Tuesday, January 13, 2009

News Clipping Archives

 

$1.9 billion budget shortfall is legislature's biggest challenge (Baltimore Sun)

Federal dollars for children's health could bolster state's Medicaid expansion (The Gazette)

New health dept. employee to provide public information (Frederick News-Post)

In Good Health - Cervical cancer screenings can save lives (Frederick News-Post)

Cold and flu have different symptoms, treatments (Frederick News-Post)

Health – The Corridor - Technology – Government Contracting (Biz Monthly)

Some changes needed in health, mental hygiene (Cumberland Times-News)

At Last, Big Changes Come To SE Hospital (Washington Post)

Medicaid makes Marylanders healthier, wealthier (Baltimore Examiner)

"U.S. lags other countries on health care" (Baltimore Examiner)

"Chronic pain sufferers deserve better treatment" (Baltimore Examiner)

Report: Maryland doesn't spend enough on smoking prevention (Baltimore Examiner)

Seeing Red (Washington Post)

Officials: Toss salmonella-linked peanut butter (Washington Post)

Officials link salmonella to deaths in Va., Minn. (Frederick News-Post)

Expanding Facilities Get Relief From EPA (Washington Post)

Safeway to offer free antibiotics in mid-Atlantic stores (Baltimore Business Journal)

Congress Set to Renew Health Care for Children (New York Times)

Anti-Smoking Advocate Is Named to Health Post (New York Times)

Rite Aid pays $5 million in fines in drug case (Daily Record)

Information is available for local meat producers (Cumberland Times-News)

City health department recognizing healthy, clean restaurants (Baltimore Examiner)

Children's Health Bill Aids Legal Immigrants (Wall Street Journal)

 

 

 

$1.9 billion budget shortfall is legislature's biggest challenge

Revenue can be expected to keep dwindling; no one wants higher taxes

 

By Laura Smitherman and Gadi Dechter

Baltimore Sun

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

With the economic recession in full swing, Maryland lawmakers return to Annapolis tomorrow to tackle the largest budget shortfall in state history, a painstaking exercise expected to rile constituents and spark competition over dwindling resources.

 

The $1.9 billion shortfall in the state operating budget means that many programs are likely to be cut or remain at the same funding level, an effective decrease when taking into account inflation and population growth. It means local governments probably will take a hit that could translate to fewer services for residents. And in a political climate hostile to tax increases, it means state employees could face layoffs and scrutiny of their benefits.

 

"We're all coming in knowing the dire economic times that we are living in and seeing how fearful many of our constituents are," said Del. Maggie L. McIntosh, a Baltimore Democrat and a leader in the House of Delegates. "It's sobering."

 

The budgetary crisis is such that many lawmakers said they don't expect to accomplish much else in the 90-day General Assembly session because they can't afford costly new initiatives. Some lawmakers have even floated the improbable scenario of adjourning immediately after a budget is approved to save money by cutting the session short.

 

Gov. Martin O'Malley, hamstrung by the situation, plans to roll out a legislative agenda primarily focused on inexpensive policy changes and social justice issues, such as strengthening domestic violence laws, according to aides. As for his budget, which he will submit to the legislature this month, aides said the governor wants to maintain a safety net for families that are hurting financially.

 

The budget "is still very much a work in progress, but he is committed to making sure families have access to resources during this recession," spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said, "and also to protecting progress that we've made over the last two years."

 

Economic problems have dogged O'Malley for much of his tenure. Shortly into his first year in office, he pushed through tax increases to plug a structural deficit. Then, as tax revenues fell with the slowing economy, he was forced to reduce spending by hundreds of millions of dollars over the next year.

 

Even after voters ratified his proposal in the last election to raise more money through legalizing slot machines, the state could have trouble balancing its operating budget for years to come.

 

Democrats, who control both chambers of the legislature, emphasize that many states are in far worse shape, noting that California teeters near insolvency. They maintain that O'Malley was prescient in putting Maryland on more solid financial footing.

 

"Through no fault of the state of Maryland but because of the national economy, we're in this position," House Speaker Michael E. Busch said.

 

But Republicans contend that O'Malley's stewardship is partly to blame for the financial morass. They say the $1.3 billion in tax increases worsened the economic decline and criticize the administration for not slowing spending further. Last week, the Maryland GOP formed a partisan commission to make recommendations for tax relief. Members plan to travel the state and hold town hall meetings.

 

"I can't deny there is a national part to all of this, but Maryland has been responsible for our poor budget position," said Senate Minority Leader Allan H. Kittleman, who represents Howard and Carroll counties. He called for a spending freeze. "We can't have anything that's sacred where we say, 'We're not going to cut that program.'"

 

The state's finances have deteriorated so much that several initiatives championed by O'Malley could be curtailed, including an expansion of Medicaid eligibility and a tuition freeze at state universities. And a multimillion-dollar fund created to combat pollution in the Chesapeake Bay is likely to be reduced to a nominal sum as a placeholder, lawmakers and aides said.

 

The $1.9 billion shortfall represents the gap between anticipated growth in programs and incoming revenue. Because sales and income tax receipts have slowed considerably, freezing spending resolves only about half of the problem.

 

O'Malley and lawmakers do have budgetary maneuvers at their disposal. They could transfer money between accounts to close the budget gap and could dip into the state's more than $700 million rainy day fund. Last week, a proposal emerged to tap an unused $366 million tax reserve fund kept by the Maryland comptroller's office.

 

A federal economic stimulus package that includes state aid also could ease the problem. Congressional leaders are working on a proposal for President-elect Barack Obama to sign after he takes office that might include money for Medicaid and infrastructure projects - and could shave several hundred million dollars from Maryland's shortfall.

 

Nonetheless, steep budget cuts in some areas of the state's budget will be unavoidable.

 

One obvious target would be aid to local governments; about 40 percent of the state's operating budget goes to localities. But counties and municipalities have a strong ally in O'Malley, former mayor of Baltimore, and are likely to mount fierce opposition.

 

Other advocacy groups also are expected to fight to preserve their share.

 

"We're well past the point where we can cut fat in the state budget," said Matthew Weinstein of Progressive Maryland, a coalition of unions, community groups and clergy members. "Now we're at the point of cutting muscle and bone, and you've got to minimize the impact on those who are most vulnerable."

 

One budget-balancing option that appears to be off the table is tax increases.

 

A small minority continues to call for raising the alcohol or gasoline taxes, which have remained at the same level for years, or to apply the sales tax to a broader array of services. Neil Bergsman, director of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute, which represents nonprofit groups, said tax increases could spare more painful cuts to education or health care.

 

"We're to the point that this level of cuts would be so bad that more revenues might be the lesser evil," Bergsman said.

 

But legislative leaders have said repeatedly that the votes aren't there to raise any taxes. Del. Sheila E. Hixson, a Montgomery County Democrat who chairs the Ways and Means Committee, has joked that her committee with purview over taxes will have little to do this session.

 

With no money for new big-ticket programs, O'Malley and lawmakers plan to forge legislative agendas around policy changes.

 

The governor's agenda, to be announced in the coming weeks, is expected to address domestic violence laws by giving judges broader authority to confiscate guns from abuse suspects and to embrace recommendations from a task force to combat drunken driving. That group recently proposed several legislative changes, including an automatic six-month driver's license suspension for underage individuals found guilty of alcohol possession.

 

Other proposals backed by O'Malley are expected to be resurrected from previous years, when they failed to win enough support for passage. Those include a repeal of the death penalty, an issue on which the governor has staked significant political capital, and legislation to allow law enforcement agencies to use speed cameras.

 

Some laws could be tweaked, including a series of bills approved last year to help stem the foreclosure crisis that might be changed to ensure that homeowners are getting the help they need. Other potential legislation is aimed at recent controversies, including surveillance of activist groups by the Maryland State Police that has been decried by civil liberties groups, and a fatal Medevac crash in September that has prompted calls for an overhaul of the system for transporting accident victims.

 

Many other ideas just won't be considered, lawmakers acknowledge.

 

"Many policies, regardless of how good they may be, will be pushed aside because we can't afford to do anything new," said state Sen. Brian E. Frosh, a Montgomery County Democrat and chairman of the Judicial Proceedings Committee. "There are going to be a lot of good ideas that bite the dust."

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Sun.

 

Federal dollars for children's health could bolster state's Medicaid expansion

Van Hollen: Health insurance for kids needed ‘more than ever right now'

 

By Sean R. Sedam and Douglas Tallman |

The Gazette

Monday, January 12, 2009

 

Congress will vote this week on whether to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which could expand health coverage to 4 million more children nationwide, including 65,000 in Maryland.

