State Highlights: Newly Elected Democrats In Virginia Keep Up Pace On Liberal Changes; Idaho’s Looser Immunization Laws Attract Anti-Vaxxers From Other States

The Washington Post: Virginia General Assembly Crossover: Action On Guns, Minimum Wage, Casinos
Virginia Democrats are delivering on the liberal agenda they promised for this year’s General Assembly session, pushing through hundreds of bills that undo years of Republican leadership and change course on significant issues. In a cascade of votes Monday and Tuesday ahead of a legislative deadline, the new Democratic majority advanced measures to protect LGBT residents, help undocumented immigrants, protect the environment, fund roads and raise the minimum wage. (Schneider, Vozzella and Sullivan, 2/11)

Wyoming Public Radio: Seeking ‘Health Freedom,’ Some Parents Relocate To Idaho For Its Looser Vaccine Laws
An investigation by the newspaper found about two dozen others who said “they moved to Idaho because of the state’s limited regulation—specifically, the ease of getting a vaccine exemption for schoolchildren.” As the Idaho Statesman reports, some called themselves “refugees” of states like California and Washington, where immunization rules have recently become stricter. (Bichell, 2/10)

The Associated Press: Death Toll In Camp Fire Probably Includes 50 More People, Report Says
Doctors and other experts say at least 50 more people, many of them elderly or ill, probably died as a result of the 2018 wildfire that devastated the town of Paradise, Calif., but were not counted in the official death toll, an investigation by the Chico Enterprise-Record found. Authorities have said the deadliest wildfire in California history killed 86 people. But the newspaper reported Tuesday that it had identified at least 50 more people whose deaths were linked to the fire but not attributed to it. (2/11)

MPR: Psychiatrists Push To End Noncompete Agreements In Minnesota
Noncompete agreements are allowed in just about every industry in Minnesota — the only exception is for lawyers. Now some state lawmakers want to change that. State Rep. Alice Mann, DFL-Lakevile, a physician herself, is reintroducing a bill that would ban noncompete agreements for doctors. During the last session, legislation advanced through committees but never made it to a final vote. (Roth, 2/12)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Democrats Oppose Health Care Budget Cuts
Proposed budget cuts to health care fueled a Democratic press conference Tuesday at the Georgia Capitol. GOP legislative leaders have called a halt to the session in order to deal with Gov. Brian Kemp’s budget proposals. The Democrats criticized what they called Kemp’s “extreme budget cuts” and said the testimony about reductions to health programs over the past two weeks was “terrifying.” (Hart, 2/11)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: DCH ‘Not Prepared’ To Ask For More Inspectors
The cornerstone of Georgia’s program to protect seniors in assisted living and personal care homes is a platoon of state employees that licenses and inspects facilities and investigates complaints of abuse and neglect. But that team of 21 Department of Community Health inspectors has struggled to keep up with an expanding workload. (Schrade and Teegardin, 2/11)

Philadelphia Inquirer: At 87, This Philly Physician To Spinal Cord Injury Patients Finds Hope In Sculpting
Twenty-four years ago, John Ditunno took a sabbatical from his work as a spinal cord injury rehabilitation doctor at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to learn something new in Italy. He and his psychologist wife, Patricia, were there to develop a measure of walking function in injured patients, but Ditunno also found time to study sculpture. He’d been carving wood for years, and he wanted to see what he could do with stone. (Burling, 2/11)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio House Bill Would Prohibit Medical Procedures For Transgender Youth
Transgender people under age 18 wouldn’t be able to take puberty blockers or undergo surgical procedures if a draft bill in the Ohio House passed. The legislation, sponsored by Republican Reps. Bill Dean of the Dayton area and Ron Hood of Pickaway County, was announced Tuesday by the lawmakers, along with Christian policy group Citizens for Community Values. (Hancock, 2/11)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Bill Would Punish Doctors Who Provide Gender-Affirming Treatment To Transgender Kids
A similar bill has been introduced in Kentucky and several other states. The South Dakota legislature rejected a transgender treatment bill on Monday, with one Republican saying the issue should be left to families, not government. Supporters argued children shouldn’t be subjected to medical interventions and the legislation is meant to protect them. (Borchardt, 2/11)

