Top News

Doctors Group Tells Patients To Go For Cheaper, High-Value Treatments
NPR
The American College of Physicians is urging patients with newly diagnosed diabetes and back pain not to opt for the latest-and-supposedly-greatest. It's part of a new campaign to steer patients (and their doctors) to what the College of Physicians calls "high value care," and away from expensive tests and treatments that aren't any better — and often are worse. That may seem like common sense. But it's a departure, and maybe a surprise, to hear a mainline physician group name names when it comes to drugs that shouldn't be first choices — and even steer patients to non-physician competitors.

Estimates of Individuals with Pre-Existing Conditions Range from 36 Million to 122 Million
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Hypertension was the most commonly reported medical condition among adults that could result in a health insurer denying coverage, requiring higher-than-average premiums, or restricting coverage. GAO’s analysis found that about 33.2 million adults age 19-64 years old, or about 18 percent, reported hypertension in 2009. Individuals with hypertension reported average annual expenditures related to treating the condition of $650, but maximum reported expenditures were $61,540. Mental health disorders and diabetes were the second and third most commonly reported conditions among adults. Cancer was the condition with the highest average annual treatment expenditures—about $9,000.

If The Health Care Overhaul Goes Down, Could Medicare Follow?
NPR
A growing number of health experts are warning of potential collateral damage if the Supreme Court strikes down the entire 2010 Affordable Care Act: potential chaos in the Medicare program. "The Affordable Care Act has become part and parcel of the Medicare system, encouraging providers to deliver better, more integrated, better coordinated care, at lower cost," says Judy Feder, a public policy professor at Georgetown University and former Clinton administration health official. "To all of a sudden eliminate that would be highly disruptive." Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University, puts it a bit more bluntly: "We could find ourselves at kind of a grand stopping point for the entire health care system."

Stat of the Week

Survey: 1 in 3 kids hurt playing sports
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
About 1 in 3 kids who plays sports will need medical attention due to injuries sustained on the field or court, such as concussions, broken bones, and dehydration, a new survey shows. While some of these injuries can be serious, some easy-to-follow prevention tips including drinking enough water and wearing protective sports gear that fits appropriately can help children play it safe and still receive all the benefits of regular sports and physical activity. The new survey was commissioned by Safe Kids Worldwide and Johnson & Johnson. It includes data on sports injuries and attitudes about prevention from 516 children ages 8-18 who played several sports, as well as 750 parents and 752 coaches.

Health and Human Services

(AL) Alabama Legislature 2012: Panel to review cigarette tax plans
The Birmingham News
Proposals that would raise taxes or user fees on cigarettes by $1 per pack are set for discussion in a legislative committee Wednesday. Each plan would raise an estimated $227.5 million a year for the state General Fund, according to the Legislative Fiscal Office. Rep. Joe Hubbard, D-Montgomery, said the threat of deep cuts in state funding for Medicaid, which provides health care for more than 900,000 low-income and disabled Alabamians, could stir support for raising revenue by boosting the cost of cigarettes, something two bills he has sponsored would do. Under the House-passed state operating budget for next year, Medicaid would get $400 million from the General Fund, a major source of money for non-education services, a cut of $175.4 million, 30.5 percent, from its General Fund money for this year.

(AR) Lower Federal Funding To Lead To Cuts In State Child Abuse Programs
TalkBusiness
The Arkansas Department of Human Services announced it will cut $2.2 million from programs related to preventing child abuse due to a reduction in federal funding. The cuts are expected to occur on July 1, 2012 and are a result of lower funding for the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. DHS plans to eliminate the Human Services Workers in Schools Program, which last fiscal year placed workers in 27 school districts and served 15,429 students. The program provides student and family counseling, parent training, crisis intervention and other services to lessen the strain on families and reduce the likelihood of abuse or neglect.

(FL) Court Rules Florida Governor’s Drug-Testing Order Unconstitutional
The New York Times
A Miami federal court on Thursday ruled that Gov. Rick Scott’s order to randomly drug test state employees is unconstitutional, saying there is not a compelling enough reason to do so.  In her ruling, Federal District Judge Ursula Ungaro said the governor’s policy constituted an unreasonable search and seizure and must be stopped. Last March, Mr. Scott, a former health care executive, ordered random drug testing for about 80,000 state employees who work for the 15 agencies that report to him. He suspended the testing in June because of the lawsuit. Judge Ungaro said Mr. Scott had overreached in his executive order because there was no evidence of a large-scale problem and no reason to mandate drug tests.

(LA) Health proposal advances in Senate
The Advocate
A Louisiana Senate committee defied the Jindal administration and advanced legislation Wednesday to organize an exchange to help facilitate the purchase and sale of health-care insurance under the new federal law. The Senate Insurance Committee voted to 6-2 to send Senate Bill 744 to the Senate floor for debate. Louisiana is one of a handful of states that has refused to set up a health insurance exchange. The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires states to either join a federal exchange, a website where people without health insurance could go to find and compare policies, or set up one on its own.

