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A tax on hospitals that supports Georgia’s Medicaid program would be extended until 2020 under legislation introduced in the state Senate Thursday. The so-called “bed” tax, which is due to expire this year, is a 1.45 percent levy on hospitals’ net revenues. Hospital officials support it because, without the additional revenue, the state would suffer a shortfall Medicaid funding with no alternative for filling the gap. (Williams, 1/26)

A surprise bill can be the result of “balance billing.” This occurs when the patient is pursued for the balance after his or her health insurer pays its share to the medical provider. The problem is that the balance often turns out to be much more than the patient anticipated. Two state lawmakers have introduced separate bills in the General Assembly to prevent these surprise bills. Other states, including Florida, recently have passed legislation to address the problem. (Miller, 1/26)

Public health officials throughout Southern California are grappling with alarming increases in syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia that are part of a national epidemic. In 2015, total combined cases of the three sexually transmitted diseases reached an all-time high, according to a late 2016 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report noted that gonorrhea rates were at historic lows and syphilis was close to elimination earlier in the 2000s but now the STDs pose “a substantial health challenge.” (Perkes, 1/26)

A statewide safe-sleeping campaign featuring free cardboard "Baby Boxes" rolled out Thursday at Cooper University Hospital, part of the newest effort to reduce the number of infants dying from Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Syndrome (or SUIDS). (Mulford, 1/26)

The chaotic scene was a drill, part of a daylong training about how to respond to an improvised explosive device blast, offered at the Wisconsin EMS Association's annual conference. The conference, which ends Saturday, brought hundreds of first-responders from around the state to the Wisconsin Center in downtown Milwaukee. This year was the first time the event offered specific training to address an IED situation, such as the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. (Luthern, 1/26)

The [Delaware] state Senate has approved a bill that allows people who are HIV positive to donate organs for research or transplantation. The legislation was approved unanimously Thursday with no debate and now goes to the House. (Chase, 1/26)

California officials have fined health care giant Kaiser Permanente $2.5 million for failing to turn over required data on patient care to the state’s Medicaid program. The California Department of Health Care Services said this was the first fine imposed against one of its Medicaid managed care plans since at least 2000. The state relies on the data to help set rates, ensure adequate care is available and monitor how taxpayer dollars are being spent in the program, known as Medi-Cal in California. (Terhune, 1/26)

Milwaukee Area Technical College will double enrollment in the college's registered nursing program over the next three years and address the nursing shortage in Wisconsin under a $2.3 million grant from United Health Foundation, the organizations announced Thursday. The three-year grant will help MATC increase the enrollment of the nursing program by 100 students beginning in fall 2017. The program currently enrolls 350 students. (Carloni, 1/26)

As an emergency room doctor, Hawaii Sen. Josh Green sees homeless patients suffering from diabetes, mental health problems and an array of medical issues that are more difficult to manage when they are homeless or do not have permanent housing. That's why Green says he wants homelessness classified under Hawaii state law as a medical condition. If homelessness is a disease, he reasons, then doctors should be able to write prescriptions for the cure: Housing. (1/26)

Up to 30 Colorado hospitals are opting out of the state’s new medical aid-in-dying law, either fully or in part, but whether that means the doctors they employ are banned from writing life-ending prescriptions is a controversy that could wind up in court. At this point, terminally ill Coloradans who want to end their lives under the law will need to find out whether their physicians are allowed to participate. (Brown, 1/26)

A group of parents, residents, and volunteer experts in law, health and housing met for the first time Wednesday night to discuss ways to prevent Cleveland area children from being poisoned by lead in rental homes. The Cleveland Lead Safe Network's primary goal is to help pass and implement laws that can prevent children from being exposed to the harmful heavy metal, which can be found in deteriorated paint or in the soil around homes built prior to 1978. That means making sure as many rental units in the area as possible are "lead safe"-- meaning they've been tested for lead and don't pose an immediate threat to the health of children. (Dissell, 1/26)

Akron Children's Hospital has finished construction of its $4.5 million, 24-bed inpatient pediatric behavioral health unit. An expansion of the existing unit, the new inpatient pediatric behavioral health unit features 10 additional beds and 14 upgraded rooms. The completed unit is designed to help Akron Children's Hospital better meet the demands of area children and adolescents in need of behavioral health services. (Becka, 1/26)

