More New Yorkers could qualify for health coverage under the Essential Plan as health officials request federal approval to expand eligibility.

The push comes as pandemic-era eligibility for Medicaid is sunsetting, part of an effort at "smoothing" a dropoff in the number of people who have coverage.

Mental health professionals who provide services in New York prisons would be eligible for thousands of dollars in student loan forgiveness under legislation proposed this week by a state lawmaker.

The bill, backed by Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz, would provide annual grant awards of up to $2,000 in student loan forgiveness that would be awarded to people who provide mental health services to incarcerated people.

State lawmakers in the Assembly on Monday advanced a package of proposals meant to make it easier for New Yorkers with disabilities to access services.

The measures were approved in recognition of Legislative Disabilities Awreness Day, as lawmakers seek to address the roadblocks people face when receiving help.

A report released by New York advocacy organizations on Friday highlighted the difficulties immigrants in the state face in receiving organ transplants that can save their lives, but can be hindered because of their immigration status.

The report comes as advocates and Democratic lawmakers have sought the approval of a measure to extend health care access from the Essential Plan to cover more adult undocumented immigrants living in the state.

Advocates for medical aid in dying are back at the New York state Capitol, days prior to Mother’s Day, to again push for passage of the Medical Aid in Dying Act.

The act allows terminally ill, mentally capable adults with six months or less to live to have the option to get a prescription they can take to end their lives peacefully.

New York state's $229 billion budget is setting aside $1 billion in additional funding to address a broad array of mental health care needs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The money, touted by Gov. Kathy Hochul in Buffalo on Monday, is being highlighted as New York officials and advocates are making a renewed focus on the issue after the death of a Black man on a New York City after he was held in a chokehold.

Lawmakers will work to change state law within the next few weeks to continue allowing health staff from other states to practice in New York facilities before Gov. Kathy Hochul's executive order related to the COVID-19 pandemic expires later this month.

The governor's executive order that declares a statewide disaster emergency due to ongoing health staffing shortage allows nurses, LPNs and physicians licensed in other states to practice medicine in New York. It sunsets May 22 — or a week-and-a-half after the federal COVID-19 emergency ends May 11.

Nursing homes in New York could be getting stronger and long-sought expansion of oversight — but there's a concern funding won't be enough.

The state's $229 billion budget will add $2.5 million for a program overseeing and inspecting nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

The medicinal cannabis industry in New York is worried the state's efforts to address illicit marijuana sales won't go far enough in addressing the ongoing problem in the state.

New York lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul in the newly approved $229 billion state budget agreed to new penalties for businesses that sell cannabis without a license, including civil fines and potentially closing stores that are selling illegally.

A pair of bills signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday are geared toward expanding access to abortion in New York amid a renewed fight over the issue in states across the country.

Hochul signed legislation meant to guarantee access to medication abortion at the State University of New York and the City University of New York. At the same time, Hochul approved a separate bill that will allow pharmacists to prescribe over-the-counter birth control.

New York is raising the tax on cigarettes by $1 a pack — a move that anti-tobacco advocates worry is half a loaf, but convenience store groups believe will only lead to an expansion of an underground market of illicit sales.

The tax increase is part of New York’s $229 billion budget plan. Once approved, it will reach $5.35 – making the state one of the most expensive places in the country to buy cigarettes. State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins says the move is meant to further cut down smoking rates.

New York health officials on Monday launched a campaign to encourage eligible people to begin the two-dose vaccination series for mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox.

The state Department of Health as well as the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is launching the effort after last summer's spread of the virus in parts of New York state.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- The New York state Legislature passed a bill in 2019 establishing a statewide paint recycling program.

PaintCare New York launched last May. Program manager Andrew Radin said its first year has been very successful.

Gov. Kathy Hochul made an unprecedented commitment to funding mental health services in her executive budget.

But advocates are worried that Hochul and the Legislature will neglect what they argue is needed the most: an 8.5% cost of living increase for those who work in this field.

Hospitals and nursing homes in New York could receive a higher reimbursement rate under a tentative agreement in the state budget.

But a broader deal for a state spending plan was not finalized on Thursday, and state lawmakers have left Albany for the next several days as issues addressing climate change are yet to be locked down.

New York lawmakers have reached an agreement with Gov. Kathy Hochul to expand the child tax credit in the state to include children under the age of 4, a source familiar with the talks on Thursday said.

Expanding the tax credit is expected to be included in a finalized budget agreement, which could be struck this week.

