Category: NPR

The startup Mahmee hopes to help OB-GYNs, pediatricians and other health providers closely monitor a mother and baby’s health so that any red flags can be assessed before they become life-threatening.

Recruiting doctors to come to work in rural hospitals has always been a challenge, especially in a hot job market. But some hospitals in remote areas are finding ways to lure much-needed talent.

The tax on an employer’s generous health plan — originally envisioned as a way to get patients to avoid unneeded care — has never been implemented. Now Congress is considering a bipartisan repeal.

Officials in the New Jersey city began to hand out water bottles this week after the Environmental Protection Agency said filtered drinking water samples exceeded government thresholds on lead levels.

It can be hard enough finding a doctor who prescribes buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid addiction. But patients also report difficulty with pharmacies that refuse to stock the drug.

A day camp in Nashville uses “constraint-induced therapy” to help kids who have physical weakness on one side — often because of a stroke or cerebral palsy — gain strength and independence.

Critics worry the administration’s delays come at a steep cost: Medicare is continuing to pay for millions of unnecessary exams and patients are being subjected to radiation for no medical benefit.

Congress has told the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention not to “advocate or promote gun control.” That directive complicates the public health agency’s efforts to prevent suicide.

The snakebite antivenin CroFab, on the U.S. market since 2000, now faces competition from a drug called Anavip. But both are expensive. “Perverse incentives” keep prices high, says one legal scholar.

Tennessee’s innovative Medicaid program is offering bonuses to mental health providers who help make sure their Medicaid patients get preventive help and treatment for physical ailments too.