Lacking money, insurance and dentists, oral health takes a back seat, and many rural areas are barely on the bus

A dentist works at a Remote Area Medical Clinic in Wise, Va.
(Associated Press photo by Steve Helber)

Dr. Nikki Stone is a dentist who works in Hazard, Ky., at a community-run clinic. A native of the mountains, she knew that children in the region weren’t getting enough dental care, but she was still "staggered by the prevalence of dental disease when she began examining them in 2004," Margot Sanger-Katz reports for the National Journal. "Large numbers of the kids had never seen a dentist. Half had untreated tooth decay, and nearly 20 percent had urgent needs -- more than six cavities or an active abscess. She and her staff 'cried a lot,' she recalls. Crisscrossing four counties in her van, she painted fluoride on all the teeth and sent notes home with the children who needed immediate attention. In the early years, only 8 percent of those youngsters with urgent problems got the care they needed. The job was like fighting a forest fire on a mountain, she says. 'I felt like I was standing here on the line of the fire with a squirt gun.'"

In a world of medical priorities, dentistry takes a back seat to most, and In a world of health care, and rural America sometimes appears to not even be on the bus. The net result, writes Sanger-Katz, is that the United States faces a shortage of dentists that is particularly acute in poor, rural regions. "Huge pockets of the country have few (or no) providers. The federal government counts 4,503 mostly rural regions where more than 3,000 people share one dentist," she notes, "making it tough for many residents to find someone to fix their teeth."

There seems little hope for any change soon in rural America, even if the federal health-reform law survives. "It deems dental coverage an essential part of any health plan for children, but regulators have yet to spell out what insurers must cover to meet that definition," Sanger-Katz writes. "The law expands existing loan-repayment funds for dentists who relocate to underserved areas, but it offers no expansion of dental coverage for adults and doesn’t try to integrate dental health into the larger health care system."Dental disease is the largest unmet health need in the U.S. among both children and adults, according to the Pew Children’s Dental Campaign. The worst-off are the poor, the young, the old, and those in rural America, reports Margot Sanger-Katz reports.

Dental disease is among the most common reasons that children miss school. It’s the most common medical reason that soldiers can’t deploy. It is a leading cause of emergency-room visits in several states. For proponents of a freer health care market, who want patients to be motivated by financial incentives to shop around and avoid “unnecessary” care, the dental system offers a glimpse of how such a system might work. And research shows that poor oral health can lead to disease elsewhere in the body.

"For more than 100 years, dentistry has run on a separate -- and more laissez-fair -- track than the rest of medicine," Sanger-Katz writes. "Dentists have their own schools and treat patients in their own offices; fewer laws and regulations govern the field. Insurance plans typically demand high co-pays and limit their payouts for invasive procedures. About half of all dental expenses are paid out of pocket, compared with less than 10 percent of costs in the overall medical system. This is the free market. And, in some ways, it has worked: People do not drive up insurance rates by seeking frivolous procedures. Patients tend to shop around for care, and prices vary according to local economies. The rate of dental inflation, although higher than the rate for the economy overall, is lower than the rate in medicine, which is typically several points above the growth rate of the gross domestic product. (You don’t hear policymakers complain about the burden of 'runaway' dental costs.)"

“It’s very much a free market, with a greater spread between the haves and have-nots,” said Burton Edelstein, a professor of dentistry at Columbia University and the founder of the Children’s Dental Health Project. "Dental insurance is much less widespread than medical insurance; 130 million Americans lacked dental coverage in 2009, but only 50 million lacked medical coverage," Sanger Katz-writes. "And with most payouts capped at $1,000 to $2,000 per year, insurance can’t cover much beyond basic services. Medicare does not pay for dental care at all, so 70 percent of seniors lack any dental coverage, according to an Institute of Medicine report. Medicaid also fails to provide meaningful dental access for many of its beneficiaries: The program pays dentists so poorly for treatment that only about 20 percent of them see Medicaid patients." Meanwhile, seven of 61 dental schools closed in the last 30 years, meaning 2,000 fewer dentists every year, a 33 percent drop in supply, just as an older generation of dentists started retiring.

