John Oxley

[Congressman Greg Murphy, M.D. @RepGregMurphy]

UnitedHealth @UHC just had its biggest quarterly earnings EVER. They do this by denying care and not paying those who deliver care. They put profits above patients. I urge every patient or employer to drop them immediately. Enough is enough.

[John Oxley @johnoxleypt]

@ThunderCast_Pod Is a bowl game really a good thing? Might we not be better off spending time recruiting and in the portal?

[Marshall University Men's Soccer @HerdMSoccer]

Marshall Men’s Soccer Alum, Álvaro García Pascual, scored his first @LaLiga goal for @SevillaFC, which was the match winning goal in a 1-0 win over Las Palmas! 🤩👏

#WeAreMarshall

[Congressman Greg Murphy, M.D. @RepGregMurphy]

Medicare Advantage plans got a 5 % raise today. Yet the Doctors, who are the ones who actually care for the patients GET CUT every year. This is RIDICULOUS. https://t.co/D8Xk8tc0mC

[Paul Swann @PaulSwann]

I'm heartbroken to share that we've lost my broadcast partner, Woody Woodrum. He wasn’t just a colleague—he was family. His passion, humor, and heart will be missed by all who knew him. My thoughts are with his family and all of us who called him a friend.

[Patrick Farrell @FarrellPatrickJ]

Many have asked how I see Marshall’s role in growing jobs in Huntington. Here’s one great example: the Department of Defense and U.S. Cyber Command are working to establish a National Center of Excellence for Cyber Security in Critical Infrastructure right here in our city. The work we do together will shape Huntington’s role in safeguarding our nation’s infrastructure.

I had the honor of joining the Women in Cyber: A Path to Innovation event on campus, where Senator Capito led a discussion with Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly and several other incredible panelists.

Director Easterly is the real deal and having someone of her caliber (West Pointer, Rhodes Scholar, White House, and more) in Huntington underscores the importance of this initiative. She shared insights on protecting our nation’s critical infrastructure—from financial institutions and hospitals to water systems—through partnerships with public and private companies. With only 24% of the cyber workforce currently women, she aims to raise that to 50% by 2030—and Marshall is going to help make it happen.

Director Easterly also highlighted the real and present danger of foreign cyber threats targeting our infrastructure, emphasizing the need for resilience and the tools CISA is providing to defend against these risks.

Alys Smith and the other panelists were equally impressive. Alys underscored the importance of higher education teaching the 3C's: Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration. The advice for young women in STEM (and young men too I suppose) was clear: seize the opportunities at Marshall’s National Center of Excellence to build the skills needed to tackle tomorrow’s cyber threats.

The future of Huntington looks bright with the Institute for Cyber Security. Fourth Avenue will see over $100M in investments, new buildings, restaurants, and jobs from international companies partnering with Marshall. While we’ve heard pie-in-the-sky promises before, I’m confident this is real economic development. Exciting times ahead for our city!
#WeAreMarshall
#FarrellforMayor

[Ed Gaines @EdGainesIII]

it is a perfectly fair question to ask all the Members of Congress why these Medicare Part A participants are all receiving an increase while physicians look at (worst case) about a -9% cut in Medicare. CMS will say that they are administering the Medicare program as Congress provides. Source: Hart Health Strategies

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

9 year old Zhang Sixuan, winner of the 2024 world Shaolin Kungfu competition

[John Oxley @johnoxleypt]

Everyone in healthcare is totally shocked that UHC would do this.

[Ed Gaines @EdGainesIII]

Front page @WSJ investigative report on diagnosis upcoding by health plans & I hope y'all are sitting down b/c @UHC adds add'l diags. more than any other plan, over $1400 per #MedicareAdvantage member. UHC has nurses call Advantage members, offers $50 gift cards if their nurse can spend some time w/ the member & "Voila'" there's a new higher paying diagnosis. Insurers collected $50 billion extra from Medicare by making questionable diagnoses, often without the knowledge of patients or their doctors. https://t.co/qeHq5jGyHX via @WSJ

[Howard Luks MD @hjluks]

