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State highlights: Baby boomers eye expanding end-of-life rights in states across nation; Calif. judges threaten governor with contempt of court over prison care

Claudia Burzichelli doesn't want to die like her dad. … In states across the country, including New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, graying baby boomers have been lobbying lawmakers in recent months at hearings, in letters and by phone, pushing to make it legal for doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients.

15 Apr 2013

Roundup: Minn. Democrats push pay hike for nursing home workers; Colo. official warns of possible exchange delays due to IT

A selection of health policy stories from Minnesota, Colorado, New York, Delaware, Georgia, Oregon, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Massachusetts and California.

11 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 10, 2013

Today's headlines include more details and analysis regarding President Barack Obama's budget plan and how it handles Medicare and other entitlement programs.

10 Apr 2013

St. Mary Medical Center completes expansion of Emergency Department and Trauma Center

St. Mary Medical Center has completed Phase 2 of its Emergency Department and Trauma Center expansion. To celebrate this event, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Tuesday, April 9, at 9 a.m., in the newly renovated Emergency Department.

10 Apr 2013

Study shows smoking and depression in adolescent girls have negative impact on bone mineral density

First-Time Study Shows Smoking and Depression in Adolescents have Negative Impact on Bone Mineral Density, say Investigators in the Journal of Adolescent Health

4 Apr 2013

Primary care providers need training to recognize early symptoms of psychosis

Primary care providers could help people with warning signs of psychosis get critical early treatment and potentially reduce the current burden on emergency departments and inpatient units, finds a study in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

24 Mar 2013

Calif. lawmaker pushes expanded role for mid-level health professionals to meet health law's demand

A series of proposed bills would widen how much care California's mid-level health workers could give to patients in order to meet the growing demand for health care services as the health law takes hold.

15 Mar 2013

Nurse practitioners juggle scope-of-practice issues with providing care

A study published last week, for instance, notes that although scope-of-practice laws might not restrict nurse pratitioners' ability to provide primary care, it does impact how they are paid.

5 Mar 2013

State roundup: Calif. opens prison psychiatric ward, hopes to shed fed oversight

Virginia is among the last states to begin dismantling its large institutions for the developmentally disabled, a decision that was made as part of a year-old settlement agreement with the Justice Department, which argued in a lawsuit that Virginia was discriminating against training center residents by keeping them institutionalized.

20 Feb 2013

First Edition: February 19, 2013

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jay Hancock, working in collaboration with The Philadelphia Inquirer, reports: "Computer mistakes like the one that produced incorrect prescriptions for thousands of Rhode Island patients are probably far more common and dangerous than the Obama administration wants you to believe, says Drexel University's Dr. Scot Silverstein."

19 Feb 2013

State roundup: Texas lawmakers ready health budget

Texas budget writers got a briefing on the state's health care programs Wednesday, and many of the biggest questions focused on how the state can reduce fraud and what to do about ever-increasing health care costs.

1 Feb 2013

First Edition: January 31, 2013

Today's headlines include reports on a new health law final rule issued by the Internal Revenue Service eligibility and affordability standards for insurance subsidies.

31 Jan 2013

State roundup: Fla. leaders pay less for coverage than workers

In statehouses around the country, some of the nation's biggest biotechnology companies are lobbying intensively to limit generic competition to their blockbuster drugs, potentially cutting into the billions of dollars in savings on drug costs contemplated in the federal health care overhaul law.

30 Jan 2013

Roundup: Texas Medicaid funding fight looms; Minn. facing federal Medicaid scrutiny; health care jobs 'boom'

If the Texas Legislature is in session, there must be a fight about Medicaid going on. The health care program for the disabled, the elderly poor and the impoverished raises hackles every two years, mostly because the number in need keeps rising alongside health care costs.

10 Dec 2012

Students from ASU graduate programs visit Africa to study health care and building design

Students from four of Arizona State University's graduate programs traveled to a country known as the Land of 1,000 Hills to study health care and building design in one of Africa's most impoverished areas.

1 Dec 2012

Roundup: 11% of Calif. children lack insurance; Conn. Medicaid overruns drive budget problems

Children in California are more likely to be uninsured than children nationwide, with 1.1 million lacking health coverage in 2011, according to a new study by the Keck School of Medicine of USC. About 11 percent of children lacked insurance last year -- and they were less likely to seek medical care than those with coverage, the authors reported. The study, released Wednesday by the California HealthCare Foundation, detailed children's insurance trends over a 10-year period.

16 Nov 2012

Viewpoints: Medicare provider cuts 'won't work'; A 'pamphlet isn't a plan'

Once the presidential election is over, Congress will try to address the Medicare cost shortfall one way or another. They will almost certainly consider a method that is guaranteed to fail: Medicare rate cuts for doctors and hospitals. It's been tried before, most notably as part of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. Not once since the BBA required annual physician rate cuts have those cuts been implemented, leading every year to the predictable and depressing final-hours "doc fix" vote.

26 Oct 2012

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announces winners of 2012 Community Health Leaders Award

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is proud to announce today the recipients of its 2012 Community Health Leaders Award, honoring 10 individuals who have surmounted significant challenges to help improve health and health care in their communities.

17 Oct 2012

Roundup: Calif. bans gay 'cure' for minors; Pittsburgh health system merger falls apart; Ariz. seeks federal approval to continue Medicaid program

California has become the first state to ban the use for minors of disputed therapies to "overcome" homosexuality, a step hailed by gay rights groups across the country that say the therapies have caused dangerous emotional harm to gay and lesbian teenagers.

2 Oct 2012

Simple survey can effectively identify women with ovarian cancer symptoms

A simple three-question paper-and-pencil survey, given to women in the doctor's office in less than two minutes, can effectively identify those who are experiencing symptoms that may indicate ovarian cancer, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

24 Sep 2012