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Increasing the number of children receiving health insurance, incorporating practices to improve medication prescribing and implementing the first Medicaid disease management program for asthma are just some of the successes that have occurred during the first year of health care reform efforts.
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals – Bureau of Primary Care and Rural Health held a news conference in Alexandria today to announce the receipt of a three-year grant in the amount of $750,000 from The Rapides Foundation. The funded project, called Health Systems Development for Central Louisiana, aims to increase primary health care services, the number of primary care health professionals, the number of patients served and efficiencies within existing primary care service systems.
The Department of Health and Hospitals – Bureau of Primary Care and Rural Health will host a press conference Friday, March 18, 2005, to introduce Health Systems Development for Central Louisiana, a new program funded by a $750,000 grant award from The Rapides Foundation.
Looking back over the past year to review health care initiatives underway and discuss ongoing reform efforts will be the main topic at the fourth meeting of the Governor’s Health Care Reform Panel.
The Department of Health and Hospitals announced today it will close the New Orleans Home nursing home by the fall of 2005. The announcement follows recommendations made to the agency as it developed its draft Long Term Care Report that was presented to Gov. Blanco’s Health Care Reform Panel last year.
In light of recent news reports that the pain-relieving drugs Celebrex and Bextra might increase risk for heart attacks and strokes, the Department of Health and Hospitals is placing safeguards in the Medicaid Pharmacy Program to ensure these drugs are prescribed with caution.
Many pregnant women who apply and are eligible for LaMOMS health coverage are now receiving their Medicaid card in less than a week. This means they can begin receiving important prenatal care sooner, thanks to some new Department of Health & Hospitals policies and procedures for priority processing of their applications.
A statistical review by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and the Louisiana Tumor Registry shows some cancer rates in the Cow Island area to be higher and some to be lower when compared to similar cancer rates in Vermilion Parish and throughout the state.
Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Dr. Fred Cerise, along with officials from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), will attend the grand opening of a new Louisiana community health center in the city of Zachary.
Dr. Fred Cerise, secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals said today the federal budget released earlier this week by the Bush Administration may result in further reductions in federal funds to Louisiana.
Studies conducted by the Department of Health and Hospitals show that certain communities in central Louisiana have a larger percentage of families with children who are qualified for, but not enrolled in, the Louisiana Children’s Health Insurance Program. LaCHIP is a free health insurance program designed for the children (up to age 19) of Louisiana’s working families who earn more than allowed in traditional Medicaid. For example, a family of four can earn approximately $38,000 a year and still qualify for LaCHIP.
Last week, the Department of Health and Hospitals sent notices to all health care providers participating in the EarlySteps (Part C) system that reimbursement rates would be reduced by 25 percent beginning Feb. 1. The rate reduction is a first step to control costs in this entitlement program, which provides early intervention services to children up to age three with developmental delays and disabilities.