Health Headlines for Wednesday, March 21

Controlling Health Care Costs By Listening to Patients

Time

Health care costs in the United States are in the trillions, and finding solutions to cut costs are becoming critical for medical care sustainability.

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Hospitals chief reverses course | Broadway gets juvenile | Kids versus guns

Crain’s New York Business

“Utilization is decreasing not because people don’t want our services,” Dr. Mitchell Katz, who took over as CEO at NYC Health and Hospitals in January, said at a recent City Council hearing, “but because we’re full.”

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Clash Over Abortion Stalls Health Bill, Again

NPR

The Affordable Care Act very nearly failed to become law back in 2010 because of a dispute among Democrats over how to handle abortion in the bill.

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How a Cheektowaga nursing home hopes to end ‘yo-yo effect’ of repeat hospital visits

Buffalo News

The new complex medical care unit at Garden Gate Health Care Facility in Cheektowaga looks more like a hospital cardiac wing than a nursing home.

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House Energy and Commerce Committee grills DEA chief over free flow of opioids

Washington Post

The acting director of the Drug Enforcement Administration said a database that monitors the flow of powerful prescription painkillers from manufacturer to distribution point was compiled manually during the height of the opioid crisis, making it a reactive, not proactive, tool.

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