Rural Obstetrics Need Help
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Rural Hospitals and Obstetrics Need Help
Between 2012 and 2022, approximately one quarter of all rural hospitals stopped providing obstetrics services, impacting 267 communities. This trend of closures is caused by several overlapping challenges, including the high fixed operating costs of these units, low volumes of births, and difficulties in attracting and retaining OB-trained clinical staff, all of which is made worse by inadequate reimbursement for labor and delivery services.
The proposal, titled the Keep Obstetrics Local Act (KOLA), would increase Medicaid payment rates for labor and delivery services for eligible rural and high-need urban hospitals, provide “standby” payments to cover the costs of staffing and maintaining an obstetrics unit at low-volume hospitals, create low-volume payment adjustments for labor and delivery services at hospitals with low birth volumes and require all states to provide postpartum coverage for women in Medicaid for 12 months, among other steps. The proposal makes sure that hospitals are required to use these additional resources to invest in the maternal health care needs of the local communities they serve.
Joining Wyden to release the draft legislation are Senators Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Tom Carper, D-Del., Ben Cardin, D-Md., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Bob Casey Jr., D-Penn., Mark Warner, D-Va., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Corey Booker, D-N.J and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.
A summary and section by section of the draft legislation can be found here. Legislative text can be found here.
ACTION
Let’s let our Senators know how important this is. Check the list above. If they are supporters, thank them. Otherwise ask them to cosponsor and actively support the Keep Obstetrics Local Act to keep staff in place in rural and safety net hospitals to offer obstetrics care. The further patients have to travel to reach obgyn care the worse it is for the mother and the child. You can reach your Senators here, https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials.
Or use RESISTBOT and on your cell phone text SIGN PROZXY to 50409 to send them this message.
“I am your constituent and I want you to know that there is a crisis in our rural and under served communities. Women are having to travel further and longer to get obstetrics care because so many hospitals have stopped offering it. For them it just isn’t financially viable. Well, the longer they travel for care the more dangerous it is. The risk jumps dramatically for women and infants after 40 minutes.
Good news, there is legislation in the Senate that can help. It is the Keep Obstetrics Local Act and it will help keep obstetrics staff in place in rural and safety net hospitals. That will be a big help. I want you to cosponsor and actively support this bill and help the women and children who need the help. That’s why we sent you there to help. Thank you.”
Osteoarthritis News - Dancing Molecules Heal Cartilage
Ok I am well over 70 and my hands and feet hurt, so this story interested me.
In November 2021, Northwestern University researchers introduced an injectable new therapy, which harnessed fast-moving “dancing molecules,” to repair tissues and reverse paralysis after severe spinal cord injuries.
Now, the same research group has applied the therapeutic strategy to damaged human cartilage cells. In the new study, the treatment activated the gene expression necessary to regenerate cartilage within just four hours. And, after only three days, the human cells produced protein components needed for cartilage regeneration.
The researchers also found that, as the molecular motion increased, the treatment’s effectiveness also increased. In other words, the molecules’ “dancing” motions were crucial for triggering the cartilage growth process.
The study was published (July 26) in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
As of 2019, nearly 530 million people around the globe were living with osteoarthritis, according to the World Health Organization. A degenerative disease in which tissues in joints break down over time, osteoarthritis is a common health problem and leading cause of disability.
In patients with severe osteoarthritis, cartilage can wear so thin that joints essentially transform into bone on bone — without a cushion between. Not only is this incredibly painful, patients’ joints also can no longer properly function. At that point, the only effective treatment is a joint replacement surgery, which is expensive and invasive.
This therapy has the potential to repair cartilage in the body. Animal tests underway. Watch this space. I am hopeful. (Northwestern University)
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