Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Rhode Island Health Benefits System Targeted In Major Cyberattack
The Boston Globe: RIBridges Benefit System Hit By Cyberattack, State Officials Say
The state of Rhode Island has been hit with a major cyberattack, putting at risk the private data of possibly hundreds of thousands of people, including social security numbers and addresses, officials said. The attack hit RIBridges, the benefits system formerly known as UHIP, which people use to apply for health insurance coverage, Medicaid, food stamps, and other public assistance. (Machado, 12/13)
North Carolina Health News: Storm Exacerbated Homelessness In Western NC
The remnants of Hurricane Helene destroyed thousands of homes during its catastrophic sweep through western North Carolina in September, leaving many people without a fixed residence in a region where homelessness was already on the rise. The storm displaced residents like Bonnie Goggins Jones, whose mobile home in Buncombe County was rendered uninhabitable by waist-high floodwaters. She and her two teenage grandchildren now stay in a donated camper that Jones keeps parked on the property of a local church. (Baxley, 12/16)
NBC News: 'Like A Miracle': N.C. Couple Free Of Nearly $100,000 Medical Debt After 15 Years
For 15 years, Donna and Gary Lindabury, of Vylas, North Carolina, lived with the financial equivalent of an anvil over their heads: a medical debt owed to a nonprofit hospital that at one point reached $200,000. The debt, owed to Atrium Health for emergency heart surgery Gary underwent in 2009, grew over the years to include almost $100,000 in interest charges, Donna, 72, told NBC News. “We were striving, we were trying, we paid our bills,” she said. “But I just couldn’t afford to pay that hospital.” (Morgenson, 12/13)
Wyoming Public Radio: Health Department: Raise Rates To Retain Physicians And Make Positions Full Time
The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) is asking for over $18.6 million in its supplemental budget request. Unlike many other large government departments, personnel costs aren’t a large part of its spending. Approximately 90 percent of WDH spending goes out to communities or healthcare providers in the form of reimbursement for services. The remaining 10 percent goes to personnel costs. The budget requests reflect the structure of the department. (Kudelska, 12/13)
The Boston Globe: Mass. General Brigham Launches Mobile Postnatal Care Unit
Making wraparound health services more accessible in the weeks after childbirth — when a new mother is less likely to monitor her own health — for moms that are least able to access it, the program’s practitioners say, can be a matter of life or death. ... The mobile postnatal care unit is emerging in a region with proven maternal health disparities. In Massachusetts, Black women have the highest rate of severe maternal morbidity, or life-threatening health complications that occur after childbirth, according to a Boston Indicators report published earlier this year. (Woodard, 12/14)
The Mercury News: Drug Overdose Deaths Fall In California, Bay Area After Pandemic Explosion
For nine straight months, overdose deaths in California have been on a rapid decline, a remarkable reversal following an explosion of drug fatalities during the pandemic. Experts speculate the drop, which mirrors the nationwide trend, could be due to a combination of factors: expanded treatment and intervention efforts, recent crackdowns on the illicit opioid trade and less lethal pills on the street — or simply because the overdose epidemic has passed its inevitable peak. (Varian,12/15)
KFF Health News: How Are States Spending Opioid Settlement Cash? We Built A Database Of Answers
In the past few years, state and local governments across the U.S. have begun spending billions in opioid settlements paid by companies accused of fueling the overdose crisis. But where is that money going, who is getting it, and is it doing any good? KFF Health News, partnering with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Shatterproof, a national nonprofit focused on addiction, undertook a yearlong investigation to find out. (Pattani, 12/16)
