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Inside the battle for the future of addiction medicine
NEW ORLEANS — Elyse Stevens had a reputation for taking on complex medical cases. People who’d been battling addiction for decades. Chronic-pain patients on high doses of opioids. Sex workers and people living on the street.
“Many of my patients are messy, the ones that don’t know if they want to stop using drugs or not,” said Stevens...Read more
Ask the Pediatrician: How to talk with your teen about drugs an alcohol: What I tell every parent
After years of talking with teens and their parents about substance use, here's the single most important thing I've learned: Connection matters more than control.
I hear it from parents all the time: "I'm scared my teen might be using drugs, but I don't know how to bring it up." These fears are valid.
Although most teens don’t use drugs or...Read more
5 tips -- and dishes -- to get your new year off to a healthy start
A new year is often challenging. Despite knowing we should throw out old, bad habits along with the New Year's Eve party favors, change is hard.
Many of us eat more than we should. Yet nothing changes for the better — especially in terms of health — when we keep eating those bad-for-us-but-tasty processed junk foods that are high in sugar, ...Read more
Protecting your child from the repercussions of concussions
About 70% of emergency department visits for sports and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and concussions are among children ages 17 and younger! The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the sports with the most concussions are (ranked 1-10): boys tackle football, girls soccer, boys lacrosse, boys ice hockey, ...Read more
Understanding The Relationship Between HRT And UTIs
DEAR DR ROACH: In a recent column, you wrote that hormone replacement therapy should be considered in elderly women to prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs) by stopping bacteria from getting into the bladder in the first place. How does this work? Which is better: pills or vaginal creams? Isn't hormone replacement in postmenopausal women ...Read more
Colorado's getting $1 billion to 'transform' rural health care. But hospitals aren't thrilled with the state's plan.
Colorado will receive about $1 billion in federal funding to reshape rural health care over the next five years, but hospital CEOs aren’t happy with the state’s plan to spend the money.
Last year’s H.R. 1 — also known as the “big beautiful bill” — allocated $50 billion for the federal Rural Health Transformation Program over five ...Read more
Iowa doesn't have enough OB-GYNs. The state's abortion ban might be making it worse
Jonna Quinn was initially thrilled when she got her first job after her medical residency, working as an OB-GYN in Mason City, Iowa. It was less than two hours down the road from West Bend, where she grew up on a farm.
But the hospital started restricting certain birth control options and fertility treatments based on its affiliation with the ...Read more
Bird flu confirmed in Massachusetts, as backyard chickens killed
BOSTON — The circulating bird flu has been confirmed in the Bay State, as agricultural officials report that backyard chickens tested positive for the disease and were killed.
The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and its partner agencies “safely depopulated and disposed” of a backyard flock of chickens due to the ...Read more
Judge finds illegal language in Michigan health department's proposal to restructure state mental health services
DETROIT — A Michigan Court of Claims judge has found that the language in the state health department's attempt to possibly privatize community health agencies violates Michigan's mental health code.
Two lawsuits were filed in August by three regional entities that manage mental health, substance abuse and disability care — called Prepaid ...Read more
To knock down health-system hurdles between you and HIV prevention, try these 6 things
When Matthew Hurley was looking to take PrEP to prevent HIV, the doctor hadn’t heard of the medicine, and when he finally did prescribe PrEP, the bills sent to Hurley were expensive … and wrong. “I decided to write in because the process was really super frustrating.” At one point, Hurley asked, “Am I just going to stop this medication...Read more
Eating Whole Fruits Is Healthier Than Drinking Juice
DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a generally healthy 70-year-old man, and I like to drink orange juice -- the kind that is freshly squeezed with no additives but is pasteurized. I also like to eat strawberries almost every day. My recent A1C and glucose levels were 6% and 110 mg/dL, respectively. My prior year readings were 5.5% and 100 mg/dL.
I've read ...Read more
The lowdown on the high risks of saturated fats
Almost 64% of Americans are at risk for cardiovascular disease -- and many more are headed in that direction. Overall, around 35% of folks are living with one risk factor, such as high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, Type 2 diabetes, inactivity, overweight or obesity, poor nutrition, and excessive alcohol intake. And another 29% have two or ...Read more
House votes to renew Obamacare subsidies in blow to GOP leaders
WASHINGTON — A band of House Republicans bucked party leaders to join Democrats in passing a measure to restore expired Obamacare subsidies through the end of President Donald Trump’s term, as rising health care costs drive midterm election anxieties.
The House voted 230-196 Thursday to send a three-year extension of the expired tax credits...Read more
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick criticizes Speaker Johnson as Pa. swing district Republicans join Democrats in ACA subsidies vote
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick accused some of his Republican colleagues of being “intellectually dishonest” about the Affordable Care Act, hours before he and other Republicans broke party lines to pass a bill to restore recently expired healthcare subsidies.
The Democratic-led bill passed the House by a vote of 230 to 196 after Fitzpatrick ...Read more
Flu surge hits Kansas City as hospitalizations climb. It hasn't yet peaked, doctors warn
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Flu cases are surging in Kansas City and more people are hospitalized with the virus this year, mirroring a nationwide uptick, medical staff at the University of Kansas Medical Center said Thursday.
According to chief medical officers in the health system, KU Med’s hospitals are facing operational challenges with high ...Read more
Minnesota backs full pediatric vaccine schedule, breaking with CDC
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota is continuing to urge shots that protect children against 17 infectious diseases, despite a federal recommendation last week that cut the number to 11.
It’s rare for state health officials to break with federal vaccine guidance, but Thursday’s decision aligned Minnesota with professional medical organizations such ...Read more
Advertisements promising patients a 'dream body' with minimal risk get little scrutiny
Lenia Watson-Burton, a 37-year-old U.S. Navy administrator, expected that cosmetic surgery would get rid of stubborn fat quickly and easily — just as the web advertising promised.
Instead, she died three days after a liposuction-like procedure called AirSculpt at the San Diego office of Elite Body Sculpture, a cosmetic surgery chain with more...Read more
Freestanding birth centers are closing as maternity care gaps grow
Dr. Heather Skanes opened Alabama’s first freestanding birth center in 2022 in her hometown of Birmingham. Skanes, an OB-GYN, wanted to improve access to maternal health care in a state that’s long had one of the nation’s highest rates of maternal and infant mortality.
Those rates are especially high among Black women and infants. Skanes�...Read more
On the hook for uninsured residents, counties now wonder how they'll pay
In 2013, before the Affordable Care Act helped millions get health insurance, California’s Placer County provided limited health care to some 3,400 uninsured residents who couldn’t afford to see a doctor.
For several years, that number has been zero in the predominantly white, largely rural county stretching from Sacramento’s eastern ...Read more
Orange-Sized Mass In Kidney Turns Out To Be An Oncocytoma
DEAR DR. ROACH: I had a routine ultrasound to check my kidneys because my father (who is 80) has kidney disease, and his urologist said that it is genetic and that my sister and I should get a baseline screening. I am 50.
My doctor called me the following morning saying that there was an orange-sized mass, and I needed an MRI. The MRI report ...Read more
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Popular Stories
- Iowa doesn't have enough OB-GYNs. The state's abortion ban might be making it worse
- Ask the Pediatrician: How to talk with your teen about drugs an alcohol: What I tell every parent
- 5 tips -- and dishes -- to get your new year off to a healthy start
- Colorado's getting $1 billion to 'transform' rural health care. But hospitals aren't thrilled with the state's plan.
- To knock down health-system hurdles between you and HIV prevention, try these 6 things






















