State lawmakers will get their first chance this week to shape the federal health care law for Colorado. The Affordable Care Act requires states to set up new “health insurance exchanges.” Exchanges are new marketplaces where coverage will be very cheap for people who don’t make much money. That’s what many in health care are hoping, anyway. This week legislative work begins on Colorado’s health insurance exchange. KCFR Health Reporter Eric Whitney has more.
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Colorado’s new rules for medical marijuana dispensaries are being called groundbreaking. They’re the nation’s most extensive for commercial sale of the drug. Regulators aim to track it from when the pot is planted to when a patient takes it. Hearings have been scheduled for today and tomorrow. KCFR Health Reporter Eric Whitney says, at this point, the regulators seem to be the only ones who really like the new rules.
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Yesterday morning we heard about newly-released statistics on infections in Colorado’s hospitals. Today, KCFR Health Reporter Eric Whitney looks at what can be done to reduce the number of hospital-acquired infections in Colorado.
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Every year tens of thousands of Coloradans who go to the hospital to get healed actually get sicker. They get infections as a result of their medical care. An unknown number of those people die. Hospitals don’t have to make their infection rates public, except for a handful of procedures. The state health department publishes an annual report with that information, in part to help consumers pick the safest hospitals. This year’s report has just been released, and KCFR Health Reporter Eric Whitney got some expert help deciphering it. In the first of two stories on hospital infections, he found that consumers would be hard pressed to get a clear picture of hospital safety from the state’s infection report alone.
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Army officials report suicide rates at Fort Carson continue to drop…and, the campaign to raise money to help repair Colorado’s capitol dome officially kicked off today.
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Filed under:
Andrea Chalfin,
AP,
Bente Birkeland,
Capitol Coverage,
Denver,
Ft. Carson,
Hannah Sohl,
Health,
KRCC News,
Military,
Student Reporter — andrea @ 5:33 pm
Congress begins to take up the issue of repealing last year’s healthcare reform law, and Colorado members of the House of Representatives are splitting along party lines…and, Colorado unions are rallying at the state capitol to present initiatives they say will help create jobs.
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The state’s 68th general assembly kicked into gear today with lawmakers filling both legislative chambers…and, Fort Carson has broken ground on a new outpatient behavioral health clinic.
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The wreckage of a small plane has been found in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains…Colorado health authorities say they’ll hear from a mine owner this week about how it plans to correct water contamination at a mine near Crested Butte…The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says a gray wolf that strayed from the Yellowstone region into Colorado where it died in 2009 was killed by the poison Compound 1080, or sodium fluoroacetate…and, Governor-elect John Hickenlooper plans to present his goals and principles for the next four years during his inaugural tomorrow and his state of the state speech on Thursday.
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There’s generally less junk food available in schools these days. Vending machines offer healthier snacks, and lunchrooms are being encouraged to cook more nutritious meals. But research is showing that getting kids to eat healthier at school isn’t just about what they eat, but when. KCFR Health Reporter Eric Whitney has more.
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The flu season is underway and area health officials expect it to be less severe than last year….and, the U.S. Olympic Committee adds five new board members.
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