State Highlights: One-Third Of Colo. Hospitals Opting Out Of Aid-In-Dying Law; Calif.’s Bold Stem Cell Initiative Has Fallen Flat
Outlets report on health news from Colorado, California, Virginia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Connecticut, Michigan, Maryland, Ohio and Arizona.
Stat:
Catholic Hospitals Are Opting Out Of Colorado's Aid-In-Dying Law
Nearly one-third of Colorado’s hospitals are refusing to offer terminally ill patients the option of physician-assisted suicide — even though voters last fall overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative legalizing the practice. And two of the state’s biggest health care systems, both faith-based, appear poised to bar their doctors from providing such services to patients at any of their facilities, under any circumstances — potentially running afoul of the new aid-in-dying law. (Graham, 1/19)
Stat:
California Stem Cell Agency Has Funded Just A Trickle Of Clinical Trials
It’s been more than a decade since California launched an unprecedented experiment in medical research by direct democracy, when voters created a $3 billion fund to kick-start the hunt for stem cell therapies. The bold plan, a response to federal funding limits for embryonic stem cell research, was sold with a simple pitch: The money would rapidly yield cures for devastating human diseases such as Parkinson’s and ALS. That hasn’t happened. A major reason, a STAT examination found, is that the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has been slow to move promising experimental therapies into clinical trials. (Piller, 1/19)
Denver Post:
“Common Sense” Proposal Announced To Check Backgrounds Of Colorado Nurses And Doctors
Supporters pushing a proposal to bring Colorado in line with most other states by requiring fingerprint-based criminal background checks for doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals say such checks are a key component of ensuring public safety...In addition to impacting those seeking a new health-care license, the new system also would send automatic alerts to state health-care licensing boards whenever a licensee is arrested. Those boards would have the power to revoke an existing license based on those alerts if a transgression is identified that’s a revocable offense, such as rapes or violent felonies. (Osher, 1/18)
Richmond Times Dispatch:
Hospitals Encourage 'Do No Harm' Approach To COPN Reform In Virginia
Considering the vast uncertainty hovering over the future of health care at the federal level, Virginia’s hospitals are asking the state’s lawmakers to take a “do no harm” stance on state health policies. During a news conference at the General Assembly Building on Wednesday, the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association encouraged legislators to restrain themselves during this year’s session, particularly regarding Certificate of Public Need, or COPN, reform. (Demeria, 1/18)
WBUR:
Tough Reception For Baker In Bid To Control Health Care Costs
Many employers, especially those in the health industry, agree that Gov. Charlie Baker has a problem. In the past five years, roughly 500,000 workers and their children who used to be on a company insurance plan have switched to government-funded free or subsidized coverage. That shift is busting the state budget, where almost 40 percent of spending this year will be on MassHealth. (Bebinger, 1/18)
The Star Tribune:
Group Seeks New Rules On Use Of 'Granny Cams' In Minnesota Nursing Homes
Families seeking to prevent abuse or neglect of their loved ones in nursing homes by using hidden cameras, or “granny cams,” would face more restrictions under recommendations issued this week by a state work group. The 17-member group was asked to advise the Legislature on ways to regulate the growing use of hidden cameras and other electronic surveillance equipment in senior care facilities, while balancing privacy rights with efforts to deter abuse. (Serres, 1/18)
Kansas City Star:
Former Kansas City Doctor Guilty Of Health Care Fraud
A former Kansas City doctor didn’t need a medical license to commit health care fraud. Wayne Williamson, who lost his license after a previous fraud conviction, pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to another count of health care fraud. (Rizzo, 1/18)
St. Louis Public Radio:
St. Louis Aldermen Consider Adding Pregnant Women To List Of Protected Classes
The St. Louis Board of Aldermen is considering a bill that would bar employers and landlords from discriminating against women who are pregnant, use contraception or have had an abortion. If approved, the bill would add pregnancy and reproductive health decisions to the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance, alongside protections based on race, sex or disability. (Bouscaren, 1/18)
