What's the state of our healthcare in Miami? See challenges and cures
The articles below focus on Miami's healthcare challenges and innovations.
They include a look at a new medical hub in Doral offering more access to healthcare. Meanwhile, vaccination rates among Florida's youth are dropping, posing a public health risk due to increased vaccine hesitancy. Women's healthcare faces affordability and accessibility issues, partially due to Florida's choice not to expand Medicaid and implement restrictive abortion laws.
Catch up with the coverage below.
Florida's healthcare system has 'worse-than-average performance' for women, according to a 2024 report. By Carl Juste
NO. 1: WHY IS WOMEN'S HEALTHCARE IN A 'PERILOUS PLACE'? TAKE A LOOK AT THE FLORIDA RANKINGS
Women in the state are struggling with health issues and access. | Published July 25, 2024 | Read Full Story by Adlai Coleman
No image found Outdoor worker at Casaplanta Garden Center, Otty Bustos, takes a water break on Friday, July 5, 2024 in Kendale Lakes, Fla. By Sophia Bolivar
NO. 2: FLORIDA HAS HIGHEST NUMBER OF HEAT-RELATED ILLNESSES IN THE NATION, NEW REPORT FINDS
'Without common-sense workplace protections, heat-related illness, coupled with Florida's high uninsured rate, will spell trouble for a growing number of residents' | Published July 26, 2024 | Read Full Story by Ashley Miznazi
Marcellus Francis 7, laughs while rolling out dough. He is flanked by his twin sisters, Morgan Francis, 10, and Madison Francis 10, as their mother Lavi Francis, right, looks on during the cooking class by Eatwell Exchange at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex in Miami. Standing on the left is Ashley Carter. By Alexia Fodere
NO. 3: SHE'S TEACHING KIDS, FAMILIES HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY MEALS FROM FOODS OF THEIR HOMELAND
'People will say, 'This is my first time ever seeing my cultural foods regarded as healthy,' Ashley Carter, founder of EatWell Exchange | Published October 23, 2024 | Read Full Story by Nancy Dahlberg
No image found A photo of the Overtown Youth Center. By Courtesy of OYC Miami
NO. 4: SUPPORT MIAMI'S OVERTOWN AS IT REINVENTS ITSELF THROUGH TECH AND MEDICAL INNOVATION | OPINION
OnMed CareStation in Overtown is a high-tech medical kiosk enabling people to access everyday healthcare services remotely. | Published February 13, 2025 | Read Full Story by Pascal J. Goldschmidt and Erin Kobetz
A nurse double-gloves before handling and preparing doses of the measles, mumps and rubella virus vaccine at a pop-up clinic at the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD Administration Building in Carrollton, Texas, on Friday, March 7, 2025. (Liz Rymarev/The Dallas Morning News/TNS)
NO. 5: WHY FEWER KIDS ARE GETTING VACCINATED IN FLORIDA — AND HOW THAT COULD AFFECT OUTBREAKS
'I have seen a growing rise in parents who are concerned.' | Published March 15, 2025 | Read Full Story by Michelle Marchante
No image found An external view of the new UHealth Doral Medical Center during its grand opening event on Thursday, November 21, 2024. By Alexia Fodere
NO. 6: A GROWING MEDICAL HUB IS CHANGING HEALTHCARE IN MIAMI. WHAT'S DRIVING THE NEW PUSH?
'Every major system is expanding. The whole area is hot now.' | Published March 24, 2025 | Read Full Story by Michelle Marchante
No image found Kayla Smith, 19, left, double check the recipe as the 'Sweet and Sour' cooking team prepare their meal with help from sisters - Dynasty, 19, and Dominique Daniels, 21, right during a pilot cooking program funded by Miami Beach resident and longevity expert Dan Buettner, at the Overtown Youth Center on April 3, 2025, in Miami, Florida. By Carl Juste
NO. 7: WILL THIS SOUP LEAD TO A HEALTHIER AND LONGER LIFE? SEE WHAT'S COOKING IN MIAMI
They're taking tips from the world's Blue Zones. | Published April 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by Michelle Marchante
The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.
