Health Beat: $31 Million Osteopathic College Breaks Ground At Chaffee Crossing
by March 4, 2015 9:07 am 153 views
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$31 MILLION OSTEOPATHIC COLLEGE BREAKS GROUND AT CHAFFEE CROSSING
A crowd of about 250 gathered on a cold, damp and muddy Tuesday morning (March 3) to attend a groundbreaking ceremony for a $31 million Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine. The event morphed into a quasi-pep rally with a hint of a tent revival.
The new college, first announced in December 2013, is part of the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education to be based at Chaffee Crossing (Fort Smith).
In addition to hospitals in the Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas corridor, the school said it would also be working with Baptist Hospital in Little Rock, St. Vincent in Little Rock, and the White River Health System based in Batesville. Click here to read more.
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO OBAMACARE IF SUPREME COURT ENDS SUBSIDIES?
A Feb. 25 article posted to The Kaiser Family Foundation website discusses how insurance markets might respond if the U.S. Supreme Court sides with the plaintiffs in the King vs. Burwell case that begins with oral arguments on Wednesday.
The case challenges the legality of premium and cost-sharing subsidies for low- and middle-income people buying insurance in states where the federal government rather than the state is operating the marketplace under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It was brought by four Virginia residents argue that that Americans who bought insurance through the federal ObamaCare exchange are not entitled to subsidies because the law says only those who bought policies in state exchanges are eligible.
Click here to view article.
UAMS TELEMEDICINE DOCS RECOGNIZED
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) Curtis Lowery Jr., M.D., and Tina Benton, B.S.N., R.N., were recognized for their work in telemedicine with the first Champion Awards from the South Central Telehealth Resource Center (SCTRC).
The awards were given at last week’s South Central Telehealth Forum in Jackson, Mississippi,
Lowery is the founder and medical director of the UAMS Center for Distance Health (CDH) and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the UAMS College of Medicine. Benton is the CDH oversight director. Each of them received a Curtis L. Lowery Jr., M.D., Telehealth Champion Award, which recognizes individuals who are essential to the success of a telehealth project or program.
SOFT DRINK MEDICAID TAX REDUCTION BILL FILED
Legislation has been filed to reduce the tax on soft drink syrup by 37%. If passed, SB 725 would result in a reduction of $4 million in state funds to the Medicaid Trust Fund, said the bill’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Jake Files, R-Fort Smith.
It also would result in the loss of unmatched federal funds, said Brandon Sharp, the state budget administrator. Sharp said the Department of Finance and Administration is opposed to the bill, “simply because it would require additional general revenues which are not contemplated in the governor’s balanced budget.”
But Gov. Asa Hutchinson has neither embraced nor shut the door on the possible tax cut. Read his comments and the debate over ramifications of the legislation at this link.