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Governor Brian Sandoval and First Lady Kathleen Sandoval have announced they will host a State Summit on Prescription Drug Abuse in June 2016. The summit will provide the opportunity for the First Lady’s Drug Abuse Prevention Task Force and subsequently the Multidisciplinary Prevention Advisory Committee to update the community on existing laws put into place as a result of the 78th Legislative Session and Nevada’s Strategic Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan...This Summit will bring together all stakeholders as well as community advocates and leaders in a united effort to eradicate this growing epidemic and create safe and livable communities...The Summit will focus on four priority topics:

• Duties and responsibilities of healthcare licensing boards
•  Overview of current coordination and opportunities for expanded collaboration with local, state and federal law enforcement
•  Review of existing rehabilitation practices and substance abuse treatments
•  Cooperation and oversight for private sector issues, including sale and availability of pharmaceuticals

Dr. Robert Rand did not enter a plea during his appearance in federal court Monday in Reno...Rand has been indicted and charged with taking part in a criminal prescription drug distribution ring...His attorney, John Arrascada, told News 4 that Rand would plead not guilty to all charges...Eight other people have been indicted by a federal grand jury. All eight have pleaded not guilty to the charges they face individually, though only Richard Winston West II remains detained...Doctor Robert Rand will be arraigned...to enter a plea on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances...

Universal Health Services Inc., a subsidiary of which owns the Valley Health System, has announced that it will buy a third party’s minority ownership interests in its six Southern Nevada hospitals for $445 million...The King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based company announced...it would make the aggregate cash payment, which includes purchase price and return of capital, to a "third party" for ownership interests ranging from 26.1 to 27.5 percent...Valley Health System includes Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center, Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center, Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center, Summerlin Hospital Medical Center, Valley Hospital Medical Center and the under-construction Henderson Hospital..."This transaction reflects our continued confidence in the performance of our hospitals in the Las Vegas market and, in particular, our enthusiasm for the opening of our newest hospital in Henderson, Nevada later this year," Universal Health Services CEO Alan Miller said in the statement.

About 10 months after the only hospital in a 100-mile radius closed, Tonopah will welcome a new medical center, according to Northern Nevada health care group Renown Health...will open June 1 at the site of the former Nye Regional Medical Center in a partnership between Renown and the Nye County Board of Commissioners, it was announced Tuesday at a meeting of the board...The site...will use secure telehealth videoconferencing technology to connect patients with doctors, said Rich Conley, director of Renown Regional Medical Center...The technology will “help patients access primary care providers as well as more than 30 specialties...“This partnership with Nye County allowed us to create an innovative and sustainable solution for the residents of Tonopah and the surrounding communities in central Nevada,”...Renown said it is working to expand the number of services that the facility will offer by looking for an on-site advanced practitioner, hiring more support staff and expanding lab and imaging services...“It was important to us to restart health care services, and we are glad Renown stepped in to help find a solution for this community,” Nye County Commissioner Lorinda Wichman said...

The Las Vegas area tumbled 10 spots this year to land near the bottom of a list ranking the health and community fitness of the nation’s 50 most populated metropolitan areas...The ninth annual American Fitness Index, released...by the American College of Sports Medicine, ranks the area including Las Vegas, Henderson and Paradise as 41st overall...Researchers assessed each area’s health and fitness status by accounting for factors including self-reported exercise rates, the prevalence of health issues including obesity and diabetes, the presence of golf courses and swimming pools, investment into parks, and childhood physical education requirements...The Las Vegas area experienced the greatest drop on the list from last year to this year, falling from 31st place partly because of the area’s obesity and smoking rates...

