Stateline Midwest

October 2013 ~ Stateline Midwest

It didn’t take long for Michigan legislators to take notice of a state Supreme Court study examining the efficacy of mental health courts. Less than a month after the study’s release, the House unanimously passed a four-bill package (HB 4694-4697) that statutorily creates mental health courts, thus paving the way for judicial circuits across the state to operate them, Mlive.com reports.

Stateline Midwest ~ April 2013

In response to an ongoing shortage of primary-care providers — coupled with the fact that millions of Americans will be added to Medicaid and private insurance rolls under the federal Affordable Care Act next year — state policymakers are considering how to better train and deploy their health care workforces.

One strategy being considered by at least 12 states is to leverage an asset that already exists, by allowing certain “advanced practice” nurses to open their own practices.

Stateline Midwest ~ March 2013

While at least one Midwestern state may adopt same-day voter registration this year, officials in another have said they want to repeal it.

Stateline Midwest ~ March 2013

Starting next year, Minnesota will begin issuing individual income-tax refunds via debit cards instead of paper checks. While most refunds are deposited directly into checking accounts, the state has still been printing 1 million paper checks each year, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.