginia. The Remote Area Medical and Health Wagon will stage the event at the Wise County Fairgrounds from July 20 through July 22. This is 19th year the event will be held at the fairgrounds. Patients will receive provide dental, medical and vision care. (7/16)
Every year, dozens of bodies go unclaimed at the Kern County Coroner's Office. And this year, that number is on pace to far surpass the amount of unclaimed bodies from the year before.聽 According to officials at Historic Union Cemetery, the cemetery has received the cremated remains of 96 people from the coroner's office as of June 9, a number that includes both remains that went unclaimed by families and remains for which no surviving family member could be found.聽(7/12)