State Highlights: Florida Bill Limiting Medical Treatment For Transgender Youth Loses Support; Inmate Deaths At Mississippi Prison Reach 15

Miami Herald: Florida Bill Restricts Treatment For Transgender Youth
After lively and emotional debate on both sides of the issue, a bill that would make it a felony for doctors to provide minors with hormone therapy or to perform sex reassignment surgery will likely not see its first hearing. The bill would have carried a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine or 15 years in prison. (Gross, 2/3)

The Associated Press: Mississippi Has At Least 15th Inmate Death In Recent Weeks
Another inmate has died in Mississippi, bringing the total to at least 15 in the state prison system since late December. Jesus Garcia, 39, was found unresponsive in his cell Saturday at the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, according to a statement from Management & Training Corporation, the private company that operates the prison. (2/3)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: EPA Grant Addresses Lead In School Drinking Water
Georgia schools have received a grant of $1.1 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to identify sources of lead in drinking water at schools or child care facilities. The Georgia Department of Education will use the funds for testing in high-risk communities across the state. (Rhone, 2/3)

Georgia Health News: Transparency Legislation Seeks To Boost Patients’ Buying Power
Consumers often have no idea about what they will pay for a medical procedure – or about the quality of care they can expect to receive. But under a bill discussed Monday in state Senate committee hearing, more Georgia patients with insurance could get access to such information. (Miller, 2/3)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgians Can Comment On Kemp’s Medicaid Waiver Proposal Through Friday
Big changes are on deck for Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for poor children and some poor adults. In Georgia, people have four more days to comment on an especially big change being sought for the state. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is accepting public comment until Friday on Gov. Brian Kemp’s Medicaid waiver proposal. (Hart, 2/3)

The Baltimore Sun: Mental Health And Addiction Providers For Medicaid Patients Go Unpaid In Maryland
Doctors and others who provide mental health and addiction services in Maryland under the Medicaid program have had millions of dollars in bills go unpaid this year because a new state payment system is malfunctioning, which some providers say could jeopardize care during the ongoing drug overdose crisis. The Maryland Health Department, which oversees the payments, notified providers last week that it planned to begin sending estimated payments that total about $32 million a week as it works to fix the system serving more than a quarter-million people. The estimated payments will be based on past billing. (Cohn, 2/4)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘Why Didn’t They Know?’ Maryland Senate Committee Postpones Confirmation Votes On UMMS Board Members
A Maryland Senate committee on Monday postponed confirmation votes of nearly 20 nominees to the University of Maryland Medical System board ― citing an unfinished audit into the self-dealing scandal that rocked the hospital network last year. Members of the Senate’s Executive Nominations Committee are considering 18 appointees to the board, most of whom were nominated by Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, after the General Assembly last year passed sweeping reform legislation that forced all the board members to resign and reapply for their posts. Sen. Ronald N. Young, a Frederick County Democrat who is chairman of the Executive Nominations Committee, said members were particularly concerned about three returning members who were nominated to return to the board despite the scandal. (Broadwater, 2/3)

The Washington Post: Poppy Seed Defense: Rebecca Hernandez’s Newborn Was Taken Away After False-Positive Opiate Test
An Alabama mother is calling for institutional changes after she lost custody of her baby within hours of giving birth Tuesday. Citing a same-day drug screening, health officials said they had detected traces of opiates in her system. But she was clean. Rebecca Hernandez was forced to spend three days apart from her newborn boy as she awaited a confirmatory test. By then, her doctor had already theorized a likely culprit behind the false-positive result: the poppy seed bread Hernandez ate Monday. (Brice-Saddler, 2/3)

The Capital Gazette: ‘Invisible Wounds’: Navy SEAL’s Family Pushes For Recognition Of Traumatic Brain Injuries After Son’s Death
As a decorated Navy SEAL operator and explosives breacher, Ryan Larkin was regularly exposed to high-impact blast waves throughout his 10 years of service. Struggling with the psychological effects of serving in four combat tours and an undiagnosed brain injury, Larkin died by suicide on a Sunday morning in 2017 dressed in a SEAL Team shirt with the medals he earned in service next to him. “Ryan died from combat injuries, just not right away,” Frank Larkin, Ryan’s father, said. Ryan Larkin’s repeated exposure to blast waves severely damaged his brain by causing microscopic tears in the tissue, internal lining and blood vessels. (Price, 2/3)

The CT Mirror: Lamont Touts Federal Funding For Child Care Ahead Of His Budget Address
State leaders on Monday rallied around her [Soba] at a day care in Bridgeport to announce they have implemented a partial solution: increase how much income families receiving child care subsidies can earn before losing the benefit. And as families earn more, their share of covering the day care payments will also increase. The shift – first announced four months ago – means parents can earn up to 65% of the area’s average income and not lose the subsidy, compared to the earlier 50% threshold. (Thomas, 2/3)

The Baltimore Sun: With Nowhere To Go, Foster Children Staying On In Maryland Hospitals And Psychiatric Units After Treatment
Dozens of Maryland children who have been removed from their families have languished in hospitals instead of settling in with foster parents or at group homes. These children have been in medical hospitals or on psychiatric units, often for weeks at a time, even though they are not sick, injured or mentally ill. One such child was kept in a hospital for 636 days, according to a report from the Maryland Department of Human Services, which is charged with ensuring the well-being of the children. (Wood, 2/3)

