Tag Archives: healthcare

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Justine Griffin Selected As A 2018 SABEW Health Care Fellow

[Press release from SABEW:]

Sixteen journalists have been selected as fellows for SABEW’s sixth annual Health Care Symposium made possible by a grant from The Commonwealth Fund.

The group will gather in Washington, D.C., June 28-30 at the National Press Club and at the Bloomberg, Washington, D.C. bureau. The symposium will help the fellows better understand health-care economics and will provide an update on the Affordable Care Act. Fellows will be able to share and test out story ideas.

The 2018 health care fellows are:

  • Emily Baumgaertner, news assistant at The New York Times
  • Jenny Deam, senior health care reporter at the Houston Chronicle
  • Amanda Eisenberg, New York health care reporter at POLITICO
  • Justine Griffin, health and medicine reporter at the Tampa Bay Times
  • Chris Larson, health care and higher education reporter at Louisville Business First
  • Jacquie Lee, reporter at Bloomberg Law
  • Rory Linnane, reporter at USA Today Network, Wisconsin
  • Kathryn Mayer, editor-in-chief at Employee Benefit News
  • Elizabeth O’Brien, senior writer at MONEY Magazine
  • Elle Perry, digital producer at Memphis Business Journal
  • Yiqin Shen, senior reporter at Mergermarket
  • Greg Slabodkin, managing editor at Health Data Management
  • Joel Stinnett, health care and technology reporter at Nashville Business Journal
  • Kayla Webster, reporter at Sacramento Business Journal
  • Russ Wiles, business writer/columnist at Arizona Republic/AZCentral.com
  • Liz Young, reporter at Albany Business Review

“Journalists need support to cover an unclear and rapidly changing health care landscape,” said Kathleen Graham, executive director, SABEW. “The symposium will help reporters better understand the future of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, single payer health care models and prescription drug pricing.”

Speakers include Sara Collins, vice president for the Health Care Coverage and Access program at The Commonwealth Fund; Sabrina Corlette, J.D., research professor at Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute; Robin Rudowitz, associate director, program on Medicaid and the uninured at Kaiser Family Foundation and Zachary Tracer, reporter at Bloomberg News. Additional speakers will be added to the agenda. Ridgely Ochs, former health care reporter at Newsday, is producing the symposium.

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Tampa Bay Times: Patients face delays, bureaucratic headaches after marijuana clinics close

By Justine Griffin

The remaining Tetra Health Care center is located at 2814 W Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Tampa. Similar to a walk-in urgent care center, Tetra Health Care is a place where patients can see a licensed doctor about obtaining medical marijuana as a form of treatment. [Photo by ALESSANDRA DA PRA | Times]

Thousands of patients who received medical marijuana access from physicians at a half-dozen recently closed clinics in Tampa Bay may be forced to find another doctor soon, which is no easy task due to state restrictions.

Tetra Health Care, a California-based chain that hires licensed doctors to write medical marijuana recommendations at six clinics in Florida, shut down all but one of them last month to focus on working with state lawmakers to make access easier for patients, a company spokeswoman said. But a former doctor with the chain said Tetra ran into financial trouble and stopped paying its physicians and staff in October.

Those in the industry say Tetra’s downsizing is just one sign of many growing pains doctors and companies will face as Florida heads into its second year offering medical marijuana products to registered residents.

“When they stopped paying us is when I left,” said Dr. Kelly King, who worked for Tetra Health Care since the company began opening clinics in Tampa Bay last summer. She said Tetra was still using the passwords of departed physicians to access the state registry that tracks which patients were assigned to them.

“I noticed after I left, they were still putting new patients into my registry,” she said. “People I had never seen or treated before.”

King, who said she treated hundreds of patients during her time with Tetra, also said the company grew too big too fast. Tetra Health Care had one clinic in Sacramento, Calif., before expanding into Florida.

“They never really opened a lot of offices at one time before,” King said.

Tetra had five locations in the Tampa Bay area: two in Tampa and one each in St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Brandon. A sixth was in the Orlando area. Patients are being directed to one remaining center in Tampa, at 2814 W Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., for appointments and doctor recommendations.

“The roadblocks from the state and delays in patient access have resulted in higher operational costs than originally projected for the industry statewide, including for Tetra Health Care. Tetra expects to make full restitution shortly,” said Tanya Cielo, a spokeswoman for Tetra.

Read more here.

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Tampa Bay Times: As politicians pledge solutions to the opioid epidemic, advocates say the key will be money

By Justine Griffin

With deaths from opioid abuse rising dramatically, state and national leaders have stepped up recently to acknowledge the crisis. But those on the front lines of the epidemic say the best thing they can do is provide money for much-needed treatment. [Times files]

The opioid epidemic has grabbed the spotlight of late, with state and national leaders promising action.

Gov. Rick Scott pledged in September to push for tighter prescription rules and budget $50 million for treatment and beefed up law enforcement. A month later, President Trump declared the epidemic a public health emergency and outlined some possible ways to fight addiction and make certain drugs less available.

But local advocates, medical professionals and researchers who work every day with those affected by opioid addiction are hesitant to celebrate until they see meaningful action.

“We certainly want to commend the governor that he’s recognizing that he needs to make a larger commitment to combat this epidemic,” said Anne Swerlick with the Florida Policy Institute in Tallahassee. “But both on the fiscal and policy side, the state has not opted to expand Medicaid, which would be leveraging millions of dollars to provide substance abuse programs for people in need.”

She worries that much of the $50 million Scott talked about would go to law enforcement, “which isn’t the same as providing people coverage for programs that have been proven to help.”

Scott’s office says the money would go toward statewide drug treatment, counseling and the Florida Violent Crime and Drug Control Council, a program launched in 1993 to help local law enforcement agencies with violent crime or drug investigations.

The governor also plans to propose legislation that would limit opioid prescriptions to a three-day supply, or seven days under strict conditions; require those who prescribe or dispense medication to use a statewide database that monitors prescriptions; combat unlicensed pain management clinics; require health professionals to get and stay educated about opioids; and open the door for federal grants to help with the problem.

But Scott’s record has some people questioning his commitment. In 2011, he eliminated the Office of Drug Control and chose not to expand Medicaid. And state funding has fluctuated drastically over the years for organizations like Operation PAR in Tampa Bay, which provides drug treatment and mental health services for those dealing with addiction, said Marvin Coleman, the group’s vice president of community relations.

“We need more help along the lines of funding,” Coleman said. “In order to treat a client, we need the infrastructure in place to help them: the facility, the doctors, the nurses. It takes dollars. The public awareness of the issue is great. This crisis hits all corners, and so many people have been touched by this epidemic. But the only way to fight it is to fund treatment.”

Despite his doubts, Coleman said he’s hopeful. He said lawmakers are asking the right questions this year, and looking for the best ways to help and allocate money to programs with good track records.

“A lot of centers like us sustained budget cuts last year. Substance abuse centers are never at the top of the list,” Coleman said. “But they ended the last legislative session talking about the issue, and we hope they begin the next one by keeping this topic on the table.”

The 2018 session begins in January.

Read more here.