Medicare’s Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) program is getting a major dose of health equity next year, as we’ve explained in our Higher Thinking series. (Click here to read the in-depth report.) But next year’s changes are just the beginning, and 2024 will see mandated reporting that goes much further. As CMS notes, the new reporting… Read More

The top line: Accessible primary care is critical to population health – but problematic for healthcare facility planning. In one NC county, a healthcare system is partnering with a local church to improve accessibility with minimal investment in bricks and mortar. Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Cleveland County is one of the… Read More

In March, President Joe Biden announced a new test-to-treat initiative that allows some pharmacies to prescribe life-saving Covid antivirals for patients who walk in and test positive – a policy that begins to recognize the role of pharmacy in healthcare transformation. No more shuttling between a doctor’s office and pharmacy? That seems like a commonsense… Read More

As Covid-19 slowly transitions from pandemic to endemic status, state and county governments all across the country are reckoning with the lessons of a two-year public health emergency. One area getting a lot more focus: public health strategic planning. The Build Back Better Act requested more than $16 billion for healthcare infrastructure, including $7 billion… Read More

Back in the old days (say, 2019) county health departments rarely made news unless a popular restaurant got shut down after failing inspection. But two years of pandemic restrictions have changed all that. Headlines are now frequent and foreboding, like this one from KHN: “Missouri’s War on Public Health Shows Extent of National Rift.” The… Read More

End-of-life care doesn’t get much attention in Washington, despite the endless political posturing over rising healthcare costs. It’s hard to understand that indifference, given that 25 percent of Medicare spending goes toward care for people during their last year of life. If ever there were a chance to bend the curve, hospice and palliative care… Read More

Our founder, Dawn Carter, wrote the following opinion piece with Joann Anderson, the outgoing CEO of UNC Health Southeastern in Lumberton, NC. A shortened version was published by the Raleigh News & Observer on Nov. 14, 2021. Rural healthcare is facing a crisis all across America, and North Carolina is no exception. From Belhaven to… Read More