Many Tennessee hospitals are in trouble as they try to stabilize after the trauma of COVID-19. The Tennessee Hospital Association has published a new survey that finds: Now that pandemic relief money has dried up, nearly half are at risk of closure.
With abortion mostly outlawed in the South, patients and clinics are crossing state lines
People seeking abortions are faced with increased costs of travel, time off work and childcare.
A leading anti-abortion group is feuding with Republicans over revising the Tennessee’s abortion law
Republicans are trying to clean up the state’s abortion law to more explicitly allow doctors to save the life of a pregnant person. But that proposal is drawing fire from the state’s leading anti-abortion group.
5 questions for WPLN’s Blake Farmer before he says goodbye
WPLN’s senior health care reporter Blake Farmer is leaving Nashville Public Radio. Blake has been at WPLN for 18 years in a variety of roles — news director, morning host, you name it — beginning just after college when he freelanced his way into a full-time reporter role.
Tennessee Republicans are making permanent a rule to shield businesses from COVID-related litigation
Tennessee Republicans are taking temporary rules and making them permanent to try to shield businesses from COVID-related litigation, along with other COVID-era protections. The legislation is moving quickly, and with little debate.
ERs staffed by private equity firms aim to cut costs by hiring fewer doctors
Pregnant and scared, Natasha Valle went to Clarksville’s Tennova Healthcare hospital in January 2021 because she was bleeding. She didn’t know much about miscarriage, but this seemed like one.
TennCare uses scare tactics and aggressive enforcement to root out fraud. With millions spent, the agency has little to show for it.
The state’s low-income health insurance program, TennCare, funds an outside unit dedicated to rooting out potential fraud. After millions of dollars spent each year, it has less and less to show for the effort aside from slapping Tennesseans with felonies unnecessarily.
TennCare would cover more pregnancies and diapers under proposal from Gov. Bill Lee
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is proposing a significant expansion of the state’s Medicaid program, known as TennCare, using money from a new deal negotiated with the Trump Administration described as a “block grant.”
TennCare is trying to simplify annual income reviews for post-pandemic restart
Tennessee’s Medicaid agency is trying to avoid cutting benefits for people just because of paperwork problems. In April, TennCare will restart its income reviews, which have been paused for three years.
Tennessee ACA enrollment spikes 27% as non-Medicaid expansion states lead record growth
Nationwide, enrollment in Affordable Care Act Marketplace plans has hit another record, jumping 13% from last year’s record. But almost all of the gains are from states like Tennessee that have refused to expand Medicaid.
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