Here Are The Top 10 Most Important Health Care Stories Of 2022

Between the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the dramatic changes in abortion rights, the past year in Florida has featured key moments at the intersection of health and politics, thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis. A possible Republican presidential candidate.

Most of these stories are half-written, but there will be more in 2023, including an investigation into vaccine manufacturers and another abortion bill, as well as potential legal battles over transgender care.

Here's how the year turned out and what served as a prelude to the next 12 months.

The fight for reproductive rights continues.

Pending reversal of Roe v. U.S. Supreme Court Wade, Florida Republicans passed a law in 2022 that would limit abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The ban was challenged on the basis of the 1989 Advance Directive. That premise seems shaky given the current slate of Florida Supreme Court justices, some of whom were appointed by DeSantis.

The legal battle is still unresolved and the 15-week abortion ban remains in place.

But anti-abortionists want more. In November, they gathered at an organizing meeting on Capitol Hill and asked lawmakers to fully support abortion. House and Senate leaders are unfazed by this, but discussions continue on how to further strengthen Florida's law in 2023 and strengthen laws regarding chemical abortions.

Meanwhile, the AHCA, which licenses abortion clinics, fined three abortion clinics a combined $237,000 for violating the state law that requires women to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion. An Orlando women's center has been fined $193,000 for alleged violations that could have bankrupted the abortion provider, according to court documents.

The state rejected the case in November and said it would settle with the Centre, acknowledging that the 24-hour curfew was inconsistent with the years-long legal battle. But the provider has decided to drop the AHCA lawsuit, saying it has disputed claims, including whether the 24-hour ban went into effect on April 26 and whether doctors approved the case. The procedure. .

The judge agreed and refused to seal the case. AHCA was founded by the now defunct GYN Diagnostic Center, Inc. sued, resulting in a $41,000 fine for violating the law. The judge allowed the case to be dismissed.

The transgender cure is coming.

Transgender children and poor transgender adults in Florida have limited access to health care. The DeSantis administration decided to stop Medicaid from covering the cost of care for transgender children and adults. To ensure that children with commercial health insurance don't get benefits, Florida State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has called on the state's medical board to change its rules to limit care. Ladapo has previously pioneered transgender care and has provided advice on gender care for children, including social transition. However, Ladapo's recommendations were not legally binding and did not apply to Medicaid in the AHCA.

Florida Medicaid later issued a report in what it called a "credible review" of the medical evidence and five medical professionals' evaluations, saying some gender-affirming treatments did not meet generally accepted medical professional standards. To that end, Medicaid director (who works for the secretary, who in turn serves for the governor) Tom Wallace sees health care as an experiment and an expression. Because Florida's Medicaid program doesn't cover probation care, the label is a death sentence.

Changes to the law barring Medicaid from providing services were quickly passed but challenged in court.

Meanwhile, the same day Wallace released the report, Ladapo sent a letter to members of the Florida Medical Council and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine urging them to change their policies against gender-affirming care. Preventing doctors from caring for minors and making adults wait before getting help. 

Neither council agreed to introduce changes that would make adults wait longer to get help. The medical board agreed to propose changes to prevent minors from receiving sex-confirmed care. The Board of Osteopathic Medicine has proposed a rule barring minors from receiving sex-confirmed care unless they participate in a University of Florida study.

Doubt about vaccines is growing

In late December 2020, DeSantis issued an executive order that would put people over the age of 65 at the front of the COVID-19 vaccine queue in Florida, ignoring the release of a vaccine recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was the beginning of DeSantis' oft-repeated line of "putting seniors first." Two years later, the state Supreme Court ordered a state grand jury convened on December 23 to investigate "crimes" related to vaccine development, promotion and distribution.

DeSantis filed the lawsuit days ago, saying, “The pharmaceutical industry has a history of defrauding the public for profit. Questions have been raised about the validity of claims made by pharmaceutical manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines, particularly regarding distribution, prevention, efficacy and safety. The petition also states that "an investigation is required to establish whether the pharmaceutical industry is involved in fraudulent activity."