(NC) Tax breaks save nonprofits millions
The News & Observer
All but eight of North Carolina’s general hospitals are nonprofits. That means they pay no state or federal income taxes and no real estate taxes on hospital-related properties. They also get a full rebate from the state for all sales taxes they have paid. Collectively, those tax breaks save them hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Contrary to what the name suggests, most nonprofit hospitals bring in more money than they spend. They’re required to put the extra money back into their operations. In exchange for their tax exemptions, nonprofit hospitals are expected to provide benefits to the communities they serve. Federal rules don’t spell out precisely what benefits hospitals must provide. Some states do provide guidelines, but North Carolina does not.

(TN) Lawmakers wrangle over drug-testing of welfare recipients
The Tennessean
With the 2012 legislative session winding down, lawmakers on Wednesday scrambled to tune up a proposal requiring drug testing of welfare applicants so it doesn’t run afoul of the Constitution. Members of the Senate Finance Committee wanted to know whether all recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds would be required to take drug tests. The sponsor of SB 2580, Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, said they would, prompting his peers to debate an amendment to require testing of only those recipients who raise a reasonable suspicion of using drugs. In that scenario, prior drug or alcohol-related arrests or convictions, or previous drug test failures, would prompt testing. Campfield said 58,000 low-income Tennesseans would be tested, according to a legislative analysis, which he said estimated that 10 percent would fail a drug test. The state would pay $400,000 a year to run a testing program while saving almost $1.8 million by withholding benefits from people who fail, creating an annual gain to the state of about $1.4 million.

(TX) Program gives low income kids an early boost
The Houston Chronicle
When curious children at the Waltrip High School Child Development Center discover a brown fuzzy insect in the grassy play area, teacher Michelle Bigley turns what could have been a frightening experience into an impromptu science lesson. Bigley places the Woolly Bear caterpillar into a clear container and takes her 3- and 4-year-old students to a child-sized picnic table, where she shares some information about its life cycle and lets them take turns holding it. This type of child-directed learning experience is common at child care centers that participate in United Way's Bright Beginnings program. Launched in 2002 in partnership with Exxon Mobil Corp., the program promotes high-quality care and early education for low-income children.

Public Safety

(AL) Meth bill restricts allergy, cold meds
The Montgomery Advertiser
The Alabama Legislature has passed a bill designed to fight the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine by restricting where cold and allergy medicine containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine may be sold. The bill passed the House 101-1 last month and the Senate 27-4 on Thursday. It now goes to Gov. Robert Bentley. The bill is the latest of several passed in recent years to try to slow down meth production. According to national crime statistics, Alabama police found 665 locations where meth was being made in 2010.

(AL) The Criminalization of Bad Mothers
The New York Times
There have been approximately 60 chemical-endangerment prosecutions of new mothers in Alabama since 2006, the year the statute was enacted. Originally created to protect children from potentially explosive meth labs, Alabama’s chemical-endangerment law prohibits a “responsible person” from “exposing a child to an environment in which he or she . . . knowingly, recklessly or intentionally causes or permits a child to be exposed to, to ingest or inhale, or to have contact with a controlled substance, chemical substance or drug paraphernalia.” Criminal convictions of women for their newborns’ positive drug tests are rare in other states, lawyers familiar with these cases say. In most places, maternal drug use is considered a matter for child protective services, not for law enforcement.

(FL) Leaders to battle issue of babies born addicted to pills
The Orlando Sentinel
Florida officials are setting their sights on what they say is the next big problem in the war on prescription drugs – babies. Attorney General Pam Bondi and other state policymakers are trying to figure out how to deal with babies born addicted to dangerous drugs like oxycodone. Florida over the past few years found itself at the forefront of the prescription drug epidemic, with nine people a day dying from abusing pills, according to a 2009 FDLE report. The Legislature passed a number of restrictions on pain clinics but health officials noted the problem of drug-addicted newborns remained. There was little data available and no knowledge of what the long-term impact would be on these children.

(FL) Florida counties challenge costs of juvenile detention  
Miami Herald
An administrative law judge Monday will hear arguments in part of a wide-ranging dispute about whether the state is forcing counties to pick up too much of the cost of juvenile detention. Okaloosa and Nassau counties are challenging the way the Department of Juvenile Justice is carrying out a law that requires counties to pay detention costs before court "disposition" of juveniles' cases. The challenge to Department of Juvenile Justice rules is part of a string of related legal disputes involving at least 10 counties --- and deals with issues that the Florida Association of Counties says have long been a priority for its members. The issue, which stems from a 2004 law, involves complicated questions about how much of the detention tab counties should pay.

