By PAUL NATINSKY
Until recently, I never gave much serious thought to mental health. As a member of that latch-key, seat-beltless, hose-hydrating generation born in the late ‘60s, I thought of mental health as a refuge of the weak and excuse-seeking. Worse, at times I thought of those with severe mental health issues as hopeless institution dwellers beyond the help of healthcare professionals. Even as I gained experience as a healthcare reporter and health policy professional in the state legislature, I hated working on mental health issues.

That’s a tough truth to admit to for a healthcare publication editor and I’ll probably pay a price for that. But it is important to [Read More]

By SUSAN ADELMAN, MD
Since the beginning of the COVID epidemic, most physicians have been struggling to do the right thing when it comes to treatment and prevention. Part of this was because, in the beginning, a terrifying complex of symptoms hit our patients fast, with high lethality, high transmissibility and distressing urgency. We worked hard, under pressure, to diagnose, to figure out immediate treatments, to devise prevention strategies, to understand new vaccines, and, eventually, boosters. Now we have a great deal of information, but most of us in the medical profession still are hard-pressed to be confident in our recommendations about vaccines and boosters for all age groups. Meanwhile, some politicians, [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
When a practicing physician dies, there is not only intense grief, but an entire gamut of professional details that require immediate attention. I recently faced this personal challenge and was admittedly adrift in confronting first and subsequent steps. Perhaps I should have known them already—but some of the medical associations and health plans I reached out to didn’t either. The question? Where is the checklist to guide me through the “un-credentialing” of a physician?

With the risk of identity theft high, it is imperative that no enterprising thief access physician credentials for nefarious purposes. Here is what I learned by creating my own checklist for steps that must be [Read More]

By SHEA MACE
Wachler & Associates, P.C.

On December 7, 2023, MDHHS announced that community health worker services now will be covered by Medicaid. The new policy is effective January 1, 2024, and chiefly applicable to the Medicaid Fee-for-Service (FFS) program. Medicaid Health Plans (MHPs) and Integrated Care Organizations (ICOs) must also comply by offering the full range of services described within the policy, although they may provide additional services beyond those specified and may develop review and prior authorization criteria different than Medicaid requirements.

CHW Overview

Community health workers (CHWs) are non-licensed but trained public health providers who have distinct knowledge and appreciation of the community they serve. They function as a liaison [Read More]

By KATHLEEN CAMPBELL WALKER
Recently, the president of the American Medical Association, Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, stated in a national address that the physician shortage long-feared is here and that “It’s an urgent crisis…hitting every corner of this country—urban and rural—with the most direct impacting hitting families with high needs and limited means… Ninety percent of counties in the U.S. are without a pediatric ophthalmologist. Eighty percent are without an infectious disease specialist.”

All areas of the country rely in part on foreign medical graduate (FMG) physicians, who may be required to serve in qualifying health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) or medically underserved areas (MUAs) to transition to a career as [Read More]

Lansing Lines is presented in cooperation with MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.

Passive Renewals Helping Medicaid Redetermination Process

With Michigan’s post-pandemic Medicaid redetermination process well underway, the Department of Health and Human Services has stayed busy contacting Medicaid recipients to inform them of their redetermination requirement. But, in some cases, an automatic or passive renewal is easing DHHS’ workload.

Nicole Hudson, DHHS senior advisor on special projects, explained the redetermination process that started after three years of pandemic-prompted auto-renewals for Medicaid. It was accompanied by a significant increase in the state’s Medicaid population and an almost 35% increase in Michiganders on Medicaid.

Over 3.2 million Michiganders were covered by Medicaid in May [Read More]

By LAUREN SAUSSER
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley will learn how her campaign is resonating with voters after the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, the first presidential nominating contest of this election year.

Already, the former South Carolina governor — who became well known as one of the Affordable Care Act’s loudest critics during her tenure in office from 2011 to 2017 — has raised questions about what her presidency could mean for the nation’s health care policy.

She has criticized the Biden administration for high federal spending on COVID relief and for the number of people on Medicaid, a program she has argued the federal government should give states more [Read More]

By PAUL NATINSKY
I understand very clearly the deep concern about the future of medicine and the frustrations attached to that concern. Other professionals with similar levels of academic and practical credentials and similar licensing requirements practice much more autonomously and with much more freedom than physicians.

As a patient and healthcare writer, I have exposure to the sense of defeat physicians increasingly feel toward their careers, particularly those who are near end of their practicing years, a career phase that arguably makes them among the most valuable of practitioners. Experience and the wisdom that comes from decades of practice cannot be replaced.

Several years ago, my family’s terrific pediatrician retired early. She [Read More]

By SUSAN ADELMAN, MD
What is a profession? The on-line Oxford Dictionary defines a profession as “a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification.” What is a guild? The same dictionary defines a guild as “a medieval association of craftsmen or merchants, often having considerable power…[or] an association of people for mutual aid or the pursuit of a common goal.” What are proletariat? This dictionary defines proletariat as “workers or working-class people, regarded collectively. (often used with reference to Marxism)” also, “the lowest class of citizens in ancient Rome.”

What attributes characterize a profession? According to the Association of Accredited Public Policy Advocates to the European Union, these are “great responsibility, [Read More]

Certainly, this is not a formal survey, but those physicians that I have recently interacted with have been sadly and regrettably consistent. The new mantra seems; “I will put in the next four or five years and get out of the agony as soon as I can.” This defines a profession that has lost. Without the visibility or even the hope of any significant action steps, surrender becomes the final chapter. All of the professional organizations, the AMA and reinvented and reinvigorated state and local medical societies must acknowledge reality and get proverbially “their heads out of the sand.”

Medical students must be prepared for the realities of practicing medicine in [Read More]