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Many Post-Pandemic Medicaid Disenrollments May Be Due to State Errors Federal officials have uncovered significant problems with the systems and procedures states have been employing to “unwind” Medicaid coverage protections put in place...

Nation’s First Lawsuit over Post-Pandemic Medicaid Terminations Three Florida residents have filed a lawsuit alleging health officials in that state aren’t notifying disabled and low-income residents about Medicaid redeterminations. The...

Lasting Health Policy Changes from Pandemic A number of health-related state policy changes made during the COVID-19 public health emergency appear likely to remain in place indefinitely. Over the past three years, hundreds of states have sought to...

Rise in Vaping-Related Nicotine Exposure Could Trigger More Regulation In spite of a 2016 federal law requiring child-resistant packaging on bottles of liquid nicotine used in e-cigarettes, or vapes, reported cases of vaping-related nicotine exposure...

WA Healthcare Facility Geofence Ban Takes Effect A new law ( HB 1155 ) took effect last week in Washington that, among other things, makes it illegal to set up a geofence around a healthcare facility. Supporters of the Washington My Health My Data Act...

U.S. Maternal Death Rates More Than Doubled in Recent Decades The maternal death rate in the United States more than doubled between 1999 and 2019—from 12.7 per 100,000 births to 32.2 per 100,000 births—according to a new study in the Journal...

Abortion-Related Medical Malpractice Suits Ahead? Doctors in states with new abortion restrictions who refuse to end the pregnancies of women whose health is at risk, out of fear of criminal prosecution, could soon be facing a different legal risk:...

CA Gov Wants $5B More for Mental Healthcare California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced his support for two bills that would add treatment beds for homeless people suffering from mental illness or substance abuse ( SB 326 ) and pay for that additional...

CT, NV Legislatures Pass Health Data Privacy Measures This month the legislatures of Connecticut ( SB 3 ) and Nevada ( SB 370 ) have both passed and sent to their respective governors measures aimed at protecting the privacy of consumer health data...

Court Allows Purdue Pharma to Shield Sacklers in Opioid Bankruptcy The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that members of the Sackler family who own bankrupt Oxycontin manufacturer Purdue Pharma could be shielded from current and...

State Lawmakers Seeking to Broaden Access to Mental Healthcare With over 1 in 5 U.S. adults and youths (13-18 years old) experiencing mental illness and cost keeping many of them from being able to access mental healthcare, state lawmakers are trying...

FL Enacts Prescription Drug Reform Law Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation ( SB 1550 ) aimed at curbing prescription drug prices. The measure codifies the governor’s actions last year restricting certain pharmacy benefit manager ...

No SCOTUS Ruling on Abortion Pill—Yet Access to the abortion pill mifepristone remained in place after the Supreme Court delayed issuing a decision on whether to restrict access to the drug after a federal judge in Texas ordered a hold on FDA...

WA Stockpiling Abortion Drug as ‘Insurance Policy’ Against Potential Court Ruling Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said he ordered the state’s Department of Corrections to purchase 30,000 doses of the abortion pill mifepristone last...

MS Gov Nixes Health Insurance Reform Bills Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) vetoed two health insurance reform measures that were passed by the Legislature with bipartisan support. One of the bills ( SB 2622 ) would have accelerated the prior authorization...

Walgreens Caught in Red-State, Blue-State Battle over Abortion Pills California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said last week that his state was cutting ties with Walgreens, including a $54 million contract to provide medications to inmates of the state’s...

Amazon Closes $3.9B One Medical Deal Amazon announced last week that it had closed its $3.9 billion deal to buy One Medical, furthering its efforts to expand its growing medical services business. The tech giant’s announcement came the day after...

CA to Consider $25 Minimum Wage for Healthcare Workers A bill introduced last week in California ( SB 525 ) would establish a statewide $25 minimum wage for healthcare workers and support staff. The bill would require healthcare facilities and home...

Flurry of Bills Targeting Vaccine Makers and Mandates: Already this year lawmakers in 18 states have introduced over 80 measures dealing with vaccine policy, according to Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law...

U.S. Hospital Use of Volunteers May Violate Federal Rules: Volunteer workers have become an integral part of the labor force at hospitals across the country. According to analysis of federal and other data by Kaiser Health News, hospitals may use over...

Hospitals Getting Creative to Mitigate Staffing Shortages With contract labor expenses up almost 500 percent from where they were before the pandemic, a growing number of hospital systems are creating in-house staffing systems to help them deal with...

Judge Blocks KS Law Banning Telemedicine Abortions A judge in Topeka, Kansas issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of a 2011 Kansas law banning telemedicine abortions on a women’s clinic in Wichita, pending a ruling in the associated...

Medical Bill Financing Adding to Patient Debt Hospitals and other healthcare providers have traditionally offered patients interest-free payment plans to help them manage their medical bills. But providers have increasingly been relying on payment plans...

CO Seeks to Reduce Healthcare Costs through Consumer Incentives Colorado has launched an initiative enabling employers in the state to band together to negotiate lower prices for health care. The program also allows employees that choose lower-cost...

Experts Say Shifting COVID-19 Coverage to Private Sector Poses Challenges Transitioning coverage of COVID-19 testing, treatment and vaccinations to commercial insurers poses significant challenges, according to experts gathered for a Kaiser Family Foundation...