Lawmakers approve bill to improve access to some unapproved stem cell therapies
Before the annual session ended last week, the Florida Legislature approved a measure to improve access to some stem cell therapies that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. If enacted, the bill (SB 1768) would authorize physicians to perform the treatments, provided they are within scope of practice and focus on orthopedics, wound care or pain management with strict requirements to ensure patient safety and ethical standards. [Source: Health News Florida]
Is measles spreading in Florida? Hard to know. Disease data no longer available.
Do you want to know how many measles cases have been confirmed in your county this year? How about whether the recent tuberculosis case reported at a high school is confined to one school or spreading throughout South Florida? Florida Department of Health surveillance data, which previously made public the number of current cases of each vaccine-preventable disease by county, has been removed from the state website. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
Navigating choice: How Florida midwives are adapting to changes in reproductive health
A year after Florida’s six-week abortion ban took effect, midwives are still adapting to changing political attitudes concerning reproductive health care. Clients are doing the same, seeking out resources and tests to determine the course of their pregnancies within a couple of weeks. Senate Bill 300 removed access to legal abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a window when most people aren’t aware they are pregnant. [Source: WUFT]
Commentary: Federal proposals are a devastating blow to health care in Florida
Medicaid is at a critical juncture. As they work on a federal budget, lawmakers in Washington are considering massive and unfair cuts to the program that would have cataclysmal consequences for our state’s most vulnerable and destabilize the world-class health care system Florida has built. Make no mistake about the nature of the cuts. They are not an accounting tactic. They are not a tax cut. Nor are they a means of making Medicaid more efficient or cost-effective. [Source: Florida Politics]
Cancer before age 50 is increasing. A new study looks at which types
Cancer before age 50 is rare, but increasing, in the United States and researchers want to know why. A new government study provides the most complete picture yet of early onset cancers, finding that the largest increases are in breast, colorectal, kidney and uterine cancers. Scientists from the National Cancer Institute looked at data that included more than 2 million cancers diagnosed in people 15 to 49 years old between 2010 and 2019. Of 33 cancer types, 14 cancers had increasing rates in at least one younger age group. About 63% of the early onset cancers were among women. [Source: Health News Florida]
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ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› St. Petersburg nonprofit says free testing for HIV critical but funding at risk
More than 50 people attended the free outdoor health screening on 16th Street S in St. Petersburg Friday. The event is intended to provide screening for the homeless, unemployed and those whose behaviors, including intravenous drug use, put them at higher risk of diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C. Around 500 people per year are tested through the program each year, which organizers say shows the need for anonymous testing. But there is concern that funding could dry up as both state and federal lawmakers look to cut budgets to help pay for tax cuts.
› Is the future of pediatric care in South Florida a giant children’s hospital?
Children in South Florida are being taken across county lines or flown to other states for specialized medical care they can’t get close to home. A plan to consolidate medical pediatric treatment in South Florida, though, could result in the creation of a giant children’s hospital system providing specialized care currently available only in other states. Still, the idea has caused some friction among doctors.
› Volusia County School Board considers replacing Florida Health Care with new insurance
The Volusia County Schools insurance committee is recommending the School Board change health insurance carriers. After years of coverage with Daytona Beach-based provider Florida Health Care Plan, Inc., the district invited other companies to negotiate. A firm created in 2022, Curative Insurance Co., made an offer and won the unanimous support of the committee.
› A Broward maternity center opened a year ago expecting 200 patients. It's up to 1,700
The Maternity Care Center in Broward County opened last May to fill a major void in services for pregnant women. A year later, the Lauderdale Lakes facility has served about 1,700 patients — a huge leap from the roughly 200 they expected to serve in that time, according to Melida Akiti, corporate transformation executive with Broward Health. " We've thought of every single barrier these women could have for them to access care in the first trimester," Akiti said. "And our job was to reduce those barriers."