State highlights: Diabetes telemedicine in Miss.

Apr 21 2014

A collection of health policy stories from Massachusetts, Oregon and Mississippi.

Reuters: A Year After Marathon Bombs, Boston Hospitals Apply Lessons Learned 
The homemade bombs that ripped through the crowd at the finish line of last year's Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring 264, showcased the city's medical talent but also taught valuable lessons in responding to a mass disaster. By all accounts, Boston's hospitals performed well after the attacks on April 15, 2013. While many of the wounded lost limbs and a large amount of blood, all who made it to a hospital survived (Herbst-Bayliss, 4/17).

The Oregonian: Oregon Providers Make Less From Medicare, And Health, Medical Culture Explain Why
The federal government recently released data on Medicare provider reimbursements, and one of the numbers jumps out: The median Oregon reimbursement per provider in 2012 was $18,890, compared to a national median of $30,265, according to The Oregonian's analysis. Similarly, in Oregon only 9 percent of providers received $100,000 or more, compared to 21 percent nationally. And 80 percent of Oregon providers received less than $50,000. Nationally, 62 percent received less than $50,000 (Budnick, 4/17).

Stateline: Managing Diabetes With Telemedicine
Diabetes afflicts more than 22 million Americans, or 7 percent of the total population, and the number of people diagnosed every year is skyrocketing. At a cost of $245 billion in 2012, the disease's toll on the economy has increased by more than 40 percent since 2007, according to a recent report from the American Diabetes Association. Mississippi, which ranks second after West Virginia in the percentage of residents affected by the chronic disease, is taking steps to reduce devastating effects on the state economy and the overall health of Mississippians (Vestal, 4/18).