First Edition: May 18, 2015
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Paramedics Steer Non-Emergency Patients Away From ERs
Paramedic Ryan Ramsdell pulled up to a single-story house not far from Reno’s towering hotels and casinos in a nondescript Ford Explorer. No ambulance, no flashing lights. He wasn’t there to rush 68-year-old Earl Mayes to the emergency room. His job was to keep Mayes out of the ER. Mayes, who has congestive heart failure and chronic lung disease, greeted Ramsdell and told him that his heart was fluttering more than usual. "I had an up-and-down night," he said. (Gorman, 5/18)
The Associated Press:
Inside Washington: Health Law Tax Passed Along To States
The Health Insurance Providers Fee was aimed at insurance companies. The thinking went: Because insurers would gain a windfall of customers, they ought to help pay for the expansion of coverage. Insurers say they have raised prices for individuals and small businesses to cover the new tax. As it turns out, they are raising their prices to state Medicaid programs, too. The federal government issued guidance in October requiring states to build the tax into what they pay for-profit Medicaid health plans that serve low-income people. The first year's tax was due to the IRS in September, and state governments are now settling up with insurance companies. (5/18)
Politico:
Skyrocketing Medicaid Signups Stir State Expansion Fights
Medicaid enrollment under Obamacare is skyrocketing past expectations, giving some GOP governors who oppose the program’s expansion under the health law an “I told you so” moment. More than 12 million people have signed up for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act since January 2014, and in some states that embraced that piece of the law, enrollment is hundreds of thousands beyond initial projections. Seven states have seen particularly big surges, with their overruns totaling nearly 1.4 million low-income adults. (Pradhan, 5/18)
The Washington Post:
It Turns Out Ted Cruz Does Not Get His Insurance Through Obamacare
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) wants to kill Obamacare, but he admitted that he might have to sign up for it after his wife took a leave from her job and its benefits. As it turns out, Cruz never signed up for Obamacare. He purchased his family's health insurance off the open market. (Zezima, 5/16)
The Washington Post:
VA’s Ability To Increase Health Professionals Is ‘Seriously Fractured’
Agency understaffing was a key flaw exposed during last year’s scandal over the cover-up of long patient wait times at the Department of Veterans Affairs. It has too few health-care employees to timely serve the wounded warriors and others among its clientele. (Davidson, 5/17)
The Washington Post:
New Test Could Sharply Reduce Risky, Costly Lung Cancer Biopsies
When a suspicious lesion shows up in the lungs on a CT scan, the first thing your doctor wants to know is whether it's cancerous. A specialist will pass a long, thin bronchoscope into your airway in the hope of grabbing a few cells of the growth so they can be examined under a microscope. But some of these lesions or nodules are deep in the small branches of the lungs, out of reach of the bronchoscope, which is about the diameter of a pen. ... But now, according to a study published Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine, there appears to be a new, much less invasive way of determining whether a growth is malignant. (Bernstein, 5/17)
The Associated Press:
Stem Cells Still Uncharted Territory In Sports
Blame it on a lack of study and still-evolving knowledge about what stem cells can and can’t do. Blame hype that typically accompanies every new method that attempts to quicken recovery from serious injury. Players and agents are paying attention. (Graves, 5/18)
The Washington Post:
‘We Are Convinced The Machine Can Do Better Than Human Anesthesiologists’
I wrote recently about Sedasys, a machine that automates anesthesia. ... But Sedasys, in development for 15 years, is no longer on the true cutting edge of what’s possible with automated anesthesia. A machine with the clunky name of iControl-RP is. It's an experimental device that pushes the boundaries of how much responsibility is turned over to technology. (Frankel, 5/15)
The Associated Press:
States Saying 'No' To Cities Seeking To Regulate Businesses
In the past five years, roughly a dozen states have enacted laws barring local governments from requiring businesses to provide paid sick leave to employees. The number of states banning local minimum wages has grown to 15. And while oil-rich states such as Texas and Oklahoma are pursuing bills banning local restrictions on drilling, other states where agriculture is big business have been banning local limitations on the types of seeds sown for crops. It seems no issue is too small for businesses to take to capitol halls. (5/18)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Slow To Probe Nursing Home Complaints, State Statistics Show
