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A recent federal policy reversal, long-sought by states and health care advocates, could enable schools to take a lead role in managing chronic childhood diseases and result in the hiring of many more school nurses. The change, announced quietly and unexpectedly last month by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will allow public schools to receive Medicaid money for health services they provide to eligible students for the first time since 1997. (1/22)

According to advocates and officials at a meeting in Raleigh this week, North Carolina’s network of help for people in mental health crisis is improving. (Hoban, 1/22)

Maura Healey will inherit several thorny issues Wednesday as she becomes the next state attorney general. Near the top of her list: the agreement that would let Partners HealthCare acquire at least three more hospitals in exchange for some limits on price and staff increases. (Bebinger, 1/21)

Gov. Greg Abbott has named a new watchdog for the embattled Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Abbott announced Wednesday that Stuart Bowen Jr., who spent nearly 10 years as special inspector general overseeing the reconstruction of Iraq, will take over as inspector general for HHSC. He succeeds Doug Wilson, who was fired in December after a controversy arose over the selection of 21st Century Technologies Inc. to receive a $110 million Medicaid fraud software contract. (McCrimmon, 1/21)

California Attorney General Kamala Harris now has until Feb. 20 to decide whether the Daughters of Charity Health System should be sold to Prime Healthcare Services. Robert Issai, CEO and president of the Daughters chain, which includes four Bay Area hospitals, said Wednesday that Harris' office this week asked him to extend the deadline from Feb. 6 to Feb. 20. He agreed. (Seipel, 1/21)

Two weeks after Blue Shield announced its contract termination with Sutter Health affecting 280,000 Californians, Sutter Health urged Blue Shield to extend the 2014 agreement "to prevent "tens of thousands of patients being displaced from their doctors." (Gumz, 1/21)

Texas hospitals want state lawmakers to figure out a way for the state to draw down billions in federal Affordable Care Act dollars to cover the uninsured and alleviate the burden on local taxpayers. Health officials hope the Legislature looks at a program in San Antonio that has the makings of a Texas solution. This is the third video in our eight-part State of Mind series. (Rocha and Dehn, 1/22)

It was a dying wish of Brittany Maynard, after terminal cancer led her to move to Portland so she could legally end her life, that her home state of California would someday adopt Oregon's death-with-dignity law. On Wednesday, less than three months after 29-year-old Maynard's death drew international attention to the issue, her husband and mother stood with nine California lawmakers to announce legislation that would allow physicians in this state to prescribe medications to hasten death for the terminally ill. (McGreevy, 1/21)

Advocates for allowing dental hygienists with advanced training to perform a broader range of procedures are now in their fifth year of trying to convince legislators to approve the necessary changes in state law. Wearing bright yellow and black scarves, they rallied Wednesday morning and then headed for meetings with legislators to press their case for expanding access to services in a state where 95 of 105 counties have a shortage of dental providers. (McLean, 1/21)

Gov. Terry Branstad plans to hire a private managed-care company or companies to help run the state's Medicaid program, legislators and administration officials said Tuesday. Details are scarce on how the plan would work, but Branstad projects it would save $51.3 million from January through June 2016, its first six months. (Leys, 1/21)

The push to offer health insurance to all Californians regardless of immigration status is the latest in a series of immigrant-friendly state policies over the past few years. Already, immigrants here illegally can obtain licenses to practice medicine, law or other professions, and as of this month, they can apply for driver’s licenses. There is no guarantee that other states will follow California’s lead, but the size and demographic makeup of the state ensure it a prominent role in the national debate over coverage of people living in the country illegally. (Gorman, 1/22)