State Highlights: Rural Georgia’s Health Care Experiment; In Illinois, Blue Cross And Advocate To Start Low-Cost Health Plan

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: For Rural Georgia County, A Potential Health Care Game-Changer
But a grand experiment is underway in Sparta, one that health care experts, state legislators, local leaders, Mercer University School of Medicine officials and concerned citizens hope will become a model for the nation. The Hancock Rural Healthcare Initiative, an ambitious telemedicine program, equips ambulances with computers, cameras, electrocardiogram leads and 4G cards that allow EMTs to share patient information in real time with hospital emergency room doctors in neighboring counties. (Holman, 10/19)

The Chicago Sun-Times: Blue Cross And Advocate Health Launch Low-Cost Health Plan
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and Advocate Health Care are teaming up to create a low-cost health plan in which the neediest patients will have access to more than 4,000 primary and specialty physicians across five Chicago-area counties. BlueCare Direct will be the insurer’s lowest-cost insurance offering for individuals and families in terms of monthly premiums and out-of-pocket costs, according to Blue Cross and Advocate. It will be offered both on and off the Get Covered Illinois exchange and also will be available for small-group customers. (Sfondeles, 10/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Connecticut Gov. Malloy Calls For Bipartisan Talks To Close Budget Gap
The discussions, if successful, would set up a special legislative session to approve the spending cuts to balance the budget. ... In September, the governor’s budget office said it revised its revenue estimates on capital gains taxes due to a poorly performing stock market and proposed closing the $103 million shortfall in part by cutting $63.5 million in Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals. In addition to hospitals, both Democrats and Republicans criticized those cuts, saying they would hurt health care in Connecticut. Mr. Malloy’s budget office responded by providing another $14.1 million to six smaller hospitals in the state. (DeAvila, 10/19)

The Associated Press: Parents Plead For Higher Pay For Nevada Autism Therapists
Parents urged Nevada officials to pay more to therapists who work with children with autism, saying low rates could lead to a shortage of workers. Several people gave tearful testimony Monday at a Division of Health Care Financing and Policy meeting. One woman brought her son and said he would not be able to speak were it not for interventions when he was younger. (Rindels, 10/20)

The CT Mirror: Mental Health Funding Tradeoff Draws Criticism, Praise
Rather than cut $4.7 million from mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called for last month, the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services plans to shift the cut elsewhere in its budget and delay the start of new programs. The tradeoff drew both criticism from proponents of one of the delayed programs and praise from those whose funding is being spared. (Levin Becker, 10/19)

The Washington Post: Californians Gained The Right To Die, But The Terminally Ill Who Wanted It Have To Wait
Eventually, the law will permit doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients who meet certain requirements: California residency; repeated requests, both verbal and written, for the drugs; and a determination that the patient is mentally fit to make such a decision. Its passage was a major victory for a movement that has sought for decades to gain traction in state legislatures. The California law quadruples the share of Americans living in states where physician-assisted suicide is permitted. The others are Oregon, Montana, Vermont and Washington. (Chokshi, 10/19)

The Associated Press: Report: North Carolina Youth Suicides Double Since 2010
The number of youth suicides in North Carolina increased by more than one-third between 2013 and 2014 and has doubled since the start of the decade, a child safety panel reported Monday in its annual review of child deaths in the state. Forty-six children died by suicide last year, compared to 34 the year before and 23 in 2010, according to data collected by state public health and statistics agencies and released by the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force. (Robertson, 10/19)

The Casper Star-Tribune: Lawmakers To Look At Costs For Program That Helps Children, Adults With Disabilities
Lawmakers are reviewing expenses of a state program that provides services to intellectually and developmentally disabled children and adults ahead of next year’s legislative session, when they will decide how much money to spend on it. State law requires a review of costs every two to four years for the Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Waivers program. The program pays for services such as respite care for families and aides that help developmentally disabled people shop or work on a particular skill, said Joe Simpson, administrator in the Behavioral Health Division of the Wyoming Health Department. (Hancock, 10/18)

The Associated Press: Michigan Receives Grant To Develop Behavioral Health Clinics
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has been awarded more than $980,000 to develop certified community behavioral health clinics. Michigan is among 24 states chosen to receive a planning grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The state health department will use the funding to develop criteria for certified community behavioral health clinics, establish a payment system and prepare an application to participate in a two-year demonstration program. (10/20)

The Charlotte Observer: Gov. Pat McCrory Signs Newborn Screening Bill
All newborn babies in North Carolina will be tested for severe combined immunodeficiency under a bill that Gov. Pat McCrory signed Monday. Known as SCID or “bubble boy disease,” the disorder can leave infants vulnerable to deadly infections. Without early detection and a bone marrow transplant, babies with SCID have a life expectancy of only two years. (Campbell, 10/19)

Stateline: Many States Still Grapple With Regulating Medical Marijuana
In a retrofitted garage in his suburban backyard, Mike Eacker tends to his marijuana plants while he waits to see whether his crop will continue to turn a profit. For Eacker and other growers here in Montana, there is uncertainty as they anticipate the outcome of a state Supreme Court case that could effectively end commercial sales of medical marijuana and render their businesses unprofitable. Montana is among several vanguard states whose voters eagerly legalized medical cannabis by passing broad ballot initiatives as many as 19 years ago, but left lawmakers struggling to regulate an industry that grew quickly with few rules. (Breitenbach, 10/19)

California Healthline: New Preventive Health Program Helps South L.A. Seniors Get 'HAPPI'
Adults ages 50 and older who live in South Los Angeles now have help to get healthy and "HAPPI." Instead of waiting for seniors to access and receive no-cost preventive health services, the new Healthy Aging Partnerships in Prevention Initiative meets them "where they are." Approximately 1.1 million people of all ages live in South L.A., and roughly 20% are 50 or older, said project leader and research scientist Kathryn Kietzman at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. (Stephens, 10/19)

The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State Going To Tiers For Medical Premiums For Faculty, Staff
The more Ohio State University employees make, the more they will pay for health benefits next year. Ohio State, which spends nearly $300 million per year on medical benefits for its faculty and staff members, is moving to a tiered contribution approach in 2016 to lessen the impact of rising health-care contributions on lower-paid workers. (Sutherly, 10/19)

The Associated Press: Iowa Board Overseeing Hawk-I Program Seeks More Information
A board that oversees a children's health insurance program in Iowa says it's waiting for more information from state officials over the board's legal authority as the program's services are switched to private care. ... The hawk-i program provides health insurance to more than 37,000 children from low-income families. Plans to switch the program to managed care have been questioned by board members, who say they weren't consulted. (10/19)

Kaiser Health News: For Former Foster Kids, Moving Out of State Can Mean Losing Medicaid
Under the health law, young adults who age of out of the foster care system are eligible for free Medicaid coverage until they turn 26. The provision was an attempt to give them the same opportunity as other young people who can stay on their parents’ insurance until their 26th birthday. But these young adults are encountering a major barrier: They are only guaranteed coverage in the state where they were in foster care. States have the option of extending the benefit to all former foster youths, but only about a dozen have done so. (Gorman, 10/20)