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Compensation is key to fixing primary care shortage

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:54:58 GMT

Michelle Andrews | KFF Health News (TNS)Money talks.The United States faces a serious shortage of primary care physicians for many reasons, but one, in particular, is inescapable: compensation.Substantial disparities between what primary care physicians earn relative to specialists like orthopedists and cardiologists can weigh into medical students’ decisions about which field to choose. Plus, the system that Medicare and other health plans use to pay doctors generally places more value on doing procedures like replacing a knee or inserting a stent than on delivering the whole-person, long-term health care management that primary care physicians provide.As a result of those pay disparities, and the punishing workload typically faced by primary care physicians, more new doctors are becoming specialists, often leaving patients with fewer choices for primary care.“There is a public out there that is dissatisfied with the lack of access to a routine source of care,” said Christopher Kol...

Back pain? Bum knee? Be prepared to wait for a physical therapist

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:54:58 GMT

Mark Kreidler | (TNS) KFF Health NewsAt no point along his three-year path to earning a degree in physical therapy has Matthew Lee worried about getting a job.Being able to make a living off that degree? That’s a different question — and the answer is affecting the supply of physical therapists across the nation: The cost of getting trained is out of proportion to the pay.“There’s definitely a shortage of PTs. The jobs are there,” said Lee, a student at California State University-Sacramento who is on track to receive his degree in May. “But you may be starting out at $80,000 while carrying up to $200,000 in student debt. It’s a lot to consider.”As many patients seeking an appointment can attest, the nationwide shortage of PTs is real. According to survey data collected by the American Physical Therapy Association, the job vacancy rate for therapists in outpatient settings last year was 17%.Wait times are generally long across the nation, as patients tell of waiting weeks or even mo...

Bruins notebook: Derek Forbort out, rookie Mason Lohrei in

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:54:58 GMT

The Bruins’ league-leading penalty kill took a hit on Thursday when the team announced Derek Forbort was placed long-term injured reserve, meaning he’ll have to miss 10 games and 24 days.The veteran left shot defenseman has been battling a groin injury since the start of training camp and hasn’t been able to shake it. He sat out four games earlier in the season, but he hasn’t been able to settle it down.“It’s a lower body injury that’s been there since training camp. I think at one point we gave him five days off and it was doing well, but the nine games in 16 days, with just the repetitive demands on the body, it’s come back and we’re going to give him a little extended time to try and nip this for the rest of the year,” said coach Jim Montgomery.With Forbort out for a good chunk of time, rookie Mason Lohrei was recalled from Providence.Forbort led the B’s in penalty kill ice time average at 3:34, with Brandon Carlo close behind...

Two charged with murder of Quebecer Daniel Langlois and partner in Dominica

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:54:58 GMT

MONTREAL — The director of public prosecutions in the Caribbean nation of Dominica has confirmed that two men have been charged in the death of Quebecer Daniel Langlois and his partner.Sherma Dalrymple told a news conference today that Jonathan Lehrer and Robert Thomas Snider were charged Wednesday with the murders of the well-known Quebec film entrepreneur and his partner, Dominique Marchand.She says the two men appeared in court but did not have to enter a plea, adding that a preliminary inquiry is scheduled for March 15. The bodies of Langlois and Marchand were found last Friday in a burned out car near the luxury resort they owned in Dominica, a small island located between Guadeloupe and Martinique.Police spokesman Jeoffrey James told reporters today that officers made three arrests after they visited a property close to what investigators believe is a secondary crime scene. A fourth person was later taken into custody.Court documents show that Langlois and Lehrer were neighbou...

Menu signed by Mao Zedong brings a quarter million dollars at auction

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:54:58 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — An official menu for a state banquet that bears the signature of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong has been auctioned for $275,000. Boston-based RR Auction said the menu auctioned Wednesday was for a banquet held in Beijing on October 19, 1956, and commemorated the first state visit to China by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.The menu was signed in fountain pen by six influential Chinese statesmen, including Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai. The banquet featured foods from both nations and included delicacies such as “Consommé of Swallow Nest and White Agaric,” “Shark’s Fin in Brown Sauce,” and “Roast Peking Duck.”“To hold a menu signed by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai is to hold a piece of the past – a piece that tells a story of diplomatic engagement, cultural exchange, and the forging of friendships that have endured through the decades,” Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction, said in a statement.Other items auctioned off included a...

