Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Boston Mayor's Budget Includes More Mental Health Clinicians To Aid Police Responders; Mo. House Panel OKs Amended Abortion Restrictions
WBUR: Boston Seeks 4 More Mental Health Clinicians With Budget Request
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on Monday upped his fiscal year 2018 budget request, seeking funding for four additional mental health clinicians... According to a statement from Walsh's office, the four new members of the Boston Emergency Services Team would "expand the program's success [citywide] in diverting people from arrest to mental health resources." (Swasey, 6/19)
KCUR: Missouri House Committee Passes Amended Version Of Senate Abortion Bill
Unsatisfied with the extent of the Senate’s new proposed abortion restrictions, a Missouri House committee restored some provisions Monday, including one that gives the attorney general the ability to enforce any abortion law at any time. Republicans on the House Committee for Children and Families said they added back the provisions, which had been stripped from the bill the Senate passed last week as a means of protecting against Democratic filibusters, because they didn't want to be a rubber stamp for the Senate. (Griffin, 6/20)
ProPublica: In Flint Water Crisis, Could Involuntary Manslaughter Charges Actually Lead To Prison Time?
Last week, Michigan’s top prosecutor announced that five officials, including the state’s Health Department head Nick Lyon, will face charges of involuntary manslaughter for a death resulting from the Flint water crisis. It’s a move virtually unheard of in modern American history; legal experts couldn’t point to a single case in which government officials were charged in a citizen’s death because they knew about a problem but failed to warn the public. (Buford, 6/19)
The Associated Press: Georgia High Court: State Can't Be Sued Without Its Consent
A challenge to a Georgia law banning most abortions after 20 weeks has led the state's highest court to reaffirm that the state can't be sued without its consent. But the court also said Monday that state officials can be sued as individuals to prevent them from enforcing laws alleged to violate the state Constitution. The ruling came as the Georgia Supreme Court rejected the challenge to a 2012 law that bans doctors from performing abortions five months after an egg is fertilized, except when a fetus has a defect so severe it is unlikely to live. (6/19)
KCUR: New Problems, Same Result: Federal Payments Still Halted For Osawatomie State Hospital
Safety concerns continue to prevent recertification of Osawatomie State Hospital, although a recent inspection didn’t find any evidence of the patient violence that prompted federal officials to decertify it in late 2015. Staffing shortages and concerns about security and patient safety prompted the initial order. Certain they had addressed those issues, state officials appeared confident the state-run psychiatric hospital would pass muster. But when inspectors visited the facility in May, they discovered new problems with sanitation, infection control and fire safety. (Wingerter, 6/19)
Boston Globe: Families Sue Health Insurers To Cover Wilderness Therapy For Mental Illness
Now, a growing number of families are challenging insurance companies that refuse to cover wilderness therapy, including a Massachusetts family that sued Harvard Pilgrim Health Care in May for refusing to pay for their son’s therapy at RedCliff Ascent, an outdoor behavioral therapy program in Utah... Lawsuits have been filed in Florida, Kentucky,New York, and Utah, bolstered by federal rules expanding mental health care coverage, and by improvements in the wilderness therapy industry itself, which had been heavily criticized following a series of deaths a decade ago. (Kowalczyk, 6/19)
Chicago Tribune: University Of Chicago Medicine Will Remain In UnitedHealthcare's Network
University of Chicago Medicine and insurer UnitedHealthcare have reached a contract agreement that will keep the academic medical system and its doctors in the insurer's network. The agreement will spare about 8,000 patients from having to either switch doctors or pay significantly more for care. The new contract agreement comes shortly after patients received letters saying that University of Chicago Medicine and University of Chicago Physicians Group could be out of UnitedHealthcare's network starting June 30. (Schencker, 6/19)
The CT Mirror: Charter Oak Health Center Reaches Agreement Over Whistle-Blower Firings
The U.S. Labor Department has determined the firing of three Charter Oak Health Center employees, who blew the whistle on the facilities’ failure to adequately respond to a tuberculosis exposure, was unlawful. Under a consent order, Charter Oak agreed to pay the three fired employees back pay and “take other corrective action,” the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Monday. (Radelat, 6/19)
Kaiser Health News: Despite A Growing Appetite, Buffet-Style Flat-Fee Clinics Shutter In Seattle
In recent years, a small but growing number of practices embraced a buffet approach to primary care, offering patients unlimited services for a modest flat fee instead of billing them a la carte for every office visit and test. But after a pioneering practice shut its doors earlier this month, some question whether “direct primary care,” as it’s called, can succeed. Many doctors and patients say they like the arrangement. Direct primary care practices typically don’t accept insurance, which frees physicians from treatment preapprovals and claims paperwork. (Andrews, 6/20)
Pioneer Press: Lakeview Hospital Reveals Future Stillwater Location
A concept plan for a future Lakeview Hospital campus at the northeast corner of Minnesota 36 and Manning Avenue in Stillwater shows a 96-bed, three-story hospital overlooking a pond. Lakeview officials unveiled the plan — which also includes an ambulatory (same-day) surgery center, senior housing and a medical-office building — earlier this month at a workshop with the Stillwater City Council. The plan sites the hospital to the north of the 68-acre plot, with parking closer to Minnesota 36. In addition, an extension of Curve Crest Boulevard runs through the site and intersects with Manning. (Divine, 6/19)
San Jose Mercury News: Affordable Housing For Vets, Artists, Homeless
The City Council this week moved forward with three affordable housing projects and a fourth one — slated for East San Jose — is on the way. And in the next couple of weeks, elected leaders will consider allowing churches to house homeless people permanently, and will discuss where to place up to 200 “tiny homes,” micro housing units with a bed and locking door and shared bathrooms and showers. (Giwargis, 6/19)
