By Andrew Jones KFF Health News ASHEVILLE — At around 2 a.m., 7-year-old twin brothers arrived at Mission Hospital in Asheville. Both had a fever, a cough, a rash, pink eye, and cold symptoms. The boys sat in one waiting room and then another. Two hours and 20 minutes passed before the two were isolated, […]

The post Hospitals fighting measles confront a challenge: Few doctors have seen it before appeared first on North Carolina Health News.

By Jaymie Baxley After three years at the helm, Jay Ludlam is stepping down as director of North Carolina’s Medicaid program. Ludlam’s tenure included North Carolina’s expansion of Medicaid, a decade-in-the-making endeavor that has given more than 710,000 low-income residents access to coverage since December 2023. As of February, people who joined the rolls through […]

The post After transforming and expanding the program, NC Medicaid director steps down appeared first on North Carolina Health News.

By Taylor Knopf Since November, North Carolina lawmakers have been grappling with the problems plaguing the state’s intertwined mental health and criminal justice systems during hours-long monthly meetings packed with presentations from experts and state officials.  Their goal? To address the revolving door of people with mental illness who cycle in and out of emergency […]

The post NC lawmakers wrestle with broken mental health system, ask public for input appeared first on North Carolina Health News.

By Katie Myers and Laura Hackett Grist Regina is haunted by the specter of mold.  She found the insidious spores in the closet, behind the refrigerator, and around the bathtub for two years after the dishwasher flooded her apartment in Asheville, North Carolina.  The infestation only got worse after Hurricane Helene. Rainwater rushed into her […]

The post A hotter, wetter South is becoming a breeding ground for mold  appeared first on North Carolina Health News.

By Rachel Crumpler Teenagers in some North Carolina juvenile detention centers are spending nearly the entire day locked in their cells — sometimes allowed out for only one or two hours — according to a yearlong review of the state’s 13 juvenile detention centers by Disability Rights North Carolina. In a 52-page report published Thursday, […]

The post ‘Something needs to change’: Report details isolation at NC juvenile detention centers appeared first on North Carolina Health News.

By Jaymie Baxley Cole’s Pharmacy, a family-owned drug store in Person County, closed in early February after nearly 70 years, leaving many residents in and around Roxboro with a longer drive for medications and fewer local health care options. Robbie Carver, who managed the pharmacy with his sister, said the increasingly unpredictable reimbursements and fees […]

The post PBM reforms promise relief for NC’s independent pharmacies appeared first on North Carolina Health News.

By Shoshana Walter and Jill Castellano The Marshall Project Ayanna Harris-Rashid was sitting up in bed, her newborn son latched to her breast, one hand scrolling on her phone, when the police called. She was wanted on a felony charge of child neglect. Harris-Rashid had just had her third child in March of 2021. To ease pain and […]

The post Tens of thousands of mothers were flagged to police over flawed drug tests at childbirth appeared first on North Carolina Health News.

By Jacob Biba NCLocal Amid rising costs and the expiration of enhanced subsidies, fewer North Carolina residents enrolled in health coverage under the Affordable Care Act for 2026, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  What is ACA Coverage and why do people use it? Signed into law in […]

The post ACA enrollment dropped sharply in North Carolina. More people across the state are expected to lose coverage. appeared first on North Carolina Health News.

By Anne Blythe When Lee Zeldin, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, announced almost 10 months ago that the federal regulator would reevaluate research on potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water, he said “sound science” would be used to “advance our mission of protecting human and health and the environment.” Now, with […]

The post Dentists, oral health advocates urge EPA to use ‘gold standard science’ in its fluoride review appeared first on North Carolina Health News.

By Michelle Crouch The Charlotte Ledger Kimberly Sanders thought she was doing the right thing when she stepped into a mobile mammogram van parked outside her Charlotte workplace, a primary care clinic, last October. It seemed like a simple, convenient way to get her annual breast cancer screening. But when the scan came back abnormal, […]

The post After an abnormal mammogram, a battle for care appeared first on North Carolina Health News.