Rick Mayer
Health News FloridaI’m the online producer for Health News Florida, a collaboration of public radio stations and NPR that delivers news about health care issues.
This is an important position at WUSF. In 2019, the typical U.S. family spent about 11 percent of its annual income on health care, so it stands to reason issues of cost, quality, access and innovation are consequential to all Floridians. Then COVID-19 came along, and the weight of these matters gained exponentially. I take our reporting on these topics quite seriously, as I’m sure you do, too.
Literally growing up in newsrooms and a little serendipity along the way prepared me well for the post. Here’s the abridged version: I’m a Tampa guy, graduating from H.B. Plant High and thrust into the world with my USF degree rolled tightly in hand. From there, it was three mostly sleepless decades as an editor at The Tampa Tribune, then developing and managing an online journal serving physician executives. There’s also my side job editing a statewide health magazine.
And being married to a longtime hospital nurse/case manager helps; dinner conversation often gives me a feel of what’s happening on the front lines. The good and not-so-good.
Of course, my time isn’t always spent flailing in the health news vortex. You’re actually more likely to find me breaking down the Bucs, Bulls or Bolts after a game, taking Oodle the poodle to the dog park or tinkering the backroom piano while vicariously reliving my former life as a musician. (Remember, kids: Parents of percussionists have plenty of patience. Plenty!)
Contact Rick on Twitter @rmayer2361 or by email at Mayer1@wusf.org.
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The lawsuit alleges the hack was preventable and that the hospital “exacerbated the harm” by failing to notify those affected until “months” after the attack.
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From 2015 to 2020, about 20 percent of the reported U.S. cases were in Florida, and 81 percent of those cases were in Central Florida, according to a research letter released by the CDC.
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Congress has approved legislation that would allow HHS to expand competition for contracts related to the network that matches donor organs with patients waiting for transplants.
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In addition to designing, testing and implementing the hearing intervention used in the multisite ACHIEVE study, USF researchers also trained the audiologists who used it and monitored the results.
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The sale, valued at an estimated at $290 million, adds Bravera Health Brooksville, Bravera Health Spring Hill and Bravera Health Seven Rivers into the Tampa General system.
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The hospital says it discovered the "unusual activity” May 31. An investigation determined a “criminal group” infiltrated its computer system between May 12 and May 30.
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In addition, the year's third case of dengue was confirmed in Miami-Dade. Sarasota, Manatee and Miami-Dade counties are under a mosquito-borne illness alert.
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The 84-year-old Lakewood Ranch resident and college basketball broadcaster is facing his third cancer battle. His doctor says he has a chance to recover before the season begins.
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The data, apparently taken from a location used to automate email messages, was made available by an “unknown and unauthorized party” on an online forum, HCA announced.
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The law expands subsidized insurance coverage for families of four with incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $90,000 annually.