Medical boards engage in telemedicine reform (POLITICO, Aug. 25)
Several state boards of medicine have held or plan to hold special meetings to address their telemedicine policies in order to stay ahead of the growth of the technology in their states.
Help Wanted (a Lot): Home-Health Aides (The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 22)
Dolores Streater works in one of the fastest-growing professions in the country. It is also among the lowest-paying and most-demanding. And, not coincidentally, it has particularly high turnover.
Autistic Brains Show Too Many Connected Neurons (Bloomberg, Aug. 22)
Autism may be a disorder of hyper-connectivity in the brain, according to a study that found children with the condition have too many synapses, the points where neurons connect and communicate with each other.
Baltimore required to improve hiring policies and practices to comply with disabilities act (The Baltimore Sun, Aug. 20)
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s administration settled a discrimination complaint brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, agreeing to ensure that hiring follows rules that forbid asking most job candidates to take medical exams.
Research: Reasons for Job Separations Among People with Psychiatric Disabilities (Mathematica, Aug. 19)
Mathematica’s DRC partners at the University of Illinois at Chicago explored the relative effects of adverse working conditions, job satisfaction, wages, worker characteristics, and local labor markets on voluntary job separations among employed workers with psychiatric disabilities.
Mental disabilities in kids rise; physical problems decline (Associated Press, Aug. 18)
Disabilities among U.S. children have increased slightly, with a bigger rise in mental and developmental problems in those from wealthier families, a 10-year analysis found.
Kansas mental health system under increasing stress (Kansas Health Institute, Aug. 18)
One day last month, Osawatomie State Hospital had 254 patients in its care – almost 50 more than its optimal capacity.
For Aging Inmates, Care Outside Prison Walls (Stateline, Aug. 12)
Providing health care to an aging prison population is a large and growing cost for states. Not only do inmates develop debilitating conditions at a younger age than people who are not incarcerated, but caring for them in the harsh environment of prisons is far more expensive than it is on the outside.
New York Debates Whether Housing Counts As Health Care (NPR, July 28)
Standing outside her sixth-floor apartment in the Bronx, Lissette Encarnacion says she sometimes forgets the place belongs to her.