State Highlights: Minn. Lawmakers Crack Down On Health Insurance Scammers; Georgia ‘Biosimilar’ Drug Bill Clears Senate Panel

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Minnesota Lawmakers Want To Crack Down On Insurance Scammers
Minnesota lawmakers are taking aim at insurance scammers they say flock to the state because of legal loopholes that result in big cash payouts for bogus medical claims. (Simons, 2/13)

Georgia Health News: Bill On 'Biosimilar' Drugs Easily Clears Panel
The goal of Senate Bill 51 is to create a state structure for the prescribing of “biosimilar’’ drugs – and could potentially save Georgians money. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Dean Burke (R-Bainbridge), was approved unanimously Thursday by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. The state House is working on a “biosimilar” bill as well. (Miller, 2/12)

Politico Pro: Florida Plays A $2B Game Of Chicken With CMS
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is counting on a $2 billion pot of money for his state’s safety-net providers — a pot that the feds have repeatedly said they won’t refill and may still be using as leverage to push state leaders toward Medicaid expansion. (Wheaton, 2/12)

The Washington Post: Va. House, Senate Pass Budget Packages
Virginia’s House and Senate on Thursday passed separate but similar budget bills, both of which reject Medicaid expansion, provide raises to state employees and plow more money into universities and the state’s rainy-day fund. (Vozzella and Portnoy, 2/12)

The Texas Tribune: Democrats Push To Repeal Abortion Waiting Period
They're pushing a boulder up a hill in the conservative Texas Legislature. But three House Democrats remain laser-focused on repealing the 24-hour waiting period for abortion imposed by the state’s 2011 sonogram law. “This 24-hour waiting period has proven to be ineffective, unnecessary and cruel,” state Rep. Jessica Farrar, a Houston Democrat and the chairwoman of the Texas House Women's Health Caucus, said at a Thursday press conference. “It does not change a pregnant Texas woman’s decision.” Texas’ abortion sonogram law requires a doctor to perform a sonogram on a woman 24 hours before she can receive an abortion. During the sonogram, the physician must play the heartbeat aloud and describe the development of the fetus. (Ura, 2/12)

The Associated Press: Delaware Bill Eyes Experimental Drugs For Terminally Ill
Delaware lawmakers announced Thursday that they are introducing a bill allowing terminally ill patients access to experimental medicines that have not received final approval from the Food and Drug Administration. (2/12)

Des Moines Register: Bill Seeks Nursing Home Unit For Aggressive Elderly
Iowa would consider setting up a special nursing home unit for elderly people who are combative or sexually aggressive, under a bill that took its first step forward Thursday. The bill, Senate File 142, comes amid questions about what will be done with elderly psychiatric patients — including four sex offenders — now living at the state mental institution at Clarinda. Gov. Terry Branstad’s administration is moving to close that hospital and another one at Mount Pleasant. (Leys, 2/12)

Denver Post: Abortion Clinic Regulations Bill Fails In Colorado House
A bill that aimed to put more regulations on abortion clinics in Colorado failed in a House committee Thursday, after supporters of regulations said it would make the process safer and opponents called it an attempt to make abortions harder and more expensive to get. The bill was killed on a 8-5 vote. ... [The] bill would have required state inspections and reporting requirements from facilities that provide abortions, ultrasounds for patients and would have required an abortion doctor to have admitting rights at a hospital within 30 miles. (Bunch, 2/13)

Denver Post: Colorado Flu-Related Hospitalizations Hit A Record High This Season
Flu season is far from over, but this one is already a record breaker, according to the state health department. As of Feb. 7, Colorado hospitals had reported 2,747 cases in 57 counties — the greatest number of flu-related hospitalizations since reporting began in 2004-05. The state health department says the number is greater than the 2,157 flu-related hospitalizations reported as of May in the 2009-10 swine flu (HIN1) pandemic. And this flu season doesn't officially end until May 23. Three influenza-related deaths of children have been reported this season, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reports. (Draper, 2/12)

Kansas Health Institute News Service: Pharmacists, Benefits Managers Look For Middle Ground On Price Control
Kansas pharmacists butted heads with health insurance industry representatives Thursday at a hearing about reimbursement price controls. After a contentious hearing, Sen. Jeff Longbine, the chairman of the Senate Financial Institutions Committee, urged the parties to come to some compromise on Senate Bill 103. The bill would increase state scrutiny of pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, which insurers use to control prescription drug costs. Longbine said the committee could debate, amend and vote on the bill late next week. (Marson, 2/12)

Modern Healthcare: HCA Midwest Settles With Foundation Over Charitable Care
Kansas City's largest healthcare network, HCA Midwest Health, will pay a local healthcare foundation $15 million to settle allegations that it didn't provide the level of charitable and uncompensated care to the community that had been required by a 2003 purchase agreement. HCA announced the settlement with the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City Wednesday. HCA did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement. (Schencker, 2/12)

Los Angeles Times: Measles Outbreak Highlights The Importance Of Adult Immunization
Measles was once considered a childhood illness, spreading rapidly across schools, playgrounds and parks. But the national measles outbreak that began two months ago at Disneyland has showed another side of the highly infectious disease — that it is a danger to people of all ages. (Xia and Lin, 2/12)