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Upcoming Events
South Florida Cancer Control Collaborative meeting
August 21, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Boca Raton
Hospice by the Sea
Contact: Dorothy Parker, 305-243-1120
Seeking Solutions for Uninsured Children in Florida
August 21, 4-6 p.m., Miami
United Way of Miami-Dade
For details, call 305-576-5001 x32, or email
Biomedical Research Advisory Council Meeting
August 26, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., Orlando
Courtyard Marriott Downtown
For details, visit web site or, contact Hope Davis by email or at 816-347-9449
Agency for Health Care Administration Public Meeting (HIECC Committee)
Aug. 26, 10 a.m.- 2 p.m., Tallahassee
For an agenda, visit the website
Sixth Annual Caribbean Health Summit
Sept. 6, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m., Orlando
Central Florida Fairgrounds & Exposition Park
For details,call (407)648-9440, extension 10, 14 or 16, or visit website
Tobacco Education and Use Prevention Advisory Council Meeting
Sept. 8, 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. Tallahassee
Department of Health
For details, visit the Council website
Board of Medicine Probable Cause Panel- South
September 12, 2 p.m.
Conference Call: (888) 808-6959
Code: 2454131
Contact: Trisha L. Grubbs at (850) 245-4640, ext. 8145 or by e-mail.
Division of Medical Quality Assurance Public Meeting
Sept. 17, 8:30 a.m. – 12 Noon, Tallahassee
Betty Easley Conf. Center, Rm. 152
Contact: Cassandra Pasley, (850) 245-4224
National Psychoneuroimmunology Conference
Sept. 18-21, Tampa
Saddlebrook Resort
Contact Susanna Martinez by email or at (813) 974-2776
Low Income Pool (LIP) Council Meeting
Sept. 19, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Tampa
Tampa International Airport
Conference Call: 888-808-6959, Code: 4138067
Contact Edwin Stevens by email or at (850)414-2759 or visit the LIP web site
100 Ideas Foundation Statewide Policy Discussion on Autism & Developmental Disabilities
September 15-16, Orlando
Portofino Bay Hotel
For details, visit the web site
Dialogue on Health Across Cultures: A Workshop on Cultural Competency in Cancer Care for South Florida
September 20, Ft. Lauderdale
Nova Southeastern University
More info: MGonzalez16@med.miami.edu or 305-243-4821
Board of Medicine Probable Cause Panel- North
September 26, 2 p.m.
Conference Call: (888) 808-6959, Code: 2454131
Contact: Joyce Blackwell at (850) 245-4640, ext. 8142 or e-mail her
National Academy State Health Policy Conference
October 5-7,Tampa
Marriott Waterside Hotel and Marina
Viist web site for details
Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Medicaid Reform in Florida: Year 2
October 15, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.,Tampa
Marriott Tampa Airport
Contact Jennifer Thompson by email or at 202-687-2471 |
Top Story
8/21/2008 © New York Times
Medicare officials quietly ordered outside auditors to skip some required steps that would have uncovered massive amounts of fraud in the medical-supply program, thus underestimating the enormity of the problem in 2006 by 75 percent, according to a confidential draft report by the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services called the report "preposterous," and officials there were reportedly lobbying the IG to tone it down. Florida, as the Miami Herald reported earlier this month, is ground zero for Medicare fraud. 
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By Carol Gentry
8/21/2008 © Florida Health News
Florida's Healthy Kids Corp. is cutting back its business with WellCare Health Plans Inc. in the contract year that begins Oct. 1, offering the company's HMOs in 11 fewer counties and reducing enrollment by 22,000 from the current 78,000, said Rich Robleto, executive director of Healthy Kids. It's just a coincidence that the recontracting is happening at the same time that WellCare has admitted holding back millions of dollars that should have been repaid to both Florida Medicaid and Healthy Kids, he said. All seven companies that contract with Healthy Kids will face stiffer penalties if they under-spend on patient care in the new contracts, Robleto said.
By Carol Gentry
8/21/2008 © Florida Health News
August in Florida: hot, muggy, one storm after another. But there’s one thing to recommend August; it’s the only month that self-employed Floridians can buy “group” health coverage. It’s the only time of the year that sole practitioners and independent contractors can’t be turned away because they’re too old or too risky.
 8/21/2008 © Florida Today
Tropical Storm Fay dumped more than 2 feet of rain on Brevard County on Wednesday, flooding streets and homes, triggering boat rescues for some who were stranded. Gov. Charlie Crist called the storm "catastrophic" and requested a disaster declaration from the federal government. More rain is forecast; Fay is predicted to turn northwest today and travel toward Tallahassee. Health workers warned that water could be contaminated.
8/21/2008 © Orlando Sentinel
The Central Florida Behavioral Hospital, a 120-bed psychiatric hospital in south Orlando that will focus on treating teenage girls with eating disorders, as well as autistic children and adolescents, is scheduled to open in mid-September, and will fill a gap in medical care that has caused many to travel to Tampa, or even outside of Florida, to receive the care they need.
8/21/2008 © Miami Herald
Noven Pharmaceuticals has signed a global agreement with Procter & Gamble to develop and market a prescription-drug patch intended to increase women's sexual desire, the company announced Wednesday. The South Miami-Dade company has formulated a testosterone patch that delivers more drug by using DOT Matrix technology.
