State News

Researchers found that spending on public health significantly reduced the maternal mortality rate (MMR) among black mothers and narrowed black-white outcome disparities in Florida, according to Milbank Quarterly. U.S. MMRs reveal considerable racial disparities and exceed those of other developed countries. Moreover, while worldwide MMRs have dropped sharply since the 1990s, the U.S. MMR appears to be rising.

A newly implemented California law limits what consumers owe if they’re transported by an out-of-network air ambulance to what they would pay an in-network provider, reports Kaiser Health News. However, the law won’t protect approximately 6 million consumers whose health plans aren’t regulated by the state, such as self-funded employer-sponsored plans regulated by the federal government. Additionally, federal law prohibits states from regulating the “rates, routes or services” of air carriers, including air ambulances. It is unclear whether California’s law, which doesn’t spell out a payment rate for a health plan, would be preempted by federal law if challenged in court.

Since Keshee Dozier-Smith took over Rural Health Medical Program four years ago, the company has opened three new clinics in Alabama, according to AL.com. This group of South Alabama community health clinics serve some of the state's poorest and most rural communities. Thirteen Alabama hospitals have closed since 2011, with more than half of those once serving rural populations, and of the rural Alabama hospitals still open, almost 90% operate in the red. Dozier-Smith and Rural Health Medical Program provide an example of how to assuage the health access issues impacting rural America. 

California’s governor unveiled a proposal to make California the first state to sell its own generic prescription drugs to increase competition in the state's generic drug market, according to Advisory Board. The governor also proposed establishing a single market for drug pricing in California, among other strategies to lower costs. Health policy experts believe that California is ripe for testing these concepts at a government level, but California's Legislature will have to approve the proposals before the state can implement them.

Telehealth giant, Teladoc Health, has announced plans to purchase InTouch Health, a telehealth company that serves the provider market, for $600 million, Crain's New York reports. Through the acquisition, Teladoc plans to create a virtual-care solution that spans provider-to-provider telehealth capabilities for inpatient care, as well as consumer-to-provider applications for outside hospitals. Teladoc has spent millions on acquisitions in recent years, reflecting consolidation that's affecting all of healthcare, including the telehealth sector. 

The New Hampshire Insurance Department intends to file a Section 1332 State Relief and Empowerment Waiver application with the federal government to promote stability in the state's individual health insurance market with an expectation that plan year 2021 premiums will be reduced by approximately 15% over whet they would have been otherwise, according to the Office of the Governor. The waiver would create a state-based reinsurance program, allowing New Hampshire to receive what is known as federal "pass-through" funding - the equivalent of what the federal government is estimated to save in premium subsidy payments to New Hampshire residents as a result of the program. 

In Colorado, the averae deductible in 2017 was nearly $5,800 for a bronze-level plan, and according to an analysis by the Colorado Center on Law & Policy, 1 in 4 Coloradans wouldn't be able to afford to pay the deductible over the course of a year, according to Kaiser Health News. Rural and lower-income Coloradans are increasingly likely to be unable to afford a high deductible. As such, rural residents who are transferred from smaller, rural hospitals to larger hospitals with a higher level of care may never end up paying their bills at the first hospital. While Colordo has avoided the rural hospital closures that have plagued other states, 22 rural Colorado hospitals have operated in the red in 2019. 

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case that could decide the validity of at least 38 states’ laws regulating how companies like Express Scripts and CVS Health make money off prescription drugs, reports Bloomberg Law. The justices agreed January 10 to take a case asking whether an Arkansas law regulating pharmacy benefit managers is preempted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, a trade group representing PBMs, successfully challenged the law on ERISA preemption grounds in the Eighth Circuit. The court’s decision to hear the case came at the urging of U.S. Solicitor General, who argued that the Arkansas law doesn’t reference ERISA plans or have an impermissible connection with them.

Two of New Hampshire's largest healthcare providers say they need to merge to gain access to more patients, protect the state's only academic medical center and support the state's struggling rural hospitals, according to U.S. News. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health is seeking to combine with Manchester's Catholic Medical Center. However, concerns over consolidation in the state have been raised.