A new study says Medicaid expansion has helped reduce states’ numbers of uninsured women of childbearing age – and cut their infant and maternal mortality rates. States that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act saw a 50 percent greater reduction in infant mortality than non-expansion states, according to the report from the Georgetown Center for…
The head of the federal Medicare and Medicaid agency said Wednesday in Atlanta that the new White House regulation on pharmaceutical TV ads will bring “much-needed pricing transparency to the market for prescription drugs.’’ The new policy, announced Wednesday, will require companies to disclose prices in TV ads for any drugs that will cost above…
Two years ago, Angela Ammons faced a daunting challenge as the new CEO of Clinch Memorial Hospital in Homerville, in South Georgia. It was the RN’s first job as a hospital administrator. The “critical access’’ 25-bed hospital had just three days’ cash on hand, and the predictions were that it would join the ranks of…
State officials are contacting six consulting firms to solicit proposals for a $2.6 million contract to develop health care waivers for Medicaid and the private insurance market in Georgia. This work is part of recently passed legislation that was pushed by Gov. Brian Kemp. Under the legislation, Georgia can request federal permission (i.e., a waiver)…
A searing political debate has formed around the idea of how to fix our health care system. Some leading Democratic contenders for president have talked about putting all Americans under the government-run Medicare system. That’s what two Georgians are recommending in a new GHN Commentary. Jack Bernard and Dr. William Elsea cite the U.S. infant…
This Commentary is written by Jack Bernard and Dr. William Elsea The following statistic shocked us, even as jaded as we may be: The U.S. 2014 infant mortality rate was 70 percent higher than that of other wealthy nations, all of which have national health care. It also indicated that American children had a 57 percent…
The battles over hospital regulation and financial disclosure appeared to be finished last week at the Georgia Legislature. But on Tuesday, as the 2019 General Assembly session was wrapping up, these prickly issues proved they weren’t dead after all. An attempt to allow a sports medicine and training center in Alpharetta failed to clear the…
The state affirmed Wednesday that it will pursue its waiver plan despite the Trump administration’s renewed bid to eliminate the Affordable Care Act – the federal law under which at least part of the Georgia plan would be carried out. “We have regular contact with federal officials, and they continue to encourage us to submit…
The state House passed a high-profile bill Monday that would allow Gov. Brian Kemp to seek health care “waivers’’ from the federal government to expand and improve coverage in Georgia. And in another big vote, the Senate approved a bill to change Georgia’s controversial certificate-of-need system regulating medical providers. These votes were part of a…
Gov. Brian Kemp has thrown his support behind major reforms of the state health care regulatory system, acting as legislation on the contentious issue was revived in a Senate committee Wednesday. A House bill to make sweeping changes to the certificate-of-need (CON) system recently failed to pass the House on Crossover Day. That normally means…