State Highlights: In Mass., Inquiry Finds Gaps In Nursing Licensing Process; Feds Join In Miss. Hospital Billing Whistleblower Suit
Health care stories are reported from Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, California, Maryland, Minnesota, Washington, D.C., Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Illinois and Michigan.
The Boston Globe:
Nursing Licensing Inquiry Finds Gap In Process
A Globe review of documents at the heart of the Massachusetts investigation into fraudulently obtained nursing licenses reveals a pattern of applicants using what appear to be doctored licenses from other states in an effort to prove professional certification. Three applicants pretended they had Alabama licenses, filing a form signed by either “Genell Lee” or “N. Genell Lee.” Alabama officials told the Massachusetts nursing board that valid forms would be signed by someone else. Another three claimed to have Oklahoma licenses, each using the same incorrect name for an official on their forms. (Freyer and Lazar, 9/21)
The Associated Press:
Feds Join Whistleblower Suit On Stone County Hospital Bills
The federal government is joining a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that owners of a Wiggins hospital unjustly bilked more than $12 million from Medicare. The suit, filed in 2007 by a former administrator at Stone County Hospital and unsealed Friday, alleges that Ted and Julie Cain of Ocean Springs pulled down big salaries partially reimbursed by the federal health care program for older people. The suit claims reimbursements for those salaries to the Cains' company, Corporate Management Inc., were unjustified. (Amy, 9/18)
MassLive:
Report From Attorney General Finds Disparate Health Care Pricing
There are still widely disparate prices among health care providers in Massachusetts and patients are continuing to use the highest priced doctors, driving up health are costs in the state. Those are the findings of a new report by Attorney General Maura Healey's office. Healey's report confirms other recent data which have shown that health insurance costs in Massachusetts are continuing to rise and transparent pricing for health care is still difficult to come by. (Schoenberg, 9/18)
WBUR:
AG Says State Must Do More To Control Health Care Costs
It looks like Massachusetts will miss a self-imposed health care spending target again this year. This warning from Attorney General Maura Healey comes just a few weeks after a state agency announced that Massachusetts failed to keep spending below 3.6 percent last year, as recommended in a 2012 law. (Bebinger, 9/18)
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Legislature Delays Update On Health Law
There is nothing like a crisis to create the impetus to act - or so you would think. In 2007, the state Senate adopted a resolution recognizing that Pennsylvania's public-health law on the prevention of infectious disease was largely obsolete. Describing it as a patchwork of laws dating to the 1950s, the Senate noted the need to update our statutory scheme to meet the challenges of the modern world and, specifically, "emerging biological threats." The Joint State Government Commission of the General Assembly was enlisted to suggest ways to modernize the law. More than seven years later, after countless meetings, conferences, and debates, the legislature has done nothing. Considering that the control of infectious disease remains almost entirely a state responsibility, the stakes are high. (Bozza, 9/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Five Wildfire Deaths Highlight Vulnerability Of Isolated Seniors In Disasters
Some were pulled from the fire zone by relatives or neighbors, with or without their wheelchairs. At least a handful made the bumpy ride out in the back of a pickup through heavy smoke and fire-blackened debris — thanks to a former paramedic who breached the blockades. They arrived at area shelters with oxygen tanks, without their medications, anxious and in some cases disoriented. Then there were the ones who stayed behind —intentionally or not. (Romney, 9/19)
The Baltimore Sun:
Health Care For The Homeless Gets A $50K Grant From UnitedHealthcare Of Maryland
Health Care for the Homeless will use a $50,000 grant from a large insurer to collect data on its clients that it hopes will help improve programming. UnitedHealthcare of Maryland presented the grant to the non-profit Thursday at its headquarters clinic downtown. The money will be used to track hospitalization and incarceration rates of people in the non-profit's supportive housing program - which gives support to homeless as they transition into homes of their own. (McDaniels, 9/18)
The Associated Press:
Some Minnesota Marijuana Patients Opting To Buy Illegally
Just two months after Minnesota launched its medical marijuana program, some patients turned off by high costs say they are back to buying the drug illegally because it's the only way they can afford it. State officials and the companies hired to make marijuana products trumpeted the program's medical approach — pills and oils, no leaf products — when it launched in July. But some patients say the highly restricted and regulated system is costing them hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month— none of it covered by insurance. (Potter, 9/19)
The Washington Post:
