Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Calif. Has Wide Geographic Gap In Health Care Costs; Spanish-Speaking Doctors Becoming Scarce In Texas
The Sacramento Bee: Two Halves Of California Have Wide Gap In Health Costs
When it comes to health care costs, it’s clear: Where you live matters. And in California, the gap is especially sharp between the north and south. Take, for instance, common procedures like a cesarean section or a total knee replacement. The total average price tag for a typical C-section in the four-county Sacramento area is $28,828; in east Los Angeles County, it’s $17,567, according to a health care comparison tool unveiled last week by state officials and Consumer Reports magazine. (Buck, 9/27)
The Dallas Morning News: Spanish-Speaking Doctors In Short Supply In North Texas
While the Latino population in the U.S. is steadily climbing, to 54 million in 2013, the number of Latino physicians hasn’t kept pace for the past three decades. A 2015 study found that there were 135 Hispanic physicians for every 100,000 Hispanic residents in 1980, but only 105 doctors for every 100,000 Hispanics in 2010. In Dallas County, there are about a million Hispanic residents, and three-fourths of them speak Spanish at home, according to the 2013 census. That’s about 40 percent of the total population, but only 4 percent to 6 percent of area physicians are Hispanic, according to the North Texas doctors group. It’s unclear how many doctors of other ethnicities are fluent in Spanish. (Pineda, 9/27)
The Associated Press: Report: Oklahoma Among Lowest In Funding For Mental Health
Oklahoma ranks 46th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in funding for mental health issues, according to a new report. The report, funded by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, says Oklahoma spends $56.22 per capita on mental health - less than every state and D.C. except Kentucky, Idaho, Florida, Arkansas and Georgia. (9/27)
The Connecticut Mirror: Amid Questions, Commissioner Won’t Recuse Herself From Anthem-Cigna Proposal
Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Katharine L. Wade, a former Cigna lobbyist whose husband still works for the company, said she does not intend to recuse herself from considering Anthem’s proposal to buy the Bloomfield insurer. (Levin Becker, 9/25)
The Wall Street Journal: Woman Mistakenly Declared Dead, Health Benefits Stopped
A Brooklyn says her Medicaid benefits have been discontinued because she was mistakenly declared dead. Selma Cohen tells WCBS-TV that she received a letter from the city's Bureau of Fraud Investigation that declared her dead. (9/28)
The Associated Press: Some Vermonters May Get Religion As Vaccine Outs Narrow
National polls have rated Vermont the least religious state, but there are signs that may not stop some parents from claiming faith to exempt their kids from getting fully vaccinated. Vermont earlier this year passed a law removing the "philosophical exemption" that allowed parents to sign a state Health Department form saying they did not want their children forced to meet the general requirement that they get dozens of shots as a condition of enrolling in school. (9/27)
Los Angeles Times: His 83-Year-Old Wife Jumped To Her Death From A Kaiser Clinic — Why?
[T]he 83-year-old longtime Kaiser patient was distraught: The drugs had proved ineffective for her depression, and her next psychiatric appointment was weeks away, a wait she told her family felt interminable. When she stepped off the roof and fell to her death, her suicide stunned onlookers — but was really directed, her husband believes, at her healthcare provider. "She could have jumped anywhere, but she went right to Kaiser," said [Barbara] Ragan's husband, Denny. "It's like sending a message right to them: 'You couldn't take care of me, so here I am.'" The Oakland-based health maintenance organization has battled accusations for more than two years that its mental health services put patients at risk. Now Ragan's suicide has increased scrutiny of the giant healthcare provider, which last year paid a $4-million fine to resolve allegations by the state Department of Managed Health Care that it inadequately treated mental health patients. (Pfeifer, 9/26)
Los Angeles Times: Judge Calls Allegations Of 21 Operations By Non-Surgeon 'Horrible'
Dr. David Johnson is one of 15 people charged in connection with a scheme that “put greed and money before the care and health of hundreds of patients," according to a bail motion filed by prosecutors Thursday. At Friday's hearing, Deputy Dist. Atty. Dayan Mathai said even after Johnson's arrest last week, his name was used to bill a patient for treatment purportedly done that day. ... Prosecutors said the investigation took five years and that the physician's assistant who performed surgeries, Peter Nelson, had never attended medical school. Patients had been led to believe that the operations would be performed by an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Munir Uwaydah, 49. (Gerber and Winton, 9/25)
The Associated Press: Prosecutors: Unlicensed Worker Did Surgeries In Fraud Scam
A physician assistant who wasn’t licensed or trained to perform surgery operated on hundreds of patients while the orthopedic surgeon who billed for the procedures schemed with colleagues to hide a massive insurance fraud conspiracy, Los Angeles prosecutors said. Prosecutors opposed reducing bail Friday for 13 people who have pleaded not guilty in the $150 million fraud scheme and outlined the complexity of the operation that spanned a decade and led to unnecessary and scarring surgeries for unwitting patients. (Melley, 9/25)
Keene (N.H.) Sentinel: Officials: Future Of Cheshire County Drug Court Depends On Medicaid Expansion
Two years after Cheshire County received $1.3 million in federal grants for the startup of its felony drug court, officials are preparing for the day those funds run dry. That day is just months away. The future of the well-received program that’s helping address the drug epidemic in New Hampshire is hanging in the balance, county officials said in interviews last week. The drug court costs roughly $384,000 annually, and county officials stress that its future depends on the future of Medicaid expansion in the state. (Dandrea, 9/27)
