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Section: Disparities

Hurricane Florence Will Leave Health Dangers Behind

Although Florence has decreased from a powerful hurricane to a tropical depression, its effects could still spread potentially life-threatening diseases and illnesses. The Department of Health and Human Services declared public health emergencies in the Carolinas as well as Virginia last week. Read More

September 19, 2018

The ‘Mona Lisa’ Allure: Could It Be the Result of Thyroid Disease?

Mona Lisa’s smile is often described as enigmatic, but could the mysterious allure of this iconic painting actually be due to an underlying illness in “Lisa” herself? At least one doctor thinks so. In a Letter to the Editor in the September issue of the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, a cardiologist and his colleague take […]

September 17, 2018

Disparities Among Preemies May Be Wider Than Thought

A new study suggests that black and Hispanic premature babies, compared with white premature babies, had a two- to four-fold increased risk of four severe neonatal health problems. Those health problems included necrotizing enterocolitis, which impacts tissue in the intestine, and intraventricular hemorrhage, which is bleeding in certain areas of the brain, both of which […]

September 17, 2018

Campaign Launches LGBTQ Health Survey

The Campaign for Southern Equality has launched a Southern LGBTQ Health Survey in order to better understand the health care needs of LGBTQ Southerners. The survey data will be made publicly available and will serve as a valuable resource for the LGBTQ community, researchers, and public health advocates. In the three weeks since the survey […]

September 12, 2018

Audit: 2 V.A. Health Contractors Got $100M in Overpayments

Two major healthcare contractors who serve the federal government’s Veterans Choice Program received more than $100 million in overpayments during 2016-2017 due to double billing and other mistakes. This information was discovered during an audit by the VA Office of Inspector General and released on Thursday. The report on the audit said: “Because of ineffective […]

September 12, 2018

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California’s Large Minority Population Factor In Low Death Rate

High poverty rates, low education and lack of insurance are all social determinants that are expected to lead to high mortality rates and negative health outcomes. Despite a 62 percent minority population with these characteristics in California, the state’s health profile was significantly better than the nation’s as a whole, researchers report in a new […]

September 12, 2018

California Lawmakers: Stop Dumping Homeless Patients

Here’s an interesting problem. The California Legislature is trying to do something about what it calls “patient dumping.” By that it means the hospital practice of discharging non-paying homeless patients out into the world without any means to take care of themselves. As far as I know the bill hasn’t yet been signed by the […]

September 10, 2018

Summer Program Inspires Youth to Serve in Healthcare

Local underrepresented minority high school students were inspired to achieve more and serve others after participating in an immersive two-week learning experience through Loma Linda University Health’s Summer Gateway program. Summer Gateway aims to create positive attitudes toward healthcare professions among high school students through presentations, activities and service opportunities. Read More

September 10, 2018

Native American Veterans Gather at Clinic to Honor Service

Michael Sebastian grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation, and after serving for more than 22 years in the U.S. military – including three tours of duty in Iraq – he was pulled back, he said, by a need to help his community. “I thought I could repay those debts that I owed,” he said. […]

September 10, 2018

Doctors Explore Lifting Barriers for Living Organ Donors

WASHINGTON — Surgeons turned down Terra Goudge for the liver transplant that was her only shot at surviving a rare cancer. Her tumor was too advanced, they said — even though Goudge had a friend ready to donate, no matter those odds. “I have a living donor. I’m not taking away from anyone. I’m trying […]

September 10, 2018

Lawmakers Tour Arapaho-Run Clinic

Legislators learned about innovations at the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s health clinic when they gathered in Fort Washakie for a tribal relations committee meeting this week. The tribe took over its health clinic from the federal government back in 2016 in hopes of addressing health disparities they struggle with among their members. Read More

September 5, 2018

17 Health Care Systems Launch Project for Underserved

Seventeen health systems, encompassing 280 hospitals—5 percent of the hospitals in the country—have come together to figure out financially sustainable solutions to the problem of how to improve health care for underserved people and their families. Read More

September 5, 2018

Summer Program Stirs Students to Action on Environment

The number of Dearborn students becoming involved in more activism and learning development committees is increasing each year and the Environmental Health Research-to-Action (EHRA) Academy under Healthy Dearborn has empowered Dearborn high school and college preparatory students to take action in the health concerns facing Dearborn’s Southend. Developed by two U of M-Dearborn faculty members, […]

September 5, 2018

Yale Launches Minority Healthcare Fellowship

The Yale School of Management next year will launch the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Leadership, a program that aims to equip health care practitioners with the leadership and managerial skills required to address inequities in the U.S. health care system. Read More

September 5, 2018

Massachusetts Mandates Fresh Approach to Alzheimer’s

BOSTON — A new state law aims to change the way Alzheimer’s Disease diagnoses and treatment are handled in Massachusetts in hopes of addressing what one advocate said is currently the “single largest unaddressed public health threat.” Read More

September 3, 2018

Teens Work to Erase Stigma Surrounding Mental Health

For years, taking care of mental health has been important to Hickman High School juniors Erin Robinson and Alyssa Adolph. They have attended therapy since middle school. They have made connections with mental health professionals at Columbia’s Family Access Center of Excellence. Now, they are sharing their expertise through their startup company, Grey Matter. Read […]

September 3, 2018

Medicaid Expansion Reduces Cancer Disparities

The expansion of Medicaid may mitigate health disparities in cancer diagnosis, according to a recent study that found state variation in reductions in the percentage of uninsured patients aged 18 to 64 years diagnosed with cancer. The researchers said that the results have implications for future disparities in state mortality rates, because health insurance coverage […]

September 3, 2018

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Experts Denounce Denial of Ebola Vaccine to Pregnant Women

The exclusion of pregnant and lactating women from an effort to vaccinate people exposed to the Ebola virus in the current outbreak is wrong, indefensible, and should be reversed, three public health experts wrote Monday in an opinion article published in STAT. The Johns Hopkins University experts argued it is unfair to deny pregnant and […]

August 29, 2018