Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Ariz. House Approves Hotly Contested Abortion Bill; Kansas Senate OKs Mental Health Drug Compromise
Doctors would be required to inform patients they could potentially reverse the effects of the so-called morning-after pill under a hotly debated abortion-related bill the Arizona House of Representatives approved Monday. (Pitzl, 3/23)
The Arizona House on Monday approved a bill barring women from buying any health care plan through the federal marketplace that includes abortion coverage after stripping out a provision that would have made the names and addresses of abortion providers public. The proposal passed on a 33-24 party-line vote after heated debate that lasted more than an hour, with all but one Republican who voted backing the proposal. (Christie, 3/23)
Legislators of all political stripes came together Monday as the Senate passed a compromise bill regarding regulation of mental health drugs dispensed under Medicaid. Mental health advocates had balked at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment's earlier bid to repeal a law barring the state from imposing any restrictions on psychotropic medications under Medicaid. A bill to do so failed to clear the Senate in February. (Marso, 3/23)
A new proposal for controlling mental-health drug costs in the Medicaid program in Kansas advanced in the Legislature on Monday, weeks after the Republican-controlled Senate rejected another plan from GOP Gov. Sam Brownback's administration. The Senate gave first-round approval to a bill requiring a review of Medicaid's mental health prescriptions. The measure also creates an advisory committee to draft guidelines on prescriptions for 368,000 needy and disabled residents whose health care is covered by the $3 billion-a-year program. (Hanna, 3/23)
Some advocates and legislators are urging the state to extend the timeline for transitioning the Multipurpose Senior Services Program into managed care plans within the seven-county duals demonstration project. (Gorn, 3/23)
The fight over autism treatment coverage continued in a House committee hearing Monday, pitting organizations concerned about costs against those advocating for the most effective services for children. (Miller, 3/23)
Hundreds of frail nursing home residents have been forced to move as a growing number of Massachusetts facilities have been bought, sold, and closed over the past two years, state records show. But the public has had virtually no say in the process. A Massachusetts law passed last summer was designed to provide public comment about the closing or sale of nursing homes, yet state officials have not put that into effect. Regulators say they are still working on rules to implement the law. (Lazar, 3/24)
Montana senators have given nearly unanimous approval to a slate of bills that would boost community-based mental health care. (3/23)
A medical waste burning plant that is leaving North Salt Lake City after being cited for toxic emissions wants to more than double production at a new facility in a rural part of the state. The increased demand is being driven by advances in health care and increased regulations on drug disposal, Koenig said. (McCombs, 3/23)
Thousands of people enrolled in Arkansas' compromise Medicaid expansion would receive notices that their coverage is ending — even though lawmakers haven't decided the program's future — under a proposal approved Monday by the Senate. (DeMillo, 3/23)