With Mike Braun now the governor-elect of Indiana local health care advocacy groups weigh in on his proposed health care plan.

David Biggerstaff will start in the role in February 2025.

Indiana’s health workforce shortage is especially hard on the rural areas of the state. The scarcity of physician training opportunities in these areas may be contributing to the absence of rural doctors.

Indiana’s health workforce faces a number of challenges, including recruiting and retaining rural providers. One solution under consideration is a tax credit for providers who act as mentors.

Rural health leaders and advocates in Indiana say the Medicaid reimbursement rate is way behind where it needs to be. Addressing those rates is among the Indiana Rural Health Association’s advocacy priorities presented ahead of the 2025 legislative session.

When Indiana overhauled its public health system in 2023, county health departments had to opt-in to the program. Six counties did not participate in the first year, but joined in year two. Johnson County was one of them.

Thousands of Hoosiers continue to wait for home- and community-based services through Medicaid. One advocate said families should keep consistent contact with the state while they wait.

The USDA has outlined a five-point plan for regular bulk milk testing, which ramps up or down depending on whether any infected milk is detected.

The Family and Social Services Administration said in February it was not aware of how much money certain caregivers were paid. The agency announced it will implement a minimum “pass-through” rate prompted by legislation signed into law this year.

The term “excited delirium” has been used as a diagnosis to describe people who die suddenly in police custody. But physicians and medical boards have long dismissed excited delirium as unscientific, and some argue it’s used by police to justify excessive force.