 

In the past year, about 2.5 million Americans have lost their jobs, and with that often their health coverage, said U.S. Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington, who joined state and county officials, health-care providers and advocates Monday at a news conference at Community Clinic, Inc. in Takoma Park.

 

"We need this health insurance program for kids more than ever right now," said Van Hollen (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington.

 

SCHIP covers about 6 million children in the United States, including 110,000 in Maryland, whose parents earn too much income to be eligible for Medicaid but not enough to afford private health insurance.

 

"But primarily what we're going to be doing is finding the resources to cover children who are actually already eligible for the program, but haven't been receiving it," Van Hollen said.

 

The bill would use a 61 cent increase in the tax on cigarettes to expand coverage from 6 million children to 10 million children and provide more dental and mental health services for children. Without reauthorization, the program will expire March 31.

 

"The difference this time around is we're going to have a president who is going to sign the bill," Van Hollen said. President George W. Bush twice vetoed a reauthorization bill that had bipartisan support.

 

State officials also are hoping that $100 billion of a federal stimulus package will go toward matching states' dollars for Medicaid, as Maryland lawmakers hope to continue to expand health-care coverage in the state.

 

In 2007, the General Assembly passed a $1 cigarette tax increase as a way to expand health care to 100,000 more Marylanders.

 

State statistics show that 25,000 people already have signed up for the expanded program since July 1. That is equal to the figure that legislators expected for the entire fiscal year, which ends June 30.

 

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Sun.

 

New health dept. employee to provide public information

 

By Ashley Andyshak

Frederick News-Post

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

The newest employee at the Frederick County Health Department will keep people informed about department happenings and help educate residents about public health issues that affect them.

 

Deborah Roubian, the department's new public information officer, said she has always been interested in the health care field.

 

She originally considered attending medical school while studying at George Washington University. As a freshman, Roubian participated in the science and medicine division of a women's leadership program. Her adviser later introduced her to the school's public health major, and she decided to pursue that route.

 

"For me, it was the perfect way to make a positive impact on the lives of people by improving the quality of lifestyle," she said.

 

Roubian graduated from George Washington in 2008. Though she is originally from New York, Roubian decided to stay in the greater Washington area, and found an opening at the Frederick County Health Department.

 

Former public information officer Chad Gavitt left the position in September, and the department needed someone to convey information to the public and the media, and assist with health education projects. Roubian was hired in November.

 

Health officer Barbara Brookmyer said she's happy to have Roubian on board.

 

"Ms. Roubian's background in public health is a great asset to the health department and to the Frederick community. We look forward to her contributions and ideas as public health continues to evolve and grow," Brookmyer said in an e-mailed statement.

 

With about six weeks of work under her belt, Roubian said she enjoys working as a team with the rest of the department employees.

 

"By far, my favorite part É is the ability to be a part of a team that promotes the practice, expansion and improvement of public health within the community," she said.

 

Photo by Graham Cullen

Deborah Roubian recently became the public information officer for the Frederick County Health Department.

 

Copyright 1997-09 Randall Family, LLC. All rights reserved.

 

In Good Health - Cervical cancer screenings can save lives

 

By Ashley Andyshak

Frederick News-Post

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

January is Cervical Health Awareness Month, and health centers everywhere are offering free screenings to help protect women from cervical cancer and other life-threatening conditions.

 

Though cervical cancer cases have decreased significantly since widespread use of the Pap test began more than 50 years ago, the disease still affects thousands of women. About 10,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in the U.S. annually, and the disease kills about 3,700 every year, according to the National Cervical Cancer Coalition.

 

Infection with human papillomavirus, a group of more than 100 viruses passed from person to person during sex, is a major risk factor for cervical cancer. Smoking can also double a woman's chances of developing the cancer, and infection with HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases can also increase risk, according to the American Cancer Society.

 

Gardasil, a vaccine that prevents HPV infection, has been on the market for several years, but has only been approved for use in women ages 9 to 26. The Food and Drug Administration this month denied approval for use in women ages 27 to 45.

 

Even those who have received Gardasil shots should continue regular screening for cervical cancer, since the vaccine currently only protects against 70 to 80 percent of potential cervical cancer cases, according to the NCCC.

 

To prevent cervical cancer, ACS recommends women get a Pap test every year, beginning about three years after they begin having sex, or no later than age 21. Beginning at age 30, women who have had three normal test results in a row can get tested every two to three years, but those with higher risk factors should continue yearly tests. Using condoms can also prevent contraction of HPV and other STDs.

 

The Frederick County Health Department offers free breast and cervical cancer screenings through area health care providers for county women ages 40 to 64 who have limited income, are uninsured, or whose insurance plans do not cover such screenings. For more information, call the department at 301-600-3362.

 

For information on cervical cancer, visit www.cancer.org or www.nccs-online.org.

 

Coming up

* Dr. Nathan Wei will host a free one-hour teleseminar entitled "Make This Your Best Year Ever," tonight at 7.

 

The seminar will focus on diet, exercise, and stress reduction for patients with arthritis. For information, call 301-624-1164.

 

* Heather Whittington, certified Phoenix Rising yoga therapy practitioner, will offer a free yoga and meditation class for bereaved people Jan. 25 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at the Center for Mind-Body Therapies, 5 N. Bentz St., Frederick.

 

The class will introduce methods to help the body relax and recover from the stress of grief. To register, call 240-446-3030 or e-mail heatheryoga@gmail.com.

 

Whittington will also offer a free workshop for mental health professionals and counselors Jan. 28. Call or e-mail for more information.

 

Copyright 1997-09 Randall Family, LLC. All rights reserved.

 

Cold and flu have different symptoms, treatments

 

By Ashley Andyshak

Frederick News-Post

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

Nearly everyone at some point goes to work or school with a cold, despite the pesky coughing, congestion, and runny nose. But if you've got the flu, chances are you're not going anywhere.

 

People often interchange the terms "cold" and "flu," but the latter often has much more intense symptoms, said Melinda Malott, nursing division director at the Frederick County Health Department.

 

While both are respiratory illnesses, flu sufferers experience more than a cough. The virus causes fever, body aches and fatigue, and can put sufferers at risk for a host of more serious health problems, like pneumonia and bacterial infections, Malott said.

 

While it's caused by a milder virus, there's no real treatment for the common cold, Malott said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend using antibiotics, since they are not effective against viruses, she said, so prevention is the best method to avoid getting sick.

 

Malott recommends covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue or upper part of a sleeve, disposing of tissues properly, and washing hands immediately afterwards.

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also recommends managing stress, eating a healthy diet and getting enough sleep and exercise to reduce your risk of catching cold.

 

The good news: the flu can be easily prevented, and getting an annual vaccine is the best way to do it, Malott said.

 

The flu shot's composition changes from year to year. Researchers develop each year's formula using the three virus strains they believe will be most prevalent during the upcoming season. Flu shots contain only killed virus strains, while FluMist, a nasal spray vaccine, contain weakened strains.

 

This year's vaccine is expected to be effective, but last year's shot matched only about 40 percent of the virus circulating in the population. The CDC recorded thousands more cases of flu last year than is typical.

 

So far this season, the health department has administered almost 5,300 flu vaccines, compared to about 7,600 last year. Malott attributes the decrease to loss of a grant that allowed the department to provide free FluMist to school-age children last year. The vaccine is also now available at more venues, like grocery stores and pharmacies, which may have drawn some of the department's former customers, she said.

 

The flu can also be treated with antiviral drugs. Last week, the CDC announced that one flu strain prevalent this year is resistant to Tamiflu, the drug often prescribed to flu sufferers. CDC officials say the strain can be treated with other antiviral drugs, and that Tamiflu still works on other flu strains.

 

Cases of flu have been considered widespread in Maryland since mid-November, according to the CDC, but Malott said her department can't determine how many of these cases, if any, have been in Frederick County, since there are no official reporting epidemiologists here.

 

DETAILS

# THE FREDERICK COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT has no more flu clinics scheduled this season, but adults and children can receive flu shots or FluMist at the department on Wednesdays. Call 301-600-3342 for information.

 

Photo by Graham Cullen

Susan Cooper-Assi, R.N., employee health nurse for the Frederick County Health Department demonstrates how people should cough and sneeze into their arm rather their hands to prevent the spread of germs.

 

Copyright 1997-09 Randall Family, LLC. All rights reserved.

