Midwest Healthcare News

Healthcare Mortgages Could Finance Pricey Care For Patients

But Proposal Raises Ethical Issues

Mar 29, 2026 By Michelle Andrews

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist and Harvard oncologist have a proposal to get highly effective but prohibitively expensive drugs into consumers’ hands: health care installment loans.

Writing last month in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the authors liken drug loans to mortgages, noting that both can enable consumers to buy big-ticket items requiring a hefty up-front payment that they could not otherwise afford.

Kansas authorizes EPO plans

But such policies won't be subject to Medicaid fee

Mar 29, 2026 By Andy Marso

Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill Monday that will allow insurance companies to avoid paying a privilege fee when they sell health plans that cover only in-network care.

The state already allowed insurers to sell network-only plans if they registered with the Kansas Insurance Department as health maintenance organizations, or HMOs, and paid the fee.

Opioid Epidemic Raises Concerns About Expectant Mothers

More Children Being Born At-Risk For Withdrawal

Mar 29, 2026 By Christine Vestal

As soon as the home pregnancy test strip turned blue, Susan Bellone packed a few things and headed straight for Boston Medical Center’s emergency room. She’d been using heroin and knew she needed medical help to protect her baby.

“I felt so guilty. I still do,” said Bellone, a petite, energetic woman. At 32, and six years into her heroin addiction, having a baby was the last thing on her mind. “I was not in the right place to start a family,” she said. “But once it was happening, it was happening, so I couldn’t turn back.”

Value-Based Pricing Reaches Part D

CMS Introduces Various Initiatives to Cut Costs

Mar 22, 2026 By Julie Appleby

Aetna and Cigna inked deals in early February with drugmaker Novartis that offer the insurers rebates tied to how well a pricey new heart failure drug works to cut hospitalizations and deaths. If the $4,500-a-year drug meets targets, the rebate goes down. Doesn’t work so well? The insurers get a bigger payment.

In another approach, pharmacy benefit firm Express Scripts this year began paying drugmakers a special negotiated rate for some cancer drugs — to reward the use of the medicines for the specific cancers for which they have the most demonstrated effectiveness.

Kansas Gets Federal Money To Combat Opioid Abuse

Four Centers Receive HHS Grants

Mar 22, 2026 By Megan Hart

More than $1.4 million in federal grants will help four Kansas health centers enhance their treatment programs for opioid abuse.

In announcing the grants earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said abuse of and addiction to opioids, such as heroin and prescription painkillers, “is a serious and increasing public health problem.”

End-Of-Life Discussions Expand

Cleveland Clinic Among Those Providing Training

Mar 22, 2026 By Phil Galewitz

She didn’t want to spend the rest of her days seeing doctors, the 91-year-old woman confessed to Kevin Newfield, M.D., as he treated a deep wound on her arm.

“You don’t have to, but you have to tell me what you do want,” Newfield replied.

“I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid of being 106,” she told the surgeon and her daughter, who was in the room with them.

Rural Towns Rattled By Hospital Closures

Other Businesses Often Impacted Hard

Mar 15, 2026 By Sarah Varney

For years, Sybil Ammons was the director of nursing at Stewart County’s only hospital. Now, she’s the county coroner.

Since the hospital here closed three years ago, Ammons says more than a dozen local residents were unable to get medical care quickly enough and were either harmed or died because of the delays. “We’ve had a stroke, several heart attacks,” she said, standing along Richland’s main street in this small town about 150 miles south of Atlanta. “We’ve had traumas out on the four-lane.”

States Mull Sanctioning Of Heroin Use

Safe Injection Sites Would Cut Overdoses

Mar 15, 2026 By Sarah Breitenbach

A bustling economy. Record-low unemployment. A ballooning heroin problem.

That’s how Mayor Svante Myrick describes Ithaca, N.Y., where he hopes to open the nation’s first safe injection facility — a place where heroin users could shoot their illegal drugs under medical supervision and without fear of arrest.