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Chicago Tribune
13 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Planned Parenthood of Illinois names new CEO, as it faces loss of Medicaid funds
Planned Parenthood of Illinois has named a new leader — a change that comes as the organization faces a barrage of threats, including a yearlong loss of federal Medicaid dollars. Adrienne White-Faines will be the new president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois starting in early September. Most recently, she's worked as chief strategy officer for the American College of Physicians. The longtime South Side resident was also previously CEO of the American Osteopathic Association, and worked for Northwestern Memorial Hospital earlier in her career. 'I can't imagine a world where individuals, women, children, teens and anyone didn't have access to comprehensive reproductive health,' White-Faines said. 'After the reversal in 2022 of Roe v. Wade, somewhere, somehow, I knew I would not rest in my career leaving a situation like that.' Planned Parenthood of Illinois provides a range of services across its 13 health centers, including medication and procedural abortion, birth control, gender-affirming care, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and cancer screenings. It also offers, through its app, birth control, UTI treatment, at-home sexually transmitted infection testing, abortion medication and emergency contraception. White-Faines, who sat on that Planned Parenthood of Chicago board in the past, joins the organization at a tumultuous time. President Donald Trump and his administration have been taking aim at services provided by Planned Parenthood as well as its funding. Much of the threat to the organization stems from the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' signed into law earlier this month. That bill included a provision that would prohibit federal Medicaid dollars from going to Planned Parenthood for a year. Medicaid is a state and federally funded health insurance program for people with low-incomes and disabilities. A federal judge in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction Monday prohibiting the federal government from defunding some, but not all Planned Parenthood organizations while a case brought by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and others proceeds. The injunction does not apply to Planned Parenthood of Illinois, the organization said Tuesday, meaning its Medicaid funding is still on the chopping block. More than 40% of Planned Parenthood of Illinois' patients – or nearly 30,000 people – are on Medicaid. The organization stands to lose about $4 million if it can't get federal Medicaid dollars for a year. 'We continue to serve Medicaid patients and have contingency plans in place to temporarily cover the costs for patients,' Planned Parenthood of Illinois said in a statement this week. 'We will continue to do this as long as possible.' Planned Parenthood of Illinois faces other major threats as well. The bill, overall, is expected to cut about $1 trillion from Medicaid across the country over the next 10 years to help pay for tax cuts and enhanced border and national security, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Millions of people are expected to lose Medicaid coverage over the next decade. Health care providers that see large numbers of patients with Medicaid, such as Planned Parenthood of Illinois, have been bracing for fewer dollars because of those cuts and coverage losses. 'Academic medical centers, teaching hospitals, foundations, they're all looking to figure out how do we hold our mission high and yet at the same time navigate through these turbulent waters,' White-Faines said. White-Faines said she hopes to work with those organizations and other groups to come up with solutions. 'Planned Parenthood is committed to continue to provide care,' White-Faines said. 'We don't have a choice and we will not to any degree possible leave patients in the wind. … We will have to look for alternative funding sources. We'll have to dig deep in our philanthropy, but we're going to have to work to find long-term sustainable solutions.' Also, the Trump administration has been waging a battle against gender-affirming care, which is among the services provided by Planned Parenthood of Illinois. Trump issued an executive order earlier this year instructing the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to take action, potentially related to Medicaid and other programs, to end gender-affirming care for people younger than 19. The order also told federal agencies to ensure that institutions, such as hospitals, that receive federal research grants stop offering gender-affirming care to people under the age of 19. The order sought to stop the use of medications to delay puberty, hormone therapy and surgery for people under 19. In response, Lurie Children's Hospital and Rush University System for Health have scaled back their offerings for minors seeking gender-affirming care, and UChicago Medicine said last week it would end gender-affirming pediatric care. Those changes at other Chicago institutions could mean more demand for gender-affirming care for minors at Planned Parenthood, White-Faines said. Though Planned Parenthood of Illinois offers gender-affirming care for minors such as hormonal therapy, it does not provide gender-affirming surgeries. Because of the threats to their funding, other local health care providers 'had to make decisions to begin to cut back on their delivery of services,' White-Faines said. 'That doesn't change the fact that it is an effective, needed medical provision and service and Planned Parenthood has provided it and will plan to continue to provide it.' The organization faces other challenges as well. In January, Planned Parenthood of Illinois announced plans to close four clinics in Englewood, Ottawa, Decatur, and Bloomington. At the time, the organization cited a financial shortfall caused by rising health care costs, more patients needing financial assistance and uncertainty under the Trump administration. Illinois has also become a destination for abortion-seekers across the country, since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leaving it up to individual states whether to keep abortion legal. In 2024, more than 35,000 people traveled to Illinois from other states for abortion care, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Since that Supreme Court decision, Planned Parenthood of Illinois has seen a 47% increase in overall abortion care patients, with out-of-state patients making up nearly a quarter of its overall abortion patients, the organization said in a January news release. The higher numbers of patients, combined with low reimbursement rates from insurers and a higher cost of care forced Planned Parenthood of Illinois to 'realign its health centers and staffing,' the news release said at the time. The organization said at the time it was downsizing its administrative staff but has not provided any details about how many people were affected. 'When demands change and when the circumstances change you have to allow yourself to open up your lens to other possibilities,' White-Faines said. 'You have to look forward and start to design for what is and what will be, and that's what we will do as I walk into Planned Parenthood.' She said she's ready to face the massive threats looming over Planned Parenthood of Illinois. 'The very foundational things that Planned Parenthood does, health care delivery, education, advocacy and research they're all facing massive headwinds,' White-Faines said, 'but for me, that's not unusual because if you look historically throughout the U.S. history, it is areas of the most dramatic disruption that actually bring about the most progressive solutions.' White-Faines has long been interested in improving health care from the inside out. Growing up in inner-city Milwaukee, she watched her dad work as a dentist alongside six other Black providers. 'Actually watching what they did in terms of their commitments to the health and wellbeing and welfare of the community made me realize that the system itself was really flawed,' White-Faines said. 'They put the community on their backs and they worked 24/7 supporting patients and activities and that's the environment I grew up in, is that you give it your all to help others.' She said she initially planned to go to medical school but realized she could do important work, helping clinicians and health systems evolve and better serve their communities by working on policy and operations. White-Faines will also serve as president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Illinois Action, which is the nonpartisan advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood of Illinois.
