By MICHAEL McAULIFF
In what has become an almost yearly ritual, physician groups are arguing that patients will have greater difficulty finding doctors who accept Medicare if lawmakers allow pay cuts to happen.

A more than 4,000-page draft government spending bill released by lawmakers in mid December proposed much smaller-than-planned cuts to Medicare payments. But the bill, which Congress hoped to pass to keep the government funded and avert a shutdown, would not go as far as doctors wanted.

“Despite overwhelming bipartisan, bicameral support to stop the full Medicare physician payment cut, Congress failed once again to end the cycle of harmful Medicare cuts, showing a disregard for vulnerable seniors,” the Surgical Care Coalition, an organization representing surgeons and anesthesiologists, said in a statement.

The doctors’ lobbying campaign had gained traction on Capitol Hill. A bipartisan group of 115 House lawmakers rallied behind doctors in a letter to congressional leaders and President Joe Biden last week, urging them to prevent cuts that they argued would “only make a bad situation far worse” for Medicare patients.

In recent years, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services scheduled the pay cuts to offset the cost of increasing payments for underpaid services, like primary care. Physicians also stand to see reductions tied to broad cuts [Read More]

An estimated 3.5 million Michiganders are expected to travel more than 50 miles between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2, just as the numbers of flu cases and COVID-19 cases have started to rise in the state.

The flu season and COVID-19 numbers are tracking upward in the state, according to data from the  Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) The weekly reported COVID-19 cases were at 13,043 on recently with 181 deaths for the week.  During a recent seven-day period the rate of flu cases went from low to moderate in the state.

The rate of spread for COVID-19 is between low and moderate in the state as of Dec. 15, with most population centers being in the moderate level.  However, Menominee and Dickinson counties are still at a high rate of transmission.

The number of people getting the flu vaccine is lower this year than it has been in years, with more than 2.7 million people who have got the vaccine for the year.  The goal of the MDHHS is 4 million.

MDHHS data shows 69.1% of the state has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and the Food and Drug Administration approved emergency use of the bivalent [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
Over the course of the last three months, I’ve moved from internships to mentoring to negotiations. It’s as if I’m ascending the career ladder in these columns! Truthfully, the art of successful leadership is due in part to the ability to negotiate. I bring up the topic because a colleague recently commented on the many new arrangements (and yes, risks) our organization has taken on throughout 2022; and where there are business deals, there are negotiations. That led to a conversation on multiple communication tangents, including stakeholders, motives, preparation, questions, goals, agenda, flexibility and communication.

Part of my leadership approach is believing that just because someone told me “no” on a business matter doesn’t mean I have to accept that as the final answer. Without going into specifics due to confidentiality, MedNetOne was recently rejected from a national government program that was very important to our expansion. The rejection stung, in part, of course, because no one likes to be rejected, but chiefly because our organization had been entrenched in the activities that were the focus of the national program, including health equity, social determinants of health and primary care innovation with federally qualified health centers. My leadership team requested a meeting to discuss [Read More]

By JENNI COLAGIOVANNI & DANIEL AYASH
On November 1, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published its Final Rule implementing changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for CY 2023. Included within this Final Rule are important changes for clinical laboratories that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2023.

There are two notable changes affecting clinical labs included in the Final Rule. First, CMS is implementing congressionally mandated changes to reporting obligations under the Protecting Access to Medicare Act, which updates reporting timelines and limits the phase-in of laboratory test payment reductions. Second, CMS is issuing regulations to both codify and modify policies on billing Medicare for specimen collection fees and travel allowances. The changes also increase specimen collection payment rates that had previously remained unchanged for years. Specifically, as it relates to specimen collection, the changes may affect codes 36415, G0471, P9612, and P9615, but do not appear to relate to codes G2023 and G2024. As the regulations relate to travel allowances, the changes may affect codes P9603 and P9604.

Following the implementation of PAMA in 2014, Medicare has established the clinical laboratory fee schedule rates based on data reported by applicable laboratories on the payment rates they receive from commercial payors. Under PAMA, [Read More]

HHS Proposes Rule on Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder Patient Records

By ANGELINA M. GONZALEZ
On Dec. 2, 2022, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to modify portions of Part 2 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations which protect the confidentiality of substance use disorder patient records. See 87 Fed.Reg. 74216. Currently, Part 2 imposes different confidentiality requirements for substance use disorder treatment records than the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 Privacy, Security, Breach Notification, and Enforcement Rules apply to protected health information. Thus, entities governed by Part 2 and HIPAA have competing legal obligations. HHS intends to address these inconsistencies through the Proposed Rule.

