Oregon foster care improves in latest federal review, By Jessica Van Berkel, July 14, 2010, The Oregonian: “Three years after Oregon failed most of the federal requirements for the safety and well-being of children in foster care, a second review has shown significant improvement. Oregon met or exceeded all six federal goals, including returning foster children to their families sooner, reducing abuse and maltreatment, and moving children less frequently while they’re in foster care. Regional officials from the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, which conducts the reviews, commended Oregon’s improvement. But there’s still a long way to go, state officials in child welfare said. Three Oregon-specific goals approved by federal officials were not met: keeping children out of long-term foster care, providing services to families to help children remain safely at home, and responding in a timely manner to reports of abuse and neglect…”
Day: July 15, 2010
Unemployment Rate – Michigan
Unemployment rate in Michigan dips to 13.2%, By John Gallagher, July 15, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “Michigan’s unemployment rate dropped in June to 13.2%, a sign that economic recovery was slowly taking hold. The four-tenths-of-a-percentage-point decline from May’s 13.6% rate marked the latest improvement since Michigan’s unemployment peaked at 14.5% in December 2009. But the overall gains remained modest. Employers added a net 3,000 new jobs to the state’s roughly 4 million jobs during June. On a brighter note, manufacturing employment was up 30,000 jobs over the depressed levels of mid-2009, thanks to slowly improving automotive sales…”
Medicaid Reform – Florida
State Medicaid reforms lead to fewer doctor visits, By Jeremy Cox, July 14,2010 Florida Times-Union: “Northeast Florida’s Medicaid recipients are making fewer trips to the doctor for chronic illnesses since state officials outsourced the government-subsidized health insurance program to private managed care companies. But it remains unclear from the analysis performed by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversees the state’s Medicaid program, whether they’re healthier for it. Medicaid reform was launched in 2006 in Duval and Broward counties to test whether HMOs could rein in the state’s Medicaid spending. Baker, Clay and Nassau counties were added a year later. A University of Florida analysis last year suggested that medical costs were rising in reform counties at a slower rate compared with other parts of the state. But critics quickly lined up to attribute those savings to patients being denied care or being forced into bureaucratic tangles by the managed-care contractors…”