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Florida’s health regulators announced the appointment of 13 health care professionals to a board tasked with assessing the viability of telemedicine. The taskforce will recommend solutions for reimbursing doctors who use distance medicine technology to treat patients. The 15-member panel will be chaired by Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Elizabeth Dudek or her stand-in. Florida Surgeon General Celeste Philip was also appointed to the committee and can also select a stand-in. (Benk, 7/28)

South Carolina's Lexington Medical Center will pay the government $17 million over allegations that it paid 28 physicians unreasonably high amounts in exchange for referrals. A whistle-blower and the government alleged that Lexington bought access to patients by acquiring physician practices and then paid the doctors “commercially unreasonable compensation” with the expectation that they would make referrals to Lexington. (Schencker, 7/28)

[As] the country grows older, more colleges and communities are trying such programs to build kinship and improve quality of life for people of all ages. The programs can take many forms. Some are housed at universities; and several localities, including San Diego County and New York City, run programs that bring seniors and other adults together with teens and children for games and community projects. (Fifield, 7/28)

As many as 100,000 Kelsey-Seybold Clinic patients across Houston will soon lose in-network coverage when Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas drops the medical provider's vast network of doctors and treatment options from some of its plans. The insurer, Texas' largest health insurance carrier, confirmed Thursday that as of Oct. 1 Kelsey-Seybold's 470 doctors at 20 locations across the region will become out of network and therefore more costly for patients to see. (Deam, 7/28)

One of the Kansas City area’s leading mental health organizations is cutting services for more than 800 adults and children. Wyandot Inc., an umbrella organization for four nonprofit agencies in Kansas City, Kan., said Wednesday that it would need to cut services due to revenue losses and Gov. Sam Brownback’s decision earlier this year to reduce Medicaid reimbursements by 4 percent. (Smith, 7/28)

Atrazine has been a dirty word among environmentalists for decades. Now state and federal agencies are coming down on the weed killer, amid troubling evidence that it disrupts hormones and contributes to birth defects. This month, California added atrazine to the Prop 65 list of toxic chemicals since it’s known to cause reproductive harm. And in June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared, “there are risk concerns for mammals, birds, reptiles, plants and plant communities across the country for many atrazine uses.” The agency opened a public comment period for its atrazine draft ecological risk assessment, which is based on new studies. By the end of the year it will issue a separate report on atrazine’s human impact. (Hoshaw, 7/28)

A new partnership between Saint Thomas Health and National HealthCare Corporation will help coordinate and transition patients from the hospital to other facilities, such as skilled nursing, in an effort to improve care. Starting Aug. 1, the pair will begin to work on integrating their systems and teams to make sure patients who can't be discharged home get the continuous care they need to prevent readmission to the hospital and reach the expected level of recovery. (Fletcher, 7/28)

The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg awarded $327,511 to the center and the Lake Maggiore Shores neighborhood to put a focus on area children's mental health. The money comes from the sale of the former nonprofit Bayfront Medical Center, which this year is funding 19 projects in Pinellas County totaling $4 million. The kids' welcome baskets are a small part of what neighbors hope will blossom into a broader initiative spanning some 40 blocks, home to 170 children under 5 years old. (Jeffrey, 7/29)

Senior citizens who need help with daily tasks but want to remain independent can get help from a new nonprofit service that supports their goal of staying out of a nursing home. JFS At Home was created by the Ruth & Norman Rales Jewish Family Services, a social service agency. It brings certified nursing assistants and home health care aides into seniors' apartments and houses to help them with bathing, toileting, feeding and other daily requirements. (Solomon, 7/29)

A massive federal project to study the health habits of 1 million or more Americans over a decade has chosen the Community Health Center to be one of 11 organizations in the country to participate in the first phase. The National Institutes of Health said the Precision Medicine Initiative is "one of the most ambitious research projects in history" that will use data and health information to find better ways to treat and prevent disease. (Beals, 7/28)

According to a statement released from the U.S. Justice Department, Dr. Anton Fry and CPC Associates, which has offices on Hospital Avenue and North Street, were being investigated for Medicare fraud for providing services to patients over the telephone instead of treating the patients in person. The practice, however, said in a statement there was no criminal intent and the telephone services were provided on a limited basis to accommodate patients with other health issues. While some “telehealth” services are allowed by Medicare in rural areas with shortages in health care professionals, Danbury is not considered one of those areas. (Perrefort, 7/28)