Dr. Niran Al-Agba

The Reasons Childbirth is safer in Libya than the United States

During the same period, the U.S. maternal mortality more than doubled, skyrocketing from 9.8 to 21.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. That’s six times higher than most Scandinavian countries and three times higher than Canada and the United Kingdom. In the U.S., around 700-900 women die and another 65,000 experience life-threatening complications during or after childbirth. By any standard, the U.S. has the worst performance on this crucial measure of any country in the developed world.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-31T00:05:12+00:00October 16, 2018|Categories: Equality, Policy|Tags: ACA, Affordable Care, Consolidation, Health Policy, Hospitals, Life Expectancy, Patient Physician Relationship, Physician Autonomy, Quality|

Can Physicians Push Back Against Big Pharma?

The patient was on the state Medicaid insurance and required a so-called prior authorization, or PA, for Ciprofloxacin. Consisting of additional paperwork that physicians are required to fill out before pharmacists can fill prescriptions for certain drugs, PAs boil down to yet another cost-cutting measure implemented by insurers to stand between patients and certain costly drugs.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-31T00:03:13+00:00October 2, 2018|Categories: Patient, Policy|Tags: Affordable Care, Big Pharma, Corporatization, Corruption, Government Medicine, Patient Safety, Pharmaceutical|

Prior Authorizations: Who is Responsible for the Death of a Patient when Insurers Practice Medicine?

In July, 2009, the family of Massachusetts teenager Yarushka Rivera went to their local Walgreens to pick up Topomax, an anti-seizure drug that had been keeping her epilepsy in check for years. Rivera had insurance coverage through MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid insurance program for low-income children, and never ran into obstacles obtaining this life-saving medication.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-31T00:01:37+00:00September 18, 2018|Categories: Patient, Policy|Tags: Affordable Care, Big Pharma, Corporatization, Corruption, Government Medicine, Health Policy, Insurance, Patient Safety, Pharmaceutical, Transparency|

Medical Debt Matters — Free Tuition might not be the Silver Bullet

Over the past three decades, medical school tuition has quadrupled. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) estimates the cost to attend a public medical school is more than $240,000 and as much as $322,000 for four years at a private medical school – an amount which is more or less equivalent to the cost of a family home.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-30T23:58:01+00:00September 5, 2018|Categories: Physician, Policy|Tags: Free Market, Free Tuition, Health Policy, Medical school debt, Physician Shortage|

To Learn, Physicians Must Teach

I want to share information about a new program that can help Kitsap County buck the trend by bringing a whole crop of enthusiastic young physicians to our area. It’s called the Northwest Washington Family Medicine Residency Program.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-30T23:55:14+00:00August 21, 2018|Categories: Patient, Physician, Practice|Tags: Education, Health Policy, Hospitals, medical training, Physician Training, Residency|

Does Kitsap County Have Enough Doctors?

Only 6% of physicians practice in rural areas, yet they serve 16% of the population. Kitsap County has 443 physicians, equivalent to 2.4% of the state total and is one county experiencing a shortage of primary care physicians. Kitsap County falls below the state average in every primary care specialty across the board.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-30T23:49:15+00:00August 7, 2018|Categories: Physician, Policy|Tags: ACA, Affordable Care, Government Medicine, Health Policy, Patient Safety, Physician Shortage, Rural Care, Underserved|

The Harm in Separating Children From Their Parents: A Personal Perspective

As a pediatrician, watching enforcement of “zero tolerance” on children at our southern border has broken my heart. Every child needs safety and a sense of belonging. It defines who they are and shapes their perception of the world. For a young child, the loss of a parent is so devastating there can be no repair, only salvage of the wreckage.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-30T23:43:55+00:00July 17, 2018|Categories: Equality, Policy|Tags: ACE, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Child Advocacy, Child Death, Child Safety, Detention, Grief, Immigration, Loss, Mental Health Disorders|

When Profit Trumps Our Most Vulnerable: The push to deliver preemies in community hospitals

Every child deserves the best possible start in life, and the statistics show that specialist neonatologists practicing at high-volume NICUs are in the best position to provide it. Just because smaller community hospitals that have invested in state-of-the-art equipment can, technically, deliver preemies, doesn’t mean they should.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-30T23:41:10+00:00June 20, 2018|Categories: Equality, Patient|Tags: Child Safety, Corporatization, Hospital Consolidation, Infant Mortality, Mid-level Care, Nonphysicians, Patient Safety, Rural Care, Transparency|

27 Pediatricians on the Chopping Block

In the fiscal fight over health care costs, pediatricians are on the chopping block. In hospitals and clinics across the country, pediatricians are being laid off in droves, leaving the clinical burden to mid-level providers, family physicians, and emergency room doctors. These decisions are being made by suits over scrubs, and they are putting patients at risk.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-30T23:36:02+00:00June 19, 2018|Categories: Physician, Policy|Tags: ACA, Burnout, Consolidation, Corporatization, Health Policy, Hospitals, Mid-level Care, Nonphysician, Obamacare, Physician Autonomy|

Double Standards for Trojans and USC School of Medicine

Is USC defending “bad boys” with little regard for women? Or is there something else going on? One might argue that threatening your subordinate with visa revocation is borderline sociopathic. Are they being protected because they are physicians or simply because they are men?

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-26T01:26:43+00:00May 28, 2018|Categories: Equality, Physician|Tags: Corporatization, Corruption, Discrimination, Double Standards, Gender Bias, Gender Equality, Transparency|

The Politics of Healthcare from the Front Lines