While HIPAA takes a more permissive approach to the disclosure of PHI by healthcare providers for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations, Part 2 does not. Part 2 generally requires record holders to obtain prior written consent before disclosing records related to substance use disorder treatment to any third party. The only exceptions provided in Part 2 for record disclosure without prior authorization are for medical emergencies, research, program audits, and certain limited court-ordered disclosures. The [Read More]

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

Health Officials Didn’t Need County Commissioners’ Signoff To Mandate Masks In School

The Ottawa County health department’s now-defunct mask mandates in schools did not require the county board of commissioners’ approval, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled.

The three-judge panel acknowledged the parents’ argument that the state’s Public Health Code, requires a board of commissioners approve or disapprove a regulation adopted by a local health department.

However, “there is no language indicating that the same approval process applies to an order issued by a local health officer,” reads the published opinion from Judges Jane Markey, Elizabeth Gleicher and Michelle Rick.

The plaintiffs, a half-dozen parents led by Patrick Flynn, argued that a “regulation” includes an “order,” but the appellate panel held the state health code refers to the two terms separately, not interchangeably.

The panel also noted that the Public Health Code gives health officers authorization to issue emergency orders in response to an epidemic.

Although the issue is moot because the Ottawa County health department’s mask order expired in January, the appeals panel said they addressed the issue because it has “public significance,” and emergency orders are likely to recur – although not likely related to COVID-19 – without judicial review.

The county’s health officer’s [Read More]

Proposal 3, arguably the top driver for many voters who headed to the polls today, passed today.

The proposal inscribes the right to an abortion, and other reproductive issues, into the Michigan Constitution after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized the practice nationally. It was projected by Mark Grebner of Practical Political Consultants to draw between 10,000 and 20,000 new young female voters.

“Michigan, we made it happen! Your votes helped #RestoreRoe and protect #ReproductiveFreedom for generations to co come. Thank you to everyone who volunteered, hosted a yard sign, and voted for #Proposal3 this election!” reads the tweet from Reproductive Freedom For All, the group that spearheaded Proposal 3.

Reproductive Freedom for All was already putting the ballot initiative together before the ruling in the Dobbs decision. Weeks later, the participation level in the drive to collect signatures for the proposal revealed a spike in interest after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

The ballot proposal effort collected the highest number of signatures in Michigan history.

The road to the finish line wasn’t easy, as a coalition spearheaded by the Catholic church and Right to Life spent nearly $25.6 in advertising to abort it at the ballot box.

Reproductive Freedom for All was able to nearly match the advertising spending with nearly $22 [Read More]

By FRED SCHULTE
Two-year-old Zion Gastelum died four days after receiving baby root canals and crowns at Kool Smiles, a private equity-affiliated dental clinic in Yuma, Arizona. In a lawsuit, which was settled in 2021, his parents accused the clinic and the investment firm of putting profits ahead of patient safety. The clinic and investment firm denied liability. The boy’s death was featured on ABC15 Arizona on Jan. 4, 2018.

Two-year-old Zion Gastelum died just days after dentists performed root canals and put crowns on six baby teeth at a clinic affiliated with a private equity firm.

His parents sued the Kool Smiles dental clinic in Yuma, Arizona, and its private equity investor, FFL Partners. They argued the procedures were done needlessly, in keeping with a corporate strategy to maximize profits by overtreating kids from lower-income families enrolled in Medicaid. Zion died after being diagnosed with “brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen,” according to the lawsuit.

Kool Smiles “overtreats, underperforms and overbills,” the family alleged in the suit, which was settled last year under confidential terms. FFL Partners and Kool Smiles had no comment but denied liability in court filings.

Private equity is rapidly moving to reshape health care in America, coming off a banner year in 2021, when [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
I was overwhelmed by the response to my October column on internships. It’s a topic that resonated with readers for varying reasons – whether they recalled fond memories of their own internship or saw the impact of internship programs, formal or informal, at their own organization. I want to continue in a similar vein this month by taking the logical jump from internships to mentoring. While I did include mentoring in the conversation last month, I didn’t really dissect it until someone recently asked me if I had a mentor in my early career.

