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

$15.6M Contract For COVID-19 Test Kits Goes To Florida Company

The state awarded a $15.6 million contract to Orlando-based Abbott Rapid Dx North America to continue in-state COVID-19 testing.

The funding is coming from the federal government through the COVID Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity funds and must be spent by July 31, 2026, but Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) spokesperson Lynn Sutfin said there was no obligation to spend the funds if testing wasn’t needed.

“We continue to urge all Michigan residents to use the tools available to them to protect themselves and their families from all respiratory [Read More]

Patient and consumer advocates are looking to Kamala Harris to accelerate federal efforts to help people struggling with medical debt if she prevails in next month’s presidential election.

By STEPHANIE ARMOUR

Vice President Kamala Harris is seeing a surge of support from Black women voters, galvanized in part by her work on health care issues such as maternal mortality, reproductive rights, and gun control.

The enthusiasm may be key for Democratic turnout at the polls in critical battleground states.

Black women have always been among the most reliable voters in the Democratic base and were central to former President Barack Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012. Enthusiasm was also robust for President Joe Biden in 2020. But this year, before he bowed out of the race and Harris became the Democratic nominee, his support among this critical demographic had been fading, [Read More]

KAITLYN DELBENE
Wachler & Associates, PC

The Office of Inspector General recently issued a report recommending increased oversight following a data analysis of Medicare fee-for-service claims for remote patient monitoring services. Providers should be aware of possible increased scrutiny by CMS, including audits and new proposed coverage criteria.

What Is Remote Patient Monitoring?

Remote patient monitoring (“RPM,” also at times referred to as remote physiologic monitoring) is the collection and transmission of health data in a patient’s home that providers use to remotely monitor a patient’s health status and manage a patient’s condition. To qualify as RPM, the monitoring device must automatically transmit data to the patient’s provider. The provider is then able to [Read More]

By NICOLETTE TABER
Dickinson Wright

On Sept. 9, 2024, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury (collectively “the Departments”) released final rules strengthening and clarifying the rules previously set forth in the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). These new rules signify the Departments’ commitment to enforcing existing mental health parity laws by imposing additional requirements on insurers while also outlining guidelines for compliance.

The final rules reinforce the MHPAEA’s mandate of group health plans and health insurance issuers that offer group and individual health insurance coverage of mental health or substance use disorder benefits to do so in parity with medical and surgical benefits. The [Read More]

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

New PPOs For Seniors And Disabled Passes Senate

Beginning at 60 years old, senior Michiganders can petition for restraining orders against relatives and caretakers who they fear are abusive or exploitative, under legislation the Senate approved.

The Senate passed SB 922 by Sen. Veronica Klinefelt (D-Eastpointe), creating a system for elderly Michiganders and vulnerable adults to seek a new type of personal protection order. Under the legislation, a vulnerable adult includes someone 18 or older who’s unable to live on their own because of a physical or developmental disability or a mental illness.

Courts can issue one of these PPOs [Read More]

By KFF Health News and PolitiFact staffs

When Vice President Kamala Harris walked across the debate stage Sept. 11 to shake the hand of former President Donald Trump, it was the first time the two had met in person. But that was the rare collegial moment in a face-off otherwise marked by false and sometimes bizarre statements by the former president.

The debate was hosted by ABC with moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, who occasionally fact-checked Trump. He complained on the Fox News show “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday morning that it was a “three-to-one” contest.

The two presidential candidates covered a wide range of issues — from job and inflation numbers [Read More]

By CHRISTINE SPOLAR

PITTSBURGH — A false alarm that a gunman was roaming one Catholic high school and then another in March 2023 touched off frightening evacuations and a robust police response in the city. It also prompted the diocese to rethink what constitutes a model learning environment.

Months after hundreds of students were met by SWAT teams, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh began forming its own armed police force.

Wendell Hissrich, a former safety director for the city and career FBI unit chief, was hired that year to form a department to safeguard 39 Catholic schools as well as dozens of churches in the region. Hissrich has since added 15 officers and [Read More]

By MAYA MILLER & ANNIE WALDMAN

This story originally published by ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.

The Biden administration announced on Monday that it has finalized new regulations to strengthen protections for mental health care coverage and hold insurance companies accountable for unlawfully denying it.

The rules update the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which was passed in 2008, requiring health insurance plans to provide the same access to mental health care as medical care. The new provisions will force health insurance plans to collect and report more robust data on how they limit and deny mental health claims. If disparities exist between mental and medical care, [Read More]

By SUSAN ADELMAN, MD
Doctors, do you know whether your patients actually are taking the medicines you have prescribed? Brick and mortar retail pharmacies are vanishing these days, or at least dwindling, and on-line pharmacies are proliferating. We need to understand what this means. Rite-Aid has gone bankrupt, closing 500 stores. CVS closed 244 stores between 2018 and 2020, and in 2021 it announced it would close 900. Walgreens announced in 2019 that it would close 200 stores, and in 2023 it announced it would close 150 more. Walmart is closing 11 stores in 2024, and it is divesting itself of 51 health clinics. The reason given is that these stores [Read More]