The bill would require the state health department to review vaccine exemptions if a school's vaccination rate drops below 95%, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from California, Iowa, and Louisiana.
- California: State lawmakers are considering a bill (SB 276) that would require the California Department of Public Health to review vaccine exemptions if a school's immunization rate drops below 95%. The bill would also require parents seeking vaccine exemptions to give the state permission to access their child's medical records related to an exemption, which would allow the state to build a case against doctors writing improper exemptions, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Federal law allows parents to decline to release their children's medical records absent a court subpoena. But some vaccine advocates say this allows doctors to provide undue exemptions to vaccine requirements (Gardiner, San Francisco Chronicle, 8/12).
- Iowa: Crawford County Memorial Hospital has named Erin Muck as CEO. Muck served as the hospital's VP of clinical services and CNO for four years. Prior to working at Crawford Memorial, Muck served as CNO of Grand River Health in Colorado and served in a variety of leadership positions at Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center in Minnesota (Vaidya, Becker's Hospital Review, 8/12).
- Louisiana: Louisiana residents are now able to get their immunization records for free online, the Louisiana Department of Health announced Monday. The website, LA.MyIR.net, allows residents to view, download, and print official copies of their immunization records, which are required by schools, employers, state agencies, and other organizations (The Acadiana Advocate, 8/11).