It took me a split second to acknowledge one of my earliest mentors, Myra Lenard. Long deceased, Myra’s leadership example is very much alive in guiding my actions to this day. I was in my late teens and early twenties when I first worked with Myra. I was an intern of sorts for the Polish American Congress and Myra, a Polish immigrant like I am, was the Executive Director of the Washington, D.C. office of the Polish American Congress. I didn’t live in D.C. but flew in as part of the local grass roots activities I was spearheading in Detroit’s Polish community for a national presidential campaign.

It didn’t happen overnight, [Read More]

By ROLF LOWE
Effective Dec. 1, 2023, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) announced in Medical Services Administration (MSA) Bulletin 22-38 that it will be eliminating the remaining temporary suspensions of certain provider enrollment and revalidation requirements issued in the spring of 2020, shortly after the COVID 19 pandemic and federal emergency disrupted the normal course of business for providers and MDHHS.  On April 30, 2020, MDHHS released MSA Bulletin 20-28, temporarily suspending certain Medicaid, Healthy Michigan, Maternity Outpatient Medical Services (MOMS), Children’s Special Health Care Services (CSHCS) and MI Health Link provider enrollment and revalidation requirements. The bulletin, which had an effective date of March 1, 2020, was intended to relax, and reduce potential administrative burdens on providers as they adapted to the challenges of the COVID 19 pandemic. MSA suspended the following federal provider enrollment requirements:

Community Health Automated Medicaid Processing System (CHAMPS) Enrollment Revalidations;

Site visits for prospective and current providers;

Fingerprint-based criminal background checks associated with providers in the high-risk level category; and

Payment of application fees – (Providers required to pay an application fee were able to request a postponement of the fee by declaring the payment a hardship during their CHAMPS enrollment or revalidation).

In the bulletin, MSA also described certain restrictions [Read More]

By ERICA ERMAN
One interstate compact you may not have heard of yet that could be very helpful for the behavioral health field is the Interstate Compact for Counselor Licensure. As of August 4, 2022, the Counselor Compact now has 17 members – Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia (the first state to enact the Counseling Compact), Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia, Utah – and The Compact became active when ten states passed it.

This month, the Compact Commission will convene for the first time in October of 2022! According to the Compact’s website, “The Commission will adopt initial bylaws and rules to carry out the Compact. The Commission will also provide for creating an interstate licensure data system allowing for rapid verification of practitioners’ good standing and sharing of disciplinary information among member states. This activation process generally takes up to a year or longer.”

This Compact is for Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs) only. It specifically does not include licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs), licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs), or psychologists.

The Compact website FAQ page notes, “If your state uses a title different than but equivalent to LPC (e.g., LMHC, LPCC), and you are a counselor who can independently diagnose, assess, [Read More]

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

Hospitals In Low Population Counties Could Become Non-Profits Under Bill

A Sen. Wayne A. Schmidt (R-Traverse City) bill allowing qualifying county hospitals to convert to non-profit designations heard testimony before the House Health Policy Committee and was voted out unanimously.

SB 1055 , which passed the Senate unanimously in June, was passed out of committee 18-0 after Schmidt testified in favor.

The bill would amend the Municipal Health Facilities Corporations Act to allow Helen Newberry Joy Hospital and Healthcare Center in Luce County to restructure as a nonprofit.

The county hospital is a 25-bed critical access facility that has been providing ancillary out-patient and surgical services since 1965, in addition to operating four rural health clinics and a 39-bed long-term care unit.

In recent years, the hospital has struggled to respond to a changing healthcare landscape and seek certain forms of grant funding, said Hunter Nostrant, who testified in support of the bill on behalf of HNJH.

The change in designation would allow more seamless future affiliations and partnerships, he said.

HNJH isn’t the first hospital to change their designation in Michigan, with several 2016 amendments to the Act allowing public health corporations in Mecosta, Alpena and Branch counties to restructure and [Read More]

By EMMARIE HUETTEMAN
Half of voters say the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the constitutional right to an abortion has made them more motivated to vote in next month’s midterm elections, with enthusiasm growing especially among Democrats and those living in states with abortion bans, according to a new poll from Kaiser Family Foundation.

The survey also showed that most voters, whether they are Democrats or Republicans, do not think abortion should be prohibited in cases of rape or incest, nor do they support laws that set criminal punishments for abortion providers and women who have abortions.

The findings, collected in late September through KFF’s regular survey of public opinion on health care issues, highlight that even the majority of Republican voters oppose some of the laws that have strictly restrained abortion access — including for those who have been raped — that are now in effect in Republican-led states such as Texas and Missouri. However, states with such strict standards have so far authorized abortions to save the life of a mother.