(KY) Drug Database Dilemma
Stateline
Dr. Shawn Jones, an ear, nose and throat surgeon in Paducah, Kentucky, was conducting a routine office appointment when he got a phone call from a worried pharmacist. The pharmacist had just received a prescription from Jones for 90 Percocet pain pills, an unusually large order for a doctor who rarely prescribes more than 20 pills at one time. Jones asked the pharmacist to fax over the prescription, and he immediately recognized it as a forgery. Under Kentucky’s current prescription drug laws, only a vigilant pharmacist could have stopped these fraudulent prescriptions. The regulations don’t allow physicians to monitor their own prescribing habits to check for fraud, and the Kentucky board of medical licensure can look up a prescribing record only if a formal complaint against a physician is filed. That will change under new legislation passed last week in a special session. To deal with the growing problem of prescription drug abuse, Kentucky legislators enacted tougher regulations on doctors and pain management clinics. The law mandates that all physicians and pharmacists who prescribe schedule II and III drugs, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, check the patient’s prescription record before writing or filling a prescription. They also have to register prescriptions for those drugs in a state database within 24 hours of writing or filling the prescription.

(LA) House panel OKs tougher DWI bill
The Advocate
Those arrested for drunken driving could still get their licenses suspended, even if they are found not guilty or plead to a lesser offense, under legislation that cleared a state House panel Tuesday. The Louisiana House Transportation committee voted 11-4 to approve the Jindal administration-backed measure. Gov. Bobby Jindal’s policy adviser, Stafford Palmieri, said the legislation is designed to close “a loophole” in current law that’s created because of the dual administrative and criminal tracks DWI offenses go down. An individual today can get his DWI offense reduced or thrown out in the criminal arena and “use that to get their license back through the administrative track as well,” Palmieri said. “It gets people back on the road before they are potentially ready to be back on the road ... especially if they refuse the breath test.”

(TX) Perry touts human-trafficking measures
The Houston Chronicle
Gov. Rick Perry has ceremonially signed two bills taking aim at human trafficking. The bills were Senate Bill 24 by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, and HB3000 by Thompson. Perry said the legislation “gives a voice to the voiceless” while striking out at those who engage in human trafficking, which the governor described as “modern-day slavery.” Perry said SB 24 puts into law recommendations from Attorney General Greg Abbott’s human-trafficking task force to make prosecution easier and expand penalties, while HB 3000 creates a “super first-degree felony” for those charged with continuous human trafficking, subjecting them to additional sentencing.

(WV) Kanawha juvenile drug court follows in adult footsteps
The Gazette
Judicial officials passed another milestone Tuesday in a burgeoning statewide effort to establish a system of treatment court programs by cutting the ribbon for Kanawha County's juvenile drug court. Drug courts, both adult and juvenile, act as avenues for people who face low-level criminal charges to obtain treatment and counseling instead of prosecution. Kanawha County joins the ranks of just a handful of other counties to implement a similar program for juveniles. The county's adult drug court program opened in May 2009. Enrollees are generally required to attend court sessions at least once a week, submit to drug screens and attend support group meetings, among other actions.

(WV) State ends solitary confinement for juveniles
The Gazette
West Virginia has stopped using solitary confinement to punish juvenile offenders in response to a lawsuit by two inmates at Industrial Home for Youth in Salem. Division of Juvenile Services director Dale Humphreys says that he ordered an end to the practice this week. The order came after the inmates' lawyers contacted the agency last week. Mountain State Justice filed the lawsuit Tuesday with the state Supreme Court. The lawsuit claims inmates are illegally placed in solitary confinement, denied adequate access to exercise and educational materials, and strip searched.

U.S. & World News

Debt Collector Is Faulted for Tough Tactics in Hospitals
The New York Times
Hospital patients waiting in an emergency room or convalescing after surgery are being confronted by an unexpected visitor: a debt collector at bedside. This and other aggressive tactics by one of the nation’s largest collectors of medical debts, Accretive Health, were revealed on Tuesday by the Minnesota attorney general, raising concerns that such practices have become common at hospitals across the country. The tactics, like embedding debt collectors as employees in emergency rooms and demanding that patients pay before receiving treatment, were outlined in hundreds of company documents released by the attorney general. And they cast a spotlight on the increasingly desperate strategies among hospitals to recoup payments as their unpaid debts mount.

US: Mexico seized 68,000 guns from US since 2006
The Houston Chronicle
The government said Thursday that 68,000 guns recovered by Mexican authorities in the past five years have been traced back to the United States. The flood of tens of thousands of weapons underscores complaints from Mexico that the U.S. is responsible for arming the drug cartels plaguing its southern neighbor. Six years of violence between warring cartels have killed more than 47,000 people in Mexico. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives released its latest data covering 2007 through 2011. According to ATF, many of the guns seized in Mexico and submitted to ATF for tracing were recovered at the scenes of cartel shootings while others were seized in raids on illegal arms caches. All the recovered weapons were suspected of being used in crimes in Mexico.

