State Highlights: Conn. House Adopts Budget; Colo. Nurse Anesthetists Claim Win In State Supreme Court Case
News outlets report on health issues from Connecticut, Colorado, Michigan, Texas, California, Rhode Island, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland and Louisiana.
The Connecticut Mirror:
House Adopts Controversial State Budget
The budget calls for a wide range of cuts to health care and social service programs for seniors, poor families, and people with developmental disabilities or mental health needs, although many of the reductions are far less than the deep cuts Malloy proposed in February. The cuts include reducing Medicaid eligibility — a move expected to cause 20,000 to 25,000 poor parents to lose coverage — and requiring seniors to pay more for home care. Programs that serve people with intellectual or developmental disabilities would face modest cuts, not the huge reductions Malloy proposed. (Phaneuf, Rabe Thomas and Levin Becker, 6/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Connecticut Legislature Approves Budget
On the spending side, the budget restores $49.2 million in funding that was proposed to be cut from state departments focused on developmental, mental-health, addiction and social services. Those funds would pay for more Medicaid care, drug and addiction services and other programs. The budget will spend a total of $151.9 million more than what Mr. Malloy had proposed to spend earlier. (De Avila, 6/4)
Health News Colorado:
Nurses Score Victory As Doctors Wage Battle Over Anesthesia
A battle that has pitted doctors against nurse anesthetists has resulted in a win in the Supreme Court for the nurses and for rural Colorado hospitals. (Kerwin McCrimmon, 6/3)
Nexstar Broadcasting:
State Requests Public Comment On MI Choice Waiver
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is requesting public comment on the amendment for the MI Choice waiver. The MI Choice waiver program provides Medicaid-covered long term care services and supports in a home or residential setting for participants meeting specific medical/functional criteria for nursing facility level of care. (Khan, 6/3)
Kaiser Health News:
Bringing Doctors To Patients Who Need Them Most
Jennifer Vargas’ path toward becoming a doctor took her from UCLA to Guadalajara before it ultimately led back home, to California’s vast Inland Empire east of Los Angeles. When the Chino Hills, Calif. native graduated from medical school in Mexico, her first choice for residency training was Riverside County’s public medical center, which serves among the fastest growing and most medically deprived parts of California. It was just what she wanted: To serve a vulnerable patient population facing high barriers to care, particularly immigrant patients from Mexico who would benefit from a Spanish-speaking physician. (Wang and de Marco, 6/4)
The Associated Press:
Providence, R.I., To Extend Transition-Related Health Coverage To City Workers
The city of Providence is extending transition-related health coverage for employees and retirees who identify as transgender or gender non-conforming. Officials say the city is extending health insurance coverage for gender reassignment surgery, hormone therapy, and behavioral health care in order to be more inclusive. (6/3)
San Antonio Press Express:
New UCSF Psychiatric Center Gets $50 Million Donation
An anonymous donor has given UCSF $50 million to build a center at its new Mission Bay campus dedicated to integrating the clinical treatment and research of psychiatric illnesses, UCSF officials said Thursday. (Colliver, 6/4)
The Associated Press:
Appalachia Gripped By Hepatitis C Epidemic, Bracing For HIV
In a study last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that hepatitis C cases across four Appalachian states — Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia — more than tripled between 2006 and 2012. Kentucky leads the nation in the rate of acute hepatitis C, with 4.1 cases for every 100,000 residents, more than six times the national average, according to the CDC. (Galofaro, 6/4)
The Washington Post:
The Shocking Stories That Led Louisiana To Ban Charging Rape Victims Hefty Medical Fees
In 2013, a New Orleans college student went to the hospital at the urging of first responders after she awoke disoriented and naked in a public place and feared that she had been drugged and raped. They assured her that she wouldn’t be charged to be examined. But a year later, a $2,254 bill arrived in the mail, according to an extensive Times-Picayune investigation last year. There were many more women like her. (Phillip, 6/3)
The Baltimore Sun:
Baltimore Jail Complex Again Faces Lawsuit Over Health Care
Despite decades of lawsuits and settlements aimed at forcing the Baltimore City Detention Center to provide proper health care to those recently arrested or serving short sentences, advocates for detainees returned to court because they say conditions remain inhumane. Detainees were put at serious risk because of poor care, which might be linked to seven deaths since 2013, according to a review by lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Justice Center who filed a motion Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for Maryland. (Cohn, 6/3)
The Baltimore Sun:
Rite Aid Says Personal Information, Prescriptions Stolen In Baltimore Looting
As looted prescription drugs flood Baltimore streets, fueling a surge in violence, pharmacy chain Rite Aid warned customers Wednesday that their personal medical information could be on the streets, too. Store officials said the labels on prescriptions stolen during the late April riots included patient names, addresses and the names of medication, but not other sensitive data such as Social Security numbers or credit card numbers. The alert nonetheless raised concern among privacy advocates who said the information could be used for fraud. Rite Aid has hired a risk management firm to help protect customers from identity theft. (Dance, 6/3)
