Overnight Healthcare: Mysterious new Zika case | Mental health bill in doubt | Teletraining to fight opioids

U.S. health officials are again scrambling to explain a new “first” when it comes to the Zika virus.

A Utah resident has tested positive for Zika without any known contact with mosquitoes or sexual contact with an infected person — the only two ways the virus has been known to spread so far.  

{mosads}”The new case in Utah is a surprise,” Dr. Erin Staples, one of the CDC’s epidemiologists on the ground in Utah, wrote in a statement.

The alarming new case appears to diverge from months of medical precedent, raising questions about whether the virus could be transmitted in other ways.

The person, whose name and gender have been kept private, was a caregiver for an elderly man infected with Zika who died recently.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has dispatched an emergency crew to help with the investigation in Utah, testing the elderly man’s family members and other contacts to determine if the virus has spread to any others. Health workers are also testing mosquitoes around their homes. http://bit.ly/29J4tBb

Dispatches from Cleveland

Hundreds of GOP delegates voted to support their party’s 2017 platform amid a chaotic fight on the convention floor.

The anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony’s List called it “the most pro-life platform ever,” highlighting GOP support for stricter laws on access to abortion despite a resounding defeat in the Supreme Court last month.

Now for your on-the-ground update: The Hill’s Peter Sullivan tweets from outside the convention in Cleveland: “Dueling ‘stop abortion’ and ‘black lives matter’ chants as protesters mix in the square.” http://bit.ly/29QGFO9

A few minutes later: “Rep Joe Wilson runs into South Carolina highway patrol officers on the street. Stops to chat.” http://bit.ly/29J8YvB

Mental health bill stalled again?

Senate staffers in both parties have told lobbyists that the mental health legislation offered by Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) may have to wait until 2017, warning of the closing legislative window to get anything done.

Both Murphy and Cassidy say they hope that they can find a way to move forward, particularly given recent headlines on mass shootings. As they run against the clock, they also have to avert the politically calamitous scenario in which GOP leaders decide to add gun language to the bill.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate health committee, said he hopes to “keep gun amendments off” the bill, and believes the House-passed version can reach the upper chamber in September. Read more here: http://bit.ly/29QxYAC

Burwell talks up ACOs in Iowa

HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell is touting the “particularly exciting” work by an Iowa healthcare provider that she sees at the forefront of the nation’s big shift to quality-driven care.

In a Des Moines Register op-ed, Burwell points to an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) called UnityPoint health, which has become something of a testing ground for the “alternative payment models” often touted by the Obama administration.

Those healthcare groups – in which doctors, hospitals and other providers team up to split responsibility for a patient’s care – are especially important for rural areas, where people have faced “particular barriers to accessing affordable, high-quality health care,” Burwell said.

“As someone from a small town in West Virginia, I’m familiar with these challenges. I also know that, historically, far too many families in rural communities have not had the health insurance that could help them access care,” Burwell said. Read her post here: http://dmreg.co/29HBVf4

Rural docs get teletraining to fight opioid abuse  

The Obama administration is committing $9 million to rural health officials in three states that are testing the waters of telemedicine as they try to stem the rising tide of overdose deaths.   

The grants, which were announced at a meeting of the National Governors Association, will go to Oklahoma, Colorado and Pennsylvania over the next three years. States will use a model called Project ECHO, in which rural primary care doctors watch videos by urban specialty doctors who are trained in complex health problems like opioid addiction. Read more here: http://bit.ly/29TX4Cj

ON TAP TOMORROW

Republican National Convention, day two. Follow @TheHill (and specifically, @PeterSullivan4!) for live updates.

WHAT WE’RE READING

Governors target opioid abuse at national summit. (Des Moines Register)

Close-watched trials of a new blood cancer drug failed to make significant improvements over an older medicine in people with an aggressive type of blood cancer. (Reuters)

As it looks to build support for its massive merger plan, Anthem donated $410,000 almost evenly between the Republican Governors Association and the Democratic Governors Association over the last three months. (International Business Times)

IN THE STATES

A deadly new drug that’s more than 100 times more powerful than fentanyl has been spotted in Ohio. (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Tennessee health officials weighing their options after repeated failed bids to expand Medicaid. (The Tennessean)

Several months into the privatization of Iowa’s Medicaid program, agency leaders say they’re going into debt because many of their bills continue to be rejected for trivial or unclear reasons. (Des Moines Register)

An extensive study on the health effects of fracking in Pennsylvania finds that local residents may have increased risks of asthma. (Associated Press)

The number of babies born in Florida physically dependent on drugs — particularly opioids — has nearly doubled since 2010. (The News-Press)

Send tips and comments to Sarah Ferris, sferris@digital-staging.thehill.com, and Peter Sullivan, psullivan@digital-staging.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @thehill, @sarahnferris, @PeterSullivan4

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