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The Division of Insurance has announced that Nevada’s insurance carriers that participate in the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange have decided to only offer coverage to Clark, Washoe, and Nye counties beginning in 2018...Currently three medical carriers offer plans on Nevada Health Link:

• Anthem (The only insurance company currently selling statewide)
• Health Plan of Nevada
• Prominence Health Plan

But some changes are coming as of January 1, 2018.

• Anthem & Health Plan of Nevada will only be offering coverage in Washoe, Clark, and Nye Counties.
• Prominence Health Plan announced this week that they will be pulling out of the Nevada Exchange market.
• Two new companies, Aetna and Centene will be joining the exchange market but according to the Division of Insurance at most they will only be offering plans in Washoe, Clark, and Nye counties

The Division of Insurance says this will leave about 8,000 Nevada residents without coverage across 14 counties. The largest group is about 5,000 people across Carson City, Douglas, Lyon, and Storey Counties...If you live outside of Washoe, Clark, or Nye counties and have concerns about your coverage, Silver State Health Exchanges suggests you call them at 855-768-5465...They say that they are working diligently with Governor Sandoval to come up with a plan for those that could be uninsured.

A Rio spokeswoman confirmed...that the hotel’s water systems have been disinfected after two guests reported cases of Legionnaires’ disease...it could take up to two weeks for health officials to confirm the hotel is bacteria-free while tests of the system are processed, the Southern Nevada Health District confirmed...The two infected guests visited the hotel...in March and April, according to the health district. The district then tested the hotel’s water and confirmed the presence of the Legionella bacteria, prompting chlorine disinfection of the building’s pipes...The bacteria is more commonly found in large buildings, like the Rio...because large buildings tend to have more complex plumbing systems, where water can sit for longer periods of time and give bacteria room to grow...So far, no additional cases of Legionnaire’s disease...have been reported since the health district announced the infections in a news release…

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine have demonstrated that a drug originally targeted unsuccessfully to treat cancer may have new life as a potential treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy...The candidate drug, SU9516, represents a different kind of approach for treating DMD, a degenerative muscle disease that usually begins in childhood and has no known cure...NCATS Chemical Genomics Center Acting Branch Chief Juan Marugan, Ph.D., and UNR Med Professor of Pharmacology Dean Burkin, Ph.D., led a team that screened more than 350,000 compounds to find SU9516, which had been previously developed as a treatment for leukemia. The research demonstrated that this compound improved muscle function in both laboratory and animal DMD models. The results, published recently in Molecular Therapy, may provide a promising approach against the disorder and other muscle-wasting conditions...Our findings open the door to develop new drug treatments for DMD...

Gov. Brian Sandoval...vetoed a bill that would have required drug manufacturers to notify the state in advance of planned price increases for diabetes-related drugs, among other provisions...Sandoval said that while Senate Bill 265 had well-intentioned provisions related to access to affordable health care, the measure also contained potentially detrimental consequences for Nevadans, “not the least of which is the possibility that access to critical care will become more expensive, more restricted, and less equitable.”...“SB 265 fails to account for market dynamics that are inextricably linked to health care delivery and access to prescription drugs,” Sandoval said. “This failure cannot be overlooked, and it could cause more harm than good for Nevada’s families.”...Sandoval also said there was insufficient evidence to support the notion that the measure would lead to lower drug costs…

There will be four insurance companies offering insurance plans on the Exchange with a total of 24 individual health plans to choose from between Clark, Washoe and Nye counties in 2018...The Nevada Division of Insurance has posted a summary of proposed rate changes for Plan Year 2018 on the Division’s website. These proposed rate changes are for plans sold on the Nevada’s health insurance Exchange in the individual market..."Posting these rate changes on the website allows the Division to be transparent with Nevada’s consumers so that they have an opportunity to review these requests from insurance carriers," said Insurance Commissioner Barbara Richardson. "This is also an opportunity for consumers to submit their comments to the Division during this rate review process."...The average proposed rate change for the individual market on Exchange is an increase of 38%.

Nevada is attempting to join 31 other states in expediting health care for immigrant children from low-income families...Implementing speedier coverage will hinge on whether President Donald Trump's administration grants the state permission...If so, an estimated 5,000 minors with green cards, refugee youth and certain other young immigrants will become eligible for Medicaid sooner than previously expected...Gov. Brian Sandoval signed Senate Bill 325...It ends the current five-year wait period for children with residency paperwork to get on government-subsidized health insurance.

Saint Mary’s Center for Health & Fitness, an office building on the hospital campus in downtown Reno, sold for $66.2 million. The center and Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center operations and existing tenants will not change...The building is a class A, 190,750 square-foot medical office building built in 2005. It sold to a Real Estate Investment Trust, which is a type of property-owning entity that allows people to buy shares of the trust instead of owning the building outright...Medical Properties Trust, is the REIT that now owns the office building...

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed into law...the nation's strictest requirements for pharmaceutical companies to reveal how they set certain prescription drug prices...The bipartisan legislation focuses on insulin - one of many life-sustaining prescription treatments sold in the U.S. at prices that have skyrocketed over the last decade...The law requires drugmakers to annually disclose the list prices they set, profits they make and discounts they give market middlemen on insulin...They must also give state officials written explanations of any insulin price hikes that surpass the previous year's inflation rate...The bulk of the legislation takes effect in October, but the first disclosures will be due on April 1, 2018...insulin manufacturers will face fines of $5,000 daily if they fail to provide the data without explaining why...pharmacy benefit managers, suggested that the law's "costly fiduciary mandate" resembles legislation that federal courts have previously rejected based on violations of federal benefits laws...In addition to the insulin-specific requirements, Nevada's law will outlaw "gag rules" that bar pharmacists from suggesting alternate or less-expensive prescription options...All drugmakers will also have to register sales representatives who market prescription drugs in Nevada...

Centene Corp. says it will begin offering coverage under the Affordable Care Act for insurance exchanges in Missouri, Kansas and Nevada next year at a time other insurers are pulling out of such marketplaces...Centene announced the expansion Tuesday. It didn't specify whether its foray into Missouri and Kansas will fill a 32-county void that will result from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City's decision to leave that individual insurance marketplace next year...That Blue Cross decision affects about 67,000 people, and 25 Missouri counties will be left with no insurance provider under the exchanges unless another company steps in to sell coverage...Centene also plans to expand in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Texas and Washington...It says 90% of its exchange customers are eligible for subsidies.

In the works for years, a new medical school is finally going to become a reality at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas…The Nevada Legislature gave final approval Monday night to a bill that includes $25 million in state money to build the UNLV School of Medicine…It's been a priority for Gov. Brian Sandoval, who announced earlier Monday he'd received $25 million in matching funds from an anonymous private donor to launch construction…The deal was contingent on the matching funds. Sandoval believes it's the single largest philanthropic contribution in state history…The Senate passed Senate Bill 553 unanimously. Nine Republicans opposed it in the Assembly, where it passed 33-9…Lawmakers also gave final approval to a capital improvements package that includes $43 million for a new engineering building at the University of Nevada, Reno. Sandoval says he'll sign both bills.