 

Health – The Corridor - Technology – Government Contracting

 

Biz Monthly

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

John Colmers, secretary, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

 

For thousands of working Marylanders, affordable health care has been out of reach for too long. It's a crisis seen across the country and is especially evident among employees of small businesses. Escalating health costs can suppress wages, reduce hiring, and stall research and development efforts, and drive fledgling businesses into bankruptcy.

 

The O'Malley-Brown Administration is committed to addressing the needs of workers and ensuring that all Marylanders have access to affordable health care.

 

This fall, Maryland began enrollment for the Health Insurance Partnership to provide affordable health care options for small businesses. Under the partnership, a small business that has between two and nine full-time employees, has not offered health insurance to its employees during the previous 12 months, and has an average wage

 

below $50,000 could be eligible to receive state support, cutting the cost of health care in half.

 

In Maryland, only about half of small businesses offer health insurance to their workers and that number declines for even smaller companies. The partnership makes health insurance a real, affordable option for these small businesses by lowering the cost of health coverage through a partnership among the state, small employers and employees.

 

By doing this, we are fostering the growth of small businesses, investing in working families and keeping our economy strong. We are committed to becoming a national leader not only in the development of lifesaving technologies, but also in expanding access to quality, affordable health care.

 

****

The Corridor

Walt Townshend, president, Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber

 

The Baltimore Washington Corridor has the advantage of being in the midst of America's fourth largest marketplace, nestled between the renascent port city of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., which is arguably the world's capital. We are in an enviable and strategic position.

 

In spite of considerable legacy, recent and imminent development, the "tyranny of the immediate" will consume all of us during the next six to 18 months. Unemployment rates are climbing, with some economists predicting double-digit rates, depending on the outcome of solutions for the auto industry and its allied parts manufacturers, coupled with the substantial downturn in the housing industry. Consumers are curtailing purchases/maintaining a status quo, waiting for the recession to ease.

 

Maryland, as is much of the country, is linked substantially to the health and dynamism of small business. The most recent statistics show that Maryland had 111,798 small employers in 2005, representing 97.8% of the state's employers and 53.2% of its private-sector employment. The construction industry is the state's largest small business employer, with health care and social assistance the largest overall employer. Small businesses created all of the state's net new jobs from 2004 to 2005, according to the Small Business Administration.

 

Small and minority businesses will need to work together more aggressively in a network focused on local, national and international levels. The business community must continue to leverage all resources, such as membership in electric purchasing cooperatives that are saving companies millions of dollars on commercial accounts. Similarly, employers must seek all employee benefits (some of them no cost) that build loyalty and provide substantial savings available to employee groups on the retail level.

 

****

Technology

Renée Winsky, president and executive director, Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO)

 

As we look at 2009, I am very hopeful about the region and the state's technology-based economy. In fact, I believe that technology-based economic development is at the center of our region, state and nation's economic recovery.

 

Tech-based economic development advances our intellectual infrastructure, transfers knowledge and innovation, supports a physical infrastructure, contributes to our highly skilled technical workforce, and spawns investment by angel and venture investors. Maryland is home to all of these attributes.

 

We promote the innovators, the entrepreneurs and the cutting-edge researchers. Whether a startup company in one of the state's premier technology business incubators or a researcher seeking to commercialize his or her technology, Maryland has been, and always will be, a leader in tech-based economic development.

 

Yes, fiscal coffers are tight and getting tighter. But now is not the time to tighten further on the very programs that support the next big technology company, the next big drug discovery, the next cure for disease ... programs that move innovation, create jobs, generate tax dollars, keep us safe and save our lives.

Let us not lose sight that a little investment made in an early-stage entrepreneur has so much potential. Our region, state and nation will rely more than ever before on the innovator, the entrepreneur, the researcher and the attributes of tech-based economic development to carry us all into the next decade with resolve and strength.

 

****

Government Contracting

Gloria Berthold Larkin, president, TargetGov at Marketing Outsource Associates

 

The New Year will bring a change in direction and shifting federal procurement spending priorities, which will definitely impact Maryland-based businesses both large and small.

 

There will be key market opportunities in the following areas: The U.S. Treasury requires oversight of financial institutions and markets; the USDA will need help creating a worldwide food inspection process for foods imported into the U.S.; the U.S. Census Bureau decennial census will require business planning services before the 2010 nationwide head count; and health care support at the Veteran's Administration and Health & Human Services will be a big spending gain for IT, personnel and business processes, as will preparing for public health emergencies.

 

Some of the downside includes the government spending focus continuing in maintenance mode, with few new initiatives actually getting off the ground before 2010. While we are hearing about infrastructure improvements now, they consist of planning for infrastructure changes that will be active in 2009, with the actual improvements not started until 2010 or later. Green procurement will become a higher priority, but only if it will simultaneously cut costs.

 

And finally: BRAC. We are setting up for a huge party, but we are not going see as many attendees as we thought. Employees will not be able to move because they won't be able to sell their house or get financing for their new home. Related commercial construction will slow dramatically and the urgency of completing the moves will dissipate. Costs of infrastructure improvements will not be funded.

 

The successful contractor in this environment will know how to read the signs early in the budget cycle and start planning for the upcoming shift in priorities and build solid relationships with the decision-makers, both appointees and career federal employees.

 

Copyright 2009 Biz Monthly.

 

Some changes needed in health, mental hygiene

 

Cumberland Times-News – Letter to the Editor

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

To the Editor:

 

I would like to put a theory to a test. I am addressing the theory of “I would like to become a mental hygienist” in this letter, in regards to my call for drastic changes concerning the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

 

So you can see how ridiculous the titles, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) and Mental Hygiene Administration (MHA), are and their effects on people (not to mention what I believe to be countless years of cruelty by Maryland government on its people), I give you following questions.

 

Keep in mind children may read this and be affected by this — not just us adults.

 

The Mental Hygiene Administration (part of the DHMH) has a deputy director, who should be able to answer the following questions to help all citizens of Maryland better understand an immediate need for change:

 

1. What is a mental hygienist?

2. Why do they have mental hygienists?

3. Where do mental hygienists work?

4. Where do they grant mental hygienist college degrees?

5. What is the licensure regarding a mental hygienist?

6. How much does a mental hygienist make a year?

 

Editor, I still wait for a response to these questions from our Maryland government; however, I would like you and your readers to consider this very same theory I have put to the test at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

 

Ask these very same questions to our Maryland government; we deserve better.

 

Rebecca A. DeWitt

Frostburg

 

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.

 

At Last, Big Changes Come To SE Hospital

 

By Krissah Thompson

Washington Post

Tuesday, January 13, 2009; HE01

 

Walking through the freshly painted corridors of United Medical Center in Southeast Washington, Cyril Allen prefers not to think back to what the place was like a year ago. Then called Greater Southeast Community Hospital, the ceilings and floors of the top levels were waterlogged and bowed from untended roof leaks. There was no working radiology equipment, and at one point the institution was on the verge of running out of food for patients.

 

"It's been a revolutionary change," said Allen, the hospital's chief medical officer. "You can smell it. You can see it. The physicians are all coming back."

 

The smell and sheen of new paint are surface evidence of fundamental changes that the hospital's new owners have begun implementing to revive the once dilapidated building and business. The hospital is being revamped to meet the increasing need for long-term-care facilities for the city's aging and chronically sick.

 

This month about 50 beds at United Medical Center will be set aside for what is known as long-term acute care: serving patients with heart or lung ailments, those who need complicated wound care or dialysis, and those with other complex sicknesses that require hospitalization for a month or more. This will make United the only hospital in the District with such a facility on-site.

 

For elderly patients who need even more care, the hospital's sixth and seventh floors have reopened as a 120-bed skilled nursing home. About 150 additional beds are available to receive patients from the hospital's emergency room and for day surgeries and other short stays.

 

Allen, who in his eight years at the old Greater Southeast watched it nearly die, sees in the renovations hope that the only hospital in Southeast Washington will recover to serve the city's predominantly black neighborhoods in Anacostia and surrounding communities, where there are generally higher rates of chronic disease, overall poor health and premature mortality.

 

The need for additional long-term acute care and nursing home beds has grown as the regional population has aged and as Medicare and Medicaid press hospitals to discharge patients into more economical long-term facilities.

 

"Because of [payment issues] related to length of stay, the hospital needs to get you out, and unfortunately some patients go home too quickly, and they can't make it at home and are back in the emergency room," said Brian F. Wells, a corporate director with Specialty Hospitals of America, which owns and operates United Medical Center under a public-private partnership with the D.C. government.

