Florida healthcare faces $543 million gap in House and Senate showdown

| 3/26/2019

Florida healthcare faces $543 million gap in House and Senate showdown

The Florida House and Senate will have to resolve a $543 million budget disagreement on healthcare funds to reach a balanced budget this year, centered again on a recurring dispute over how to reimburse hospitals for providing Medicaid care across the state. Their plans differ most substantially — as they have in years past — on how reimbursements are allocated to hospitals. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Low adoption of telemedicine may spur patient migration away from traditional providers

Healthcare has been slow to adopt telemedicine. In 2016, just 15% of physicians worked in practices that used telehealth, according to a 2018 American Medical Association survey published in Health Affairs. Still, in dollar terms, telehealth services have grown by 44% over the past five years, with a total market revenue of $2 billion in 2018. [Source: Modern Healthcare]

Zika no longer a major threat in Florida

U.S. health officials are easing warnings against travel to Florida and other regions of the country where the Zika virus had been circulating. Zika, mostly spread by the bite of an infected mosquito, continues to be a problem in other parts of the world, but is no longer considered the threat it was in South Florida only two years ago when the virus swept across the area. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel ]

Florida may boost regulation of cosmetic surgery clinics

South Florida has become a hub for the freewheeling industry in trendy cosmetic surgeries, drawing a boom in medical tourism. However, complications and even deaths of several out-of-state women in recent years have spiked concerns over safety of the cosmetic procedures, prompting a bill before the Florida Legislature this year to impose stricter regulations. [Source: AP]

Victory for Cathy Jordan, ‘patron saint’ of Florida medical marijuana

Diagnosed in her 30s with a disease that typically kills people within a few years, Jordan is now 69 and has been smoking marijuana for decades to alleviate the symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. She believes the drug has helped keep her alive, and that consuming it in a smokable form also is beneficial. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Florida ER staff will start assessing patients' mental health [Health News Florida]
Emergency room staff at AdventHealth in Kissimmee and Orlando will ask patients about feelings of hopelessness or despair as part of routine assessments over the next year and a half. Then they’ll pair patients at a high risk of suicide with counselors who can provide follow-up care for ninety days.

› 2019 health report ranks Sarasota County second in Florida for ‘health factors’ [WWSB]
Every year, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin partner on a study to determine the overall health of each county in every state. Sarasota County has ranked highly in Florida since 2010 and this year, it’s second in the state for health factors and sixth in the state for health outcomes.

› UCF Restores opens a clinic to serve the needs of displaced Puerto Rican families [WUSF]
Puerto Rican families displaced by Hurricanes Maria and Irma can get free counseling at the newly opened UCF Restores clinic. The clinic located at the Episcopal Church of Jesus of Nazareth is staffed by therapists sensitive to the needs of the community.

› New Baptist Health medical center to create 230 new jobs in Plantation [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Baptist Health South Florida has broken ground on a new wellness and medical center in Plantation that officials say will create 230 new jobs. The 100,000-square-foot center will offer primary care, diagnostic imaging, urgent care, multi-specialty surgery, medical oncology, physical therapy and a spine care clinic.

Tags: Health Care eNews

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