Mayors from a half dozen upstate cities on Wednesday signed onto a letter released by a powerful health care workers union urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to increase Medicaid support for hospitals and nursing homes as part of the state budget.

The letter was facilitated by 1199SEIU, a key health care worker labor organization that has called for higher Medicaid reimbursement rates in the yet-to-be-finalized state budget, now more than three weeks late.

New York's health care sector, from labor unions to industry leaders, is making a concerted push this month to boost Medicaid spending in the yet-to-be-completed state budget.

They argue the COVID-19 pandemic has set back the health care workforce in New York and scrambled the finances for hospitals statewide. But budget watchdogs are skeptical, warning state officials should carefully weigh spending in a program that remains one of the costliest in the country and the most expensive budget item each year.

KENTUCKY — The Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs (KASAP) local programs are not limited to survivors of rape but also serve survivors of sexual harassment, sexual assault or sexual violence.

To accomplish the mission at KASAP, improving public policy, promoting prevention and increasing public awareness are at the forefront of their initiatives.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and a group of statewide female leaders are fighting back against the legal challenge to restrict access to the abortion drug mifepristone by mail and changes to the medication's federal approval.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued a temporary stay Friday afternoon — temporarily restoring full access to mifepristone and keeping current federal approvals and rules in place. It will remain in effect through midnight Wednesday as some groups have fought to overturn the FDA's approval of mifepristone, pushing back on scientific data that proves it's a safe and effective medication.

Community health centers across the country would receive re-authorized funding through 2028 under legislation backed by Rep. Elise Stefanik, her office on Friday announced.

It's estimated 30 million Americans, many who live in rural areas as well as communities without many health care options, rely on community health care centers for treatment.

Besides stockpiling mifepristone, the drug at the center of a national medication abortion firestorm, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday that if the drug is taken off the market, that New York will commit up to an additional $20 million to abortion providers to support access to other methods of care.

Hochul said she will also working with the Legislature on a bill to require private insurers to cover misoprostol, a similar drug, when it's prescribed off-label for abortion.

Advocates for kids struggling with mental health care needs are urging state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul to ensure nearly $900 million in proposed spending will go toward increasing care access for children.

The push comes as the state budget remains unresolved two weeks after it was initially due, and as the Hochul administration this spring is holding forums around New York to raise the issue of child mental health.

Thousands of complaints at nursing homes and long-term care facilities are made in New York. But advocates for older New Yorkers warn many problems are going unreported.

Complaints at nursing homes and assisted living facilities have been rising over a year-long period, according to state data compiled this month by AARP. But the group’s Bill Ferris warns the agency tasked with overseeing these facilities doesn’t have the resources.

New York health officials have changed the way they're delivering prescription drugs to people in the state's Medicaid program.

It's expected to save hundreds of millions of dollars — both for state and federal taxpayers while also addressing what officials have criticized as an opaque system. But at the same time, providers say problems are already emerging.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- People Inc.'s telehealth program already reaches thousands of patients across Western New York and the agency expects the program now to grow substantially.

On Monday, U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins announced $2 million earmarked in the 2023 budget for it.

New York's acting health commissioner is making a push to ban flavored tobacco products in New York amid opposition from Democratic lawmakers in the Legislature.

Dr. James McDonald on Thursday became the latest voice in addition to anti-smoking advocates to call for a ban on flavored products like menthol cigarettes in New York, a provision contained in Gov. Kathy Hochul's $227 billion budget proposal.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul this week urged her to support the expansion of a health insurance program to include more undocumented residents living in the state.

In the letter, Adams called for expanding the Essential Plan to include undocumented adults between the ages of 19 and 64. If approved, about 245,000 New York residents statewide would be affected.

New York state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office will conduct a follow-up assessment of the state Department of Health's handling of nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The announcement made Wednesday by DiNapoli's office comes three years after a controversial order that required nursing homes at the start of the pandemic to not turn away COVID-19 positive patients.

Dr. James McDonald was nominated Friday by Gov. Kathy Hochul to lead the state Department of Health.

McDonald has been serving as the department's acting commissioner since the start of the year. His nomination is subject to confirmation by the state Senate.

In her executive budget, Gov. Kathy Hochul included a plan to require drug makers to report to the Department of Financial Services (DFS) planned price hikes in advance, including the reasons for those price increases.

The state Senate included many of these reforms in their one-house budget, but the Assembly did not.

