Nevada: Health Crisis Spurs $26 Million Request

The Southern Nevada Health District and CDC may ask Congress for $26 million to help cope with a clinic-based hepatitis C outbreak and prevent unsafe medical practices in the future.

Southern Nevada has requested $5.2 million in response to an offer by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said Michael Walsh, the district's director of administration. The money would help offset the costs of testing patients of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada (ECSN) in Las Vegas, where inspectors say staff regularly reused syringes and medicine vials. The state sent notices to 40,000 patients advising they test for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV.

Of the $5.2 million, $3 million would go toward subsidizing tests for 15,000 uninsured and underinsured patients, and $1.3 million would support follow-up screening for anyone testing positive. The district is asking for $491,000 to help organize and facilitate access to the medical records of former ECSN patients, since the records have been seized by Las Vegas police. Vaccinating patients who have hepatitis C with the recommended hepatitis A and B vaccines would take another $140,000, said Walsh. Other funds would go to continued operations of the district help-line.

CDC is requesting $21 million "for things they want to do nationally and Nevada-specific," said Reid. Funds would be used for genetic mapping of unexplained hepatitis infections to determine whether they originated in clinics or were earlier infections, said Jon Summers, a Reid spokesperson. CDC proposed funding for awareness campaigns, with pilot programs specifically in Nevada. It also suggested research into infection controls and safer medication packaging, including single-use syringes.

Reid and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) will attempt to add the funding to a supplemental appropriations measure in Congress expected in the next few weeks, aides said.

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