The Council of State Governments’ National Center for Interstate Compacts is working with several stakeholder groups on issues ranging from electric transmission lines, distance learning, and licensing of EMS and other medical services personnel. Find out more about compacts relating to these issues, all of which are in various stages of development.

How well do workplace wellness programs really work? Reuters reports the Rand Corporation studied 600 companies and found while there were statistically significant improvements in amount of exercise, weight loss, and smoking reduction, the changes were very minimal.

As America’s baby boomers continue to age, the justice system is having to change to meet the needs of a very different kind of prisoner. “We are in fact moving toward a geriatric justice system, whether we want to formally call it that or not,” said Ronald Aday, a professor of sociology and anthropology at Tennessee State University who studies gerontology and prisons. He was one of the featured speakers for a recent CSG South webinar “Aging Inmates: The Continual ‘Graying’ of America’s Prisons.”

Workplace wellness programs are gaining popularity in the United States, however a new study by RAND Corporation shows that the 6 billion dollar wellness program industry does not produce the intended healthier outcomes.

The Department of Health and Human Services on May 15 released a highly anticipated proposed rule for allocating cuts to hospitals that handle a disproportionate share of uninsured patients. The cuts were included in the Affordable Care Act—called the ACA—as a way to compensate for the cost of expanded coverage. While the big news was that the department chose not to penalize states that have opted out of expanding Medicaid programs, the scale and scope of the proposed cuts ultimately will weigh on policymakers in all 50 states for years to come.

All women should be screened for diabetes after 24 weeks of pregnancy, whether they are exhibiting any symptoms or not, according to the latest draft recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force on May 28.  

The Task Force reached the recommendation after study of the latest comparative effectiveness review. The draft recommendation reverses a 2008 finding that there was insufficient evidence to recommend for or against routine screening.

The new recommendation can provide state policymakers leverage to add a requirement to screen for gestational diabetes to public health and Medicaid prenatal care programs.

For Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, the decision to take the federal government up on expanding Medicaid just made sense.

“By expanding Medicaid just slightly beyond what Arizona voters have twice mandated at the polls, we can draw down nearly $8 billion of our own tax dollars from the federal government,” she said.

Since the federal government will cover individuals earning up to 138 percent of federal poverty level, Brewer said that influx of money will cover costs the state was incurring as people without health insurance sought care in emergency rooms—the least affordable option.

Results from a study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are calling for more prevention to help curb the diabetes epidemic. The study, titled "Secular Changes in the Age Specific Prevalence of Diabetes among U.S. Adults" spans from 1988 to 2010 with samples taken from adults in three differ time periods including 1988 to 1994, 1999 to 2004, and 2005 to 2010. Research was conducted using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to collect evidence from 22, 586 adults.