Daily Edition for Tuesday, August 8, 2023
Maternity care, EG.5 covid variant, hospital costs, homelessness, opioids, cancer, blood donations, and more are in the news.
What One Lending Company’s Hospital Contracts Reveal About Financing Patient Debt
By Noam N. Levey
Within two years of North Carolina’s public university system going into business with AccessOne to finance patients’ payment plans, nearly half of its patients were in loans that charged interest. As federal scrutiny increases on lenders, California Healthline is sharing that contract and others obtained through public records requests.
Seeking Medicare Coverage for Weight Loss Drugs, Pharma Giant Courts Black Influencers
By Rachana Pradhan
Novo Nordisk, the dominant company in the multibillion-dollar market for weight loss drugs, focuses on Black lawmakers and opinion leaders to spread the message that obesity is a chronic disease that needs treatment.
Amid Lack of Accountability for Bias in Maternity Care, a California Family Seeks Justice
By Sarah Kwon
April Valentine’s family wants to know whether racism could have played a role in her death. A California Healthline analysis shows state regulators are ill-equipped to find discrimination in its many forms.
How the Texas Trial Changed the Story of Abortion Rights in America
By Sarah Varney
Stark, plaintive testimony from women denied abortion care represents the start of “the 50-year fight to get rid of Dobbs,” one historian says.
Daily Edition for Monday, August 7, 2023
Hospital CEO pay, doctor shortages, a cyberattack, mental health, covid, postpartum depression, child vaccinations, and more are in the news.
As Many American Cities Get Hotter, Health Systems Face Off Against Heatstroke
By Drew Hawkins, Gulf States Newsroom
With millions of Americans suffering under relentless heat waves this summer, more people are seeking medical attention for heat-related illnesses. As temperatures get more extreme, hospitals, fire departments, and ambulance crews are preparing to treat more patients for heat exhaustion and heatstroke.
The NIH Ices a Research Project. Is It Self-Censorship?
By Darius Tahir
The National Institutes of Health appeared to be digging into health misinformation. But then the federal agency stepped back. It can’t quite explain why, sometimes even offering contradictory explanations.
As a Union Pushes to Cap Hospital CEO Pay, It’s Accused of Playing Politics
By Molly Castle Work
A union is asking Los Angeles city voters to cap hospital executive pay at the U.S. president’s salary. However, hospitals accuse the union of using the proposal as political leverage, and policy experts question whether the policy, if enacted, would be workable.
Daily Edition for Friday, August 4, 2023
Extreme heat, typhus, insurance, health care personnel, covid, drug shortages, RSV shots, opioids, and more are in the news.
