Michigan needs primary care doctors in hundreds of underserved communities — rural and urban. Can a new Oakland County program help?
Robin Erb
Robin Erb covers a range of health issues in Michigan, including the industry of aging and the issues facing older residents in Michigan, a state that is aging faster than most others. She joined Bridge in 2019 and has led investigations that tracked millions of dollars in opioid settlement money and explored severe worker shortages in health care that threaten lives and the state's economy. She chronicled the shock and grief of Michigan families in COVID’s wake, as well as state policy decisions and the triumphs of medical breakthroughs. Robin previously spent six years covering health at the Detroit Free Press, documenting the battle over, and the eventual passage of, the Affordable Care Act and Michigan's Medicaid expansion. She studied communications and political science at Miami University and has a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Lourdes University (Toledo, Ohio). She and her husband raised two wonderful children — but have failed miserably at training their Beagle-Bassets — in southeast Michigan. Reach her at rerb@bridgemi.com.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
In Michigan, naloxone has reversed over 6,600 overdoses since 2020
Michigan spent $7 million this year from its slice of opioid settlement funds for naloxone, or Narcan, to reverse overdoses.
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan is spending to fill critical worker gaps. Here’s what’s needed
Some worker shortages hurt more than others, and state leaders are rushing to try to make it easier to fill vacancies from paramedics to special ed teachers.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
For the holidays: Another batch of COVID tests for Michiganders
Michigan households can order another four free COVID tests, while the state continues to offer free at-home tests and testing sites, too.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan has just half the child psychiatrists it needs amid health crisis
Child psychiatrists oversee the care and medication of some of the most complex mental health cases. And yet Michigan has only about half the specialists it needs amid a surge in anxiety and depression among young people.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Embattled Michigan health officer expected to get $4 million — to go away
Adeline Hambley has been fighting to keep her job as Ottawa County health officer. She clashed with conservative county commissioners in a battle emblematic of tensions across the country since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Posted inMichigan Government
Right to Life of Michigan lawsuit seeks to overturn abortion rights Proposal 3
Long-shot suit asks a federal court to overturn the abortion rights initiative approved last fall by 57 percent of Michigan voters.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Shortage of new RSV shots could endanger Michigan babies
A first-ever immunization against RSV for babies was approved with much hope in July; already, there’s not enough to go around, according to the state’s pediatricians’ group. That, and a flagging interest in flu and COVID vaccines, have some doctors worried.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan unveils spending on $1.5B opioid settlement, amid secrecy fears
Even as the state posted at least some details on a new website Wednesday about where settlement money is going, the chair of the Michigan Opioid Advisory Commission told lawmakers that the panel has struggled to get more detailed information from state health officials.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Experts: Henry Ford, Ascension Michigan venture likely to impact care, costs
Some worry that another health care consolidation means higher costs for care, but hospitals argue that staff wages and inflation in supplies and equipment drive the prices for care.