Category:

Nevada health officials are sending a message to federal agencies allocating COVID-19 vaccines to states: Show us your math...Questions have dogged state officials since Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showed Nevada consistently ranking near the bottom of national lists for both receiving vaccine doses and putting shots into arms...Each state’s vaccine allocation is purportedly proportional to its adult population, but officials have offered conflicting information on what year’s population numbers are being used...READ MORE

Washoe County Health District received doses from the same lot of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine that California health officials have recommended providers stop administering after several people in the state experienced apparent severe allergic reactions...The health district administered doses from the same lot Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, 041L20A, to about 770 people at its drive-thru point of dispensing vaccination site...None of those individuals have reported severe allergic reactions, and there were no issues reported from patients who used the 15- and 30-minute waiting lots, which are set up to ensure that patients don’t experience any allergic reactions before driving off, after receiving the vaccine...READ MORE

Sisolak, his staff, officials from various state agencies met with representatives of the Southern Nevada and Washoe County health districts...to address the concerns the local health officials had raised in a letter last week about being shut out of the governor’s decision making process for COVID-19 directives, according to a joint statement from Sisolak and the local health officials...In their original letter, health officials said they received less than a day’s notice that the governor would increase the state’s gathering limit from 50 to 250, and allow for even larger crowds for sporting events and other live entertainment, with approval from local authorities. The health districts added that their resources are already strained from responding to the pandemic, and expressed frustration with the state adding more responsibility to their plate without discussing the issue with them...READ MORE

The Patient Protection Commission plans to submit two bill draft requests to the 2021 Legislature that would expand access to telehealth services in Nevada and establish a state medical claims database...The two measures, however, are relatively narrow in scope compared to the broad mandate Gov. Steve Sisolak gave the body last year to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the state’s health care system and propose changes to it...The more controversial of the two proposals from the commission, centered around health care cost transparency, was significantly scaled back during the Monday meeting to establish an all-payer claims database, a state database that includes aggregated medical, pharmacy and dental claims from all insurance companies in an effort to better understand what’s driving the costs of health care in the state, in addition to some other transparency provisions...READ MORE

Amid a slew of cuts attempting to mitigate projected budget shortfalls in a state largely dependent on tourism and gaming for revenue, state employees are protesting proposed changes that would reduce health care coverage options provided by the state...The proposed cuts in the Nevada Public Employees' Benefits Program budget would reduce life insurance benefits from $25,000 for an active employee to $15,000 and from $12,500 for a retiree to $7,500, eliminate long-term disability insurance and lower Medicare Health Reimbursement Arrangement contributions from $13 to $11 a month per year of service. Though Gov. Steve Sisolak in his State of the State address touted only a 2 percent state budget cut, programs such as PEBP are feeling the cuts more deeply than others...READ MORE

Nevada launched an updated COVID-19 data dashboard...providing the public with more local data about the impact of the coronavirus...The dashboard contains county-level data about testing, cases, hospitalizations and deaths. For the first time, the data on the page can be downloaded...The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services compiles and updates the data daily. It can be accessed at nvhealthresponse.nv.gov...READ MORE

Nevada health officials said they would resume the use of rapid “point of care” tests after federal health officials chided them for banning their use and accused them of violating federal law...Dr. Ihsan Azzam, Nevada’s chief medical officer, doubled down on his insistence that too many questions remained about the accuracy of rapid antigen tests. He said his team was “disappointed” in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...“We are not saying the tests have no use, we are just saying pause for further review and additional training,”... Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told reporters that federal law prohibits states from imposing a ban like the one that Nevada health officials ordered Oct. 2. He said Nevada is the only state to do so...READ MORE

Gov. Steve Sisolak has asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to look into why Nevada is near the bottom of the list for the amount of COVID-19 vaccine it has been allocated per capita...“We need our fair share of vaccine doses to stand up and sustain successful vaccination efforts to reach Nevadans in an equitable fashion,” Sisolak wrote in a letter to acting Health and Human Services Secretary Norris Cochran, according to a news release on Monday. “Through this letter I am asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to look into why Nevada is so low on the allocation list, and more important, to find ways to increase our allocation both immediately and for the long term.”...READ MORE

• Pharmacists’ Vital Role in Influenza Immunization in Nevada
• Proposed Amendments to Existing Regulations Permitting Pharmaceutical Technicians to Administer Immunizations
• National Pharmacy Compliance News
• FDA Recommends Health Care Providers Discuss Naloxone With Patients Receiving Opioids, OUD Treatment
• Proposed Rule to Require Electronic Submission of DEA Form 106
• Inappropriate FentaNYL Patch Prescriptions at Discharge for Opioid-Naïve, Elderly Patients
• SAMHSA Health Privacy Rule Revised to Better Integrate, Coordinate Care for Patients With SUD

Nevada’s group health insurance program for state employees consistently failed to seek competitive bids on nearly $96 million worth of contracts over the past four fiscal years, according to a recent state audit that also found examples of “wasteful spending” and state policies not being followed...An audit report released last week by the Legislative Counsel Bureau’s Audit Division into the contract management practices of the Public Employees Benefits Program...found that leadership of the health insurance program consistently failed to follow state laws and policies requiring contracts be put out to bid every four years, choosing instead to extend contracts in violation of normal practices for state agencies...The audit also found PEBP management often privately negotiated contract extensions without putting them out to a competitive bid, including one instance where one under-performing vendor had a contract extended and scope expanded after PEBP staff took paid trips to their headquarters at an estimated cost of more than $7,000...READ MORE