Medscape
an hour ago
- Medscape
CMS Review of Organ Procurement Organizations Sparks Debate
In late May, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its latest performance report for the nation's 55 Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs), the nonprofits responsible for recovering organs from deceased donors. The 2025 report shows notable improvements from the 2003 assessment with the number of lowest-performing Tier 3 OPOs declining from 24 (42%) to 10 (18%), and the number of top-performing Tier 1 OPOs doubling to 30 (54%). However, a plan by CMS to begin revoking the certification of Tier 3 OPOs following the 2026 report has heightened an ongoing debate about the reports' accuracy, fairness, and repercussions. The Report CMS began ranking OPO performance in 2022 as part of a larger effort to modernize the nation's transplant system following years of criticism that it was inequitable and inefficient. Each annual CMS assessment uses data from 2 years prior (eg, the 2025 assessment reflects 2023 data). CMS then applies two metrics to measure OPO performance: Donation rate: the percentage of potential donors from whom at least one organ was transplanted the percentage of potential donors from whom at least one organ was transplanted Transplantation rate: the number of transplanted organs as a percentage of potential donors Potential donors are defined as hospital patients ≤ 75 years whose deaths are compatible with donation. CMS then compares each OPO against the prior year's national data. The top 25% are designated Tier 1, those below the prior year's median are placed in Tier 3, and those in between are assigned Tier 2. To date, CMS has never revoked an OPO contract — but that will change with the 2026 performance assessment. At the end of the current 4-year contract cycle next year, all Tier 3 OPOs will be decertified and higher-performing OPOs will be able to bid for their contracts. Tier 2 OPOs will also have to compete with other interested OPOs to keep their service areas. Disputing the Metrics The improved OPO performance in the 2025 report is 'the result of greater transparency and accountability associated with the current outcome measures,' a CMS spokesperson told Medscape Medical News . The new outcome measures 'obviously would light a fire' under OPOs striving to improve, said Jeff Trageser, president of the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) and the executive director of Livesharing, a consistently Tier 1 OPO based in San Diego. Many OPOs, he noted, have been investing heavily in advocacy to convert eligible deceased donors into actual donors, tailoring donation strategies to their communities, and expanding organ offers to distant transplant centers to reduce the number of discarded organs. AOPO and its 47 member organizations have raised multiple objections. Trageser called CMS' performance assessments seriously flawed and warned they could penalize OPOs making steady progress. OPOs shouldn't be held accountable for transplant numbers as hospitals decide which organs to accept or reject, Trageser said. Sean Fitzpatrick, chief public affairs officer at New England Donor Services (Tier 2), argued in a recent statement that CMS' methodology unfairly penalizes large OPOs. A recent simulation study published in American Journal of Transplantation made a similar claim, suggesting the system 'systematically identifies larger OPOs as underperforming.' But CMS disagrees, noting through its spokesperson that 'both large and small OPOs have moved among performance tiers [from year to year], indicating that success is driven by operational effectiveness, not size.' Regional Differences a Concern David DeStefano, president and CEO of We Are Sharing Hope SC in Charleston, South Carolina, said his OPO has boosted donations and transplantations by 30% since 2017 through community partnerships and better coordination with transplant centers. Yet the OPO remains in Tier 3, which he attributes to higher rates of diseased, unusable organs in his largely rural service area that lacks access to health care. CMS should risk-adjust the performance metrics to reflect geographic differences in sociodemographic factors, he said. The CMS spokesperson noted that 'while population differences exist across geographic areas, there is no indication these differences would impact the donor potential resulting in a disadvantage to one OPO compared with other OPOs.' Approaching Decertification In 2026, Tier 3 OPOs can appeal their decertification. Their contracts will remain in effect through January 31, 2027, 'to allow time for appeals and prevent disruption to organ donation services,' the CMS spokesperson said. But disruption is unavoidable, said Trageser. 'Decertification will lead to chaos and fewer organs available for transplant,' he said. Incoming OPO leadership would spend valuable time managing the logistics of taking over a service area instead of on 'their core mission of working with families in a time of crisis to advocate for donation and then getting those organs allocated.' Staff departures at decertified OPOs could further erode relationships with transplant hospitals, said AOPO CEO Steve Miller. Tier 1 OPOs Eye Expansion Matthew Wadsworth, president and CEO of Life Connection of Ohio (Tier 1), supports CMS' review process. While taking over of a service area would involve 'a lot of work,' donation would improve quickly and sharply under new leadership, he said, adding that there would be no chaos. Wadsworth is preparing to bid on at least one Tier 3 service area. Expansion, he said, would create economies of scale for his smaller OPO and reduce its operating costs. 