Families press for inspector general investigation of Army reservist who killed 18

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:54:58 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A survivor and family members of those killed in the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history went to Capitol Hill on Thursday to press for an inspector general to obtain answers from the Army about the mental health and hospitalization of a reservist who opened fire.While representing varied political views, the families are united in seeking changes to ensure that what happened on Oct. 25 in Lewiston, Maine, doesn’t happen again somewhere else.“This has to stop. We think we can stop it right here,” Leroy Walker, father of one of the victims, Joe Walker, told reporters in Washington. He was joined by his daughter-in-law, Tracey Walker, now a widow.The group met privately with each member of Maine’s congressional delegation and, later, the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Two members also attended a vigil for gun violence victims at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church that included those affected by other mass shootings.All told, 18 people were killed an...

Mexico City rattled by moderate 5.8 magnitude earthquake

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:54:58 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico City residents were rattled by a moderate 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck to the south of the capital Thursday. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake occurred at about 2:03 p.m. local time at a spot near Chiautla de Tapia, a rural village about 125 miles (200 kilometers) south of Mexico City in Puebla state.The head of the federal civil defense agency said there were no immediate reports of damage anywhere around Chiautla. Acting Mexico City Mayor Martí Batres said there were no immediate reports of any damage or injuries in the capital. The tremor set off the Mexico City earthquake alarm system and people left apartment and office buildings in neighborhoods across the city. Groups of office workers gathered on sidewalks along the city’s downtown Reforma boulevard.The Associated Press

Martin Scorsese will receive David O. Selznick Award from Producers Guild

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:54:58 GMT

Martin Scorsese will be honored with the prestigious David O. Selznick Achievement Award in February, the Producers Guild of America said Thursday. “Marty’s trailblazing career as a producer, marked by decades of bold, breakthrough projects, demands to be celebrated,” said PGA Presidents Donald De Line and Stephanie Allain in a joint statement. “His mastery and unwavering commitment to the craft are truly unparalleled.”A three-time PGA Award nominee with six decades of producing credits, Scorsese recalled the first time he was honored by the guild.“In March 1965, I was flown out to Los Angeles by the PGA to receive an award for my student film ‘It’s Not Just You, Murray!’ I was 22 at the time. At the same event, a much older filmmaker was also being honored. His name was Alfred Hitchcock,” Scorsese said in a statement. “58 years later, I’m proud to say that I am now the much older filmmaker. And I’m touched and extremely honored to be receiving an award named after a true legend amo...

Ospreys had safety issues long before they were grounded. A look at the aircraft’s history

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:54:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — When the U.S. military took the extraordinary step of grounding its entire fleet of V-22 Ospreys this week, it wasn’t reacting just to the recent deadly crash of the aircraft off the coast of Japan. The aircraft has had a long list of problems in its short history.The Osprey takes off and lands like a helicopter but can tilt its propellers horizontally to fly like an airplane. That unique and complex design has allowed the Osprey to speed troops to the battlefield. The U.S. Marine Corps, which operates the vast majority of the Ospreys in service, calls it a “game-changing assault support platform.” But on Wednesday, the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps grounded all Ospreys after a preliminary investigation of last week’s crash indicated that a materiel failure — that something went wrong with the aircraft — and not a mistake by the crew led to the deaths. And it’s not the first time. There have been persistent questions about a mechanical problem with t...

Ex-Philadelphia labor leader convicted of embezzling from union to pay for home renovations, meals

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:54:58 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Former Philadelphia labor leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty and a codefendant were convicted Thursday of using more than $650,000 in union funds for personal use, marking the second conviction federal prosecutors have secured against the long-powerful figure since a sweeping 2019 indictment.Dougherty, who led Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for nearly three decades, was convicted of conspiracy, embezzlement and dozens of other charges by a jury after a monthlong trial. Prosecutors said he and codefendant Brian Burrows, Local 98′s former president, used the money for items including home renovations, concerts, groceries and even a cookie tray for the christening of a relative’s baby.“This was a case where all the members who paid these people’s salaries basically had their pockets picked by them, and we’re glad we can finally hold them accountable,” U.S. Attorney Frank Costell was quoted as saying by The Philadelphia Inquirer...