State Highlights: NY Regulator Pushes For Health Payment Revamp; Texas Legislators To Consider Competing Bills On End-of-Life Care For Pregnant Women

The Associated Press: NY Regulator To Push Alternative Health Care Payments
New York's top insurance regulator says most health insurance in the state pays hospitals and doctors for each service regardless of quality, efficiency or outcome, and his staff will try to encourage alternatives to reduce costs and improve health. Department of Financial Services Superintendent Ben Lawsky says their recent survey shows every major insurer in New York's commercial market is making some effort at payment reform, like "pay-for-performance" or pay-per-member fees for health care. (3/13)

The Texas Tribune: Competing Bills Filed Over End-of-Life Care For Pregnant Women
The mother of Marlise Muñoz, the pregnant Fort Worth woman who in 2013 was kept on life support against her family’s wishes, says her daughter’s death had been “used as a political debate” and wants to prevent other women from going through similar ordeals. (Walters and Ura, 3/12)

The Associated Press: Comptroller: New York State Medicaid Spending To Rise
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says state spending on Medicaid is projected to rise by nearly $700 million a year over the next four years. However, DiNapoli said Thursday that the state's efforts to limit Medicaid spending are showing signs of progress with annual growth at less than 2 percent. The growth rate had previously been more than 5 percent annually. (3/13)

USA Today: Policing Mentally Ill Overshadowed By Race Debate
Deep in a White House examination of policing tactics is a recommendation that left unaddressed, officials say, will contribute to continued fractures in law enforcement's relationship with the public, similar to the racial divide.The report by the Task Force on 21st Century Policing urged authorities to offer training to deal with a disturbing number of violent encounters between police and the mentally ill. And, the panel concluded, Congress should pay for it. (Johnson, 3/12)

Kansas Health Institute News Service: KDADS Secretary Plans To Introduce Reworked Medicaid Mental Health Drug Bill
A Senate-rejected bill meant to allow KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, to regulate mental health patients’ access to antipsychotic medications is making a comeback. Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services Secretary Kari Bruffett on Thursday said she hopes to introduce a revised version of the bill within the next few weeks. The intent of the new bill, she said, will be to ensure patient safety without jeopardizing ready access to mental health drugs. (Ranney, 3/12)

Kansas Health Institute News Service: Lawmakers Consider New Restrictions For Welfare Policies
Kansas lawmakers are preparing to vote on a bill that would further tighten the rules for the state’s two main public assistance programs. The measure, which the House Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee endorsed on Wednesday, writes into state law several recent administrative changes made as part of Gov. Sam Brownback’s welfare to work initiative. Supporters of the changes say they will decrease dependency on welfare and step up efforts to prevent the misuse of benefit cards used by Kansans in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Opponents say the bill will reduce the number of people receiving assistance at a time when more Kansans are living in poverty. (McLean, 3/12)

North Carolina Health News: Lawmakers Expected to Consider Bill on Chemotherapy Cost Parity
Many insurance companies in North Carolina treat oral chemotherapy pills as a pharmacy benefit, and this distinction means that the pills often aren’t covered in the same way as IV chemo, adding thousands of dollars to out-of-pocket costs. Many patients who receive inpatient chemotherapy pay only the co-pay for hospital or clinic treatment. But if that same patient gets chemotherapy in the form of a pill, they often have to pay a much higher price for the drug. ... Sen. Ralph Hise (R-Spruce Pine) said there’s movement in the Senate to file a bill to address the disparity. “It’s overall a cheaper cost for the health care system, and particularly for Medicaid and other populations,” Hise said. “I think that requiring someone to come out with a greater out-of-pocket cost for something that is ultimately a lower cost doesn’t make sense for our health system and certainly doesn’t make sense for patients.” (Namkoong, 3/12)

North Carolina Health News: Advocates Try Again To Ban Tanning Bed Use For Teens
This is the third year that legislation to restrict the use of tanning beds for anyone under 18 has been introduced at the General Assembly. A bill introduced in 2013 passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support. The bill was then sent to the Senate, where it died. At one point last summer, House lawmakers inserted the tanning bed language into an omnibus regulatory reform bill, where it also died. (Hoban, 3/12)

Arizona Republic: In Abortion Debate, Arizona Lawmaker Reveals Secret
She had already delivered her prepared remarks about an abortion-related bill and was answering questions from her fellow lawmakers. That's when something compelled Rep. Victoria Steele to publicly and tearfully share a secret. (Ruelas, 3/12)

North Carolina Health News: Continuity Of Care: The Rural Doctor 2.0
[Kate] Sloss has now opened a new practice, the Lake Lure Medical Center, as part of the Mountain Area Health Education Center network. Sloss joined up with Grey Tilden, a graduate of MAHEC’s Family Medicine Residency Program, which trains doctors to live and work in rural areas. ... Tilden is from Alabama. Back when he was mapping his path into medicine, he got a piece of advice from a family physician: If you want to go into family medicine (which he did), don’t do your training in a big city, because there are so many specialists there that you won’t get to do as much as you would in a rural program. He liked what he learned at the Family Medicine Residency Program in Hendersonville. It was the most innovative in terms of, for example, tracking chronic illnesses. (Sisk, 3/13)

The Hill: Rural Health Advocate To Assume No. 2 Post At HHS
One of the country’s leading rural health advocate will assume the No. 2 position at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Mary Wakefield, who has spent five years overseeing the government’s programs for vulnerable populations at HHS, was tapped Thursday as the department’s acting deputy secretary, according to a release provided first to The Hill. Wakefield said in an interview Thursday that rural health will continue to be one of her top priorities, as well as reforms to make healthcare delivery more efficient across the board. She also pledged to focus on “strengthening HHS as an agency.” (Ferris, 3/12)