Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Nurses Strike Looms In Twin Cities; Planned Parenthood Files Legal Challenge Against Fla. Abortion Law
Minnesota Public Radio: Strike Fears Loom As 5,000 Twin Cities Nurses Weigh Contract
Nearly 5,000 union nurses vote Monday on a contract offer from Allina Health. Union leaders predict it will be rejected and both sides are preparing for the possibility of strikes at four major Twin Cities hospitals. (Zdechlik, 6/6)
Star Tribune: Strike Possibility Looms Ahead Of Allina Nurse Vote
Nurses at five Allina Health hospitals will vote Monday whether to authorize potential strikes or accept three-year contracts in a showdown over Allina’s insistence that they give up their union-protected health insurance and move to their employer’s standard benefits. (Olson 6/5)
Health News Florida: Planned Parenthood Challenges New Abortion Law
Planned Parenthood on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit challenging a major new Florida abortion law and accused the Legislature of seeking to "punish, harass, and stigmatize the state's abortion providers for their and their patients' exercise of constitutional rights." (6/3)
Kaiser Health News: Regulators Probing Whether Health Net Is Stiffing Drug Treatment Providers
California insurance officials are looking into whether Health Net Inc. has improperly withheld payments to addiction treatment centers for months while the company investigates concerns about fraudulent claims. The California Department of Insurance began an inquiry after receiving numerous complaints from substance-abuse treatment facilities statewide that Health Net had not paid them since at least January, according to providers questioned by the agency. Health Net is California’s fourth-largest health insurer, acquired in March for $6 billion by Centene Corp., a St. Louis-based insurer. (Terhune, 6/6)
The Tennessean: 3 Things Tennessee Health Care Consumers Can Expect In 2017
Three insurance companies have filed in Tennessee to sell 2017 health plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Cigna and Humana will all offer plans, while the nation’s largest insurer, UnitedHealthcare, has pulled out of the state. (Tolbert 6/5)
Los Angeles Times: Medical Technician Suspected Of Contaminating Instruments At Hospitals Tests Positive For HIV
Rocky Elbert Allen, the medical technician suspected of stealing drugs and contaminating surgical instruments at six Western hospitals, has tested positive for HIV, the Denver U.S. attorney’s office said. Confirmation that Allen has the virus that causes AIDS poses an added concern for 6,400 surgical patients in California, Washington, Colorado and Arizona who may have been exposed to infection by Allen’s alleged needle swapping, said an attorney who has filed lawsuits against five of the hospitals. (Anderson, 6/3)
Denver Post: Boards Serving People With Disabilities Grapple With New Conflict-Of-Interest Rules
Colorado community centers that manage public money for people with disabilities have grown into multimillion-dollar enterprises embedded with what federal authorities are condemning as conflicts of interest. The same agencies that have the power to decide whether a Colorado family is eligible for benefits for a disabled child also are allowed to provide that care themselves, often own the group home where the child could live and may even own the construction company the family hires to build a wheelchair ramp at their home. (Brown, 6/5)
Philadelphia Inquirer: An Effort To Increase Breast-Feeding In Philly
Nationwide, 78 percent of new moms start breast-feeding their infants. Which means that 22 percent do not, a figure that distresses breast-feeding advocates. The scenario is even more worrisome in Philadelphia, where in 2011, the most recent data available, just 62 percent begin breast-feeding. The Maternity Care Coalition, a nonprofit formed in 1980, aims to increase that number. (Bauers, 6/5)
North Carolina Health News: Senators Eyeing Solutions For Optometrist Shortage
The eyes have it in this year’s Senate budget, which calls for $2.1 million to fund adult eye exams. “We have reinstated [that] coverage so that we can continue to find glaucoma and diabetes and other vision issues that exist in the Medicaid population for adults,” said Senate Health and Human Services appropriations co-chair Ralph Hise (R-Spruce Pine). (Nigam, 6/6)
Bay City News Service: $1 Million Given To Build Dental Clinic For Low-Income Oakland Residents
Officials with the Asian Health Services in Oakland received $1 million to build a dental clinic to serve low-income residents in Alameda County, the officials said Thursday. The 4,000 square-foot clinic will be located at 11th and Jackson streets on the first floor of a building with 71 new affordable housing units inside. (6/5)
Orlando Sentinel: Clean Pools Can Still Cause Health Hazards
Researchers from the University of South Carolina report that the disinfectants used to keep pools clean can create dangerous disinfection byproducts (DBPs) when combined with sweat, personal care products and urine. (Checn 6/3)
