By Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — In their first full action of the 2019 legislative session, Florida lawmakers — many of them grudgingly — ceded to a demand…
Category: Health
Statewide Poll: Huge support for smoking medical pot
The latest Inweekly/Political Matrix found that nearly two out of three Florida voters support legalizing the smoking of medical marijuana. Less than five percent of the respondents were undecided on the issue….
Smokable, legal pot on the way
By Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida –Patients could soon be allowed to smoke medical marijuana, but they’d have to purchase pre-rolled joints with filters, under a measure approved by a…
Breaking news: Rape investigation reopened
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has reopened the investigation of the mentally and physically disabled woman was reportedly sexually assaulted and impregnated while under the care of the Pensacola Cluster, a intermediate…
No fines for rape
After a Pensacola Cluster patient was reported to have been raped last February, AHCA, the state agency that regulates intermediate care facilities, made an unannounced inspection of the facility on Feb. 22,…
Rape backstory: History of big profits and patients at risk
Last week, a lawsuit was filed against Pensacola Cluster, its parent company National Mentor Healthcare (Mentor) and several of its employees regarding a February 2018 police investigation of a woman, age 23,…
State ferrets fraud among Autism care providers
The state has frozen payments to some providers who treat children with autism while it tries to ferret out fraudulent activity, but a high-ranking Medicaid official said the freeze should be lifted…
Heroin-related deaths still high
The latest Florida Medical Examiner’s Commission Drug Report revealed the deaths related to heroin use in the Pensacola area are still high compared to where they were a decade ago. The Medical…
Hayward named Andrews Research & Education Foundation President
 Ashton J. Hayward, III begins serving as president of the Andrews Institute Research & Education Foundation (AREF) effective Jan. 7, 2019. The leadership of AREF selected the former Pensacola mayor to direct…
Panhandle leads state in preventable ER visits
The latest Quarterly Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Report from the Agency for Health Care Administration showed Region 1, which covers the panhandle from Panama City to Pensacola, led the state in the…
Lawmakers blast agency over marijuana rules
By Dara Kam THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA A joint legislative oversight committee delivered a public shaming to Florida pot czar Christian Bax on Monday, repeatedly chiding the state health official and…
West Florida Healthcare teams with Nemours
Press release: Families in Northwest Florida will have access to pediatric specialists at West Florida Hospital through a collaboration between Nemours Children’s Specialty Care and West Florida Healthcare. Providers from Nemours will…
Florida adds dozen more Zika case last week
From The News Service of Florida: Florida health officials added another 12 reported cases of the Zika virus during the past week, including the first sexually transmitted case in 2017, according to…
Report on healthcare town hall
By Sammy Sontag INWEEKLY Indivisible Northwest Florida presented a Healthcare Town Hall meeting featuring the group’s founder, Vickie Neapolitan-Scott, and Dr. Jennifer Zimmerman at the J. Earle Bowden Building in downtown Pensacola…
Reports of human waste flowing in the Tanyard (update)
Dr. Gloria Horning, who lives one block west of Pensacola City Hall on DeVilliers Street in the Tanyard neighborhood, reported late yesterday afternoon, “I’m at the corner of DeVilliers and Zaragossa. The…
Gaetz answers healthcare questions without a body-slam [podcast]
Congressman Matt Gaetz was my guest yesterday on News Talk 1370 WCOA’s “Pensacola Speaks.” He stepped put a House Judiciary Committee meeting to talk about the GOP healthcare plan. Congressman Gaetz said…
Future medicaid funding for Sacred Heart and other safety net hospitals uncertain
While Gov. Rick Scott’s administration has reached agreement with the federal government on as much as $1.5 billion for the Low Income Pool program, the actual amount going to hospitals in the…
Sacred Heart CEO earns national award
The Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) has named Susan Davis, CEO of Sacred Heart Health System in Pensacola, as a recipient of the 2017 Sister Concilia Moran Award. One…
Andrews Institute looks to next 10 years
Dr. James Andrews, one of the premier orthopedic surgeons in the country, recalled that former Baptist Health Care president Al Stubblefield traveled to Birmingham, Ala., to meet with him in December 2003…
Governor gets $1.5B from Trump Administration for health care
As the House and Senate get ready to start negotiating a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, Gov. Rick Scott and federal officials announced Wednesday that the state will have $1.5 billion…
