WHRO Public Media • 26th August 2026

As six West Nile cases are reported in Virginia, mosquitos with the disease are on the rise in Virginia Beach

West Nile virus is showing up in Virginia Beach mosquitoes at a level the city’s biologist says she has not seen in four years.Virginia has reported six human cases so far this year, including one in the Eastern Region, though Virginia Beach officials said Aug. 19 that no human cases had been reported in the city.But the city has detected the virus in 50 mosquito pools collected from 24 locations this season. In each of the previous two or three seasons, only one or two pools tested positive.“Th...

WHRO Public Media • 24th August 2026

A visiting nurse program supplements postpartum care for Hampton Roads military families

When Leanne Alfon brought her newborn son home, the baby’s father was stationed several hours away at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.Both parents were serving on active duty, but Alfon, based at Naval Station Norfolk, was handling most of the daily child care on her own.After giving birth, she was afraid to drive alone with her newborn, especially when he cried in the car. She also had questions about breastfeeding, the baby’s weight and her own recovery.Molly Curtis showed up at her home with a...

WHRO Public Media • 20th August 2026

Chesapeake Regional may avoid criminal trial, but Perwaiz patients are still suing

Federal prosecutors said this week they have reached a tentative deferred prosecution agreement with Chesapeake Regional Medical Center for charges related to disgraced former OB-GYN Javaid Perwaiz.The deal would require the hospital to admit certain facts, accept an independent monitor, repay health care programs and create a $12.8 million fund for Perwaiz’s former patients. If finalized, the deal would let the hospital avoid a criminal trial.Legal experts previously told WHRO a federal convict...

WHRO Public Media • 19th August 2026

Bayview tells patients what its new Medicare program provides, but patients say they’re not seeing it

Nine days after David Hartley said he was diagnosed with a serious allergy, alpha-gal syndrome, he lost the primary care practice he had relied on for about 20 years.Hartley said he had recently asked Bayview Physicians Group to remove him from Advanced Primary Care Management, or APCM, a Medicare program that allows primary care practices to receive monthly payments for coordinating and managing patients’ care.He wanted to leave the program, he said, not the practice.But Hartley said Bayview dr...

WHRO Public Media • 12th August 2026

Sentara wants Anthem to pay more. Anthem wants to pay less. Patients could feel it either way.

A contract dispute between Sentara Health and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia could disrupt care for nearly 380,000 Anthem members across the state if the two sides fail to reach an agreement by the end of this year.Sentara has formally notified Anthem that several commercial, Medicare and Medicaid contracts could expire beginning next year, though coverage and in-network access remain unchanged for now.The health system is seeking an average reimbursement increase of about 6.2% fo...

WHRO Public Media • 7th August 2026

A new Medicare charge is showing up on Bayview bills. Patients say they weren’t clearly told.

Several patients from Bayview Physicians Group said they began receiving monthly bills for a Medicare care-management service that they do not remember agreeing to, while seeing no change in the care they receive.Some also said Bayview’s instructions for leaving the program suggest they would need to find a new primary care doctor, raising concerns for patients who have spent years, or even decades, with the same physician.The charges come from Medicare’s Advanced Primary Care Management program...

WHRO Public Media • 6th August 2026

Chesapeake’s top public health official to step down after decades guiding city’s health department

Chesapeake Health Director Dr. Nancy Welch will step down at the end of August. Before fully retiring in January, 2027, she plans to continue working on population health initiatives with Healthy Chesapeake, a nonprofit community coalition she helped establish.Dr. Caitlin Pedati, who leads the Virginia Beach Health Department and oversees VDH’s Eastern Region, will provide interim oversight for Chesapeake’s health department. Dr. Billie Blair-Taylor will serve as Chesapeake’s medical director fo...

WHRO Public Media • 29th July 2026

Cardiovascular health spending has tripled, but death rates are rising in major Hampton Roads cities

Cardiovascular care has become more advanced over the past two decades, giving doctors new ways to prevent deaths from heart attacks, strokes and other conditions.But a new national study found those advances have come with rapidly rising costs while improvements in cardiovascular death rates have largely stalled.The analysis, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found U.S. spending on cardiovascular disease more than tripled between 2000 and 2022, reaching more than $...

