President Trump’s proposed budget calls for steep cuts to health and human services programs. The biggest headlines highlight potential dramatic slashes to Medicaid, food stamps and the children’s health insurance program.
With so many higher profile programs at risk, reductions in spending for health IT initiatives can seem like small potatoes. But these cuts, if approved by Congress, would have consequences in communities large and small. A few examples: Continue reading
Photo: Army Medicine via Flickr
Can technology save us? It’s among several questions on a lot of people’s minds these days. Can technology save us from rising health costs? Can technology save Medicare by reducing costs to the program? Can technology help our veterans gain better access to care? Can technology help people take control of their health decisions?
At the same time, criticism of technology has grown in the aftermath of a presidential election that shocked many. Continue reading
David Shulkin, undersecretary for Health at the Department of Veterans Affairs, spoke to Health Journalism 2016 attendees.
In a conversation with Renee Montagne on Morning Edition last week, David Shulkin, undersecretary for Health at the Department of Veterans Affairs, gave an update on the VA two years after a cover-up about long wait times made the news.
Shulkin was a Spotlight Speaker who gave a news briefing at Health Journalism 2016 in Cleveland, where he told journalists that same-day appointments were now available for veterans at some centers and would be available at all of them by the end of this year. Continue reading
Photo: Susan Heavey/AHCJDr. Joseph Calabrese spoke at Health Journalism 2016 about veterans health issues.
The irony was hard not to notice.
For more than an hour, an expert panel addressed a roomful of journalists at AHCJ’s annual Health Journalism 2016 on health barriers for military veterans.
An important one appears to be a reluctance among vets to talk about certain health problems, especially those seen as potentially stigmatizing.
Yet there we were talking about it: trauma. post-traumatic stress disorder, depression. Continue reading
Photo: National Academy of SciencesC-123 planes were used to spray herbicides, including Agent Orange, during Operation Ranch Hand in Vietnam.
ProPublica’s Charles Ornstein and Terry Parris Jr., with The Virginian-Pilot’s Mike Hixenbaugh, have been covering the impact of Agent Orange on Vietnam veterans and their efforts to get health coverage for conditions they believe are linked to their exposure to the herbicides. “Reliving Agent Orange” finds that many are still fighting to get coverage for themselves and their children. Continue reading
Photo: Len Bruzzese/AHCJDavid J. Shulkin spoke at Health Journalism 2016, pointing out some of the agencies successes.
David Shulkin, M.D., undersecretary of health for the Department of Veterans Affairs, faced two challenges at his Newsmaker Briefing on Friday morning.
He had to compete with a free breakfast buffet with fruit, eggs, bacon, ham, pastries, oatmeal, potatoes and more (thanks, Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation).
And there was this page-one, above-the-fold headline in USA Today: “VA bosses falsified veterans’ wait times.” Continue reading