“Pulse oximetry.’’ The term sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie. In reality, it’s about current human life in its most fragile state. Pulse oximetry is a test to help detect congenital heart defects in newborns by measuring how much oxygen is in their blood. A proposal for Georgia to study the efficacy of…
Natalie Rogers knows health and exercise. She is a retired professional ballerina, a former pre-med student at UGA and currently a fitness instructor who values healthy living. A few years ago, Rogers was distressed by the lack of physical activity and the poor nutritional quality of cafeteria food that her now 10-year-old daughter experienced at…
Georgia health advocates are hoping a new report from the U.S. Surgeon General on youth tobacco use can kick-start their campaign to boost the state tax on cigarettes. The report, released this week, noted that while youth smoking dropped dramatically from 1997 to 2004, that decline has leveled off since. Nearly one in four high…
A raft of health bills dealing with social issues were moving forward as a hectic Crossover Day came to a close at the state Legislature. To have a shot at becoming a law, bills had until Wednesday — Crossover Day, or Day 30 of the 40-day General Assembly session — to pass at least one…
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Those words are from 19th-century writer and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who had to personally overcome the burden of being born and raised in slavery. But they are still relevant today: They were used to introduce a recent policy statement by a leading pediatrics…
The 2010 health reform law created several changes in the health insurance market, not all of them intended. An unintended consequence of the Affordable Care Act was a halt in sales of “child-only’’ policies in Georgia and other states. These policies are usually bought by parents who have an employer plan that doesn’t offer dependent…
State officials have created a third task force to discuss proposals for a revamp of Medicaid and PeachCare services in Georgia. The new grouping will focus on children and families. Like the other two task forces, members will be asked to give input on a consulting firm’s report on the future of the two government…
Another report recommending big changes in Georgia Medicaid and PeachCare has been released, ahead of the state’s own analysis of the two health insurance programs. The new report, from the consumer advocacy groups Voices for Georgia’s Children and Georgians for a Healthy Future, calls for more streamlined enrollment, stronger accountability measures, improved access to specialty…
The patient, 73, was struggling to recover from surgery for the breast cancer that had spread into her bones. She had also suffered respiratory failure. When the ventilator was turned down so she could breathe on her own, she battled anxiety. The doctors at Atlanta’s Wesley Woods Geriatric Hospital decided she needed something to focus…
A federal agency has awarded Georgia almost $5 million in a bonus payment for enrolling more children in government health insurance programs. It’s the first year that Georgia has received this performance bonus, funded under 2009 legislation that reauthorized the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). To qualify, a state must exceed an enrollment target for…