WHRO Public Media • 22nd July 2026

Virginia Beach doctor pushes hospitals to establish protocols for dealing with Parkinson’s patients

Howard Weinberg keeps his Parkinson’s medication in a small container attached to his keychain, so he always has it wherever he goes.The retired doctor from Virginia Beach has to take the medication every six hours, at 1 o’clock and 7 o’clock, day and night.For him, that schedule is not optional.“It should be within 15 minutes of when it’s due. And if you don’t, then you lose mobility, you get so many complications,” Weinberg said.Those complications can include falls, swallowing problems and ur...

WHRO Public Media • 14th July 2026

Chesapeake Regional faces fraud charges. A conviction could put the hospital’s future at risk.

A conviction in the federal fraud case against Chesapeake Regional Medical Center could bar the hospital from receiving Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care payments, which legal professionals said could threaten its ability to stay open.The hospital was indicted in January 2025 on one count of health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. The charges stem from unnecessaries procedures performed at the hospital by former OB-GYN Javaid Perwaiz.Federal pro...

WHRO Public Media • 13th July 2026

Virginia needs more nurses. Educators say training them will take more than just adding classroom seats.

Nursing schools are being asked to graduate more students at a time when health care itself is becoming more complex.New nurses are entering hospitals where many patients require more complex care, technology is changing quickly and staff shortages can make the transition from school to bedside harder.Data from Virginia Department of Health shows Virginia has one of the lowest registered nurse-to-patient ratios in the country, with 10.5 RNs per 1,000 patients, while nursing programs nationally t...

WHRO Public Media • 8th July 2026

Virginia budget expands Medicaid access to sickle cell gene therapy

State lawmakers have budgeted nearly $15 million over two years to help Virginia Medicaid cover gene therapy treatments for people with sickle cell disease, a move providers said could help patients access this complex treatment more easily.The funding is tied to a federal model designed to help Medicaid programs pay for expensive cell and gene therapies. It would help cover treatment for patients on Medicaid and other state-sponsored insurance plans and allow Virginia to pay separately for the...

WHRO Public Media • 30th June 2026

Virginia has gotten millions to address PFAS water contamination. Actually tackling the problem could cost hundreds of millions.

Virginia has received nearly $69 million to test for and treat so-called "forever chemicals” in drinking water over the past five years, but state officials said the cost of reducing contaminants could be hundreds of millions of dollars more.The latest $14.3 million allocation from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities program will go toward infrastructure projects such as PFAS treatment systems, replacement water sources, well improvem...

WHRO Public Media • 29th June 2026

New pancreatic cancer drug program may help rural patients get treatment closer to home

Brad Dugai thought his pancreatic cancer was gone.After chemotherapy through Riverside Health System and radiation treatment in Miami, his scans showed no sign of cancer for several months. But in July 2025, pain in his groin and leg led him back to his oncologist.A scan showed the cancer had returned in a lymph node near his pancreas. Dugai, who lives on Gwynn’s Island in Mathews County, was restaged as having Stage 4 pancreatic adenocarcinoma.Today, Dugai said his cancer is no longer visible o...

WHRO Public Media • 24th June 2026

Opioid settlement funds support prevention, treatment and outreach programs in Hampton Roads

Virginia’s Opioid Abatement Authority announced more than $35.2 million in new grant awards this month to support opioid prevention, treatment and recovery programs across the state.In Hampton Roads, the funding includes jail-based medication-assisted treatment programs, youth prevention efforts, mobile outreach, peer recovery support and Operation STOP programs targeting communities with sharp increases in overdose deaths.OAA officials said the money is meant to help cities and counties address...

WHRO Public Media • 17th June 2026

Newport News to launch drone first responder program

Newport News will launch a drone first responder program next week, part of a broader move among Hampton Roads police, fire and rescue agencies to use drones during emergencies.Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said the program will allow trained pilots to launch drones from four locations across the city after high-priority 911 calls, such as a homicide, shooting, missing person case or medical call.The city will have eight drones total, with two at each launch site.Drew said the drones are...

