Rae Ellen Bichell
Rae Ellen Bichell is a reporter for NPR's Science Desk. She first came to NPR in 2013 as a Kroc fellow and has since reported Web and radio stories on biomedical research, global health, and basic science. She won a 2016 Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award from the Foundation for Biomedical Research. After graduating from Yale University, she spent two years in Helsinki, Finland, as a freelance reporter and Fulbright grantee.
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The health care industry is obsessed with consumer satisfaction. But national patient surveys still don't get at an important question: Are hospitals delivering culturally competent care? -
With kids back in school, business is picking back up for professional delousers. But how are kids getting head lice if they're physically distancing in the classroom? -
Obstetrical emergency departments are a new aspect of some hospitals that can inflate medical bills for even the easiest, healthiest births. Just ask baby Gus' parents about their $2,755 ER charge. -
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Mesa County has the most delta variant cases of any county in Colorado, state health officials report, making the area a hot spot within a hot spot. The variant arrived in Mesa County this spring, when it accounted for just 1% of all cases nationwide, said Jeff Kuhr, executive director of Mesa County Public Health. Now, Kuhr estimates, “above 90%” of cases in the county are delta variant. -
The CDC sent in a team to investigate a delta variant hotspot in Mesa County, Colo. That didn't stop tens of thousands of people from flocking to the state's largest country music festival. -
A college student never learned the cause of intense pain that drove her to an ER, but her bill totaled $18,735.93. She and her mom, a nurse practitioner, were outraged after dissecting the charges. -
While the vaccine rollout has hit snags across the U.S., including in many large urban areas, some rural counties — with their smaller populations and… -
Support for this story, reported in early 2020, came from The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-profit news organization that partners with... -
Two Colorado counties are feuding as one has lax virus prevention rules which the other says are a problem because it has the hospitals that serve both populations.
