By SHEA MACE
Wachler & Associates, P.C.

On December 7, 2023, MDHHS announced that community health worker services now will be covered by Medicaid. The new policy is effective January 1, 2024, and chiefly applicable to the Medicaid Fee-for-Service (FFS) program. Medicaid Health Plans (MHPs) and Integrated Care Organizations (ICOs) must also comply by offering the full range of services described within the policy, although they may provide additional services beyond those specified and may develop review and prior authorization criteria different than Medicaid requirements.

CHW Overview

Community health workers (CHWs) are non-licensed but trained public health providers who have distinct knowledge and appreciation of the community they serve. They function as a liaison [Read More]

By KATHLEEN CAMPBELL WALKER
Recently, the president of the American Medical Association, Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, stated in a national address that the physician shortage long-feared is here and that “It’s an urgent crisis…hitting every corner of this country—urban and rural—with the most direct impacting hitting families with high needs and limited means… Ninety percent of counties in the U.S. are without a pediatric ophthalmologist. Eighty percent are without an infectious disease specialist.”

All areas of the country rely in part on foreign medical graduate (FMG) physicians, who may be required to serve in qualifying health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) or medically underserved areas (MUAs) to transition to a career as [Read More]

Lansing Lines is presented in cooperation with MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.

Passive Renewals Helping Medicaid Redetermination Process

With Michigan’s post-pandemic Medicaid redetermination process well underway, the Department of Health and Human Services has stayed busy contacting Medicaid recipients to inform them of their redetermination requirement. But, in some cases, an automatic or passive renewal is easing DHHS’ workload.

Nicole Hudson, DHHS senior advisor on special projects, explained the redetermination process that started after three years of pandemic-prompted auto-renewals for Medicaid. It was accompanied by a significant increase in the state’s Medicaid population and an almost 35% increase in Michiganders on Medicaid.

Over 3.2 million Michiganders were covered by Medicaid in May [Read More]

By LAUREN SAUSSER
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley will learn how her campaign is resonating with voters after the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, the first presidential nominating contest of this election year.

Already, the former South Carolina governor — who became well known as one of the Affordable Care Act’s loudest critics during her tenure in office from 2011 to 2017 — has raised questions about what her presidency could mean for the nation’s health care policy.

She has criticized the Biden administration for high federal spending on COVID relief and for the number of people on Medicaid, a program she has argued the federal government should give states more [Read More]

By PAUL NATINSKY
I understand very clearly the deep concern about the future of medicine and the frustrations attached to that concern. Other professionals with similar levels of academic and practical credentials and similar licensing requirements practice much more autonomously and with much more freedom than physicians.

As a patient and healthcare writer, I have exposure to the sense of defeat physicians increasingly feel toward their careers, particularly those who are near end of their practicing years, a career phase that arguably makes them among the most valuable of practitioners. Experience and the wisdom that comes from decades of practice cannot be replaced.

Several years ago, my family’s terrific pediatrician retired early. She [Read More]

By SUSAN ADELMAN, MD
What is a profession? The on-line Oxford Dictionary defines a profession as “a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification.” What is a guild? The same dictionary defines a guild as “a medieval association of craftsmen or merchants, often having considerable power…[or] an association of people for mutual aid or the pursuit of a common goal.” What are proletariat? This dictionary defines proletariat as “workers or working-class people, regarded collectively. (often used with reference to Marxism)” also, “the lowest class of citizens in ancient Rome.”

What attributes characterize a profession? According to the Association of Accredited Public Policy Advocates to the European Union, these are “great responsibility, [Read More]

Certainly, this is not a formal survey, but those physicians that I have recently interacted with have been sadly and regrettably consistent. The new mantra seems; “I will put in the next four or five years and get out of the agony as soon as I can.” This defines a profession that has lost. Without the visibility or even the hope of any significant action steps, surrender becomes the final chapter. All of the professional organizations, the AMA and reinvented and reinvigorated state and local medical societies must acknowledge reality and get proverbially “their heads out of the sand.”

Medical students must be prepared for the realities of practicing medicine in [Read More]

Terminally ill patients in Michigan, determined to have up to six months left to live, could request life-ending medication under bills the Legislature could likely take up next year.

“We wanted to make sure to introduce it before this holiday season in order to continue to work with stakeholders, for (it), against (it)…or even people that might have questions,” said Sen. Mary CAVANAGH (D-Redford Twp.), the lead sponsor behind this term’s “Death with Dignity” bill package, to MIRS. “But, it is not my intent to shove anything down that we haven’t had full vetting and full conversations of what is the best thing for Michigan, and who might be utilizing some of these [Read More]

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bipartisan legislative package at Sparrow Hospital last month that would increase the punishment leveled against people, excluding patients, that assault health care workers.

As she signed HB 4520 and HB 4521 , sponsored by Reps. Mike Mueller (R-Linden) and Kelly Breen (D-Novi), Whitmer was surrounded by nurses and doctors, who she said were facing an increase of violence, even as they faced a shortage of workers. Her response was signing this legislation into law, which could help stem the tide.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to the doctors, nurses, and health care workers who routinely step up to protect our communities and save lives,” Whitmer said. “Unfortunately, health care workers face rising rates of bullying, [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
Healthcare is not for the faint of heart. I’m not speaking of exposure to blood, trauma, distress, violence, and death – but there’s that, too.  Rather, I’m playing my violin for the healthcare warriors who are dealing with a new era of healthcare in a post-pandemic world. These are frontline nurses, physicians, phlebotomists, clerks, medical assistants, x-ray, ultrasound and med techs, midwives, social workers and behavioral health specialists. But they are also administrators, hiring managers and recruiters, payors, financial personnel and office managers.

This is not an exhaustive list; the healthcare world is simply too massive to capture every role in this column. The overarching commonality, though, is that [Read More]