Much of the DeSantis administration's vaccine skepticism comes from Ladapo, who said in October that men aged 18 to 39 were more likely to die from cardiovascular disease after receiving the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. This analysis has been strongly criticized by medical professionals as incorrect. Meanwhile, the state is working with the University of Florida , with which Ladapo has a contract, to compare Florida studies of sudden deaths in people who have received the Covid-19 vaccine with studies elsewhere.

More MMJ licenses, higher fees

2022 was the year Florida's medical marijuana market became more expensive to operate. The state has doubled the medical marijuana application fee to $146,000 and announced it will begin reviewing competition for new licenses expected to be issued in 2023. It also increased licensing costs for existing players to $1.3 million from $60,000.

The initial application fee is more than double what was originally paid by licensees, but reflects what the state charges so-called Pigford applicants.

The state may issue 22 more medical marijuana licenses to supply Florida's growing market. In the year The state predicts that by June 2024, 1,044,072 patients will be eligible and enrolled in medical marijuana treatment.

But according to the Health Department's budget request, the Office of Medical Marijuana Use (OMMU) plans to issue eight additional licenses to medical marijuana treatment centers between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

LBR also reveals that OMMU plans to open a regional office and hire 31 additional employees for the Tallahassee office.

Canadian prescription drugs discontinued

Let's stick with the pharmaceutical industry and put the failure of this program at the top of the news list. More than two years have passed since the state submitted its Section 804 Import Program ("SIP") to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The plan introduced several types of drugs in Florida, according to a press release, including adjuvant drugs to help people and consumers with chronic diseases such as asthma, COPD, diabetes and HIV/AIDS. Over the past two years, lawmakers have poured $30 million into the program.

Frustrated by the lack of progress, the DeSantis administration announced (FOIA) filings for the state's SIP this summer.

The Freedom of Information Act was filed on July 6, just days after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to start producing his own supply of insulin. The California budget allocates $100 million for the development and production of insulin biosimilars for Californians. Half of the $100 million will go toward developing low-cost insulin products for residents. The rest of the money will go to an insulin factory in California to create high-paying jobs and a new insulin supply chain for residents.

Embrace behavioral health

First Lady Casey DeSantis is steadfast in her efforts to increase access to mental health services for those in need, and in In 2022, the Legislature and the Department of Education made changes to improve the system. The state covers mental health services as public schools approach educating students about mental health and substance abuse.

Florida lawmakers agreed to earmark an additional $126 million in general revenue and more than $50 million simultaneously for mental health and substance use disorder services. CEO, Florida Association of Management Organizations.

In October, the State Board of Education agreed to change mandatory public school policies from teaching about mental health issues to teaching about recovery.

While the previous law required public schools to provide five hours of "mental and emotional health" education per year to students in grades 6-12, the new law requires schools to teach resilience, which includes civics and life skills. Education. .

At a minimum, the new law requires schools to teach students in grades 6-12 about resilience, including the benefits of volunteering. Healthy behaviors that reinforce core positive values ​​such as honesty, compassion, perseverance, diligence, gratitude, and responsibility. Critical thinking, problem solving and responsible decision making; Mentorship and citizenship.

Nurses wanted.

With data showing the state will need about 60,000 more nurses over the next 15 years, Florida lawmakers agreed to provide $125 million this session for education programs and efforts to increase the number of nurses.

The promise comes after the Florida Hospital Association released its forecast for the state of nursing in Florida from 2019 to 2035 . It predicts a 12% decline in the number of practicing nurses and a 30% decline in licensed nurses by 2035 unless the government takes action to increase the number of nurses.

The shortage is due to a number of factors, including high turnover of workers. Overall, turnover among nurse practitioners in Florida is 25%, and turnover among licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) is even higher (35%).

Additionally, Florida's colleges and universities are struggling to find enough well-educated faculty to teach and train the next generation of nurses. As a result, schools are limited in the number of students they can enroll in their programs.

The $125 million education budget is divided into three parts : $20 million for workforce training; $59 million for public universities; and $46 million for the public university system, which includes Florida's public universities.

It didn't take long for higher education institutions to take advantage of the extra funding to increase the number of nurses.

