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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: OneCare pushes back on bill that would require open meetings
Vermont’s largest health care organization is pushing back on a bill in the Senate that would require it to hold open meetings. The bill, S.4, would require OneCare Vermont, which is set up to become a regulated monopoly representing virtually all doctors in the state, to hold open meetings in most circumstances. The bill’s language is similar to the Vermont Open Meeting Law. That law requires public bodies, such as selectboards and legislative committees, to hold open meetings, with exceptions such as if the public body needs to discuss contracting or personnel issues. More »
VALLEY NEWS: Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Elliot Hospital end affiliation talks
Officials at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Elliot Health System said on Friday they had ended formal affiliation talks, a setback for the state’s only academic medical center as it seeks to establish a hub among the bigger cities of southern New Hampshire. “After due consideration and deliberation, both organizations have determined that we can best serve our respective missions by continuing to work collaboratively in selected areas rather than by entering into a more fully integrated relationship,” D-H CEO and President James Weinstein said in an email to employees at the Lebanon-based health system. More »
VTDIGGER: Telemedicine on the rise at Vermont hospitals
Hospital administrators say giving patients remote access to routine checkups and specialists can improve care and cut costs. The efforts come as a telemedicine bill, approved by the Senate Friday, aims to increase insurer reimbursement. More »
VTDIGGER: Senate OKs bill allowing doctors to eat conference food paid for by drug companies
The Vermont Senate gave preliminary approval Friday to a bill that would allow doctors and other health care providers to eat food paid for by pharmaceutical companies. The Senate approved S.45 in a voice vote, with a handful of voices dissenting. The bill is scheduled to be read the third time, and possibly passed, on Tuesday. The bill would then head to the House. If S.45 is approved by the Legislature, Vermont would adopt federal rules to allow doctors to eat food provided at conferences, but require pharmaceutical companies to report more free food as gifts, according to Sen. Debbie Ingram, D-Chittenden. More »
NATIONAL NEWS
NY TIMES: Trump Concedes Health Law Overhaul Is ‘Unbelievably Complex’
President Trump, meeting with the nation’s governors, conceded Monday that he had not been aware of the complexities of health care policy-making: “I have to tell you, it’s an unbelievably complex subject. Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.” The president also suggested that the struggle to replace the Affordable Care Act was creating a legislative logjam that could delay other parts of his political agenda. Many policy makers had anticipated the intricacies of changing the health care law, and Mr. Trump’s demands in the opening days of his administration to simultaneously repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement made the political calculations far more complicated. More »
WASHINGTON POST: House GOP plans to keep some Medicaid expansion - and steer money to states that never bought in
Congressional Republicans have been struggling for months to resolve one of the most vexing problems in their tortuous effort to replace the Affordable Care Act: What to do about the generous federal funding for states that broadened their Medicaid programs under the law, while not shortchanging the 19 states that balked at expansion? Now, as the House begins to hone details of its legislative proposal, a possible compromise has emerged. It would temporarily keep federal dollars flowing to cover almost the entire cost of the roughly 11 million Americans who have gained Medicaid coverage but would block that enhanced funding for any new participants. More »
MODERN HEALTHCARE: More than 65,000 providers are cut from Medicaid rolls in 15 states
A provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires providers to revalidate or recertify their Medicaid reimbursement eligibility has caused more than 65,000 providers to be stripped from the federal program, according to a Modern Healthcare analysis. Providers that enrolled in Medicaid before March 25, 2011, had to send in revalidation notices to the CMS on or before Sept. 25, 2016, or risk being dropped. The move was an effort to curb fraud, waste and abuse in the program. More »
NY TIMES: Deadly, drug-resistant ‘Superbugs’ pose huge threat, WHO says
The World Health Organization warned on Monday that a dozen antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” pose an enormous threat to human health, and urged hospital infection-control experts and pharmaceutical researchers to focus on fighting the most dangerous pathogens first. The rate at which new strains of drug-resistant bacteria have emerged in recent years, prompted by overuse of antibiotics in humans and livestock, terrifies public health experts. Many consider the new strains just as dangerous as emerging viruses like Zika or Ebola. More »
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