State Highlights: Supreme Court Won’t Hear Challenge To N.Y. Vaccine Requirement; D.C. Council Considers Groundbreaking 16-Week Family Leave Plan
Health care stories are reported from New York, the District of Columbia, Virginia, California, Maryland, Kansas, Illinois and Florida.
The Associated Press:
High Court Won't Hear Challenge To NY School Vaccine Rules
The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear a challenge to New York state's requirement that all children be vaccinated before they can attend public school, upholding an appeals court ruling that said the policy does not violate students' constitutional right of religious freedom. (10/5)
The Washington Post:
D.C.’s 16-Week Family Leave Plan Would Be Most Generous In U.S.
The District would become the most generous place in the country for a worker to take time off after giving birth or to care for a dying parent under a measure supported by a majority of the D.C. Council. (Davis, 10/5)
The Associated Press:
NY, Federal Authorities Agree To Joint Insurer Oversight
New York's attorney general and the federal Employee Benefits Security Administration have agreed to share information and address violations of laws covering health insurance offered as worker benefits. They say the five-year memorandum enables them to conduct joint investigations and assist each other with enforcement, whether those covered are members of plans offered by insurance companies or self-insured plans created by private employers. (10/5)
The Washington Post:
Va. Senate Leaders Spar Over Health Care, Gun Control, Climate Change
In a debate at Christopher Newport University, Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City County) and Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) — who have a combined nearly 60 years of service in the Senate — spent more than an hour sparring over issues such as Medicaid expansion, gun control and climate change that have sharply divided the two parties during the first 20 months of Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s administration. (Portnoy, 10/5)
The New York Times:
San Francisco Is Changing Face Of AIDS Treatment
It wasn’t his first broken condom, so Rafael didn’t worry. But three weeks later, the man he’d met in a bar called to say that he had “probably been exposed” to H.I.V. Rafael, a muscular, affable 43-year-old, went to a clinic and within 45 minutes learned he was infected. Although it was already closing time, a counselor saw him immediately and offered him a doctor’s appointment the next day. (McNeil Jr., 10/5)
The Baltimore Sun:
Maryland, Hopkins Share In CDC Award To Fight Germs
Two Baltimore institutions will share in $11 million in funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aimed at preventing the spread of germs — a deadly and costly problem in hospitals and other health care settings. The University of Maryland School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Medicine have long been involved in developing technology and protocols to control infections in patients and health care workers. Each will get just over $2 million over three years. Four other facilities will split the remainder. (Cohn, 10/5)
The Kansas Health Institute News Service:
Healthy Food Initiative Catching On In Kansas Hospitals
Hospitals aren't typically associated with fine dining. And even though hospitals are in the business of health care, the beverages and foods they offer — especially when the cafeteria is closed — often lean more toward junk food than healthy fare. But a group of Kansas hospitals is out to change that. The initiative is called Healthy Kansas Hospitals. The three-year effort, which runs through June 2016, is sponsored by the Kansas Hospital Education and Research Foundation, a branch of the Kansas Hospital Association. Harold Courtois, administrator of Russell Regional Hospital in central Kansas, is enthusiastic about the program. (Thompson, 10/5)
The Chicago Tribune:
State Drops Testing For Sexually Transmitted Diseases
The Illinois Department of Public Health will no longer provide testing of sexually transmitted infections for dozens of county health departments and other facilities, saying resources must be shifted to more complicated testing to identify disease outbreaks and biological threats. The service was discontinued Monday, though providers were first notified of the change in an August letter citing "decreased financial and human resources." Agency spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said the decision was permanent and was not related to the budget impasse that has prevented some programs from receiving funding. (Garcia, 10/5)
The Miami Herald:
After Miami Stem Cell Therapy, NCIS Agent Back To Old Form
As living proof that stem cell therapy can repair damaged heart muscle, Noel Zuniga leapt onto a treadmill for a brisk run and followed with a set of weighted push ups inside the cardiac rehabilitation room at University of Miami Hospital Friday. Two years ago, he barely survived what cardiologists call a “widow maker” heart attack, a complete blockage of a major coronary artery. Few expected Zuniga to recover this well without a heart transplant. But last year, when he could hardly run and felt fatigued just walking in the mall with his wife, Zuniga enrolled in a clinical study at the University of Miami Health System’s Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute. UHealth doctors had saved his life in 2013 — shipping off at a moment’s notice to Panama to implant a special catheter with a pump into his heart, staving off massive organ failure after the heart attack. Now they held out the hope of helping Zuniga’s heart recover much of the function it had lost. (Chang, 10/5)