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Combating Medicaid Fraud and Abuse
To help policy makers learn about steps taken in their state and across the country, the State Health Care Spending Project created an online database containing hundreds of practices found to be promising by state and federal Medicaid agencies. more
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- Stateline Story
On The Record: Maine Human Services Chief Kevin Concannon
Maine may not be seen as a state with a whole lot of political muscle, given its small population and remote location. But in the struggle to get a grip on skyrocketing prescription drug costs, it has become a modern-day Hercules. Maine has put in place programs such as its Physician Directed Drug Initiative, which encourages doctors to use lower cost medications. And with its Maine Rx program which aims to control drug prices, it has angered pharmaceutical manufacturers and sparked a lawsuit. Department of Human Services Chief Kevin Concannon, who oversees the state's Medicaid program, recently spoke with Stateline.org on what's happening in Maine. more
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- Stateline Story
California Study Shows Ethnic Gaps Persist
While quality of life has improved for most racial and ethnic groups in California over the last three decades, non-Hispanic whites and most Asians are still more likely to enjoy better health care, greater education and higher-paying jobs, a study by the Public Policy Institute of California has found. African-American and Latino populations have narrowed the gap, but continue to live in poorer neighborhoods, where they are more likely to be victims of crime and have less access to health care, according to "A Portrait of Race and Ethnicity in California," the first comprehensive sourcebook comparing how different racial and ethnic groups fare in the Golden State. more
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- Stateline Story
Website Offers Maps of Environmentally-Linked Cancer Deaths
Want to know whether there's a link in your state between environmental hazards and diseases like cancer? A new online mapping system released February 26 offers the public, for the first time, easy access to cancer death rates that are known or suspected to have environmental causes. more
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- Stateline Story
State Budget Ills Hinder New Cancer Treatment Plan
Faced with an irony in current law that entitles low-income women to be screened but not treated for breast and cervical cancer, Congress agreed last year to let states expand Medicaid to cover these women. But fiscal constraints threaten to keep many states from moving ahead on the issue. more
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- Stateline Story
Urban America Lags in Birth-Related Statistics, Studies Say
America's large cities showed improvements on some birth-related measures during the prosperous 1990s, according to two new reports released today. With a specific focus on factors like the percentage of mothers who smoked during pregnancy and whether women received late or no prenatal care, the reports were compiled by the nonprofit and nonpartisan Child Trends rganization and KIDS COUNT, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private charitable group that studies child welfare issues. more
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- Stateline Story
Facilities, Job Conditions Blamed For Medical Errors
Two new studies say understaffed health care facilities and poor working conditions for health care professionals are to blame for "medical errors" that annually kill more people in the United States than traffic fatalities, breast cancer and AIDS. more
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- Stateline Story
Colorado Legislators Spell Out 2001 Priorities
Majority Republicans in the Colorado House of Representatives want to deal with growth, education and transportation, in that order, when the 2001 Legislature convenes Jan. 10. Majority Democrats in the state Senate put transportation at the top of the list, with educational improvement and attacking crime next. more
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- Stateline Story
RX Costs To Top State Agendas In 2001, Experts Say
Access to prescription drugs will be the number one issue before state legislatures in 2001, according to participants at the fourth annual National Health Policy Conference. The conference, which took place in Charlotte, N.C. last weekend, brought together nearly 400 lawmakers, lobbyists, legislative staffers and health policy officials from more than 40 states to discuss the prescription drug cost crisis and other health issues such as maintaining rural hospitals, dealing with nursing shortages and developing policies governing the use of genetic technology. more
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- Stateline Story
Index of 'Caring' Puts Minnesota On Top
Minnesota ranks as the most caring state in the nation, according to a report released last week by the United Way. In the first report of what it promises will be an annual series, the United Way of America, the national association of local non-profit service organizations, has compiled an index of factors it believes reflect Americans' "capacity to care for one another." more
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- Stateline Story
States To Brush Up On Childrens Oral Health
Representatives of eight states will gather in Charleston, S.C. next month for a closed-door policy workshop designed to strengthen oral health care initiatives for children.Selected from 28 states that applied for the workshop, delegations from Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina and Virginia will attend the National Governors Associations Policy Academy for State Officials on Improving Oral Health Care for Children Dec. 13-15. more