A Land Deal For An Elite Private School Will Displace More Than 100 Sick, Poor People
Thomas Taylor, swaddled in a bed of white sheets, flipped off the television and considered his mortality. He has been sick a long time. Multiple sclerosis. He’s not sure how much longer he can hold out, he said, not with the grim news he’d just gotten, not with all of these worries occupying his thoughts. Taylor, a resident the Washington Home in Northwest Washington, didn’t receive a bad health prognosis. Last week he learned that he and the other residents of the Washington Home, where Thomas has lived for more than two decades, will have to move out. (McCoy and Brown, 9/20)
The Associated Press:
Southern Nevada Health District Opening Flu Vaccine Clinics
The regional health district in southern Nevada will begin offering annual flu vaccines beginning Monday at clinics in Las Vegas, Henderson and Mesquite. The Southern Nevada Health District says the cost of the regular injectable flu vaccine being offered this season to most people at the public health centers is $41. The cost of the high dose vaccine for people age 65 and over is $59. (9/20)
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
UHS Adds To Addiction Services Unit
King of Prussia's Universal Health Services Inc. said Friday it had reached a $350 million deal to buy Foundations Recovery Network L.L.C, a Nashville company that will give UHS a bigger footprint in fast-growing addiction services. UHS, which is under a federal criminal investigation for billing practices at its mental hospitals, is already the nation's largest operator of inpatient behavioral health facilities. UHS finished 2014 with 20,037 psychiatric beds at 182 facilities in the United States, including 1,171 at seven facilities in the Philadelphia region. (Brubaker, 9/19)
The Denver Post:
DaVita To Buy Seattle-area Primary, Specialty Physicians Group
Denver-based DaVita HealthCare Partners is expanding the primary and specialty care network side of its business with the acquisition of The Everett Clinic, a physician group that serves 315,000 patients in Washington state, officials are expected to announce Monday. Financial terms were not immediately available. Based in Everett, Wash., The Everett Clinic has 20 locations in the region north of Seattle and employs more than 2,200 people, including 500 specialty and primary care providers. (Wallace, 9/21)
The Associated Press:
Arizona Short On Residency Programs For Med School Grads
Arizona medical schools say more residency positions are needed if the state doesn’t want a doctor shortage on its hands. The University of Arizona’s medical school in Phoenix estimates that half of its graduates go outside the state for the next stage of their careers. “What we cannot afford as the state medical school (is) to become a farm system, where our graduates go to other states. We need them here,” Dr. Stuart Flynn, dean of the UA’s College of Medicine Phoenix, said. (9/19)
The Chicago Tribune:
Former Elmwood Park Employee Gets Prison Time For Health Care Fraud
A suburban Chicago woman has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for her role in a $4 million health care fraud scheme. The Justice Department announced Saturday that U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman sentenced Mary Talaga of Elmwood Park to 45 months and ordered her to pay about $1 million in restitution. She was convicted in 2015 on 10 counts of health care fraud, conspiracy and making false statements. The 54-year-old Talaga was primary medical biller from 2007 to 2011 at Medicall Physicians Group. Physicians visited patients in their homes and prescribed home health care. Trial evidence showed Talaga and others routinely billed Medicare for patient oversight that wasn't conducted and for other services Medicall didn't provide, including care to patients who were dead. (9/19)
The Washington Post:
Cancer-Stricken Children, Parents Ejected From Park Near White House
The U.S. Secret Service ordered hundreds of parents and their cancer-stricken children out of Lafayette Square on Saturday night, barricading the park for at least two hours and disrupting the group’s plans for a candlelight vigil to raise awareness and research funding for childhood cancer, participants said. (Kunkle, 9/20)
The Associated Press:
Customized Bus Bringing Dental Care To Detroit-Area Children
A customized bus will travel the Detroit area providing comprehensive dental care and oral health education to children. The University of Detroit Mercy now has a so-called mobile dental coach that will bring dental care to children at schools across Wayne County, starting with Noble Elementary-Middle School in Detroit. (9/21)
Los Angeles Times:
Embryo Battles Are Likely To Get A Precedent In San Francisco Couple's Case
Dr. Mimi C. Lee and Stephen E. Findley had not been married long when he began to have doubts about the relationship. Now divorced, he is fighting to prevent her from having a child with their frozen embryos, made after Lee was diagnosed with cancer. The case, to be decided in the next several weeks, is likely to lead to the first legal rules in California for resolving embryo disputes. If Lee prevails, Findley could be forced to become a parent against his will. If Findley wins, it is extremely unlikely that Lee, now 46, will ever have a genetically related child. (Dolan, 9/19)