Healthcare
New guidance from Tennessee officials says hospitals cannot limit vaccines to existing patients
Tennessee hospitals may no longer restrict their still-limited supply of vaccine only to established patients under new guidance issued by the Tennessee Department of Health, Dr. Lisa Piercey, commissioner, said Friday in a briefing with reporters. “For hospitals to continue vaccinating on a forward going basis we have asked them … to do a few […]
Commentary: Pandemic shows it’s time to repeal certificate of need laws
Asher Gross is one of the happiest little girls you will ever meet, despite the daily struggles she faces. A hypoxic brain injury has left her with developmental disabilities, and she suffers from congestive heart failure and a cleft palate. She cannot speak, she has to be fed through a tube, and she has limited […]
Commentary: A costly way to change the subject
Over 150 years after the Constitution was amended to promise equal rights to African-Americans and a decade after the nation’s first African-American president signed the Affordable Care Act into law, racism continues to dominate Tennessee health policy. Last week’s rush to ratify the Trump Administration’s TennCare block grant was the latest chapter in Tennessee officials’ […]
House joins Senate in passing Medicaid block grant
A Medicaid block grant agreement brokered with the Trump Administration rolled through the House Friday on a party line vote. The measure passed 68-22, as the House joined the Senate in approving a Medicaid waiver program designed to enable the state’s TennCare program to take advantage of savings garnered over decades of work. Rep. Bryan […]
Shelby County officials vaccine plan to address racial disparities
Shelby County Health Department officials say they have long term COVID vaccination plans to address any potential racial disparities, a particular concern in Memphis, a majority minority city. According to the Tennessee Department of Health, current data shows less than 4% percent of Tennesseans who have received the COVID-19 vaccine identify as Black – and […]
COVID-19 vaccine rollout concerns advocates for poor and minority patients
As demand continues to outpace supply for COVID-19 vaccines, local officials and healthcare advocates are questioning whether Tennessee’s poor, Black and brown residents are getting an equal shot. For more than a week, access to vaccines has been open to Tennesseans age 75 and older through public health departments and hospitals. Health departments’ rollouts of […]
Senate speeds modified block grant agreement with feds; House suspends rules for consideration
The Tennessee General Assembly is roaring ahead with a modified Medicaid block grant program for the state’s poorest residents despite the possibility the Biden Administration could rescind it. Two Senate panels — the Senate Health and Welfare Committee and the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee — approved the federal agreement Wednesday, with dissent coming only […]
Cooper urges Biden to reverse TennCare block grant
Three days after Tennessee officials announced approval of a Medicaid block grant to fund TennCare, the state’s program for sick and needy residents, Congressman Jim Cooper sent President-elect Joe Biden a letter asking him to rescind the plan. Tennessee’s Republican leaders say a block grant will enable the state to run the healthcare program more […]
Tennesseans on the move: who to keep an eye on in 2021
A year like 2020, replete with drama in politics, health care, education and civil rights, gives public leaders the chance to shine or flop. With the year near to passing in our collective rear view mirrors, the staff of the Tennessee Lookout brings your attention to a handful of Tennesseans in politics, education, health care […]
The year in photos: September-December
Politics and pandemic consumed our photojournalists for the latter portion of the year. When President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, Memphis photojournalist Karen Pulfer Focht went to Barrett’s alma mater, Rhodes College, to get images from Justice Barrett’s college years. Focht also got what may will be one of […]
Across Tennessee, local officials warn of holiday surge
In a last-ditch effort ahead of the holidays, public health officials across Tennessee on Tuesday issued a flurry of warnings and pleas for people to avoid gathering with others outside their own households. Tennessee continues to occupy one of the top spots in the nation for the rate of COVID-19 transmission, a dramatic surge that […]
200,000 Tennesseans to be vaccinated by the New Year
The first of 115,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine expected in Tennessee this week came Monday morning, arriving in all of Tennessee’s 95 counties and further laying the groundwork in a race to vaccinate 200,000 Tennessean by the end of this year. The Moderna vaccine shipment follows an earlier delivery of 56,500 doses of the […]