State News

Many rural Montanans struggle with medical access, reports the Missoulian, with 15 Montana counties having no practicing physicians in 2014. More than a third of Montana's physicians are over the age of 60. As such, the Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana was eastablished to tackle this lack of providers in rural areas of the state, hoping to anchor physicians in Montana and get new doctors into the medical care pipeline as older ones retire. 

A certificate of need (CON) is a permit that healthcare organizations in Tennessee must obtain from the state before building, operating or offering one of 26 regulated facilities, technologies and services. Legislators are discussing whether small tweaks or a sweeping overhaul could help or harm a fragile health care system in which 12 rural hospitals have closed since 2013, according to Chattanooga Times Free Press. Proponents of the programs argue they're needed to ensure orderly growth and limit health care spending, because health care is unlike other goods and services. However, opponents believe removing the cumbersome regulation will free the healthcare industry, bringing more providers into the market to drive competition and lower costs. A legislator working group has relied on data, stakeholder input, expert testimonies and their past experience wrestling with the law as they weigh options for changes.

A Texas law that aims to protect patients from surprise medical bills has taken effect, according to The Texas Tribune. The legislation aims to remove patients from billing disputes between health insurance plans and healthcare providers. The protections apply to Texans with state-regulated health plans, which includes most state employees and public school teachers, people who purchase insurance through the ACA marketplace and some people who receive health insurance through their private employers. The new law bans balance billing for emergency care. In nonemergency situations, there is an exception that allows providers to charge balance bills to patients who intentionally seek out-of-network providers.  

Mental health centers in Kansas are forced to rely on out-of-state doctors willing to work remotely due to a shortage of mental health providers in certain areas of the state, according to KCUR. Like many states, Kansas is seeing an increase in patients seeking mental health treatment, but there aren’t enough doctors, nurses and therapists to treat them. Providers say the problem is worse in the state’s least-populated rural areas, where clinic jobs can stay open for years at a time. Only nine of 105 Kansas counties have enough psychiatrists and they are mostly in urban areas.

To be launched in 2020, the New York Governor's Office announced the creation of a consumer-friendly healthcare price comparions website, reports Becker's Hospital Review. The website, NYHealthcareCompare, will provide cost, quality and volume data, broken down by hospital, as well as educational information about financial assistance options and surprise billing. 

The Washington Health Care Authority (HCA) has finished a multi-year effort to integrate physical health, mental health and substance use disorder treatment services for nearly two million Apple Health (Washington Medicaid) recipients, according to a press release. Under the transformed system, managed care organizations are responsible for physical and behavioral health services for the Apple Health recipients they serve. Additionally, behavioral health administrative services organizations deliver crisis services that are available to all, and manage regional functions, such as employing an ombudsman and managing a community behavioral health advisory board. This effort is part of Washington’s value-based purchasing roadmap, in which HCA aims to shift 90 percent of state-financed healthcare to value-based payment by 2021.

The Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin health system implemented an AI-driven virtual triage tool that has, so far, redirected 30% of patients who initially sought high-cost forms of care to lower, condition-appropriate forms of care, according to Healthcare IT News. The system introduced this tool to better meet the needs of patients and staff, and report that 70% of people who engaged with the online assistant completed a full interview. 

Just days before changes were set to go into effect, UnitedHealthcare will no longer drop Alabama hospitals from its coverage plans for Mississippi Medicaid clients, according to News 5, WKRG. Earlier in 2019, the largest Medicaid provider in Mississippi, UnitedHealthcare, announced they were going to drop Alabama hospitals from its coverage plans in January 1, 2020, which would have affected hundreds of Medicaid members in South Mississippi who regularly go to Mobile, Alabama, for treatment. 

D.C.’s Commission on Healthcare Systems Transformation released a report including more than 42 recommendations to address the District’s healthcare delivery needs, according to the Office of the Mayor. The commission, which focuses on addressing current stresses in the D.C.’s healthcare system, is divided into six committees that examine and provide recommendations on: equitable geographic distribution of acute, urgent, and specialty care; overcrowding in emergency departments and the general reliance on inpatient hospital care; discharge planning and transitions of care; access to critical and urgent care services, specifically maternal, behavioral, and emergency services; allied healthcare professionals and workforce development; and value-based purchasing of healthcare services.