Community News

 

ASHEVILLE, NC – August 21, 2024 – The winter surge of respiratory infections, like COVID-19, has passed. However, over the past 3 years, COVID-19 infections have also surged in August.

The CDC’s COVID Dashboard for the week ending on August 10^th shows:  

• Less than 2% of the deaths in North Carolina were due to COVID, the 2^nd lowest level of 6 groups and increased since last week.
• Emergency department visits for COVID-19 are moderate in North Carolina, between 3.0-4.0% of all visits and increased since last week.

Wastewater monitoring can be used to provide early warning for COVID outbreaks. The Buncombe & Henderson counties wastewater data on the North Carolina COVID Dashboard for the week ending on August 7^th shows:

• The number of viral gene copies in each water sample is between 80-100%, the highest level of 5 groups.
• The 15-day rate of change of the number of viral gene copies in each water sample has increased from the previous week to 100% or greater, the highest level of 3 groups with a positive rate of change.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

 

RALEIGH, NC – August 5, 2024 – The latest update of the NC Medicaid Expansion Enrollment Dashboard was on August 5^th. July enrollment in NC increased by more than 20 thousand to more than 520 thousand people. Buncombe County’s July enrollment increased by more than 350 people to more than 12.5 thousand. It was estimated that 600 thousand North Carolinians are eligible for ME, with almost 17 thousand from Buncombe County. In 8 months of accepting applications, the state is more than 85% of the way to enrolling all eligible persons and Buncombe County is almost 75% of the way there.

On December 1^st, North Carolina officially became the 40^th state to expand Medicaid, the federal program for health insurance for low-resource individuals. ME increases health care access to eligible North Carolinians ages 19-64 and their families with earnings to 138 percent of the federal poverty level based on their household size, up from 100 percent.

There are many ways to apply for NC Medicaid for eligible persons. Those who have not yet applied should visit Medicaid.nc.gov to see if they qualify. Buncombe County residents can apply for Medicaid online and at any time at ePASS.NC.gov. Applications can be done in-person at the HHS Building on 40 Coxe Avenue, by calling 828-250-5500, or by mail.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

 

ASHEVILLE, NC – August 14, 2024 – The winter surge of respiratory infections, like COVID-19, has passed. However, over the past 3 years, COVID-19 infections have also surged in August.

The CDC’s COVID Dashboard for the week ending on August 3^rd shows:  

• Less than 2% of the deaths in North Carolina were due to COVID, the 2^nd lowest level of 6 groups. They have decreased since last week.
• Emergency department visits for COVID-19 are moderate in North Carolina, between 3.0-4.0% of all visits. They have increased more than 20% since last week.

Wastewater monitoring can be used to provide early warning for COVID outbreaks. The Buncombe & Henderson counties wastewater data on the North Carolina COVID Dashboard for the week ending on July 31^st shows:

• The number of viral gene copies in each water sample is between 80-100%, the highest level of 5 groups.
• The 15-day rate of change of the number of viral gene copies in each water sample has decreased from the previous week to between -9-0%, the mildest level of 2 groups with a negative rate of change.

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour

 

ASHEVILLE, NC – August 4, 2024 –

 

Dear Representative Edwards:

In your recent August 4^th opinion piece in the Asheville Citizen-Times, you said that “The American people deserve affordable, accessible, and high quality health care options, but that’s not what Western North Carolina residents are receiving today.” Your proposed solution was to leverage your position on the Congressional House Budget Committee to promote federal policies that address these deficiencies. This assessment sounds quite reasonable. However, this approach does not provide any details of how to fix health care in western North Carolina.. Therefore, I would like to offer some additional measures to achieve these lofty health care goals.

In your article, you mentioned that there is a surge in hospital mergers in the United States, “resulting in increased federal spending and higher costs for patients.” You said that after the Hospital Corporation of America acquired Mission hospital system in 2019, the average list prices in this region doubled to an average of 33% a year.

A recent landmark North Carolina Medicaid expansion bill supported by Governor Cooper and the General Assembly has made health care more accessible in North Carolina. Since it took effect on December 1^st, more than 500 thousand people have access to health care so far, according to the latest update of the NC Medicaid Expansion Enrollment Dashboard on July 3^rd. According to the 2022 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, and prior to Medicaid expansion, there were almost 1 million uninsured North Carolinians, more than 9% of the population and higher than the national average of 8%.

Measuring quality of care is very difficult. As you know, our regional health care system is monopolized by the Mission Hospital Health Care System, which is owned by the Hospital Corporation of America, the largest for-profit health care system in the United States. The hospital’s quality of care was questioned by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Mission Hospital was warned that it would no longer be eligible to participate in the care of Medicare and Medicaid patients until it addressed certain stipulated deficiencies in meeting quality of care standards. Loss of CMS certification would be catastrophic for health care in our community.

As our district’s representative in the House of Representatives, you feel that the solution is to use your position to promote “policies and funding that disincentivize consolidation and promote greater choice, more affordable access and better quality of care for the citizens of NC-11 and beyond.”

While your assessment seems reasonable, I would like to make some additional suggestions to make health care more affordable, accessible, and of high quality. Some of these measures can be achieved through federal regulations; others may require state legislation. However, through your leadership, they can be attained. Here’s my list:

• Rescind the Certificate of Need (CON) laws to encourage competition (as you have suggested as the solution to reach affordability)
• Close the health care access gap between persons eligible for Medicaid Expansion and the Health Insurance Marketplace by increasing the federal subsidies to the latter program so that more people can afford to enroll
• Expand federal subsidies for medical provider training programs, like physician residency programs that already receive federal grants, so that there are more high quality and well-trained providers for health care

I hope that these 3 specific suggestions can help you to help create a healthier region.

Regards,

 

Dick Needleman, M.D., M.P.H.

Health Reporter, 103.3 Asheville FM

Retired orthopedic surgeon

 

Listen to the full report below:

 

 

Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]

More Posts for Show: Asheville FM News Hour