 

Long-term acute-care hospitals first began to pop up in the 1980s and have become an important part of the health care continuum. The centers, which now number 391 nationwide, serve the growing number of elderly patients with lingering illness who make up about 2 percent of the patient population.

 

Specialty Hospitals came to the city in 2005 when it bought the Medlink Hospital and Nursing Center on Capitol Hill. The next year, it bought Hadley Memorial Hospital in Southwest Washington. Both are long-term-care facilities. Specialty's analysis of the market projects a need for 1,200 long-term acute-care beds to serve the nine big hospitals in the region, Wells said. Including the 50 new beds at United Medical Center, there are only 199 long-term acute-care beds in the city.

 

"In the Washington area there is definitely room for growth in terms of long-term acute care," said William Walters, chief executive of the Acute Long Term Hospital Association in Alexandria. "The best [long-term acute-care] hospitals are the ones that specialize in treating patients like those who are on a ventilator [and] . . . that have good relationships with big general hospitals."

 

To carve out its own niche, United Medical Center has plans to eventually focus its long-term center on high-tech wound care. For now, it faces unique challenges, including an ugly reputation to live down. Officials said they are working hard to convince other local hospitals, patients and their families that the old Greater Southeast, which at one point left sick patients waiting for emergency room care for hours or even days, is now providing quality care. The long-term acute-care center won't thrive if other hospitals and patients' loved ones refuse to have cases transferred to United.

 

"We have our medical chiefs actively addressing medical staff at other hospitals to let them know what we are doing," Wells said before an open house held for D.C. Council members, local hospital officials and others last month. "We have got a lot of people who are out there talking about all the changes."

 

The medical chief points out that Specialty plowed $30 million into the hospital last year to reframe it, improve insulation and replace broken radiology equipment. (The money was pulled from its $79 million partnership with the District.) The rooms in United Medical Center's skilled nursing and long-term acute-care centers have been outfitted with new chestnut dresser drawers, televisions and hospital beds. Others in the city's medical community are beginning to take note, said Robert A. Malson, president of the District of Columbia Hospital Association.

 

"There is a tremendous need for both nursing home beds and long-term acute-care beds in the city, and what [United Medical Center] is doing is reacting to that need and attempting to fill a void that has great importance to the city," Malson said. "They need to be commended for that, and the other hospitals in the area recognize that and are working with them."

 

Already there is a steady stream of patients from the surrounding community, and the doctors who left when the hospital was close to bankrupt are returning, Allen said. The sight of workers putting together furniture for the new long-term-care center makes him smile.

 

"I thank God," he said. "Southeast is back."

 

Copyright 2009 Washington Post.

 

Medicaid makes Marylanders healthier, wealthier

 

By Dan Morhaim and Vincent DeMarco

Baltimore Examiner - Commentary

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

With all government budgets undergoing needed scrutiny, we must be particularly careful with any changes to Medicaid and other cost-effective programs. Here's why, and why the issue is urgent.

 

Federal help for Medicaid is likely to be enacted as part of a federal economic stimulus package.

 

Maryland state lawmakers may also review our commitment to this program after the legislature convenes Jan. 14.

 

Medicaid is more than health insurance. The program brings federal dollars into the state, saves Marylanders from subsidizing higher health care bills in the future, and can even help stimulate the state economy.

 

Funding for Medicaid comes jointly from the federal and state government. Normally, for every dollar that Maryland contributes to this program, the federal government adds another dollar. New federal funding may make the program even more attractive to states, requiring only, say 80 cents from Maryland for a federal dollar. Details are currently under negotiation.

 

Medicaid became more important to Marylanders in 2008 when Gov. Martin O'Malley signed into law the Working Families and Small Business Health Care Coverage Act. Since July 1, more than 24,000 previously uninsured Marylanders have gained health care coverage.

 

Medicaid insurance can save Maryland taxpayers by reducing the burden we all bear of the escalating cost of hospitalization and emergency care for the uninsured. Because of cost shifting, estimates show each insured family pays an additional $1,000 annually to cover the uninsured. Securing people on Medicaid could actually reduce rising health care costs for employers, small businesses and others who buy health insurance.

 

Results from two other states show the promise of fiscal benefits.

 

In 2006, Massachusetts adopted a new law expanding health coverage to 440,000 more state residents. After two years, the cost of unpaid care at emergency rooms, hospitals and community health centers dropped by roughly 40 percent.

 

By contrast, Oregon cut 50,000 people from its Medicaid roles in 2003. The number of visits by uninsured residents to the emergency room rose from 6,682 per month in 2002 to 9,058 per month in 2004. After figuring in factors such as bad weather and holidays, researchers estimated that the reduction in Medicaid accounted for roughly a 20 percent rise in emergency room visits.

 

In other words, Medicaid can leverage federal money to prevent larger health problems from landing expensively on Maryland taxpayers. Of course, these federal dollars aren't free to Maryland taxpayers, who pay federal taxes. But the federal government can borrow for this spending, unlike state governments. And federal borrowing rates are currently at historic lows. In challenging economic times, low-interest federal loans make sense.

 

Medicaid also means economic stimulus. Medicaid helps the economy because the funding dollar doesn't stop with health care. The caregiver just reimbursed with Medicaid insurance may then purchase groceries, and the grocery clerk may use some of her wages to buy shoes, and so on. Figures from Families USA for Health Care for All Maryland explore the effect on the Maryland economy. The figures use a leading U.S. Senate proposal, co-sponsored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, which calls for $631 million in additional federal support for Medicaid in Maryland. For Maryland's economy, this would mean 9,500 new jobs and $1.1 billion worth of business activity. And it makes common sense that with preventive medicine from routine Medicaid-funded checkups, a healthier Maryland work force will be more productive. Finally, a special benefit is that increased Medicaid spending works immediately, with no lag for rule making or other administrative delays.

 

These are among the reasons congressional leaders and Barack Obama's incoming administration view Medicaid as central to their stimulus package. Shovel-ready infrastructure projects may figure at the center of the Obama revitalization program, but these funds won't enter the economic bloodstream as fast as increased federal Medicaid help.

 

Medicaid-as-stimulus is a proven tool. Congress approved an increase in the federal match during the downturn of 2003 as part of a successful economic jump-start. During this effort, no states made changes to Medicaid eligibility that would have disqualified them from receiving the new fiscal relief. That's a clear testament that state decision makers understood the key role of Medicaid during the comparatively mild recession of 2003. Our more severe economic downtown correspondingly makes the many merits of Medicaid funding even more persuasive.

 

Dan Morhaim is a medical doctor and member of the House of Delegate from Owings Mills. Reach him at danmorhaim@gmail.com.

 

Vincent DeMarco is president of Maryland Citizen's Health Initiative. Reach him at demarco@mdinitiative.org.

 

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Examiner.

 

"U.S. lags other countries on health care"

 

Baltimore Examiner – Letter to the Editor

Monday, January 12, 2009

 

According to a recent study conducted by the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund and published last month in Health Affairs, the United States spends more than any other nation on health care and has less to show for it.

 

Specifically, the study concluded that high costs, wasteful treatment and lack of access as certain signs of a system in urgent need of reform.  The study compared U. S. medical care with care in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Germany and found that despite having the most costly system in the world, the United States consistently underperforms.  Compared with the five nations, the U.S. system ranks last or next to last in quality of care, access, efficiency, equity and healthy lives, the basic measurements used to assess a health care system.

 

A World Health Organization [member], the United States spends 16 percent of its gross national product on health care.  That is more than any other nation in the world.   We spend an average of $8,000 a year per American on health care, double the average of wealthy countries.  Yet, the United States ranks 37th out of 191 countries in performance.  France, Italy and Spain scored the highest.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that only 22 countries had larger infant mortality rates than the United States.   

 

The CIA World Factbook’s latest update informs that the U.S. life expectancy of 78.14 years, gives us a rank of 46th out of 223 countries, placing us behind almost all other advanced industrialized countries.  Japan has a life expectancy rate of 82.07 years and Canada with a life expectancy rate of 81.16 rank near the top.

 

Our health care system is clearly dysfunctional. In the United States, there are 47 million working men and women who are without health care coverage.  In 1991, Pennsylvania Sen. Harris Wofford pointed out that this nation provides that every criminal is entitled to have a lawyer.  He asked shouldn’t every sick person be entitled to have a doctor? Something as basic to life as health care should be every person’s right. The need for significant health reform is as apparent as it is urgent.

 

Del. Eric M. Bromwell, (D-Baltimore County)

 

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Examiner.

