News
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas Delays Controversial Change After Backlash
Posted on · Some Texas medical societies say the insurer's pending review process change would scare patients into not seeking emergency care and could be deadly.
Tag: emergency room
Houston Matters
Why Houston Needs More Level One Trauma Centers
Posted on · Ben Taub Hospital has retained its “level one” trauma center status (meaning it has the surgeons, specialists and operating rooms to handle the worst of the worst injuries, at any moment). Houston Chronicle health reporter Markian Hawryluk shares with us why that status was initially threatened, and ultimately retained. Then Paige Phelps talks with Dr. David […]
Houston Matters
Helping Trauma Workers Avoid Burnout
Posted on · We explore burnout among folks who work with families in trauma. Scholars and researchers across the country are looking at ways to make trauma-worker burnout, compassion fatigue — and a host of other negative impacts this important work can have — less damaging. We learn more from Donna Amtsberg, Clinical Assistant Professor in the Graduate College […]
Houston Matters
Project ETHAN: Reducing Unnecessary Trips to the Emergency Room
Posted on · Back in December 2014, all firehouses in the city of Houston began implementing an intervention program called Project ETHAN, or Emergency Tele-Health and Navigation. The goal: to direct non-emergency patients who call 911 to primary care clinics, instead of automatically taking them to the ER. We talk with Dr. Michael Gonzalez, program director of Project […]
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Voting Rights Act 50th Anniversary and the Printing Museum: Thursday’s Show (Aug. 6, 2015)
Posted on · Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Texasâ voter ID law, ruling the 2011 measure violates the Voting Rights Act. The decision sends the case back to a lower court, which will decide whether lawmakers intended to discriminate when they approved the measure. The ruling came down just a day shy of the […]
Houston Matters
Does Houston Have Enough Level 1 Trauma Centers to Handle a Major Crisis?
Posted on · Despite more than 250 layoffs, and a new policy limiting the patients Ben Taub General Hospital can handle it its ICU, Harris Health System is operating at a $14 million deficit this year. The reductions in service threaten Ben Taub’s long-term Level 1 trauma center designation. Ben Taub is one of just three such trauma centers […]
Houston Matters
The Life of a Houston ER Doctor
Posted on · We hear from Dr. Nathan Hoot, an ER Doctor at Memorial Hermann Hospital and Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, who tells us what it means to be a doctor in the emergency room.
Houston Matters
Contract Doctors in ERs Often Leave Texans with Unexpected Medical Bills
Posted on · For many of us with health insurance, we know if we get treatment from a doctor whoâs in our health insuranceâs network the price of that treatment will be cheaper. And if you see a provider outside your network the price could often be significantly higher. Therefore, it makes sense that if you have to […]
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Surprise Medical Bills and Austin City Limits Turns 40: Houston Matters for Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014
Posted on · It seems straight-forward enough: With most health insurance plans, if you’re treated by a doctor in your plan’s network, the cost of that treatment will be less than if you see someone outside the network. So, if you need to go to the emergency room, it would stand to reason you’re better off going to […]
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Houston Matters for Thursday, August 8, 2013
Posted on · Major League Baseball this week suspended New York Yankees third baseman – and former Texas Ranger â Alex Rodriguez 211 games for his alleged repeated use of performance-enhancing drugs, and for obstructing baseballâs probe into the Biogenesis of America Anti-Aging Clinic. âA-Rodâ continues to play and is appealing the suspension, while thirteen other players, including […]