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Company aims to buy and restore struggling rural hospitals in Tennessee

Mar 24, 2022
For rural communities, a key question: Can a new company that is taking over ownership restore confidence in the care the local hospital provides?
Kyle Kopec uses his phone to illuminate a cabinet of medical supplies in the shuttered Decatur County General Hospital. His company, Braden Health, is taking over the facility with a pledge to invest $2 million to reopen it.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News

Pandemic price gouging complaints raise staff tensions with traveling nurses

Feb 15, 2022
Hospitals say that staffing agencies charge too much for providing traveling nurses. The nurses say they're the ones doing the heavy lifting.
Talk of pay caps and price gouging are concerning travel nurses, who say they’re the ones doing the hard work of caring for critically ill COVID patients.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News

Shift to health services shows signs of success for big pharmacy chains

Feb 9, 2022
CVS has found a positive side effect of providing vaccines — increased retail sales. But what happens when vaccinations slow down?
Pharmacies like CVS have seen varied buying patterns during the pandemic, but providing COVID testing and vaccinations has brought more consumers into the stores.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Nashville VC fund invests in health startups led by Black entrepreneurs

Jan 27, 2022
One goal is to address inequities in health care, and to help make sure those inequities don't get worse as medicine relies more on big data.
Entrepreneur Marcus Whitney, left, interviews former HCA CEO Milton Johnson during Whitney's Health:Further conference in Nashville, which ran from 2015 to 2019.
Melissa Madison/Courtesy Health:Further

Labor Department outlines unlawful imbalance in coverage between mental, physical care services

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said the department will ramp up legal enforcement: “We need to make sure people are covered.”
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said the department will ramp up legal enforcement: “We need to make sure people are covered.”
Graeme Jennings/AFP/Getty Images

Share your story: Have you experienced a health parity violation?

Jan 24, 2022
The Department of Labor's parity report finds that mental health care is treated unfairly by insurers.
Some people may forgo mental health services because they're too pricey — even with health insurance.
PeopleImages/Getty Images

Hospitals try to manage omicron surge along with staff shortages

Jan 10, 2022
Many U.S. hospitals report being critically short-staffed. Some are reducing beds and services or bringing back infected workers.
With more hospitals critically understaffed during the omicron surge, some have had to reduce bed capacity or defer elective procedures.
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

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Omicron is straining medical supply chains and this small practice

Jan 5, 2022
A rural family physician discusses shortages of medications, hospital staff and beds for COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Scott Anazalone at his independent medical practice in Logan, Ohio, in 2019. As the only independent family doctor in the area, he says demand for his services outstrips supply.
Cassidy Brauner

Ban on surprise medical bills goes into effect

Jan 4, 2022
The No Surprises Act, which Congress passed more than a year ago, went into effect Jan. 1. It makes many surprise medical bills illegal.
Before Jan. 1, an emergency trip to an out-of-network hospital may have resulted in bills not covered by insurance; even in-network hospitals with out-of-network providers could result in surprise bills.
fizkes via Getty Images

Could paid family caregivers alleviate the home health worker shortage?

Jan 3, 2022
Medicaid sometimes pays family members to provide in-home care for relatives. But the programs vary from state to state.
Jessica Aviles performs a mock examination of a patient on her last day of class at LNA Health Careers in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Alli Fam