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Taking a stand against the rapidly expanding use of telemedicine, the Texas Medical Board voted Friday to sharply restrict the practice in the state, siding with organizations representing doctors over the objections of industry representatives who said the new rules would reduce access to medical care at a time of increasing demand. The vote was the latest salvo in a four-year battle between the state board, which licenses and regulates doctors, and Teladoc, a national company based in Dallas that provides telephone or video consultations with doctors on its staff, typically for routine problems like urinary tract infections, sore throats and rashes. (Goodnough, 4/10)

The Texas Medical Board dealt a blow to Dallas-based Teladoc and other telemedicine companies when it voted Friday to approve rules sharply limiting the use of telephone and video consultations to remotely treat patients, the New York Times reported. This latest vote follows an emergency rule issued by the board in January that required physicians to see a patient for an in-person visit before prescribing drugs. Teladoc won a temporary injunction of that rule. (4/11)

Advocates and mental health practitioners say that California's approach to mental health — and particularly to involuntary treatment — is deeply fragmented across its 58 counties. Lawmakers are trying to address the inconsistency of policies and approaches, but activist groups often disagree about the appropriate balance between protecting patients' civil liberties and forcing treatment on people who may be in danger or pose a danger to others because of severe mental illness. (Sewell, 4/13)

Preston L. Williams has been living in substandard, even hazardous, conditions for some time now despite having been accepted into a District program designed to rehabilitate homes for low-income people, particularly older people who want to age in place. Williams, 68, an Army veteran with serious back and pulmonary problems, breathes with the help of an oxygen tank. Yet he inhabits a home with mold, gaping holes in the walls, leaky plumbing and a long flight of narrow steps — all things the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development has promised to fix or improve, he said. (Kunkle, 4/12)

When Martin Harrison was brought to an Alameda County jail near Oakland, Calif., in 2010 on an outstanding DUI warrant, he received a health screening from a licensed vocational nurse who worked for Corizon, a private company that provided healthcare for the county correctional system. Harrison, 50, was in severe alcohol withdrawal and hallucinating, and his family says the nurse should have recognized he was in crisis. (Royse, 4/11)

Unionized doctors began a strike Saturday at student health clinics on University of California campuses in Southern California, saying administrators had acted unfairly during negotiations for the physicians' first contract. Doctors and dentists in Northern California started the rolling walkout Thursday morning at five Northern and Central California campuses ... Union members say the strike is in protest of the UC administration refusing to provide financial information that they need to negotiate contracts and bolster health center resources. (Mozinga, 4/11)

Health officials say that more than 100 people in southeastern Indiana have tested positive for HIV, an expansion of an outbreak that caused the state to declare a health emergency last month. Health officials had said they expected the number of HIV cases in Scott County, about 30 miles north of Louisville, Ky., to rise ever since they discovered the problem. The spread of the virus, which causes AIDS, has been linked to the use of contaminated syringes and the painkiller Opana in the area. (Parvini, 4/11)

As California lawmakers pursue legislation erasing the personal belief exemption that allows parents to avoid vaccinating their children, the issue has dominated lives and reconfigured the behavior of parents in the affluent environs of west Los Angeles. (White, 4/11)

The Washington state House moved forward Friday on an effort to reconcile the state’s medical and recreational marijuana industries. The chamber first passed a Senate measure addressing the medical side before moving on to a House bill dealing with the recreational law. Because the Senate bill was amended in the House, it will head back to the full Senate for a final concurrence vote, while the House bill will go first to a Senate committee for consideration. (LaCorte, 4/10)

Federal law guarantees an education for children with developmental disabilities like autism until the age of 21. But after turning 21 (each state determines the exact date), those young adults lose the specialized help and structure they've had for most of their lives. And there is no equivalent state or federal support required to take over. (Snow, 4/12)

Care for the uninsured on the Outer Banks comes in the form of a clinic that feels like home. (Singh, 4/13)

One out of every 10 people in Minnesota speaks a language other than English within the home. Their limited ability to speak and understand the language has become a struggle in their daily lives of accessing necessities. This battle becomes especially prominent within the health-care setting because of a lack of adequate interpreter services. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that limited English proficient patients who do not receive adequate interpreter services when needed are unlikely to understand their diagnosis and treatment provided by their physician. (Hossain, 4/10)

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan proposed a budget compromise on Saturday that restores a significant portion of funding for education, state employee pay and health programs sought by the Democratic-led Legislature, but it’s unclear whether lawmakers have the will or ability to pass some of Hogan’s legislative initiatives tied to the deal with time running out on the legislative session. (Witte, 4/11)

Citing concerns about federal rules on birth control and same-sex marriage, the [Wyoming Catholic College] decided this winter to join a handful of other religious colleges in refusing to participate in the federal student-aid programs that help about two-thirds of students afford college. For students here, the decision means no federal loans, work-study money or grants to finance their annual $28,000 tuition, which includes housing in gender-segregated dorms and three meals in the school’s lone dining hall. (Healy, 4/11)