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Despite years of national strategies to address the suicide crisis in the U.S., rates continue to rise. A chorus of researchers and experts say the interventions will work ā but that theyāre simply not being adopted by state and local governments.
Clashes between residents ā verbal, physical, and sexual ā can be spontaneous and too unpredictable to prevent. But the chance of an altercation increases when memory care homes admit and retain residents they canāt manage, according to a Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News examination of inspection and court records and interviews with researchers.
For more than 20 years, children in Arkansas have been measured in school as part of a statewide effort to reduce childhood obesity. But the letters have had no impact on weight loss ā and obesity rates have risen. Still, the practice of sending letters has spread to other states.
More doctors are integrating oral health care into their practices, filling a need in Americaās dental deserts.
A 25-year-old state Supreme Court ruling protects abortion rights in conservative Montana. That hasnāt stopped Republicans and anti-abortion advocates from trying to institute a ban.
A recent report finds half of Americaās rural hospitals are losing money, and many are struggling to stay open. Researchers and advocates worry the hospitalsā financial spiral will have immediate and long-term health effects on their communities.
Doctors, patients, and hospitals have railed for years about the prior authorization processes that health insurers use to decide whether theyāll pay for patientsā drugs or medical procedures. The Biden administration announced a crackdown in January, but some state lawmakers are looking to go further.
States and counties look to expand programs that accept donations of unused surplus drugs from places like nursing homes and hospitals and redistribute them to low-income and uninsured residents.
The federal government requires state Medicaid programs to pay for abortions in limited circumstances, but Iowa hasnāt done so for years. No providers seek Medicaid payments, which require the approval of the governor, an anti-abortion Republican.
Safe storage maps show gun owners where to put their firearms for safekeeping if they experience a mental health crisis. The idea has support among some gun enthusiasts, but legal obstacles threaten wider adoption.
Amid a years-long rise in maternal mortality rates in the United States, Idaho lawmakers decided to disband a committee created to investigate pregnancy-related deaths.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra is asking states to make more of an effort to keep eligible Medicaid recipients enrolled. He particularly fears children losing health insurance coverage.
Montana, Alaska, Mississippi, Missouri, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming are among the latest states moving to provide health coverage for up to a year after pregnancy through the federal-state health insurance program for low-income people.
Community paramedicine is expanding nationwide, including in rural areas, as health care providers, insurers, and state governments recognize its potential to improve health and save money.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed federal protections for abortions, medical providers in conservative-led states have been fighting legal and political battles ā as well as escalating threats from the anti-abortion movement.
The bill, modeled on laws in North Dakota and Wyoming, is opposed by doctors who say it would let physician assistants practice outside the scope of their training.
Since 2017, Medicaid expansion has been adopted in seven states where a question was placed directly on the ballot. But campaign leaders say that strategy may not work in Florida and Wyoming, where Republican opposition remains strong.
Fifteen states havenāt moved to extend Medicaid coverage for new moms beyond the minimum of 60 days after birth. But at least four of those holdout states ā Montana, Wyoming, Missouri, and Mississippi ā are expected to consider proposals to extend coverage in their upcoming legislative sessions.
Only a sliver of the funding given to state, local, and tribal governments through the American Rescue Plan Act has been steered to mental health nationwide, but mental health advocates and clinicians hope the money it provides will help address gaps in care for children. In Appalachian Ohio, the funding is helping expand services.
Low-income residents in states that havenāt expanded Medicaid are in a tough spot: They donāt qualify for the subsidies that people with slightly higher incomes get to buy marketplace plans because of a glitch in the federal health law. But a court decision last year makes it easier for them to make good-faith estimates of a pay increase, and there is no financial penalty if they donāt hit that figure.
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