Ryan White

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles is among the most famous and expensive hospitals in the country. Experts say it makes a great test case to see whether big-name hospitals can thrive in an era of cost-cutting and shrinking networks.

What does health reform look like at the ground level? Very different from the typical media diet of enrollment updates and website glitches.

Dr. Robert Ross and Professor Gerald Kominsi offer thought-provoking perspectives on health reform to California journalists at USC Annenberg: the horse-race style coverage of the Affordable Care Act’s bumpy start has a way of obscuring the sheer magnitude of the changes underfoot.

Detroit News' Karen Bouffard embarked on a special project looking at the causes of Detroit’s high child death rate. Andrea Walker examined Baltimore’s infamously violent streets and showed the consequences to the community for the Baltimore Sun.

Early in her career, Dr. Barbara Staggers was strongly censured for hugging a patient. Now, it’s part of her daily routine, a way to show kids who might not otherwise have any positive physical affection in their lives that someone cares about them.

Readers and editors need and appreciate clear and concise explanations of health reform’s provisions. However, there’s no way you’re going to be able to cover all the complexities and nuances of any given topic in the space you’re allotted.

The looming March 31 deadline gives ongoing urgency to the efforts of Covered California to refine and improve strategies for reaching groups, such as Latinos and African Americans, whose enrollment numbers have so far lagged.

A pilot project in California gives specially trained dental hygienists and assistants expanded powers to use portable dental chair, laptops, digital cameras and handheld x-ray machines to see patients at a school or community center.

S.F. health officials say their focus is now on retaining and attracting new Medi-Cal patients. The challenge gives fresh urgency to efforts to improve customer service, lower appointment wait times and boost efficiency.

A new report by Children Now shows that among California’s 2- and 3-year-olds, 37% have never been to the dentist and by kindergarten, 28% of kids have untreated decay. Dental woes caused California kids to miss an estimated 874,000 school days a year.