Minnesota

Minnesota has granted waivers for 15,000 people with criminal backgrounds seeking to work in the state's long-term care facilities, a new report finds.

Minnesota's ambitious program requiring healthcare providers to write electronic prescriptions to prevent expensive errors leaves one group of providers out in the cold: nursing homes.

The state has an arguable right to ensure anyone accessing government-funded healthcare is properly screened and provided the right service, at the right price. But they should not be in the business of telling private citizens what they can or cannot do with their own money.

There is more and more talk in state legislatures of finding new ways to dispose of unused medications at healthcare facilities. This is an idea whose time has come.