 

"Chronic pain sufferers deserve better treatment"

 

Baltimore Examiner – Letter to the Editor

Monday, January 12, 2009

 

I was encouraged to read your article, “Reaching out through the pain,” (Jan 4) about 19-year-old Rebecca Rothwell’s struggle with rheumatoid arthritis. I hope your coverage of this debilitating disease will help shed light on this and other chronic widespread pain conditions that Marylanders suffer from, including fibromyalgia.

 

Some chronic diseases, such as diabetes and asthma, can be quickly diagnosed. Once diagnosed, they also have many effective treatment options once identified.

 

In contrast, many RA and fibromyalgia sufferers wait years to receive the correct diagnosis for their condition. Once diagnosed, the road is not always paved with gold.

 

Ideally, doctors should have the freedom to work with individual patients to identify and prescribe the most effective treatments for them. Individualized treatments can go a long way in helping them to live the best life possible given their condition.

 

Sadly, what’s really happening is that doctors are often forced to prescribe — and patients are forced to try — treatments that are dictated by insurance companies based on price, not clinical judgment.

 

Articles like yours will help to raise awareness about the struggles of these patients and help them receive the treatment they deserve.

 

Kathryn A. Walker, President, Maryland Pain Initiative, Baltimore City

 

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Examiner.

 

Report: Maryland doesn't spend enough on smoking prevention

 

By Sara Michael

Baltimore Examiner

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

Maryland doesn't spend enough money on tobacco prevention programs, a gap that earned the state mixed scores on an American Lung Association report card released Tuesday.

 

"Until you invest, you are not going to see those reductions in the health costs and expenditures," said Deborah Bryan, regional vice president of advocacy for the American Lung Association of the Atlantic Coast, which serves Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.

 

Maryland funds tobacco prevention at 32 percent of the level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, officials said. This level of fiscal 2008 funding -- $20.5 million compared with the recommended $63.3 million -- earned the state an F for tobacco prevention spending.

 

Overall, Maryland earned two F's, one A and one B in the report card that tracks progress on state and federal tobacco control policies.

 

Maryland received the second F for failing to provide adequate access to services to help quit smoking. The state's Medicaid program covers only a few of medications, and the state employee health plan covers only phone counseling and no medications, according to the American Lung Association.

 

"People need all the support they can get," Bryan said.

 

Maryland's Clean Air Act of 2007, which went into effect in February, earned the state an A for having strong smoke-free air laws. The state's $2 per pack cigarette tax scored a B.

 

Most states and the federal government failed to enact anti-smoking policies in 2008, according to the report. No states received all A's, and seven states scored four F's.

 

"Missed opportunities were an all too common theme in 2008," Charles Connor, president and chief executive officer of the American Lung Association, said Monday in a call with reporters.

 

The federal government received poor marks for not enacting a bill that would allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate the tobacco industry and for failing to raise the 39-cent cigarette tax, according to the report.

 

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Examiner.

 

Seeing Red

The Rising Costs of Care And a Failing Economy Drive More Americans Into Medical Debt

 

Kaiser Health News

By Sandra G. Boodman

Washington Post

Tuesday, January 13, 2009; HE01

 

Pummeled by a deepening recession that is demolishing jobs and family finances, more Americans are struggling to pay their medical bills.

 

For years a booming economy camouflaged the burden of medical debt. Patients borrowed against their homes or whipped out credit cards, including some specially designed to pay medical or dental bills. But falling house prices and tightening credit have eliminated those options for many.

 

As a result, the problem of medical debt is climbing the income scale, affecting not just the poor or the uninsured. Millions of Americans covered by health insurance are paying more for less -- fewer benefits, higher co-pays and additional deductibles -- and are at risk for large out-of-pocket bills when serious illness or injury strike.

 

"People who are underinsured end up facing almost identical problems as the uninsured," said Karen L. Pollitz, director of the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University. "The difference is, they paid for the privilege."

 

Medical debt is likely to figure prominently in the looming national debate over reforming health care.

 

Jim Eyler, 57, of Westminster, Md., says he needs help. The cement company manager said he spends about 33 percent of his take-home pay on unreimbursed medical bills, many connected with the advanced breast cancer his wife has been battling since 2005. "I keep wondering, where's the money going to come from?" he asked.

 

Experts define the underinsured as those forced to spend at least 10 percent of their income on health care, excluding premiums. But the nonprofit Center for Studying Health System Change found recently that financial pressures on families increase sharply when out-of-pocket spending on medical bills exceeds 2.5 percent of family income. New York's Commonwealth Fund has reported that 72 million adults under age 65 had problems paying medical bills or were paying off medical debt in 2007, up from 58 million in 2005. Many had insurance, and 39 percent said they had exhausted their savings paying for health care.

 

"There's every reason, given what's been going on, to expect the situation has gotten worse" as the economy has deteriorated, said the study's co-author, economist Sara R. Collins.

 

Unlike other forms of consumer debt, such as a mortgage or installment payments on a plasma TV, medical debt is typically involuntary and unplanned, the result of necessity, not desire. Consumers can't shop around for the best deal on an angioplasty or the cheapest hospital, nor in many cases can they delay treatment. Often they are forced to make decisions at their most vulnerable, because they or a loved one is sick, injured or dying.

 

Medical debt can quickly snowball. Consumers with unpaid bills can wind up in court defending themselves against lawsuits filed by doctors and hospitals, which typically charge the uninsured full price for care, without the hefty discounts negotiated by health plans. Debtors' wages can be garnished, liens can be placed on their homes, and their future job and housing prospects torpedoed by bad credit ratings. Those who charged medical expenses to a credit card can find that missed or late payments result in an interest rate that zooms retroactively to 29 percent.

 

Ironically, many people don't know that they are eligible for low-cost or free care, as Howard County officials recently discovered when they tried to register 1,100 residents in a new program, only to find that most already qualified for existing benefits but had not enrolled.

 

Embarrassed by unpaid bills and fearful of accruing more, many such patients postpone care until they are sicker and their illnesses are more difficult and expensive to treat.

 

Sheila Bell-Clifford of Alexandria has been uninsured since August, when her husband lost his job and with it their health insurance while he was being treated for metastatic cancer. She has stopped going to the doctor for treatment of her severe diabetes and skips pills, although complications landed her in the hospital two years ago. "I have to juggle them," she said of her medications, "because if I run out I'm in worse shape."

 

The nexus of the growing problem of medical debt and the inauguration of a sympathetic president may buoy prospects for overhauling health care, one of the top priorities of the incoming administration.

 

During the campaign, President-elect Barack Obama talked about his mother, who died of ovarian cancer in 1995 at 53. "In those last painful months, she was more worried about paying her medical bills than getting well," he said. Obama has said he supports creating an exemption for medical debt in stringent new bankruptcy laws.

 

Tackling the problem on a national level will involve replacing the mystifying welter of insurance plans with a standard, comprehensive benefits package that limits consumers' exposure to out-of-pocket costs, some experts say. Currently "there are no real standards for plans, so there are an infinite number of options," said Mark Rukavina, executive director of the Access Project, a Boston-based research and advocacy group that focuses on medical debt.

 

Transparency is also important, Rukavina said. Insurance policies are typically written in "intentionally confusing and unclear" language that can make it virtually impossible for consumers to figure out what is covered and how much they owe.

 

Economist Thomas P. Miller of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank, said he believes the problem of medical debt has been exaggerated and is a symptom of the broader economic crisis. The solution, he said, should not be "to kill people with kindness" by requiring an overly expansive and expensive benefits package that could "preempt the use of resources for other purposes."

 

Unwilling to wait for federal action, a handful of states, most notably Massachusetts, have passed laws designed to expand health coverage or to protect medical debtors. An Illinois law passed last year caps rates that hospitals can charge the uninsured, while a New York statute bars foreclosures intended to pay off medical bills.

 

For now, Althea Saunders-Ranniar, a financial coach at the Bon Secours of Maryland Foundation, a nonprofit that works with low- and moderate-income residents of Baltimore, predicts that unraveling medical bills will consume an even larger part of her workday. "Everyone I see has medical debt," she said.

 

Many of her clients receive one bill from a hospital and five or more from physicians or labs, each of which she must parse and, possibly, negotiate. "It becomes very difficult to figure out," she said.

 

Copyright 2008 Washington Post.

 

Officials: Toss salmonella-linked peanut butter

 

Associated Press

By Elizabeth Dunbar

Washington Post

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

MINNEAPOLIS -- Health officials are urging nursing homes, hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants to toss out specific containers of peanut butter linked to a salmonella outbreak in 43 states.

