Latest news with #KatelynCordero
Politico
11 hours ago
- Health
- Politico
Health care staffing crisis hits New York rural counties
Good morning and welcome to the Weekly New York Health Care newsletter, where we keep you posted on what's coming up this week in health care news, and offer a look back at the important news from last week. Beat Memo Rural New York counties are facing 'alarming' shortages of primary care doctors, pediatricians, obstetricians and other health care professionals — and those workforce challenges will likely be exacerbated by looming federal funding cuts, according to a report released Thursday by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. The comptroller's office reviewed the health care workforce in 16 rural counties across the state, finding practitioner shortages in every field, including dentistry and mental health, POLITICO's Katelyn Cordero reports. The report noted that ten of the 16 counties are federally designated as 'primary care health professional shortage areas,' meaning that the rate of primary care providers per capita is below state and national averages. 'Having access to health care is an essential quality of life issue and helps people live healthier lives,' DiNapoli, a Democrat, said in a statement. 'Addressing gaps in the rural healthcare workforce to alleviate current shortages and plan for future demand will not only positively impact the health of people living in less populated areas of New York, but could also create new jobs and bolster our rural economies,' he said. The report found that, on average, in the rural counties examined, there are four primary care physicians per 10,000 people. That's far below the state ratio of 8.1 per 10,000 and the national ratio of 8.4. Mental health was a particular concern highlighted in the report, with all 16 counties facing shortages of mental health practitioners. The ratio of mental health practitioners per capita in those counties is less than half of the state ratio. Recommendations to address shortages included in the report: The report comes at a time of great uncertainty for New York's health care industry, as the Trump administration implements Medicaid cuts that were part of the recently enacted GOP megabill, which many experts anticipate will disproportionately impact rural parts of the state with fewer providers. The package also included a $50 billion federal Rural Hospital Transformation Program, but it's unclear how much of the money will be allocated to New York. One day after the report was released, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a $300 million investment towards expanding access to health care statewide. The funding was awarded through the Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program, which will be allocated towards 50 projects that expand access to primary, inpatient, behavioral and long-term care. 'This targeted investment will help ensure that every New Yorker — regardless of ZIP code — can access safe, high-quality health care,' Hochul said in a statement. 'By supporting providers that serve vulnerable and underserved populations, we're strengthening the foundation of our health care system and building a healthier future for all.' IN OTHER NEWS: — The new CEO of Public Partnerships LLC, Miki Kapoor is speaking out for the first time since taking the helm of the company in recent weeks in an op-ed published in the Times Union. Kapoor bashed advocates and fiscal intermediaries that previously ran the state's consumer-directed personal assistance program for 'exploiting a vulnerable population for political or personal gain.' PPL, he claimed, 'did not create the problems that have plagued CDPAP for years.' 'We were brought in to fix them,' he wrote. According to Kapoor, PPL has paid $1.8 billion to 230,000 personal assistants who work for more than 200,000 consumers that completely the transition to the program's new administrative system. He noted that they've rooted out inflated administrative fees from previous fiscal intermediaries that ran the program, and did away with a system of 'fragmented oversight.' 'Let's not pretend challenges don't exist in transitions of this scale,' Kapoor wrote. 'But to suggest this rollout was not a good one, or that it has reduced care for New Yorkers, is simply untrue.' — Breaking Ground is stationing outreach workers inside the emergency room at New York-Presbyterian's Lower Manhattan Hospital five days a week to connect unsheltered homeless patients to services. It is an expansion of a program that launched in January 2024 at New York-Presbyterian's Columbia University Irving Medical Center. In the first year, Breaking Ground staff placed 50 people into transitional or permanent housing and made 184 referrals for needed items and connections to care, according to the organization. MAKING ROUNDS: — Melody Goodman was named dean of the NYU School of Global Public Health, effective immediately. She has served as the school's interim dean since March 2024 and a faculty member since 2017. GOT TIPS? Send story ideas and feedback to Maya Kaufman at mkaufman@ and Katelyn Cordero at kcordero@ Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. What you may have missed — The state Department of Health adopted a series of changes last week to loosen the regulatory review requirements for major health care projects, POLITICO Pro's Maya Kaufman reported. Gov. Kathy Hochul had directed the department in 2024 to streamline the process by increasing the financial thresholds that trigger a detailed review, citing a need to 'alleviate strain on both providers and the State.' Odds and Ends NOW WE KNOW — Boar's Head plans to reopen troubled deli meat plant, but r eports of sanitation problems persist. TODAY'S TIP — What to do when you make contact with poison ivy. STUDY THIS — A Yale study finds that a mobile app designed to deliver suicide-specific therapy reduced suicidal behavior among high-risk patients. WHAT WE'RE READING — After years of anger directed at CDC shooting manifests worst fears. (New York Times) — Claiming to fight waste, the Trump administration slashes potentially cost-saving research. (STAT) — Patient seeking care at NIH hospital detained by ICE. (Washington Post) Around POLITICO — Everything we know about the fatal shooting near CDC headquarters, via Sophie Gardner. — Lauren Gardner: Industry frets Kennedy's mRNA decisions will curb cancer breakthroughs. — MAHA gets frustrated with Kennedy ahead of new policy report, Marcia Brown and Lauren Gardner report. MISSED A ROUNDUP? Get caught up on the New York Health Care Newsletter.
