'Surprise' ER bills fewer in Arkansas
About 12% of visits to Arkansas emergency rooms result in a "surprise," out-of-network medical bill, according to an analysis by health care nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.
That's less than the national average, in which 18% of emergency department visits led to a surprise bill. Almost 40% of such visits in Texas led to an out-of-network charge, the report said -- the highest rate in the country.
Roughly 10% of inpatient hospital admissions in Arkansas led to at least one out-of-network charge.
Surprise medical bills happen when a patient visits a facility they think is in their health insurer's network, but is inadvertently treated by an out-of-network provider.
This can happen when doctors -- such as anesthesiologists -- contract with, but are not actually employed by, a hospital or practice.
For patients, it can mean being billed for some services at higher-than-anticipated rates.
Draft legislation meant to address the issue is circulating in Congress, and some states have taken action to reduce patient exposure to surprise bills, including laws currently on the books in nine states and new rules passed in four others.
Arkansas is not among those states, according to the Kaiser analysis.
State congressmen back ALS measure
Two members of the Arkansas delegation have co-sponsored a bill intended to improve access to disability insurance for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
Rep. Rick Crawford last week joined Rep. Steve Womack and 158 others as a co-sponsor of the ALS Disability Insurance Act of 2019. If passed, it would eliminate a five-month waiting period for disability insurance benefits for people with the disease.
The bill has been referred to a committee.
ALS, which is sometimes called Lou Gehrig's disease, is a rare, incurable degenerative condition that affects the nervous system.
It's the disease that affected physicist Stephen Hawking.
Arkansas reports no measles cases
As of June 13, Arkansas was among 22 states that had not reported any measles cases during the nation's worst outbreak in decades.
This year, 1,044 measles cases have been logged by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- the largest number since 1992.
Many of those cases were found in New York and New Jersey, the agency said.
Officials say the majority of people who were diagnosed with measles were unvaccinated, and some may have contracted it from travelers coming from parts of the world where measles is more common.
Large outbreaks also are occurring in Israel, the Philippines and Ukraine, according to the Centers.
FDA collects data for cannabis study
The federal Food and Drug Administration has extended a public comment period intended to gather information on products containing cannabis and related compounds, such as cannabidiol (CBD).
The agency will hold a hearing to gather data about the safety, quality control and marketing of such products.
Ahead of that hearing, members of the public can submit written comments about the products through July 16 to the federal rulemaking portal at the regulations.gov website, under docket number 84 FR 12969.
Medical marijuana was distributed for the first time Arkansas earlier this year, and products containing cannabis -- such as edible gummies -- were sold starting this month, according to reports.
CBD-containing products also are available in the state.
NW Health offers free sports exams
Northwest Health is offering free sports physicals for middle and high school students at 10 locations in Arkansas.
The exams are available through June 29 for students at public and private schools who are required to have a sports physical.
A list of locations and times physicals will be offered is available online: https://bit.ly/2L9vnY7.
Students under the age of 18 must have a signed waiver form, which can be downloaded from the website.
Metro on 06/23/2019