By Sarah Jane Tribble – There are many reasons labor and delivery units close, including high operating costs, declining populations, low Medicaid reimbursement rates, and staffing shortages. Family medicine physicians still provide the majority of labor and delivery care in rural America, but few new doctors…
From KFF Health News – Their latest podcast, What the Health, Even without covid dominating the headlines, 2023 was a busy year for health policy. The ever-rising cost of health care remained an issue plaguing patients and policymakers alike, while millions of Americans lost insurance coverage as states redetermined eligibility for their Medicaid programs in the wake of the public health emergency.
By Samantha Liss – Jasen Gundersen never considered a career in business when he entered medical school nearly three decades ago to become a rural primary care doctor. But, today, he isn’t working in rural America and he doesn’t do primary care. In fact, he no longer practices medicine at all.
From KFF News Network – Their latest podcast, ‘An Arm And A Leg’, This week, In 2019, emergency medicine physician and historian Luke Messac was working as a medical resident. He had heard about hospitals suing their own patients over unpaid medical bills, so he decided to investigate whether the hospitals where he worked were doing the same.
By Céline Gounder – Rahima Banu, a toddler in rural Bangladesh, was the last person in the world known to contract variola major, the deadly form of smallpox, through natural infection. In October 1975, after World Health Organization epidemiologists learned of her infection, health workers vaccinated those around her, putting an end to variola major transmission around the world.
By Colleen DeGuzman – Jodi Bobbitt, the school nurse at William Ramsay Elementary in Alexandria, Virginia, is always ready to see children with a wide range of injuries and illnesses. One day during the first week of school, the parade started before the first bell when a little girl walked in with red, irritated eyes. Then it got busy.
From KFF Health News – Their latest podcast, What the Health, Host and chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner leads a rare conversation with the current and two former secretaries of Health and Human Services.
From KFF Health News – Their latest podcast, What the Health, The annual U.S. Census Bureau report recently revealed a drop in the uninsured rate last year as more working-age people obtained employer coverage. However, this year’s end of pandemic-era protections — which allowed many people to stay on Medicaid — is likely to have changed that picture quite a bit since.
The thought leaders in our community are good about sharing their thoughts on the issues of today. Here are the top read and shared guest posts of September that we think deserve sharing again.
By Andrew Leonard – As a fourth-year ophthalmology resident at Emory University School of Medicine, Riley Lyons’ biggest responsibilities include triage: When a patient comes in with an eye-related complaint, Lyons must make an immediate assessment of its urgency.
From KFF Health News – Their latest podcast, What the Health, In this special episode, host Julie Rovner, KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, interviews three noted health policy experts.
From KFF News Network – Their latest podcast, ‘An Arm And A Leg’, This week, How did three siblings who took identical ambulance rides (from the same car wreck to the same hospital) end up with three wildly different bills? The answer lies in the No Surprises Act.