8/21/2008 © Orlando Sentinel
The possibility of another round of state spending cuts has sparked an unusual alliance between advocates for children, the elderly and taxpayers. Florida's People -- Florida's Promise shows how legislators could save millions by identifying and eliminating redundancy in state agencies.
8/21/2008 © Florida Times-Union
Budget cutbacks saved Florida taxpayers $150,000 but thrust the future of 100 newborns, and counting, into question by shrinking the number of caseworkers at Healthy Families Jacksonville, a program that monitors children from birth to age 5 who are determined to be at risk of abuse or neglect.
8/21/2008 © Miami Herald
A freshman at the University of Miami said he made the entire 1,450-mile journey to the school from his suburban Chicago home on his bicycle. Jamshed Jehangir, 18, said it took him 17 days to make the trek to the Miami campus from Downers Grove, Ill., sometimes in heavy rain and winds of up to 30 miles per hour.
8/21/2008 © Tampa Tribune
An enduring superstition says a full moon sends pregnant women into labor. Same thing happens when a big storm is on the way, or so it goes. The nursing staff at St. Joseph's Women's Hospital, the busiest baby delivery hospital in Tampa with 7,500 births in 2007, say they witnessed a spooky number of women in labor waddle their way through the hospital doors as Fay sneaked its way up the Gulf Coast. Like all good superstitions, there's not enough hard evidence to prove anything, but it's just enough to make you wonder.
8/20/2008 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel
A new University of Miami study confirms what seniors already know: Shopping for Medicare prescription drug coverage on the Medicare Web site can be confusing, even for techno-aware consumers. The participants, age 50 and up, were stymied, giving up the hunt before clicking through. The Miami Herald reports that the site has added two new categories.
 8/20/2008 © Miami Herald
Tropical Storm Fay officially became a killer Tuesday when a Highlands County man was poisoned by carbon-monoxide fumes from his generator. The storm was moving up the Atlantic Coast on Wednesday, losing strength, and was expected to drop a lot of rain along the Georgia-Florida border. Meanwhile, a kite surfer who tested the winds was improving; the New York Times reported on the incident.
08/20/2008 © Daytona Beach News Journal
DAYTONA BEACH -- The head of the Volusia County jail told advocates Tuesday she is satisfied with the mental-health care inmates are receiving and is recommending Prison Health Services continue its contract for 18 months. The company’s treatment of inmates with mental illnesses has been under fire from advocates and been the subject of lawsuits. The News Journal recently chronicled the treatment of a woman with mental illness who was shackled in chains and sprayed with pepper spray while at the jail last year.
8/20/2008 © Palm Beach Post
Two Fort Lauderdale brothers are in the Palm Beach County jail, accused of using professional shoplifters to steal over-the-counter medicine and health and beauty products from chain stores, such as CVS, Target, Rite-Aid and Walgreens from Broward County to North Carolina, Ohio and Texas, according to federal agents. The government alleges that the two brothers, with the help of five others, bought and sold more than $8 million worth of stolen goods through their company, PharmaCare Health, since 2003.
8/19/2008 © Palm Beach Post
Nine companies have submitted plans to participate in Gov. Charlie Crist's Cover Florida low-cost plan for the uninsured. Details on most are being withheld until next month, but Blue Cross and Blue Shield disclosed that it submitted a primary-care plan that averages $50 a month and a "catastrophic plan" that includes hospital coverage for an average of just under $150 a month.
8/20/2008 © Tallahassee Democrat
If we knew that lowering the legal drinking age from 21 to 18 would significantly reduce binge-drinking, we would wholeheartedly endorse the idea. But we have our doubts. Reporters from the St. Petersburg Times also asked for opinions on the issue.
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If you’re old enough to remember Harry and Louise, brace yourself: The fictitious couple in political TV ads who torpedoed the nation’s last serious attempt at health-care reform in 1993-94, are back. Last time, they were on the payroll of the health-insurance industry. This time, they’re begging public officials to fix the mess that they defended last time. Do they have no shame? Read "I Still Hate Harry and Louise" in Slate.
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Tim Collie
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" Erosion of the capital press corps creates concern," by free-lancer Tim Collie, is worth a look if you missed it last week. So is his first article for Florida Health News: "Who will cover health issues if reporters are gone?" Collie worked for The South Florida Sun-Sentinel until a few weeks ago. His stories raise the question: What happens when there are no watchdogs left to bark?
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Carrin
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Good news: JoAnn Carrin, director of Open Government in the governor's office, is in talks with the Department of Health about the need to post pending complaints against health professionals online. As we reported last week, it often takes years -- no exaggeration -- for the public to learn of a pending complaint against a health professional, even though it's technically a public record. The name lookup at the DOH web site is misleading because it shows only closed cases; it offers no clue that there is a pending complaint. Since the Agency for Health Care Administration is now posting complaints and inspection reports for health facilities, how can DOH say no? We'll let you know when this problem is resolved. -- Editor Carol Gentry
Florida Health News, a non-profit, public-interest journalism organization, has agreed to permit bona fide metro and community newspapers to republish our original articles, with proper credit, at no charge (See our previous articles at the tab "Our Stories"). We have taken this action because of the crisis in newsrooms that has forced cutbacks in coverage of important health issues. For permission and details, contact me. -- Carol Gentry, Editor.
If you want to bone up on the Presidential candidates' health plans, here's an even-handed, well-informed analysis: the Health Care Policy and Marketplace Blog by insurance analyst Robert Laszewski.
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