State Health Updates
- Arkansas – The Arkansas Department of Human Services announced the second annual Month of May (MOM) event will again kick off National Women’s Health Month with a free block party highlighting health and wellness activities. The MOM event will include health screenings, women’s self-care services, informative displays from nutrition and fitness partners, and more.
- California – Governor Gavin Newsom announced that individual twin-packs of CalRx®-branded over-the-counter naloxone HCL nasal spray are now available to all Californians at $24 per carton–almost half the standard market price. Previously offered only to government entities and businesses in packs of 24, this new direct-to-consumer program expands individual access to this life-saving overdose reversal medication.
- Colorado – Governor Jared Polis signed legislation that provides additional protections for healthcare providers and implements changes to state law to align with the amendment to the state’s Constitution repealing the prohibition on state funds being used to cover abortion. Under the new protections, providers can now choose to use the practice name rather than the provider name on prescriptions and claims. Additionally, providers that are threatened with an out-of-state lawsuit for providing protected services have a private right of action in Colorado.
- Connecticut – A recent session of the Council on Medical Assistance Program Oversight included presentations highlighting Medicaid Federal Financial Modeling, which analyzes the Connecticut-specific financial impact of various Federal Medicaid proposals, and Financial Trends in the Connecticut Medicaid Program. As a reminder, SHVS is tracking state-specific efforts to model proposed Medicaid cuts.
- Louisiana – The Louisiana Department of Health’s (LDH) new Secretary Bruce Greenstein announced three key initiatives, including a Fraud Waste and Abuse Task Force that will form a data-sharing partnership with the Office of Motor Vehicles; partner with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics to “identify and address waste, abuse, and fraudulent practices within Louisiana Medicaid”; and enhance collaboration between the LDH Program Integrity Unit and the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Other initiatives include reforming the Medicaid pharmacy benefit management and launching Project M.O.M. (Maternal Overdose Mortality).
- Michigan
- Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel met with state officials and hospital leaders to discuss the negative impacts of potential cuts to Medicaid funding on patient care and the financial health of rural hospitals and their local communities. The state officials and healthcare leaders urged Congress to oppose these cuts, saying potential cuts would impact the healthcare coverage of 2.6 million people statewide, and losing access to healthcare in rural areas weakens the local economy.
- The Michigan Gun Violence Prevention Task Force released its first report featuring recommendations designed to address gun violence and reduce firearm-related deaths and injuries. Task force recommendations address firearms-related suicide, community violence, school safety, intimate partner violence and implementation of existing legislation. For more information on gun violence prevention, check out the episode of my podcast, the Princeton Pulse, which discusses a public health approach focused on firearm safety and injury prevention.
- Minnesota – John Connolly, Medicaid director, and Libby Caulum, Chief Executive Officer of MNSure, the state’s official health insurance Marketplace, joined doctors, patients and advocates for the seventh session in a series of statewide roundtables educating Minnesotans on the impact of proposed federal cuts to vital healthcare programs.
- Montana – Department of Public Health and Human Services Director Charlie Brereton announced the agency is accepting proposals for a $6.5 million one-time grant program aimed at building sustainable capacity for community-based forensic stabilization services throughout Montana’s local detention centers. Potential allowable uses of the grants include contracted forensic mental health services to support stabilization, medication management and costs, training and professional development, and more.
- New Jersey – Governor Phil Murphy announced an additional approximately 629,000 New Jersey residents will see a combined $927 million in medical debt retired through the state’s partnership with Undue Medical Debt, bringing total debt forgiven to over $1.1 billion for 776,000 New Jerseyans since August 2024. As a reminder, SHVS published an expert perspective and a Health Affairs Forefront article which track state medical debt cancellation initiatives, as well as state efforts to prevent the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports.
- Utah – The Department of Health and Human Services published estimates of the Utah impacts of potential federal changes to Medicaid.
- Virginia – Governor Glenn Youngkin announced the launch of an upgraded Maternal and Child Health Dashboard and two new dashboards to monitor and provide actionable data on maternal mortality and pregnancy-associated deaths. The data is designed to be used as a resource to establish best practices to assist mothers during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.