Bottom of Form

With Democrats currently holding control of the House of Representatives and the Senate by narrow margins and several close races underway, control of Congress could hinge on voter turnout. And while voters are less likely to pick [Read More]

Abortion providers and medical providers are pushing to pass Proposal 3 next month to keep the money coming in the door and to shield themselves from potential legal action down the road, according to Democrats who opposed the constitutional amendment on the Capitol lawn.

A handful of speakers led by the “Democrats for Life” argued that passing the Reproductive Freedom for All initiative will mean abortions with no limitation or oversight.

The message coming out of the event was Proposal 3 will eventually eliminate all statutory regulations over abortion. The courts will have no choice but to side with the broad constitutional language that allows for abortion, regardless of age, up until a subjective point of fetal viability.

“We’re putting the decision not in the hands of women, but in the hands of providers who stand to make a profit,” said Kristen Day, executive director of the national organization Democrats for Life. “So, as Democrats, we never advocate for profits over the health and safety of people.”

Once the courts get done with overturning current statutory limitations on abortion, girls at any age will be able to seek an abortion without parental consent, said Monica Galloway, a former Flint City Councilmember.

“This proposition is going to destroy families,” she said. “It will [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
How does one build a 41-year-old organization? My response today is different than it would have been 15 or so years ago, largely due to my increased understanding of the value of internships. During this time, we’ve hired numerous interns of differing backgrounds and skill levels and the overwhelming majority have made meaningful contributions that ultimately helped us build a stronger organization.

I define ‘stronger’ in differing ways. One is our ability to take on new projects where we can lead with creativity and enthusiasm; another, our reputation for offering interns – and staff – both direction and independence in their careers with us – which in turn helps identify us as an employer of choice; and, yet another, the relationships we build with our internship schools that lead to partnerships and opportunities not easily available outside academia.

For example, through the years we have hired more than a dozen interns through neighboring Oakland University. From exercise specialists to dietitians and, since its first graduating class in 2015, masters of public health students who brought us deep data skills at a time when outcomes reporting took on greater significance for reimbursement by health plans. So valuable were these MPH interns that we hired five of [Read More]

By JENNI COLAGIOVANNI & DANIEL AYYASH
Wachler & Associates, PC

Overview

Signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020, the No Surprises Act addresses surprise medical billing or “balance billing” at the federal level by protecting patients from receiving surprise medical bills resulting from gaps in coverage for emergency services and certain services provided by out-of-network clinicians at in-network facilities, including by air ambulances. Effective Jan. 1, 2022, healthcare providers, facilities, and providers of air ambulance services (hereinafter “providers”) are subject to new requirements that generally apply to items and services provided to individuals enrolled in group health plans, group or individual health insurance coverage, and Federal Employee Health Benefit plans. These requirements generally do not apply to beneficiaries or enrollees in federal programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Indian Health Services, Veterans Affairs Health Care, or TRICARE.

Under the Act, patients are liable only for their in-network cost-sharing amount and are removed from payment disputes between a provider and their health plan, while providers and insurers are given an opportunity to negotiate reimbursement. The Act provides for an Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process in the event disputes arise over reimbursement between providers and insurers.

Independent Dispute Resolution Process Between Providers and Insurers

Under the Act, if a provider and insurance company cannot [Read More]

By KIMBERLY RUPPEL
The current Public Health Emergency expiration deadline is this month.  However, the Secretary of the Health and Human Services indicated he would provide a 60-day notice before ending the PHE in order to minimize disruptions and potential loss of government and private insurance coverage.  That notice has not yet occurred.  Therefore, we expect another 90 extension.  In the meantime, telehealth waivers remain in effect.

Moreover, once the PHE is finally over, the Consolidated Appropriations Act signed into law earlier in 2022 provides a 151 day extension period of the expiration of many of the Covid-related exceptions or waivers, to allow for a transition period.

CMS has provided some guidance as to what waivers and flexibilities might remain in place after the end of the PHE for the purposes of promoting innovation, maintaining or improving quality, advancing health equity, and expanding access to care.

