A recent CDC report gets to the heart of why we should care about asthma. The federal health agency reported last week that the prevalence of the chronic airway disorder reached an all-time high of 8.4 percent in 2010. And the children of Georgia have a higher rate of the chronic airway disorder than the…
When Public Health became a separate state agency last July, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald had her work cut out for her as the department’s first commissioner. Georgia lagged behind the rest of the nation on key health statistics, and Public Health had suffered from budget cuts for years. Meanwhile, the state was still feeling the after-effects…
Grady Health System said Tuesday that it is consolidating its outpatient mental health programs to help meet growing service needs in metro Atlanta. Grady is combining three outpatient behavioral health offices into a larger location at 10 Park Place, near MARTA’s Five Points Station hub. The move will improve access to services and will provide…
Child and adolescent death rates from unintentional injuries dropped 29 percent from 2000 to 2009, the CDC reports. But child death rates from suffocation are on the rise, according to the same report. There was a 54 percent increase in reported suffocation among infants less than 1 year old. The study, released Monday, didn’t break…
Georgia’s Medicaid and PeachCare programs are tight on cash. The cash-flow problem has prompted the Department of Community Health to ask medical providers and insurers to give the agency some flexibility on payments. The financial situation came up Thursday at a Department of Community Health board meeting. Scott Frederking, the agency’s budget director, said, “We…
The timeline is still in flux for the state’s highly anticipated decision on a new structure for Georgia Medicaid and PeachCare. The Department of Community Health was scheduled to decide this month on a ‘‘redesign’’ structure for the two government insurance programs. But officials say they need more time to select the best option for…
Legendary Georgia pediatrician Dr. Leila Denmark died Sunday in Athens at age 114. Denmark lived with her daughter, Mary Hutcherson, who told GHN last year that Denmark “has a lot of fans who keep up with her.’’ The pediatrician, who practiced until she was 103, was known far beyond Georgia’s borders long before her age…
If you add Medicaid and PeachCare beneficiaries to the members of the state employees’ health plan, it comes to more than 2 million Georgians. The Department of Community Health, in charge of those three health programs, oversees the health care of more than 20 percent of the state’s population. David Cook has presided over DCH…
The current timeline for a decision on restructuring Georgia Medicaid may not be feasible, a state official indicated to lawmakers Wednesday. Blake Fulenwider, deputy commissioner of the Department of Community Health, also told House lawmakers that financial projections on the leading options for a Medicaid revamp have not yet been worked out. “This is a…
One unintended consequence of health care reform was that sales of ‘‘child-only’’ insurance policies were halted in Georgia and other states. These policies are usually bought by parents who have an employer policy that doesn’t offer dependent coverage. Sometimes they’re bought by parents who can’t purchase coverage for themselves due to cost or a health…