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A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds the rise of STDs nationwide broke a new record for the fifth consecutive year...Nevada continues to top the list for the highest rate of primary and secondary syphilis...READ MORE

Nevada regulators are investigating marijuana testing laboratories to figure out how cannabis with exceedingly high levels of yeast and mold made it to store shelves, as well as for possibly doctoring THC levels to make cannabis products appear more potent to consumers...the state sent out a notice that several batches of marijuana flower and pre-rolls showed levels of yeast and mold that exceeded the state’s allowable limit after a secondary test. A follow-up test conducted by the state’s Department of Agriculture found that some of the products had yeast and mold levels of 390,000 colony-forming units per gram, which is nearly 40 times higher than the state’s legal threshold of 10,000 cfu/g...READ MORE

About five years ago, Nevada started taking high-profile steps toward tackling the opioid crisis. There were bills to curb doctor-shopping and over-prescribing in 2015 and 2017, a statewide opioid summit in 2016 and a cascade of lawsuits against opioid manufacturers from the state and local governments in the past few years...But has the growing awareness and response made a dent in the epidemic?...Scores of law enforcement, treatment professionals, elected officials and others gathered in Las Vegas this week for a two-day conference where they assessed progress and exchanged ideas on how to better tackle opioid abuse...Here are some takeaways from the event:...READ MORE

The health insurance company Anthem is making preparations to once again offer plans on the state exchange, a reversal of its decision to exit it two years ago over volatility in the individual health insurance marketplace...Health Plan of Nevada will continue to offer plans in just Clark, Washoe and Nye counties, while SilverSummit and Anthem will offer plans statewide...Anthem’s return would mean that rural Nevadans once again would have a choice of health insurance plans available to them on the state exchange...READ MORE

If Elko is one of the best places in frontier Nevada to have a medical emergency, Tonopah is one of the worst. The only hospital in the tiny town of 2,400 closed its doors four years ago, leaving the nearest emergency medical care an hour and a half drive away in Hawthorne or two hours away across the California border in Bishop...READ MORE

...Healthcare for Missouri’s efforts to put the issue of Medicaid expansion on the 2020 ballot has raised more than $1.3 million to start the campaign…The campaign is drawing support from those in the healthcare community...Some within the healthcare community in Nevada are also eager to get the question to Missouri’s voters. Regional Hospital Controller Dana White explained that NRMC (Nevada Regional Medical Center) is a Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH). “What that means is that we have a disproportionate share of self-pay, Medicare and Medicaid patients compared to other hospitals.” The hospital derives 75 percent of their revenue from those three sources. “I’m not an expert on Medicaid expansion, but I do know that it would help our hospital.”...Medicaid expansion would help them to stay healthy and be productive member of the community. That’s not specific to the hospital, that’s specific to the community as a whole.”...READ MORE

The Nevada Independent filed a lawsuit...against the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services seeking access to a number of records related to the state’s 2017 diabetes drug pricing transparency law...The Independent filed two records requests this year seeking copies of annual reports submitted by diabetes drug companies and the drug pricing middlemen who help sell them to the state…The annual reports are required to explain how and why a drug price spikes over time...But the state has denied much of both requests on the grounds that such information is exempt from state public records law because of a federal trade secret law...READ MORE

Becoming temporarily blind in 2015 was Robert Hoey’s wake-up call to take control of his Type 1 diabetes... Now he’s diligent in monitoring his glucose levels...Medicaid will only pay for him to receive 100 test strips a month, and Hoey typically uses anywhere from 180 to 210...he often purchases the remaining test strips he needs from what experts describe as a mostly unregulated — and potentially dangerous — gray market of entrepreneurs flipping pre-owned test strips...The chemical mixture on a test strip used to measure blood sugar can be damaged by heat or moisture. And unlike with licensed pharmacies, the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy does not regularly inspect flippers’ operations to ensure products are being properly stored. There’s also the potential of expired or counterfeit test strips being sold...READ MORE

The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services is threatening to levy roughly $20 million in fines on more than two dozen drug manufacturers that have yet to submit cost and profit reports to the state as required by a 2017 law aimed at better understanding the rising costs of treating diabetes...under Nevada law...companies can be assessed a fine of up to $5,000 a day for noncompliance. With 143 days since the manufacturer reports were due on April 1, each company that has yet to submit a report is facing a fine of up to $715,000...READ MORE

Chamber of commerce and trade association health plans are in legal limbo after a federal judge ruled earlier this year that the Trump administration rule allowing them violates the Affordable Care Act...Some associations in Nevada have stopped allowing new businesses into their health plans out of an abundance of caution as the case goes up on appeal, while others have chosen to press forward. The heterogeneous response is the result of the fact that the court’s decision only affects some association health plans and the state Division of Insurance, which oversees the plans, doesn’t know which ones those are...READ MORE