Xylazine would be designated a schedule III depressant controlled substance under legislation proposed Wednesday by Democratic state Sen. James Skoufis.

The measure is meant to address the growing concerns over the use of xylazine, a sedative administered to horses, amid the ongoing overdose and opioid epidemic across the country.

Both houses of the New York state Legislature are rejecting a proposal from Gov. Kathy Hochul that would require hospitals be paid within days of ordering a treatment or test for a patient.

Lawmakers are against the proposal included in Hochul's executive budget to reform managed health care, including requiring hospitals to be paid swiftly and limit lengthy reviews by a health care insurance provider.

Dozens of groups are urging New York lawmakers to back a provision in Gov. Kathy Hochul's $227 billion budget plan meant to expand prescription drug price transparency measures.

The groups, including AARP New York and more than 40 organizations that represent doctors, communities of color and clergy, are backing the proposal, which would require drug manufacturers to report planned price increases in advance.

Visitors to New York state nursing homes will no longer be required to show a negative COVID-19 test in order to gain entry to the facilities, state Department of Health officials on Friday announced.

The updated guidance for nursing homes in the state is meant to align with federal policies that no longer require a negative COVID-19 test result.

New York state officials will hold a series of listening sessions as well as a spring summit to discuss mental health issues facing young people in the state, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office on Thursday announced.

Hochul this year at the same time has called for $1 billion to strengthen mental health care programs as part of the state budget this year.

Parents will be able to check their eligibility for financial support for child care programs in New York under a new web tool unveiled Wednesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul's office.

At the same time, the Hochul administration re-established a statewide panel tasked with developing plans for the implementation of universal child care in the state.

New York lawmakers want to make it easier for people who are diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries to receive access to care and services.

A bill approved this week in the state Senate is meant to aid New Yorkers who are diagnosed with the injury and need access long-term care.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday defended her budget's plan to shift key Medicaid money away from county governments as local officials and some lawmakers raise an alarm over the measure.

Hochul's budget would shift Federal Medical Assistance Percentage funds in the Medicaid program, redirecting them from county governments that administer Medicaid to the state. County officials, Democrats and Republicans alike, have protested, worried it could raise property taxes as a result.

States would be barred from redirecting key Medicaid funds from local governments under a federal measure aimed at a provision in Gov. Kathy Hochul's $227 billion budget plan.

New York House Republicans on Monday proposed the measure in response to Hochul's budget using money from Federal Medical Assistance Percentage funds that are normally sent to county governments in New York.

New Yorkers who have underlying medical issues and are at risk of contracting a serious case of COVID-19 are being encouraged by state health officials to stay up-to-date with a bivalent booster shot.

The state Department of Health on Friday announced the launch of a public service campaign to highlight the booster doses and their availability.

Increasing benefit rates, protecting workers' jobs and making benefits portable are among the proposals from advocates to strengthen New York's paid family leave and health leave laws.

The family legal advocacy organization A Better Balance on Thursday released a report outlining areas New York could bolster its existing paid family leave measure and its current gaps that could be adversely affecting LGBTQ people, people of color and military families as well as New Yorkers who are struggling with substance abuse.

The push is on for advocates wanting half of the $1.1 billion for mental health in Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposed budget to be dedicated to improve services for young people as they face record rates of suicide, mental disorders and substance use.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for New York teens ages 15 to 19, according to the state Health Department.

After decades of underinvestment in the state’s mental health system, Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing to spend over a billion dollars on a variety of needs including housing, psychiatric treatment and an expansion of mental health services in schools.

According to state Sen. Samra Brouk, chair of the Senate Committee on Mental Health, it’s “a new day” for the mental health world in New York.

Health benefits for volunteer firefighters could be strengthened in New York under legislation that cleared the Democratic-led state Senate this week.

The measure would make permanent a law that covers disability determinations for volunteer firefighters who are facing lung disabilities.

More funding is needed for the long-term care oversight program in New York that sends ombudsman into nursing homes and long-term care facilities, advocates AARP New York on Tuesday said.

The organization have called for a $15 million increase in the program in order to add 235 full-time staff in order to meet the goal of weekly visits to each of the state's 1,400 adult care facilities and nursing homes. That includes more than 500 facilities in New York City and on Long Island.

Retired New York state Assembly Member Dick Gottfried, who chaired the Assembly Health Committee for 35 years, said there’s an enormous learning curve for lawmakers who take on this challenge.