Orthopedic Truths: Part 3
Labral "tears" of the shoulder are incredibly common.
Especially superior or SLAP tears.
If you're over 40-50, odds are that you have one.
It's rarely the cause of pain.
They're not even tears per se.
The easiest way to find an excuse to operate on a shoulder in adults is to get an MRI.
Labral tears in adults are usually just age-appropriate changes.
Do not assume it is the cause of your pain.
Labral tears in kids are different animals.
Adults are not kids... even though they may act like them ;-).
There are different types of labral tears.
All the above assumes no recent dislocation due to trauma.
Adults can still get traumatic anterior or posterior labral tears that result in instability- or dislocations.
There is a good reason to fix those tears if the shoulder remains unstable.
Superior or SLAP "tears" do not cause gross instability in adults.
I don't even like the phrase tears here.
"Tearing" implies trauma or injury.
Age-appropriate changes are just that.
A few SLAP tears now and then in adults might, repeat, might hurt...
An adult might occasionally want surgery for a superior labral tear, but this should be a very rare event.
The vast majority of the time, it is not the cause of your pain.
When fixing a rotator cuff tear in an adult, we often find superior labral "tears" and ignore them—aside from removing loose, frayed tissue.
There's a reason why we ignore them.
Actually repairing SLAP tears in adults is not recommended. We have alternatives if need be.
Why?
The tissue is of poor quality.
It can lead to significant stiffness.
Despite having a superior labral tear, you can continue to lift weights and play tennis or pickleball, etc.
Determining the cause of pain in a shoulder can be challenging.
The decision-making that goes into how to treat the many issues we see in a typical adult MRI can also be challenging.
It can be challenging for you to forget or unsee your MRI result.
As usual... these topics are far more complicated than they appear at face value...

[John Oxley @johnoxleypt]

The fact that the PAC 12 is ending is sad. Such great schools and tradition. I’m not sure we are going in the right direction with NCAA sports!

[AMSSM @TheAMSSM]

‼️ JUST ANNOUNCED ‼️

2⃣ weeks from today, make plans to join an international panel of experts for a webinar on the Throwing Injury Epidemic in Baseball and Softball: What the Science, Data, and Experts Say.

🗓️ Tuesday, May 7
⏰ 8:30 pm ET
🔗 https://t.co/xX7tYJcaWm

[John Oxley @johnoxleypt]

@EricCressey Why innings vs. pitches? Just curious why distinction was made here.

[Eric Cressey @EricCressey]

Many teenage athletes are looking for the secret exercise or program, but they really ought to recognize that the best kept secrets are actually high-quality nutrition and sleep when these things are heavily overlooked by so many young athletes. Instant competitive advantage.

[Daily Loud @DailyLoud]

Sydney Sweeny new photos 📸

[John Oxley @johnoxleypt]

@FarrellPatrickJ As much as I would like it in Huntington I think the only reasonable and quick solution is Tanyard. Plus I would like industry in Huntington space vs retail

[Patrick Farrell @FarrellPatrickJ]

One Team, One Fight: The Funding Battle for Our Schools, Parks, and Libraries

The Cabell County Board of Education, the Cabell County Public Library, and the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District (GHPRD) are embroiled in a lawsuit over money. This week I spoke with key people close to the issue to get a better understanding of where things stand and what is likely to happen next.

After writing this post I asked my teenage sons, both students at Huntington High and interested in the story, to read it and give me feedback. They both shared great thoughts and then politely suggested it was too long, so maybe I should give readers a short version first and then let people who are super interested in the details read the rest. Here goes.

The Short Version: There were a lot of leadership failures that led us to a point where our most cherished public institutions are fighting in court. The resolution of this dispute will depend on a forthcoming decision from the West Virginia Supreme Court and the outcome of Cabell County’s excess levy vote scheduled for May 14th.

Regardless of the outcome of either decision, I think all our civic leaders need to embrace a united approach that mirrors the U.S. military principle of “one team, one fight” to ensure that our schools, parks, and libraries are all adequately funded. Although the different military branches compete for resources, they put their sibling rivalries aside when it comes time to defend the nation. Similarly, our taxpayer-supported public institutions should embrace a spirit of unity and focus on the common goal of making our community a better place to live and work.

The "one team, one fight” approach emphasizes collaboration among all of our public officials whose constituents will be affected. That includes mayors, legislators, county commissioners, and of course the leaders of our schools, parks, and libraries. Our public institutions are interconnected and enhance the quality of life in our cities and counties. We need to go to the legislature with a united front to see if there is a procedural fix to the issue. If not, we need to work together to find practical and creative solutions, including sharing resources across the organizations in ways that might have seemed too hard in the past.

The Longer Version: In 1967 the West Virginia Legislature passed a Public Library Special Act that obligated the Cabell County Board of Education “to provide a stable method of financing the operation of the said public library” through their excess levies. In 1983 they passed another act for the GHPRD that included a provision to “ensure adequate support for the maintenance and operation of the park district” by taxing the Cabell and Wayne county commissions and the towns of Huntington, Barboursville, and Milton, and through the Cabell County Board of Education’s special and excess levies.

The board of education’s excess levy, which was last approved in 2018, typically passes easily because there is strong community support for funding the schools, parks, and libraries. However, in August, due to declining student enrollment, the loss of pandemic-era federal funding, and state-imposed limits on levy amounts, the school board decided to significantly reduce funding for the library and completely eliminate funding for the parks on the next levy, intended to be in effect 2026-2030. It will be up to the state Supreme Court to determine if excluding them from the levy order is constitutional.