Florida State University's College of Nursing has announced that it will increase enrollment from one to three times a year to increase the number of registered nurses in the state. The announcement was made on July 1, when the budget came into effect.

UF announced it will hire nearly 20 new faculty members and enrollment in its nursing program at UF Health Jacksonville will grow 50% by 2023 and double by 2025. Enrollment in nursing programs in Gainesville is expected to increase by 15% by 2023.

The largest Medicaid penalty

Florida health regulators imposed the largest fine in the history of the state's Medicaid health care program after ordering Sunshine Health Plan in March to pay $9.1 million in unpaid or underpaid payments to 121,227 health care workers.

At the time, Sunshine officials said the errors were the result of a software problem after the company merged last year with WellCare, the second-largest Medicaid managed care plan in the state behind Sunshine.

Earlier reports detailed how Sunshine failed to pay health care workers for several seriously ill children covered by Children's Medicaid. At least one supplier has been shut down.

The state charged a $75 penalty for each late payment. 121,227 unpaid claims were identified through complaints filed by providers with the state or the health insurance program itself.

In addition to imposing fines, the state fined Sunshine Health Plan and forced it to take a series of "corrective" steps before the state agreed to voluntarily enroll people without Medicaid into the Sunshine program. Managed care plan. .

The AHCA does not typically "authorize" Medicaid managed care plans, and affirmative action plans are often not required.

Medicaid Assistant Deputy Secretary Brian Meyer sent a letter to Sunshine President and CEO Nathan Landsbaum Record explaining the penalty.

"(AHCA) takes seriously (its) commitment to providing high-quality health care to all Medicaid participants in Florida," Meyer wrote.

Changes to Medicaid managed care

The AHCA was launched in 2022 to force lawmakers to sign off on changes to the state's mandatory Medicaid managed care program. The agency ended the year by finalizing the details of the government's call for tenders for the health care program for the poor, elderly and disabled.

After a previous failed attempt, this year the AHCA legislative team convinced lawmakers to repeal state rules for Medicaid and make (mostly administrative) changes to how it should be competitive and how it works.

By passing SB 1950 , lawmakers agreed to reduce Medicaid-administered health districts from 11 to nine. The proposal eliminated the state's requirement to submit a separate application for each Medicaid region.

Florida's existing managed care contracts expire on December 31, 2024. The multi-year contracts are worth tens of billions to Medicaid managed care companies that submit winning bids. Plans that do not want to comply with the program will be locked out within six years unless they are purchased or merged with another foreign medical plan.

Етим летом стать опубликовал пятистраничный проророс информация (RFI) in the Medicaid administration and the Medicaid administration (RFI) with a request to TEM, the maintenance and service providers you need. Responses to the RFI can be used for AHCA information or processed on the ITN.

Hotya did not publish the AHCA ITN until the end of the year, state опубликова книгу данных Medicaid 22 November. Proper management of the correct information, which means the medical service management plan, may be necessary, it is important for the medical service in the region. Gosudarship po lawu опубликовать опубликовать information can not be until INN for 90 days.

PHE pays for Medicaid.

Число флоридцев, получающих Medicaid, recently reduced by the Kovid-19 epidemic, more than 5 million times with the help of medical programs, finnersiruemыh shetatom and haboz.

People cannot be excluded from the program when there is a federal emergency in public health areas in response to COVID-19.

The big question is when will the state of emergency arise in public health care areas. The current declaration expires on January 11, but is expected to be delayed because the Biden administration has not announced the end of the 60-day measure. Все через раздаться программы положение очень через черезчайной ситуация |

In late December, the Biden administration joined 24 other Republican governors in writing a letter to repeal the Public Health Food 22 emergency. In this letter, he said, что, хочая программе финирансион компенсирует стоі во ценуться людей, registered on Medicaid, this "registered on Medicaid".

Some health care workers are still concerned about what will happen when they start writing off people with Medicaid, including in Florida, saying the children are eligible. In the first group of 40 organizations, Florida worked with the DeSantis Administrator on the talent proposal. Because of this, $525,000 in Medicaid enrollment is set to kick in on Tuesday, 2020.

Post views : 0

90:10 The most important thing you can do to get rid of stress