Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Mass. Executive Touts State's Affordable Care; Calif. Medical Marijuana Companies Struggle To Navigate Gray Area
Boston Globe: Partners CEO Says Mass. Health Care Costs Should Be Weighed Against Incomes
In the debate over how to tackle rising medical spending in Massachusetts, the head of the state’s largest hospital network has staked out a contentious position: arguing that health care in Massachusetts is relatively affordable. Dr. David Torchiana, chief executive of Partners HealthCare, acknowledged that his assessment may fall on deaf ears, but he stressed it during a meeting at The Boston Globe on Friday. (Dayal McCluskey, 11/18)
The New York Times: Medical Marijuana Is Legal In California. Except When It’s Not.
In what may be a sign of things to come after the drug’s broader legalization, medical cannabis companies like CannaCraft — which have operated in a quasi-legal, unregulated market, or gray market, for the past two decades in California — continue to be whipsawed by the glaring contradiction between a federal ban on marijuana and still-evolving state laws that should, in theory, shelter the companies from prosecution. Cannabis enterprises deal almost exclusively in cash because banks, fearing federal consequences, will not take their business. (Fuller, 11/21)
Idaho Statesman: Blue Cross Of Idaho Lawsuit Says Health Insurance Denials Are Illegal
The largest health insurance company in Idaho is fighting one federal lawsuit and recently lost a second after refusing to pay medical bills for two men who were seriously injured in motorcycle crashes. Blue Cross of Idaho denied those claims based on a little-known exception: Insurers may refuse coverage when a patient is found to have committed “illegal acts.” (Dutton, 11/20)
Boston Globe: Right Procedure, Wrong Patient
This mix-up at UMass Memorial Medical Center is one of at least 14 instances since 2011 in which caregivers at Massachusetts facilities performed a procedure on the wrong patient, state records show. The Globe requested the records after health inspectors disclosed that a surgeon at Saint Vincent Hospital unnecessarily removed a patient’s kidney in July — an operation also mistakenly based on another patient’s computed tomography scan, which showed a large tumor. (Kowalczyk, 11/20)
Health News Florida: Florida Earns ‘C’ On March Of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card
The rate of babies born premature in Florida and around the nation increased in 2015 according to the recently released March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card. Florida’s rate of premature births rose slightly from 9.9 percent in 2014 to 10 percent in 2015. (Davis, 11/20)
KQED News: How An Intervention Program Stops The Revolving Door Of Violent Injuries
This time he [Darius Irvin] was shot with nine bullets, again by someone he did not know. He was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital. It was there something unexpected happened. ... That’s because the Wraparound Project had stepped in to help. It’s a program based at San Francisco General Hospital. Wraparound’s goal is to reduce re-injury for young people who have been violently hurt, through either a shooting or stabbing. (Klivans, 11/20)
New Orleans Times-Picayune: Long Awaited, Long Delayed: New Orleans VA Hospital Finally Opens
City, state and federal officials cut the ribbon Friday (Nov. 18) on the long-planned Veterans Affairs hospital on Canal Street that Gov. John Bel Edwards said took "a little longer than it maybe should have."... Originally projected to cost about $625 million, a U.S. Government Accountability Office report pegged the dollar amount at closer to $1 billion. And although the hospital was scheduled to be completed in December 2014, officials were forced to push that date to nearly two years later because of construction delays. (Litten, 11/18)
NH Times Union: Report: New Hampshire Hospitals Had 64 Serious 'Adverse Events' Last Year
New Hampshire hospitals last year reported 64 serious “adverse events” — sometimes called “never events” because they’re never supposed to happen. That’s a 12 percent drop from the 73 events reported the year before. And officials say it reflects ongoing efforts statewide to improve quality and patient safety. Since 2010, New Hampshire has required hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers to report any of 29 serious events identified by the National Quality Forum as “serious reportable events.” (Wickham, 11/20)
Dallas Morning News: Fraud Defendants Win Freedom But Must Fund 24-Hour Armed Guard At Dallas Condo Until Trial
In a first for Dallas, a federal judge has ordered the release of two men accused of health care fraud, provided they remain in a high-rise condo until trial and pay for around-the-clock armed security guards... The Dallas men were arrested last month along with eight others, including doctors, pharmacy owners and marketers, and charged in an updated 35-count indictment. In all, 12 defendants are accused of conspiring to sell to soldiers expensive compounded products like pain and scar creams, which bilked the government out of $100 million. (Krause, 11/19)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Camden Eye Clinic Running Short Of Funds, May Close
An eye clinic that has enabled generations of kids and adults to see more clearly may soon go dark. The South Jersey Eye Center, founded in Camden in 1961 to provide affordable vision care and eyewear to city residents, is running short of operating funds. "We should have closed" already, manager Denise Baker says, adding, "The other day I burst into tears." Jobs have been eliminated, hours cut, the annual budget slashed by more than half, and the third floor at the main office on Chambers Street shuttered to save on utilities. (Riordan, 11/20)
Columbus Dispatch: Born At 22 Weeks, Baby Defies Odds To Survive, Thrive
As a rule, physicians don't try to save babies born as early as Willow. It's rare that they live for long, and if they do, there are significant problems, including deafness, blindess, cerebral palsy and developmental delays. Parents often have to fight for resuscitation. (Viviano, 11/20)
