Health

In Rhode Island, Gov. Dan McKee recently signed an executive order to halt the enforcement of the Nursing Home Staffing and Quality Care Act, which he signed into law last May to give nursing homes across the state a higher staff-to-patient ratio.  The... Read More

Researchers from the Yale School of Public Health recently developed a small, lightweight, inexpensive wearable device — the Fresh Air Clip — that is capable of detecting possible exposure to SARS-CoV-2. The clip was developed to help individuals in high-risk settings to... Read More

On Tuesday, Pfizer-BioNTech announced they will begin a clinical trial to develop an omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine candidate.  “Emerging data indicate vaccine-induced protection against infection and mild to moderate disease wanes more rapidly than was observed with prior strains,” said Prof. Ugur Sahin,... Read More

A recent poll from Goldman Sachs finds that 37% of small businesses say they have been forced to temporarily close or scale back operations because of the recent rise in COVID-19 cases.  The survey included responses from 47 states and two U.S.... Read More

A letter was recently sent by Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., requesting that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission investigate reports of COVID-19 test kit price gouging.  “According to reports from multiple state attorneys general and the media, consumers have recently... Read More

WEESP, Netherlands — Thirty years ago, the Hogeweyk stood as a four-story tower operating as a traditional nursing home in an industrial area about 17 miles outside of central Amsterdam in the Netherlands.  “The way we delivered care back then,... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Health Resources and Services Administration, awarded $103 million in American Rescue Plan Funds to 45 grantees to help reduce health care provider burnout and promote mental health and... Read More

NEW YORK — Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was diagnosed with COVID-19 this weekend, which delayed her defamation lawsuit against The New York Times that was scheduled for a trial beginning Monday. Palin reported her illness to Judge Jed Rakoff... Read More

SAN ANTONIO — Public sentiment regarding COVID-19 mitigation strategies was undermined by polarization from political actors around the globe, according to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers from around the world contributed to... Read More

WASHINGTON —  The FBI is investigating an Illinois company that has received $124 million from the federal government for COVID-19 testing after reports the owners were using part of the money for lavish lifestyles. FBI agents raided the headquarters in... Read More

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Some conservatives are taking aim at policies that allow doctors to consider race as a risk factor when allocating scarce COVID-19 treatments, saying the protocols discriminate against white people. The wave of infections brought on by... Read More

BEIJING (AP) — A cluster of COVID-19 cases in Beijing has prompted authorities to test millions and impose new measures two weeks ahead of the opening of the Winter Olympics, even as the city of Xi'an in north-central China lifted... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose to the highest level in three months as the fast-spreading omicron variant continued to disrupt the job market. Jobless claims rose for the third straight week — by... Read More

A survey was released yesterday by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation that uses National Health Interview Survey data to estimate that 3.5 million adults 65 and older had trouble paying for medications in 2019. According to the... Read More

The Congressional Budget Office released a report this week that examines trends in nationwide spending on prescription drugs over the 1980-2018 period and provides a detailed analysis of trends in spending, use and prices in the Medicare Part D and Medicaid... Read More

On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced plans to provide 400 million free high-quality N95 masks to Americans starting next week. According to a White House official, the effort is the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history.  The... Read More

A recent study finds that the Epstein-Barr virus, a member of the herpes virus family, is likely what causes multiple sclerosis. MS is a progressive disease that affects the central nervous system of 2.8 million people worldwide, but for a long time... Read More

On Monday, according to information from the National Union of Healthcare Workers, nearly 200 mental health clinicians from Kaiser Permanente, a major health care company, took to the streets of Oakland, California, with demands for more culturally responsive care for... Read More

A recent study published in Nature Medicine examines the role of AI in improving screening programs by advancing early detection of breast cancer while reducing over-screening. Breast cancer is currently the most diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women... Read More

Leaders from the Brookings Institution, Cleveland Clinic, Duke Health, University of Virginia, and other public and private partnerships recently formed a coalition called the Artificial Intelligence Industry Innovation Coalition, known as AI3C, to establish recommendations and best practices for the... Read More

The Hancock County Circuit Court in West Virginia rolled out a new program this week to try to address behavioral problems in criminals, rather than pushing them through the court system. The first session of what is called a behavioral... Read More

The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury recently released a fact sheet to respond to a number of complaints and reports that participants, beneficiaries and enrollees are being denied contraceptive coverage. According to the fact sheet,... Read More

A recent study completed by researchers from the San Francisco Department of Public Health seeks to understand why trans women face such big obstacles to physical and mental health well-being, and the experiences surrounding HIV infection.  Prior research has shown that trans... Read More

A federal advisory board known as the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, recently voted to not include any payment increases for hospitals or providers for 2023, as the board found that COVID-19 relief funds, especially to rural hospitals, increased... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court recently gave the green light to a national vaccine mandate for 10 million health care workers who serve Medicaid and Medicare recipients. The mandate says, get vaccinated or lose funding from the U.S. Centers for... Read More

WASHINGTON — A digital ledger of transactions known as blockchain, that can protect an individual’s identity and information, is evolving in the health care space into decentralized patient-centric platforms.  “Think of blockchain as an underlying technology that supports everything. It’s... Read More

WASHINGTON — Kelli Ahnen, a 63-year-old former nursery manager and cancer survivor, found returning to work after a battle with breast cancer improved the quality of her mental health.  “I went back to work and it helped. It took my... Read More

WASHINGTON — Beginning Jan. 19, Americans will be able to order free at-home COVID-19 tests online from the federal government, a senior White House official announced Friday afternoon. In the early going of the new program, individuals will be limited... Read More

ROME (AP) — To mask or not to mask is a question Italy settled early in the COVID-19 outbreak with a vigorous “yes." Now the onetime epicenter of the pandemic in Europe hopes even stricter mask rules will help it... Read More

Recent surges in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations due to the omicron variant are raising concerns among lawmakers about whether another COVID-19 relief package, particularly for restaurants, will be needed.  “We, the undersigned, call on House and Senate leadership to expedite... Read More