Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Anthem Expected To Confirm Plan To Expand With IT-Hub In Ga.; Pa. Offers Draft Rules On Medical Marijuana
Atlanta Business Chronicle: Anthem To Invest $200 Million In 2,000-Job IT Hub In Midtown's Bank Of America Plaza
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced the expansion Wednesday. Atlanta Business Chronicle first reported details Oct. 3. Atlanta, which competed with five cities for the project, was chosen because of its talent pool, geographic access and high quality of living, said Tom Miller, Anthem’s senior vice president and Chief Information Officer... Georgia is a burgeoning health-care IT hub, with more than 200 health IT companies. Atlanta’s abundant and relatively inexpensive tech workforce has attracted a slew of Fortune 500 IT hubs and innovation centers. (Karkaria, 10/26)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Pa. Publishes New Rules For Medical-Marijuana Dispensaries
Pennsylvania’s medical-marijuana program expects to solicit applications from aspiring growers, processors, and dispensaries in early 2017, state Health Department officials said this week after unveiling draft regulations that will govern the outlets that sell cannabis. Since April 17, when Gov. Wolf signed the medical-marijuana bill into law, the Health Department has granted “safe harbor” letters to 103 parents and caregivers, Secretary of Health Karen Murphy said at a news conference. The letters permit them to obtain out-of-state marijuana products for children who suffer from any of 17 medical conditions for which the law allows cannabis to be used. (Wood, 10/26)
The Associated Press: New Vermont Health Care System Would Reward Good Health
Vermont health care regulators approved a plan Wednesday that would change the way much of health care is paid for in the state to promote services that keep people healthy as a way to avoid the costs of treating them after they get sick. The Green Mountain Care Board’s approval sets the state on a years-long path in the hopes of both reducing costs and keeping Vermont residents in better health. (Ring, 10/26)
The New York Times: For 22 Unclaimed Bodies In New York, A Grim Path From Death To Burial
Every month or two, the young woman would type her father’s name into an internet search field, hoping for any sign that he was dead or alive. ... In fact, he had died on March 25, 2013, at a hospital in the Bronx, which sent his body to a New York City morgue. While he was hard to find, his ex-wife and daughter would have been easy to locate. But no one contacted them. Instead, the city’s medical examiner’s office “lent” his unclaimed body to the Albert Einstein School of Medicine for use as a cadaver. Long after the last dissection in a medical class, nearly three years after his death, his corpse was one of 22 such “borrowed” cadavers still stranded in cold storage at the school, all of them waiting for the city to provide what the unclaimed dead are owed by law: a decent burial. (Bernstein, 10/27)
The Wall Street Journal: Where The Elderly Die Can Vary By Region, Study Shows
How much time people spend in hospitals or nursing homes in the final months of life, instead of at home, varies widely depending on where they live, new research shows. Across the Rockies and regions of the Gulf Coast, the dying spend more than two additional weeks hospitalized or in other facilities, on average, compared with those at the end of life in the Midwest and Montana, researchers reported Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. In other parts of the country, the picture is more mixed but still differs sharply from one community to another. (Evans, 10/26)
The Washington Post: Chicago Just Shut Down Hundreds Of Public Drinking Fountains Because Of Lead In The Water
City officials have shut down hundreds of public drinking fountains in Chicago after tests detected excessive levels of lead in the water — another example of how the potentially harmful metal remains a threat in homes, schools and other settings around the country. (Dennis, 10/26)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: The Many Schemes Of Four Dentists Accused Of Defrauding MetroHealth
The schemes described in a federal indictment against former MetroHealth executive Edward Hills and three former hospital dentists undertook were complex, intertwined and lasted for years. They also involved about $250,000, much of which was taxpayer money. Meanwhile, Hills was being paid increasingly larger six-figure salaries for his work at the hospital system. (Heisig, 10/26)
Boston Globe: Falmouth Doctor Files Lawsuit Seeking Right To Die
