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In response to mounting criticism, Blue Shield of California's chief executive is vowing to improve the nonprofit insurer's poor ratings from patients and to disclose more about executive compensation. But CEO Paul Markovich warned that certain details on executive pay will remain secret, portending a potential showdown with regulators. (Terhune, 10/22)

The Justice Department is trying to increase the pressure on Virginia to comply with a 2012 court settlement mandating major changes to how the state cares for the severely disabled. At a court hearing scheduled for Friday in Richmond, federal lawyers will seek hard deadlines for Virginia to fund more Medicaid vouchers that pay for care outside of institutional settings; boost construction of privately run group homes; and revamp what critics call an ineffective system of care for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. (Olivo, 10/22)

California's system for handling serious and end-of-life care is improving, but more services are needed to meet patient demand, according to two major reports released on Thursday. A growing number of the state's hospitals -- especially in the Bay Area -- are offering palliative care to comfort patients living with serious illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and dementia, protecting them from futile, often painful medical treatments, the reports say. (Krieger, 10/22)

Dee Jones, director of operations in the existing Medicaid office, has moved to the new Division of Health Benefits, where she retains her title. The legislature voted this year to privatize Medicaid, the government health insurance program the poor, elderly and disabled. That process is expected to take years — the state has to write up a plan, the federal government must approve it, and the state must enter into contracts with companies that will provide and oversee health care. (Bonner, 10/22)

Secretary of Health and Human Services Rick Brajer has named Dee Jones, the operations director for North Carolina's current Medicaid program, to be operations director of a new division tasked with designing and running a revamped health insurance system for the poor and disabled. Lawmakers created a new Division of Health Benefits as part of House Bill 372, which requires the state shift Medicaid from a fee-for-service system to one that cares for patients through managed care. The new division, which will operate on different personnel rules from the bulk of state government, will have to come up with the outlines of that new system by next summer. (Binker, 10/22)

Florida is one of only three states where county public health departments employ obstetricians for pregnant women. It’s a legacy of the 1990s, when Florida’s infant mortality rate was one of the worst in the nation. But this safety net is eroding. Health News Florida investigated what these changes mean to pregnant and poor women across Florida, and found that only 28 of Florida’s 67 counties offer prenatal care by health department employees. The state’s also been decreasing its roll in patient care overall. (Aboraya, 10/22)

Nearly half of Pennsylvanians said in a new survey that their out-of-pocket costs and copays for health care have remained the same over the past year while about the same percentage said they increased, the Pennsylvania Medical Society said on Thursday. Six percent reported declines in expenses. Most of the questions in the September survey of 700 registered voters involved access to physicians, with 85 percent of respondents saying they travel 15 miles or less to see their primary care physician. (Sapatkin, 10/22)

When you live in a state like Vermont — population 625,000 — you tend to know lots of people, and lots of people know you. “It’s your name on the sign, you are the one that’s held liable for all that occurs in the office,” said Dr. Judith Fisch, who now co-runs the family practice in Rutland, Vermont, that her father-in-law started back in 1962. (Gorenstein, 10/22)

As King County Executive Dow Constantine tells it, his aha moment, the one that led a year later to asking voters for a new levy that would collect $392 million over six years, came when he was confronted by science. Specifically, he was at the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences for a presentation on how children’s brains develop in the early years. The institute has the first machine in the world that allows researchers to take images of brain activity in infants. (Shapiro, 10/22)

The ACLU of Pennsylvania is suing the secretary of the state Department of Human Services and two other officials for what it calls a "consistent and continuing failure" to provide adequate mental-health care for people ruled incompetent to stand trial in criminal cases. In the suit, filed yesterday in U.S. District Court, the ACLU rails against the state for having "the longest delays in the country" for competency restoration treatment, which would allow the cases to proceed. It claims the lack of resources violates the patients' rights to due process, as well as the American Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act. (Vella, 10/23)

The Florida Department of Health laid out how much a new medical marijuana program could cost Monday. The agency would oversee the program if voters approve it under a possible 2016 ballot measure. The DOH’s Marco Paredes said the total cost for the program’s first year would be almost $3 million. That would drop down to roughly $2.7 million the following year. (Forhecz, 10/22)

With the bill pointing to interactions between emergency workers and violent, angry and mentally unstable people, a Senate committee Tuesday supported granting a public-records exemption to paramedics and emergency-medical technicians. The Senate Health Policy Committee approved the bill (SB 320), filed by Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, with little discussion. (10/22)

A Senate committee Tuesday approved a proposal that supporters hope will help address longstanding shortages of dental care in some areas of Florida. The bill (SB 234), filed by Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, would create a program to provide financial incentives for dentists to practice in underserved areas and in public-health programs. The dentists would be able to receive money that could be used for purposes such as paying off student loans or helping establish and operate dental practices. (10/22)

Nine years after Missouri voters approved protections for embryonic stem cell research, the issue has re-emerged as a hot topic in Jefferson City and among next year’s candidates. A key factor: Missouri Right to Life – a longstanding opponent of embryonic stem-cell research – is linking the issue to its opposition to Planned Parenthood, which operates Missouri’s only abortion clinics. (Mannies, 10/22)