Needle Pain Is a Big Problem for Kids. One California Doctor Has a Plan.
By April Dembosky, KQED
The pain and trauma from repeated needle sticks leads some kids to hold on to needle phobia into adulthood. Research shows the biggest source of pain for children in the health care system is needles. But one doctor thinks he has a solution and is putting it into practice at two children’s hospitals in Northern California.
How National Political Ambition Could Fuel, or Fail, Initiatives to Protect Abortion Rights in States
By Bram Sable-Smith and Rachana Pradhan
As money flows to abortion rights initiatives in states, some donors focus on where anger over the “Dobbs” ruling could propel voter turnout and spur Democratic victories up and down the ballot, including in key Senate races and the White House.
Health Workers Fear It’s Profits Before Protection as CDC Revisits Airborne Transmission
By Amy Maxmen
Four years since the covid pandemic emerged, health care workers want rules that protect them during outbreaks. They worry the CDC is repeating past mistakes as it develops a crucial set of guidelines for hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, and other facilities that provide health care.
Daily Edition for Monday, March 18, 2024
Mental health staffing, Proposition 1, Match Day, measles, covid misinfo, women’s health, psychedelic drugs, and more are in the news.
As More States Target Disavowed ‘Excited Delirium’ Diagnosis, Police Groups Push Back
By Renuka Rayasam
After California passed the first law in the nation to limit the disavowed term “excited delirium,” bills in other states are being introduced to help end use of the diagnosis. But momentum is being met with resistance from law enforcement and first responder groups, who cite free speech.
Covid and Medicare Payments Spark Remote Patient Monitoring Boom
By Phil Galewitz and Holly K. Hacker
Demand for help monitoring patients’ vital signs remotely has taken off since a Medicare change in 2019. Dozens of companies now push the service to help overburdened primary care doctors — and as a revenue stream. But some policy experts say its growth has outpaced oversight and evidence of effectiveness.
Amid Mental Health Staffing Crunch, Medi-Cal Patients Help One Another
By Indira Khera
Peer leaders can help ease the shortage of mental health providers and build trust through shared experiences, state health officials say. In 2022, California started allowing counties to use Medicaid dollars to pay them for their work.
Daily Edition for Friday, March 15, 2024
Measles, fentanyl, long covid, homelessness, teen pregnancy, insurance networks, PBM reforms, and more are in the news.
A New Orleans Neighborhood Confronts the Racist Legacy of a Toxic Stretch of Highway
By Drew Hawkins, Gulf States Newsroom
New federal funds aim to address an array of problems created by highway construction in minority neighborhoods. These are economic, social, and, perhaps above all, public health problems. In New Orleans’ Treme neighborhood, competing plans for how to deal with harm done by the Claiborne Expressway reveal the challenge of how to mitigate them meaningfully.
How Your In-Network Health Coverage Can Vanish Before You Know It
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
One of the most unfair aspects of medical insurance is this: Patients can change insurance only during end-of-year enrollment periods or at the time of “qualifying life events.” But insurers’ contracts with doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies can change abruptly at any time.
