- Officials assure advocates that push to privatize Medicaid services will move slowly, be transparent (reviewjournal.com)Managed Care Expansion (dhcfp.nv.gov)
Nevada officials on Wednesday assured advocates in Clark County that any process to privatize Medicaid services for the elderly, blind and disabled will move slowly and will be transparent...Advocates with Nevadans for the Common Good, a coalition of Las Vegas Valley institutions advocating for several issues including protection for vulnerable senior citizens...met privately with state officials. Attendees at the closed-door meeting included Richard Whitley, director of the state's Health and Human Services Department...Barbara Paulsen, leader with Nevadans for the Common Good, said the meeting was positive and that advocates were pleased with what they learned. She said the coalition's push for transparency and the Las Vegas Review-Journal's reporting to get the information on the potential switch out to the public may have had an "impact on the process."..."Our concern was that the decision was already made and it was just all going to go very quickly without getting any input (from the public)," she said Wednesday. "That doesn't seem to be the case."...After gathering information, state officials will develop a report that will be sent to the governor and the Legislature, she said. The governor would ultimately have to make a recommendation, which the state's Interim Finance Committee would have to approve, according to the legislation.
NOTICE OF TOWN HALL AND LISTENING SESSION ON MEDICAID MANAGED CARE EXPANSION OPTIONS
- 1/20/2016 Clark County Library - 1401 East Flamingo Road - Las Vegas
- 2/2/2016 Sahara West Library - 9600 West Sahara Avenue - Las Vegas
- 2/2/2016 Summerlin Library - 1771 Inner Circle - Las Vegas
- 2/17/2016 William Bee Ririe Hospital - 1500 Avenue H - Ely
- 2/19/2016 Humboldt General Hospital - 118 E. Haskell Street - Winnemucca
- Nevada State Board of Pharmacy, Newsletter – January (bop.nv.gov)
- Flash News! -Governor Brian Sandoval appointed Darla Zarley to the Board...reappointed Kirk Wentworth and Leo Basch
- Senate Bill 459 - Effective October 1, 2015, this bill addresses three primary topics: (1) the mandatory use of the Nevada PMP ( Prescription Monitoring Program) by prescribers, (2) the Good Samaritan
Drug Overdose Act (GSDOA), and (3) next-day reporting to the PMP database. - Discontinue Use of Chen Shwezin Sterile Drug Products, FDA Warns
- Seven Persistent Safety Gaffes in Community/Ambulatory Settings That Need to Be Resolved! (final article of a three-part series): 6. Compounded Pain Creams: High Profit Margin and Danger; 7. Clear Care: Still Causing Severe Eye Injuries Five Years Later
- Risk of Dose Confusion and Medication Errors With Avycaz, FDA Cautions
- US Compounding, Inc, Recalls All Lots of Sterile Compounded Products
- FDA Investigates the Risks of Using PainMedicine Tramadol in Young Patients
- Decreased Potency Reported in Drugs Stored in Becton-Dickinson Syringes
- MediStat Pharmacy Issues Recall of Sterile Drug Products
- DEA Number for Residents Working at a Hospital
- 2015 Pharmacist Renewal Update! - Nevada had another successful year with pharmacist renewals.
- Fight over UNR student on life support back in court (rgj.com)Judge OKs tests for woman declared brain dead (reviewjournal.com)
A fight over a Reno hospital providing life-support for a 20-year-old woman goes back before a judge on Tuesday for more arguments about the legal standard for brain death and tests to prove it...A decision isn’t immediately expected. Washoe County Family Court Judge Frances Doherty is due to hold at least one more hearing Jan. 22 before ruling...The Nevada Supreme Court sent the case back to Doherty last month, saying she too quickly rejected Aden Hailu family’s bid to have Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center keep her on life-support...Hailu had been hospitalized April 1 after complaining of abdominal pain. Doctors said she suffered severe low blood pressure and a lack of oxygen to the brain during the surgery...Gebreyes (Fanuel Gebreyes, father) has declined interview requests. O’Mara (David O’Mara, attorney, representing the father) said Gebreyes knows Hailu’s condition isn’t good, but believes she can recover.
- Letter: Easy to blame pharma firms, but insurance also implicated (rgj.com)
I read the letter you recently published regarding pharmaceutical costs ["Pharma costs leave cures out of reach for many," Voices, Dec. 11], and have to ask in response: Where is the accountability of insurance companies?...It’s easy to blame pharmaceutical companies, especially given the recent issues with one very bad actor from Turing Pharmaceuticals. But what about insurance companies deciding what drugs they will and won’t cover? The fact is that insurance companies play a role in this issue, and they need to be held accountable...my quality of life shouldn’t come down to my insurance company deciding what they will and won’t cover.
