The proposal would expand Kansas' Medicaid program to cover as many as 150,000 more people in the state, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Kansas, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.
- Kansas: Gov. Laura Kelly (D) and state Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning (R) on Thursday announced they'd reached a deal on a new proposal that would expand Kansas' Medicaid program to cover as many as 150,000 additional state residents. The proposal also calls for the state to develop a program aimed at reducing premiums for private health coverage, which is intended to prevent people from leaving their private plans and enrolling in Medicaid. The proposal marks a breakthrough on Medicaid expansion in the state, as Democratic and Republican lawmakers had long struggled to reach a compromise on the issue (AP/Modern Healthcare, 1/9; Scott, Vox, 1/9).
- Pennsylvania: Researchers at Penn Medicine on Thursday announced that they have delivered the second U.S. baby born from a transplanted uterus from a deceased donor. Jennifer Gobrecht, who was born without a uterus, had the baby via cesarean section in November 2019. Gobrecht is one of five women who are participating in a uterine transplantation trial at Penn Medicine. The first baby born by a woman who received a uterus transplant from a deceased donor was delivered at Cleveland Clinic last year (Rueb, New York Times, 1/9).
- South Carolina: WIS and Mungo Homes is honoring retired nurse Holley Mae Simons Scott, 85, as a Community Builder for volunteering at the South Carolina-based Free Medical Clinic for 35 years. Scott worked at Richland Memorial Hospital from 1955 to 1960 and at Dorn VA Medical Center from 1960 to 1992. Scott retired in 1992 but said she started volunteering at the clinic, which mostly helps uninsured patients, because she "just felt like [she] needed to come and help" (Barnes, WIS TV, 1/8).