Those relating to telehealth include:

(1) Continued expansion of access to telehealth services for the diagnosis, evaluation, or treatment of mental health disorders;

(2) Temporary continued waiver expanding the types of healthcare professionals who can furnish distant site telehealth services to include all providers who are eligible to bill Medicare for their professional services.  This will allow physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists and [Read More]

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

Anti-Prop 3 Campaign Going On Air With ‘Puberty Blocker’ Argument

The latest anti-Proposal 3 TV ad is making the claim that “sterilization” language in the proposed constitutional amendment would legally allow gender-changing-seeking minors to receive puberty-blocking drugs without their parents’ consent.

The “conversation is going to take a turn” said anti-Prop 3 consultant Fred Wzsolek for an anti-Proposal 3 side that’s averaging about $2.25 million a week on broadcast media.

Proposal 3, the constitutional amendment to overturn the 1931 Michigan abortion ban, also includes extreme policies “hidden behind the words,” said Christen Pollo of Citizens to Support MI Women and Children, the group putting out the ad.

Pollo said it’s “no secret that some want to cash in on the booming market for gender change therapies.”

“That’s why Planned Parenthood started dispensing these drugs in Michigan this year,” he said. “But what few understand is that their business plan includes a dangerous constitutional amendment that would allow them to provide these drugs to kids without the knowledge or consent of their parents.”

The 30-second ad, titled “Blocker,” starts with shots of a drug called Triptorelin, which is used to treat accelerated bone growth in children and accelerated prostate cancer in adults, [Read More]

By PAUL NATINSKY
Despite perceptions to the contrary, the COVID 19 pandemic is not over. Notwithstanding the return of crowds, the diminishment of mask wearers and the back-page treatment of pandemic news, the virus continues to circulate and the risk of resurgence looms.

“We’re certainly not done with it. We still have nationally a few hundred people a day dying from COVID. If you look at the overall mortality numbers, it’s still multiple times the number of deaths we see, say, from influenza. So it certainly has not faded into the background,” said Dr. Justin Skrzynski, a hospitalist with BHSH System, who has worked with COVID patients since the pandemic began.

Dr. Dennis Cunningham looks at COVID numbers on a daily basis. He says cases per 100,000 population are up, but they are mostly outpatients. He is not seeing serious disease numbers rising. Very few are coming into intensive care.

VIRULENT VARIANTS?

“The big question in my mind is when is the next new variant going to come up because that could change things a lot. But right now, things are probably better than they’ve been in the last three years,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham, who is System Director of Infection Control and Prevention at Henry Ford Health System, said a new [Read More]

“If local prosecutors, guided by their political expediency, are planning to imprison board certified obstetricians like me, then who do they expect to safely deliver all these pregnancies?” asked Dr. Audrey Stryker, a Bay City obstetrician and gynecologist.

Stryker met with several other medical professionals as part of a Committee to Protect Health Care’s virtual panel to discuss gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon’s abortion ban policy, which they say will drive medical professionals out of the state and lead to additional staffing shortages.

Dixon’s senior advisor, Kyle Olson, criticized the Committee, calling the group’s founder, Dr. Rob Davidson, a “political hack who failed at running for Congress.”

“He’s trying to remain relevant,” Olsen said, adding that the Committee is on the side of the “radicals” who want to eliminate protections like parental notification that he says are widely supported by Michiganders.

Stryker, who has practiced since 1988, said a medical staffing shortage existed even before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

“Every day I receive multiple emails, texts and phone calls from hospitals in urgent need of obstetricians to cover their labor and delivery units, necessitating the closure of smaller labor and delivery units all over the state,” Stryker said. “Even prior to the overturning of Roe, in the state of Michigan, we were in dire need [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) recently announced the names of its Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) designees – many receiving designation renewals, but others being PCMH designated for the first time. From my vantage point, these practices, whether multiple-year designees or newbies, represent the best of primary care and affirm the effectiveness of a healthcare approach that puts the patient in partnership with the physician or advanced care provider and their team to optimize outcomes in physical and mental health. I again must give recognition to my friend Tom Simmer, MD, who had the foresight to launch the PCMH practice program through the Physician Group Incentive Program (PGIP; now known as value partnerships) when he was the CMO at BCBSM.

