Meier out as Montana health department head
Department of Public Health and Human Services director Adam Meier, who had been appointed by Gov. Greg Gianforte last year, will leave his post leading the state’s largest agency in August
Latest health Reporting
Overturn of Roe shifts Montana abortion debates to state courts
Montana’s elected officials reacted to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Friday overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which had made abortion legal nationwide for nearly 50 years.
With an eye on the U.S. Supreme Court, Montana abortion clinics prep for out-of-state patient surge
Montana is one of a handful of non-coastal states that would maintain a constitutional right to abortion if a U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion leaked in May becomes binding this month. That would put pressure on Montana abortion providers to care for patients from across the country.
New Medicaid director fields questions on privatization, health program plans
The newly hired official tasked with running Montana’s Medicaid program got a grilling on Wednesday in his first public appearance before lawmakers, some of whom expressed concerns about the state potentially privatizing the system that handles health coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income Montanans.
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MORE HEALTH COVERAGE
Montana hires a medicaid director with a managed-care past
Montana’s new state Medicaid director, Mike Randol, started this week at the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. Randol oversaw privatized Medicaid systems in Iowa and in Kansas, and he has been a staunch advocate of managed care. Montana is one of just 11 states that has not privatized at least part of…
Tackling Montana’s EMS shortage, from the supply side
In December 2021, Missoula College graduated the first cohort from its new paramedic program. Now the program is exploring more ways to educate the next generation of first responders and help Montana tackle its ongoing EMS shortage — and it’s not alone.
Following tour, lawmakers press Meier on solutions for troubled state hospital
State lawmakers on Friday reiterated their calls for urgent reforms at Montana’s adult psychiatric hospital in Warm Springs, which has long struggled with insufficient staffing and resources — problems that have resulted in patient falls, deaths and loss of federal funding within the last year.
Abortion politics lead to power struggles over family planning grants
Montana is the latest example of an ongoing power struggle between nonprofits and conservative-leaning states over who receives federal family planning money. That has intensified in recent years as the Title X program has increasingly become entangled with the politics of abortion.
Montana’s rolled-back public health powers leave some areas in limbo
Montana lawmakers stripped authority from local health boards last year when blowback against COVID prevention measures was at its peak. But a year later, there are ongoing power struggles between cities and counties over the law, and public health officers have been left to wonder to whom they answer.
Biden administration announces boost for rural health care in midterm election push
The announcement is part of Biden’s recently launched rural push as the midterm election season ramps up. Leading Democrats have said their party can’t afford to lose more rural voters if they want to keep control of the Senate. But political analysts are doubtful whether this rural tour will be enough to bring back the…
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MORE HEALTH REPORTING
As state psychiatric hospital struggles, health department turns to private consultants
Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services has awarded a contract to a private consulting firm to oversee operations of state-run health facilities, including the psychiatric hospital and other services in Warm Springs.
The pandemic exacerbates the ‘paramedic paradox’ in rural America
Emergency medical services are a lifeline in regions with scarce medical care, such as eastern Montana. But paramedics, the most highly skilled members of those crews trained to respond to patients with life-threatening injuries, are in short supply where they’re needed most.
Bozeman nonprofit Bridgercare takes over Montana’s family-planning program
The Bozeman-based nonprofit Bridgercare has received a roughly $2 million federal grant to administer Title X funding across Montana. It will take over operation of the federal family-planning program from Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services, which ran the program for the last 50 years.
Hospitals recruit international nurses to fill pandemic shortages
Billings Clinic is just one of scores of hospitals taking this strategy. The demand is so high, and the nursing shortage so great, that there’s a backlog of thousands of international health care professionals awaiting visas to work in the U.S.
Giving when it hurts
Montana nonprofit hospitals receive millions of dollars in tax exemptions as charities each year in exchange for giving back to their communities. A Kaiser Health News review finds that some of the state’s richest medical centers are falling behind most state and national hospitals.
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