Why It Matters: If the Supreme Court upholds the lower court’s decision, the school board will have to continue allocating about 8% of its special levy funds to the parks and libraries. This would likely force the school board to make significant cuts to their own budget, and it is hard to imagine that those cuts wouldn’t have a direct impact on teachers and students.

If, instead, the court rules in favor of the school board, our parks and libraries would lose a substantial portion of their funding. This would likely initiate negotiations to see if the school board might voluntarily contribute some funds to the parks and libraries, even without a legal obligation. With less revenue, the parks and libraries would be forced to make hard decisions like whether or not to scale back maintenance operations, reduce educational programming, close local library branches, and reduce staffing.

By the Numbers: The excess levy provides about $24-$27 million in additional annual funding to the schools, library, and parks. That amounts to more than 10% of the school board’s $241 million budget. In August 2023, facing a $4.5 million budget shortfall, the school board unanimously voted to reduce the amount paid to the library from about $1.5 million to $195,000, an amount I’m told follows the WV Department of Education guidelines for the level of support a board of education should consider providing for their local library system. The vote also completely eliminated about $500,000 in annual payments to the park district. According to affidavits filed in the lawsuit, “the proposed cuts represent approximately 37%-39% of the Public Library’s operating budget” and “more than 16% of the Park District’s operating budget.”

What Happens Next: Because the excess levy will be voted on May 14th, the WV Supreme Court will likely be asked to make an expedited decision in the early March timeframe so excess levy ballots can be printed and delivered in time for the election.

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the parks and libraries, it is likely the levy will pass again, and everything will return to the long-agreed-upon funding arrangement. This would mean the school board would still have a budget shortfall and would have to find savings somewhere other than the parks and libraries.

But some of the legal arguments have significant gray areas, so I won’t be surprised if, instead, the Supreme Court sides with the board of education. In this scenario, I expect to hear vocal protests with slogans like, “No parks, no libraries, no levy!” in the lead-up to the election. If the parks and libraries aren’t included in the levy, it will most likely fail, which means that in addition to what the parks and libraries would lose as described above, our schools would stand to lose over $25 million in annual funding — a substantial financial blow that would significantly impact teachers and students.

This would be catastrophic for the schools. If it happens, I would expect the school board to regroup and propose another levy that includes the parks and libraries for voters to consider during the November election.

No matter the decision, voter discontent over this issue has been palpable, and two of the five Board of Education seats will be contested in May. Currently, only three candidates have filed to run, but given the heightened interest and community discontent, I expect others will join the race before the Jan 27th filing deadline.

How We Solve The Problem: This wouldn’t normally be a City of Huntington issue, but as I said in my “Our City, Our Future” post, our teachers desperately need more support, and that support can’t come at the expense of our parks and libraries. These are our schools, our parks, and our libraries. They all contribute to making our community great, and I am committed to helping find the resources to support them all.

If the parks and libraries lose their funding source, the first step I would take is to work with our local legislative delegation to explore any number of procedural fixes. Is it plausible to raise the levy limits or allow parks and libraries to propose their own local levies that would be put up for a public vote? Would the Legislature be willing to add clarifying language to their 1967 and 1983 acts that explicitly excludes the parks and libraries from the bond limits so our school board wouldn’t face an inequality in school funding when compared to other counties? While I think these are logical and reasonable steps to take, I am not optimistic the current legislature would give county voters an option to increase the size of the levy because they don't want anyone to perceive they are raising taxes.

That leaves us with the notion that these are our problems, and we need to solve them. The “one team, one fight” approach involves the school board, the park board, and the library board, of course, and also mayors from Huntington, Barboursville, and Milton, the county commission, and our local legislative delegation all coming together to devise a long-term solution. We need to put the public good at the center of our focus and explore synergies like shared staffing of librarians between libraries and schools, the city providing more resource officers for city schools, or the parks providing lawn care and facilities maintenance services for our schools. If we can identify interconnections among the various elements of public institutions, we can leverage each other's strengths, be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, and better serve the people of our community.

Thank you for reading. Please share or forward this message to your friends and family members who want to help make Huntington a better place to live and work!

[Patrick Farrell @FarrellPatrickJ]

The filing period for Huntington’s municipal elections is now closed, so barring any candidates that mailed in their forms at the last minute, the field for our local races is set. While the attached list features many good candidates from both parties, I don’t believe the issues our city faces are partisan ones. Regardless of your party affiliation, I encourage you to get to know the candidates and find out how they plan to tackle the biggest issues facing our city. 👇

[John Oxley @johnoxleypt]

@NickHoopes_ Perhaps it is also a reimbursement issue. If we got paid more for our expertise then we wouldn’t feel the need to see more than one patient per hour. After 20 years it is boring and monotonous to treat an OA knee for an hour 1:1. I prefer to maximize my time

[non aesthetic things @PicturesFoIder]

People in the 80s react to new laws against drinking and driving