The result is a crisis. And, in a few lucky rural towns, the result looks like this: A mobile van outfitted with a volunteer dentist comes to a rural elementary school and offers free check-ups but no fillings. Or, better yet, a volunteer army of dentists, dental students and oral surgeons in a region volunteer for a two-day event at a vast arena where everyone is welcome to camp overnight for a place in line for care. Some of the dental expertise and hospitality is donated by Ronald McDonald House, or Remote Area Medical out of Knoxville, Tenn., or local community health centers. And while are limited in their ability to do much more than prevention, others can offer real dental care but no follow-up. The result is often a brutal kind of dentistry that involves, at best, mass extraction, some advice about what not to drink and explanations about how oral health is connected to overall health. (Read more)

A dentist works at a Remote Area Medical Clinic in Wise, Va.
(Associated Press photo by Steve Helber)

Dr. Nikki Stone is a dentist who works in Hazard, Ky., at a community-run clinic. A native of the mountains, she knew that children in the region weren’t getting enough dental care, but she was still "staggered by the prevalence of dental disease when she began examining them in 2004," Margot Sanger-Katz reports for the National Journal. "Large numbers of the kids had never seen a dentist. Half had untreated tooth decay, and nearly 20 percent had urgent needs -- more than six cavities or an active abscess. She and her staff 'cried a lot,' she recalls. Crisscrossing four counties in her van, she painted fluoride on all the teeth and sent notes home with the children who needed immediate attention. In the early years, only 8 percent of those youngsters with urgent problems got the care they needed. The job was like fighting a forest fire on a mountain, she says. 'I felt like I was standing here on the line of the fire with a squirt gun.'"

In a world of medical priorities, dentistry takes a back seat to most, and In a world of health care, and rural America sometimes appears to not even be on the bus. The net result, writes Sanger-Katz, is that the United States faces a shortage of dentists that is particularly acute in poor, rural regions. "Huge pockets of the country have few (or no) providers. The federal government counts 4,503 mostly rural regions where more than 3,000 people share one dentist," she notes, "making it tough for many residents to find someone to fix their teeth."

There seems little hope for any change soon in rural America, even if the federal health-reform law survives. "It deems dental coverage an essential part of any health plan for children, but regulators have yet to spell out what insurers must cover to meet that definition," Sanger-Katz writes. "The law expands existing loan-repayment funds for dentists who relocate to underserved areas, but it offers no expansion of dental coverage for adults and doesn’t try to integrate dental health into the larger health care system."Dental disease is the largest unmet health need in the U.S. among both children and adults, according to the Pew Children’s Dental Campaign. The worst-off are the poor, the young, the old, and those in rural America, reports Margot Sanger-Katz reports.

Dental disease is among the most common reasons that children miss school. It’s the most common medical reason that soldiers can’t deploy. It is a leading cause of emergency-room visits in several states. For proponents of a freer health care market, who want patients to be motivated by financial incentives to shop around and avoid “unnecessary” care, the dental system offers a glimpse of how such a system might work. And research shows that poor oral health can lead to disease elsewhere in the body.

"For more than 100 years, dentistry has run on a separate -- and more laissez-fair -- track than the rest of medicine," Sanger-Katz writes. "Dentists have their own schools and treat patients in their own offices; fewer laws and regulations govern the field. Insurance plans typically demand high co-pays and limit their payouts for invasive procedures. About half of all dental expenses are paid out of pocket, compared with less than 10 percent of costs in the overall medical system. This is the free market. And, in some ways, it has worked: People do not drive up insurance rates by seeking frivolous procedures. Patients tend to shop around for care, and prices vary according to local economies. The rate of dental inflation, although higher than the rate for the economy overall, is lower than the rate in medicine, which is typically several points above the growth rate of the gross domestic product. (You don’t hear policymakers complain about the burden of 'runaway' dental costs.)"

