The rapid emergence of COVID-19 reminds us of the importance of the public health system. Local health departments (LHDs) play a central role in emergency preparedness and response. Effective epidemic response rests on the performance of the essential public health activities— assessment, policy development, and assurance—by LHDs. Evidence suggests that LHDs can improve population health… Read More »
Yesterday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) unveiled new guidance about using telehealth during this public health emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak. This guidance will help increase access to telehealth services. In addition, this will help people receive care who may not be able to visit their providers in person. While the… Read More »
A 14-year-old girl came to my primary care clinic with abdominal pain, similar to abdominal pain she’s had intermittently for years. As with all women of reproductive age, I checked a urine pregnancy test, and it was positive. I returned to the patient’s room to talk with her about the result, and her first question… Read More »
The New York Times recently posted an article about the return on investment around public health interventions and how American life expectancy at birth increased by 30 years in the time from 1900 to 1999. The article went on to stress that these additional years of life can largely be attributed to advances in public… Read More »
In just a few days, thousands of public health practitioners, students, scholars, and activists will descend on Denver, Colorado for APHA 2016. This year, your faithful co-editors will be there, live-tweeting about sessions! So be sure to follow @MedCareBloggers for real-time updates. Here are just a few of the sessions we’re looking forward to this year:… Read More »