State Health Watch 2003-02-01

States take a stand on smallpox: Do no harm, go slow, stay small

Organizations of state and local governments have told federal officials that they fully support President Bushs smallpox vaccination plan but have several key issues that must be resolved, not the least of which is how to pay for all they are being asked to do.

Keeping PACE with long-term care costs means a savings for participating states

In Tennessee and Texas, Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) is showing cost savings of 15% to 17%, Shawn Bloom, executive director, recently told a National Conference of State Legislatures session on controlling long-term care costs.

President’s smallpox vaccination plan covers several phases

President Bushs smallpox vaccination plan projects a phased program that starts with those most likely to come in contact with the smallpox virus first and then proceeds to people in the general population.

Physicians may understand smallpox risk, but the public hasn’t a clue

A series of articles written for the Jan. 30, 2003, New England Journal of Medicine demonstrate the need for a massive public and professional education program about the threat of a smallpox release by terrorists and the nations vaccination program.

Fear, anxiety, frustration, and anger on the HIPAA road

There is an extremely high level of confusion, misunderstanding, frustration, anxiety, fear, and anger in a broad range of people and organizations as the April 14 compliance date for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rule nears.

Cost-cutting: States shift to long-term care

With their budget crises showing no signs of abating, states are looking at long-term care costs as an area ripe for redesign to improve quality, increase consumer choice, and they say, save money in Medicaid.

Oral health services sink their teeth into grants

With a growing recognition that tooth decay is the leading childhood condition among low-income, minority, and disabled populations (see State Health Watch, January 2003, p. 10) five times more common than asthma the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, NJ, has awarded three-year grants of up to $1 million each to six states to address the problem of inadequate access to oral health care services.

Clip files / Local news from the states

HHS approves PA plan to help disabled adults live at home; TennCare cut targets 50,400 more.

State Health Watch Archives – February 1, 2003

February 1, 2003