News

 Baltimore, MD (December 21, 2012) -- The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) today announced that through special molecular testing done on blood specimens at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), four more Maryland patients infected with Hepatitis C virus were found to have virus closely related to infections linked to David Kwiatkowski, a healthcare worker accused of diverting narcotics for personal use. The four were patients of Johns Hopkins Hospital during the time from July 10, 2009, to January 9, 2010, when Kwiatkowski was placed there by a medical staffing agency. The results are in addition to a previously identified and reported patient of the Baltimore VA Medical Center with closely related virus.

 Baltimore (December 20, 2012) – The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH), the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange (MHBE) and the Community Health Resources Commission (CHRC) today announced the launch of Maryland’s Access to Care program. The Access to Care program is designed to foster collaboration between the state, health insurers and safety net providers as each plans for newly insured Marylanders who will start to access healthcare services in 2014. This program is built on the requirement that network plans offered through Maryland Health Connection, the state-based health insurance marketplace, provide meaningful access to critical health services including primary, reproductive, HIV/AIDS and behavioral health care.