On renewal of Violence Against Women Act, Senate Democrats have upper hand
The Christian Science Monitor
In an election year, everything Congress touches gets an extra jolt of politics. And so it is with the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which funds programs addressing domestic abuse. Reauthorization is proving more difficult than usual. In the bill’s proposed new version, Senate Democrats have added provisions to help gays and lesbians, make available more temporary visas for battered women in the country illegally, and offer more protection for native American women. Some Senate Republicans complain that this expansion needlessly gets into controversial social issues.

States Consider Limiting Patient Costs For Physical, Speech, Occupational Therapy
Kaiser Health News
Should a physical therapy session cost a patient as much as a visit to a neurosurgeon or other specialist? Therapists think not. They are backing proposals in several states to limit the amount insurers can require patients to pay for physical, occupational or speech therapy. Legislation is pending in Pennsylvania, Missouri and New York.  Lawmakers in South Dakota and Kentucky have already passed measures. While the proposals vary, the majority would require insurers to make patient co-payments no more for a therapy session than an office visit to a primary care doctor. In the case of physical therapy, a growing number of insurers and employers classify those visits as specialty care, so patients generally pay a higher copayment, often the same amount as for a visit to a specialist, such as a surgeon, neurologist or cardiologist.

Mortality rates still too high for world's teens
CNN
It's known as the "youth bulge" - a decrease in child mortality rates leading to the largest generation of adolescents in history: 1.2 billion to be exact. As many of those teens face poverty, natural disasters and wars in addition to overwhelming physical and emotional changes, researchers worry about the lack of available health resources. "The high income world has been grappling with a rising tide of risks for non-communicable diseases, including the problems of obesity, physical inactivity, alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use," write the authors of a paper published in The Lancet this week. "That tide is now overwhelming many [lower-to-middle-income countries] who have yet to bring in measures to control the problems of injury, infectious disease and maternal mortality in this young age group.” Adolescent is defined by researchers as those aged 10 to 19, due to growing trends in the earlier onset of puberty and delayed transition into adult roles.

First-time post-cancer guidelines unveiled
CNN
For the first time, the American Cancer Society on Thursday published formal guidelines for cancer survivors, focusing on the health benefits of maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, and eating a healthy diet. The guidelines are published online in CA: Cancer Journal for Clinicians. While previous information has been published regarding the benefits of healthy weight, exercise and eating, this report is based on the growing body of data developed from studying cancer survivors

Checks In The Mail: Millions Expected To Receive Insurance Rebates Totaling $1.3 Billion
Kaiser Health News
Millions of consumers and small businesses will receive an estimated $1.3 billion in rebates from their health plans this summer under a provision of the health care law that effectively limits what insurers can charge for administration and profits, a new study projects. Almost one third of people who bought their own insurance last year will get rebates averaging $127, according to an analysis of state data by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. 

Burger King makes cage-free promise
The Gazette
The movement by U.S. food corporations toward more humane treatment of animals experienced a whopper of a shift Wednesday when Burger King announced that all of its eggs and pork will come from cage-free chickens and pigs by 2017. The decision by the world's second-biggest fast-food restaurant raises the bar for other companies seeking to appeal to the rising consumer demand for more humanely produced fare.

More News

(AR) UAMS patient financial data released by mistake
(FL) Tampa may seek Gov. Rick Scott's help keeping guns away from RNC protests
(FL) Gov. Rick Scott’s task force to explore Stand Your Ground laws dominated by lawmakers who support gun rights
(GA) State tries to fix worker insurance plan shortfall
(KY) Fairview, other Kentucky community health centers rank low
(KY) Beshear signs prescription drug legislation
(KY) Many questions, few answers at Lexington meeting about program for ex-felons
(LA) Senate panel votes down self-defense bill
(LA) Home monitoring measure shelved
(LA) Sex education bill fails
(MO) Missouri House moves to prevent federal health care overhaul
(MS) Mississippi 7th-graders will need vaccine
(NC) Campbell medical school gets go ahead, hopes to address physician shortfall
(NC) Big money, TV ads put dental bill in the spotlight
(NC) Most N.C. hospitals are slim on charity care
(NC) Despite tax breaks, some NC hospitals deny care to poor
(NC) Hospitals’ clout in capital built with money, contacts
(SC) Money could help cancer screenings, but at a price to other S.C. health program
(SC) Mom succeeding in crusade for experimental Medicaid program
(SC) SC would not pay for abortions in rape, incest
(TN) Nashville launches online tool to assist residents during disaster
(TN) TN, other states push for abortion restrictions
(TX) Medicare overpaid bonuses to doctors for years
(VA) McDonnell's abortion stance is scrutinized
(WV) Charleston’s air improves – but problems persist