“It’s very much a free market, with a greater spread between the haves and have-nots,” said Burton Edelstein, a professor of dentistry at Columbia University and the founder of the Children’s Dental Health Project. "Dental insurance is much less widespread than medical insurance; 130 million Americans lacked dental coverage in 2009, but only 50 million lacked medical coverage," Sanger Katz-writes. "And with most payouts capped at $1,000 to $2,000 per year, insurance can’t cover much beyond basic services. Medicare does not pay for dental care at all, so 70 percent of seniors lack any dental coverage, according to an Institute of Medicine report. Medicaid also fails to provide meaningful dental access for many of its beneficiaries: The program pays dentists so poorly for treatment that only about 20 percent of them see Medicaid patients." Meanwhile, seven of 61 dental schools closed in the last 30 years, meaning 2,000 fewer dentists every year, a 33 percent drop in supply, just as an older generation of dentists started retiring.

The result is a crisis. And, in a few lucky rural towns, the result looks like this: A mobile van outfitted with a volunteer dentist comes to a rural elementary school and offers free check-ups but no fillings. Or, better yet, a volunteer army of dentists, dental students and oral surgeons in a region volunteer for a two-day event at a vast arena where everyone is welcome to camp overnight for a place in line for care. Some of the dental expertise and hospitality is donated by Ronald McDonald House, or Remote Area Medical out of Knoxville, Tenn., or local community health centers. And while are limited in their ability to do much more than prevention, others can offer real dental care but no follow-up. The result is often a brutal kind of dentistry that involves, at best, mass extraction, some advice about what not to drink and explanations about how oral health is connected to overall health. (Read more)

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Beshear tells feds he plans to create an insurance exchange

Gov. Steve Beshear. Photo by The
Courier-Journal

Gov. Steve Beshear has re-confirmed his plans to create a state health insurance exchange, this time telling the federal government of his intention.

Beshear sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Tuesday saying he plans to issue an executive order soon to create the exchange, The Courier-Journal reports. After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal health-care reform law, Beshear announced he would create the exchange.

The exchange will be a marketplace to shop for different packages of state-approved health insurance and will be available to people who earn up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level. To offset the cost of their premiums, those participating in the exchange will receive subsidies in the form of tax credits. The Medicaid program will also fall under the exchange's umbrella.

If they choose to run their own exchange rather than have the federal government do it for them, states must have it up and running by Jan. 1, 2014. Beshear said Kentucky has been "systematically preparing to meet the implementation deadlines set forth in the law." It has already received more than $65 million from the federal government to plan for the exchange's creation.

Kentucky is the 16th state to commit to creating an exchange. (Read more)

Gov. Steve Beshear. Photo by The
Courier-Journal

Gov. Steve Beshear has re-confirmed his plans to create a state health insurance exchange, this time telling the federal government of his intention.

Beshear sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Tuesday saying he plans to issue an executive order soon to create the exchange, The Courier-Journal reports. After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal health-care reform law, Beshear announced he would create the exchange.

The exchange will be a marketplace to shop for different packages of state-approved health insurance and will be available to people who earn up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level. To offset the cost of their premiums, those participating in the exchange will receive subsidies in the form of tax credits. The Medicaid program will also fall under the exchange's umbrella.

If they choose to run their own exchange rather than have the federal government do it for them, states must have it up and running by Jan. 1, 2014. Beshear said Kentucky has been "systematically preparing to meet the implementation deadlines set forth in the law." It has already received more than $65 million from the federal government to plan for the exchange's creation.

Kentucky is the 16th state to commit to creating an exchange. (Read more)

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Chart shows impact of Medicaid expansion or rejection

A one-stop graphic that spells out what's in store for states that don't elect to expand Medicaid is the subject of a report by The Washington Post's Sarah Kliff.

The charts show governors who elect not to expand the insurance program for the poor and disabled will leave their poorest citizens without coverage.

One segment of the chart uses Arkansas as an example of what would happen if expansion is rejected. Because Medicaid eligibility varies by state, the picture will be considerably different for Kentucky, since families in this state are eligible for Medicaid up to about 60 percent of the poverty line compared to Arkansas's 17 percent, as indicated by the bottom segment of the chart.

The chart shows that if Kentucky were to reject expansion, people with incomes from the poverty line down to 60 percent of the line would not be eligible for any government coverage or assistance.

For a larger version of the chart and a clear look at a complicated subject, click here.

A one-stop graphic that spells out what's in store for states that don't elect to expand Medicaid is the subject of a report by The Washington Post's Sarah Kliff.

The charts show governors who elect not to expand the insurance program for the poor and disabled will leave their poorest citizens without coverage.

