By Arielle Zionts – Rural hospital leaders are questioning whether they can continue to afford to do business with Medicare Advantage companies, and some say the only way to maintain services and protect patients is to end their contracts with the private insurers.
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By Amy Maxmen – “CDC right now is not reporting influenza data through the WHO global platforms, FluNet [and] FluID, that they’ve been providing information [on] for many, many years,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO.
By Daniel Chang – According to a Florida Department of Health report, doctor shortages affect all or part of nearly every county, but less populous counties, such as Gadsden, where Havana is located, have the fewest physicians per 10,000 residents.
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 January that we think deserve sharing again.
By Amy Maxmen – For decades, the United States has held considerable power in determining the direction of global health policies and programs. President Donald Trump issued three executive orders on his first day in office that may signal the end of that era, health policy experts said.
By Arthur Allen – In recent years, the opaque business practices of PBMs have drawn fire. The Federal Trade Commission is conducting a lengthy investigation of the three biggest companies and sued them in September, accusing the firms of driving up insulin prices.
By Amy Maxmen – Keith Poulsen’s jaw dropped when farmers showed him images on their cellphones at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin in October. A livestock veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin, Poulsen had seen sick cows before, with their noses dripping and udders slack.
By Martha Bebinger – Anna Goldman, a primary care physician at Boston Medical Center, got tired of hearing that her patients couldn’t afford the electricity needed to run breathing assistance machines, recharge wheelchairs, turn on air conditioning, or keep their refrigerators plugged in. So she worked with her hospital on a solution.
By Jackie Fortier – Hospitals around the country are conserving critical intravenous fluid supplies to cope with a shortage that may last months. Some hospital administrators say they are changing how they think about IV fluid hydration altogether.