State Highlights: Md. Website Will Help Consumers Compare Costs For Common Medical Procedures; NYC’s Public Hospital System To Get Infusion Of Funding

The Washington Post: Maryland To Offer Online Shopping Tool For Common Medical Procedures
The Maryland Health Care Commission, the state’s independent regulatory agency, is unveiling a website on which people scheduling a hip replacement, knee replacement, hysterectomy or vaginal delivery can see price differences among different providers for the same procedure. The site is launching amid rising health-care costs and as some consumers turn to insurance plans with high deductibles. (Itkowitz, 10/18)

The Baltimore Sun: New Website Will Let Maryland Consumers Compare Hospital Rates For The First Time
A new website — wearthecost.org — being launched Thursday by the Maryland Health Care Commission will help consumers compare these types of costs among hospitals and bring more transparency to hospital pricing practices. While patients can request all or some of this data from other agencies and the hospitals themselves, the commission said the website compiles the information all in one place and in an easy-to-navigate, consumer-friendly way. The commission hopes the website will arm users with more information to help them make more informed decisions when choosing a hospital. (McDaniels, 10/19)

The Wall Street Journal: New York City Public Hospital System To Get Relief From State
The head of New York City’s public hospital system said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration has agreed to disperse hundreds of millions in aid to the agency, ending a funding dispute that left the hospitals dangerously low on cash. Stanley Brezenoff, interim president and chief executive of NYC Health + Hospitals, said in a letter to agency employees Wednesday that the state had agreed to distribute some $380 million in federal and city funds under the state’s control to the system over the coming months. (Gay, 10/18)

Denver Post: Colorado Spending More On Prison Inmate Health Care, Report Finds
Colorado is spending more per inmate on health care as the state’s prison population ages, according to a national report released Wednesday. The report, from the Pew Charitable Trusts, found that Colorado spent $6,641 per inmate on health care in the 2015 fiscal year. That placed the state in the middle of the pack nationally: 21st  for the highest spending and about $900 per inmate more than the national median. (Ingold, 10/18)

Chicago Tribune: Legislators Want Answers On Illinois' Failure To Screen Babies For Deadly Krabbe Disease 
utraged by a Chicago Tribune report, state Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, is asking officials from the Illinois Department of Public Health to explain at a legislative hearing next week why they never implemented a 2007 law that mandated screening Illinois babies for a deadly genetic condition. Flowers, chair of the Illinois House Health Care Availability and Access Committee, was a co-sponsor of the law that added Krabbe disease to the state's newborn screening program a decade ago. (Callahan, 10/18)

The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly.com: Einstein Healthcare Network Credit Downgraded
Moody’s Investor Service downgraded Einstein Healthcare Network’s credit rating by one notch, to just above junk bond status, citing the nonprofit system’s large and unexpected loss of $23 million on an operating basis in the year ended June 30, a decline in liquidity, and uncertain state funding. Einstein said in a statement that it “remains committed to providing high-quality care while balancing the demands of today’s challenging health-care environment. There are initiatives already underway which we believe will put the organization in a stronger financial position moving forward while increasing access to care.” (Brubaker, 10/18)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Health Department Gets $7.5 Million To Support Home Visits For Families
A federal grant of almost $7.5 million to the Maryland Department of Health will go to helping teach parenting skills and provide other resources to pregnant women and parents of young children, health department officials said Wednesday. The department will use the funds from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to support local agencies that make home visits to women and parents through the state’s Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. The goal of the program is to help the families raise children who are physically, socially and emotionally healthy and ready to learn. (Cohn, 10/18)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Summa Health Cancer Institute Adds New Device To Reduce Treatment Times
Summa Health's Barberton campus introduced a new cancer-fighting tool, the Elekta Versa HD, this month. The radiotherapy treatment device is designed to provide speed and precision for cancer-management professionals to more accurately target tumors. (Nader, 10/18)

Pioneer Press: Roseville Care Center At Fault In Resident’s Death, Health Department Says 
The resident was fine when Sunrise Assisted Living staff checked in around 9 p.m. When staff returned around 12:30 a.m., the resident’s neck was wedged between a bed and a transfer pole, and the resident was no longer breathing, according to a report by the Minnesota Health Department. The department determined earlier this month that the Roseville facility was at fault for neglect, having placed the pole too close to the bed. (Chavey, 10/18)

Chicago Sun Times: Suit: Suburban Couple Defrauded Millions From Medicare 
The federal government has filed a lawsuit accusing a south suburban couple of defrauding Medicare out of millions of dollars through false claims by their medical companies. The suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, accuses Gateway Health Systems Inc. and its owners – 58-year-old Ajibola Ayeni and his wife, Joy H. Turner-Ayeni – of violating the federal False Claims Act by seeking and accepting Medicare payments for fraudulent services, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office. (10/18)