There are not many things a 20-year-old Taiwanese immigrant could claim to have expertise in, right? You might have expected a “but” to come after that sentence, but I’m saddened to inform you…there is none.

Hi. It’s me. I’m the 20-year-old Taiwanese immigrant. My name’s Quinn Sental, born Pu Chih-Yu, and I’ve been in the US for a little under two years now. In that time, I’ve observed a few differences between the US and Taiwan—especially between the healthcare systems.

Before you read on: It might surprise you to learn that not everything about the US healthcare system is worse! Don’t get me wrong, though, most of it is upsetting to me. And I’m hoping that some of you will read this article and tell me it’s actually not as bad as it seems.

Keep reading here.—QS

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Quinn at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Quinn for their number on Signal.

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Newly proposed rules from the Department of Justice (DOJ) may make medical equipment more accessible for people with disabilities.

The new rules, proposed in early January, would require all publicly owned healthcare facilities keep a certain amount of accessible equipment on hand.

“Individuals with disabilities often experience great difficulty obtaining routine or preventative medical care because of inaccessible medical diagnostic equipment,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the DOJ, said in a statement. “From examination tables to weight scales to mammography equipment, accessible [medical equipment] is critical to ensuring equal access to medical care.”

Keep reading here.—MA

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Maia at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Maia for her number on Signal.

Hospitals under private equity (PE) ownership reported higher rates of patient complications when compared to other facilities, according to a recent JAMA study—raising questions about how the business model might affect staffing and subsequent quality of care.

The surveyed Medicare beneficiaries saw a 25.4% increase in “hospital-acquired conditions,” which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services defines as falls, infections, and other adverse events, when they received treatment at a PE-acquired hospital compared to those run under other forms of ownership.

On the whole, the study found that Medicare enrollees at hospitals under PE control were not only younger and less likely to additionally qualify for Medicaid but also more likely to experience complications.

Keep reading here.—WP

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Will at [email protected]. For confidential conversations, ask Will for his number on Signal.

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Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: About $600 was allocated in federal research grants for every young life lost to gun violence between 2008 and 2017, or about $12 million each year. (CNN)

Quote: “These problems need to be fixed. We are less safe as a community without a robust public health infrastructure.”—Anwar Osborne, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine, on overcrowding in Atlanta emergency departments due to a major hospital closure (NBC News)

Read: Two veterans were reportedly unable to get adequate mental health treatment in an understaffed VA clinic in Chico, California—and then they killed their parents. (ProPublica)

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