'We've even gone through the financial modeling of it and had conversations with our bank,' he said. However, details about the decertification process remain unclear, including whether incoming OPOs would inherit assets from outgoing OPOs. The lack of clarity 'puts us in a tight situation,' said Wadsworth, because he needs to talk with his board of directors now about additional resources and staffing. CMS said only that decertification guidance will be released sometime before next spring's performance assessment.
Politico
2 hours ago
- Politico
A health care lobbying boom
Presented by Driving the Day MONEY TALKS — U.S. health care companies are pouring unprecedented sums of money into lobbying efforts as they vie for influence with the Trump administration and the GOP congressional majority, POLITICO's Amanda Chu reports. Newly released lobbying disclosure reports show the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the trade group for brand-name drugmakers, spent $7.58 million on lobbying in the second quarter, the highest amount it's spent for the period, according to a POLITICO analysis. Leading members Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck recorded their highest spending for any quarter. Insurance companies have also boosted spending. AHIP, the industry group, spent $4.05 million in the second quarter, its highest for the period on record. The American Hospital Association, meanwhile, reported $6.15 million, its second-highest for the period. The record spending comes as the Trump administration vies to overhaul the U.S. health care sector, posing the biggest threat to industry profits in years and signaling a broader shift in the relationship between corporate America and the traditionally pro-business Republican Party. President Donald Trump has approved nearly a $1 trillion cut in federal funding for Medicaid, threatened to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals and demanded that drugmakers lower their prices. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly questioned the safety of vaccines, rolling back Covid-19 guidance for healthy children and healthy pregnant women, and overhauling the CDC's advisory panel on vaccines. 'Historically, the business community has seen total Republican control of D.C. as a period of great opportunity for their legislative priorities,' said Jeffrey Kimbell, president of Kimbell & Associates, which represents large pharmaceutical companies. 'While that is still the case, the current administration and some Republicans in Congress also require some industries to continue their defensive posture.' Lobbying firms with ties to key lawmakers and administration officials are reaping the benefits as companies and trade groups seek inroads with Trump and Republicans in Congress. Tarplin, Downs & Young and Todd Strategy Group ranked among the top firms representing pharmaceutical companies in Washington in the second quarter, according to a POLITICO analysis of disclosures. Each firm has strong GOP connections. Linda Tarplin was HHS's liaison to Congress when George H.W. Bush was president. Dan Todd worked for then-Utah GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch on the Finance Committee. WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY PULSE. This is your friendly CMS reporter, Robert King, filling in for your regular hosts Sophie and Kelly today. I am still picking through thousands of pages of payment rules released last week. If you have any thoughts, or know something I missed, please share at rking@ or khooper@ and sgardner@ and follow along @rking_19, @kelhoops and @sophie_gardnerj. In Congress LAWMAKERS TEE OFF ON MA — After a bruising fight over Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump's megabill, Republicans and Democrats joined together on a health issue they both agree on: reining in privately run Medicare Advantage plans. Members of the House Ways and Means Committee's oversight and health panels discussed during a hearing Tuesday the need for reforms to the popular program that enables older Americans to receive benefits like hearing and vision care outside of traditional Medicare. Lawmakers blasted the plans for high rates of care denials and overspending. 'We know of concerns about MA plans inflating a patient's level of sickness resulting in higher reimbursements for the plan at taxpayer expense,' said Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.). 'An estimated $40 billion in 2025 alone.' Rep. Lloyd Doggett(D-Texas), ranking member of the panel's Health Subcommittee, said the plans have been overspending traditional Medicare despite the intention to do the opposite. 