Category: Health Care
U.S. Judge Rules Insurers Don’t Have to Cover Many Free Preventive Health Services
WASHINGTON — Health insurance companies may no longer need to cover a wide swath of preventive health care services that were required by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, under a federal judge’s ruling issued Thursday in Texas.
The decision could affect millions of Americans’ access to no-cost preventive health care — including pregnancy-related care, cancer screenings, HIV prevention pharmaceuticals and more — that a federal agency given new powers under Obamacare required health insurance companies to cover. Read more.
Officials Break Ground on a New $120 Million Cooper Green Facility
Health care leaders say the current building is more than 50 years old and too expensive to maintain. Read more.
Alabama Health Providers Warn of Unusually Early Flu Activity
In recent weeks, outpatient providers across Alabama have reported high levels of influenza-like illness, with kids facing the highest risk of hospitalization. Read more.
New Mental Health Crisis Center Aims to Interrupt Revolving Door of Jail and ER Visits
The new clinic in Jefferson County will offer short-term crisis care to people who might otherwise wait hours at a hospital or wind up in jail. Read more.
Local Health Officials Plan to Increase Monkeypox Vaccinations
Judge’s Ruling a “Sigh of Relief” for Families of Transgender Youth
A federal judge in Alabama ruled to block part of a law that makes it a felony to provide gender-affirming care to minors on Friday. Families with transgender kids tell WBHM they are cautiously relieved. Read more.
Judge Hears Testimony in Challenge to Alabama’s Ban on Gender-Affirming Care
A group of parents and doctors want the judge to stop the law from going into effect while a lawsuit continues. Read more.
Grant Awarded for Program to Serve Victims of Violence in Hospital
The Jefferson County Department of Health has given a grant of more than $1.1 million to the Offender Alumni Association to start a Hospital-linked Violence Intervention Program. Read more.
Travel nurse salaries are rising due to demand. Some hospitals say it’s price gouging.
Demand for well-paid travel nurses has quadrupled since the pandemic began. Some nurses have even left their hospital jobs to become travel nurses because of the difference in pay, but that has left hospitals struggling even more with staffing issues and rising costs. Read more.
UAB Surgeons Transplant Pig Kidneys Into a Human Body for the First Time
A team of scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham is the first to successfully transplant the kidneys of a genetically modified pig into the body of a brain-dead recipient. Read more.
