Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Maternal Health Crisis Being Overlooked As Attention Is Focused On Opioid Epidemic, Advocates Say
Health experts think they know how to tackle the issue of rising pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. The challenge is getting Congress to listen. While rates of maternal mortality have declined in other industrialized countries, they have dramatically increased in the U.S. since 2000. About 700 to 900 women die in the U.S. every year from mostly preventable complications related to pregnancy, such as blood loss and high blood pressure. (Hellmann, 4/19)
In other news on women's health —
Humana announced Wednesday it has contracted with five physician practices across the U.S. on a new bundled-payment model for maternity care.Humana's Maternity Episode-Based Model, which began in January, is a retrospective shared-savings program. Physicians enrolled in the model will receive savings based on their costs and quality performance for Humana members with low- to moderate-risk pregnancies. There is currently no downside risk if the physicians don't meet the targets. (Castellucci, 4/18)
A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked an Ohio law that would cut federal taxpayer funding to 28 Planned Parenthood clinics, holding that conditions it imposed that denied funds to abortion providers were unconstitutional. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld a lower-court judge's ruling enjoining a law Republican Governor John Kasich signed in 2016 that would strip funding that Planned Parenthood received for non-abortion services. (Raymond, 4/18)
