The Health News USA December 5 2017
- A drug court in Mississippi will start offering mental health services. The services will be available in the fourth Circuit Drug Court in Washington, Sunflower and Leflore counties. The court has received a 3-year, $400,000 federal grant to cover the cost of hiring a mental health therapist, a peer support specialist and a supervising officer for drug court participants.
- The first of three industrial-sized tents to house San Diego’s homeless opened Friday as part of the city’s efforts to contain a hepatitis A outbreak. About 20 people made their way to bunk beds Friday in a tent that will house 350 single men and women. 2 other giant tents will open later this month — 1 for families and 1 for veterans. San Diego turned to tents to get people off the streets and contain a hepatitis A outbreak that has killed 20 people in the past year.
- Aetna’s board of directors approved on Sunday the U.S. health insurer’s sale to drugstore chain operator CVS Health Corp for approximately $207 per share in cash and stock. The $69 billion deal will be this year’s largest corporate acquisition. It will combine one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) and pharmacy operators with one of its oldest health insurers, whose far-reaching business ranges from employer healthcare to government plans nationwide.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 5th of December 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/article187821735.html
A drug court in Mississippi will start offering mental health services. The Delta Democrat-Times reports that the services will be available in the fourth Circuit Drug Court in Washington, Sunflower and Leflore counties. The court has received a three-year, four hundred thousand dollars federal grant to cover the cost of hiring a mental health therapist, a peer support specialist and a supervising officer for drug court participants. Judge Margaret Carey-McCray said she hopes the mental health program can begin by March.
In drug court, people who have problems with drug or alcohol abuse are sent to long-term rehabilitation facilities instead of prison. After completing the rehab program, participants are monitored through frequent drug testing and court appearances and are required to attend counseling.
The first of three industrial-sized tents to house San Diego’s homeless opened Friday as part of the city’s efforts to contain a hepatitis A outbreak. About twenty people made their way to bunk beds Friday in a tent that will house three hundred fifty single men and women. Two other giant tents will open later this month — one for families and one for veterans. San Diego turned to tents to get people off the streets and contain a hepatitis A outbreak that has killed twenty people in the past year. “There’s going to be a marked different in what we see on the streets today and what we see at this time next year,” said Bob McElroy of the Alpha Project, the nonprofit group that will operate the tents.
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More than three thousand people have been living on San Diego’s streets. The city opened a temporary campground in October where two hundred people lived in tents. They will now be moved into the new giant tents. The goal is for residents to not stay longer than one hundred twenty days, and for sixty five percent of those who leave to move into permanent housing. The city had to divert six point five million dollars budgeted for permanent housing to fund the operation of the tents for seven months.
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The tents will provide an array of services from mental health care to housing navigators. But the city still faces an acute housing shortage for the poor. Mayor Kevin Faulconer has earmarked more than eighty million dollars in funds to address the problem.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cvs-purchase-health-insurance-provider-aetna-69-billion-n826111
Aetna’s board of directors approved on Sunday the U.S. health insurer’s sale to drugstore chain operator CVS Health Corporation for approximately two hundred seven million dollars per share in cash and stock. The sixty nine billion dollar deal will be this year’s largest corporate acquisition. It will combine one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) and pharmacy operators with one of its oldest health insurers, whose far-reaching business ranges from employer healthcare to government plans nationwide. According to the agreed terms, Aetna shareholders stand to receive one hundred forty five dollars per share in cash and zero point eight thousand three hundred seventy eight CVS Health shares for each Aetna share, the sources said. The companies will announce the deal later on Sunday, the four sources added.
Aetna shareholders will own about twenty two percent of the combined company, while CVS shareholders will own the remainder, the sources said. Three Aetna directors, including Aetna’s Chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini, will join CVS’s board of directors, the sources added. The sources requested not to be identified because the deal has not yet been announced. The deal comes as healthcare payers and pharmacies are responding to factors including the Affordable Care Act, rising drug prices and the threat of competition from online retailers such as Amazon.com. CVS plans to use its low-cost clinics to eventually save more than one billion dollars per year on health care costs for Aetna’s roughly twenty three million medical members.
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