“I remember when I became health chair, it very quickly became clear to me how little I knew,” he told Capital Tonight. “And that was true of everyone in the Assembly but (former Assemblyman) Jim Tallon, the health chair (at the time), who we relied on a lot.”

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- Niagara Apothecary is a small independent pharmacy in Niagara Falls.

Owner Jamie Latko said shops like hers offer extra services customers can't always get from the big chains.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Medicaid 340B program allows safety net providers that serve low income and high risk communities to purchase prescription drugs at a discount and get federal reimbursements at full price.

Evergreen Health Chief Operating Officer Michael Lee said that difference amounts to roughly $14 million a year for his organization alone.

Flu cases in New York have dropped for the seventh week in a row, recording a 34% decrease over last week, state Department of Health officials on Monday announced.

There has been a total of nine pediatrict deaths in the state attributed to influenza this season, including one last week, health officials said.

Hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities have faced financial headwinds and severe staffing shortages in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to hike the Medicaid reimbursement rate for those facilities by 5%. But the need, lawmakers and health care sector officials argue, may be even greater.

Six substance abuse use and prevention coalitions will be created in five counties in New York state under a $5.25 million plan announced Tuesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The money will be directed toward tackling addiction in New York and focus on "priority" populations, including people of color, veterans, older people and people with disabilities as well as those who have a history of incarceration.

A proposed compromise by Gov. Kathy Hochul to exempt medical malpractice claims in a measure that is meant to expand New York's wrongful death statute was rejected by state lawmakers hours after it was floated.

Hochul made the 11th hour proposal to what has been a hotly contested measure that would allow someone to bring a wrongful death claim based on emotional suffering and anguish, which is a broader standard than the current requirement to show financial losses due to a loved one's death.

An increase in funding from the state's health care program for low-income New Yorkers is needed in order to alleviate a severe staffing shortage, a consortium of non-profit facilities and labor unions on Monday urged.

The groups, including the powerful health care workers union 1199SEIU and Leading Age New York, which represents non-profit nursing homes, in a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul called for a 20% hike in Medicaid rates for nursing homes in the coming state budget.

It’s one of the toughest ethical questions any of us will have to answer. If a loved one faces a terminal diagnosis, should they have the option to take their own life?

For the eighth year in a row, the New York Medical Aid in Dying Act has been introduced in Albany, this time sponsored by the new Assembly Health Committee Chair Amy Paulin and Senate Judiciary Chair Brad Hoylman-Sigal.

Public health officials in New York are planning an expansion of infectious disease monitoring in wastewater in order to detect more illnesses that may be otherwise quietly spreading through a community.

The state Department of Health on Monday announced its plan through $21.6 million in funding, including a $6.6 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

New York state is starting to dip into the more than $2 billion in money from nationwide settlements from opioid manufacturers and distributors to expand addiction treatment programs, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office on Friday announced.

The first grants will amount to $7.5 million in funding for providers and addiction treatment programs to create low-threshold buprenorphine services. The drug is an FDA-approved medication to treat addiction.

New Yorkers pay some of the highest health care and prescription drug costs in the country. Annual health insurance premiums are far higher than the rest of the country, and the difference is getting bigger.

"It's a wider gap than it's ever been and it's getting wider," said Bill Hammond, a health policy researcher at the Empire Center.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The signs were there.

Brendan Orr testified Wednesday he and his family were well aware of his sister Jennifer's mental health struggles, including her diagnosis as bipolar, texts and statements about her desire to take her own life, and an incident with a knife in September that required medical attention.

New York's federally required nursing home oversight program should receive a $15 million boost in funding and efforts to lower prescription drug costs for older people should be expanded, AARP New York on Wednesday urged in a report released by the group.

The group released its 2023 agenda that includes proposals to make it easier for people to access benefit programs and increase transparency for large drug makers. And the group wants higher wages for homes care workers while also boosting funding for in-home services for elderly people who are living in their own homes.

Stacey Gibson's husband Sid died in 2014 after a long struggle with a rare and painful neurological disorder.

"He wanted very much to end his life, not because he wanted to die," she said. "This was a man who wanted to live, but his body betrayed him."

Deaths from opioid overdoses in New York continued to rise in 2021, growing by 14% compared to the prior year, according to data released Tuesday by the state Department of Health.

The new data, which also showed a corresponding rise in emergnecy room visits due to overdoses, is another sign of how widespread the problem of opioid addiction and the toll taken on communities.

