Latest news with #St.Luke'sHealthSystem
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Treasure Valley health care providers seek resident feedback on local needs
Treasure Valley residents are invited to participate in a community health survey. The survey is for the Community Health Needs Assessment, a private-public initiative by organizations including by the region's two major hospital systems, St. Luke's Health System and Saint Alphonsus Health System; the region's two public health districts, Central District Health and Southwest District Health; along with other partners such as Terry Reilly Health Services, United Way of Treasure Valley and Weiser Memorial Hospital. The needs assessment initiative is convened by the Western Idaho Community Health Collaborative. 'It's important for residents to take this survey because it offers us direct, local input on how (the collaborative), community partners, and local health care providers can make the Treasure Valley a healthier place to live,' Berenice Medina, community health strategist at the Western Idaho Community Health Collaborative, said in a written statement. 'Your feedback will help us to better understand what we can do to create positive change in people's health and quality of life.' The anonymous survey is available online and takes less than 10 minutes to finish. The survey will be open through May 31. Results will be used to help develop strategies to address southwest Idaho's pressing health challenges, Central District Health announced in a news release. In June, 30 people who participate in the survey will be selected to win $20 gift cards through a raffle.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Here's how to give feedback on the health care needs of the Treasure Valley through May 31
The survey is for the Community Health Needs Assessment, a private-public initiative by organizations including by the region's two major hospital systems.() Treasure Valley residents are invited to participate in a community health survey. The survey is for the Community Health Needs Assessment, a private-public initiative by organizations including by the region's two major hospital systems, St. Luke's Health System and Saint Alphonsus Health System; the region's two public health districts, Central District Health and Southwest District Health; along with other partners such as Terry Reilly Health Services, United Way of Treasure Valley and Weiser Memorial Hospital. The needs assessment initiative is convened by the Western Idaho Community Health Collaborative. 'It's important for residents to take this survey because it offers us direct, local input on how (the collaborative), community partners, and local health care providers can make the Treasure Valley a healthier place to live,' Berenice Medina, community health strategist at the Western Idaho Community Health Collaborative, said in a written statement. 'Your feedback will help us to better understand what we can do to create positive change in people's health and quality of life.' The anonymous survey is available online and takes less than 10 minutes to finish. The survey will be open through May 31. Results will be used to help develop strategies to address southwest Idaho's pressing health challenges, Central District Health announced in a news release. In June, 30 people who participate in the survey will be selected to win $20 gift cards through a raffle. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New court order shields certain Idaho doctors from prosecution for emergency abortion care
Supporters hold signs in support of their doctors and abortion access at a rally on April 21, 2024, at the Idaho Statehouse in Boise. (Otto Kitsinger for States Newsroom) Physicians at Idaho's largest health system will continue to be shielded from criminal prosecution for providing abortion care in an emergency after a federal court judge issued a new protection order Thursday in a lawsuit over the state's abortion ban. The directive applies only to St. Luke's Health System and its medical providers as the sole plaintiff suing Idaho over restrictions hospital officials say conflict with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. That law requires any hospital that accepts Medicare funding to provide stabilizing treatment to patients who come to emergency rooms regardless of their ability to pay. St. Luke's operates eight of the 39 hospitals in Idaho that accept Medicare funding, and it delivered more than 40% of the 22,000 babies born in the state in 2024. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill, an appointee of former Democratic President Bill Clinton, cited the original intention of the law in his Thursday order. Republican President Ronald Reagan signed the law in response to 'patient dumping,' when hospitals would turn people away for being uninsured or covered by Medicaid. 'When EMTALA passed, these 'undesirable' patients were the indigent. Today, they are pregnant women,' Winmill wrote in Thursday's decision. The U.S. Department of Justice, under the Biden administration, sued Idaho in 2022. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in April 2024, but justices decided they couldn't rule on it at that juncture and returned it to the lower courts for further argument. After Republican President Donald Trump's election victory, St. Luke's filed its own separate lawsuit against Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador because the hospital's leadership anticipated Trump's Justice Department would drop the case. The DOJ attorneys moved to dismiss the case on March 5, dissolving the previous injunction. A health system is fighting Idaho's abortion ban. It's not its first controversial stance. 'Specifically, the attorney general, including his officers, employees, and agents, are prohibited from initiating any criminal prosecution against, attempting to suspend or revoke the professional license of, or seeking to impose any other form of liability on, St. Luke's or any of its medical providers based on their performance of conduct that is defined as an 'abortion' under Idaho Code, but that is necessary to 'stabilize' a patient presenting with an 'emergency medical condition' as required by EMTALA,' Winmill wrote. Winmill said it was clear that without the injunction, St. Luke's and its patients would be harmed, because for three months in 2024 when the injunction was not in place, six patients were airlifted out of state if they needed to end their pregnancies to preserve their health. That situation only came up once in the entire year before. The cases these situations apply to are rare, physicians have said, but the consequences can be severe if left untreated. The most common issue is when a pregnant patient's water breaks before the fetus is viable. That can quickly progress to an infection that can cause great damage to the kidneys and reproductive organs, jeopardizing a patient's ability to have children in the future. Labrador's office asked Winmill to dismiss the case, arguing there is no conflict between Idaho's abortion law and EMTALA, and maintaining that the abortion ban protects 'both the mother and their unborn child.' Earlier this month, Labrador's deputies argued at a hearing that case law from the Idaho Supreme Court's interpretation of the ban does not require an immanency of death, only a subjective, good faith medical judgment that the person's life is threatened. At the same time Deputy Attorney General David Myers told Winmill there is no medical situation in which it is necessary to perform an abortion as stabilizing care. Winmill wrote in his decision that while that is true of their interpretation, there is still a conflict. 