Politico
02-06-2025
- Health
- Politico
Lawmakers push for transparency in 340B program
Beat Memo New York lawmakers are looking to create transparency in a drug rebate program offered to hospitals serving low-income communities, with a state mandate to report how the federal program's revenue is used, POLITICO Pro's Katelyn Cordero reports. The legislation — which is the Assembly Health Committee and expected to be introduced in the Senate in the coming days — would require hospitals participating in the 340B drug discount program to report their use of funds acquired through the program to the state Department of Health. The program's original intent was to have safety-net hospitals invest the profits back into the community or pass savings directly to patients, but lawmakers have raised concerns about where the money is actually going. 'It's just a pretty straightforward transparency bill reporting on information that, in theory, should otherwise already be available,' bill sponsor Assemblymember Amanda Septimo told POLITICO. 'So it's really compiling and sharing information, not necessarily new data collection. We don't expect it to be burdensome.' A separate piece of legislation reintroduced in January, known as the 340B Prescription Drug Anti-Discrimination Act, would bar pharmaceutical companies from imposing administrative requirements that could discourage providers from participating in the program. Septimo said such an expansion of the program should only be considered with the proper guardrails in place. 'The (bills) should work in tandem,' she said. 'It's difficult to make a meaningful case for the expansion of something when you don't have any meaningful data to report, with respect to how it's working as it exists.' The legislation introduced by Septimo in March would require that hospitals report all 340B savings and payments associated with drugs in the program, as well as the total number of prescriptions and the percentage of prescriptions covered by the program. The Department of Health would be required to post the collected data on a public site. Hospitals would be required to report data on the program by April 1, 2026. IN OTHER NEWS: — One Brooklyn Health is partnering with NYU Langone to expand access to kidney transplants in Brooklyn. The health system's new program will offer transplant evaluations, clinical testing and specialist consultations to patients with advanced kidney disease at Brookdale Hospital. Patients will also receive support from social workers, financial counselors and a care navigator. — Gov. Kathy Hochul announced four appointments to the newly restructured board of the Nassau Health Care Corporation, which oversees the financially struggling Nassau University Medical Center on Long Island: Stuart Rabinowitz, Amy Flores, Dean Mihaltses and Lisa Warren. Under a new state law that took effect Sunday, the corporation is subject to several new oversight measures and must submit a study by Dec. 1, 2026, exploring options to strengthen the medical center. ON THE AGENDA: — Wednesday at 10 a.m. The Public Health and Health Planning Council's committee on establishment and project review meets. — Thursday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The New York State Traumatic Brain Injury Services Coordinating Council meets. MAKING ROUNDS: — Kathleen Sikkema will serve as interim dean of the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, effective July 1. She succeeds Linda P. Fried, who previously announced plans to step down at the end of the academic year. GOT TIPS? Send story ideas and feedback to Maya Kaufman at mkaufman@ and Katelyn Cordero at kcordero@ Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. What you may have missed — Democratic lawmakers negotiated a deal with the state Education Department s last week on a measure that would expand access to birth control for New Yorkers, as the state faces provider shortages and federal attacks on reproductive health care. Two bills moving through the Senate and Assembly are aimed at allowing pharmacists to administer birth control shots without a provider's prescription and requiring private insurance to pay pharmacists for consulting with patients seeking birth control prescriptions, POLITICO Pro's Katelyn Cordero reports. — An issue brief by the New York Health Plan Association, which found the state mandates insurance coverage of more than 45 specific treatments or services, recommended that the state develop a process to review the cost of such requirements. 'The collective impact of mandated benefits contributes to the growth in health insurance premiums, adds to the cost of coverage for everyone – consumers, employers, union benefit funds and the state – and runs counter to efforts to make New York more affordable,' HPA President and CEO Eric Linzer said in a statement. 'Before new mandated benefits are passed, there should be a process to analyze their impact on the affordability of coverage, so that there's a clear understanding of what they cost.' Odds and Ends NOW WE KNOW — A new Covid strain has landed in New York. TODAY'S TIP — Easily distracted? Here are some ways to improve your attention span. STUDY THIS — Ending water fluoridation could cost nearly $10 billion over five years, and tooth decay would also rise, according to a Harvard analysis. What We're Reading — State health regulators signal support for long-awaited trauma center in the Rockaways. (Crain's New York Business) — The dizzying rise of MAHA warrior Calley Means, RFK Jr.'s right-hand man. (Vanity Fair) — Medicare plots ambitious tech agenda guided by former Palantir and Main Street Health executives. (STAT) — American doctors are moving to Canada to escape the Trump administration. (KFF Health News) Around POLITICO — Via Carmen Paun and Robbie Gramer: State Department explains why it's reorganizing its global health security bureau. — Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst spars with town hall crowd over Medicaid, Cheyanne M. Daniels reports. MISSED A ROUNDUP? Get caught up on the New York Health Care Newsletter.