One segment of the chart uses Arkansas as an example of what would happen if expansion is rejected. Because Medicaid eligibility varies by state, the picture will be considerably different for Kentucky, since families in this state are eligible for Medicaid up to about 60 percent of the poverty line compared to Arkansas's 17 percent, as indicated by the bottom segment of the chart.

The chart shows that if Kentucky were to reject expansion, people with incomes from the poverty line down to 60 percent of the line would not be eligible for any government coverage or assistance.

For a larger version of the chart and a clear look at a complicated subject, click here.

Read More

Governors in both parties undecided on whether to expand Medicaid; seeking answers to several questions

There is hesitation among governors on both sides of the aisle regarding whether or not to expand Medicaid, which would cover millions more Americans under the program for the poor and disabled.

"At least seven Democratic governors have been noncommittal about their willingness to go along," N.C. Aizenman and Karen Tumulty report for The Washington Post. Gov. Steve Beshear has not indicated whether he will expand coverage in Kentucky, but previously expressed concerns about the costs associated with the move, and state House Republican Leader Jeff Hoover has said he should not. Kentucky would have to start paying part of the extra cost in 2017, and 10 percent of it by 2020. Several Republican governors have said they will not participate, while others say they have not decided.

The issue is surely a major discussion topic at the National Governors Association meeting this week in Williamsburg, Va. Questions remain unanswered: "Will states that opt in have the option of scaling back in future years? If a state that opts out decides it wants to participate at some later point, will the federal government still pay nearly the full cost of covering those who become newly eligible for Medicaid? And can a state participate only partially — for instance, by raising the income cutoff for its program to a level lower than the ceiling envisioned in the law, which is set at 133 percent of the federal poverty line?" Aisenman and Tumulty ask.

NGA Executive Director Dan Crippen said states are confused over what to do. The association has sent a list of questions to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius about the issue. "States need to be making these decisions now, and it's hard to make them if you don't have clarity," said Matt Salo, director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.

Sebelius has said she will address concerns during meetings that will take place in various cities starting July 31. There is no deadline yet for when states must choose whether or not to expand. (Read more)

There is hesitation among governors on both sides of the aisle regarding whether or not to expand Medicaid, which would cover millions more Americans under the program for the poor and disabled.

"At least seven Democratic governors have been noncommittal about their willingness to go along," N.C. Aizenman and Karen Tumulty report for The Washington Post. Gov. Steve Beshear has not indicated whether he will expand coverage in Kentucky, but previously expressed concerns about the costs associated with the move, and state House Republican Leader Jeff Hoover has said he should not. Kentucky would have to start paying part of the extra cost in 2017, and 10 percent of it by 2020. Several Republican governors have said they will not participate, while others say they have not decided.

The issue is surely a major discussion topic at the National Governors Association meeting this week in Williamsburg, Va. Questions remain unanswered: "Will states that opt in have the option of scaling back in future years? If a state that opts out decides it wants to participate at some later point, will the federal government still pay nearly the full cost of covering those who become newly eligible for Medicaid? And can a state participate only partially — for instance, by raising the income cutoff for its program to a level lower than the ceiling envisioned in the law, which is set at 133 percent of the federal poverty line?" Aisenman and Tumulty ask.

NGA Executive Director Dan Crippen said states are confused over what to do. The association has sent a list of questions to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius about the issue. "States need to be making these decisions now, and it's hard to make them if you don't have clarity," said Matt Salo, director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.

Sebelius has said she will address concerns during meetings that will take place in various cities starting July 31. There is no deadline yet for when states must choose whether or not to expand. (Read more)

Read More

Repeal of health law would have big impact on Kentucky, HHS Secretary Sebelius writes

The U.S. House voted again yesterday to repeal the health-care reform law, a move that has no chance of passing in the current Senate and would be vetoed by President Obama if it did.

In an op-ed piece in The Courier-Journal, which put the news of the House vote on an inside page, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, left, said a repeal of the law would have big ramifications for Kentucky because:

• The law eliminates lifetime limits on coverage because it prevents insurance companies from dropping customers if they get sick or meet a lifetime dollar cap. This had helped 1,414,000 Kentuckians, including 528,000 women and 362,000 children.

