�鶹Ů��

Now a new law in California will require high schoolers to learn those skills in hopes they might one day save a life. Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law Saturday that now mandates a CPR component in high schools where health classes are required to graduate, starting with the 2018-2019 school year. The previous law had given schools the choice to substitute a first aid component in those classes instead. According to the American Heart Association, only 30 percent of Americans are trained to administer CPR in an emergency and about 32 percent of heart attack victims get CPR when a cardiac emergency occurs. (Koh, 9/27)

Allina Health and the Minnesota Nurses Association negotiated throughout the day Tuesday at the behest of a federal mediator without reaching an agreement. The two sides met from morning until 11 p.m. before agreeing to take a break, according to an Allina spokesman. They planned to pick up the discussions again in the morning. Union and Allina spokespeople both declined to provide details about the talks while they were ongoing. (Cooney, 9/27)

The only Planned Parenthood location in the nation’s capital marked its grand opening this week in a booming, semi-industrial area of Northeast Washington — an area in the center of the city that the health-care provider hopes will be accessible to people from all corners of the District. ... “There was a tremendous unmet need,” said Laura Meyers, president of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington. “With almost no advertising, patients are finding us.” (Stein, 9/27)

A new law could be in the works to regulate so-called “sober homes” in Florida. At a meeting attended by hundreds of residents in Lake Worth, Assistant State Attorney Al Johnson said that he is part of a task force created to crack down on  unscrupulous addiction recovery residences in Florida. The facilities are not currently required to be certified or licensed and the task force will propose legislation to change that. (9/27)

The former CEO of Tuomey Healthcare will personally pay $1 million to resolve his involvement in entering physician compensation arrangements that led to one of the largest-ever Stark law cases. Ralph "Jay" Cox III will also be excluded for four years from participating in any federal programs, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday. In October, Sumter, S.C.-based Tuomey agreed to pay $72.4 million to settle allegations of illegal compensation arrangements with doctors. As part of the settlement, Tuomey was sold to Palmetto Health. (Teichert, 9/27)

Tim Wendler doesn't give up easily. More than a year after his wife, Trickett Wendler, died from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), he is giving voice to a congressional bill in her name. The Trickett Wendler Right to Try Act, authored by Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, would allow terminally ill patients to receive experimental drugs — which have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration — and where no alternative exists. There is a companion bill in the House. (Glauber, 9/27)

New York City has agreed to pay $5.75 million to settle a lawsuit stemming from the 2013 death of a mentally ill inmate who was found naked and covered in urine and feces after being locked in a cell at Rikers Island for six days. The settlement in Bradley Ballard’s death is apparently the largest the city has ever paid to settle a lawsuit over the death of an inmate in city custody. (Weiser, 9/27)

Medical-devices company Boston Scientific Corp. on Tuesday said it agreed to buy EndoChoice Holdings Inc. for roughly $210 million, expanding its endoscopy business as sales of some products have slowed. Boston Scientific said it would pay $8 a share in cash for EndoChoice, a 90% premium to its closing price of $4.22 a share on Monday. Boston Scientific, based in Marlborough, Mass., has diversified its product offerings in recent years to help pad softening sales in some bread-and-butter areas, such as pacemakers and implanted defibrillators. (Jamerson, 9/27)

Starting next month, transgender individuals or those who want to start their transition process will be able to go to Planned Parenthood clinics in Central Florida to get hormone therapy services... This adds Florida to the list of 15 other states under the umbrella of the national Planned Parenthood to offer hormone therapy. LGBT advocates say the service brings another trusted source of care to the transgender community, which has been historically discriminated against and faced barriers to care. It is also a positive sign that the Central Florida community is embracing diversity, they say. (Miller. 9/27)

One year after vetoing a similar measure, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Tuesday that will allow pharmaceutical companies to offer experimental drugs to terminally ill Californians. A national “right to try” movement, which seeks to expand access to not-yet-approved treatments for people who fail to get into clinical trials, yielded bills in California last year but Brown deferred to federal regulators in vetoing a measure on his desk. The governor signed this year’s similar version, Assembly Bill 1668, after it won broad support in the Legislature. It would allow drug manufacturers to offer treatments not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration if a patient has exhausted other FDA-sanctioned treatment options and has approval from two physicians. (White, 9/27)

Abuses at a Pueblo center for people with severe intellectual disabilities included a resident performing a sexual act in exchange for a soda and another burned with a blow dryer in an attempt to raise her body temperature, according to a federal report obtained by The Denver Post. A group of men, some who are nonverbal, had words scratched into their skin, including “die,” “kill,” and “I’m back,” federal investigators found. When questioned, three staffers said they believed the markings were the result of “paranormal activity.” Staffers had posted photos of the etchings on social media, the report said. (Osher and Brown, 9/27)

State health officials have confirmed three new cases of Legionnaires’ disease linked to the ongoing Hopkins outbreak, bringing the total number to 20, including one death. In all the cases, including the three announced Tuesday, patients were exposed to the bacteria in the Hopkins area before Sep. 9. Since then, health officials have taken steps to eliminate possible infection sources; cooling towers on several local businesses were disinfected and a decorative fountain was shut down. (Howatt, 9/27)