Health
As health care workforce shortage persists, employers boost incentives
It’s a good time to be looking for a job in health care. Catholic Medical Center is offering $10,000 signing bonuses to registered nurses with three years of experience. Rockingham County is offering not only signing bonuses to licensed nursing assistants but also tuition and a paycheck while they get their license. State corrections officials […]
Executive Council denies contract for rehabilitative program for health care workers
In a 4-1 vote, the Executive Council on Wednesday denied a contract for a rehabilitative program for health care workers following an outcry from the medical community in New Hampshire and beyond. But the current contract, held by New Hampshire Professionals Health Program, is expiring, which left the council scrambling to find a solution and […]
Council unanimously approves $52.4 million for community mental health centers
New Hampshire’s Executive Council gave a green light to a broad expansion of the state’s community mental health centers Wednesday, finalizing a proposal that advocates have called “transformational.” In a unanimous vote, councilors voted to devote $52.4 million in state and federal funds toward building out the 10 centers, which provide mental health services to […]
Audit demand could delay funding, interrupt care at reproductive health centers
A new requirement that Planned Parenthood and other family planning organizations be audited by the Department of Health and Human Services could cause the Executive Council to delay state funding, councilors said Wednesday. Funding contracts for Planned Parenthood, Equality Health Center in Concord, Lovering Health Center in Greenland, Amoskeag Health in Manchester, and others are […]
Community mental health centers on the precipice of a ‘transformational’ moment
This story was updated June 30, 2021 to correct the spelling of Brian Collins’s name. The state’s 10 community mental health centers would be able to expand services significantly and offer statewide mobile crisis response under a contract going before the Executive Council Wednesday. “This is really transformational and something I have not experienced in […]
Shaheen seeks federal help in replacing money for reproductive health care cut from state budget
U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said Friday she has asked the secretary of the federal Department of Health and Human Services to replace money for reproductive health care that lawmakers cut from the state budget they passed Thursday. In a follow-up virtual roundtable with several New Hampshire health care providers, Shaheen said she is also concerned […]
Bill easing restrictions on churches during state of emergency headed to governor’s desk
Churches would be no more restricted than Home Depot and liquor stores during the next state of emergency under a bill that passed the House and Senate Thursday. While churches were not closed during the pandemic, their attendance capacity was limited in the pandemic’s early days. Many businesses were restricted far less. In its initial […]
U.S. House panel approves legislation to clean up toxic ‘forever chemicals’
WASHINGTON – The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee has approved major bipartisan legislation that aims to reduce Americans’ exposure to toxic chemicals in air, water, and consumer products. The bill, the PFAS Action Act of 2021, led by Michigan Reps. Debbie Dingell, a Democrat, and Fred Upton, a Republican, was approved, 33-20, late Wednesday. […]
Commentary: The consequences of a ban on abortions at 24 weeks
Dear Gov. Sununu: Many medical professionals (almost 200) ask that you not sign the state budget House Bill 2, which includes an amendment banning abortions at 24 weeks (Sections 37-40). This ban will not prevent any elective late abortions and will have unforeseen consequences. With no law ever criminalizing a so called “late-term abortion,” there […]
Federal funding lost to abortion ‘gag rule’ jeopardizes routine reproductive care for thousands
The proposed 24-week abortion ban headed to the governor’s desk is not the only abortion legislation worrying advocates and lawmakers. Right up there is Republicans’ denial of $1.2 million in stopgap funding for family planning centers. The money would have replaced federal funding centers are losing under a Trump administration rule prohibiting them from discussing […]
Wording of survey question on 24-week abortion ban criticized
The UNH Survey Center’s Granite State Poll, which lawmakers cite as an indicator of public opinion, included a question in Thursday’s survey about the 24-week abortion ban headed to Gov. Chris Sununu. The question did not mention that the ban will require women to get a costly ultrasound and carry to term a dead fetus […]
House refuses to support Medicaid dental benefits
During the Senate’s nine-hour public hearing on the budget last month, two things dominated the testimony: opposition to divisive concepts and support for Medicaid dental benefits. Divisive concepts passed. Dental benefits appeared to die Wednesday A joint legislative committee negotiating the final details of the budget agreed to put a “hold” on the Senate’s $1.5 […]