 

The recalled peanut butter - distributed by King Nut Companies of Solon, Ohio - was supplied only through food service providers and was not sold directly to consumers. King Nut challenged the finding, saying it could not be the source of the nationwide outbreak since it distributes to only seven states.

 

The outbreak has sickened more than 400 people and Minnesota health officials announced Monday they had found a match between samples from a King Nut container and the strains of salmonella bacteria making people sick across the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the outbreak may have contributed to three deaths.

 

Officials are concerned the peanut butter is still being used, and Heidi Kassenborg of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture urged all institutions to throw it away.

 

State health and agriculture officials said last week they had found salmonella bacteria in a 5-pound package of King Nut peanut butter at a nursing facility in Minnesota. Officials tested the bacteria over the weekend and found a genetic match with the bacterial strain that has led to 30 illnesses in Minnesota and others across the country.

 

"The commonality among all of our patients was that they ate peanut butter," said Doug Schultz, a spokesman with the Minnesota Department of Health. While the brand of peanut butter couldn't be confirmed in every case, the majority of patients consumed the same brand, he said Monday.

 

Minnesota officials were coordinating their investigation with the CDC, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other states.

 

King Nut Companies on Sunday asked its customers to stop using peanut butter under its King Nut and Parnell's Pride brands with a lot code that begins with the numeral "8."

 

However, company president and chief executive Martin Kanan argued that King Nut could not be the source of the nationwide salmonella outbreak because the company distributes only to Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, Arizona, Idaho and New Hampshire. No other King Nut products have been voluntarily recalled.

 

The peanut butter King Nut distributed was manufactured by Peanut Corporation of America, a Virginia company. In an e-mail earlier Monday, President Stewart Parnell said the company was working with federal authorities.

 

The peanut butter was distributed to establishments such as care facilities, hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants. King Nut says it was not distributed for retail sale to consumers.

 

The CDC on Monday raised the number of confirmed cases to 410, from 399 as of Friday, and Mississippi became the 43rd state to report a case. All the illnesses began between Sept. 15 and Jan. 7, but most of the people became sick after Oct. 1.

 

Kanan held out the possibility that the contamination came from another source, since the salmonella was found in an open container.

 

"That means there's a possibility of cross-contamination, somebody could have been cutting a piece of chicken and then stuck the knife into the peanut butter for a peanut butter sandwich," he said. "There have been no tests that have come back positive on a closed container."

 

The peanut butter contamination comes almost two years after ConAgra recalled its Peter Pan brand peanut butter, which was eventually linked to at least 625 salmonella cases in 47 states.

 

CDC officials say the bacteria in the current outbreak has been genetically fingerprinted as the Typhimurium type, which is among the most common sources of salmonella food poisoning.

___

 

Associated Press writers Martiga Lohn in St. Paul and Thomas J. Sheeran in Cleveland contributed to this report.

 

On the Net:

FDA:http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/kingnut01_09.html

 

King Nut:http://www.kingnut.com/site.cfm/news.cfm

 

© 2009 The Associated Press.

 

Officials link salmonella to deaths in Va., Minn.

 

Associated Press Writer

By Elizabeth Dunbar

Frederick News-Post

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

Three deaths associated with a national salmonella outbreak occurred in Virginia and Minnesota, health officials confirmed Tuesday.

 

Two adults in Virginia had salmonella when they died, though it's not clear that the illness is what killed them, said Michelle Peregoy, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Health. She did not release details about the two people.

 

Earlier, Minnesota health officials said an elderly woman in that state had the illness at the time of her death.

 

Health officials are urging nursing homes, hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants to toss out specific containers of peanut butter linked to a salmonella outbreak in 43 states and possibly to the deaths of three people.

 

The recalled peanut butter - distributed by King Nut Companies of Solon, Ohio - was supplied only through food service providers and was not sold directly to consumers. King Nut challenged the finding, saying it could not be the source of the nationwide outbreak since it distributes to only seven states.

 

The outbreak has sickened more than 400 people and Minnesota health officials announced Monday they had found a match between samples from a King Nut container and the strains of salmonella bacteria making people sick across the country.

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the outbreak may have contributed to the three deaths.

 

Minnesota health officials, who are coordinating their investigation with the CDC, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other states, said one of the three was a nursing home resident in her 70s who died after contracting the illness. But an epidemiologist with the state Health Department, Stephanie Meyer, said it wasn't clear whether the illness or underlying health problems caused the woman's death.

 

Minnesota health and agriculture officials said last week they had found salmonella bacteria in a 5-pound package of King Nut peanut butter at a different nursing facility. Officials tested the bacteria over the weekend and found a genetic match with the bacterial strain that has led to 30 illnesses in Minnesota and others across the country.

 

King Nut Companies on Sunday asked its customers to stop using peanut butter under its King Nut and Parnell's Pride brands with a lot code that begins with the numeral "8."

 

However, company president and chief executive Martin Kanan argued that King Nut could not be the source of the nationwide salmonella outbreak because the company distributes only to Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, Arizona, Idaho and New Hampshire. No other King Nut products have been voluntarily recalled.

 

The peanut butter King Nut distributed was manufactured by Peanut Corporation of America, a Virginia company. In an e-mail earlier Monday, President Stewart Parnell said the company was working with federal authorities.

 

The peanut butter was distributed to establishments such as care facilities, hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants. King Nut says it was not distributed for retail sale to consumers.

 

The CDC on Monday raised the number of confirmed cases to 410, from 399 as of Friday, and Mississippi became the 43rd state to report a case. All the illnesses began between Sept. 15 and Jan. 7, but most of the people became sick after Oct. 1.

 

Kanan held out the possibility that the contamination came from another source, since the salmonella was found in an open container.

 

"That means there's a possibility of cross-contamination, somebody could have been cutting a piece of chicken and then stuck the knife into the peanut butter for a peanut butter sandwich," he said. "There have been no tests that have come back positive on a closed container."

 

The peanut butter contamination comes almost two years after ConAgra recalled its Peter Pan brand peanut butter, which was eventually linked to at least 625 salmonella cases in 47 states.

 

CDC officials say the bacteria in the current outbreak has been genetically fingerprinted as the Typhimurium type, which is among the most common sources of salmonella food poisoning.

 

Associated Press writers Martiga Lohn in St. Paul, Thomas J. Sheeran in Cleveland and Mike Stobbe in Atlanta contributed to this report.

 

___

On the Net:

FDA: http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/kingnut01_09.html

 

King Nut: http://www.kingnut.com/site.cfm/news.cfm

 

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

 

Expanding Facilities Get Relief From EPA

Pollution Permit Program Streamlined

 

By Juliet Eilperin

Washington Post

Tuesday, January 13, 2009; A02

 

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a new rule yesterday that will make it easier for industrial plants, refineries and paper mills to expand operations without applying for new pollution permits under the Clean Air Act.

 

The rule, part of the Bush administration's ongoing effort to revamp a pollution-control program known as New Source Review, says that when expanding or modernizing plants calculate their emissions to determine whether they need to install new control measures, they are not required to include emissions from unrelated activities at the same plant.

 

Robert J. Meyers, principal deputy assistant administrator in the EPA's office of air and radiation, said the agency determined that it did not make sense to count emissions from distinct projects collectively if they did not have "a substantial economic and technical relationship."

 

But environmentalists said the rule, which applies to about 3,500 facilities nationwide, could make it easier for the facilities to expand without limiting harmful emissions.

 

"It's a classic loophole," said John Walke, clean air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group. "What they've done is to allow industry to ignore these pollution increases, which decreases the likelihood of cleanup obligations."

 

It was unclear how many plants will no longer have to apply for modification permits because of the policy change: Facilities typically need to apply when they emit an additional 40 tons a year of a major pollutant, though the requirement varies depending on the pollutant and the location of the source. Michael Ling, associate director of the EPA's air quality policy division, said the impact of the new rule would be "negligible."

 

Still, industry representatives hailed the decision as a last-minute regulatory relief from the Bush administration, which has been working on the matter for more than two years.

 

"Frankly, I'm a little surprised they've gotten to this," said Bryan Brendle, director of energy and resources policy at the National Association of Manufacturers. Brendle added that his association "supports any sort of simplification and streamlining of a fairly cumbersome program" such as New Source Review.

 

The EPA also decided yesterday to abandon another rule change it had contemplated enacting under the Clean Air Act, which would have further narrowed the number of activities in a production line that count toward a facility's overall pollution threshold.

 

The agency postponed making a decision on a third proposal, known as "netting." Under the proposal, an expanding or modernizing plant could bypass a rule requiring it to analyze whether a particular project would increase its emissions so long as the change is not anticipated to dramatically boost the facility's overall pollution level.

