- Letter: Pharma costs leave cures out of reach for many (rgj.com)
Public programs such as Medicaid are a necessity – not only for low-income families but for all the public, which benefits from a healthier population...These programs need access to affordable prescription drugs to treat those suffering from diseases like hepatitis and HIV. Unfortunately, their services are threatened by recent price increases from pharmaceutical companies like Turing and Gilead...I worry that such prices for prescription drugs are driving up spending for critical public programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and Tricare at unsustainable rates. We need to be able to cure life-threatening diseases for the low-income, seniors and veterans. But at these prices, it’s simply not feasible. Clearly something needs to change...
- Nevadans slow to embrace state’s health insurance exchange, data show (reviewjournal.com)
New numbers show Nevadans have been slow to jump into the state's health insurance exchange…Department of Health and Human Services reported Wednesday that 23,248 Nevadans bought coverage through Nevada Health Link in the first month of open enrollment, from Nov. 1 through Saturday…That's roughly half of the 40,285 residents who bought a plan through the exchange in the first month of sign-ups a year ago…Federal officials said enrollment should pick up as the Dec. 15 deadline nears to buy a plan with a Jan. 1 start date...Consumers without coverage in place by then face a federal tax for going without health insurance.
- Cheating On Court-Ordered Drug and Alcohol Tests Just Got A Lot Harder (kolotv.com)
Offenders facing court-ordered drug tests in Reno Municipal Court have often found ways around the system. That just got a lot harder and consequences for cheaters a lot swifter…Their crimes may vary…But the common underlying cause is substance abuse. That makes them potential candidates for one of the specialty courts. Instead of housing them behind bars, they are sentenced to sobriety and a rigorous schedule of random testing… But the court now has a new drug-screening lab. Samples, as many as 54 at a time, can be analyzed for 11 kinds of drug or alcohol content. Accurate results in minutes…The lab is the first of its kind in northern Nevada.
- Reno’s hospitals growing with community (nnbw.com)
Reno’s two largest hospitals are gearing up to meet the medical needs of an expected population surge. In September, Renown announced a nearly $64 million investment that includes state-of-the-art technology, enlarging its Institute for Cancer building, creating an intermediate level of care between emergency medicine and hospital admission, and exploring the construction of a completely new medical center. Saint Mary’s Medical Group has invested $50 million in the past 18 months on new facilities and equipment, including the recently expanded medical clinic in northwest Reno, which opened Nov. 1. It has additional clinics and specialty facilities opening in other areas of the…(sub. req.)
- Nevada ranks 38th in nation for overall health (rgj.com)
According to an annual report from the United Health Foundation, Nevada is ranked 38th in the U.S. when it comes to health...Nevada’s rank in 2014 was 39, so the state has improved over the past year. Here are some snapshots of how Nevada compares to national numbers for health-related topics:
- In Nevada, 17 percent of people smoke compared to the 18 percent national average.
- Drug deaths are significantly higher in Nevada, with 22.4 overdose deaths per 100,000 people compared to a 13.5 death average nationally.
- Nevada is average when it comes to the inactivity of adults. 22.5 percent of adults in Nevada are physically inactive compared with 22.6 nationally.
- Infant mortality is lower in Nevada, with 5.1 deaths per 1,000 live births compared to the 6 national average.
- In Nevada, 27.7 percent of adults are obese compared to the national average of 29.6. For diabetes, 9.6 percent of Nevadan adults have diabetes compared to 10 percent nationwide.
- For children’s vaccinations, 67.7 percent of children in Nevada are immunized compared to 71.6 nationally.
The top five healthiest states in the nation, according to the report, include Hawaii, Vermont, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New Hampshire
- Technology Connects Nevada Specialists With Rural Doctors (kunr.org)Project ECHO (medicine.nevada.edu)
Video technology makes it possible for an urban specialist to see rural patients without anyone having to drive, but it doesn't solve a key underlying issue: there aren’t enough specialists in Nevada…a liver specialist in New Mexico posed this question: What if we used teleconferencing to train primary physicians in rural counties?...The result was Project ECHO, which created a model for other rural health programs in the country, including Nevada in 2012. The local Project ECHO program is run out of the University of Nevada, Reno. According to director Dr. Evan Klass, the program is helping to address doctor shortages…Next up? An expansion into Nevada's urban health centers, which Klass says tend to need just as much help as their rural counterparts these days.
- TruVista Program Helping Families in Drug Court (kolotv.com)Tru-Vista (truvistaonline.org)
Life can be hard. In fact, it can almost seem impossible for families devastated by substance abuse. However, there is hope and there are second chances…a family healing from the devastating effects of drugs, which is possible in part because of a volunteer who shines her love and support on this young family…The Senior's in Service program is seeking for more volunteers…families through drug court. "It's very rewarding. However, it can be very frustrating when you first get a client and they're angry and you get one that fails and that is very disappointing,"…If you are at least 55-years-old and would consider become a TruVista volunteer…
- Q&A: A look at the Nevada court fight over life-support (washingtonpost.com)More hearings set to determine whether Las Vegas woman is brain dead (reviewjournal.com)UNR student’s life-or-death case back in Reno court (rgj.com)
A father’s bid to keep his 20-year-old daughter on life-support at a Reno hospital after doctors declared her brain-dead is pending before a Nevada state court judge. Beyond the family attorney’s claim on Wednesday that the cost of caring for Aden Hailu (AY’-dehn HEHL’-oo) is driving hospital efforts to pull the plug, the case raises key questions about Nevada’s interpretation of national end-of-life guidelines.
- What’s the issue?
- What’s the Nevada law?
- What’s the Uniform Determination of Death Act?
- What did the Uniform Determination of Death Act do?
- How many states follow the act?
- What tests are recommended to determine brain death?
- Have there been cases similar to Hailu’s in other states?
- Las Vegas woman in middle of brain death battle (reviewjournal.com)Supreme Court orders Vegas woman to be kept on life support (reviewjournal.com)
The battle over maintaining life support for a 20-year-old Las Vegas woman continues this week in Reno. It focuses on the question of when is a person considered dead…The unknown is whether doctors for Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno will continue to try to pull the plug on Aden Hailu, who sought treatment for abdominal pain in April and suffered catastrophic lack of oxygen and brain damage during an exploratory surgery…An attorney for Hailu's family said the next step must be to develop a plan of care…"There is hope that she will regain consciousness," said David O'Mara, the…attorney representing, Hailu's father…The state Supreme Court ruled last week that the standards used by the hospital to make a determination of brain death might not satisfy state law. Hailu was declared brain dead at the hospital May 28 after doctors concluded that she was unresponsive, lacked brain activity as determined by reflexes and eye movement, and could not breathe on her own.
- Renown welcomes overseas medical students (nnbw.com)
Starting next year, Renown will welcome students with St. George’s University to Reno for four- to eight-week elective clinical rotations as part of their fourth and final year of training…SGU is an independent, international school of medicine in Grenada…The students, who have already completed two years of classroom and lab studies and one year of clinical rotations elsewhere in the U.S., will receive hands-on training overseen by physicians. Renown will also welcome third year medical students from SGU, but the start date for that program expansion hasn’t been announced.