WHRO Public Media • 12th June 2026

Indian Health Service payment delays are limiting dental care for Native patients

Larry Jefferson, a Native patient with the Chickahominy tribe, is looking for a dentist again.For years, Jefferson has relied on federal Indian Health Service-related coverage to get dental care near Richmond. But one clinic after another has stopped accepting the program, he said, because providers told him they were not getting paid.He said he first went to Seven Pines Dental. Then he switched to Sandston Comprehensive Dentistry. Then he tried Maidstone Dental. Each time, he said, care started...

WHRO Public Media • 4th June 2026

A Virginia Beach mom’s nonprofit helps families through pregnancy loss after her own stillbirth

When Heather Wilson was pregnant with her first child in 2009, she was expecting a baby girl.She planned to name her Kennedy.Then Wilson developed preeclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy complication that causes high blood pressure.At the time, Wilson did not fully understand how serious it could become.“The doctors didn’t let me know that it could cost me my life or cost my daughter her life, which is what ultimately happened,” Wilson said.One day, Kennedy stopped moving.Wilson and her husband rush...

WHRO Public Media • 1st June 2026

Another year, another veto for a retail cannabis market in Virginia, leaving businesses and the public with few options

Throughout her bid for governor, Gov. Abigail Spanberger said she would support a bill to set up a legal, adult-use cannabis market — which is why her veto on May 19 caught many rooting for such a market by surprise.“I thought it was a joke, honestly,” said Julian Redcross, a Hampton-based hemp grower. “When I saw it going around on fire on social media, I was like, ‘Oh, this is not real. This is AI.’”Spanberger said her decision was based on the need for stronger tools to enforce the law and re...

WHRO Public Media • 28th May 2026

National data shows fewer than half of adults exercise enough. Virtual weight loss programs aim to help in Hampton Roads.

Less than half of U.S. adults met federal guidelines for aerobic physical activity in 2024, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Health. Providers said the trend reflects broader challenges around weight, chronic disease and access to preventive care.The report found 47.2% of adults met weekly aerobic activity recommendations: either 150 minutes or more of moderate intensity activity such as biking or swimming, 75 minutes of vigorous activity such as running,...

WHRO Public Media • 25th May 2026

Virginia faces mental health provider shortages as Hampton Roads residents struggle to navigate care

A new national report found Virginia is facing “catastrophic” shortages in community mental health. Providers in Norfolk say many patients still struggle to know where to turn during a mental health crisis.The report from mental health policy group Inseparable found Virginians go out of network for mental health care six and a half times more often than for physical health care, often leading to higher out-of-pocket costs. It also found Virginia meets only 22% of its psychiatrist workforce needs...

WHRO Public Media • 15th May 2026

UVA-led study suggests new way to identify heart patients at risk of sudden death

A new study led by UVA Health researchers could change how doctors identify a dangerous genetic heart disease, potentially helping prevent sudden cardiac death while reducing unnecessary treatments for lower-risk patients.Researchers found combining cardiac MRI scans with blood test data could better predict which patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, face the highest risk of serious complications such as heart failure.The genetic disease, which affects millions around the world, ca...

WHRO Public Media • 12th May 2026

Bon Secours breaks ground on $200 million hospital expansion in Newport News

Bon Secours Mercy Health has started construction on an expansion at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News worth more than $200 million, a move hospital and city leaders said will expand access to emergency and maternity care across the Peninsula.The new four-story, 144,000 square-foot patient tower is expected to open in summer 2028. It will include a larger emergency department, expanded labor and delivery services, a neonatal intensive care unit, 14 ICU beds and 26 universal care beds that...

WHRO Public Media • 8th May 2026

Proposed WIC cuts could strain low-income Virginia families, advocates warn

Tens of thousands of Virginians facing food insecurity could lose out on more benefits if Congress approves proposed cuts to the federal Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, or WIC.Participation in the program is already low in Virginia and advocates say many of the families receiving aid are already grappling with cuts to other federal programs.WIC helps pregnant women, new mothers and their children buy foods such as milk, fruits, vegetables, cereal and infant formula.The proposed cu...