Health

Dr. Lee Norman was the face of public health through the COVID-19 pandemic. That also made him a target of criticism from Republicans. He also faced internal tension with Gov. Laura Kelly's administration.

The FDA on Friday granted emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna booster shots. The boosters have already been available for people 65 and older and to high-risk adults.

Nearly 800 Missourians died from opioid overdoses in the first half of 2021. In Columbia, a rash of overdose deaths has pushed the community to change its attitude on harm reduction efforts.

Emails between an auditing firm and Kansas show how quickly the state bent to the company’s wishes to keep information out of public view. Experts say this reflects a disturbing national trend.

At issue in Tuesday’s ruling is whether the casinos’ health plans, which included a $50 monthly tobacco surcharge, violated the federal law governing employee health plans.

On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Senior Services issued a hotspot advisory, the first in almost a month, for seven counties in northwest Missouri.

Interests on both sides of the program — hospitals and drugmakers — say they are at the mercy of a program designed with the best of intentions, now run amok, hijacked by for-profit companies and wealthy hospitals trying to profit from its largesse.

Months after a court ordered Missouri to expand Medicaid, the state has been slow to reach out to hundreds of thousands of eligible residents who could benefit from the public health care program.

Corner pharmacies, once widespread in large cities and rural hamlets alike, are disappearing from many areas of the country, leaving an estimated 41 million Americans in what are known as drugstore deserts.

An estimated 275,000 Missouri adults can get dental insurance now as the state has expanded who is eligible for Medicaid. But with so few dentists participating in the program, the state’s already-backlogged clinics are facing a glut of new clients.

A UMKC psychology graduate with a bird’s eye view of Kansas City’s public health says arguments aren’t the best way to convince someone to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

For uninsured residents around Mountain View, Missouri, the Good Samaritan Care Clinic had become an essential resource they relied on. Having to close down is "depressing," doctors and staff say.