 

Meyers said the administration's changing of course by rejecting one rule change and postponing another "really shows we listened closely to public comments."

 

Brendle said that manufacturers had hoped the administration would approve the original troika of changes but that "one is better than nothing."

 

Copyright 2009 Washington Post.

 

Safeway to offer free antibiotics in mid-Atlantic stores

 

By Julekha Dash

Baltimore Business Journal

Monday, January 12, 2009

 

Safeway Inc. said Monday that it will offer free prescription antibiotics at its pharmacies in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and Virginia, through March 31.

 

Under the program, customers of Safeway (NYSE: SWY) can bring in a prescription for selected antibiotics and receive a 14-day supply of generic medication at no cost. Amoxicillin, used to treat bacterial infections, the blood pressure medication atenolol and penicillin are among the free generic drugs offered.

 

The move is the latest example of how supermarkets are deeply discounting drugs to lure customers in a down economy. Wegmans Food Markets announced this month it will fill generic antibiotic prescriptions for free until March 31. Giant Food said last month it will give away free generic drugs in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C.

 

Last year, Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway, began offering $4 prescription drugs at 83 pharmacies throughout Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, and Washington.

 

The company operates 1,738 stores in the United States and Canada, including 75 in Maryland, and had annual sales of $42.3 billion in 2007.

 

All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Congress Set to Renew Health Care for Children

 

By Robert Pear

New York Times

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

WASHINGTON — Congress is poised to give President-elect Barack Obama a quick victory by passing a bill to provide health insurance to millions of low-income children.

 

The House Democratic leader, Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, said the bill, scheduled for a vote in the House this week, was “very much like” legislation twice vetoed by President Bush in 2007. Legal authority for the program expires on March 31.

 

Congressional Democrats said they had decided to add a major provision allowing states to restore health insurance benefits to legal immigrants under 21, a goal of Hispanic groups since those benefits were terminated in 1996.

 

This part of the bill deals only with legal immigrants. But it could revive the emotional debate over immigration, as many Republicans want to establish stricter verification procedures to prevent illegal immigrants from getting health benefits.

 

Under current law, legal immigrants are generally barred from Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program for five years after they enter the United States. The Democrats’ proposal would give states the option of covering children and pregnant women, with the federal government subsidizing the costs as usual under both programs.

 

Supporters of the bill said it would cover 10 million children, providing benefits for nearly 4 million who are uninsured, while continuing coverage for 6.6 million youngsters already enrolled. The federal government now spends more than $5 billion a year on the program, and while precise figures are not yet available, the expansion would more than double that cost.

 

Experts estimate that 400,000 to 600,000 immigrant children affected by the restrictions could get insurance under the bill.

 

“Children should not be forced to wait five years for health care,” said Jennifer M. Ng’andu, a health policy specialist at the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic rights group. “Five years is a lifetime to a child.”

 

Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican whip, said Republicans had concerns about expanding the program, to immigrants or any other group, before the original purpose of the program was achieved.

 

“The program has not fulfilled its initial mission, to serve children of the working poor,” Mr. Cantor said in an interview.

 

Among children, legal immigrants are less likely than citizens to receive immunizations and routine dental care. Likewise, among women, legal immigrants are less likely to receive prenatal care.

 

Leighton C. Ku, a professor of health policy at George Washington University, said the five-year wait had harmed children who would become citizens. “About half of all low-income immigrant children are now uninsured,” Mr. Ku said. “Most immigrant children become U.S. citizens. When they grow up, they make contributions to the economy, pay taxes and serve in the military.”

 

Aides to Speaker Nancy Pelosi briefed advocacy groups on their plans on Friday.

 

“There were cheers in the room,” Ms. Ng’andu said. “It was a joyous moment when we learned that legal immigrant children would be covered.”

 

House Democrats are taking their bill directly to the floor, but in the Senate, Democratic leaders plan to work through the Finance Committee, led by Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana. Mr. Baucus has drafted a bill similar to the House measure. As of late Monday, his proposal did not include benefits for immigrants.

 

But other Democratic senators, like Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico and John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, have said that they, like Mr. Obama, want to allow states to cover children who are legal immigrants.

 

The new bills, like those vetoed, would be financed by tobacco taxes, including a 61-cent cigarette tax increase, to $1 a pack.

 

Copyright 2009 New York Times.

 

Anti-Smoking Advocate Is Named to Health Post

 

By Robert Pear

New York Times

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama said Tuesday that he had chosen the head of a leading anti-tobacco organization to be the No. 2 official at the Department of Health and Human Services.

 

The prospective nominee, William V. Corr, is executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a nonprofit group that seeks to reduce tobacco use among children and adults.

 

As a member of the Obama transition team, Mr. Corr has led efforts to review and evaluate the work of the Department of Health and Human Services.

 

Mr. Obama has selected Tom Daschle, a former Senate Democratic leader, to be secretary of health and human services. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Corr would be the deputy secretary. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Corr worked as chief counsel and policy director for Mr. Daschle, when Mr. Daschle was minority leader.

 

The new Congress is expected to move aggressively against the tobacco industry, by increasing federal regulation of cigarettes, raising taxes on tobacco products and approving an international tobacco control treaty.

 

As a senator, Mr. Obama, an intermittent smoker, was a co-sponsor of a bill that would have given the Food and Drug Administration broad authority to regulate “the manufacture, marketing, and distribution” of tobacco products, including cigarettes.

 

On its Web site, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids says its goals are “to prevent kids from smoking, help smokers quit and protect everyone from secondhand smoke.”

 

In reports filed with Congress, the campaign has listed Mr. Corr as a lobbyist and said it lobbied not only Congress, but also federal agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Trade Commission.

 

The anti-tobacco group reported lobbying expenses that totaled $2.4 million from 2003 to 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group that tracks the influence of money on politics and government policy.

 

As a presidential candidate, Mr. Obama often criticized the influence of lobbyists in Washington. But some of his strongest allies here have worked as lobbyists for consumer groups, labor unions, environmental groups and civil rights organizations.

 

In the Clinton administration, Mr. Corr was chief of staff at the Department of Health and Human Services, where he worked for Secretary Donna E. Shalala.

 

Before joining Mr. Daschle’s staff, Mr. Corr worked for two liberal Democrats known as tenacious investigators and consumer advocates: Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum of Ohio, who was chairman of the antitrust subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, and Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, who was chairman of the health subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

 

Mr. Waxman was the chief sponsor of a bill passed overwhelmingly by the House last year that would have empowered the F.D.A. to regulate tobacco products. The Senate did not act on the measure.

 

As chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee in the new Congress, Mr. Waxman will play a major role in efforts to provide coverage to the 46 million people who have no health insurance.

 

Before coming to Washington, Mr. Corr worked at several community-run primary health care centers in Appalachia. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Virginia and a law degree from Vanderbilt University.

 

“Reforming our health care system will be a top priority of my administration and key to putting our economy back on track,” Mr. Obama said Tuesday. “Under the leadership of Tom Daschle and Bill Corr, I am confident that my Department of Health and Human Services will bring people together to reach consensus on how to move forward with health care reform.”

 

Copyright 2009 New York Times.

 

Rite Aid pays $5 million in fines in drug case

 

Associated Press

Daily Record

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

WASHINGTON — Pharmacy chain Rite Aid Corp. and subsidiaries in eight states will pay $5 million in penalties for violating rules designed to control drugs prone to abuse.

 

The Justice Department said Monday that the nationwide drugstore operator also has agreed to a new compliance plan with the Drug Enforcement Administration and tighter monitoring of the over-the-counter ingredients used to make methamphetamines.

 

Officials said a DEA investigation found many instances where Rite Aid workers knowingly filled prescriptions for controlled substances when it knew those prescriptions were not issued for a legitimate medical reason.

 

Violations were found at Rite Aid pharmacies in California, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

 

At all 53 pharmacies investigated in those states, Rite Aid failed to properly document whether the amount of the drugs ordered were actually received, authorities said.

 

Rite Aid spokeswoman Ashley Flower said the company cooperated with investigators.

 

"We have strengthened our existing compliance program and we have retrained our pharmacy staff on these issues," she said.

 

The company, based in Camp Hill, Pa., operated 4,915 drugstores as of last month.

 

Investigators found significant shortages or surpluses of the most often abused drugs, including oxycodone and hydrocodone products, in what they said was a "pattern of noncompliance" with the Controlled Substances Act.