New York officials are being urged by a top doctors' organization to address burnout among physicians amid broader health care shortages across the state.

The push from the Medical Society of the State of New York comes as hospitals and health care networks have been strained by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as well as the additional challenges this winter of a rise in flu and RSV cases around the state.

A 28-member committee will provide input for policies meant to improve the lives of older people as they age in New York as a "master plan" takes shape, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday announced.

The policies to be developed by the panel are meant to draw in a variety of concerns from financial issues to health care needs for aging people.

New York state Attorney General Tish James has filed lawsuits against several for-profit nursing homes, alleging that the owners neglected patients in order increase their personal profits, resulting in the inhumane treatment of residents.

For-profit hospices are now on the cusp of making in-roads in New York state.

OASAS Commissioner Chinazo Cunningham told Capital Tonight that opioid settlement funds will be out the door within a matter of weeks.

“We think that we will be able to start spending money within weeks,” she said.

As hospitals across New York are facing ongoing financial problems in the more than two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday said more aid is possible for them in the state budget due at the end of March.

But she added the networks may have to open their books.

The New York Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board met in Albany on Wednesday in the wake of learning last week that OASAS, the Office of Addiction Services and Supports, rejected two of the board’s recommendations to fund harm reduction efforts under the Department of Health.

OASAS, under Commissioner Chinazo Cunningham, recently launched its own harm reduction unit.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- For some patients in New York state, getting health care services is not as simple as making an appointment at a family practice.

"Even still today, I'm experiencing where other providers treat me a certain kind of way because they know my history," Evergreen Health patient Liza Periera said.

It's a plan from New York City Mayor Eric Adams he says is meant to keep the streets safer and provide help for people who are struggling: Involuntary confinement and treatment of people with a mental illness.

But mental health advocates are pushing back on the involuntary confinement of people with mental illnesses, arguing that alternatives exist.

Mental health advocates are calling for alternatives to the involuntary confinement of people who are in a mental health crisis amid a broader legal challenge to the policy announced this month by New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

The Mental Health Association of New York State in a letter on Tuesday to Gov. Kathy Hochul and Adams called for community support for resources, better pay for caregivers and the opening of more general hospital beds.

Last week, the New York attorney general announced the findings of an investigation into a for-profit nursing home in Orleans County.

There is a related bill that passed both houses of the state Legislature this year that would prohibit the establishment of new for-profit hospices in New York.

Albany Med Health System CEO Dennis McKenna says health care officials are facing a multitude of challenges, including COVID-19, the flu and RSV.

But finding staff to care for patients outweighs them all, he said on Wednesday at a news conference flanked by state lawmakers.

Residential care facilities in New York will be required to notify residents and their families when an infection is confirmed in the facility under legislation approved Wednesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The new law will also require nursing homes in the state to have a plan to aid exposed or infected residents.

Public health officials in New York are urging people to take precautions this winter amid a "tridemic" of illnesses: COVID-19, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV.

Those precautions include many of the suggestions that have been issued even before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of every flu season: Wash your hands, sneeze and cough into the crook of your arm and stay home if you are sick.

Dr. Mary Bassett is stepping down as New York's health commissioner after a year leading a complex, sprawling public health bureaucracy and as the most prominent member of Gov. Kathy Hochul's cabinet.

Who the governor nominates to succeed Bassett in the role makes for one of the key decisions facing her as she prepares to begin a four-year term on Jan. 1.

WARSAW, N.Y. -- Respiratory syncytial virus, commonly known as RSV, is not typically dangerous for adults but can be much more serious for young children.

"The good news is RSV is very treatable. If you get the right treatment, the odds of returning to safe, healthy childhood with no permanent damage is extremely high, but you've got to get people the materials they need," U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday.

New York state Health Commissioner Mary Bassett will resign on Jan. 1, marking a departure of the highest-profile member of Gov. Kathy Hochul's cabinet before she starts her new four-year term.

In a statement, Bassett said she plans to return to the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.

The upheaval of the last two and a half years have added to the anxieties of college students — already facing a stressful time as they leave home and take their first steps into adulthood.

The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a light on the long-term effects of isolation and uncertainty. And it's made access to on-campus services at colleges vital for mental health.

Advocates for older and vulnerable New Yorkers say more funding is needed for an oversight program at nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

More than half of the nursing homes and long-term care facilities in New York have not received a visit from a member of the state's ombudsman program so far this year. It's a problem the needs to be addressed, said Bill Ferris, the legislative representative for AARP New York.

