State Highlights: Drones Deliver Supplies To Rural Va. Field Hospital; N.C. Autism Bill Nears Finish Line
News outlets report on health care developments in Virginia, North Carolina, California, Massachusetts and New York.
The Washington Post:
Drones To Deliver Medicine To Rural Virginia Field Hospital
The sprawling field hospital that springs up in rural southwest Virginia every summer has been called the largest health-care outreach operation of its kind. This year, the event will host another first. Unmanned aerial vehicles — drones — will deliver medicine to the Wise County Fairgrounds in part to study how the emerging technology could be used in humanitarian crises around the world. (Portnoy, 7/1)
North Carolina Health News:
Finish Line In Sight For Autism Insurance Bill
After years of waiting, families of kids with autism may finally get insurance coverage for treatment.
A bill that would have North Carolina insurers reimburse for some evidence-based treatment is finally looking like it may pass both chambers of the General Assembly – but not before withstanding significant opposition and leaving advocates angry. (Editor in Childrens Health, 7/1)
The Richmond Times-Dispatch:
State Takes Another Stab At Reforming Health Care Facilities Approval Process
[Virginia] is taking another stab at evaluating whether it’s time to ditch the regulatory framework for approving new health care facilities, given the dramatic changes that have occurred in health care since the last attempt to dismantle the state certificate of public need program more than a decade ago. (Smith, 7/1)
The Huffington Post:
Meet The Secretive Lobbying Group Fighting Health Care Reform In California
The nurses who showed up at state Senator Richard Pan’s Capitol office in May were furious. They had been assured by Pan, a Democrat from Sacramento, that he would be on their side when it came time to vote on Senate Bill 346, a charity care measure aimed at providing transparency to the state’s currently murky rules governing tax-exempt status for nonprofit hospitals. (Raden, 7/1)
WBUR:
Having A Baby? Big Differences In Hospital Quality Across Massachusetts
If you’re one of the roughly 70,000 women who will give birth in Massachusetts this year, you may be planning to deliver at a hospital close to home or where your OB practices. But what you might not realize is that when it comes to childbirth, there are big differences in hospital quality across the state. (Bebinger, 7/2)
The Sacramento Bee:
Tim Donnelly Files Referendum To Overturn California Vaccine Bill
A former state assemblyman known for his defiant conservatism is seeking to reverse California’s newly passed vaccination mandate. The day after Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 277, an intensely controversial bill requiring all California schoolchildren to be fully vaccinated, former Assemblyman Tim Donnelly submitted paperwork to overturn the law. Opponents of the bill have also predicted a legal challenge, arguing the law will unconstitutionally block unvaccinated children from receiving an education. (White, 7/1)
Los Angeles Times:
Jim Carrey Calls Gov. Brown A 'Fascist' For Signing New Vaccination Law
Jim Carrey has come out swinging against Gov. Jerry Brown for signing one of the nation’s toughest vaccination laws this week, barring religious and other personal-belief exemptions for schoolchildren. The Golden Globe-winning actor slammed Brown on Twitter, calling him a “corporate fascist” who was poisoning children by signing into law the vaccination requirements. (Rocha, 7/1)
The New York Times:
New York Comptroller Faults Payment System In 39 City Agencies
A review by his office concerns an arcane payment method known as PON1, ostensibly used to make payments for “special, non-procurement expenditures,” Mr. Stringer wrote. These include payments to pension funds, health insurance companies and the United States Postal Service, among others. (Flegenheimer, 7/1)
