Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Billings Gazette: Blackfeet Leadership Decline Meeting With IHS Director
Indian Health Service Director Roselyn Tso was supposed to visit the Blackfeet Reservation to tour the hospital and meet with tribal leadership earlier this week — but the trip didn’t happen. Citing frustration, failed promises and poor communication, the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council penned a letter to Tso, saying, “Your visit would be hollow” and that travel funds “could be put to better use for Indian tribes.” (Mabie, 6/14)
Montana Free Press: Governor Boosts Medicaid Payments For Health Care Providers By Hundreds Of Millions
Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte on Wednesday announced signing the state’s roughly $14.3 billion primary budget bill, creating a roadmap for funding state government for the next two years and substantially increasing reimbursement rates for health care providers who care for Medicaid patients. (Silvers, 6/14)
AP: Lawsuit Pits Young Climate Change Activists Against A Fossil Fuel-Friendly State At Trial
Young people are challenging Montana officials over inaction on climate change in a first-of-a kind trial of a lawsuit that environmentalists hope will spur changes in the fossil fuel-friendly state. The trial is scheduled to last two weeks with 16 young plaintiffs and their attorneys seeking to persuade District Judge Kathy Seeley that the state’s allegiance to fossil fuels endangers their health and livelihoods and threatens future generations. (Hanson and Brown, 6/13)
Montana Free Press: Lawmakers Override Gianforte Vetoes Of State Hospital Reforms
State lawmakers have overridden two vetoes by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte of bills that seek to improve patient care and oversight at the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs. The governor had called the bills, which received bipartisan support in the legislature, "legally insufficient" and risking "irresponsible, inappropriate, inhumane" outcomes. But each chamber upheld the laws, Senate Bill 4 and House Bill 29, with a two-third vote, marking the beginning of a long road toward systemic changes. (Silvers, 6/9)
Great Falls Tribune: Touro Medical School In Great Falls To Begin Classes In July
The Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in Great Falls will have orientation on the week of July 24 and begin classes courses on July 31. Dean Elizabeth Palmarozzi said Touro is on track to enroll its targeted number of 125 students and a faculty of around 60. (Higgins, 6/12)
Billings Gazette: Federal Grant Helps MSUB Bring Nurses To Rural Communities
City College at Montana State University Billings has been awarded a five-year, $1.9 million federal grant to diversify and expand the nursing workforce in rural Montana. The Nursing Expansion Grant Program will allow City College to grow the existing Registered Nurse and Licensed Practical Nurse workforce in rural eastern and south-central Montana, creating the Rural Eastern Montana Nursing Expansion Program. Through this funding, City College will be able to accept additional students into both nursing programs and will be able to respond to shortages in the rural health care workforce through recruiting, training, and graduating rural Montana students who are likely to return to their hometowns to work. (6/12)
