Patients now see their records, but can they understand them?

Columns & Analysis

Published
November 29, 2021

Patients now see their records, but can they understand them?

Providers need to do a better job of explaining to patients what tests we order and why. And we need to be available to explain and answer questions when scary results come in. Important in this era of primary-care physician burnout, providers need to be reimbursed for the significant hours that appropriate and sensitive patient-portal communication demands.
Published
November 29, 2021

Good luck trying to bag a Santa this year

The nationwide worker shortage has stricken an array of industries, as varied as fast food, textile mills and long-haul trucking. The crisis, as news outlets have been chronicling with increasing worry, extends all the way up to the North Pole.
Published
November 28, 2021

Bill Nemitz: Ringing in the holidays with a tasty Maine spud

Jason Briggs uses potatoes to liven up the season – and feed the hungry.
Published
November 28, 2021

Jared Golden’s vote against Build Back Better shows strength

Cynics accuse the U.S. Representative of grandstanding for voters in his red-leaning district, but his stance reflects courage, intelligence and integrity.
Published
November 28, 2021

Leonard Pitts Jr.: ‘True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar’

Giving is good, and every person who is able to do so, should. But it would be even better to restructure the edifice that produces a need for giving — to realize, as author Celine-Marie Pascale puts it, that what America really needs is not a “seasonal moment of generosity” but “a reckoning for justice.”

Published
November 27, 2021

Bob Neal: The Countryman: Inflation of two kinds, or three

Each buyer has an equilibrium point for each purchase. Some willingly pay more, some don't. At the $5 a pound I paid for my Thanksgiving bird, I was at my equilibrium point. But $5 was way too far to the right of equilibrium for the vast majority of turkey eaters.
Published
November 24, 2021

Leo Goddard: Trapped in a pandemic: How the incarcerated population is directly affected by COVID-19

These people are already doing time for their crimes. Do they really deserve to have their lives put at risk by a preventable illness?
Published
November 24, 2021

Whitney Durgin: American definitions of freedom are being manipulated by the media we consume

It is important to take a look at how the media has the disturbing power to impact the livelihood of an entire country just by abusing the meaning of one word. Freedom has been turned into a weapon for selfishness and division instead of a call for unity and equality. This should not be ignored as we continue to march toward an irreversible rift in this country.
Published
November 24, 2021

Milly Mpundu: Abusive practices by the U.S Immigration and Customs must stop

It is impossible for an individual to feel welcomed and safe in a new society knowing that some people in the position of protecting them are actually against their well-being. There has to be a way to treat those who flee from persecution and unsafe situations, rather than to send them back to what they initially escaped.
Published
November 24, 2021

Angie Tehuitzil: Latinx and Hispanic communities have shared experiences, but receive different attention

Everyone has a story to tell and everyone deserves the right to equal justice. It is not about who has it worse, but rather that no matter one’s race or ethnicity, all deserve to be treated justly and humanly.

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