Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Failure To Meet Standards Might Lead To Closure Of New York Organ Collecting Agency; Texans Skipping Needed Health Care Due To Costs
The Washington Post: New York Organ Collection Agency, Nation’s Second-Largest, Threatened With Closure
The government is threatening to close one of the country’s largest “organ procurement organizations” for poor performance, a rare move against a nonprofit that collects kidneys, livers, hearts and other organs used in transplantation. In a letter last month to LiveOnNY, which recovers organs in the New York City area, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said it “will not renew its agreement with LiveOnNY” when the contract is set to expire Jan. 31. The CMS rejected LiveOnNY’s request for reconsideration Monday. (Bernstein and Kindy, 7/11)
Houston Chronicle: Texans Missing Or Delaying Needed Treatment Because Health Costs Too High
Six in 10 Texans say someone in their household has recently skipped or postponed needed health care and medication because the cost is now out of reach, according to a new national study. Rising costs also mean Texans, even those with insurance, struggle significantly to pay the medical bills when they do seek care, the Houston Episcopal Health Foundation and the national Kaiser Family Foundation’s joint study found. The survey of 1,367 adults in the state was conducted between March and May and is part of an ongoing partnership between the two foundations examining health care issues in the state. (Deam, 7/11)
The Star Tribune: DFL Candidates In Race For Governor Highlight Health Care Plans
Minnesota DFLers running for governor are focusing on health care plans this week, seeking to help address rising medical and prescription drug costs as two of the three leading candidates get behind a single-payer approach. While Republicans have pushed for the dissolution of MNsure and a shift to health care policies where customers pick and choose what’s covered, DFL candidates Erin Murphy and U.S. Rep. Tim Walz have lined up behind single-payer health care. That would have the state take a greater role in providing more expansive coverage and decreasing drug costs by tapping into the state’s purchasing power. (Smith, 7/11)
Des Moines Register: Iowa Nursing Homes Get Relief On Fines Via Trump's Regulatory Rollbacks
Lobbyists for Iowa’s nursing home industry called federal regulators last month and thanked them for lowering fines imposed on facilities that deliver substandard patient care. Iowa Health Care Association President Brent Willett told the regulators that "2016 cannot happen again," referring to the record $4.6 million in federal fines that Iowa homes paid two years ago under the Obama administration. (Kauffman, 7/11)
Kansas City Star: Missouri Auditor Gives Putnam County Hospital Poor Marks
Putnam County Memorial Hospital in Unionville, Mo., is showing signs of progress after a blistering audit last year prompted a Missouri attorney general investigation, but remains in poor financial condition, according to a new report. Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway on Wednesday released a follow-up audit to one her office issued last year that found the rural hospital was involved in $90 million in questionable billings. (Vockrodt, 7/11)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 7th Circuit Reinstates Transgender Inmate's Lawsuit Over Treatment
The U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled a transgender former Wisconsin inmate can sue Wisconsin Department of Corrections officials for denying her hormone treatment, both in prison and while on supervised release. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated most of a lawsuit by Lisa Mitchell against Kevin Kallas, the Department of Corrections' mental health director, and three probation officers. (Vielmetti, 7/11)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio's Rainy Day Fund Grows To Nearly $2.7 Billion
Ohio budget officials stashed away more than $657.5 million in the state's savings account on Wednesday, boosting the total to nearly $2.7 billion. The deposit comes just 13 months after Ohio lawmakers slashed the state budget by $1 billion and follows two years without adding to the state's budget stabilization fund, informally called the rainy day fund. (Borchardt, 7/11)
The Associated Press: Report: Cancer Mortality Rates On Decline In Delaware
A recent report by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services says there has been a decline in cancer mortality rates in the state. Citing a Monday agency release, news outlets report there was a 12 percent drop in all-site cancer deaths from the periods of 2000 through 2004 to 2010 through 2014. The release says the nation saw an overall decline of 14 percent when comparing those same periods. Delaware’s national ranking for all-site cancer mortality remains unchanged from last year, with Delaware coming in 16th. The state was ranked second in the 1990s. (7/11)
California Healthline: California Clinic Screens Asylum Seekers For Honesty
Dr. Nick Nelson walks through busy Highland Hospital to a sixth-floor exam room, where he sees patients from around the world who say they have fled torture and violence. Nelson, who practices internal medicine, is the medical director of the Highland Human Rights Clinic, part of the Alameda Health System. A few times each week, he and his team conduct medical evaluations of people who are seeking asylum in the United States. The doctors listen to the patients’ stories. They search for signs of trauma. They scrutinize injuries, including electrocution scars, bullet wounds and unset broken bones. (Gorman, 7/10)
Miami Herald: Former Employees Describe Life Inside Homestead Shelter
The last time the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children was open in 2017, 60 children would arrive some nights on a charter bus. ... From the moment they arrived until the moment they left to live with family members or sponsors, typically about a month later, the children would see an array of case workers, doctors and therapists and receive medication, testing and counseling. (Leibowitz, 7/12)
KCUR: A Year After Audit, Tiny Rural Hospital In Missouri Still Facing Financial Woes
Nearly a year after Missouri state Auditor Nicole Galloway released a scathing audit of Putnam County Memorial Hospital in Unionville, Missouri, the tiny hospital is still struggling to recover from a lab billing scheme that's now the subject of criminal investigations. That’s one of the takeaways from a follow-up report released Wednesday on the hospital, which was in dire financial straits when the audit was conducted and remains in poor financial condition today. (Margolies and Sable-Smith, 7/11)
Miami Herald: One More Threat From Nikolas Cruz Went Unreported
The summer before he killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Nikolas Cruz once talked openly at his job about shooting up his former campus — yet another warning sign that went unheeded. The encounter happened at Cruz's cashiering job at a Coral Springs Dollar Tree store. (Nehamas and Ovalle, 7/11)
Concord (N.H.) Monitor: Facing $19M Accreditation Threat, N.H. Hospital Gets Funding To Fix Doors
New Hampshire’s state-run mental hospital is set to move ahead on a $647,000 upgrade for its doors after the Executive Council passed an emergency motion to head off a mounting threat to its accreditation. Now the hospital is racing against the clock to install the doors ahead of a crucial site review by inspectors from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services this September. Failure to pass that CMS review could cost the hospital $19 million in federal funding, officials said. (DeWitt, 7/11)
Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Hospitals Reluctantly Realize That Medical Marijuana Is Coming To Town
Will patients with state permits, including children, be allowed to use medical marijuana when hospitalized? The Enquirer asked officials of the region’s hospitals how they plan to work with a new drug-delivery system set to open in September and expected to draw at least 200,000 Ohioans under 21 qualifying conditions. (Saker, 7/11)
