Happening in Springfield: New Immigrants Offer Economic Promise, Health System Challenges

When Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance claimed Haitian immigrants had caused infectious-disease rates to “skyrocket” in Springfield, Ohio, local health commissioner Chris Cook checked the records. They showed that in 2023, for example, there were four active tuberculosis cases in Clark County, which includes Springfield, up from three in 2022. HIV cases had risen,…

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Nursing Homes and the AMA, Once Medicaid Defenders, Hang Back as GOP Mulls Big Cuts

When congressional Republicans in 2017 pushed to repeal the Affordable Care Act and slash Medicaid, dozens of physician groups, patient advocates, hospitals, and others rallied to defend the law and the safety-net program. Eight years later, two industry groups have been notably restrained as GOP lawmakers consider sweeping new Medicaid cuts: the American Medical Association…

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How big a problem are catastrophic health expenditures? The Watts Catastrophic Health Expenditure (WCHE) metric explained

Catastrophic healthcare expenditures (CHE) are highly problematic for families are are unequally distributed throughout society. However, how can we quantify the incidence, intensity and inequality of CHE in a society? A paper by Ogwang and Mwabu (2025) provide one methodology by using the Watts poverty measure and adapting it to measure CHE. We first describe…

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Device Cleaning Instructions – An Overlooked Safety Risk In Sterile Processing

By Andy Petrovich, National Vice President, Crothall Healthcare & Afif Eschiek, National Director, Crothall Healthcare Many sterile processing departments manage thousands of reusable devices from thousands of manufacturers, each with its unique reprocessing requirements. Hospitals rely on clear instructions for use (IFUs) to safely reprocess these medical devices. Yet inconsistent or impractical instructions continue to…

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