Branstad: Proposal could attract federal money for mental-health care
Mental-health care isn’t mentioned in summaries of Gov. Terry Branstad’s new health-care proposal, but he said Monday afternoon that the plan could bring in more federal money to help pay for such...
View ArticleWaterloo hospital system is 4th to sign ACO contract with Wellmark
A fourth Iowa hospital-and-clinic system has signed on as an Accountable Care Organization with the state’s largest health-insurance carrier. Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-Iowa signed the contract with...
View ArticleHarkin: HHS head sees Branstad Medicaid alternative as ‘not acceptable’
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin predicted this morning that federal officials would reject Gov. Terry Branstad’s alternative proposal to expanding Iowa’s Medicaid health-insurance program for the poor. In a phone...
View ArticleState leaders will have to settle Medicaid impasse, legislators from both...
Lawmakers from both parties and Gov. Terry Branstad will have to settle their standoff on the Medicaid expansion issue so that 67,000 poor Iowans don’t lose the public health coverage they now have,...
View ArticleMercy doc gets state award for fighting painkiller abuse
A Des Moines physician was recognized this afternoon for helping combat prescription-drug abuse. Dr. Gary Hemann, co-medical director of Mercy Medical Center, has led his health-care system’s efforts...
View ArticleDrug makers should make pain pills harder to abuse, prosecutors demand
Attorney General Tom Miller and most of his counterparts in other states are asking federal regulators to require that addictive painkilling pills be made in ways that are harder to abuse. Mill and 46...
View ArticleMedicaid expansion would bring jobs, help state budget, hospital-sponsored...
Iowa stands to gain thousands of jobs and a healthier state budget if it agrees to expand its Medicaid health-insurance program for poor people, a new report predicts. “Medicaid expansion will reduce...
View ArticleDoctor cleared of criminal charges of running illegal methadone clinic
A Grundy Center doctor has been cleared of criminal charges alleging that he ran an unauthorized methadone clinic. Dr. Frank Lamp was charged last April with nine misdemeanor crimes. Authorities said...
View ArticleBranstad quietly delivers controversial health-reform bill; House expected to...
Gov. Terry Branstad took a low-key approach Thursday in sending legislators his proposal to provide health insurance to tens of thousands of poor Iowans. The governor’s “Healthy Iowa Plan” was...
View ArticleBauder Pharmacy owner’s license revoked over missing pain pills
The principal owner of a landmark Des Moines pharmacy has had his state license permanently revoked because of the disappearance of nearly 700,000 doses of addictive painkilling pills. Mark Graziano...
View ArticleBranstad health plan’s critic says it would limit hospital choices, becoming...
A leader of the Iowa Hospital Association warned legislators this morning that many poor Iowans could continue to be denied close-to-home care if the state forces them to choose hospitals participating...
View ArticleGrundy Center doc to close practice after state sanctions in methadone case
A Grundy Center doctor plans to close his practice after state regulators ordered him to pay a fine and serve probation over allegations that he loosely prescribed painkilling medicine and...
View ArticleBauder pharmacist asks judge to restore license in missing pain-pill case
A Des Moines pharmacist wants a judge to restore his state license, which regulators revoked after nearly 700,000 painkilling pills disappeared from his store. The Iowa Board of Pharmacy revoked Mark...
View ArticlePrisoner dies 25 years after torturing his girlfriend’s son in D.M. basement
A former Des Moines man who tortured his girlfriend’s son has died while serving a life prison sentence. Larry Thomas Siemer, 57, died Wednesday from complications of coronary artery disease, prison...
View ArticleBranstad office: Poor Iowans could pay less under our plan than under Medicaid
Gov. Terry Branstad’s office contends that poor Iowans could wind up paying more for health care if Medicaid is expanded than they would if the state adopts the governor’s health plan. A leading...
View ArticleDoctor convicted of narcotics fraud gets new chance to practice medicine
Iowa regulators have agreed to give a second chance to a physician who served federal prison time for writing false prescriptions for 30,000 doses of narcotics. In a decision released today, the Iowa...
View ArticleIllinois executive picked to lead Mercy-Des Moines
Mercy announced Thursday that Robert Ritz has been chosen to fill the job, now held by Dave Vellinga. Vellinga will focus on being president of Mercy Health Network, a statewide system that includes...
View ArticlePostville plant supervisor, who fled to Israel after ’08 raid, is due in C.R....
A key player in the Postville meatpacking-plant scandal is due in court this afternoon, nearly five years after the case broke open. Hosam Amara, who was a supervisor at the plant, was accused by...
View ArticleHarkin drops hold on Obama nominee, but still bitter about raid on...
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin agreed Tuesday to stop blocking a key health-care nomination by President Obama, but he continued to rip the president for diverting hundreds of millions of dollars that had been...
View ArticleRegulators urged to stand firm in ‘outrageous’ case of 700,000 missing pain...
A state lawyer is urging the Iowa Board of Pharmacy to stand firm on its sanctions against a Des Moines pharmacy, saying the store owner’s mishandling of dangerous drugs was “egregious, outrageous and...
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