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In The News is a concise digest of health care news in Vermont and the nation. VMS is not responsible for the content of the articles.
VERMONT NEWS
VTDIGGER: Maple Leaf closure leaves doctors, state scrambling to help patients
The decision to cease operating drug treatment programs at one of the state’s key centers has left doctors and state officials scrambling to help patients left in the lurch. Close to 160 opioid-dependent patients receiving buprenorphine and counseling through Maple Leaf Associates outpatient services, known as the Bridge program, will now need to make other arrangements to continue their medication and therapy. More »
SEVEN DAYS: Bill seeks information on why Vermonters take their lives
Ten members of the Vermont House have introduced a bill intended to get to the root of why people take their own lives. H.184 would require the Department of Mental Health to issue a report to the Legislature every year describing why suicides happen and recommending ways to prevent them.
https://vtdigger.org/2017/02/05/bill-seeks-information-vermonters-take-lives/
SEVEN DAYS: Vermont Health Department: 2016 Was a Record Year for Opiate Deaths
More people died of opiate overdoses in Vermont in 2016 than any other year, according to a Health Department report released Wednesday. The preliminary report shows that 105 people died from opiate overdoses, up from 75 in 2015. More »
VTDIGGER: State enters $93 million “pilot” program for Medicaid care
Gov. Phil Scott has announced that the state is moving forward with the next steps to set up the all-payer health care model started by his predecessor two years ago. Scott said Wednesday that the state has entered into a contract with the accountable care organization known as OneCare Vermont to have its doctors look after 30,000 Medicaid patients. The contract will pay OneCare, which is jointly owned by the University of Vermont Medical Center and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, monthly fees totaling $93 million in calendar year 2017. More »
NATIONAL NEWS
NY TIMES: Republicans, Aiming to Kill Health Law, Also Work to Shore It Up
After denouncing the Affordable Care Act as an abomination for seven years, Republicans in Congress, working with the Trump administration, are urgently seeking ways to shore up health insurance marketplaces created by the law. The administration is poised to issue a proposed regulation to try to stabilize insurance markets, and House Republicans are drafting legislation with a similar purpose. The regulation and the bills are intended to hold down insurance premiums and to lure insurers back into the public marketplaces from which they have withdrawn in the past couple of years. More »
MODERN HEALTHCARE: Trump's travel ban sows uncertainty for healthcare and medicine
Physician and scientists say Trump's travel restrictions targeting seven Muslim-majority countries could undermine the flow of immigrants the U.S. relies on to fill vital positions and maintain its edge in biomedical innovation. Few U.S. industries have benefited more from immigration than healthcare, where foreign-born individuals accounted for 16% of its more than 14 million workers in 2015, according to figures provided by the Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason. More »
WASHINGTON POST: More than 350 organizations write Trump to endorse current vaccines’ safety
More than 350 organizations, including leading U.S. medical, advocacy and professional organizations, have sent a letter to President Trump expressing their “unequivocal support for the safety of vaccines.” The effort, organized by the American Academy of Pediatrics, reflects the growing alarm among a wide array of groups over Trump’s embrace of discredited claims about vaccine safety. More »
KAISER HEALTH NEWS: New federal rules will require home health agencies to do much more for patients
Home health agencies will be required to become more responsive to patients and their caregivers under the first major overhaul of rules governing these organizations in almost 30 years. The federal regulations, published last month, specify the conditions under which 12,600 home health agencies can participate in Medicare and Medicaid, serving more than 5 million seniors and younger adults with disabilities through these government programs. Home health agencies also will be expected to coordinate all the services that patients receive and ensure that treatment regimens are explained clearly and in a timely fashion. More »
NY TIMES: Judge, citing harm to customers, blocks $48 billion Anthem-Cigna merger
A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a proposed $48 billion merger of Anthem and Cigna, derailing another effort by top health insurers to reshape the industry by combining. The ruling, by Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, came two weeks after another federal judge blocked a proposed $37 billion merger between Aetna and Humana on antitrust grounds. More »
NY TIMES: Tom Price is confirmed as Health Secretary
The Senate early Friday approved the nomination of Representative Tom Price to be secretary of health and human services, putting him in charge of President Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. By a vote of 52 to 47, the Senate confirmed Mr. Price, Republican of Georgia, after a debate that focused as much on his ethics and investments as on his views on health policy. More »
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