Â鶹ŮÓÅ

Skip to main content

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.

Subscribe Follow Us
  • Trump 2.0

    Trump 2.0

    • Agency Watch
    • State Watch
    • Rural Health Payout
  • Public Health

    Public Health

    • Vaccines
    • CDC & Disease
    • Environmental Health
  • Audio Reports

    Audio Reports

    • What the Health?
    • Health Care Helpline
    • Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News Minute
    • An Arm and a Leg
    • Health Hub
    • HealthQ
    • Silence in Sikeston
    • Epidemic
    • See All Audio
  • Special Reports

    Special Reports

    • Bill Of The Month
    • The Body Shops
    • Broken Rehab
    • Deadly Denials
    • Priced Out
    • Dead Zone
    • Diagnosis: Debt
    • Overpayment Outrage
    • Opioid Settlement Tracking
    • See All Special Reports
  • More Topics

    More Topics

    • Elections
    • Health Care Costs
    • Insurance
    • Prescription Drugs
    • Health Industry
    • Immigration
    • Reproductive Health
    • Technology
    • Rural Health
    • Race and Health
    • Aging
    • Mental Health
    • Affordable Care Act
    • Medicare
    • Medicaid
    • Children’s Health

  • Emergency Room Boarding
  • Device Coverage by Medicare
  • Planned Parenthood Funding
  • Covid/Flu Combo Shot
  • RFK Jr. vs. Congress

TRENDING TOPICS:

  • Emergency Room Boarding
  • Device Coverage by Medicare
  • Planned Parenthood Funding
  • Covid/Flu Combo Shot
  • RFK Jr. vs. Congress

Morning Briefing

Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

  • Email

Thursday, Feb 18 2016

Full Issue

State Highlights: After Settlement, Tufts Health Plan Revises Autism Treatment Policies; Mass. Home Health Agency Cuts Staffers

News outlets report on health issues in Massachusetts, Illinois, Indiana, Florida, Utah, Iowa and California.

Tufts Health Plan will revise its coverage policies and pay a $90,000 fine after settling allegations from the attorney general’s office that the health insurer restricted treatment for autism services. Attorney General Maura Healey said Tufts violated autism insurance, mental health parity, and consumer protection laws when it restricted access to applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy, a treatment for autism spectrum disorders. (Dayal McCluskey, 2/17)

A Worcester home health care agency that is the target of a fraud investigation says it laid off most of its workers, disrupting services for hundreds of patients, after the state cut off payments. The Massachusetts attorney general’s office is investigating Compassionate Homecare Inc. for allegedly filing false claims and defrauding the state’s Medicaid program, known as MassHealth, the Globe reported earlier this month. In December, MassHealth officials took the unusual step of suspending payments to the company because of the allegations. (Dayal McCluskey, 2/17)

The University of Chicago is using its commitment to bring adult trauma services to the South Side to win state approval of a significant expansion of the Hyde Park medical center. University of Chicago Medicine plans to announce Thursday that it would like to increase the size of its 617-bed hospital by 188 beds, a 30 percent increase. The new beds are needed to reduce overcrowding at the hospital and improve access to care for patients with complex conditions such as cancer and heart disease, said Sharon O'Keefe, president of the medical center. (Sachdev, 2/18)

A medical-waste company here has been fined for accepting fetal tissue, amplifying calls from anti-abortion advocates to restrict how fetal remains are handled. MedAssure Services, a private medical-waste disposal company based in Farmingdale, N.J., that operates in a dozen states, accepted three to six 31-gallon containers a week during the past four years from Pathology Services, a Missouri lab that services Planned Parenthood, a women's health and abortion provider. Some of those containers contained fetal tissue, in violation of the company's solid waste permit, according to a settlement the company signed Tuesday with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. (Cook, 2/17)

Florida's health care agency issued a $45,000 fine to the hospital where a black woman died after being forcibly removed from the emergency room by a white police officer. The Agency for Health Care Administration lists four counts against Calhoun-Liberty Hospital in a 30-page administrative complaint issued Wednesday. Three counts are related to access to emergency care and services, and one is related to the Blountstown hospital's risk management program — patient grievance analysis. (2/17)

Vivian Lee, chief executive officer at University of Utah Health Care, talks about advances made in the fight against cancer, the state of health care in the United States, and efforts to control health care costs. She speaks on "Bloomberg Surveillance." (1/17)

Republicans in the Iowa House have amended a bill to legalize the production and distribution of marijuana in the state. In its more limited form, it cleared two Republican panels and is now eligible for debate in the full House. (Russell, 2/17)

Condoms could be coming to porn studios across California if the state agency in charge of enforcing workplace safety adopts proposed new regulations aimed at protecting actors who make adult films. The state Division of Occupational Safety and Health was scheduled to vote on the regulations following a hearing Thursday in Oakland. (Rogers, 2/18)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
Newsletter icon

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Stay informed by signing up for the Morning Briefing and other emails:

Recent Morning Briefings

  • Today, April 27
  • Friday, April 24
  • Thursday, April 23
  • Wednesday, April 22
  • Tuesday, April 21
  • Monday, April 20
More Morning Briefings
RSS Feeds
  • Podcasts
  • Special Reports
  • Morning Briefing
  • About Us
  • Republish Our Content
  • Contact Us

Follow Us

  • RSS

Sign up for emails

Join our email list for regular updates based on your personal preferences.

Sign up
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy

© 2026 Â鶹ŮÓÅ