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When patients with sickle cell disease have a health crisis ā crescent-shaped red blood cells blocking blood flow ā their condition can quickly lead to a fatal stroke or infection. But, despite efforts to educate doctors, research shows that patients are waiting hours in ERs and are often denied pain medication.
School nurses treat children daily for a wide range of illnesses and injuries, and sometimes serve as a young patientās only health provider. They also function as a point person for critical public health interventions. Yet many states donāt require them, and school districts struggle to hire them.
Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart leads a discussion about the role women play as California grapples with a shortage of health care providers.
Flu, covid, and respiratory viruses kill thousands of Americans each year, but the latest batch of vaccines could save lives.
A bitterly divided Congress managed to keep the federal government running for several more weeks, while House Republicans struggle ā again ā to choose a leader. Meanwhile, many people removed from state Medicaid rolls are not finding their way to Affordable Care Act insurance, and a major investigation by The Washington Post attributes the decline in U.S. life expectancy to more than covid-19 and opioids. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Victoria Knight of Axios, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews physician-author-playwright Samuel Shem about āOur Hospital,ā his new novel about the health workforce in the age of covid.
California is the first state to ban the controversial diagnosis known as āexcited delirium,ā which has been used increasingly to justify excessive force by law enforcement. A human rights advocate described the law, signed this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom, as a āwatershed momentā in criminal justice.
A new rule sets specific treatment metrics for suspected sepsis cases in an effort to reduce deaths, but some experts say the measures could add to antibiotic overuse and need to be more flexible.
In a torrent of lawsuits, patients accuse Florida device maker Exactech of hiding knee and hip implant defects for years. The company denies the allegations.
Teresa Johnson has been in extreme pain for more than a year after what she believes was a severe allergic reaction to iodine. Her Medi-Cal plan approved her referral to a specialist, but it took her numerous phone calls, multiple complaints, and several months to book an appointment.
Many women, especially Black women, have reported discrimination in maternity care, but expectant mothers lack tools to see where this happens. Funding and regulations to measure disparities have been slow in arriving, but some innovators are trying to fill the void.
Former President Donald Trump, whoās running for another term in the White House, recently blamed drug shortages on his successor, President Joe Biden. Our findings donāt align with Trumpās claims; by some measures, drug shortages increased more on Trumpās watch than on Bidenās.
Dollar Generalās pilot mobile clinic program has been touted by company officials, rural health experts, and analysts as a model that could help solve rural Americaās primary care shortage. But its Tennessee launch has been met with local skepticism.
Mississippi has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the U.S. Now, it also has a federal grant to help in rural areas. The award could signal more flexibility from federal officials.
Ballad Health, the only hospital system across a large swath of Tennessee and Virginia, has fallen short of quality-of-care and charity care obligations ā even as itās sued thousands of patients for unpaid bills.
Increasingly, hospitals are merging across separate markets within states. Itās a move that health economists and the Federal Trade Commission have been closely watching, as evidence shows such mergers raise prices for patients with no improvement in care.
As more seniors opt for Medicare Advantage, a few small insurers have begun offering plans that provide culturally targeted benefits for cohorts including Asian Americans, Latinos, and LGBTQ+ people. The approach, policy researchers say, has potential and perils.
At least 30 states are reinstating coverage for children wrongly removed from the rolls under Medicaid redetermination, the federal government reported. Itās just the latest hiccup in the massive effort to review the eligibility of Medicaid beneficiaries now that the programās pandemic-era expansion has expired. And federal oversight of the so-called unwinding would be further complicated by an impending government shutdown. Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of Pink Sheet join Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health Newsā Samantha Liss, who reported and wrote the latest Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News-NPR āBill of the Monthā feature, about a hospital bill that followed a deceased patientās family for more than a year.
āPeople want covid-19 to be in the rearview mirror,ā one nursing home official says. Faced with a slow rollout of the updated covid vaccines, and without state mandates for workers to get vaccinated, most skilled nursing facilities are relying on persuasion to boost vaccination rates among staff and residents.
A report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services raises troubling questions about the use of powerful medications within Floridaās child welfare system and the risk of overdoses or dangerous side effects if children are given the wrong combination of drugs.
Both sides, still at loggerheads over pay and staffing, agreed to keep bargaining after unions announced a possible strike Oct. 4-7. If no deal is reached, a walkout by about 75,000 KP workers in five states could disrupt care.
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