The latest Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) drug overdose death numbers show 107,582 predicted overdose deaths nationally in the 12-month period ending in June 2022.

During the same time period, New York state saw a 4.84% increase, equaling 6,200 drug overdose deaths.

Public health officials in New York have launched a new campaign this week to warn the public the cold and flu season may be an especially difficult one this winter amid the spread of COVID-19 and the circulation of the respiratory syncytial virus.

The awareness campaign features New York Health Commissioner Mary Bassett discussing all three viruses and the need to receive a seasonal flu shot as well as a COVID-bivalent booster for those eligible. The viruses pose a challenge, in part, due to having similar symptoms and the potential to cause serious illness.

Advocates estimate New York state could be overpaying $1 billion for health care amid an increasing disparity in hospital costs depending where a person receives treatment.

Some lawmakers are working to find out by just how much.

Gov. Kathy Hochul received her seasonal flu shot on Wednesday and urged New Yorkers to prepare for the colder weather months by guarding against respiratory virus infections.

The push from Hochul for both seasonal flu and COVID-19 vaccine booster shots comes as the pandemic has continued on into the fall and many guidelines put in place meant to limit the spread of the virus have been scaled back.

A bill announced Wednesday by Democratic state Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara would waive fees to obtain or renew a nurses licenses in New York for the next two years.

The measure is meant to address a staffing shortage in the health care sector, which has been especially acute in upstate communities.

New York is awarding $30 million in aid to 400 state-licensed child care programs located in areas that are considered under served in the state, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office on Friday announced.

The money is part of a broader plan by the governor to expand child care offerings in New York, a move that has been meant to fill holes in child care safety nets as well as encourage people to be able to go back to work.

New York health officials are holding a contest for people ages 18 to 26 to make their own social media videos in order to raise awareness of monkeypox and how to prevent its spread.

The video contest is meant to be aimed at raising awareness among college-age New Yorkers and comes as public health officials have sought to curtail the virus in recent months.

Overdose deaths in New York state rose 14% in 2021 compared to the previous year, a report released Monday by the state Department of Health found.

The data released as part of a quarterly update from public health officials on opioid usage and deaths in the state comes as New York has continued to grapple with a sharp rise in overdose fatalities in recent years. The increase has coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Registered nurses employed by the state are getting a pay raise.

Various nurse positions across 15 state agencies will have a starting annual salary of nearly $90,000 upstate and $108,000 for RNs and nurse practitioners working downstate.

New York state Attorney General Letitia James sent a letter to all levels of law enforcement Friday about the state's abortion laws — some of the most robust in protecting access to abortion in the nation.

James sent the letter to district attorneys, county sheriffs, local police departments and other police across the state to reiterate abortion rights will remain protected in New York, and guidance about how to enforce those statutes. New York also serves people from other states seeking abortions or related procedures, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization this summer, which overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling that protected abortion rights nationwide.

A new law signed Friday by Gov. Kathy Hochul is meant to aid breast cancer survivors who choose reconstruction surgery following a mastectomy or partial mastectomy.

The measure is meant to ensure these cancer survivors have proper insurance, and comes as Breast Cancer Awareness Month is being observed.

Ongoing monitoring of wastewater in the New York City metropolitan area has found repeated evidence of poliovirus in sewage, the state Department of Health on Tuesday announced.

The most recent wastewater test results drew samples from Brooklyn and Queens and found polio genetically linked to a case previously found in Rockland County.

More than 700 people have signed an online petition pushing Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign legislation to evaluate the state's dyslexia screening and intervention standards, and help improve New York literacy rates.

The Dyslexia Task Force Act would establish a 10-person expert panel to recommend the best practices to diagnose and help students with learning disorders like dyslexia and dysgraphia.

Public health officials and experts are closely watching flu and COVID-19 cases this season as the cold-weather months set in.

At the same time, they're encouraging eligible New Yorkers to get their flu shots and COVID-19 boosters to limit the chances of both illnesses overwhelming brittle hospital systems that have bended during the pandemic.

More than $3 billion was either saved or recovered through efforts to curtail waste and fraud in the state's Medicaid program last year, Acting Medicaid Inspector General Frank Walsh on Monday said.

Provider audits and investigations found $714 million in savings, Walsh said. Efforts to avoid unnecessary costs such as inappropriate billings resulted in more than $2.4 billion in savings. All told, the last four years have found a combined $11.8 billion in cost-saving efforts and recoveries of funds.