Concealed Guns Will Soon Be A Reality At KU Medical Center

New Law Allowing Them on College Campuses Affects Hospital

Mar 15, 2026 By Sam Zeff

July 2017 may seem like a long way away, but when you’re planning to allow guns on college campuses, it might as well be just around the corner.

How Kansas colleges will comply with the law allowing guns on campus while maintaining security is complicated. But it’s perhaps most complex at the University of Kansas Medical Center and KU Hospital in Kansas City, Kan.

Poll Shows Large Majority Of Kansans Want To Expand Medicaid

But no Action Being Taken by Legislature For Now

Mar 8, 2026 By Jim McLean

Poll results released Monday by the Kansas Hospital Association show a majority of Kansans continue to favor expanding Medicaid to cover more low-income adults.

The statewide poll conducted in mid-February found that 62% of Kansas voters supported expanding KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, to cover approximately 150,000 non-disabled adults earning less than 138% of the federal poverty level, which is $16,242 for an individual and $33,465 for a family of four.

States For Pushing For Greater Price Transparency For Drugs

Michigan Among 11 Advocating Reforms

Mar 8, 2026 By Michael Ollove

Outraged by exorbitant prices for certain prescription drugs, lawmakers in at least 11 states have introduced legislation that would require pharmaceutical companies to justify their prices by disclosing how much they spend on research, manufacturing and marketing.

The bills are similar to a provision in President Barack Obama’s proposed 2017 budget.

Retail Clinics May Be Driving Up Health Spending

Study Contradicts Notion They Cut Costs

Mar 8, 2026 By Chad Terhune

Retail clinics, long seen as an antidote to more expensive doctor offices and emergency rooms, may actually boost medical spending by leading consumers to get more care, a new study shows.

Rather than substituting for a physician office visit or trip to the hospital, 58 percent of retail clinic visits for minor conditions represented a new use of medical services, according to the study published Monday in the journal Health Affairs. Those additional visits led to a modest increase in overall health care spending of $14 per person per year.

Americans Cool to Sanders' Single-Payer Proposal

Most Support is Among Democrats; Alternatives Are Preferred

Mar 1, 2026 By Jordan Rau

Americans are divided about the idea of creating a single-payer government health insurance system, as Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has proposed, but support shrinks when negative arguments are highlighted and alternatives are presented, according to a poll released last week.

Power Couples Exacerbate Rural Doctor Shortage

Higher Earners More Likely to Marry, Creating Reluctance to Relocate

Mar 1, 2026 By Shefali Luthra

If someone is well-educated, the odds are that he or she will marry someone with similar credentials, according to census data. And that trend has consequences when it comes to access to health care in rural areas.

Rural areas have for years been facing a doctor shortage. That means for the roughly 20% of Americans who live in those areas, it’s harder to get care when it’s needed.

Funding Cuts Make It Difficult For Poor Kansas Women To Obtain Health Services

Many Have to Travel Hours to Clinics

Mar 1, 2026 By Esther Honig

At a domestic violence shelter in Hays, director Tiffany Kershner sits with a client in a small meeting room. Leyila, 35, who asks that only her first name be used to protect her privacy, recently left an abusive marriage.

Today she’s hoping she can get an appointment with an OB-GYN, but Kershner knows that’s no easy task in Hays. “We’re looking for the money to try and help with the exams and help with the doctor’s visits,” Kershner said. “But there’s just not a lot of money for it, so we’re just looking for any particular grant we can write.”

Many Public Health Departments Unprepared For Zika Virus

Budget, Staffing Cuts During Recession Linger

Feb 23, 2026 By Michael Ollove

State health officials were heartened when President Barack Obama this month asked Congress for $1.8 billion to combat the spread of the Zika virus because they fear they don’t have the resources to fight the potentially debilitating disease on their own.

Budget cuts have left state and local health departments seriously understaffed and, officials say, in a precariously dangerous situation if the country has to face outbreaks of two or more infectious diseases — such as Zika, new strains of flu, or the West Nile and Ebola viruses — at the same time.

