Category: Health Care
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The Left Never Rests (Part 3,783) – Vote Democratic
by James C. Sherlock We have a glimpse into the near future in Virginia. For those of my readers who thought that the left in the U.K. would sit still while the Cass Commission examines and reports on transgender care in Britain, think again. Some transgender activists oppose the requirement for a clinical diagnosis of…
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Hormone Treatment of Transgender Adolescents in Virginia – New Concerns
by James C. Sherlock We have discussed at length the controversial policies of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). It is time to consider the impact of Great Britain’s ongoing National Health Service Review of its transgender support to children and young people. It offers new concerns about clinical challenges in the diagnosis and treatment…
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Medical Gender Transition in Children – American Academy of Pediatrics Headquarters vs. the World
by James C. Sherlock Who cares for transgender kids the most and is looking out for their best interests? The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) headquarters leadership; or Dissenting AAP members and the medical societies of some of the leading nations in the science of medicine? A reasonable and important question, since Virginia and the…
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Sorry, Can You Please Explain Again How Systemic Racism in Healthcare Works?
by James A. Bacon The U.S. healthcare system, we hear with increasing frequency, is systemically racist. Here in Virginia, for instance, we hear that Black women suffer a higher rate of complications in childbirth than White women. But any theory of systemic racism in healthcare needs to explain certain inconvenient facts that I stumbled across…
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Mitigating Nurse, Teacher and Police Officer Shortages in Virginia – An Illustrative Example
by James C. Sherlock Virginia is currently dealing with big shortages of nurses, teachers and police officers. If any one doubts that, please consult other conversations that have already been presented on this blog. We have also written here about working conditions for all three professions. Those need to be addressed and, again, have been…
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Hospitals Continue to Cut Labor and Delivery and NICU Services
by James C. Sherlock Virginia and the nation continue to see the results of the baby bust. I wrote yesterday of the baby cliff, the 15% decline in live births that started in the great recession of 2007-09. It continues. And it continues to drive change, much of it not good. I have written here…
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Gender Dysphoria Treatment for Children Needs Some Rules in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock Virginia needs, for the protection of children, parents, and physicians, a law to specify minimum age requirements and require court orders for voluntary medical intervention in child sexual development. When there are physical abnormalities involved, the court can order those treatments as well. On the other hand, I propose a ban…
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The Costs of Avoidable Hospital Visits in Virginia and a Proven Solution
by James C. Sherlock I have written often of the costs of (1) avoidable emergency care and (2) avoidable hospital admissions for chronic diseases. Each type of excess costs could be prevented by timely visits to primary care practitioners and following their prescriptions for treatment. The avoidable costs are largely paid by Virginia’s Medicaid program…
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Marcus Alerts in Virginia and Risks to Unarmed Responders
by James C. Sherlock The Marcus Alert is named after Marcus-David Peters, a teacher killed by Richmond police in 2018 amid a mental health crisis. The Marcus Alert system requires coordination between 911 and regional crisis call centers and establishes a specialized behavioral health response from a combination of behavioral health professionals and law enforcement…
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A Promising Richmond Healthcare Program with Statewide Implications
by James C. Sherlock Reporter George Copeland Jr. of the Richmond Free Press (RFP) has alerted its readers, of which it claims 135,000, and Virginians as a whole, to a very promising Richmond healthcare initiative. Richmond’s new Health Equity Fund (HEF) is managed by Richmond and Henrico Health Districts (RHHD), a local agency of the Virginia…
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New Fed Policy Would Hide CMS Data on Patient Safety Records of Hospitals
by James C. Sherlock One of the most disturbing commentaries I have read in a long time relating to federal efforts to improve hospital patient safety reports a major step backwards in that program. I have written here many times of the power of the hospitals over Virginia’s politics. A proposed new federal rule shows…
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Virginia Strategic Imperatives: Train and Retain More Teachers and Nurses
by James C. Sherlock Governor Glenn Youngkin wants to make a lasting difference in Virginia. He wants to leave it better than he found it. In the years I have been writing about healthcare and education in Virginia, there is a recurring theme in both fields: not enough practitioners; specifically, registered nurses and teachers. I…
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Colin Greene and the Emergence of Richmond’s Deep State
by James A. Bacon Colin Greene is still state health commissioner, but I’m predicting he’ll have to pull a Ralph Northam in order to last in his position. After he dared to express skepticism that “structural racism” is a useful explanation for racial health disparities, the left is eager to take him out. Even issuing…
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Virginia’s New Race-and-Healthcare Dogma
by James A. Bacon It is now outside the bounds of acceptable discourse in Virginia to question the proposition that “structural” racism accounts for health disparities between racial/ethnic groups. Virginia’s new health commissioner, Colin Greene, has been called on the carpet for expressing the view that racism is not a public health crisis and, in…