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The rural hospital collaborative in North Dakota has secured two value-based contracts with commercial insurers and more are expected this year, building momentum for those considering similar alliances. Cibolo Health in October created the Rough Rider High-Value Network comprised of 23 critical access hospitals in North Dakota. The rural hospital advisory firm has since helped launch a similar venture in Minnesota and is in early talks to expand the model in several other states, CEO Nathan White said. (Kacik, 7/9)

The judge dismissed the state's lawsuit against two federal agencies and said the case should instead be an administrative challenge. Next stop is the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. (Saunders, 7/9)

Colorado stands out among the 10 states that have disenrolled the highest share of Medicaid beneficiaries since the U.S. government lifted a pandemic-era restriction on removing people from the health insurance program. It’s the only blue state in a cluster of red states with high disenrollment rates — a group that includes Idaho, Montana, Texas, and Utah — in the Medicaid “unwinding” underway since spring 2023. (Bichell, 7/9)

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) called for policies restricting cellphone use in schools in an executive order Tuesday, citing rising concerns about the effects of phone usage and social media on youth mental health. Under the order, the state Education Department will create guidance for school districts to develop policies for a “phone-free” education environment. The goal, the order says, is to limit the amount of time children are on phones “without parental supervision.” The order is not an outright ban on the use of phones in class. (Elwood, 7/9)

Chicago has an estimated 400,000 lead lines, the most of any US city. While the scale of the problem in Chicago eclipses other cities, the hurdles it faces to remove known toxic lines reflect the broader funding and logistical challenges of making America’s tap lead-free. Nationally, an estimated 9 million lead lines remain buried underground. Ten years after the lead water crisis in Flint, Michigan, the Environmental Protection Agency is now working to finalize new rules requiring most cities and public water systems to remove all lead pipes within a decade beginning in 2027, at a pace of 10% of total lines annually. (Poon and Porter, 7/9)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Why The Election May Slow Plans To Replace Lead Pipes

With the Environmental Protection Agency’s latest — and strictest — plan to minimize the risk of Americans drinking lead-contaminated water on the horizon, the debate over whether the rules go too far or not nearly far enough is reaching a tipping point. Although lead was banned from new water service lines in 1986, it’s estimated that more than 9 million such lines still carry drinking water to homes and businesses throughout the country. Under the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Improvements proposal, water utilities would be required to replace all lead-containing lines within 10 years. (West, 7/10)