Flint Water Crisis Impacts Tap Water Initiatives Elsewhere

Wariness Prompts Many to Consumer Sugary Drinks Over Tapwater

Feb 23, 2026 By John Daley

The water crisis in Flint, Mich., is making some public health messages harder to get across — namely, in most communities, the tap water is perfectly safe. And it is so much healthier than sugary drinks.

It’s a message Patty Braun, M.D., a pediatrician and oral health specialist at Denver Health, spends a lot of time on in Denver, even before lead was found in the water system of Flint.

Kansas' Refusal To Expand Medicaid Has Cost Hospitals More Than $1B

No Softening of Stance in Sight

Feb 23, 2026 By Jim McLean

Kansas’ rejection of Medicaid expansion has cost the state more than $1 billion, according to the association that represents the state’s hospitals.

“This 10-figure sum represents a loss of nearly 11 Kansas taxpayer dollars every second since Jan. 1, 2014 — funds that go to the federal government to be spent in other states for Medicaid expansion,” the Kansas Hospital Association, which keeps a running total of the amount on its website, said in a news release issued Monday.

Kansas Cannot Move The Needle On Coverage For Minorities

Their Rates of Uninsured Remain Far Higher Than Whites

Feb 16, 2026 By Bryan Thompson

A recent national report credits the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, for helping to reduce racial and ethnic inequalities in health insurance coverage. But Kansas has not made as much progress as other states.

Before the Affordable Care Act, blacks, Hispanics, American Indians and Asian-Americans were much more likely than whites to be uninsured. But an analysis by the nonprofit Center for Global Policy Solutions shows that gap has narrowed because of the health reform law.

Few Doctors Willing And Able To Prescribe Anti-Opioid Drugs

Federal Rules And Attitudes Are Among Issues

Feb 16, 2026 By Christine Vestal

After more than a decade of getting high on illicit opioid painkillers and heroin every day, Christopher Dezotelle decided to quit. He saw too many people overdose and die. “I couldn’t do that to my mom or my children,” he said.

He also got tired of having to commit crimes to pay for his habit — or at least the consequences of those crimes. At 33, he has spent more than 11 of his last 17 years incarcerated. The oldest of seven children, he started using marijuana and alcohol when he was 12.

Feds Don't Endorse Autism Screening

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Says There Not Enough Evidence to Show Benefit

Feb 16, 2026 By Shefali Luthra

Sparking strong reaction from doctors and child development experts, an influential task force says there’s “insufficient evidence” to argue definitely that the benefits of screening all young children for autism outweigh the harms.

“There’s not enough evidence for us to recommend for or against screening in children for autism under 30 months,” said David Grossman, M.D., vice chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and a Seattle pediatrician. “Clinicians need to make a judgment on their own about whether to screen. There is no right answer on that.”

Insurers Backing Away From ACA

Many Cut Commissions to Brokers to Discourage Enrollment

Feb 9, 2026 By Michelle Andrews

Stung by losses under the federal health law, major insurers are seeking to sharply limit how policies are sold to individuals in ways that consumer advocates say seem to discriminate against the sickest and could hold down future enrollment.

In recent days Anthem, Aetna and Cigna, all among the top five health insurers, told brokers they will stop paying them sales commissions to sign up most customers who qualify for new coverage outside the normal enrollment period, according to the companies and broker documents.

Midwest States Lead Fight On Obtaining Hep C Drugs

Indiana, Minnesota File Lawsuits For Prisoners, Medicaid Enrollees

Feb 9, 2026 By Michael Ollove

A handful of federal lawsuits against states that have denied highly effective but costly hepatitis C drugs to Medicaid patients and prisoners could cost states hundreds of millions of dollars.

The drugs boast cure rates of 95% or better, compared to 40% for previous treatments. But they cost between $83,000 and $95,000 for a single course of treatment.

