State Health Notes April 2004

State Health Notes
April 2004 Issues

Volume 25, Number 418: April 19, 2004

Cover Story - Better Jobs Better Care: Retaining Long-Term Care Workers
With annual turnover rates of 70 percent, the forecast for an adequate supply of long-term care workers isn’t good. A new grant program seeks to reduce vacancy rates by improving working conditions for direct-care workers.

Behavioral Health News - Buprenorphine: Can Addiction Treatment Be Mainstreamed?
Buprenorphine has been touted as a promising new treatment for opiod addictions. However, government regulations and physician reluctance have severely limited access to the drug. A look at mainstreaming substance abuse treatment.

Highlights
Formulary ruling...The homeless and Medicaid...Antidepressants for kids...NY health care grants...HIPAA upheld…Donating cancer drugs in WI…West Nile virus in CA...NY tackles heart disease...Safer sex...ME environmental shift…Long-term care survey

Tracking Trends - Cost Concerns Slow Drive for Parity in Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Early in the year, it looked like parity for mental health and substance abuse treatment was a hot trend. To date, however, only two states have parity laws on the books.

FYI - Breaking the Chain: Mentoring Kids Whose Parents are in Jail
Children with parents behind bars are at increased risk for school failure and jail time themselves. Breaking the Chain is trying to end the cycle of intergenerational incarceration.

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Volume 25, Number 417: April 5, 2004

Cover Story - The Medicare Discount Drug Card: States Get Ready to Make it Work
States begin work on the challenge of implementing the new Medicare drug cards. Are they looking a gift horse in the mouth?

Primary Care News - The ABCs of Improving Child Development
Early intervention is the key to improving outcomes for children with developmental disorders. The ABCD II initiative is working with states to improve the delivery and financing of screening and referral services for emotionally troubled children.

Highlights
S.C. ends cancer program…MN launches Bright Smiles...Smoking and dementia...Stress and nicotine…CA public smoking ban...MD dental payments...N.Y. post-9/11…AIDS drug assistance in jeopardy...Organ donation risks...MN Rx importation battle

Tracking Trends - State Laws Hamper Screening for Substance Abuse
The Uniform Accident and Sickness Policy Provision Law -- intended to protect insurers from paying for beneficiaries whose injuries were caused by drugs and alcohol -- has had unintended consequences for EDs and substance abusers.

FYI - Just the Facts, Ma’am: Defining the Uninsured
Health Policy and the Uninsured, a new book from the Urban Institute, examines the who, what and why of the uninsured.

Worth Noting - NCSL Conference Slate
Cover the Uninsured Week, May 10-16, 2004; Planning, Funding, and Sustaining a Hospital-Based Palliative Care Program, May 6-8; Solutions for Success, May 5-7

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