Tony Leys
Tony Leys, Rural Editor/Correspondent for Kaiser Health News, is based in Des Moines, where he worked 33 years as a reporter and editor for The Des Moines Register. Tony was the Register’s lead health care reporter for more than 20 years and served four terms as a board member for the Association of Health Care Journalists. He is an alum of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Knight Science Journalism program at MIT.
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A frugal Tennessee resident opted out of Medicare Part B, which carries $175 monthly premiums. Now her heirs face a huge bill for an air-ambulance ride. -
Just 18 facilities were converted into Rural Emergency Hospitals so far. Advocates and lawmakers say tweaks to the law are needed to widen the reach and keep health care in rural communities. -
The Biden administration says a recently proposed minimum staffing standard would help ensure quality care, but nursing home leaders predict it will accelerate a trend of closures in rural America. -
The number of doctors of osteopathy is surging, and more than half of them practice in primary care, including in rural areas hit hard by doctor shortages. -
Depending on where they lived, demands for repayment can drain the assets that a patient on Medicaid leaves behind after they die. Iowa aggressively collects "clawback" funds. -
Federal and state authorities are encouraging more rural health care professionals to become certified to prescribe medications containing buprenorphine for patients battling opioid addiction.
