State Highlights: Criticism Of Gov.’s Push To Change MassHealth; Atlanta Health Care Merger; Iowa Supreme Court Abortion Case

WBUR: Groups Resist Baker Push On MassHealth
Groups representing people dependent on state health insurance programs are resisting Gov. Charlie Baker’s push for authority to make major changes in the MassHealth program. Advocacy groups on Monday were delivering letters to Baker administration officials and legislative leaders expressing opposition to powers sought by Baker in his emergency legislation (H 49) to balance the state budget. Baker has requested authority to restructure MassHealth benefits “to the extent permitted by federal law.” (Dumcius and Norton, 2/9)

Georgia Health News: Emory, WellStar Discuss A Blockbuster Merger
In the turbulent business of health care, bigger is often better. Nowhere is that more evident than in the stunning announcement Monday that Emory University and WellStar Health System are talking about merging their medical assets in metro Atlanta. If a deal is consummated, the resulting nonprofit health system would clearly be Georgia’s biggest and would comprise one of the largest such organizations in the nation. (Miller, 2/9)

The News Journal: Delaware Health System To Close Inpatient, Outpatient Psychiatric Services
Christiana Care Health System will close Rosenblum Center on Feb. 20, and progressively close its outpatient psychiatric services in a move company officials say is part of a plan to overhaul its behavioral health care services. Parents, advocates and many medical professionals say the effects will be heart-wrenching and throw people living with issues ranging from bipolar disorder to post traumatic stress disorder into a potential tailspin. (Rini, 2/9)

The Des Moines Register: Supporters: Mental Hospital Is Irreplaceable
Closing down the state mental-health institute [in Mount Pleasant, Iowa] would erase intensive services that some people need to turn their lives around, supporters said Saturday. Brian Ingram of Boone, who went through an addiction treatment program here years ago, said he'd failed other attempts to get sober. Ingram stood up next to his old counselor and recounted how he's now a homeowner with a steady job who's been sober nearly 14 years. "I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Kim and Mount Pleasant. That's the truth," he said, drawing applause from about 200 people. (Leys, 2/9)

The Des Moines Register: Supreme Court To Hear Telemed-Abortion Case March 11
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland's quest to keep dispensing abortion pills via a unique telemedicine system will be considered next month by the Iowa Supreme Court. Planned Parenthood wants the high court to overturn rulings by state regulators and a district judge, which would effectively ban use of the system. Doctors using it in Des Moines or Iowa City visit via closed-circuit video with patients in outlying clinics, then dispense abortion-inducing pills. (Leys, 2/9)

Center for Investigative Reporting: VA Inspector General Finally Releases Report On Wisconsin Hospital
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Inspector General has publicly released its scathing report documenting runaway painkiller prescriptions and abuse of administrative authority at the VA hospital in Tomah, Wisconsin. But the move, which came nearly a year after the independent watchdog closed its case, is unlikely to satisfy veterans’ advocates and members of Congress, who have expressed outrage that the findings weren’t shared with them and the public earlier. (Glantz, 2/9)

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Access To Dental Care Still A Problem For Low-Income People In Wisconsin
In 2013, the most recent year for which figures are available, emergency departments at Wisconsin hospitals saw 27,741 patients who were in pain because of dental problems, such as abscesses — an average of 533 a week. The total was an improvement, but not by much. In 2009, emergency departments in the state saw 29,592 patients for dental problems — an average of 569 a week. Most of the visits stem from the limited access to dental care for people who are covered by BadgerCare Plus, the state's largest Medicaid program, or for people who are uninsured. (Boulton, 2/9)

The Associated Press: Wolf Begins Unwinding Corbett Changes To Medicaid Benefits
[Pennsylvania] Gov. Tom Wolf's administration said Monday it is taking steps to simplify the benefits packages for more than 1 million adult Medicaid recipients and undo what advocates for the poor had called a severe cutback for some adults under a plan advocated by former Gov. Tom Corbett. The administration released a Monday letter to a federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services official saying it is withdrawing a Corbett request for approval to create a low-risk benefits package for healthier adults on Medicaid. (Levy, 2/9)

California Healthline: How Immigration Changes, Proposal For Undocumented Could Affect Medi-Cal
The number of uninsured in California has been cut by about half in the past two years, in part because of the expansion of Medi-Cal benefits. The last big group of uninsured is the undocumented, who are excluded from participating in state health benefit exchanges like Covered California. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program. ... Two recent developments could change that picture dramatically. (Gorn, 2/9)

North Carolina Health News: Return On Health Care Investment In Rural NC County
Karen Daniels’ husband used to fly airplanes and would sometimes remind her that velocity is irrelevant without direction. Daniels, vice president of nursing services at Halifax Regional Medical Center in Roanoke Rapids, references this principle in describing her community’s past efforts at improving the health and well-being of its residents. (Sisk, 2/9)

The Des Moines Register: Biofeedback Practitioner Resists Order To Quit
A former high-school English teacher says Iowa regulators had no right to make her stop charging people hundreds of dollars to analyze their brain waves via electronic sensors. ... [Amy] Putney has asked a judge to overturn a "cease and desist" order that the Iowa Board of Medicine sent her in December. The board accused her of practicing medicine without a license or training as a physician. It said that if she continued to do so, she could face a court order or a felony criminal charge. (Leys, 2/9)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: Kansas Home Health Provider Sentenced For Medicaid Fraud
A Kansas City, Kan., home health attendant was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in a federal case based on fraudulent Medicaid billing practices. Doris Betts was charged in April 2014 with six counts of health care fraud. She pleaded guilty and was convicted in November in a joint enforcement effort between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Office of Inspector General and Kansas Attorney General’s Office. (2/9)