Value-based care has become a buzzword over the past decade with early experiments in Massachusetts, followed by creating Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) as part of the Affordable Care Act. As commercial insurers jumped onto this bandwag…
Due to COVID-19, hospitals were forced to reevaluate and rework systems and processes that had been around for decades. From managing the increasing demands for testing and treating patients with the coronavirus to acquiring necessary medical equipment…
A patient of mine (who was also a friend) reached out recently to say the cost of one of his essential medications had increased to a $300 monthly out-of-pocket expense. As an independent musician, he did not get his health care through an employer. Th…
Modern-day discrimination still has elements of slavery, segregation, and inaccurate assumptions about people of color. Just last month, a Texas high school principal sent a letter to parents explaining her dismay about a recent racist act where studen…
The 500,000 COVID-19 related deaths reflect our nation’s failure to reduce and prevent public health crises. As COVID-19 rampaged across the globe, several research teams raced to develop a vaccine, a technology that humanity has relied on for decades …
The beer bottle that cracked over Christian Pean’s head unleashed rivulets of blood that ran down his face and seeped into the soil in which Harold and Paloma Pean were growing their three boys. At the time, Christian was a confident high school studen…
Last summer, Anna Ramsey suffered a flare-up of juvenile dermatomyositis, a rare autoimmune condition, posing a terrifying prospect for the Los Angeles resident: She might have to undergo chemotherapy, further compromising her immune system during a pa…
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) signed into law by President Biden on March 11 provides direct relief to those impacted by COVID-19. Additionally, it could benefit low-income pregnant and postpartum individuals. The ARPA includes prov…
During my psychiatric residency, I had the good fortune to train with a number of public and administrative psychiatrists. These individuals focused their attention on the care of the severely ill and the underserved and understood the systems of care …
An excerpt from The Hospital: Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town. Marc Tingle and his daughter, Summer, stood in a bathroom they were tearing apart over in Fayette in Fulton County. They had a problem: taking a cast-iron bathtub out of a…