'Medicare Advantage was sold as a program to save taxpayer dollars and improve quality of care, but I have found that it is largely disadvantages,' he said. Why it matters: The hearing was a spark of bipartisan comity after months of acrimony surrounding the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Congress passed earlier this month. The legislation included more than $1 trillion in cuts to health spending over the next decade, with most cuts coming from Medicaid. Medicare Advantage reforms have long engendered bipartisan support — but not enough to get them through Congress. Lawmakers are making another run. Doggett and Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.), chair of the GOP Doctors Caucus, introduced legislation Monday that would mandate MA contract rates to providers. Some MA plans and hospitals have clashed nationwide over rates, with hospitals complaining about high levels of prior authorization requests. The Prompt and Fair Pay Act would mandate MA plans to reimburse all covered items and services for at least what Medicare pays, noting that some plans pay providers below that line. AROUND THE AGENCIES THEORY LIVES ON — In a new report on Covid-19's origins, Dr. Robert Kadlec, who was a top health official in the first Trump administration, says Chinese military researchers might have played a role in developing the virus, POLITICO's Carmen Paun reports Kadlec, who led the Covid-19 vaccine development program known as Operation Warp Speed, would be well-positioned to push for greater scrutiny of China if the Senate confirms him as assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs. The White House and congressional Republicans have embraced the hypothesis that a lab leak, and not a natural spillover of the virus from animals to humans, triggered the pandemic that killed millions of people globally. Zooming in: The report, published Monday by the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service, adds to the assertion by three U.S. intelligence agencies that the pandemic started as an accidental lab leak in Wuhan, China, where the first Covid cases were reported in late 2019. The agencies haven't alleged a Chinese military role. But, but, but: There's still no scientific consensus on how the pandemic began, with many virologists continuing to argue that the virus wasn't engineered and the global outbreak had a natural origin. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington pointed to a 2021 report by the Chinese government and World Health Organization-appointed experts that concluded that a lab leak origin was 'extremely unlikely.' The spokesperson called that conclusion 'the authoritative scientific conclusion drawn by the China-WHO joint expert group based on field visits to relevant laboratories in Wuhan and in-depth exchanges with relevant scientific researchers.' While Kadlec's report states that a natural spillover from animals to humans remains a possibility, he argues that's doubtful because the virus contains features from different coronavirus strains that don't exist in nature in close proximity. That makes it unlikely that the virus recombination would have happened naturally, he said. Kadlec's concerns about Covid's lingering effects on the brain conflict with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s push to deemphasize Covid vaccination. Given the potential for even mild Covid infections triggering long Covid in children and adults, Kadlec's report calls for efforts to screen and test children. The Trump administration suspended a program offering free tests in March. Public Safety ORGAN OVERSIGHT FAILURES — House lawmakers grilled leaders in the nation's organ procurement and donation system Tuesday after a federal report revealed that an organ procurement organization had operated on patients showing signs of life, POLITICO's Amanda Friedman reports. The House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee's hearing followed a Health Resources and Services Administration investigation into the Kentucky-based OPO, Network for Hope. A report released in March found that the OPO had harvested organs from more than two dozen patients who might not have been definitively deceased, failed to reassess brain function and kept poor records of what happened. Subcommittee Chair John Joyce (R-Pa.) said the findings 'fractured the physician-patient relationship' and demanded accountability from the OPO and the United Network for Organ Sharing, the nonprofit that oversees the national transplant system. Dr. Raymond Lynch, who leads HRSA's Organ Transplant Branch, told lawmakers the issues aren't isolated: 'Unfortunately, it is not limited to [Network for Hope].' Other concerns: Members also raised concerns about systematic racism and whistleblower retaliation. UNOS CEO Maureen McBride faced questions about racial bias lawsuits, while Network for Hope CEO Barry Massa defended his group's procedures but acknowledged communication failures. What's next: HHS warned the OPO could be decertified on Monday. HRSA gave the group until July 28 to submit an initial remediation plan. Names in the News Vincent Bellomo is now an adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services. He most recently was a special assistant to the Secretary of HHS. WHAT WE'RE READING POLITICO's David Lim reports on the confirmation of Terry Cole to head the Drug Enforcement Administration. POLITICO's Katherine Tully-McManus reports that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will vote against the Senate's first batch of funding bills — signaling her party that she won't be cooperative in the fall funding fight. The New York Times's Nina Agrawal and Allison Jiang write about the changing face of lung cancer.
