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Nevada may have lost more than $2.1 million because of overbilling, fraud and overall lack of oversight of the same community homes that were found earlier this year to be providing squalid living conditions to the state’s most vulnerable residents...the state’s Division of Public and Behavioral Health likely lost up to $1.5 million in possible overpayments because of overbilling from providers of so-called community-based living arrangement homes for people with mental illnesses — and lost another $600,000 because of a discrepancy in rates paid for similar services...The financial audit...identified various questionable and potentially fraudulent billing practices by those operating the homes, including billing more hours than those recorded on time sheets, reporting serving more than one client at the same time, charging for duplicative services and paying different rates for similar services from various providers...

...Mesa View Regional Hospital closed its labor and delivery unit last week...The hospital’s labor unit and nursery closed...despite a 2002 development agreement under which the city provided the land for the hospital for $1 in exchange for it providing a list of services, obstetrics included...Since the closure, moms-to-be must now travel to deliver their babies in a hospital, either to St. George, Utah, about 40 miles northeast, or to a hospital in Las Vegas, 82 miles southwest...Mesquite residents...voiced concerns at...a...City Council meeting, saying that the closure of the town’s labor and delivery unit would drive out young families and keep new ones from moving to a city where more than half of the residents are over 50...Mesa View’s new CEO Ned Hill announced the closure, saying demand is “simply not there.”...deliveries at Mesa View have decreased by 74 percent in the last decade, dwindling to 63 in 2017...“Discontinuing elective deliveries will allow our hospital to continue building up the services most needed in our community,” Hill said, adding that the hospital hired five new practitioners in other specialties with the money saved from the closure...Rural hospitals nationwide are shutting down their obstetrics units...7.2 percent of rural hospitals ditched obstetric care between 2010 and 2014...

The Nevada Supreme Court is considering whether to put the brakes on oral arguments slated later this week on a bid by the state to resume planning the twice-postponed lethal injection of an inmate who says he wants to die...The high court called for a written response by Tuesday from state attorneys after pharmaceutical firms said there's no need to rush...The state attorney general's office has argued that unless the Supreme Court rules by mid-October whether the execution can proceed, some drugs will expire.

Nevada Medicaid will reverse its decision to require prior authorization for mental health services after providers and patients raised concerns that the policy change could delay treatment...The Division of Health Care Financing and Policy will hold a public hearing in October to rescind prior authorization requirements for psychotherapy and neurotherapy services, including “talk therapy” and biofeedback. Medicaid behavioral health supervisor Alexis Tucey announced the change Tuesday at a public workshop in Las Vegas...The policy approved in August will still take effect Oct. 1, giving providers five sessions with a patient before they are required to submit additional documentation to the state Medicaid office...The change came as a relief to providers who were worried they would have to stop seeing patients while waiting for approval of additional sessions or risk denial of payment by continuing to see clients to avoid disruption in care...

A political action committee backed by the national pharmaceutical lobby is again getting directly involved in key legislative races...The Healthy Nevada PAC — almost entirely funded by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA — is running a series of ads on Facebook boosting nine Republican and Democratic legislative candidates with slightly more than a week to go before the start of early voting. The group ran a series of similar ads on Facebook ahead of the state’s June primary election...The ads appear on a page called “Healthy Choice for Nevada” and include no mention of health care or drug pricing issues on the corresponding ad text...PhRMA spokeswoman Priscilla VanderVeer said the group is focused on supporting candidates willing to work with them on healthcare and medicine cost issues...

The expansion of Medicaid in Nevada in 2014 made mental health care much more widely available in a state ranked last in the nation for access to such services. It also provided a great opportunity for bad actors...catching those who abuse the Medicaid system is a tortuous process that can either come too late or result in relatively minor penalties...fraudsters are undoubtedly adding to the $56 million deficit Nevada Medicaid predicts it will face in the 2019 fiscal year, up from last year’s $30 million forecast at this time...The Medicaid expansion has certainly “exacerbated” the problem of fraudulent or improper claims in the field of behavioral health...Suspicious claims from mental health providers led Nevada Medicaid to investigate $73 million paid out in the 2018 fiscal year...So far, about $10 million — or 13 percent — has been recovered...

The Reno and Sparks Chamber of Commerce announced...will begin offering an association health plan to its small business members in partnership with Prominence Health Plan, following in the footsteps of four other chambers of commerce in Southern Nevada that unveiled similar plans with other insurance companies last month...Small businesses that are members of the chamber will be able to purchase medical coverage through Prominence and dental, vision and life insurance through Kansas City Life...The Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Clark County Health Plan Association, a partnership of three smaller Southern Nevada chambers, each announced plans last month to begin offering association health plans to their members in the wake of a rule released by the Department of Labor in June loosening the rules on such plans. The new rule exempts association health plans from providing the essential health benefits required under the Affordable Care Act, eliminates restrictions based on geography and allows companies in different industries in the same region to provide coverage together...

• Assembly Bill 474
• National Pharmacy Compliance News
• FDA Issues Final Guidance Policy on Outsourcing Facilities
• EU-US Mutual Recognition Agreement Now Operational Between FDA and 12 Member States
• US Surgeon General Advisory Urges More Individuals to Carry Naloxone
• Expanding Pharmacists’ Scope of Practice Linked to Improved Cardiovascular Outcomes
• Pharmacists Are Critical to Drug Supply Chain Integrity, States FIP
• Emergency Department Visits for Opioid Overdoses Rose 30%

Despite improvements in several areas, Nevada is once again listed at the bottom of a new national health care ranking...Nevada ranked 50th nationwide in a review of more than 100 population-level and patient-level measures published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Only the District of Columbia scored lower overall than the Silver State...“There (are) actually areas where Nevada does fairly well — chronic disease care, diabetes, heart failure, stroke...Access to care remains a big problem. Nevada’s physician workforce hasn’t kept up with the state’s ballooning population, causing a doctor shortage...issues in accessing care, including getting an appointment with a primary care physician, having enough time in a doctor’s office and finding a specialist.

Nevada's prisons pharmacy chief says she ordered and obtained lethal injection drugs this year despite knowing drug manufacturers didn't want their products used for executions...Linda Fox's drug purchases allowed Nevada to plan its first execution since 2006 using a never-before-tried three-drug combination...She testified...that she didn't specify the end use when she obtained medications from a third-party supplier, not the drug makers...Fox was pressed by lawyers representing drug companies a day after the state's prisons chief provided sworn testimony about having trouble obtaining drugs for executions...