State Highlights: Conn. Continued Medicaid Eligibility; N.Y. Single Payer Gets Hearing

Connecticut Mirror: DSS Said To Have Continued Thousands On Medicaid Without Ensuring They Were Still Eligible
The state Department of Social Services continued providing Medicaid coverage to thousands of people for more than a year without checking whether they remained eligible, as is federally required, according to a contractor who recently left the department. (Levin Becker, 12/8)

The Associated Press: Hearing Scheduled On NY Health Single-Payer Health Coverage
The state Assembly is holding the second of six statewide public hearings on legislation to establish New York Health, a universal single-payer health coverage plan to replace insurance company coverage. Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried will take testimony on the bill which would provide comprehensive, universal health coverage for every New Yorker. (12/8)

The Des Moines Register: Program Seeks To Bring More Docs To Rural Iowa
An effort to add more doctors in rural Iowa through a state-run loan forgiveness program moved forward this year, though backers say they still need more funding. The first group of students was awarded funding through the Rural Iowa Primary Care Loan Repayment Program this year. The eight recipients — four from the University of Iowa and four from Des Moines University — will each get up to $200,000 in loan aid in exchange for working for five years in small-town Iowa. (Lucey, 12/7)

The Associated Press: Medicaid Logjam, Skeptics Remain In NC Legislature
North Carolina lawmakers initially seemed eager last summer to hammer out quickly a solution to stop recurring Medicaid shortfalls by shifting the risks of cost overruns to managed-care organizations or provider networks. Later, Gov. Pat McCrory's administration and House Speaker Thom Tillis hinted it was time to look at possibly expanding Medicaid to more of the working poor through President Barack Obama's health care law. (Robertson, 12/7)

The Associated Press: New Mexico Sues Nursing Home Chain Based On New Method
New Mexico's attorney general on Friday sued one of the nation's largest nursing home chains over inadequate resident care, alleging that thin staffing made it numerically impossible to provide good care. The novel approach in the lawsuit filed by outgoing Democratic Attorney General Gary King could be applied in other states if it succeeds. It targets seven nursing homes run by Preferred Care Partners Management Group L.P. of Plano, Texas, a privately held company with operations in at least 10 states: Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. New Mexico's lawsuit relies on an industrial simulation of how long it takes to complete basic care tasks — for example, 3.5 minutes to reposition a resident in order to prevent bedsores. By calculating the total minutes required to properly care for residents and comparing them to the actual number of hours worked, the state found deficiencies in the total hours worked by nursing assistants of as much as 50 percent. (Horowitz and Montoya, 12/5)

The Denver Post: Desperate Journey: Families Move Children To Colorado For Medical Marijuana Hopes
The migration to Colorado by families of sick children seeking medical marijuana is fueled by hope, not science. Little is known about the treatment’s effects, and researchers suggest that some parents see progress because they’re desperate to see it. (Ingold, 12/7)

The Denver Post: Eagle County Paramedics Cut Costs With In-Home Services
One doctor said Bettie Tymkovich's staph-infected toe had to go. Another doctor saved it but released her from the hospital with strict rules about care and treatment. She also left with a diabetes diagnosis that required regular insulin shots and an entirely new diet. "I was so terrified about changing the dressing," the 56-year-old Eagle resident said. "Just even looking at it was pretty gross." Kevin Creek came to her rescue. The paramedic arrived at Tymkovich's home every other day. He arranged appointments with a local wound-care specialist. Changed her dressing. Tested her blood sugar. Recommended the right foods. Played with Jackie, her energetic heeler dog. Creek is the face of the pioneering Eagle County Community Paramedic Program, the first of its kind in the U.S. Since it was formed in 2010, the program has spawned more than 250 just like it. The program's third-edition handbook for expanding the role of paramedics as community caregivers has been downloaded five times a day since October 2011, and more than 200 colleges have adopted a national curriculum for training paramedics to do in-home medical services. (Blevins, 12/7)

Los Angeles Times: UCLA-Backed M-Health Project Aids At-Risk Women Using Fitness App
Sago and 39 other young African American women at Faithful Central Bible Church recently participated in a UCLA-backed clinical trial that used a smartphone app to track their eating and activity and teach them healthful diet and exercise habits. Many such mobile health, or "m-health," programs are in their infancy. But researchers and advocates for underserved, hard-to-reach patient groups hope they soon will contribute to major advances in the treatment of diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions. (Brown, 12/5)

Los Angeles Times: North Hollywood's IPC On Leading Edge Of 'Hospitalist' Specialty
In 1996, the term "hospitalist" was coined in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that described the growing medical specialty of doctors and other healthcare professionals devoted to caring for patients in hospitals. (White, 12/7)

The Associated Press: Planned Parenthood Drops Kansas Abortion Lawsuit
Planned Parenthood on Friday dropped a federal lawsuit challenging a requirement in Kansas for abortion providers to have a link on their websites' home pages to state materials about fetal development and terminating pregnancies. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil issued a one-page order closing the lawsuit, saying the parties had "settled" the claims, without providing details. A trial had been scheduled to begin Monday in Kansas City, Kansas. (Hanna, 12/5)

The Associated Press: Workers At Psychiatric Hospital Blame More Prison Inmates For Increase In Injuries
Workers at a Minnesota psychiatric facility are being hurt on the job more often due in part to a recent state law that has forced the facility to quickly admit more jail inmates. Through November, the first full year since the law requiring that psychiatric hospitals accept mentally ill inmates from county jails took effect, 40 assaults have been reported at the Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center, according to state data. That's up from 24 such reports in 2013. To date, the change has ushered nearly 150 possibly violent and volatile inmates into facilities that state officials say aren't equipped to handle them. The result? State legislators unanimously passed the so-called 48-hour rule last year, hoping to stop county jails from being dumping grounds for the mentally ill after a man stabbed himself in the eyes while awaiting psychiatric care in a Hennepin County. The law requires a transfer within 48 hours, often ahead of patients waiting in hospitals -- regardless of the severity of their condition. Hennepin County Sheriff Rick Stanek and other law enforcement officials have defended the law. Stanek said up to 30 percent of inmates in the state's largest jail system suffer from mental health issues. (Potter, 12/6)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: State Prison System Making Changes To Deal With Mentally Ill
There were many times during Khasiem Carr's tumultuous journey through Pennsylvania's mental health and prison systems when it seemed things couldn't get worse. Then, they generally did. After more than a year in solitary, he entered a guilty plea in hope of getting out of the hole and into mental-health care in a state prison. Instead, he would spend four more months in solitary confinement. By the end of that time, he had lost 100 pounds, and was talking about suicide. Khasiem, now 32, known as "KC," was one of more than 1,000 Pennsylvania inmates with mental illnesses kept in isolation for 90 days or more between May 2012 and May 2013. About 250 were in isolation for a year, causing "mental deterioration, psychotic decompensation, and acts of self-harm," according to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation released in February. Many, the department found, were in solitary because of their illnesses. (Melamed, 12/7)