A flawed, outdated and ineffective method of accounting is the reason why the Developmental Disabilities Administration discovered a startling $33 million in unspent funds, and Health and Mental Hygiene Secretary Joshua Sharfstein said that the agency is committed to fixing those problems. [...more]
Maryland must rely more on nurses and non-physician health care providers when the federal Affordable Care Act is fully adopted in 2014, said American Public Health Association President Dr. Melvin Shipp. [...more]
While attorneys general in Virginia, Florida and a dozen other states have sued to block federal health care reform, Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler is leading the charge to support the Affordable Care Act before the U.S. Supreme Court. Friday afternoon, Gansler filed a friend-of-court brief cosigned by attorneys general from 12 other states and territories supporting the constitutionality of the federal law. [...more]
Maryland will receive a $28 million performance bonus from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for fiscal year 2011 for its consistent efforts to identify and enroll eligible children in Medicaid and CHIP coverage. [...more]
After hearing passionate arguments from companies and state officials, the Board of Public Works decided to wait for a ruling from the Board of Contract Appeals before approving a disputed $120 million five-year contract to provide pharmacy services to prison inmates. [...more]
The Health Benefit Exchange Board recommended Monday a broad based funding approach to pay for a federally mandated state health insurance program, now estimated to cost up to $30 million in 2014 and $60 million by 2016. “The board is in agreement there should be some sort of a transactional fee, a broad based fee, and funding for the exchange that needs to come from multiple places to ensure sustainability and stability,” said Rebecca Pearce, Health Benefit Exchange executive director. [...more]
The American Lung Association is lambasting Maryland as the “third worst” state in the country for helping smokers quit the habit, even while it has the fifth lowest smoking rate in the nation at 15%. [...more]
The state could save millions of dollars by comparing the list of people receiving Medicaid with the Social Security Administration’s Master Death File, according to a report from the Office of Legislative Audits. [...more]
A dramatic rise in home births by unlicensed practitioners, as well as in the number of people requesting United States birth certificates for babies born that way, has led a state agency to issue a statement on health and safety guidelines for women wanting to deliver their children at home. [...more]
Health Department officials told a Senate committee Wednesday the department would immediately begin to provide emergency assistance to those in the top tier of the Developmental Disabilities Administration waiting list. The step is the first of four major steps outlined by the department to make up for a $34 million budget blunder that left thousands on the DDA waiting list without services for a period of at least two years. [...more]
