Health Care

The Montana University System is preparing to roll out a new accelerated degree program.

Mike Randol took over May 31 as head of Montana’s Medicaid program, which serves 280,000 people who live in low-income households or have disabilities in a state of 1.1 million people. The program has a roughly $2.3 billion annual budget, with the federal government picking up about 80% of the total.

Congressional bargainers are celebrating a deal they say could pave the way for the passage of legislation that would help millions of veterans exposed to toxins from burn pits during their time in the military. The deal could help roughly two-thirds of Montana veterans.

Health officials were testing for influenza last flu season, but detected none.

Dr. Shelly Harkins, the president and chief medical officer of Helena’s Saint Peter’s Health made this sobering announcement Thursday morning: “For the first time in my career we are at the point where not every patient in need will get the care we might wish we could give,” she says.

A nearly $1 million federal grant has allowed the state to contract with six providers that could provide drug treatment to over 400 Montanans over the next two years.

A proposal to create a politically appointed panel to decide who gets Medicaid coverage for abortions was met with bipartisan pushback last session. Republican lawmakers compromised and changed the proposal to a study of the issue over the next two years instead.

As COVID-19 cases surge, hospitals say they can’t get enough staff to keep up. Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration says it’s collaborating with hospitals as needs arise.

New COVID-19 cases and related hospitalizations in Billings are putting so much strain on the local health care system that one hospital may start rationing care as early as this week.

Montana’s mental and behavioral health care system is experiencing a generational crisis.