吃瓜不打烊

Skip to main content

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.

Subscribe Follow Us
  • Trump 2.0

    Trump 2.0

    • Agency Watch
    • State Watch
    • Rural Health Payout
  • Public Health

    Public Health

    • Vaccines
    • CDC & Disease
    • Environmental Health
    All Public Health
  • Audio Reports

    Audio Reports

    • What the Health?
    • Healthcare Helpline
    • 吃瓜不打烊 Minute
    • An Arm and a Leg
    • Health Hub
    • HealthQ
    • Silence in Sikeston
    • Epidemic
    All Audio
  • Special Reports

    Special Reports

    • Bill Of The Month
    • Common Ground
    • Diagnosis: Debt
    • The Body Shops
    • Priced Out
    • Guns, Race, and Profit
    • Broken Rehab
    • Dead Zone
    • Denied
    • Opioid Settlement Tracking
    • Eleven Minutes
    All Special Reports
  • More Topics

    More Topics

    • Elections
    • Healthcare Costs
    • Insurance
    • Prescription Drugs
    • Health Industry
    • Immigration
    • Reproductive Health
    • Technology
    • Rural Health
    • Race and Health
    • Aging
    • Mental Health
    • Affordable Care Act
    • Medicare
    • Medicaid
    • Children’s Health
    All Topics

  • Medicare Advantage Billing Probe
  • School Vaccine Mandates
  • Weight Loss Drugs Coverage
  • Opioid Settlement Money
  • Abortion Pill Access

Morning Briefing

Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

  • Email

Wednesday, Sep 19 2018

Full Issue

State Highlights: 'Street Medicine' Movement To Help Sick Homeless Is Surging Across County; Advocates Ask Judge To Block Idaho's Abortion Reporting Law

Media outlets report on news from Texas, Idaho, Illinois, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Kansas, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Toting a huge olive-green backpack stuffed with medical supplies, physician assistant Joel Hunt pushes through a dense cluster of woods less than two miles from downtown Fort Worth. He approaches a suspended tarp that serves as a makeshift tent, peeking inside at an elderly woman who was evicted from her home nearly eight months ago. 鈥淪o how have you been doing?鈥 Hunt asks. The woman, who is lying on her back, warms up to Hunt鈥檚 gentle questioning. She says she is out of medicine for her back pain, and was 鈥渒icked out鈥 of her residence in January. Hunt invites her to his clinic for a back-pain referral, then extends his hand in a fist-bump gesture. The woman reaches out and pats his wrist. (Montgomery, 9/18)

Lawyers are asking a U.S. judge to issue a preliminary injunction blocking a new Idaho law requiring doctors to report extensive personal information to the state about women who have had abortions. The law, which took effect July 1, requires health care providers to disclose information about patients who had one of several "complications" listed in the law, the Idaho Press reported . A preliminary injunction means the law would not be enforced while the matter is being discussed in court. (9/18)

DeVonte Jones began to show signs of schizophrenia as a teenager. His first public episode was nine years ago at a ball game at Wavering Park, in Quincy, Ill. "He snapped out and just went around and started kicking people," says Jones' mother Linda Colon, who now lives in a Chicago suburb. The police were called. Jones was arrested, charged with aggravated battery and placed in Adams County Jail. Colon says Jones had no recollection of what happened. (Herman, 9/19)

State health officials have increased the number of confirmed cases of Legionnaires鈥 disease to 18, following an outbreak in Hampton this summer which left one person dead and 16 hospitalized. Health officials believe the outbreak began near Ashworth Avenue and the surrounding area between June 10 and Aug. 26. (Feely, 9/18)

Some pretty important people 鈥 the governor, a former Supreme Court justice and a hospital CEO, to name a few 鈥 were at the State House for Monday鈥檚 official unveiling of a poster campaign to raise awareness of mental health in the schools. But it was the students who stole the show. R.E.A.C.T. is a partnership among Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the state Department of Education and the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA). It aims to encourage students who are dealing with emotional suffering and mental illness to get the help they need. (Wickham, 9/17)

Connecticut hospitals and health networks have received an estimated $1.2 billion in outpatient facility fees from 2015 through 2017, according to data released Tuesday. These fees are collected for a wide-range of services, including oncology, eye surgery and psychotherapy, provided at off-site facilities run by hospitals and health networks. (Kara and Rigg, 9/18)

The new director of a stem cell research facility at the University of Kansas Medical Center said he鈥檚 not concerned about recent reductions in the facility鈥檚 space. But he does think it needs more money.Sunil Abhyankar, a KU oncologist who specializes in blood cancers, was introduced to the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center Advisory Board as the center鈥檚 new director Monday night. (Marso, 9/18)

Veterans hoping for more mental health services may soon get it in the form of a $29.2 million grant given to the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program. The Wounded Warrior Project awarded the program with the five-year grant at Monday night鈥檚 Braves game. (Habersham, 9/18)

Department of Correction health care workers stood in the pouring rain outside a Hartford prison Tuesday to rally against staffing vacancies and demand an agreement from gubernatorial and legislative candidates to fill empty jobs they say are undermining quality inmate care. Sheltering underneath a blue and yellow umbrella as he tried to see through rain-speckled glasses, social worker Matthew Eggen said the insufficient staffing levels have left health care workers unable to provide the type of care the state and inmates in the system deserve. (Silber, 9/18)

Georgia鈥檚 obesity rate for adults is about average among states, the CDC reports. But it鈥檚 still a startlingly high figure. Almost one in three residents in the state is obese. (Miller, 9/18)

Jack Isenberg was funny and quirky, sweet-natured and kind-hearted.Jack was devoted to his family, his collie and his two cats. He liked riding his bike and playing basketball, and he loved cartoons. He wanted to become a chef. "He was just the fun in our house," his mom says. "He glued everything, all the kids, together." (Wickham, 9/16)

Dr. Grant William Robicheaux billed himself as an elite orthopedic surgeon catering to Newport Beach鈥檚 famous and wealthy. It was a lifestyle he pushed not only in his medical work but on realty TV, where he appeared on a Bravo dating show wearing his hospital scrubs and a wide smile. (Winton, 9/18)

Ruggiero is among a small but growing group of people in their 80s and 90s who have decided to experiment with marijuana, still an illegal substance under federal law. A majority of states have legalized it to treat a wide array of ailments and its popularity is rising. (Hefler, 9/19)

Court and jail officials are taking steps to improve what have been described as 鈥渂arbaric鈥 conditions for mentally ill women inmates held at a south Fulton County jail, one of the county鈥檚 top judges said. The Sheriff鈥檚 Office is providing extra correctional officers to work with the women prisoners, and the jail鈥檚 healthcare provider is doubling its visits to the jail and educating guards on how to properly interact with the women, Fulton State Court Chief Judge Diane Bessen said. (Rankin, 9/18)

According to a 2017 report by the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, 26 percent of heat-associated deaths occurred among homeless individuals. The department estimated 94 homeless individuals died due to the heat between 2016-2017. (Castle, 9/18)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
Newsletter icon

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Stay informed by signing up for the Morning Briefing and other emails:

Recent Morning Briefings

  • Thursday, August 6
  • Wednesday, August 5
  • Tuesday, August 4
  • Monday, August 3
  • Friday, July 31
  • Thursday, July 30
More Morning Briefings
RSS Feeds
  • Podcasts
  • Special Reports
  • Morning Briefing
  • 吃瓜不打烊
  • Republish Our Content
  • Contact Us

Follow Us

  • RSS

Sign up for emails

Join our email list for regular updates based on your personal preferences.

Sign up
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy

漏 2026 KFF