Chicago Tribune: Palos Health, DuPage Medical Plan Health Centers In Mokena And Oak Lawn
Two health care providers are planning multimillion-dollar medical offices in Mokena and Oak Lawn, which they say are part of a continuing trend toward outpatient delivery of medical care. Palos Health, which operates Palos Hospital in Palos Heights, said it will break ground soon on a nearly 50,000-square-foot office center at the southwest corner of U.S. 30 and South Owens Road in Mokena. (Nolan, 2/12)

The CT Mirror: Connecticut Secret: Children Being Bought And Sold For Sex
Human trafficking is a business that thrives off of not having to pay their victims in money but instead what they need to survive. In turn, because the language in our law has not been changed to included anything of value as payment to victims as well as money, the state’s grade on Shared Hope on human trafficking has been reduced. Our state’s grade is a C since again in the 2019 legislative session our legislature failed to even have a public hearing on the bill in relation to changing our states definition of human trafficking. (Auretta, 2/12)

Kaiser Health News: Conservative Indiana Adopted Needle Exchanges But Still Faces Local Resistance
Back when Cody Gabbard was shooting heroin, his only significant human contact was with others in the throes of addiction, who only cared to see him when he had drugs. Then he walked into the basement of Fayette County’s courthouse in the eastern Indiana city of Connersville, where two women — a public health nurse and a recovery coach — ran a syringe exchange program. (Bruce, 2/12)

North Carolina Health News: This Dentist And His Teams Come To Their Patients. Their Focus Is Special Needs Populations.
Milner, a dentist in North Carolina for the past 45 years, was set up with two portable dental chairs and two hygienists and all their equipment in a conference room at a Cone Health clinic in Greensboro. They see 600 patients as part of a partnership with the infectious disease center, which draws from a community of people with compromised immune systems. Some are infected with HIV or have progressed to developing AIDS. Others have “undetectable viral loads. ”Milner explains that some of the people on the patient list have been shunned by dentists in private practice. Others are too worried about potential stigmatization or an outing of their diagnosis that they, themselves, choose to steer clear of such offices. Many live on the margins, too. A lack of transportation plagues some, making it difficult to get to appointments or keep them. (Blythe, 2/11)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Jefferson Parish Council Will Not Vote On East Jefferson Hospital Sale This Week
A seven-year quest to find a buyer for financially troubled East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie appears to be nearing an end. But some Jefferson Parish Council members this week held up a “go slow” sign. They said they want more time to examine the proposed deal with New Orleans-based LCMC Health for the parish-owned hospital. (Roberts, 2/11)

Reuters: U.S. Judge Drops Some Charges Against Theranos’s Holmes, Leaves Wire Fraud
A federal judge late on Tuesday dismissed some charges against Theranos Inc founder Elizabeth Holmes, but let stand wire fraud charges accusing her and an associate of misleading patients about the abilities of her company’s blood tests. The court ruled that since the tests were paid by their medical insurance companies the patients were not deprived of any money or property in taking Theranos blood testing services. (2/12)

The Associated Press: Tenet Healthcare To Pay $1.4M To Settle Cardiac Lawsuit
Tenet Healthcare Corporation and its Southern California hospital Desert Regional Medical Center will pay $1.41 million to resolve allegations that they knowingly charged Medicare for implanting unnecessary cardiac monitors in patients, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by former hospital employee Michael Grace saying that Tenet and Desert Regional violated the federal False Claims Act, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release. (2/11)

Iowa Public Radio: House Panel Advances Medical Cannabis Bill; THC Limit Remains Controversial
A bill that advanced Tuesday in the Iowa House of Representatives would expand some parts of Iowa’s medical cannabis program, but disagreement remains about the amount of THC, the chemical that can make cannabis users high, patients should be allowed to purchase. Last year, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds vetoed a bipartisan medical cannabis bill, citing concerns from a state advisory board that it would allow patients to have too much THC. (Sostaric, 2/11)

St. Louis Public Radio: Medical Marijuana Is Legal In Missouri, But Some Doctors Won’t Certify Patients To Use It
Although medical cannabis is legal in Missouri and any doctor licensed in Missouri can certify patients for use, the region’s physicians don’t agree on whether certifying patients is safe, legal or ethical. Even though one of Lane’s doctors at Missouri Baptist Hospital was weaning her off opioid prescriptions, she wouldn’t certify Lane for a medical marijuana card. (Fentem, 2/11)