Dec. 1 Set As Date For North Carolina’s Medicaid Expansion

Axios Raleigh: North Carolina Is Expanding Medicaid Eligibility On December 1 
Medicaid expansion in North Carolina will go live on Dec. 1, Gov. Roy Cooper and N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley announced Monday. When it goes live in December, expansion will make more than 600,000 of the state's poorest residents newly eligible for government health care coverage. (Eanes, 9/25)

AP: North Carolina To Launch Medicaid Expansion On Dec. 1
Medicaid expansion will launch Dec. 1 in North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper announced on Monday after achieving what he’s sought for nearly seven years on the job and what’s possibly his biggest policy win. Government health insurance should be available to another 600,000 low-income adults, with roughly half of them receiving coverage on Day One. But securing expansion through the Republican-controlled state legislature came with hefty political expenses for the Democratic governor that will be difficult to reverse. (Robertson, 9/25)

Side Effects Media: Kansas And Missouri’s Poorest, Sickest Patients Get Trapped Between Medicare And Medicaid
Low-income people who are disabled or over 65 — or both — qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid. In 2022, that included 203,000 people in Missouri and 75,000 in Kansas. A bipartisan group of lawmakers agree: the two insurance programs are failing the country's most vulnerable patients. (Walker and Gorenstein, 9/26)

In other news from across the country —

News Service of Florida: Florida House May Again Take Up Medical Malpractice Related To Death Of Adult Children
The Florida House could again take up an issue about whether parents should be able to seek damages for mental pain and suffering when their adult children die because of alleged medical malpractice. Rep. Spencer Roach, R-North Fort Myers, filed a bill (HB 77) on Thursday that would eliminate a prohibition on parents of adult children pursuing such damages in malpractice cases. (9/25)

Los Angeles Times: Medication Error 'Probably Caused' SoCal Patient's Brain Bleed
State regulators faulted two hospitals in Southern California for medication errors that put patients at risk... State investigators determined that the medication error represented a “system wide failure” and may have led to the death, which occurred 18 hours after the brain bleed. The hospital “failed to ensure that patients had been protected from medication errors,” they found, declaring its faulty practices an “immediate jeopardy” situation that put patients at risk of serious harm. (Alpert Reyes, 9/25)

NPR: FDNY Deaths From 9/11-Related Illnesses Now Equal The Number Killed On Sept. 11
In the 22 years that have passed since Sept. 11, 2001, just as many New York Fire Department employees have died from World Trade Center-related illnesses as died on the day at ground zero, the department says. Over the weekend, the FDNY announced the deaths of EMT Hilda Vannata and retired firefighter Robert Fulco, bringing the total number of deaths from World Trade Center-related illnesses to 343. (Sullivan, 9/25)

Axios Seattle: ADHD Prescriptions Skyrocket In Washington State And Nationwide 
Prescriptions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have skyrocketed in Washington state and nationwide, driven largely by more adults and women seeking treatment. Greater recognition of how symptoms show up differently in women and girls is shifting who receives treatment for ADHD, which has historically been diagnosed more often in boys, said Douglas Russell, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Seattle Children's Hospital. (Santos, 9/25)

CBS News: Michigan To Receive $3 Million For Youth Mental Health Services
"Some of that money is going statewide to support teleconsultation, to help pediatricians access mental health providers when they need help and support caring for their patients," said Carole Jonson, the Health Resources and Services Administration administrator. "Some of it's going to targeted areas. We're doing awards to the University of Detroit Mercy to Wayne State and Saginaw Valley State University for the support of training new mental health providers, which is what everyone in the health care field knows we need to do more of." (Meyers, 9/25)

Chicago Tribune: Teen Who Had Rare Double Lung Retransplant Visits Sue The T. Rex
Josh Burton is a soft-spoken, studious 17-year-old from Madison, Wisconsin, who is now on his third set of lungs. In 2020, he had shortness of breath after helping a neighbor retrieve a runway pet. He told his mom, Kelly Burton, he felt like he was having a heart attack; she thought surely that couldn’t be the case. But they went to the doctor anyway, and soon found out he had a rare case of pulmonary veno-occlusive disease, which can lead to heart failure. (Bowen, 9/26)

AP: Connecticut Health Commissioner Fired During COVID Settles With State, Dismissal Now A Resignation
Connecticut’s Department of Public Health has reached a settlement agreement with the agency’s former commissioner, who was fired in the first weeks of the coronavirus pandemic. She had accused Gov. Ned Lamon of discriminating against her, a Black woman, by elevating several white people to lead the crisis response. (Haigh, 9/26)

Kansas City Star: KC-Area Doctor Allegedly Assaulted Amish Girls During Pelvic Exams 
A suburban Kansas City doctor for decades sexually assaulted women and girls, mostly from Amish communities, under the guise of performing routine breast and pelvic exams, prosecutors said Monday. David B. Clark, 70, of Independence, was charged with six felonies in Jackson County Circuit Court based on a long-running investigation led by the FBI. He is accused of assaulting patients at his Health+Plus clinic in Oak Grove, a town of about 8,500 people, 30 miles east of Kansas City. (Lukitsch, 9/25)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Inspira’s Former Woodbury Hospital Campus Could Soon Include Health Services, Housing And Retail Offerings
New Jersey health system Inspira Health and Woodbury city officials on Monday announced plans to transform Inspira’s former Woodbury hospital campus into a “Health and Education Innovation District” that combines health services with housing, restaurants, and a hotel. The emergency department and inpatient behavioral health units that currently occupy the Woodbury campus will be moved across the street to a new building, a $60 million structure currently under construction. (Whelan, 9/25)