Washington Sen. Mary Walsh has apologized for her comments that nurses at smaller rural hospitals "probably play cards for a considerable amount of the day," in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from California, Connecticut, and Texas.

• Connecticut: Yale University School of Medicine has been granted $5 million from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to research telemedicine strategies for providers treating pregnant women with opioid misuse disorders. The research will include 12 obstetrical centers and 480 participants (Drees, Becker's Hospital Review, 4/22).

• Texas: MD Anderson Cancer Center announced it has removed three scientists after receiving emails from NIH describing conflicts of interest or unreported foreign income by five faculty members. According to MD Anderson President Peter Pisters, federal authorities said these scientists were involved in Chinese efforts to steal American scientific research (Ackerman, Houston Chronicle, 4/19; AP/Modern Healthcare, 4/22).

• Washington: State Sen. Maureen Walsh (R) will shadow a 12-hour nursing shift following backlash over comments she made last week about nurses' workload. During discussion about legislation to require uninterrupted breaks for nurses, Walsh on the state Senate's floor said nurses at smaller rural hospitals "probably play cards for a considerable amount of the day." In response to the comments, Chicago nurse Juliana Bindas started an online petition for Walsh to shadow a nurse on a 12-hour shift, which garnered more than 675,000 signatures in three days, according to Becker's Hospital Review. Walsh apologized for her comments and said she would gladly shadow a nurse (Gooch, Becker's Hospital Review, 4/23; Lou/Griggs, CNN, 4/23).

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