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Health insurance coding change impacting a breast reconstruction surgery; what it means for patients

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:56 GMT

Vanessa Vance said she is thinking about her family as she navigates her cancer risks. (Courtesy Vanessa Vance)AUSTIN (KXAN) — Vanessa Vance watched her mother and then aunt battle cancer. She often wondered about her own chances, especially after having her son. "My family has a long history of breast cancer. And so, when I think about my future as a person, I've always told myself, I will be a person who gets breast cancer," she said. She found out through genetic testing that she is at high risk for ovarian and breast cancer. "I was able to take out my fallopian tubes," she said. "So, with the 40 to 60% chance for having a risk for breast cancer, you have a couple of different pathways that you can choose from, but I think really being a mother to a young child kind of influences the more directness for me."Vance has been looking into her options and consulting with doctors and surgeons. She is now in the process of getting a mastectomy and...

Two more days of chilly air before a nice warmup

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:56 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The overnight was very tranquil, though cold. A combination of a dry air mass, very little wind and a fair sky sent morning temperatures falling to freezing in the northern and western Hill Country. This final full day of winter will feel like the middle of winter with afternoon temperatures rising to the upper 50s to some low 60s under a partly cloudy to mostly sunny sky. The wind will come out of the northeast to east around 5 mph. More sunshine this afternoon helps warm to around 60° NEW BLOG: April showers: Here's the outlook for Central Texas Spring arrives Monday afternoon at 4:24 pm. Expect a mostly cloudy sky with most temperatures in the mid to upper 50s.Tuesday is the transition day with highs in the upper half of the 60s to low 70s. The moist flow from south winds will lead to a low chance of rain Tuesday afternoon/evening. For the fourth week running there will be a chance of showers Thursday afternoon, then showers and thunderstorms Thursday night to ...

Saving San Jose Cemetery I: Why the community is shouldering responsibility

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:56 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN)— Joaquin Rodriguez just found recently found out where his father was buried in Austin. His father, along with other relatives of Rodriguez, rests in the San Jose I Cemetery in East Austin."If you were low-income, and needed a place to put your relatives...this was known as this where you go," Rodriguez said. Joaquin Rodriguez leading cleanup at San Jose I Cemetery. (KXAN photos/Jake Sykes).That's why a few years ago, he founded the San Jose Montopolis Cemetery Association. It's a community group that works to maintain and preserve San Jose I and II Cemetery grounds. It has a lot of history and has been around since the early 1900s. It's where Latino and indigenous families have come to bury their loved ones.Neighbor uncovers grave marker, hidden by debris. (KXAN photos/Jake Sykes).Neighbors wheel debris off grave site. (KXAN photos/Jake Sykes).Neighbor fills wheel barrow with storm debris, during cemetery cleanup. (KXAN photos/Jake Sykes).The February 2023 winter stor...

Concert review: Tabea Zimmerman showcases the viola’s potential in Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:56 GMT

Do orchestras really need a conductor? The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra proves again and again that baton timekeeping isn’t the only tool to bring musicians together. This weekend, German violist Tabea Zimmermann partners with the orchestra while she plays her instrument, soaring with two relatively little-known works and Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, known as the Scottish Symphony. After opening the series in Northfield on Thursday, the orchestra performed at the Ordway, with its final performance on Sunday at Bethel University.The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra will perform Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony with Artistic Partner, violist Tabea Zimmermann, in March 2023. (Marco Borggreve)The viola is one of the most underappreciated of classical musical instruments. Rarely if ever playing the melodic line, it so often gets upstaged by the more showy violins and the larger, deeper cellos and bass. And yet, its middle tones are an essential part of the stri...

Colorado hospital leaders see continuing financial challenges in 2023: “We’re not out of the woods”

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:56 GMT

Colorado’s hospital systems aren’t expecting this financial year to be much better after a challenging 2022, though leaders said they have plans to try to bring expenses under control.Hospitals in the state had a combined profit margin on patient care of 4.7% in 2022, which was about half their margin in 2021, according to the Colorado Hospital Association. Counting investment losses, their total profit margin dropped to 1.5%, compared to about 14% in each of the previous three years.Julie Lonborg, vice president of communications and media relations at the Colorado Hospital Association, described the 2022 financial results as a blow to the industry. Hospitals need about a 4% margin to keep up with maintenance on their buildings and equipment, and with other costs of continuing to provide care, she said.“We have a whole lot of people below that,” she said.The Denver Post spoke to leaders from the state’s major hospital systems about how they plan to add...

