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Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed a measure to create a new category of “rural emergency hospitals” that backers say would help ensure health care access in rural areas. The legislation (SB 644) stems from a federal law that allowed the designation of rural emergency hospitals and made them eligible for Medicare payments. The hospitals are required to be licensed by states, creating a need for the bill. (5/29)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: An Obscure Drug Discount Program Stifles Use Of Federal Lifeline By Rural Hospitals 

Facing ongoing concerns about rural hospital closures, Capitol Hill lawmakers have introduced a spate of proposals to fix a federal program created to keep lifesaving services in small towns nationwide. In Anamosa, Iowa — a town of fewer than 6,000 residents located more than 900 miles from the nation’s capital — rural hospital leader Eric Briesemeister is watching for Congress’ next move. The 22-bed hospital Briesemeister runs averages about seven inpatients each night, and its most recent federal filings show it earned just $95,445 in annual net income from serving patients. (Tribble, 5/30)

The ACLU of Montana asked a judge to temporarily block a state policy that bans transgender people from amending the sex designation on their birth certificates. (Graf, 5/28)

After years of struggling to consistently provide the overdose-reversing medication naloxone to organizations that rely on a free supply of the medication, the state government is revamping its centerpiece distribution program. (Buch, 5/30)

Law enforcement officials in San Francisco arrested more suspected drug users than suspected dealers in the year since the city launched coordinated efforts to dismantle open-air drug markets in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods, city leaders said Wednesday. Law enforcement arrested 1,284 suspected drug users and 1,008 suspected dealers since the launch of the Drug Market Agency Coordination Center on May 29, 2023, according to figures the mayor's office released. Another 858 people were arrested on warrants. (Hernandez, 5/29)

San Mateo County’s homeless population spiked 18% over the last two years, according to the latest official estimate, even as local officials added around 300 shelter beds to help people get off the street. The tally released Wednesday identified 2,130 homeless people countywide. More than half lived outdoors, in vehicles or in other places not meant for habitation. The rest stayed in shelters. (Varian, 5/29)

When Wymon Johnson invited his older brother Obie to move into his one-bedroom apartment in Bakersfield, California, it was supposed to be temporary. But soon after, Obie got pneumonia. Next, he was diagnosed with a serious lung illness (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD), diabetes, and then kidney failure, all in 2010.Johnson let his brother use the apartment’s single bed, and started sleeping on the couch. He had worked as a street cleaner for the city before being sidelined by an injury, and soon was taking care of Obie fulltime, helping him with insulin injections and pills as his vision faded, arranging dialysis and doctor’s appointments, helping him bathe and taking him to the podiatrist. Caregiving “is not what people assume,” he says. “It’s not just babysitting.” (McGowan, 5/29)

Based on her medical condition, Grace Song had been labeled a fall risk by the Southern California nursing home where the 92-year-old spent a month earlier this year. So it was a surprise to her family when they learned she was left alone in the bathroom, fell, and was rushed to the emergency room. "This is where you feel, how do I get to be so helpless?" Song told her daughter-in-law Lisa Ling, who is a CBS News contributor. (Ling, Kaplan, Reilly, Teitelbaum, Samu, 5/29)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Safety-Net Health Clinics Cut Services And Staff Amid Medicaid ‘Unwinding’

One of Montana’s largest health clinics that serves people in poverty has cut back services and laid off workers. The retrenchment mirrors similar cuts around the country as safety-net health centers feel the effects of states purging their Medicaid rolls. Billings-based RiverStone Health is eliminating 42 jobs this spring, cutting nearly 10% of its workforce. The cuts have shuttered an inpatient hospice facility, will close a center for patients managing high blood pressure, and removed a nurse who worked within rural schools. It also reduced the size of the clinic’s behavioral health care team and the number of staffers focused on serving people without housing. (Houghton, 5/30)