Oklahoman
The Oklahoma House passed legislation that seeks to halt Gov. Kevin Stitt’s plan to outsource Medicaid care management to four major insurance companies.
On a vote of 73-17, the House late Tuesday evening approved legislation for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which oversees the state’s Medicaid program, to better manage health care in-house.
“Let’s start with reforming the system we have before tearing it apart,” said Republican Rep. Marcus McEntire, the bill’s author.
The House’s veto-proof support for Senate Bill 131, sends the legislation to the state Senate where it faces an uncertain path in the chamber because one of Oklahoma s top senators has expressed support for Stitt’s plan, dubbed SoonerSelect.
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Low Number Of New COVID Infections Easing Stress On Oklahoma Hospitals
The state health department says 468 Oklahomans are in the hospital with COVID-19 right now. That number has been going down for several weeks.
The lower number of new COVID-19 infections is easing the stress on hospitals.
OSDH said all eight of their hospital surge plan regions are now in the green zone, which is the lowest level. That means less than 15 percent of hospital patients in each region have COVID-19.
In December and January, several regions were above 30 percent and hospitals were considering limiting surgeries.
The Oklahoma Hospital Association said there is not a concern for that anymore and these lower numbers are a big relief for doctors and nurses who have been on the front lines. The organization is also not as concerned about the staffing issues they had earlier in the pandemic and most healthcare workers are getting some breaks.
Oklahoma has seen a dramatic drop in new COVID-19 cases.But is this drop in new cases due to people staying home and winter weather, or is it a trend in the right direction?“We’re seeing great trends. In Oklahoma, there’s been over five weeks we’ve seen a decreased instance rate,” said Dr. Aaron Wendelboe, epidemiologist and professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Public Health.Doctors and health experts said the state’s cases have dropped greatly, and Oklahoma has even hit a milestone.“Of being under 20 cases per 100,000,” Wendelboe said.According to health experts, Oklahoma is back down to where the state was in mid-June, with the positivity rate being about 12.6%. Oklahoma City, however, is at 7.5%.“We’re seeing similar trends in decreases in hospitalizations and deaths,” Wendelboe said.“Thankfully, you hear some good news today. The hospitalized patients in Oklahoma are now in the 600 range,” said Patti Davis, president of the Oklahoma Ho
Health experts credit the vaccine and herd immunity for COVID-19 numbers being down, but they told KOCO 5 that getting the appointment out to the rural areas has been a bit challenging.