Majority of Colorado hospital systems lost money in 2022 as costs surged, stock market tanked

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:56 GMT

Colorado hospitals as a whole remained financially healthy through the first two years of the pandemic, but their profit margins were slashed in half in 2022 as costs swelled, pushing the majority of the state’s hospital systems into the red by the fall.Breaking even or losing money for a year or two might not spell disaster for hospitals, particularly for systems that built up reserves before COVID-19 hit. But an inability to turn at least a small profit over the longer term could lead to layoffs, reduced health services or even hospitals closing.St. Vincent Hospital in Leadville came close to shutting down last year, before an infusion of state and local funds pulled it from the brink. Health systems such as Banner Health and CommonSpirit Health — which owns the Catholic hospitals under the Centura partnership, including St. Anthony in Lakewood — lost money treating patients in the first nine months of 2022.And Denver Health’s loss of $34 million last year,...

Here’s what every Denver mayor candidate says about Denver’s environment

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:56 GMT

Go to: Denver Post Voter Guide • Candidate Q&A home pageThe Denver Post sent a questionnaire to candidates in the April 4 Denver municipal election. Answers are lightly edited and ordered alphabetically by candidate’s last name. Following are mayoral candidates’ answers to the question:How better can city officials protect Denver’s environment — air quality, water supply, ground contamination? And should the city take a more active role in transit?Renate BehrensCandidate’s answer was not responsive to the question.Kelly BroughI’ll make Denver a national and global leader on climate by capitalizing on recent federal funding and promoting policies that ensure communities most impacted by air and water pollution benefit from new investment. Priorities will include:– Promoting housing density, particularly along transportation corridors and at transit sites, and supporting the conversion of vacant office space to housing.– Supporting the educ...

Post Premium: Top stories for the week of March 13-19

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:56 GMT

Colorado’s hospital systems aren’t expecting this financial year to be much better after a challenging 2022, though leaders said they have plans to try to bring expenses under control.Hospitals in the state had a combined profit margin on patient care of 4.7% in 2022, which was about half their margin in 2021, according to the Colorado Hospital Association. Counting investment losses, their total profit margin dropped to 1.5%, compared to about 14% in each of the previous three years.Julie Lonborg, vice president of communications and media relations at the Colorado Hospital Association, described the 2022 financial results as a blow to the industry. Hospitals need about a 4% margin to keep up with maintenance on their buildings and equipment, and with other costs of continuing to provide care, she said.“We have a whole lot of people below that,” she said.The Denver Post spoke to leaders from the state’s major hospital systems about how they plan to address their financial challenge...

Air quality, transportation and water: How Denver’s next mayor and City Council can protect the environment

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:56 GMT

Denver boasts one of the country’s fastest-growing economies and expects to add tens of thousands of new residents by the end of the decade.The city’s rapid and continued expansion comes at a cost, though. Air quality on the Front Range languishes, pollution threatens the city’s most vulnerable populations and experts worry for the region’s water supply.Whoever voters elect to run Denver and to sit on its council can take action most directly, experts say, by relying on new technology, tweaking building and zoning codes, partnering with nearby governments and state lawmakers and even limiting the types of lawn care equipment residents can use.Already Denver officials set a goal to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 65% by 2030 and by 100% over the next decade. The city’s goal is also to hit net-zero energy use by 2040.Perhaps the biggest piece of Denver’s air-quality problem would be solved by expanding the city’s public transit options, Jill Locantore, executive director of Denver Street...

Voting begins in parliamentary and local elections, a key step in building a just Kazakhstan

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:56 GMT

Legislative elections are taking place today in Kazakhstan to elect members of the Mazhilis, the lower house of parliament, and the maslikhats, local representative bodies.Significant changes have been made to the electoral system in comparison to previous elections following constitutional amendments last year. A proportional-majoritarian model is being used for the first time since 2004, where 30 per cent of Mazhilis members are elected in single-member districts. The threshold for political parties to gain seats in parliament has been lowered from seven to five per cent. Other changes include an “against all” option on the ballots, and a 30 per cent quota for women, youth, and persons with special needs in party lists, both prior to the election and in the distribution of mandates.Seven political parties are competing in the election, including two new parties that are able to participate due to simplified party registration rules. A total of 281 candidates from seven party lists...