The CT Mirror:
Nonprofits Say Privatizing Social Services Could Save CT $1.3B
Hoping to stave off cuts in the next state budget, nonprofit social service providers said privatizing an array of services for the intellectually disabled and mentally ill could save more than $1.3 billion in total over the next three years. The Connecticut Community Provider Alliance also released an industry poll showing 80 percent of nonprofit agencies anticipate laying off staff if state funding is cut by 10 percent or more. And while some municipal leaders and social services advocates have called for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the legislature to consider tax hikes to help close the $1.4 billion hole in the coming fiscal year, the alliance stayed out of the tax debate. (Phaneuf, 1/18)
Detroit Free Press:
Today Marks 1,000 Days Since Flint Had Clean Drinking Water
One thousand days ago, the city of Flint shut off the tap to the Lake Huron water they had been receiving from the Detroit Water and Sewage Department and began drawing and treating water from the Flint River. That was April 25, 2014. And it was also the beginning of the Flint water crisis, another tragic chapter in the tumultuous history of Michigan's once-thriving industrial center. (Manzullo, 1/19)
The Baltimore Sun:
Proposal Would Let Employees Use Tax-Free Health Accounts For Fitness Costs
Known as the PHIT Act, for Personal Health Investment Today, the proposal would enable workers to put up to $2,000 in health savings or flexible spending accounts to use toward fitness club fees, sports equipment, youth sports league fees, event registration costs and other activities. Individual expenses would be capped at $250, with some exceptions, such as for home fitness equipment. (Mirabella, 1/18)
Boston Globe:
After Massachusetts Raised Its Cigarette Tax, Smuggling Exploded, Study Finds
A new study has concluded that nearly 30 percent of all the cigarettes smoked in Massachusetts in 2014 were smuggled into the state, a drastic increase that apparently followed a tax hike on cigarettes. Researchers at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Michigan think tank, found that cigarettes illegally brought into Massachusetts jumped to 29.3 percent of all those smoked in 2014, up from 12 percent in 2013, the seventh-highest rate among states and largest year-over-year increase of any state. They hypothesized that the spike in black market sales resulted from an increase in the state’s tax on cigarettes from $2.51 per pack to $3.51 per pack in 2013. (Adams, 1/18)
Denver Post:
Colorado GOP Lawmakers Criticize Suicide-Proofing Bathrooms At Mental Health Hospitals As “Wasteful” Spending
A request for $235,109 to make nine bathrooms at a state mental-health hospital suicide-proof is prompting outrage from Republican lawmakers who suggest it is evidence of wasteful government spending. The reaction to the proposal in the context of a $28 billion budget illustrates the intensity of the spending battles expected in the 2017 session as Colorado lawmakers negotiate a deal to find more money for big-ticket priorities, such as a potential $500 million bond to improve roads and transit. (Brown, 1/18)
Columbus Dispatch:
Flu Widespread Across Ohio
Flu cases are widespread across the state, with hospitalizations for flu-like symptoms almost doubling to 287 during the first week of January, according to the Ohio Department of Health. "Influenza-like illness is now widespread throughout Ohio for the first time this flue season, and the number of associated hospitalizations are rising," the department said in a written statement. (Bush, 1/18)
Arizona Republic:
Lawsuit Claims Federal Government 'Systemically Deprived' Havasupai Schoolkids Of Decent Education
A group of nine children from the Havasupai Tribe at the bottom of the Grand Canyon are accusing the federal government of knowingly breaking its own laws by neglecting to provide them access to a fundamental education. The children and the Native American Disability Law Center filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Phoenix last Thursday. (Cano, 1/18)
Cincinnati Enquirer:
Department Of Health: Flu Now 'Widespread' In Ohio
The flu now has tackled the Buckeye State, the Ohio Department of Health reported Wednesday in announcing that influenza now is “widespread.” The state said the number of hospitalizations due to flu are rising: On the first week in January, 287 new cases turned up compared to 157 the week before. There have been 654 total flu-associated hospitalizations since flu season began in October. (Saker, 1/18)