Kansas Seeking Solutions To Medicaid Backlog

Presumed Eligibility For Some Applicants Considered

Feb 9, 2026 By Andy Marso

Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Susan Mosier said last week that she’s open to ideas to streamline the state's current backlog of Medicaid applicants, including presumed Medicaid eligibility for nursing home residents.

When asked about a temporary lifeline for nursing homes drowning in uncompensated care while the department works through a computer system transition, Mosier said it was a “good concept” and that she liked the idea.

Minnesota Offers Low Cost Insurance Program

Aimed at Individuals Who Earn Too Much For Medicaid

Feb 2, 2026 By Michelle Andrews

In January, more than 350,000 lower income New Yorkers began paying $20 a month or less for comprehensive health insurance with no deductibles and low copayments, under a federal health law program. Minnesota has similar coverage in place through the same program, with more than 125,000 enrollees.

Lack Of Weapons Against Chronic Conditions Killing Whites

Compounded by Sinking Socioeconomic Status

Feb 2, 2026 By Lisa Gillespie

Don’t blame suicide and substance abuse entirely for rising death rates among middle-aged white Americans, asserts a new study out last week.

They’re both factors, but the bigger culprit is almost two decades of stalled progress in fighting leading causes of death — such as heart disease, diabetes and respiratory disease — according to a Commonwealth Fund analysis of data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The fund studied actual and expected death rates, and causes of death, for working-age adults from 1968 through 2014.

Kansas Medicaid System Is Fouled Up

New Computer System Kicks Many Out of Program Without Notice

Feb 2, 2026 By Andy Marso

Thousands of Kansans seeking Medicaid benefits are being forced to wait months because of continuing problems with a new computer system and a change in the state agency responsible for handling some eligibility determinations.

The application backlog began to form in July when state officials moved Medicaid eligibility processing to the long-delayed Kansas Eligibility Enforcement System, or KEES. The software switch forced employees to use dozens of time-consuming workarounds to make the system function.

Feds Want To Standardize Plan Options On Exchange

Could Cut Out-Of-Pocket Costs

Jan 26, 2026 By Michelle Andrews

Some consumers who buy coverage on the health insurance marketplaces in 2017 could see their out-of-pocket costs drop significantly under a federal proposal to create standardized plans, a recent analysis found.

Medicaid Expansion May Have Reached Tipping Point

South Dakota among those considering takeup

Jan 26, 2026 By Christine Vestal

Louisiana this month became the first state in the Deep South to make the politically charged decision to expand Medicaid health insurance to low-income adults under the Affordable Care Act.

At least one other state — South Dakota — is expected to extend Medicaid coverage this year. But in the lead up to the November presidential election, supporters of the ACA aren’t holding out much hope that more states will join in extending Medicaid coverage to more people — although the governors of Alabama, Virginia and Wyoming say they want to, as do key legislators in Maine and Nebraska.

Kansas Regulators Pushing To Allow For EPO Plans

Option is Thought to Lower Premiums

Jan 26, 2026 By Andy Marso

Some Kansas health insurers are seeking legal permission to sell network-only plans — with the help of the state’s top insurance regulator.

The office of Kansas Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer supports a bill that would allow insurers to sell “exclusive provider organization,” or EPO, plans that provide no reimbursement for out-of-network health care except in the case of emergency.

Obama Tries To Entice States To Expand Medicaid

Wants to Continue Offer Full Funding For Laggards

Jan 19, 2026 By Phil Galewitz

With full federal funding for expanding Medicaid set to expire at the end this year, President Barack Obama is proposing to indefinitely extend the health law provision for any of the 19 states that have not yet adopted the enhanced eligibility.

But Obama would need the Republican-controlled Congress to approve the offer. That appears unlikely considering Congress voted last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, though the GOP critics did not muster enough support to override the president’s veto.