'The Defense of Life Act plainly requires that an abortion is 'necessary to prevent the death.' If 'imminent' is not the standard, how close must the woman be to death for the abortion to be 'necessary'?' he wrote. 'There is no way for physicians to know this, and the price of falling on the wrong side of the line is a felony conviction.' EMTALA, he added, uses much less categorical language: 'such medical treatment of the condition as may be necessary to assure, within reasonable medical probability, that no material deterioration of the condition is likely to result.' North Idaho legislators bring bill to add health exceptions to state's abortion ban The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a group of more than 60,000 physicians, issued a statement Friday celebrating the decision, saying it was a relief. 'OB-GYNs see every day that bans on abortion cannot exist in concert with EMTALA, because bans prevent clinicians from providing patients with the full range of emergency care that they might need,' said Molly Meegan, chief legal officer and general counsel for the organization, in the statement. 'ACOG is grateful that our members in Idaho now have the ability to provide evidence-based medical care to patients facing obstetric emergencies without fear of prosecution.' Idaho's abortion ban applies to all stages of pregnancy and includes an exception to prevent the pregnant patient's death, but not to preserve their health. Physicians found in violation of the law are subject to two to five years in prison, the loss of their medical license, and civil penalties. Without a health exception, which the Idaho Legislature has failed to enact despite repeated pleas from doctors and other providers, doctors have said they cannot terminate a pregnancy to prevent someone from experiencing detrimental health effects without fear of prosecution. The health system also says it could lose Medicare funds for violating EMTALA and the laws have already been driving physicians to practice in other states. The injunction will stay in place as the case proceeds, according to Winmill's order. The next hearing date has not yet been scheduled. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Reuters
05-03-2025
- Health
- Reuters
Trump administration drops Biden lawsuit over emergency abortions in Idaho
March 5 - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday dropped a lawsuit that had been filed by the previous Biden administration in a bid to stop Idaho from enforcing its near-total abortion ban in medical emergencies. The ban still remains blocked in emergencies due to a similar lawsuit brought by a hospital system. The government's voluntary dismissal, opens new tab of its lawsuit against the state automatically lifts a preliminary order by the judge overseeing the case. That order had blocked Idaho from enforcing its ban in cases where doctors believe abortion is needed to save a pregnant woman's life or prevent serious harm to her health. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill late on Tuesday issued a new temporary restraining order, opens new tab in a separate lawsuit against the state by St. Luke's Health System that continues, for now, to bar the state from enforcing the ban in such emergencies. Winmill, who is presiding over both lawsuits, is scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday afternoon on the Boise-based hospital system's motion for a longer-term order limiting the state ban, and on the state's motion to dismiss the case. St. Luke's asked for the temporary restraining order on Tuesday after being informed that the Trump administration would be dropping its case. Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador, a Republican, has asked, opens new tab Winmill to narrow his restraining order to prevent enforcement only against St. Luke's. The judge has not ruled on that request. Idaho passed its near-total abortion ban, which includes an exception for saving the mother's life, in 2020 as a so-called "trigger law". It was set to take effect when the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, its landmark decision that had established abortion rights nationwide, which it did in June 2022. In August 2022, the Biden administration sued the state, alleging that the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires hospitals to provide "stabilizing care" to patients with emergency medical conditions, trumps the state ban in medical emergencies. Winmill agreed and barred the state from enforcing the law in such cases while the lawsuit went forward. The state appealed that ruling, eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to intervene. St. Luke's sued Labrador in January, saying it would be unable to provide required emergency care if the state ban were to go into effect.
Axios
04-03-2025
- Health
- Axios
Trump admin said to be ready to drop Idaho emergency abortion case
The Trump administration is planning to withdraw a lawsuit that seeks to allow Idaho hospitals to perform emergency abortions using an exception to the state's near-total abortion ban, according to a court filing. Why it matters: This would mark a reversal from Biden administration efforts to clarify that federal directives on emergency health care take precedence over state abortion bans. Driving the news: A court filing by St. Luke's Health System states that its attorneys were told the Trump DOJ plans to move for a dismissal of the suit. St. Luke's is seeking a temporary restraining order to inform its staff about changes in their legal obligations, which would include airlifting patients out of state if a medical emergency arises that requires terminating a pregnancy. "Counsel for St. Luke's received an email from counsel for the United States stating: 'As a courtesy, I wanted to let you know that a few minutes ago I reached out to counsel for the State of Idaho and the Idaho Legislature, informing them that the United States would like to dismiss its claims,'" the filing reads. Idaho's ban allows exceptions in order to save a pregnant person's life, but not to spare them from severe health issues. The Biden administration argued that abortions must be allowed in those circumstances, citing a federal law that requires emergency rooms to perform necessary care for anyone who comes through the door. Last summer, the Supreme Court dismissed the case without ruling on the merits, allowing emergency abortions in the state to continue while lower courts sort out the state-federal conflict. The latest move tracks with the principles laid out in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, which calls for HHS to rescind Biden era guidance around the federal emergency care law, known as EMTALA. It also called for the DOJ to eliminate existing injunctions and withdraw its enforcement lawsuits. The Department of Justice and St. Luke's did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
