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Dozens of unqualified Florida doctors applied for emergency licenses in Alaska this year and a Chile-based company intentionally tried to recruit at least some of them, according to an ongoing investigation conducted at the request of the Alaska State Medical Board. The board that polices the state’s medical providers is expected to reevaluate the emergency licensing process in the coming months to address any potential for problems. Fourteen of the unqualified doctors actually got licensed, though none practiced medicine in person or via telehealth before the oversight was discovered, state officials say. While looking into the situation surrounding the Florida doctors, investigators also realized the Chilean company was trying to get doctors to Alaska by intentionally recruiting unqualified physicians and asking them to pay additional fees to get licensed, officials say. (Hollander, 10/29)

The state-funded contracts of over 900 health care workers brought in by Mississippi's governor to support overcrowded and understaffed hospitals during the Delta surge of COVID-19 will expire Sunday. Gov. Tate Reeves in late August requested over 1,000 health care workers to bolster care at Mississippi hospitals, which were inundated with COVID-19 cases and short-staffed. Malary White, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesperson, said Friday the number of contracted health care workers peaked in September as the Delta variant raged across the state. Since then, staffing needs in Mississippi hospitals have declined as COVID-19 cases have dropped, she said. (Haselhorst, 10/30)

In short breaks throughout her work shift, Donna Cranford will find time to sort through stacks of patient files towering over her nursing station cubicle. The stacks grow as the day goes on at the Preston Medical Associates’ busy nursing station. She makes mental notes of the million and one tasks she needs to do. The light on the office phone won’t stop blinking red with unanswered voicemails and calls. It is difficult to attend to menial paperwork when you have dozens of patients to see. “There’s always something that can happen in the clinic that’s going to deviate you from that,” Cranford said. (Perez-Moreno, 10/30)

KHN: Journalists Explore Shadow Pandemics Of Hospital Violence And Grieving Children

KHN Midwest correspondent Bram Sable-Smith discussed how the pandemic has exacerbated violence in hospitals on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “The Morning Show” on Wednesday. (10/30)

More than 21% of first-year students last year at medical schools in the state were from diverse backgrounds, according to a new report by the Associated Medical Schools of New York. The consortium, a nonprofit that represents the state’s 17 public and private medical schools, said it was the first time the rate exceeded 20% since it has been tracked. The statistic captures the share of medical students who come from groups underrepresented in medicine, meaning they identify as American Indian or Alaskan native, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or a combination. (Kaufman, 10/29)