For many Arizonans, sunscreen is as much a part of the daily ritual as cranking up the air-conditioner and refilling the water bottle. But while parents may slather it on their kids before sending them to school or summer camp, many schools forbid children from carrying it in their backpacks and re-applying it themselves. Sunscreen, like ibuprofen or cough medicine, is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an over-the-counter drug. As such, many school policies ban it without a doctor's note. (Beard Rau, 1/26)

Hospitalization for influenza have surpassed 1,000, trampling the previous record set in 2014-15, when 810 people were hospitalized in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. A type of influenza A - H2N3 - circulated in 2014-15 and is the dominant strain this season too. For an unknown reason, it hits older people the hardest. So far this season, those 51 and older account for 85 percent of those hospitalized, a number that's similar to the 2014-15 season. In comparison, about 70 percent of those 51 and older were hospitalized with the flu in last year's season. (Terry, 1/26)

An United Kingdom university has received a fine after a decimal point miscalculation caused students to consume the equivalent of 300 cups of coffee, resulting in medical treatment. In March 2015, two sports science students at Northumbria University were admitted to intensive care for dialysis after consuming 30g of caffeine, the BBC reported. The prosecutor told the court that the test performed by the sports science department caused the two volunteer students to suffer and “could easily have been fatal”. (Baca, 1/26)

The owner of Community Angels Ambulance will serve two years in prison after being convicted of money laundering and health care fraud. Terry Johnson, 43, of Hamilton, was sentenced in U.S. District Court after admitting to submitting more than $1.4 million in fraudulent bills to Medicare and Medicaid, according to a news release from United States Attorney of the Southern District of Ohio's office. Over about seven years, court documents say Johnson fraudulently billed the federal health insurance programs for transportation services when patients were not transported in an ambulance or other vehicle. (Brookbank, 1/26)

The purchase of a young Columbus health-care technology company for $1.1 billion is being seen by central Ohio'a tech community as the kind of pivotal event that can take local startup efforts to a higher level. CoverMyMeds, which produces software used by doctors and pharmacists to obtain quick drug approval for patients, was bought by San Francisco-based wholesale drug distributor McKesson in a deal announced this week. (Williams, Rose and Feran, 1/26)

A pregnant Bexar County resident has been diagnosed with the Zika virus after traveling to Brownsville in November, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced Wednesday. She is the first pregnant woman in Texas to be infected without traveling outside of the state. The Department of State Health Services said she was in Brownsville around the time mosquitoes there infected six people. The local transmissions were reported between Nov. 28 and Dec. 22. (Martin, 1/26)

Two new health clinics treated their first patients on the campuses of north metro community colleges in recent weeks, improving access for a group of young people that research shows is in urgent need of such care. North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park and Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids debuted health clinics this semester. The two colleges join a small but growing number of two-year schools in the state to offer clinic-style services. (Covington, 1/26)

Trulieve, one of seven companies in Florida authorized to grow marijuana and produce and sell cannabis pills and oil, opened in a former fitness gym at 8701 N Dale Mabry Highway. It's Trulieve's third location in Florida — the others are in Clearwater and Tallahassee — and the latest in a plan to expand to all of the state's major markets, said chief executive officer Kim Rivers. A St. Petersburg location is expected to open later this year. The goal is to improve access for patients, Rivers said. Trulieve, which has a growing and production facility near Tallahassee, already delivers anywhere in the state, but patients can avoid a delivery fee by picking up their medication in person. (Marrero, 1/26)

Milpitas has expanded its smoking ban to include outdoor dining areas around the city beginning on Feb. 2. The City Council on Jan. 3 held a second reading to adopt the expanded smoking ban to include marijuana, e-cigarettes and hookahs. (Mohammed, 1/26)

Virginia’s Senate voted Thursday to expand the use of marijuana oil for medical purposes after a spirited debate that veered into presidential drug usage, 1960s hippie culture and the comically long list of potential side effects recited on some TV pharmaceutical ads. (Vozzella, 1/26)