Archive for the ‘Health Care’ Category

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By Tara Jayakar, Cape Cod Times

BOSTON – Physicians and AIDS advocates are debating whether a proposed bill that would allow doctors to test patients for HIV with a simple verbal consent needs other changes that would make it easier for health providers to see such records.

“It’s a good step that it went from written to verbal but it needs to go further,” says Dr. Lynda Young, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. “The other part to this is that this proposed legislation has separate written informed consent for each release of the information.”

The Senate passed a bill March 2 changing the existing law requiring “written” consent for HIV testing to “spoken” consent.
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By Neal J. Riley, The Lowell Sun

BOSTON — Legalizing marijuana would be good for the state’s bottom line and would protect the health of those who use the drug, supporters told the Joint Committee on the Judiciary yesterday, even as the bill’s sponsor conceded it has almost no chance of becoming law.

“The state needs to make money,” sponsor Rep. Ellen Story, D-Amherst, testified. “This would allow the state to benefit from marijuana by regulating it.”

Story’s bill would legalize marijuana and “establish a tax on the cannabis industry.” But Story offered no details in her testimony on the tax rate or what revenue such a tax would bring to the state.
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By Neal J. Riley, The Lowell Sun

BOSTON — A proposed bill allowing physician-assisted suicide brought emotional testimony from both supporters and opponents at a standing-room-only hearing in front of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary yesterday.

“I know this is an extremely troubling subject for most people,” said Rep. Cory Atkins, D-Concord, who testified in support of the bill sponsored by Rep. Louis Kafka, D-Stoughton. “We are used to being in charge of our lives so it’s not unusual that we’d also want to be in charge of the circumstances of our death.”

The Death with Dignity Act, which mirrors legislation passed in Oregon and Washington state, would allow terminally ill individuals given less than six months to live to self-administer a lethal dose of medication if they have clearance from two doctors.
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By Neal J. Riley, The Lowell Sun

Legislative leaders may have been modest when they claimed Massachusetts cities and towns would save $100 million under new health-insurance bargaining rules. A budget watchdog group says the state is on pace to far exceed that figure.

A report released by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said the pace of savings by more than 91 communities will exceed the expected $100 million figure mentioned by House Speaker Robert DeLeo and others.

The foundation said 21 cities and towns have already saved $60 million in health-insurance costs.
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By Corey Kane, Patriot Ledger

BOSTON — More than 200 people, many of them chanting “Stop and study,” gathered in a State House auditorium Thursday to demand that Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration delay the closing of Taunton State Hospital until a thorough study is made of the state’s mental health system.

“We should stop any further cuts including the cuts to Taunton State Hospital,” an angry Sen. Marc Pacheco of Taunton told a mix of union members and patient families.

A number of state lawmakers and the Taunton and Worcester mayors also attended.
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By Corey Kane, Patriot Ledger

BOSTON — A synthetic drug known as “bath salts” sold over the counter in retail stores would become illegal in Massachusetts under a bill approved by state senators Thursday.

“This is creating havoc at all ages,” Sen. John Keenan, D-Quincy, told his colleagues Thursday. “We want to ban people getting what seems to be an innocuous substance at the corner store.”

The ban was tacked on to another Senate bill co-authored by Keenan to monitor prescriptions for opiate painkillers.
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By Corey Kane, Patriot Ledger

BOSTON – A prescription drug bill written by state Sen. John Keenan, D-Quincy, would require doctors who prescribe opiate painkillers to register with the state prescription monitoring program.

Participation in the program was voluntary under a law approved in 2010, but only about 1,700 out of 40,000 doctors in Massachusetts have registered.

Lawmakers and drug rehab experts gathered at the State House yesterday in support of a bill they say would help combat the rising abuse of prescription painkillers and their pathway to street drugs.
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By Mounira Al Hmoud, The MetroWest Daily News

BOSTON – A MetroWest lawmaker wants to require more training for those working with developmentally disabled patients following a report found health car professionals don’t know enough about the best treatment for their conditions.

“We need to improve training for medical practitioners,” said Rep. Carolyn Dykema, D-Holliston, said after testifying before the Joint Committee on Public Health on Tuesday. “Disabled people need a much greater level of care and it is important to improve the recognition of their needs.”

Dykema has taken up a bill filed last year by former Rep. Peter J. Koutoujian, before he was named Middlesex County sheriff, that would require continuing education for doctors and licensed health care providers on the problems and treatments of the physically and mentally disabled.
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By Mounira Al Hmoud, The MetroWest Daily News

BOSTON – Although incidents of serious hospital-borne infections have declined in Massachusetts, health officials and state lawmakers are pushing for better transparency and standardization of hospital treatment to further reduce the deadly and expensive cases.

“Patient safety, when it is a priority for the entire health care team as well as the patients they serve, will reduce the need for expensive drugs, extended hospitals stays, and excessive readmissions,” Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, said at Tuesday’s Department of Public Health’s presentation on health care associated infections.

According to the health department report, the rate of serious infections among hospital patients decreased by 24 percent from fiscal year 2010 to 2011.
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