Statistics released this week on investigations of complaints of abuse, neglect and poor conditions at California nursing homes and other health facilities show Los Angeles County lagging behind other areas of the state. Los Angeles County is the only county that handles such investigations itself. Elsewhere, the program is run by the state's Department of Public Health. The county's responsibilities will probably be scaled back under a new contract with the state beginning in July. That agreement is expected to provide more money for investigations — but not as much as county officials say they would need to do all the work currently required. (Sewell, 5/16)
The New York Times:
Cuomo To Offer New Measures To Improve Conditions In The Nail Salon Industry
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is expected to introduce on Monday two new measures in the State Legislature that would give regulators greater authority to punish nail salons that mistreat workers and make it easier for manicurists to acquire licenses. The legislation follows emergency rule changes ordered by Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, last week in response to a New York Times investigation that uncovered the widespread exploitation of nail salon workers, many of whom experience serious health problems linked to the chemicals they work with regularly. The changes will subject salons in New York to some of the strictest health regulations in the country. (Maslin Nir, 5/17)
USA Today:
Indiana Community's HIV Outbreak A Warning To Rural America
This small, close-knit community is a picture of rural America, with stubble-filled cornfields and a Main Street lined by churches, shops and sidewalks. It's also the unlikely epicenter of the largest outbreak of HIV, the AIDS virus, in Indiana's history — and a warning to the rest of the nation. Public health experts say rural places everywhere contain the raw ingredients that led to Austin's tragedy. Many struggle with poverty, addiction and doctor shortages, and they lag behind urban areas in HIV-related funding, services and awareness. And the same lack of anonymity that gives rural towns their charm foments a strong stigma that discourages testing and treatment. (Ungar and Kenning, 5/17)
NPR:
Baltimore Health Commissioner: 'Public Health Is Tied To Everything'
We're going to hear some ideas now from someone who's working on that long-term project, Leana Wen. She is an emergency physician, and four months ago she became Baltimore's health commissioner. In the days since the unrest, she's been talking a lot about the role of public health in addressing the city's ills. First on her agenda - reaching the people she sees as the most vulnerable. (Cornish, 5/15)
The Associated Press:
NY Report Shows State Revenue Up $11.4B Last Year
New York received $48.6 billion in federal grants used primarily for Medicaid, homeland security and storm relief, public welfare and education. (5/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Doctor Convicted In Prescription Drug Sting
A southern California pain-management doctor who was featured in a 2012 Times investigation of patient overdose deaths was convicted Thursday of illegally prescribing narcotics and other commonly abused drugs. Dr. John Dimowo was convicted of seven counts of illegally writing prescriptions for Vicodin, Xanax and Adderall to undercover agents who pretended to be patients and had no legitimate need for the drugs. (Glover, 5/15)
The Washington Post:
How D.C. Pot Legalization Has Become ‘The Dealer-Protection Act Of 2015’
Not long ago, a man who had covertly dealt pot in the nation’s capital for three decades approached a young political operative at a birthday party in a downtown Washington steakhouse. He was about to test a fresh marketing strategy to take advantage of the District’s peculiar new marijuana law, which allows people to possess and privately consume the drug but provides them no way to legally buy it for recreational use. Those contradictions have created a surge in demand and new opportunities for illicit pot purveyors. (Cox, 5/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Doctor With Revoked License Continues To Sell Unproven Stem Cell Treatments
Last fall, two decades after Malibu psychiatrist William Rader began selling unproven stem cell treatments to desperate patients with incurable conditions, California authorities permanently revoked his medical license for negligence, false or misleading advertising and professional misconduct. "His dishonesty permeates every aspect of his business and practices," the medical board wrote in a scathing 39-page decision. (Zarembo, 5/16)