electrician in Clover, SC

A bond measure that would fund a new high school in Clover, South Carolina, passed. District leaders say it's necessary to relieve overcrowded campuses.

CLOVER, S.C. — Voters in Clover, South Carolina, said yes to a bond referendum that will build a new high school in the district during Tuesday's midterm elections.

Clover residents approved the referendum to make a new high school with 9,151 votes (50.96%) for the measure and 8,807 (49.04%) against it. The bond referendum was the Clover School District's second attempt at asking taxpayers to help cover the costs of the project.

Students and Clover district officials pushed for the new school due to overcrowding at the existing middle and high schools.

"It's just hard," eighth grader William Naves said when describing how he navigates the busy hallways.

Clover High School senior Angel Featherson said the packed classrooms are affecting her learning.

"We want to get to school on time, and we want the personalized learning that we deserve, and the personalized tutoring that we deserve, but we cannot do so if our schools are overcrowded,” said Featherson.

The $156 million bond referendum will cover the construction of a new high school on Daimler Blvd, which is 6.5 miles from Clover High School.

Superintendent Sheila Quinn said the new school would open in 2026.

Enrollment predictions show, "the Clover School District will be out of room for new students at middle and high school levels in three years’ time,” according to Quinn.

Money for the proposed school will come from residents' property taxes. The district says that if a home is valued at $300,000, then the homeowner will pay an extra $312 annually if the bond referendum is passed.

"Vote no" signs were all over the Clover area. Some voters told WCNC Charlotte off camera that they don’t want higher taxes. One person questioned whether the money would be spent responsibly.

A similar bond referendum failed in last year's election.

"It is simply for a high school and it’s really for the shell of a high school because we're contributing the funds for the furniture, the fixtures, and the equipment," said Quinn.

She added that the district will then use its own funds to convert Clover High’s ninth-grade campus into another middle school.

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Clover voters will have the bond referendum for the $156 million project on their ballots this November.

CLOVER, S.C. — The Clover School District could be getting a new high school if voters approve the bond referendum that will be on the ballot this election.

It's the district's second attempt at asking taxpayers to help cover the costs for the project.

Students and school officials are pushing for a new school due to overcrowding at the existing middle and high schools.

"It’s just hard,” Eighth grader William Naves said when describing how he navigates the busy hallways.

Clover High School senior Angel Featherson said the packed classrooms are affecting her learning.

"We want to get to school on time, and we want the personalized learning that we deserve, and the personalized tutoring that we deserve, but we cannot do so if our schools are overcrowded,” said Featherson.

The $156 million bond referendum would cover construction of a new high school on Daimler Blvd, which is 6.5 miles from Clover High School.

Superintendent Sheila Quinn said the new school, if approved, would open in 2026.

Enrollment predictions show, "the Clover School District will be out of room for new students at middle and high school levels in three years’ time,” according to Quinn.

Money for the proposed school would come from residents' property taxes. The district says that if a home is valued at $300,000, then the homeowner will pay an extra $312 annually if the bond referendum is passed.

"Vote no" signs are all over the Clover area. Some voters told WCNC Charlotte off camera that they don’t want higher taxes. One person questioned whether the money would be spent responsibly.

A similar bond referendum failed in last year's election but Quinn hopes this version has a chance.

"It is simply for a high school and it’s really for the shell of a high school because we're contributing the funds for the furniture, the fixtures, and the equipment," said Quinn.

She added that the district will then use its own funds to convert Clover High’s ninth grade campus into another middle school.

CLOVER, S.C. (WBTV) - You can see a lot online and some of it is far removed from the truth.

WBTV is digging deeper tonight into a situation around Clover High School in South Carolina after a rumor made the rounds across social media in the Clover community.

The district says it all started when a video showing an incident in a boy’s bathroom started going around with the words Clover High School superimposed on the video.

District officials say the bathroom in that video was not Clover High School and the students were not Clover School district students. We found out the rumors mixed two very separate stories. The district says parents did the right thing and that when they saw something, this time a potential incident at the high school, they said something to the administration.

”Involve us and come to us and communicate with us. That’s the best line and best way to be proactive,” says spokesperson Bryan Dillon.

The district investigated. Spokesperson Bryan Dillon says administrators searched the school to find out if any areas matched the video. WBTV also found out that administration looped in law enforcement and spoke with students who shared the video.

”At all three layers they found no evidence that this happened at Clover High School,” says Dillon.

I asked the district why it is important to investigate even if the situation doesn’t seem likely in the first place.

”Take the information we receive from parents and treat it as if it is accurate and investigate it thoroughly. And through investigation we can find when something is inaccurate as we did in this case,” he explains.

There was another incident that could have thrown fuel on this rumor fire. York County Sheriff arrested two students for communicating threats to each other on social media. This came after a fight that happened off campus Friday night. By then, Dillon says the investigation into the video was complete.

”We will go through the steps to verify whether something is accurate or not. Just simply taking the word of social media, there are layers to that. Verify things. Take the steps and give the accurate information,” he says.

While the video did not come from this district, further investigation is going on to find out where it did come from

Copyright 2022 WBTV. All rights reserved.

Insurtech company Clover Health is scaling back its participation in the federal government's ACO REACH program.

"We have decided to significantly decrease the total number of participating physicians," said President Andrew Toy during the Q3 earnings call this week.

The move is being done in part to improve the company's medical cost ratio, which for Q3 was 104.2% in the non-insurance segment. Also, there's still unpredictability in the new model, according to Toy. ACO REACH is not yet a statutory program so its rules can change and its rates could get tweaked, he said. Clover still intends to be one of its larger participants.

