Key West Hospital Searches For New Company To Run It Starting In 2029
Three hospital operators are vying to take over the Lower Keys Medical Center lease in Florida. Other news from around the nation is on Medicaid in New York, sperm donors in Colorado, midwives in Maine, maternal deaths in Texas, and prison health care costs in North Carolina.
WLRN Public Media:
Key West's Only Hospital Seeks A New Operator As Lease Nears Expiration In 2029
Three additional companies are now vying to run Key West’s only hospital. The Lower Keys Medical Center is operated by Community Health Systems, a Tennessee-based company. But the lease on the hospital is set to expire in 2029. The district board overseeing health infrastructure in the Lower Keys is working to prepare for that. (3/10)
Florida Politics:
Gov. DeSantis Appoints Nancy Swift, Reappoints 2 To Lower Florida Keys Hospital District
The LFKHD is a special taxing district the Legislature created in 1967 to fund and maintain hospital provisions for residents between Key West and the Seven Mile Bridge. That includes a lease to Key West HMA, a Tennessee-based limited liability company that operates the Lower Keys Medical Center acute care hospital; and the Key West Health and Rehabilitation Center nursing home. (Scheckner, 3/10)
More health news from across the U.S. —
Politico:
Thousands Exit CDPAP Ahead Of Transition Deadline
At least 30,000 New Yorkers have switched out of Medicaid’s consumer-directed personal assistance program — or CDPAP — as the deadline approaches for participants to transition to a new system run by financial services company Public Partnerships LLC, POLITICO reports. The data, which is shared by Medicaid managed long-term care plans with the state Department of Health, indicates that more than 10 percent of CDPAP recipients decided in the past two months to switch to personal care services rather than remain in the program. (Carballo, 3/10)
The Colorado Sun:
Colorado Lawmakers Consider Rollback Of Sperm Donor Disclosure Requirements Adopted In Wake Of Scandals
The state legislature is considering whether to roll back Colorado’s first-in-the-nation transparency requirements for sperm donors and banks aimed at helping families and donor-conceived children be more informed about their genetic lineage. (Paul, 3/10)
The Main Monitor:
Midwives' Futures Uncertain As Birthing Units Closing In Maine
The vast majority of births in Maine — roughly 97 percent — occur in hospitals. But like the rest of the country, the number of home births has risen in the state in recent years, jumping 41 percent between 2018 and 2023, from 228 to 321. Nationwide, the percentage of home births in the United States reached 1.26 percent of all births in 2020, a 22 percent increase from 2019 and the highest level since at least 1990, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Hedegard and Cough, 3/9)
The Texas Tribune:
Will Texas Lawmakers Let Committee Review Abortion Deaths?
For the last year, members of Texas’ maternal mortality review committee have been increasingly vocal about the ways state law limits their ability to analyze maternal deaths and near-misses. Now, it’s time to see whether legislators will heed these calls for change. (Klibanoff, 3/11)
North Carolina Health News:
NC Prisons Face Growing Health Care Costs
The Department of Adult Correction is constitutionally required to provide medical, mental and dental health care to the roughly 31,000 people in North Carolina’s 53 prisons. However, providing this health care comes with a growing price tag, a fiscal analyst told state lawmakers March 4 during a presentation to the Joint Appropriations Committee on Justice and Public Safety. (Crumpler, 3/11)
