McKnight’s reports that long term care providers will benefit from federal grants to improve care and lower costs. The University of North Texas Health Science Center received a grant of over $7 million for the Interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transfers assessment tool. Other Texas recipients include CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System in Texarkana, which will receive over $3 million.
In other news, Texas and the entire country (and probably the world) await the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on whether the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. From the Texas Tribune:
If the law is upheld, the state will expand Medicaid, which currently constitutes close to a quarter of its budget. Medicaid, the state health plan for the disabled and very poor, mostly covers children, but under the new law, it would also cover healthy adults — for instance, the parents of children it already covers.
“We would have to move very quickly to put those changes in place,” said Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. But, she stressed, the state would need more federal guidance to do so.
Anne Dunkelberg, associate director of the left-leaning Center for Public Policy Priorities, said that because statewide elected officials did not support the law, Texas did not move efficiently to prepare for implementation of the changes, such as the requirement to set up a state-run health insurance exchange to help Texans choose a health plan.