The CT Mirror: State Religious Leaders Are Pushing Lawmakers On Health Care Equity
As lawmakers wade into the thorny issue of health reform, Anderson’s five-year-old organization – the Ministerial Health Fellowship – is encouraging them to add those perspectives to the debate. And with the General Assembly convening on Wednesday, the health fellowship has outlined a series of recommendations for tackling pervasive issues, including access to care, the affordability of insurance and changing the way the state collects health data. (Carlesso, 2/4)

Miami Herald: 3 Rompe Pecho Medicines Recalled For Microbial Contamination
Miami-Dade company Efficient Laboratories has recalled three lots of three kinds of Rompe Pecho cold and flu symptom medications after a microbial contamination was found. “In rare circumstances, consumption of Rompe Pecho from these lots could result in vomiting and diarrhea,” the company-written, FDA-posted recall notice said. “Efficient Laboratories has not received any reports of adverse events to date.” (Neal, 2/3)

CNN: Walgreens Will Pay $7.5 Million To Settle With California Authorities After Employing Unlicensed Pharmacist
Walgreens has agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle a consumer protection lawsuit brought by California authorities who said the company employed an unlicensed pharmacist for more than a decade. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley announced the settlement Monday. The action is in response to a complaint filed by the district attorneys of Alameda and Santa Clara counties that alleges Kim Thien Le worked as a pharmacist in multiple Walgreens locations in the Bay Area for more than 10 years though she was not licensed by the Board of Pharmacy. While working as a pharmacist, Le participated in filling more than 745,000 prescriptions, including more than 100,000 for controlled substances, O’Malley’s office said in a news release. (Moon and Silverman, 2/4)

Texas Tribune: Austin’s Homeless Residents Consider Abbott’s Camp Helpful But Say His Tweets Still Stigmatize Them
Homeless Austin residents say life at the shelter in the southeast Austin neighborhood of Montopolis is an improvement for them — but still an incomplete solution to life without steady shelter. And some still feel stigmatized and targeted by the governor’s claims of increased crime involving homeless people and routine clearings of homeless communities elsewhere in the state’s capital. (Tatum, 2/4)

Boston Globe: Two Very Different Pictures Of Justina Pelletier’s Months In Locked Psych Ward
Two strikingly different accounts of Justina Pelletier’s health during her 2013 stay in a locked psychiatric ward at Boston Children’s Hospital emerged in Suffolk Superior Court Monday.A lawyer for the hospital asserted that Pelletier, then 14, was able at times to stand on her own to bake cookies. The lawyer said she also learned to move her own wheelchair and master other physical tasks without constant help. But the young woman’s father, Louis Pelletier, insisted on the witness stand that it was clear to anyone who saw his daughter during that stay: Her health had been “declining.” (Lazar, 2/3)

ABC News: Toddler With Rare Disorder Gets New Oxygen Tank Holders Designed By 6th Graders
A toddler who had trouble getting around with her oxygen tank is now getting help from a kind group of sixth grade students. Emmett Hightshoe was diagnosed with Kabuki syndrome in utero. It’s a rare genetic disorder impacting organ development, as well as her physical and cognitive abilities. But Emmett’s health obstacles doesn’t stop her from being a typical 2-year-old. “She’s certainly sassy and strong-willed,” mom Maleigh Hightshoe of Charlotte, North Carolina, told “Good Morning America.” “She’s so happy, loved, very much a people-person which is great because it helps us know if something isn’t going well.” (Pelletiere, 2/4)

Miami Herald: Feds Send Texas Man To Prison Over Tricare Fraud
A Texas man was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison last week for his role in a complex, $9.6 million scheme that tricked U.S. military service members into ordering unnecessary prescriptions and testing at the expense of two U.S. government healthcare programs, prosecutors from the U.S. Southern District of Florida said. Senthil Ramamurthy, 38, orchestrated a fraud on a national scale in a scheme starting in 2014, when Ramamurthy targeted Tricare, the U.S. military’s health insurance program, according to prosecutors. (Conarck, 2/3)

The Associated Press: Prince Doctor To Pay $4K Civil Penalty For Prescription
A Minnesota medical board has disciplined a doctor who treated Prince for prescribing pain medication for the pop megastar in another person’s name. The Minnesota Board of Medical Practice last month reprimanded Dr. Michael Schulenberg and ordered him to pay a civil penalty of $4,648. The board did not name Prince, but the Star Tribune reports he was identified as “Patient No. 1” and his longtime friend and bodyguard Kirk Johnson as “Patient No. 2.” (2/3)

Boston Globe: Marijuana Host Community Bill On Mass. House Agenda
The Massachusetts House appears poised Wednesday to take up legislation giving state cannabis regulators the authority to review and regulate the agreements marijuana businesses are legally required to enter into with their host municipalities. Marijuana advocates and regulators have been wrestling with the issue of host community agreements (HCAs) for more than a year as entrepreneurs, lawyers, and lobbyists have shared stories about cities or towns demanding more from businesses than the state’s marijuana laws allow. (Young, 2/3)