This video posted today on the North Carolina Justice Center’s blog, the Progressive Pulse, shows Dr. Atkinson and Adam Searing, director of the North Carolina Justice Center’s Health Access Coalition, talking healthcare reform.

Yesterday, Inclusive Health hosted an event in the Andrew’s Center on WakeMed’s Raleigh Campus to enroll North Carolina residents who have had trouble securing a health insurance policy due to pre-existing medical conditions. 
At the event Judy Dixon, an Inclusive Health Enrollee, shared her story.
Judy has been covered by three different health insurance organizations this year [...]

Congressman Brad Miller has been a great friend of WakeMed’s since his days in the North Carolina General Assembly in the 1990’s, and has since been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He’s on his way back up to Washington this week, and was able to stop by WakeMed on Monday to take a [...]

Christine Craig is the Director of WakeMed’s Government Affairs Department
This morning I joined a couple of my colleagues for a “snow day” planning breakfast.  Those are the best types of meetings!   I shared with them WakeMed’s health care reform priorities.  After much discussion, one of my colleagues said “now this is what reform really [...]

In 1992 I was contacted by the editor of the Accent II, Aurora, Colorado’s weekly magazine inserted into the daily paper.  At the time, I was serving as the executive director of Humana Hospital Aurora.  The topic was health care reform.  This same article could be published today with very few tweaks and would be [...]

As part of its ongoing series on health care reform, The News & Observer’s Martha Quillin has an excellent story on today’s front page about the struggles of Gail Johnson, a 55-year-old woman whose employer does not offer health insurance.  The article touches on several issues that Dr. Atkinson has discussed on this blog, including [...]

I have said time and again that what we have today is not really a system due in large part to the lack of communication and coordination among various providers. However, there are examples where coordination is happening and solutions are working. One example of these solutions can be found right in WakeMed’s backyard.  In [...]

Another great local case study that could be held up as a national model is Alliance Medical Ministry.
Alliance Medical Ministry is a faith-based medical ministry that serves uninsured working families in Wake County. For the most part, Alliance operates like any other private doctor’s office. Board certified physicians provide general primary care to patients [...]

In the last few months, I’ve been getting this question a lot. To answer it simply, WakeMed can’t afford to not be involved. Here’s a more extensive explanation.

The video is embedded from YouTube, and may not be visible from within the hospital.

A reader recently posted a thought-provoking comment – one that I believe many of you may have considered.  The question: “Is healthcare a fundamental right??
The answer, I think, is that we must view basic health care in a similar way that we see defense and public safety in this country. We have collectively decided as [...]