A retired Falmouth physician, terminally ill with metastatic prostate cancer, filed a lawsuit this week in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston asserting he has a constitutional right to obtain a lethal dose of medication from his doctor and choose when he dies to avoid needless suffering. Dr. Roger M. Kligler, a longtime advocate of expanding end-of-life options laws nationwide, asked a judge to affirm his right to die in this way and to prevent prosecution of doctors who assist. His treating doctor, Dr. Alan Steinbach, is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit. (Wen, 10/26)
Miami Herald: Jackson Health Leaders Break Ground On Jose Milton Memorial Hospital In Doral
The 27.3-acre Doral project is expected to take root in what is known as a healthcare desert, an area with limited medical resources where thousands workers commute each day and scores of new residents are moving into new developments. Administrators said they expect the new hospital to serve more than 585,000 people within a five-mile radius. The hospital received a $10 million donation from the José Milton Foundation. The gift was the largest single donation to the Jackson Health Foundation, said foundation CEO Keith Tribble. (Hsieh, 10/26)
Arizona Republic: Purchase Expands Banner Health's Urgent Care Network
Banner Health’s purchase of all 32 Urgent Care Extra facilities in Arizona is the start of an expansion to as many as 50 Banner Urgent Care facilities in the state by the end of 2017. The initial purchase in August is a reflection of the growing national trend aimed at providing patients with a cheaper alternative to emergency room visits. (Rogers, 10/26)
The Associated Press: Man Accused In Hospital Computer Hack Wages Hunger Strike
A man who acknowledges he attacked the computer network at world-renowned Boston Children’s Hospital two years ago, costing it hundreds of thousands of dollars, is waging a hunger strike in prison as he awaits trial. Martin Gottesfeld said his 3-week-old hunger strike was meant to bring attention to the treatment of troubled youths in institutions and the “political prosecutions” by prosecutors he considers overzealous, including U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz in Massachusetts. (Lavoie, 10/26)
Arizona Republic: Creighton University Expands Phoenix Health-Education Program
One of Arizona's largest health-care providers announced Wednesday that it is expanding its partnership with Creighton University to help bring more doctors and health professionals to Arizona and keep them. Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Maricopa Integrated Health System, District Medical Group Inc. and Creighton University School of Medicine entered into an agreement Wednesday to expand their current health-education programs. (White, 10/26)
Columbus Dispatch: For-Profit Nursing Schools Struggle With Exam Passage Rates
For-profit schools generally are eager to take in new students, but the cost is high: Total tuition to obtain an associate degree in nursing ranges from $29,145 at Hondros College to $50,645 at Chamberlain College of Nursing, according to their websites. By comparison, tuition for that degree is less than $12,000 at Columbus State, but there can be a years-long wait to get in.The results at the for-profits are questionable. All six for-profit registered-nurse programs in the Columbus area had fewer students pass the national nurse-licensure exam last year than the state Board of Nursing considers acceptable. Practical-nursing programs at the same schools have had similar results. (Mogan Edwards, 10/27)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cleveland-Area Medical Clinic Named In Workers' Compensation Fraud Indictment
A chain of Cleveland-area medical clinics was indicted on racketeering and other charges that accuse her and a doctor of defrauding Ohio's Bureau of Workers' Compensation by billing the state for medical procedures that never happened. A Cuyahoga County grand jury returned an 170-count criminal indictment against the clinic, and Dr. Stephen Bernie, 77. Former owner Dianne Javier is named in 75 counts of the indictment. The charges include compensation fraud, conspiracy and corruption. The clinic also faces charges of tampering with records and telecommunications fraud. (Harper, 10/26)
Sacramento Bee: Free Medical Clinic At Cal Expo Will Serve Thousands This Weekend In Sacramento
Even as medical and insurance costs rise, free health care will be on hand at Cal Expo this weekend for anyone willing to wait in line. The three-day medical, dental and vision clinic, hosted by volunteer corps California CareForce, will begin registering visitors at 6 a.m. Friday to offer fillings, extractions, eyeglass fittings, diabetes screenings and flu shots to adults and children for no cost. The clinic will also be held Saturday and Sunday, opening at the same time. (Caiola, 10/26)
