Here’s a roundup of the latest state healthcare news, including a deadly bacteria closing down a Maryland neonatal intensive care unit and why one state lawmaker in Missouri has been blocking efforts to create a prescription drug monitoring database.

With enrollment in Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) increasing by 60 percent in the past five years, CMS is proposing changes to “modernize” the team-based home care services program for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

STAT News reports hospitals are increasingly reluctant to perform transplants involving extremely ill patients or less-than-perfect organs, fearing poor surgical outcomes could lead to reduced hospital ratings and Medicare funding.

In two separate announcements from HHS, the agency said while the risk pool for the health insurance exchanges has improved, it’s “exploring options” to adjust the Affordable Care Act’s risk adjustment program to account for sicker, more expensive enrollees.

New conditions, participating states and telemedicine opportunities will be included in the second year of CMS’s Medicare Advantage (MA) Value-Based Insurance Model.

More than two million healthcare providers throughout the country will receive letters from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, later this month. It will include information for doctors about how to best help patients and families dealing with opioid addictions and how to prevent those at risk from becoming addicted in the first place. 

New research suggests that, since the Affordable Care Act has launched, Americans are less likely to have medical debt and postpone care because of cost, and more likely to have a regular doctor and receive preventive health resources, such as vaccines and cancer screenings.

A CMS analysis said its Independence at Home Demonstration program saved over $10 million in its second performance year, a decline from the $25 million in savings from its first year.