New medical schools are launching across the country to address a projected physician shortage. They’re promising innovative curriculums that let aspiring doctors spend time doing research, working in community health settings, and following the same patients for months...But they face big obstacles, starting with the challenge of recruiting students and faculty when they’re not yet accredited — and won’t be, even in the best-case scenario, for several years...An equally big challenge: raising the tens of millions it takes to build and then run a top-tier medical school...all in an effort to create a new breed of American doctor...What we’re doing is certainly a little bit risky…At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which is on track to launch its med school in the fall of 2017, student training will involve getting out of the hospital to work at a hospice, a home for developmentally delayed patients, or some other community organization. Plus, students will spend a year at an outpatient clinic where they can follow the same individuals over time, rather than jumping among different specialized clinics each month, as is often the case..."The students will actually get to know their own patients," said founding dean Dr. Barbara Atkinson...Massive fundraising campaigns and acceptance from the local community are needed...The financial urgency is even more pronounced at UNLV. Last year, Nevada legislators approved $27 million in startup funds — but that’s just a drop in the bucket of the full amount the university needs to get up and running..."We’re working hard to cultivate donors," said Atkinson...We’re very fortunate to be starting from scratch when we are...It would be virtually impossible to do what we’re doing at a school that’s already set in its ways...

The Southern Nevada Health District has added family planning to the list of services offered at its new headquarters...A family planning clinic, formerly located at the health district’s Shadow Lane campus, officially opened this week at the district’s 280 S. Decatur Blvd. Location..."Family planning and the availability of contraception are considered among the last century’s greatest public health accomplishments," district Chief Health Officer Dr. Joseph Iser said in the release. "The ability to plan a family and space pregnancies is a key aspect of women’s health care."

Two recently released reports from the University of Nevada School of Medicine say Nevada has remained near the bottom of many health care rankings partly because of population growth...The 2016 editions of Physician Workforce in Nevada and Health Workforce Supply in Nevada...offer insight into the state’s health care workforce, including what researchers say is the importance of education and training opportunities in meeting the state’s health care needs...Nevada falls well below the national rates of medical doctors per 100,000 members of the population and doctors in patient care per 100,000 population...Nevada has seen increases in the number of health care practitioners in many fields, but that growth isn’t reflected in per capita numbers because of the state’s growth...Per capita, Nevada ranks 48th in the nation in physicians and 50th in primary care physicians...Trying to keep up with the demand is a real challenge, so that’s part of the issue...Another part of the issue is that in order to educate the health care workers of the future, you have to have clerkships and internships for them in the state....

Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center, a Valley Health System property, announced...that it has selected a new CEO...Jeremy Bradshaw, formerly chief operating officer of the 293-bed acute care facility, officially took the helm of the hospital Sunday...Bradshaw...will now oversee "all aspects of the hospital with a particular emphasis on strategic planning, business development, physician relations and value-based purchasing expectations, along with finance, human resources and daily operations...Bradshaw said his top priority...is patient care, and he also hopes to emphasize the important of the emergency department, as it’s often the first or only interaction people have with the hospital.

The U.S Attorney prosecuting the case against Richie West and Dr. Robert Rand and seven other defendants accused of operating an illegal Oxycodone distribution and street-buying operation says he has records from the Nevada Pharmacy Board. Those records identify when and where the defendants had their prescriptions filled. The system is part of the board's Prescription Monitoring Program...It’s not a perfect system, and there are some loopholes. But it’s helped keep track and monitor those who doctor-shop looking to feed their opioid habits...“So we know who wrote the prescription, what it is, the quantity. Who the patient is that got it, and all of that including who filled it. First thing we do is send an unsolicited report to every one of those physicians, all 10 of those guys, and ladies, and every one of those pharmacies. So now all of a sudden all of those people know the patient that is sitting in that office right now has been to nine other physicians in that same week and then, game over. We don't tell them what to do. We just tell them, doc, you need to know this,” says Executive Director (Executive Secretary) for the Nevada Board of Pharmacy Larry Pinson Pharm. D...Pinson says the information in the database is sensitive. A court order is needed if law enforcement wants access to it...Pinson says the system is designed to get the patient help rather than punish him. And he admits the system is geared toward the patient.