Tag: health care
BW Recommends | Oct. 12, 2025
BW Recommends | March 23, 2025
BirminghamWatch Recommends is a rundown of stories you might have missed this week. It offers insight into issues important to our area and sometimes tickles your curiosity.
Take a Peek Inside the New Cooper Green Mercy Health
The new Jefferson County clinic and medical facility is set to open in mid-December. Read more.
UAB Prez: Purchase of Ascension St. Vincent’s to Ensure Health-Care Access
The UAB Health System is set to take over Ascension St. Vincent’s Health System properties in Central Alabama in a $450 million deal officials said would ensure continuing quality health care for people in Birmingham and surrounding communities. Read more.
Alabama Pharmacists Urge Lawmakers to Pass HB238
Supporters of the legislation say it would create a more transparent reimbursement system for struggling pharmacies. The bill’s opponents worry it could drive up insurance costs.
Health Officials Watching Hospitals During the Season of Flu, COVID and RSV
The normal winter flu season is in full swing in Alabama, but this year COVID and RSV are joining the mix. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks the state among seven others with the highest rates for respiratory disease.
Alabama health officials say there has been a 3.2% increase in hospital admissions statewide for the three viral diseases, but there is no shortage of treatment facilities or hospital beds across the state.
But they warn that, with the workplace and schools opened after the holidays, the numbers could climb. Read more.
10 Medicaid Holdout States Scramble to Improve Health Coverage
The Republican-led states that have refused to expand Medicaid are trying a variety of strategies to save struggling hospitals and cover more people without full expansion, which was one of the key provisions of the Affordable Care Act. In Alabama, a single parent with two children can’t qualify for Medicaid if he or she makes more than $4,476 per year. Read more.
Alabama’s Health Care System for Women Ranks Near the Bottom of This New Scorecard
The Commonwealth Fund’s new report includes 12 new measures that evaluate and rank states on reproductive services and women’s health care. Read more.
Heart Disease, Hypertension Take Toll on Alabama Women
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women, both nationally and in Alabama. Alabama had the third-highest rate of death from heart disease in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only trailing Oklahoma and Mississippi. That year, the death rate from heart disease for Alabama women was 193.7 per 100,000, compared to 135.6 for women nationwide. Read more.
To Improve Birth Outcomes for Uninsured Moms, Birmingham is Training More Doulas
The city of Birmingham has teamed up with BirthWell Partners’ community doula project to sponsor 32 trainees to work in underserved communities. Read more.
