March 7, 2006 - With the unexpected death of former Twins player Kirby Puckett just shy of his 46th birthday, MPR’s regular medical analyst Dr. Jon Hallberg talks about the suddenness and severity of Puckett’s fatal stroke and underscores how serious this health condition can be.
March 9, 2006 - Governor Tim Pawlenty touted the accomplishments of his first term in his State of the State address today (Thursday). In what sounded like a test of possible themes for a reelection campaign, Pawlenty said he's completed the biggest financial turnaround in state history. The governor also said the state has regained its status as an education leader. He outlined a handful of new proposals, which Democrats dismissed as pilot programs and slogans. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.
March 22, 2006 - Dr. Jon Hallberg, a team physician for the Minnesota Twins, describes various off the field issues in the MLB, including steroid use. Hallberg also details squad’s health at spring training in Fort Myers.
April 3, 2006 - Patient safety incidents in American hospitals grew from 1.18 million to 1.24 million among the 40 million hospitalizations covered under the Medicare program, and incidents varied widely from state to state, and among the best and worst hospitals, according to a study released today by HealthGrades, the leading healthcare ratings company. "Overall we see the number of patient safety incidents in American hospitals continuing to increase, at an enormous cost, and we still see a large gap between the incidence rates at the nation's top-performing and worst-performing hospitals," said Dr. Samantha Collier, HealthGrades vice president of medical affairs. "But we do find the results of serious attempts to grapple with this issue in the success of top-performing hospitals and in progressive states like Minnesota."
April 12, 2006 - A new state audit says county workers make errors on more than two-thirds of the applications they process from immigrants trying to use public health programs. The Legislative Auditor found that county workers made mistakes in seven of every ten cases where they evaluated a non-citizen's eligibility to receive health care. The report says the mistakes could allow some non-citizens to get care they're not entitled to. State lawmakers generally agree that the high number of mistakes is a problem but they differ on how serious it is. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports.
April 18, 2006 - MPR’s Tom Crann and Dr. Jon Hallberg share annual dose of the poetry of physicians and patients.
May 29, 2006 - MPR's Brandt Williams reports on Girls in Action, a new mentoring program at North High School in Minneapolis. Administrators say they've seen improvements in the grades and attendance in the young women. They also say fights and other behavior problems among girls at the school in general have decreased.
June 16, 2006 - Currently, a person needs either a passport or a birth certificate to apply for medicaid. Starting July 1, people applying for medicaid will need to prove their citizenship before even applying. Opponents of the bill argue that eligible, low-income patients will have trouble accessing these documents.
July 28, 2006 - What would it cost to cover Minnesota's approximately 383-thousand uninsured people? On the low end, about $663 million dollars a year, state officials say. On the high end, the bill could jump to more than $850 million. The estimates come from a new background paper issued by the Minnesota Department of Health. The Governor's Healthcare Cabinet requested the numbers as it considers ways to develop healthcare coverage in the state. Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson reports.
August 22, 2006 - President Bush promoted a new healthcare "transparency" initiative at an event in Minnetonka this afternoon (Tuesday). The White House billed the event as a healthcare summit. The president used the forum to promote liability reform, new electronic medical record keeping, and the pooling of small business health insurance. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports.