�������ýҕ�l

Ohio lawmakers moved to pay nursing homes $875 million on Wednesday after a state Supreme Court ruling found they were underpaid. The money was included in an omnibus budget correction bill that now goes to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature. The $875 million is earmarked for skilled nursing facilities. (McGowan, 6/10)

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is laying off about 200 staff members and cutting 300 open positions. The cuts, part of a regular reassessment of services, primarily affect non-clinical roles and positions that are not patient-facing, a UPMC spokesperson said Tuesday. UPMC has 100,000 employees. (DeSilva, 6/10)

Almost 100 employees of the physician-owned Mankato clinic were laid off on Tuesday, and the layoffs were effective immediately. None of the 12 Mankato Clinic locations will close, and none of its 200 physicians are being laid off. But the cuts affected most departments, including management and ancillary support staff like front desk receptionists and imaging staff. (Yang, 6/10)

Optum is laying off 98 people in Moline, Ill., as it closes a mail-order pharmacy facility, according to regulatory documents filed June 5. The notice names Optum Services as the employer and lists the cuts under a plant closure at 4300 44th Ave. in Moline. The facility houses divvyDOSE, an online pharmacy purchased by Optum in 2020 that serves patients managing chronic conditions and complex medication regimens. (Emerson, 6/10)

Cleveland-based MetroHealth System will not seek reverification for its level 2 pediatric trauma center designation at its main campus. (Taylor, 6/10)

Stanford Medicine plans to begin construction of a major new cancer center in Redwood City as soon as 2029 that, upon completion, will serve the growing number of patients the provider expects to treat in the coming decades. (Ho, 6/10)

Supporters of a half-cent sales tax proposed to help fund health services in Los Angeles County declared victory Tuesday after days of steadily gaining ground as more ballots were counted. (Ellis, 6/9)

It's not every day high school students can practice listening to the heartbeat of a pediatric manikin – especially one that can talk, turn its head and even cry. Fifty high school students from Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties had the opportunity to not only examine “PediHal,” a high-fidelity pediatric manikin, but also dive into an early introduction to nursing with clinical simulations and skill labs. (Avlonitis, 6/11)

After winning a landmark transgender rights ruling that was later overturned, a sheriff’s deputy in central Georgia has settled an almost seven-year court battle challenging her employers’ health insurance plan. Sgt. Anna Lange, a deputy in the Houston County Sheriff’s Office from 2006, has been locked in a court fight with the county and its sheriff since October 2019, after they refused to cover her gender-affirming surgery under the plan. (Manins, 6/11)

A New Mexico judge is scheduled Thursday to consider arguments in a challenge to the state’s fledgling universal childcare program, an ambitious and closely watched effort to eliminate daycare costs for all working families. A lawsuit brought by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Duke Rodriguez and other plaintiffs challenges the process used by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration to eliminate an income cap and co-pays for childcare assistance before the Legislature had a chance to weigh in or approve funding. (Peters, 6/11)

In a first-of-its-kind project in South Dakota, the small hospital in this southern Black Hills town is investing in a subdivision project to provide housing for its employees. Fall River Health Services, an independent nonprofit medical center in Hot Springs, is paying $2.3 million of the overall $3.4 million cost of infrastructure for a subdivision that could create 48 new affordable housing units a few hundred yards from the hospital campus. Like many South Dakota employers, Fall River Health is enduring a long-range worker shortage that has put pressure on its existing staff and driven up costs due to hiring of expensive traveling, short-term medical employees. (Pfankuch, 6/10)

Duke Health has established a Nursing Innovation Fund to support nurse-led care models and help nurses develop, test and scale new ideas aimed at improving patient outcomes and strengthening the profession. (Diaz, 6/10)

Two new reports have ranked New Hampshire high in children’s wellbeing but one has ranked the state as the worst for youth depression. (Richardson, 6/10)

The state of Utah has been getting a lot of attention for an innovative — yet controversial — pilot project to have AI refill patients’ prescriptions. (Bruce, 6/10)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘�������ýҕ�l Health News Minute’

Sam Whitehead reads the week’s news: More Americans are getting access to physician-assisted suicide as states legalize the practice. Plus, hundreds of people allege medical neglect in ICE detention centers. (6/11)