�Թϲ�����

[A]n emboldened coalition of Democratic state attorneys general has unleashed a torrent of lower-profile litigation they argue is necessary to protect public health, the environment and consumers from a Republican White House. State attorneys from Massachusetts to New York to California, often working together, have brought more than 40 legal actions against the Trump administration over the last seven months. The pace, which both parties describe as unprecedented, has produced an average of one lawsuit or legal motion every five days since Trump’s inauguration, not including many more letters, legal threats and formal comments to federal agencies. (Peoples, 8/13)

Connie Ragonesi spent seven days in a hospital bed in Florida with a fractured ankle, and it set in motion years of heartache. The 88-year-old was cared for under “observation status,” a Medicare policy that became a nightmare and contributed to her having to sell her home in Wellington, on the state’s east coast, according to her daughter, Carol Taylor. ... The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Medicare Advocacy, which focuses on seniors’ rights, was recently granted class action status in a lawsuit against the federal government regarding the policy. The issue is whether patients should have the right to appeal to Medicare when they are placed by a hospital on the outpatient-based observation designation, as opposed to admitted. (Freeman, 8/12)

The new law enables clinics — particularly those such as community health centers that provide care primarily to people with low incomes — to hire dental hygienists to provide basic preventive care, such as cleanings, fluoride varnishes, sealants and education on oral health. ...Access to dental care for adults and children covered by Medicaid programs, such as BadgerCare Plus, is a longstanding problem throughout Wisconsin. (Boulton, 8/12)

Judy Dale died of cancer in her San Francisco home in September, in agony, after being denied the pain-relieving medication she might have received under the state’s aid-in-dying law that had taken effect three months earlier. A lawsuit by her children will determine whether UCSF Medical Center, where Dale first went for treatment, was responsible for her suffering by allegedly concealing its oncologists’ decision not to provide life-ending drugs to patients who ask for them. (Egelko, 8/12)

While Georgia’s state employees and teachers will see an average 3.7 percent hike in their health insurance premiums in 2018, the news is much worse for some retirees. About 46,000 retired teachers and state employees, and their dependents, currently get coverage from “premium” health insurance plans offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield and UnitedHealthcare through the State Health Benefit Plan. (Salzer, 8/11)

A U.S. judge on Friday ruled that Illinois was not providing sufficient resources for the care of developmentally disabled residents and ordered the state to come up with a plan to restore services. (Pierog, 8/11)

Even with a new law that has boosted kindergarten vaccination rates to record highs, hundreds of schools across California still have so many children lacking full immunization that they pose an increased risk of disease outbreaks, according to a Times analysis of state data. At nearly 750 schools, 90% or fewer kindergartners had been fully vaccinated last year, the analysis found. Experts say the rate should be at least 95% to prevent the spread of highly contagious diseases such as measles. (Karlamangla and Poindexter, 8/13)

The state of Texas ranks as the 11th worst state for health care, according to the personal-finance website WalletHub’s study of the year’s best and worst states for health care. ...The study compared each state and the District of Columbia 35 different measures of cost, accessibility and outcome to determine which state offered the best health care to citizens. (Hubby, 8/11)

Ironstone Real Estate Partners won Friday’s North Philadelphia Health System (NPHS) bankruptcy auction, agreeing to pay $8.5 million in cash with no contingencies, but with some twists to make the deal for the behavioral health operation work. Philadelphia-based Ironstone’s price is less than the baseline, or stalking-horse, bid of $10 million set by Meridian Behavioral Health Systems LLC, a Tennessee chain with facilities in four states, but Meridian’s offer was laden with conditions on the city and on unions that would have made it hard to complete the purchase. (Brubaker, 8/11)

When Sonoma County sheriff’s officials publicly revealed their plans last spring to build a $48 million jail wing for the mentally ill, a common question quickly emerged. Why not build a psychiatric hospital instead in Sonoma County? After all, the only local hospital beds for mental health patients are operated by a for-profit company, while many low-income residents suffering a psychiatric crisis often wait for hours in an emergency room, waiting for a bed to free up in a psychiatric hospital in another county. (Espinoza, 8/12)

The largest psychiatric facility in Sonoma County is not a hospital.It’s the jail.If not by design then by default, jail cells have essentially replaced psychiatric hospital beds for many of Sonoma County’s most severely mentally ill residents. It is a trend that began before the closure of Santa Rosa’s two secured mental health hospitals a decade ago, and has continued since. Now, nearly 40 percent of the 1,100 inmates held at the county’s main jail and its lower-security North County Detention Facility near the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport have some form of mental health issue, from mild depression to bipolar schizoaffective disorder. (Espinoza, 8/12)

When someone loses the ability to swallow, these life-giving devices provide essential nourishment to the body. ...Now a startup company, working to advance research performed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, may offer a way to alleviate these symptoms with plant extracts — or more specifically the tannins they contain. (Axelson, 8/12)

Seven people have been sickened by salmonella bacteria after eating fresh shelled (loose) peas purchased at three farmers markets in Wisconsin, state health officials said Friday. The announcement came as federal health officials reported that the number of cases from a fatal nationwide salmonella outbreak linked to imported papayas -- which includes one case in Wisconsin -- has risen to 141. (Garza, 8/11)

Emergency personnel from around the Seacoast responded to Exeter Hospital Friday, where employee complaints of nausea and dizziness resulted in a partial evacuation. At this time, the cause is unknown. (Bookman, 8/11)

Two sections of Exeter Hospital were evacuated Friday after 19 staff members reported flu-like symptoms in the inpatient operating room, a hospital official said. The cause of the staff members’ sickness at the New Hampshire hospital remained a mystery Friday, officials said. (Ellement and McDonald, 8/11)

[Chris] Cohn underwent treatment in San Francisco 10 years ago and has remained sober ever since. While in rehab, he realized a business calling of a different kind. He returned to Arizona to answer it and help those needing to get sober. (Yara, 8/12)

Much like many rural hospitals that are faced with impossible financial circumstances, air medical transport bases are being forced to close around the nation, leaving Americans without access to life-saving care. Already, 85 million of our fellow citizens (1 in 4) can only reach a Level 1 or 2 Trauma Care facility within an hour if they are brought there by a helicopter air ambulance. (LaRue, 8/13)