Tory Starr is worried about the people who get medical care at Open Door Community Health Centers along California’s North Coast. “They’re the folks that work at restaurants. They’re the teacher’s aides,” said Starr, a registered nurse who became Open Door’s chief executive more than six years ago. Those patients, he said, are “really the…
Silvana Toska was playing in a grass field with her daughters late last fall when she felt a sting on her ankle. The family had come to listen for barred and great horned owls as the sun set on a large park near their Davidson, North Carolina, home. It was “just like a mosquito bite,…
By KIM BELLARD Most of us can identify dogs from cats just by the sounds they make. We could probably even separate a dog’s bark from a wolf’s howl. If you are a nature lover, you might be able to identify different species of birds by their calls. If you are a cetologist, you might…
In May 2025, CMS’s Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) unveiled it’s “Make America Healthy Again” vision. CMMI models focus on not only “protecting the federal taxpayer,” but also (i) promoting evidence-based prevention, (ii) empowering people to achieve their health goals, and (iii) driving choice and competition for people. CMMI has introduced a number…
On a recent Monday, Sandy Guzman, a community health worker in rural Oregon, drove to visit a patient in her 60s in a small city called The Dalles. The patient lived alone, and “really struggles with social isolation,” Guzman said. After a serious fall and subsequent surgery, the woman was using a wheelchair. She confided…
Like many parents, Tatiana Lafortune wants her children to get a good education, eat nutritious food, and see a doctor when they’re not feeling well. Public schools and her church’s pantry help Lafortune accomplish the first two goals. But insurance to cover doctor visits has been the most difficult to secure. As nursing assistants at…
Samira Daswini is CEO of Manta Cares. Her career in consulting and digital health startups took a left turn when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had 18 months of visits with 123 appointments, 5 ER visits and much more. And it was very hard to manage her journey. So she built a paper…
That is the argument made by Ike Brannon and Anthony Lo Sasso in a recent Health Affairs Forefront article. 340B allows hospitals serving low income communities to purchase pharmaceuticals at discounted rates, but then receive full price reimbursement from payers (e.g., commercial insurers, Medicare). It is not clear that the 340B program even benefits low-income…
I spoke with neuroscientist Adrian Owen, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer & Faraz Shafaghi, Chief Product Officer, at neurological testing company Creyos (which rhymes with “chaos”). Their cognitive assessment platform gives a baseline of neurological function and is essentially getting objective data at a point of care. This can now be done as part of…