State Roundup, June 9, 2016

HOSPITAL RATE HIKES OK’D: State health regulators approved a larger increase in hospital rates for the coming fiscal year than initially proposed but not quite as much as the hospitals wanted, Meredith Cohn and Sarah Gantz of the Sun report. The two-step increase approved Wednesday by the Health Services Cost Review Commission amounts to a 2.72% average increase to hospital rates for fiscal 2017, which starts July 1.

FIXING HEROIN PROBLEM: The editorial board for the Frederick News Post addresses the state’s growing heroin overdose problem, writing that for the past eight years, Maryland has seen alarming increases in overdose deaths. In 2013, there were 464 heroin-overdose deaths. That number climbed to 578 in 2014. Law enforcement’s crackdown on prescription painkillers seems to have had the unintended consequence of fueling a heroin epidemic. Heroin is much cheaper and easier to obtain than doctor-prescribed painkillers. The good news, however, is that local, state and federal officials are taking this epidemic seriously.

STUDENT TESTING: After months of hearings and meetings since November, members of the Maryland commission on school testing are getting frustrated as they struggle to achieve their task — reducing the amount of mandated testing in public schools, Len Lazarick writes for MarylandReporter.com. On Wednesday, as they worked on recommendations for the report they hope to finalize next week, teachers and legislators on the 19-member panel noted that their recommendations may improve the efficiency of the testing and eased some financial and staffing issues, but they hadn’t actually reduced the amount of testing.

 

 

READ THE REST HERE:

HOSPITAL RATE HIKES OK’D: State health regulators approved a larger increase in hospital rates for the coming fiscal year than initially proposed but not quite as much as the hospitals wanted, Meredith Cohn and Sarah Gantz of the Sun report. The two-step increase approved Wednesday by the Health Services Cost Review Commission amounts to a 2.72% average increase to hospital rates for fiscal 2017, which starts July 1.

FIXING HEROIN PROBLEM: The editorial board for the Frederick News Post addresses the state’s growing heroin overdose problem, writing that for the past eight years, Maryland has seen alarming increases in overdose deaths. In 2013, there were 464 heroin-overdose deaths. That number climbed to 578 in 2014. Law enforcement’s crackdown on prescription painkillers seems to have had the unintended consequence of fueling a heroin epidemic. Heroin is much cheaper and easier to obtain than doctor-prescribed painkillers. The good news, however, is that local, state and federal officials are taking this epidemic seriously.

STUDENT TESTING: After months of hearings and meetings since November, members of the Maryland commission on school testing are getting frustrated as they struggle to achieve their task — reducing the amount of mandated testing in public schools, Len Lazarick writes for MarylandReporter.com. On Wednesday, as they worked on recommendations for the report they hope to finalize next week, teachers and legislators on the 19-member panel noted that their recommendations may improve the efficiency of the testing and eased some financial and staffing issues, but they hadn’t actually reduced the amount of testing.

READ THE REST HERE:

http://marylandreporter.com/2016/06/09/state-roundup-june-9-2016/