• It provides free preventive care like vaccinations, checkups and cancer screenings for 732,000 Kentuckians who have private health insurance.

• It provides funding for expanding community health centers in underserved areas.

• It requires insurance companies to spend "at least 80 cents of every premium dollar on health care and quality improvements, not CEO salaries or advertising," Sebelius writes. If they don't do so, customers get a rebate.

• Seniors receive free preventive services under Medicare, and the law eliminates the prescription-drug "doughnut hole." Since the law was enacted, 5.2 million Medicare beneficiaries have saved more than $3.7 billion on prescription drugs.

• The law allows young adults up to age 26 to remain on their parents' insurance plan, which translates to 48,000 Kentuckians. (Read more)

The U.S. House voted again yesterday to repeal the health-care reform law, a move that has no chance of passing in the current Senate and would be vetoed by President Obama if it did.

In an op-ed piece in The Courier-Journal, which put the news of the House vote on an inside page, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, left, said a repeal of the law would have big ramifications for Kentucky because:

• The law eliminates lifetime limits on coverage because it prevents insurance companies from dropping customers if they get sick or meet a lifetime dollar cap. This had helped 1,414,000 Kentuckians, including 528,000 women and 362,000 children.

• It provides free preventive care like vaccinations, checkups and cancer screenings for 732,000 Kentuckians who have private health insurance.

• It provides funding for expanding community health centers in underserved areas.

• It requires insurance companies to spend "at least 80 cents of every premium dollar on health care and quality improvements, not CEO salaries or advertising," Sebelius writes. If they don't do so, customers get a rebate.

• Seniors receive free preventive services under Medicare, and the law eliminates the prescription-drug "doughnut hole." Since the law was enacted, 5.2 million Medicare beneficiaries have saved more than $3.7 billion on prescription drugs.

• The law allows young adults up to age 26 to remain on their parents' insurance plan, which translates to 48,000 Kentuckians. (Read more)

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New form of Oxy is harder to inhale and inject, so drug users are turning to heroin, Opana for high

A new formulation of OxyContin makes it harder to
inhale or inject. Drug Enforcement Administration photo.

A change in the formulation of the powerful drug OxyContin has addicts turning to another high to fuel their habit: heroin.

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis had more than 2,500 patients from 150 drug rehabilitation treatment centers in 39 states respond to survey questions that had a particular focus on the reformulation of OxyContin, reports research-reporting service Newswise. The new formula makes it harder to crush the pills, making inhaling or injecting them more difficult.

Since the new version of the drug was introduced, "inhalation or intravenous administration has dropped significantly," said lead investigator Theodore J. Cicero. But drug use has not lessened, with addicts turning to heroin instead, which is also inhaled or injected. "We're now seeing reports from across the country of large quantities of heroin appearing in suburbs and rural areas," Cicero said.

OxyContin was originally designed to be released in the body slowly, preventing an immediate high. But by crushing the pills and inhaling them or dissolving them in water and then injecting the solution, addicts were able to get "an immediate rush," Newswise reports.

Moreover, because OxyContin was designed to be slow-release, it contained large amounts of the generic drug oxycodone, which spurred even more in demand. The new version of the drug was introduced in 2010.

Survey results show "users who selected OxyContin as their primary drug of abuse has decreased from 35.6 percent of respondents before the release of the abuse-deterrant formulation to 12.8 percent now," Newswise reports. (Read more)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called prescription drug abuse an "epidemic." In Kentucky, about a 1,000 people die each year from prescription drug overdoses. More people die in Kentucky from prescription drug overdoses than they do from traffic accidents.

Law enforcement is also seeing that drug seekers are switching from OxyContin to the prescription drug Opana, reports Donna Leinwand Leger for USA Today. "A few years ago, it was OxyContin. Now it's Opana," said Raquel Foster, a police spokeswoman for the Fort Wayne Police Department.

As a new, harder-to-abuse formulation of Opana hits the market, however, "they are going to find a way to satisfy their addiction," said DEA Special Agent Gary Boggs of the Office of Diversion Control. "When they either can't get those particular pharmaceuticals or can't afford them, they now gravitate to heroin."  (Read more)

A new formulation of OxyContin makes it harder to
inhale or inject. Drug Enforcement Administration photo.

