Code WACK!

What's fueling America's dreadful nursing home care

This time on Code WACK!  Are regulations meant to protect nursing home residents being enforced? How is understaffing at the California Dept of Public Health affecting nursing home regulation?  Are for-profit and nonprofit nursing homes comparable when it comes to the quality of care residents receive? What reforms are in the works to better protect residents? To find out, we spoke to Tony Chicotel, senior staff attorney at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, or CANHR, where he promotes the rights of residents in long-term care facilities through litigation, legislation, regulatory policy, and consumer education.    Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!  

'A race to the bottom:' How U.S. nursing homes are failing us

This time on Code WACK!    The COVID pandemic devastated nursing homes and other long-term care facilities highlighting the need for major reforms. What are the policies behind the often dismal performance of the nursing home industry? What policy changes have been made so far and why are nursing home residents still so vulnerable?  To find out, we spoke to Tony Chicotel, senior staff attorney at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, or CANHR, where he promotes the rights of residents in long-term care facilities through litigation, legislation, regulatory policy, and consumer education.    Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!  

How Medicare ACOs restrict care and offer dangerous incentives

This time on Code WACK!    Why is tying a medical provider’s pay to the outcomes of their patients a bad idea? Why else should we be concerned about Accountable Care Organizations and the privatization of traditional Medicare?  To find out, we spoke to Dr. Ana Malinow,  who spent three decades working as a pediatrician with immigrant, refugee and underserved children before retiring as Clinical Professor of Pediatrics from the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine. She’s past president of Physicians for a National Health Program and is currently a lead organizer for National Single Payer and The Movement to End Privatization of Medicare.  This is the second episode in a two-part series with Dr. Malinow.   Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!

'You're not safe': How middlemen are corrupting traditional Medicare

This time on Code WACK!    You've probably heard about the dangers of Medicare Advantage, but did you know that traditional Medicare is being privatized too? How is this corrupting our healthcare system even more and what does this mean for patients?   To find out, we spoke to Dr. Ana Malinow,  who spent three decades working as a pediatrician with immigrant, refugee and underserved children in Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, and California before retiring as Clinical Professor of Pediatrics from the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine. She’s past president of Physicians for a National Health Program and is currently a lead organizer for National Single Payer and The Movement to End Privatization of Medicare. This is the first episode in a two-part series with Dr. Malinow.   Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!  

'Nothing about us without us!' The trans community fights back

This time on Code WACK!  Some states are making it easier for trans and non-binary individuals to get gender-affirming care but in other states, a record number of laws have been passed to outlaw  – or limit – such care. What kind of toll does this take on people in the trans community, their doctors and their advocates?  What policy solutions are needed to ensure that everyone, regardless of gender identity, has access to the medical care they need? To find out, we spoke to Ash Orr, a trans organizer from West Virginia and press relations manager for the National Center for Transgender Equality or NCTE. This is the second episode in a two-part series.    Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!