Lawmakers, including Senator Maria Cantwell from Washington, recently introduced a bill to try to sustain maternity wards in rural hospitals. But the additional funding might not be enough.Read More
Community care providers that serve people with disabilities across Idaho started receiving funds they had originally expected in July late last month.Read More
A needs assessment by the Innovia foundation and Lewis Clark Valley Healthcare Foundation found that among the many health care barriers residents face, one of the biggest is affordability.Read More
The Trump administration has given states ways to restrict spending on the government insurance program for low-income Americans. A Biden administration would expand Medicaid coverage.Read More
Americans across the political spectrum have been forced to rethink the government’s role in protecting workers and supervising the economy, as more people confront a public health crisis that has exposed major gaps in the social safety net.Read More
Washington nursing home for brain injured patients will close after nearly half a century. Read More
Medicare is cutting payments to 786 hospitals with the highest infection and complication rates. The list includes a third of the hospitals proclaimed as the nation's "best" in one prominent ranking.Read More
In response to a rash of nursing home closures in Washington, a Republican state senator is calling for an increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates and other steps to stave off additional closures. “We are in a crisis of skilled nursing facilities and beds,” said Sen. Steve O’Ban, a Pierce County Republican.Read More
Montana recently passed a law that, if it gains federal approval and goes into effect as planned in January, would require many Medicaid recipients to prove they work a set number of hours each month.Read More
The group that sponsored Idaho’s successful Medicaid expansion initiative last year is now working on a new project. Reclaim Idaho is trying to preserve the rights of citizen groups to propose initiatives and collect signatures to put them on the ballot.Read More
Since February 2017, 16 Washington nursing homes — from Seattle to Ritzville — have closed, announced they will close, or converted to assisted living. Each time a nursing home closes, it forces vulnerable residents to endure disruptive — and potentially dangerous — moves. Read More
The administration's proposed adjustment to the wage index, a key factor used to set hospitals' Medicare payments, could help rural facilities while hurting those in cities. Read More
Idaho will ask the federal government for permission to implement mandatory work requirements for those covered under the state’s Medicaid plan. Gov. Brad Little signed the bill despite concerns about the constitutionality of such requirements that were repeatedly brought up during public testimony and debates.Read More
In a rebuke to the Idaho legislature, Gov. Brad Little has “reluctantly” vetoed a bill that some say would’ve made it nearly impossible to get an initiative on the ballot. Little also plans to veto a second, similar bill that would’ve loosened some of the original proposal’s restrictions.Read More
The future of Idaho’s Medicaid expansion is now in the hands of the state Supreme Court. The libertarian-leaning Idaho Freedom Foundation quickly filed suit after more than 60 percent of voters signed off on expanding Medicaid in November.Read More
After years of inaction by the Idaho legislature on the state's healthcare gap, Proposition 2 on the state ballot gives Idahoans the chance to say whether they want Medicaid expansion -- a proposal endorsed by outgoing Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter.Read More
More than two-thirds of Medicaid recipients are enrolled in privately run Medicaid managed care programs. Yet the evidence is thin these contractors improve patient care or save the government money.Read More
Everyone survived, but Laurie would never be the same again. She had suffered a severe brain injury that left her in a coma-like state for nearly a month. When Laurie emerged from the coma, her personality had changed — a common effect of traumatic brain injuries.Read More
For the past 16 years, Jill Hutton has been managing a pediatric clinic in Aberdeen that once treated 70 to 100 children a day. But now it’s empty. She’s working on shutting it down. For providers with large portions of their patients on Apple Health, the low reimbursement rate makes it difficult to stay in business.Read More
VISITOR7/WIKIMEDIA-TINYURL.COM/J6O4LKN Listen Nearly 20,000 people have been removed from Washington’s Medicaid rolls for ineligibility. The purge happened after the state stepped up efforts to verify residency and income levels. Over […]Read More
Listen Washington and Oregon are making contingency plans in case Congress doesn’t reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which is for low-income families that earn too much to qualify for […]Read More
