State Highlights: Mental Health Court Starts Hearing Cases In Texas; Colo.’s Rocky Mountain Health Plans Strikes Deal With UnitedHealthcare
Outlets report on health news from Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, California and Georgia.
Houston Chronicle:
Mental Health Court To Begin Hearing Cases In Montgomery County
As a new mental health court gears up to start hearing cases next month, Montgomery County is poised to become the latest Texas locality to join a national trend of sending nonviolent offenders with serious mental illnesses to treatment rather than prison. (Kragie, 7/25)
The Denver Post:
UnitedHealthcare Acquires Rocky Mountain Health Plans
Rocky Mountain Health Plans, a dominant and long-independent provider of health insurance coverage in western Colorado, has struck a deal to join UnitedHealthcare, the largest health insurer in the state and the country...UnitedHealthcare said it will invest an undisclosed amount in RMHP to “restore the organization’s capital base and help ensure that it becomes a stronger, more sustainable health plan over the long term.” (Svaldi, 7/26)
The Associated Press:
New Texas Women’s Health Program Has Family Planning Focus
Texas unveiled Monday a revamped women’s health program for low-income residents that includes a boost in family planning services that the conservative state will no longer let Planned Parenthood and other organizations affiliated with abortion providers offer. More than 5,000 health care providers are part of the new program, Healthy Texas Women, said Charles Smith, head of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. That’s a 30 percent increase from 2014, and about triple the number of providers in the state women’s health program as recently as 2011. (Weissert, 7/25)
Pioneer Press:
Children’s Hospital In Minneapolis Gets An Intensive Care Simulation Room
Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is opening an intensive care simulation in its Minneapolis hospital to train medical students and staff. The new room, which comes complete with child- and baby-size mannequins and beeping equipment, is meant to accurately reproduce the high-stress environment of an intensive care unit and will allow teams to practice procedures during simulations of medical emergencies. (Beckstrom, 7/25)
Star Tribune:
Researchers Find Spike In Cancer, Asthma Near Lowry Av. Bridge
Residents of four neighborhoods near the Lowry Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis are raising concerns about air pollution after a study they commissioned found elevated death rates, including from cancers and asthma, in the area. Researchers hired by the neighborhood didn’t pinpoint a cause of the deaths, but activists didn’t hesitate Monday to point fingers at the GAF roofing factory next to the bridge. (Brandt, 7/25)
KQED:
Oakland Hackers Try To Make Insulin And Disrupt Biotech
How many times have you had a conversation about when are “they” going to find a cure for the common cold, or make decent-tasting vegan cheese? Well, what if you had a chance to do it yourself? That’s the idea behind the trend of do-it-yourself biohacking: to get regular people involved in scientific discovery. A group of DIY scientists at a new crowdfunded lab in Oakland are doing just that. (Stelzer, 7/25)
Georgia Health News:
Nursing Board Chief’s Removal Delayed
The Georgia secretary of state says he is postponing his removal of the state nursing board’s executive director until August of next year. Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s decision in June to remove Jim Cleghorn, and replace him with the head of the state’s cosmetology board, has proved controversial. Many nurses across the state have said they were angered and puzzled by the planned ouster of Cleghorn. In a letter last week to Georgia nurses, Kemp said that because his office’s nursing education consultant position is vacant, “it is not the best time to make this change.’’ (Miller, 7/25)
Minnesota Public Radio:
State's Mental Health Task Force Looks To Improve Services
Earlier this spring, Gov. Mark Dayton set up a task force that will propose legislation to improve the state's mental health systems. Tom Weber talks with Emily Johnson Piper, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, who is leading that task force. (Weber, 7/26)
The Dallas Morning News:
Major Ken Paxton Donor Paying $3.5 Million Settlement After Medicaid Fraud Probe
A North Texas company whose president gave state Attorney General Ken Paxton $100,000 last year to fight his felony fraud indictments will pay $3.5 million after allegations it skimped on services to Medicaid and Medicare patients while over-billing the government. A former employee who brought the original lawsuit against Preferred Imaging LLC, a medical diagnostic company headed by James H. Webb of Frisco, alleged the company was performing services that require the oversight of a supervising doctor without one on-site. (McGaughy, 7/25)