- New Northern Nevada HOPES Facility to Open Soon in Downtown Reno (ktvn.com)
“Right now we're kinda cramped, we're in a small trailer, we can't fit all of our staff yet. We actually have people who are waiting to come on board,” says Dr. Chris McDonnell...The 38,000-square foot building at 5th and Ralston will allow Northern Nevada HOPES to go from serving 600 patients to 10,000. One highlight is the dedicated pediatric pod with 12 exam rooms, two treatment rooms and a unique "care team center."..“Four care teams that will be in here and that will include a provider, a behavior health specialist, an RN, a medical assistant as well as a case manager,” says Sharon Chamberlain, CEO Northern Nevada HOPES.
- Online Tool Compares Healthcare Stats Across Nevada (kunr.org)Nevada Instant Atlas, Nevada's County-Level Health Database (medicine.nevada.edu)
A new online tool is offering healthcare data that's broken down for each Nevada county. Reno Public Radio's Michelle Billman reports the database provides snapshots on how different counties compare on everything from their healthcare workforce to how many of their residents have health insurance…The project is called the Nevada Instant Atlas and it looks at healthcare indicators, including population demographics like income. It also profiles the overall health of people in a given area, along with their access, or lack of access, to medical specialists.
- Health insurance exchange enrollment strong ahead of deadline (reviewjournal.com)
More than 72,600 Nevadans signed up for a Nevada Health Link plan between Nov. 1 and Saturday, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services....That's more than double the 35,000 enrollees who had selected a plan by this time in 2014...Consumers had to have a plan in place by Dec. 17 to qualify for coverage that would begin on Jan. 1, but they have until Jan. 31 to buy insurance and avoid a federal tax for lacking coverage. The tax in 2016 will equal 2.5 percent of household income, or $695 per adult and $347.50 per child up to a household maximum of $2,085 — whichever is higher...Nearly 70 percent of Nevada's exchange enrollees can find plans for $75 a month or less after tax credits...
- Nevada Health Link records 77,411 enrollees, topping previous enrollment period (reviewjournal.com)
Two days ahead of a key signup deadline, the federal government released new enrollment numbers for Nevada's health insurance exchange...Nevada Health Link had 77,411 enrollees on Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services reported...That means the exchange has already bested the 72,000 enrollees that bought coverage through the marketplace in all of 2015's open-enrollment period...The department said the latest numbers include existing customers who were automatically re-enrolled, though officials didn't break down how many enrollees were new versus returning...Consumers who haven't bought coverage by Jan. 31 face a federal tax of 2.5 percent of household income, or $695 per adult and $347.50 per child up to a household maximum of $2,085 — whichever is higher.
- UNR student in end-of-life case dies in Reno (rgj.com)Fight over UNR student on life support back in court (rgj.com)
A 20-year-old woman at the center of an end-of-life court battle over her treatment at a Reno hospital has died while still on life support...Aden Hailu died about 4:30 p.m. Monday at Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center, where she never awoke from anesthesia after surgery April 1, said David O’Mara, the attorney representing Hailu’s father and family...Hailu’s father, Fanuel Gebreyes, lost a bid in court last week to delay brain electroencephalogram, or EEG, tests that the hospital said would show she was brain dead and wouldn’t recover...Hailu was from Las Vegas and was a freshman at the University of Nevada, Reno...Doctors say she suffered severe low blood pressure and a lack of oxygen to the brain during surgery to remove her appendix and explore the cause of unspecified abdominal pain, according to court documents.
- Packham: State’s health improves despite miserly public health budget (rgj.com)Nevada ranks 38th in nation for overall health (rgj.com)
Since 1990, the United Health Foundation’s "America’s Health Rankings" have tracked the status of our nation’s health and the overall health of each state. These rankings have become established as the nation’s annual checkup and provide an opportunity to see how Nevada stacks up on health measures versus other states...Nevada’s overall health ranking is currently 38th, an increase from last year’s ranking of 39th. This year’s report not only indicates an improved overall ranking for Nevada over the past five years – up from 48th in 2010 – it points to notable areas of improvement…population health challenges in Nevada, including chronic primary care physician workforce shortages (47th), a high percentage of the population who remain uninsured (47th), high rates of drug deaths (47th) and violent crime (48th), and a low high school graduation rate (48th)...These deficits are compounded by the stunning lack of investment by Nevada lawmakers for basic public health services. This year’s rankings report indicates that state general fund support for core public health activities – disease surveillance, infectious and chronic disease prevention, and public health preparedness – is a miserly $33 per person in Nevada (50th)...This year’s rankings provide Nevada health leaders and policymakers with an opportunity to renew our commitment to confront formidable health challenges in our state in the coming year. To put matters mildly, plenty of work remains for us in 2016.