Medicine has become something of a stealth family-friendly profession, argues a new column in The New York Times' The Upshot. As American employers struggle to adapt to the realities of modern family life and as younger generations of workers demand more balance, medicine offers a road map. 
 

The key to being family-friendly? Flexibility. Medicine has changed in ways that offer doctors and other health care workers the option of more control over their hours, depending on the specialty and job they choose, while still practicing a the top of their training and being paid proportionately. And, flexible, predictable hours are the key — across occupations — to shrinking gender gaps, according to the body of research by Claudia Goldin, an economist at Harvard. (Photo: Ani Kolleshi on Unsplash)

A bipartisan push for the Wisconsin Legislature to create a dental therapist license as part of an effort to provide basic services in mostly rural areas is meeting with stiff opposition from dentists. The latest idea being pushed primarily by Republicans faces opposition from the Wisconsin Dental Association and Marquette University, which houses the state’s only dental school. For years, dentists in Wisconsin and across the country have been fighting efforts to allow dental therapists to practice.

Matt Rossetto, a lobbyist for the Wisconsin Dental Association, says Wisconsin’s problem isn’t the number of dentists, but that not enough of them live in underserved areas. Scott Bauer reports for The Associated Press. Previously here and here. (Photo by Moses Vega on Unsplash)

In Kewaunee County, local leaders are set to vote Tuesday to support a state bill that would give volunteer first responders some money back. The BRAVE Act—Beginning Retention, and Attraction for Volunteer Emergency personnel—would help recruitment and retainment for local fire and emergency medical services. The bill is one way of showing appreciation for first responders, during a time when the industry faces workforce shortages and high demands. It would help relieve on-call pressure from those who are doing much more than the 60 hour per month requirement.
 

According to Joe Steiner, director of Kewaunee Area Ambulance Service, many first responders are working much more than that. “A lot of us are taking between 200-300 hours a month to fill the gaps, to make sure the schedule is filled and there is someone ready to respond 24 hours a day,” Steiner said in an interview with WBAY. (Previously.) (Image is a motion still, courtesy of WBAY)

As Wisconsin's agricultural workers continue to deal with financial and weather stressors and the unpredictability of the current tariff wars, farming advocates are pointing to the immediate need for more mental health funding for farmers. The Farm Center, a free and confidential resource available to all farmers in the state, reported more than 2,300 calls from farmers in 2018. This year, the Center had received more than 1,000 as of May—with most of the calls related to finances and levels of distress. 
 

To help with the stress farmers and their families are experiencing, Wisconsin's biennial budget included investments in mental health resources for agriculture communities across the state. But the co-chairs of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee have yet to decide whether to release $100,000 in funding to the Farm Center, a farmer mental health assistance program, which was earmarked in Gov. Evers’ 2019-21 biennial budget, which was signed into law at the beginning of July. The La Crosse Tribune reports. (Photo via Julian Scholl on Unsplash) 

Rural hospital administrators from Texas to Maine say that eliminating private insurance and adopting a single-payer government health care program, or "Medicare for All," would force rural hospitals to close. Currently, Medicare reimburses small, rural critical access hospitals for allowable costs—but private insurance provides the funds above the cost the care that enables a hospital to reinvest in facilities, equipment, and workers, say administrators.

Yet the Congressional Budget Office disagrees with that narrative. According to research from the CBO, rural hospitals currently treat a greater share of uninsured patients than urban and suburban hospitals. Under single-payer, rural hospitals could stand to get more revenue if every patient that showed up was insured—that is, if the government reimbursed a hospital for every patient it treated. And, supporters of Medicare for All point out that reimbursement rates are negotiable when the law is written. Radio station WBUR reports. (Photo by nattanan23 on Pixabay)

Dental therapists work under the supervision of a dentist, providing preventive and routine restorative care, such as filling cavities or placing temporary crowns. They have midlevel roles similar to that of physician assistants or nurse practitioners who operate under the supervision of a doctor. Advocates say dental therapists can help to increase broaden access to oral health care.
 

In the past year, six states have passed laws authorizing dental therapists to practice. Now, lawmakers in Wisconsin are trying to do the same. Fifty organizations across the political spectrum back dental therapy in Wisconsin, and a study from the McIver Institute hints at the potential economic benefit of allowing them to practice. 
 

Senate Bill 89, currently in the state legislature, would provide for the licensure of dental therapists. The Senate plans to hold a public hearing on the bill next week Wednesday morning. The hearing, which also has other items on the schedule, will begin at 10am on Wednesday, August 21, 2019, in Room 411 South in the State Capitol Building. (Photo by Moses Vega on Unsplash)

The Wisconsin State Assembly has announced a new recognition program for first responders. Winners in each district will be recognized during an October Assembly floor session as part of First Responders Appreciation Month. 
 

Any Wisconsinite, especially local leaders, can submit nominations. The nomination can be based on a variety of factors, including a heroic action, significant professional achievement, community work, and/or length of service. The person nominated can be a police officer, sheriff's deputy, a firefighter, or any level of EMS provider. 
 

Submit nominations to your state representative before early September. Find your Assembly representative here. (Photo from the Wisconsin State Assembly website)

Transportation funding will be distributed equitably across Wisconsin's cities and towns, says Governor Tony Evers. The governor in July used his line-item veto power to create a $75 million grant program under which local governments will compete for transit funding beyond funding boosts elsewhere in the budget, reports Rob Mentzer for Wisconsin Public Radio. The program has received support from the Wisconsin County Highway Association, the League of Wisconsin Municipalities and the Wisconsin Towns Association. 

Investments in broadband and workforce housing can help keep people in rural Wisconsin, argues Matt Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, which works to advise the Wisconsin Governor and Legislature on issues of science and technology.  In a new column for the Wisconsin State Journal, Still argues that the state must work to draw and keep people in rural areas. Among those? Continued investment in broadband and infrastructure, workforce strategies, and upgraded housing.
 

But what doesn't Wisconsin need to work on? Convincing rural folks to stay rural, says Still, who cites a recent survey that found "a smaller percentage of educated rural residents wanted to move elsewhere than the percentage of urban residents who wanted to leave."