"ACO Reach is an innovative program and its rules and benchmark rates continue to be adjusted by CMMI (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation), resulting in some amount of unpredictability," said Toy, who is transitioning to the role of CEO now held by Vivek Garipalli. "Given the program environment and the learnings with our participants, we have modified our ACO to target an MCR (medical cost ratio) lower than 100% next year and have made adjustments to the number of physicians participating in the ACO REACH program."

This despite having many new participants for 2023 that would have allowed for substantial program growth, he said.

"We believe this will reduce total attributed lives and revenue managed by our ACO by up to two-thirds," Toy said. "We still expect this business line to have a scale of approximately $1 billion of annual revenue. And importantly, we very much believe these adjustments will result in a sustainable business line with an MCR below 100%," Toy said.

Physicians not admitted to the ACO in 2023 will be supported in their shift from fee-for-service to value-based care through existing programs such as the Medicare Shared Savings Program, which is already statutory with more defined rules, according to Toy.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it had redesigned its Medicare Direct Contracting Model to an Accountable Care Organization model focused on health equity, ACO REACH. The ACO Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (REACH) Model replaces the Global and Professional Direct Contracting (GPDC) Model at the end of this year.

But both models have been controversial because opponents believed it would lead to the privatization of Medicare. In February, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), an organization of 25,000 doctors who support Medicare for All and oppose Medicare privatization, rejected the ACO REACH model, as it did the GPDC.

"ACO REACH is Direct Contracting in disguise," PNHP President Dr. Susan Rogers said at the time.

However, more than 200 healthcare organizations, including Banner Health, felt differently, asking Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to keep the Global and Professional Direct Contracting Model, calling it the premier accountable care model.

In August, CMMI released financial specifications around the new ACO REACH Model and chose 110 provisional members after a reported 18 members withdrew their applications. The ACO REACH model year begins on January 1, 2023 and will run through 2026.

Clover Health said while the decision to reduce the scale of participation in the ACO program is expected to result in a reduction of non-insurance revenue by up to two-thirds, it will still represent $1 billion in revenue.

It is putting the emphasis on profitability through continued improvements in MCR and adjusted EBITDA performance.

"While some uncertainty exists due to typical end-of-year seasonality in medical expenses, as well as the ongoing risk of COVID surges, we are revising our 2022 insurance MCR guidance to reflect our overall improved performance and positive momentum," Toy said. "We now expect a range of 93% to 94%, favorably updated from the previous range of 95% to 99%."

CFO Scott Leffler said looking to 2023, Clover expects the insurance line to continue to grow at above market rates, although somewhat moderated from recent years.

Clover Health has been growing its Medicare Advantage business. In July, it announced an expansion into 13 new counties across three states in 2023: Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Clover earned 3.5 stars in this year's Medicare Advantage star ratings, which means additional revenue for the company.

New MA members typically represent a headwind to MCR as it takes a year or two to comprehensively diagnose health conditions and bring them care management, according to the company. This transition period for new members impacts both MCR and star ratings.

THE LARGER TREND

The new ACO REACH Model requires all participating ACOs to have a robust plan describing how they will meet the needs of people with traditional Medicare in underserved communities and make measurable changes to address health disparities. This includes greater access to enhanced benefits, such as telehealth visits, home care after leaving the hospital, and help with copays, according to CMS.

REACH ACOs can include primary and specialty care physicians.

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The River Hills Lake Wylie EMS station sits just on the edge of the River Hills community, but the station was not always there

LAKE WYLIE, S.C. (WBTV) - River Hills Lake Wylie EMS is one of the few EMS stations in York County not connected to Piedmont Medical Center.

The non-profit station relies on insurance money and donations to stay running.

The River Hills Lake Wylie EMS station sits just on the edge of the River Hills community, but the station was not always there. It was not created until a person had a heart attack playing golf and another had a stroke during a community meeting back in the 1970s.

“In both cases, unfortunately, the people passed away because the closest ambulance at that time was in Clover and that’s a good 20 to 30-minute ride,” says EMS Director Richard Mann.

The neighbors in River Hills, the largest community at the time, got together and decided something needed to be done. The idea for another EMS station in this area was born. It was not until the 1980s that the station opened and started operating. Mann says this EMS station has been helping the community ever since.

At first, the station started out as strictly volunteer no matter what position. But with the area growing, Mann says the calls have increased tenfold and so did the need. According to him, the station started going through insurance to pay for people to work there. However, the station still needed outside help from donations.

”We have one of the fastest-growing communities in the entire state which is the cause for our increased volume,” he says.

This station went from serving one community to serving all of York County and even dipping into Charlotte. So to afford everything they need—gear, equipment, gas, you name it—they mostly rely on the donations of people and organizations in the community. One of those organizations is The River Hills Lake Wylie Lions Club, which is donating $20,000 on Saturday to the station.

”If we didn’t get the donations from the Lion’s Club as well as the local community we could no longer operate,” he says.

Mann says even with the donations the station is just making it by. And to better help the community they need to replace the older ambulances. The older ambulances are not as good to use because of age and the newer ones would allow the station to better serve the community. He says if the state also requires certain medical devices to be inside the ambulances, the station would not be able to afford it.

“We have greater needs than just the donations,” he explains.

Mann says this station and all stations in the county are needed now more than ever. He says the COVID-19 pandemic showed that because so many people needed to be transported to the hospital. However, even still the need is great. He says York County should have more people and more ambulances, not just at River Hills Lake Wylie EMS, but all over the county.

”There aren’t enough ambulances to cover the calls. We go to what we can status two, status one, status zero all too often. What does that mean? It means we have no ambulances available,” he says.

So he is hoping for more donations while being grateful for the ones coming in now.

”It makes you really happy to know that they consider us to be a value to the community,” he says.

Copyright 2022 WBTV. All rights reserved.