A change in the formulation of the powerful drug OxyContin has addicts turning to another high to fuel their habit: heroin.

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis had more than 2,500 patients from 150 drug rehabilitation treatment centers in 39 states respond to survey questions that had a particular focus on the reformulation of OxyContin, reports research-reporting service Newswise. The new formula makes it harder to crush the pills, making inhaling or injecting them more difficult.

Since the new version of the drug was introduced, "inhalation or intravenous administration has dropped significantly," said lead investigator Theodore J. Cicero. But drug use has not lessened, with addicts turning to heroin instead, which is also inhaled or injected. "We're now seeing reports from across the country of large quantities of heroin appearing in suburbs and rural areas," Cicero said.

OxyContin was originally designed to be released in the body slowly, preventing an immediate high. But by crushing the pills and inhaling them or dissolving them in water and then injecting the solution, addicts were able to get "an immediate rush," Newswise reports.

Moreover, because OxyContin was designed to be slow-release, it contained large amounts of the generic drug oxycodone, which spurred even more in demand. The new version of the drug was introduced in 2010.

Survey results show "users who selected OxyContin as their primary drug of abuse has decreased from 35.6 percent of respondents before the release of the abuse-deterrant formulation to 12.8 percent now," Newswise reports. (Read more)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called prescription drug abuse an "epidemic." In Kentucky, about a 1,000 people die each year from prescription drug overdoses. More people die in Kentucky from prescription drug overdoses than they do from traffic accidents.

Law enforcement is also seeing that drug seekers are switching from OxyContin to the prescription drug Opana, reports Donna Leinwand Leger for USA Today. "A few years ago, it was OxyContin. Now it's Opana," said Raquel Foster, a police spokeswoman for the Fort Wayne Police Department.

As a new, harder-to-abuse formulation of Opana hits the market, however, "they are going to find a way to satisfy their addiction," said DEA Special Agent Gary Boggs of the Office of Diversion Control. "When they either can't get those particular pharmaceuticals or can't afford them, they now gravitate to heroin."  (Read more)

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Work of UK prof was cited in decision on health care

Professor Nicole Huberfeld.
University of Kentucky photo.

The work of a University of Kentucky law professor helped shape the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the constitutionality of the federal health-care reform law. 

Two of the major issues in question was whether the government could be force people to buy health insurance — often referred to as the individual mandate — and if the federal government could use its fiscal powers top make states expand Medicaid eligibility to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The mandate was upheld, as was the Medicaid expansion, though the ruling will allow states to choose whether or not they want to expand their programs.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cited the work of UK professor Nicole Huberfeld "in a portion of her concurring opinion dealing with the expansion of Medicaid," reports Brian Powers for Business Lexington. In her work, Huberfeld has focused on the program for the poor and disabled and had researched "the intersection of constitutional law and health-care law," Powers reports.

When Huberfeld was told her work had been cited she said it was "amazing," as well as "thrilling ... humbling." She added, "We sometimes feel that we perform our research and publish it and get it out there, and to know that someone is actually reading it is really gratifying. When you write, you hope that someone reads your research." (Read more)

Professor Nicole Huberfeld.
University of Kentucky photo.

The work of a University of Kentucky law professor helped shape the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the constitutionality of the federal health-care reform law. 

Two of the major issues in question was whether the government could be force people to buy health insurance — often referred to as the individual mandate — and if the federal government could use its fiscal powers top make states expand Medicaid eligibility to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The mandate was upheld, as was the Medicaid expansion, though the ruling will allow states to choose whether or not they want to expand their programs.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cited the work of UK professor Nicole Huberfeld "in a portion of her concurring opinion dealing with the expansion of Medicaid," reports Brian Powers for Business Lexington. In her work, Huberfeld has focused on the program for the poor and disabled and had researched "the intersection of constitutional law and health-care law," Powers reports.

When Huberfeld was told her work had been cited she said it was "amazing," as well as "thrilling ... humbling." She added, "We sometimes feel that we perform our research and publish it and get it out there, and to know that someone is actually reading it is really gratifying. When you write, you hope that someone reads your research." (Read more)

Read More