I mention the PCMH program because, coincident with that announcement, BCBSM also

introduced the use of the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) for physician group members. CoCM brings together both physical and behavioral health providers to a primary care setting to offer integrated care. I’ve long advocated for this model and have seen it in action at Judson Center Health, our joint venture integrated primary care clinic in Warren where our organization provides the clinical staff and Judson Center provides behavioral health. We also have [Read More]

By STEPHEN SHAVER & CHRISTIAN IERACI
The COVID-19 pandemic created a newfound need for expansive telehealth services. As lockdowns, restrictions, and mandates left many without in-person access to healthcare, providers shifted to telehealth services to provide the care their patients needed, providing telehealth care to over 28 million Medicare beneficiaries in the first year of the pandemic. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recognized the need for telehealth services and temporarily paused many audits and other medical reviews of claims in order to expand telemedicine access to Medicare beneficiaries. The increased need for telehealth services caused by the pandemic also led CMS to increase the types of services available via telehealth from 118 to 264 services. Now, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has produced a review of telehealth service claims from the first year of the pandemic in an attempt to identify fraud, waste, and abuse related to telehealth. This review attempts to identify providers that performed the most telehealth services, scrutinizes their billing, and forecasts an increase in Medicare audit activity for telehealth providers.

OIG analyzed Medicare fee-for-service claims data and Medicare Advantage data for the first year of the pandemic, spanning from March 1, [Read More]

By JESSICA BUSCH
There’s a new sheriff in town, and they are looking to crack down on medical spas in Michigan.

Medical spas offering minimally invasive cosmetic medical services have enjoyed increasing popularity in the State of Michigan and across the United States. But with great success comes greater scrutiny of the so-called “Wild West” of the healthcare industry, particularly from lawmakers and government agencies. And with Michigan’s newly proposed legislation, lawmakers may be going after the bread and butter of many medical spas: Botox and dermal fillers.

New Michigan Legislation

Cosmetic medical services are medical-grade skin care and aesthetic services that constitute the practice of medicine and may only be performed by, or under the supervision of, a licensed physician. Since cosmetic medical services generally are not medically necessary and can be minimally invasive, it often leads to confusion as to the qualifications required to perform them.

Michigan lawmakers have answered with proposed legislation, which identifies, and significantly limits, who can perform cosmetic injectable services under Michigan law. On June 7, 2022, Michigan legislators introduced Senate Bill No. 1068, which proposes to permit only the following licensed persons to administer Botox and dermal fillers for cosmetic purposes: a physician; a physician’s assistant (“PA”) with a practice agreement with [Read More]

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

Hospital Association CEO: ‘Pipeline Issue’ Remains The Bottom Line For Healthcare

Although an economic report from the state’s hospital association discovered that healthcare maintains its place as Michigan’s largest private-sector employer, struggles with attracting and training newcomers has put a damper on things.

“There are some 1,700 fewer staff hospital beds throughout the state of Michigan than there were pre-pandemic,” said Brian Peters, chief executive officer of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association (MHA). “We have lost staff—both frontline (and) clinical staff, as well as non-clinical staff, who are so important to making a hospital operate on a 24-7-365 basis.”

Overall, Peters said the bottom line is “we have a pipeline issue.”

Peters spoke on the MIRS Monday Podcast , referencing a September report that found that healthcare in Michigan directly employed nearly 572,000 residents in 2020.

According to The Economic Impact of Healthcare in Michigan report, released earlier this month, direct healthcare workers in the state obtained $44.2 billion total in wages, salaries and benefits. Healthcare-affiliated workers additionally contributed $15.2 billion in local, state and federal taxes.

However, the American Hospital Association has also revealed occupied nursing and residential care jobs dropped by 11,000 while compensation hopped by $200 million.

Nationally, per-patient labor [Read More]

The Michigan Association of Health Plans is “hopeful” the recent $2.67 billion antitrust settlement with Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBSM) will encourage “employers and individuals” to consider other plans.

MAHP Executive Director Dominick Pallone said its member health plan providers are “pleased that the court has finally accepted the terms” of the landmark settlement against Michigan’s largest insurer.

“For years, the American Medical Association (AMA) has consistently ranked Michigan as one of the least competitive states in the nation for health insurance,” he said in a statement. “We’re hopeful that this settlement will raise awareness of BCBS’ anti-competitive behavior and encourage all employers and individuals shopping for health insurance coverage to regularly evaluate their insurance provider options and consider other health plans offering more affordable policies.”

The settlement could affect more than 100 million class members, but how many are in Michigan was not immediately known. Class members were notified earlier of the proposal settlement via direct notice, a postcard or electronically.

A BCBS spokesperson said it is “premature for us to comment because the court’s approval of the settlement kicks off a 30-day window where parties may appeal, and the settlement won’t be final until that window closes, or until all appeals have been concluded.” She did not say [Read More]