Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Group Of Investors Advance Plans To Acquire Md.'s Evergreen Health; Consumer Headaches Result From Fla. Blue Payment Glitch
LifeBridge Health, Anne Arundel Health System and a group of private investors are moving forward with plans to acquire Baltimore health insurer Evergreen Health. In a bid to stay in business, the nonprofit health insurance firm announced plans in October to be acquired and convert to a for-profit insurance company. Until today, Evergreen's buyers remained anonymous. Financial terms have not been disclosed. (Gantz, 5/1)
An unknown number of other Florida Blue members like Longberry were charged multiple times Monday for what was supposed to be their May premiums...聽They company said it is working to resolve the issue, but the overdrafts have caused serious headaches for consumers, some of whom have had their accounts frozen by their banks on the first day of the month, when they usually pay their major bills. (Miller, 5/1)
Dr. Toby Cosgrove, the longtime CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, announced on Monday he will be stepping down by the end of this year. A succession process for his replacement has now begun and Cosgrove will stay on at the clinic in an advisory role, according to a news release. The clinic also said his successor will be a practicing physician, keeping up with the system's long history as a physician-led institution. "It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of an extraordinary and forward-thinking organization that puts patients at the center of everything we do," Cosgrove said in statement. (Castellucci, 5/1)
[Asia] Dahir was among 90 people 鈥 many of them also Somali-American 鈥 who came to a Lake Street ballroom in Minneapolis Sunday night for a meeting organized by five anti-vaccine groups. Their message: autism is the real epidemic, not measles. (Sepic, 5/1)
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left intact California's ban on "gay conversion" therapy aimed at turning youths under age 18 away from homosexuality, rejecting a Christian minister's challenge to the law asserting it violates religious rights. The justices, turning away a challenge to the 2012 law for the second time in three years, let stand a lower court's ruling that it was constitutional and neither impinged upon free exercise of religion nor impacted the activities of clergy members. (Chung, 5/1)
Five Colorado school districts will receive $1.5 million in grant funds from Kaiser Permanente to improve behavioral health聽in their schools. The grants, part of Kaiser鈥檚 鈥淭hriving Schools鈥 program, will go to the Boulder Valley School District, the Cherry Creek School District, the Summit School District, the Thompson School District and the Fountain-Fort Carson School District.聽In a news release, Kaiser said the grants will go toward improving 鈥渟ocial and emotional wellness and mental health鈥 in the districts. They will officially be awarded in August. (Ingold, 5/1)
Edina Mayor Jim Hovland thinks his city is starting a movement in Minnesota. The Twin Cities suburb is poised to become the first city in the state to raise the legal age to buy tobacco from 18 to 21. (Gunderson, 5/2)
Duke Realty Corp., owner of three medical office buildings in Katy,聽announced a deal to sell its 6.6 million-square-foot聽medical office building portfolio to Healthcare Trust of America for $2.8 billion.The Katy buildings are on Houston Methodist's Christus St. Catherine Hospital campus. Healthcare Trust of America already owns 12 properties spanning 874,000 square feet in Houston, its fifth-biggest market. (Feser, 5/1)
