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Hospitals' financial performance worsened in July due to a summertime drop in outpatient business and ongoing Medicaid redeterminations in more than 30 states, the consultancy Kaufman Hall said in its latest industry report. While there was some improvement in operating margins compared to last year, bad debt and charity care as a percentage of hospitals' gross operating revenue rose 7% from June to July. (Bettelheim, 8/29)

Adults who are eligible for Medicaid but not enrolled in the program are more likely to delay care due to costs, according to an analysis published Tuesday by the Urban Institute. The survey found 21.4 percent of non-Medicaid enrolled individuals delay medical care due to the cost, compared to only 7.3 percent of enrollees and 9.5 percent of Medicaid-eligible individuals with private insurance. (Nazzaro, 8/29)

Police reports about deaths and other incidents in public hospitals cannot be kept secret, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, citing the importance of government transparency and the public’s right to know what happened. A majority of the justices rejected an attempt by state officials to prevent the release of a police report about a patient who reportedly choked to death on food in 2016 while being restrained by staff members at Connecticut’s only maximum-security psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. (Collins, 8/29)

“EMS is dying,” said Heather Sharar, the executive director of the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania, which represents 220 EMS agencies. “How long can you exist if no one is paying you the cost for your service?” The funding shortfall has led a number of EMS agencies to close, with three in Pennsylvania closing in the last three months — leaving a ripple effect that will require other agencies in the region to pick up the need. (McGoldrick, 8/30)

During a community meeting in July, residents of four unincorporated communities south of the Texas Panhandle held mason jars filled with brown, cloudy water — visual evidence of the water quality issues that have for decades plagued the more than 300 residents of these rural West Texas communities. Situated in the outskirts of Lubbock and Shallowater, residents of the four developments have received regular notices of water quality violations from the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality, the state’s environmental agency. Elevated levels of fluoride, arsenic, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals have made the water undrinkable for nearly two decades, according to TCEQ records, leaving residents to rely on bottled water. (Salhotra, 8/30)

Ron Sachs spent his career creating narratives, first as a journalist, then a gubernatorial spokesman, then a public relations strategist. Now, he’s trying to create a new narrative -- as a grieving father. Sachs lost his middle daughter, 38-year-old Aimee Sachs, on May 31. One stroke did a little damage, then another soon after was catastrophic. In the end, the most she could do was blink her wishes -- to be removed from life support and donate her organs. (Jordan, 8/29)

DataHaven’s new Health Equity in Connecticut 2023 report found that inequities resulted in 14,000 excess deaths among Connecticut’s Black population compared to its white demographic. The report includes data between 2017 and 2022 from statewide and national mortality records, the DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey of randomly-selected adults throughout Connecticut, and census data. (Srinivasan, 8/29)