 

DEA Acting Administrator Michael Leonhart said the nation's pharmacies "must play a major role in the fight against drug abuse, so that together we can protect public health and keep our communities safe."

 

Under the terms of the agreement with the government, the company will conduct stricter electronic record-keeping to prevent individuals from stocking up on illegal amounts of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine by visiting different pharmacies.

 

Additionally, Rite Aid will audit the stockpiles of each pharmacy, and physically count its supplies of drugs on the controlled substances list more regularly.

 

Copyright 2009 Daily Record.

 

Information is available for local meat producers

 

Cumberland Times-News

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

CUMBERLAND — Producers raising, processing and direct marketing their farm-raised meats now have a trio of new resources that provide information on processing regulations, direct marketing from the farm and resources for value-added or processed food products. Written by Ginger S. Myers, regional marketing specialist, University of Maryland Extension, these publications include:

 

•A Producer’s Guide to Meat and Poultry Processing Regulations in Maryland — This 13-page guide is intended to assist farmers, growers and their advisors in understanding the regulations affecting the processing and marketing of meat and poultry products in Maryland. This guide also contains information on labeling, marketing, risk management and regulatory exemptions.

 

•Direct Marketing Farm-Raised Meats in Maryland — A brief outline of how Maryland farmers who raise meat — beef, pork, lamb, chevon, and veal — on their farms can obtain a state license to sell their USDA processed frozen products and frozen cuts directly to the public from their farms.

 

•Food Processor’s Re-source Directory — A 43-page publication covering a wide range of food processing resources from analysis labs to Web site designs. A sample of the categories covered include HACCP Audits, Processing Authorities, packaging supplies, ingredients and a wide range of service providers catering to the small and specialty foods processing industry. This publication is a valuable resource for any small food processing business.

 

These publications are available free of charge at agmarketing.umd.edu. Printed copies of A Producer’s Guide to Meat and Poultry Processing Regulations in Maryland and Food Processor’s Resource Directory are available for $3 each. Checks should be made payable to the University of Maryland and mailed to WMREC, Attn: Ginger S. Myers, 18330 Keedysville Road, Keedys-ville, MD 21756.

 

For more information contact Myers at gsmyers@umd.edu or Susan Barnes at (301) 432-2767.

 

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.

 

City health department recognizing healthy, clean restaurants

 

By Sara Michael

Baltimore Examiner

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

Forget "clean crabs."

 

Health officials scrapped a plan to honor Baltimore's cleanest restaurants with a decal of the Maryland crustacean for a Clean Crab Award.

 

Instead, a prize ribbon decal will recognize those with a solid record of sanitation for the Charm City Health Award for Excellence in Sanitation.

 

"[The crab] is a bottom-feeder, so it's probably not a good image," said Olivia Farrow, assistant commissioner of the environmental health division of the Baltimore City Health Department.

 

Health officials announced the revamped award last week after a public comment period during which residents and the Restaurant Association of Maryland rejected the Clean Crab Award idea.

 

Restaurants must have passed all food inspections in the previous year with no pest infestation violations or critical violations, such as failing to have proper refrigeration or ensuring all food workers wash their hands.

 

The Health Department will also give out the Charm City Health Award for Nutritional Information to recognize those that provide nutritional information. Restaurants must conspicuously display the calorie, fat, carbohydrate and sodium content for all entrees.

 

"We are just trying to alert the Baltimore public that it's important to know what you are eating and the nutritional makeup of the foods you are eating," Farrow said.

 

"It's just to put this kind of information in the forefront and let [people] know."

 

Many of the Restaurant Association of Maryland's suggestions were incorporated into the award program, particularly that it remain voluntary, said Melvin Thompson, vice president of government relations for the association.

 

"We are very happy with the program," he said.

 

"We hope these voluntary recognition programs will catch on throughout the state and eliminate the need for mandates" to disclose nutrition information, he said.

 

The Howard County Health Department has also been recognizing the healthiest restaurants through the Healthy Howard program. So far 25 restaurants have signed on for the honor, demonstrating they offer at least two healthy menu items -- such as entrees with fewer than 750 calories and free of trans fat -- and meet the environmental health standards.

 

"We really didn't know what to expect, but we certainly want more and we are making an effort to do so," said Dr. Peter Beilenson, Howard's health officer.

 

"We hope it will be replicated."

 

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Examiner.

 

Children's Health Bill Aids Legal Immigrants

 

By Laura Meckler

Wall Street Journal

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

 

WASHINGTON -- Democrats are using an early vote on a children's health-care bill to advance a longstanding effort in the more controversial area of immigration.

 

A bill renewing the Children's Health Insurance Program is expected to pass Congress easily and is being teed up to give President-elect Barack Obama an early victory.

 

The bill, similar to a version that President George W. Bush vetoed, would renew and provide more funding for a program that subsidizes insurance to children in lower-income families. Unlike the earlier version, the bill is expected to lift a provision in place for more than a decade that bars legal immigrant children and pregnant women from federal health programs during their first five years in the U.S.

 

Mr. Obama, who sponsored legislation lifting the ban when he was in the Senate, supports doing so now.

 

About 400,000 children would be newly eligible for federal health programs under the change, according to estimates by Leighton Ku, a health-policy professor at George Washington University.

 

The move signals the willingness of the new Congress and incoming White House to take on immigration issues, building on strong support for Democrats in recent elections from the Latino community. While further immigration proposals have stirred strong grass-roots opposition, congressional leaders are betting that it's an easy political sell to provide health care for children who are in the country legally.

 

Immigrant advocates are hoping the Obama administration and new Congress will go on to tackle bigger measures. Mr. Obama has pledged to try again for a comprehensive immigration bill that had been supported by Mr. Bush but failed in the last Congress. It's unclear, however, how high a priority that is for Mr. Obama, who has placed greater urgency on issues such as economic stimulus, health care and climate change.

 

The ban on immigrant benefits dates to 1996. It originally was written into legislation overhauling the nation's welfare programs. Legal immigrants were restricted or banned from aid programs including cash welfare, disability, food stamps and Medicaid.

 

Supporters argued that immigrants' sponsors agree when they are admitted to the U.S. to support them if need be so they shouldn't have to rely on government programs. When the Children's Health Insurance Program was created in 1997, the rules for Medicaid were applied to the new program.

 

Immigration advocates and their allies in Congress have since tried to overturn these rules, with some success. For instance, Congress allowed all immigrant children to qualify for food stamps starting in 2003.

 

The children's health bill to be considered soon by the House will lift the ban on both the Children's Health Insurance Program and Medicaid for legal immigrant children and pregnant women, said two House aides involved in the legislation. That will give states the option to include them in their programs, but it won't require it.

 

Aides said they are confident they have enough votes to pass the bill and think that, substance aside, the issue works for them politically.

 

"Of all the immigration issues, this is a good one," said one Democratic aide.

 

In the Senate, the legislation is being crafted by the Finance Committee. Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) has said he wants the ban lifted, though it isn't clear whether he is committed to including the provision in the bill he presents to his committee. At a meeting last week, some Republicans voiced concerns about the immigration provision, but none threatened to withhold their support based on the issue, according to two people familiar with the meeting.

 

Some Republican opponents of the provision oppose the underlying legislation anyway. But the move could lose Democrats other Republican votes. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the committee, continues to support the ban, aides said. One Grassley aide added that if this provision makes it to the final legislation, "it'll be difficult for many Republicans to support final passage."

 

The Finance Committee plans to have legislation introduced this week, with a vote soon after.

 

Immigrant advocates are hopeful that the ban will be eliminated and that the victory will help make the case that pro-immigration action can be a political winner, said Jennifer Ng'andu of the advocacy group National Council of La Raza.

 

"We consider this the first real test of the new administration and the Congress," she said.

 

Immigrant Eligibility

Legal immigrants were generally eligible for public benefits until 1996, when a welfare overhaul bill banned or restricted them from several programs. With a few exceptions, they were banned from food stamps and Supplemental Security Income, or SSI. Those who had been in the country for less than five years were banned from cash welfare, Medicaid and, in 1997, the Children's

Health Insurance Program.

 

Since then, several of the restrictions have been turned back.

 

Program         Major changes since 1996

 

*Food stamps Children, immigrants with disabilities and refugees now eligible; adults in the country legally for five years now eligible

 

*SSI    Disabled immigrants who were in U.S. in 1996 now eligible; refugees eligible during first nine years in U.S.

 

*Cash welfare            States given flexibility to include immigrants

 

*Medicaid/CHIP       No changes enacted to date

 

Source: National Immigration Law Center

 

Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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