Illinois May Yank Tax-Exemption For Non-Profit Hospitals

State Appeals Court Throws Out 2012 Law

Jan 19, 2026 By Associated Press

An Illinois appeals court decision has reopened a statewide dispute over whether hospitals should be exempt from paying millions of dollars in income taxes and property taxes to local governments.

The Illinois 4th District Appellate Court ruled earlier this month that part of a 2012 law that allows hospitals to avoid taxes is unconstitutional.

Instead Of Expanding Medicaid, Kansas To Examine Rural Care

Brownback Creates All-GOP Working Group

Jan 19, 2026 By Jim McLean

A key member of Gov. Sam Brownback’s new rural health working group says he hopes the initiative is a serious effort to address problems facing rural providers, not an attempt to divert attention from a renewed push to expand the state’s Medicaid program.

Republican Rep. Jim Kelly represents Independence, the southeast Kansas community that recently lost its only hospital due to budget problems exacerbated by federal reductions in Medicare reimbursement rates and the state’s rejection of Medicaid expansion.

Few Addicts Being Treated With Drugs

Despite Hazelden Taking Lead, Aversion Remains Deep-Seated

Jan 12, 2026 By Christine Vestal

Marvin Seppala, M.D., wrote a book on conquering drug addiction with counseling and group therapy.

The spiritual, abstinence-based strategy pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous helped him overcome his own alcohol and cocaine addiction when he was 19. As medical director of Minnesota’s fabled Hazelden Clinic, he watched it work for patients.

He believed in it — and then he changed his mind.

When Employers Rely On Medicaid To Cover Workers

It is Often Cost-Effective For All Parties

Jan 12, 2026 By Fred Mogul

Butter-flavored popcorn oil is in high demand at Oasis Foods, a manufacturer of cooking oils, mayonnaise and other products that restaurants and distributors often purchase by the ton.

“We get a rush this time of year with all the movie-going at the holidays,” said Duke Gillingham, president of Oasis, at his factory in Hillside, N.J., just west of Newark Liberty International Airport.

Psych Waiting Times At Kansas Hospitals Rise

Cutbacks at Osawatomie Blamed

Jan 12, 2026 By Jim McLean

People experiencing a mental health crisis who are a danger to themselves or others sometimes are having to stay for days in emergency departments while waiting for a bed to open at Osawatomie State Hospital. That has prompted at least one Kansas hospital to increase staffing and security in its emergency department.

Janice Early, vice president of marketing and communications at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, said the emergency department director confirmed to her that patients requiring an involuntary mental health commitment have waited an average of 17 hours for a placement in the last year, but recently those times at LMH have ranged from 24 hours to 140 hours, or just short of six days.

Cleveland's ERs Have Stopped Diverting Patients

An Attempt to Improve Patient Safety

Jan 5, 2026 By Sarah Jane Tribble

When East Cleveland’s emergency medical squad gets called to treat a man with a severe nosebleed, it’s a pretty run-of-the-mill case.

The patient walks woozily out to the ambulance from a tan house on a tree-lined street. Anthony Savoy, the head medic, calls ahead to University Hospitals, which has the closest emergency room. Savoy wants to make sure the ER has space for the patient.

Retail Clinics Grow With Little Regulation

Minnesota is One Midwest Exception

Jan 5, 2026 By Michael Ollove

When walk-in health clinics started spreading rapidly in the mid-2000s, the nation’s biggest and most prestigious medical organizations voiced objections. They raised concerns about patient safety, gaps in patients’ medical records, conflicts of interest and disruptions of the relationship between patients and their doctors.

Kansas State Mental Hospital Loses Medicare Certification

Despite Losing Millions In Reimbursement, State May Not Seek Reinstatement

Jan 5, 2026 By Jim McLean

State officials have not decided whether to seek federal recertification of the Osawatomie State Hospital for Kansans with mental illness.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services decertified the hospital earlier this month because of the state’s failure to address security and safety issues cited by federal inspectors, who concluded the sexual assault of a hospital worker by a patient in October was due in part to lax security.

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