Tag Archives: healthcare

The Texas Tribune reports: Across Texas, hospital intensive care units are being battered as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in a post-holiday surge. Dozens of facilities have reported that their ICUs have been at or above 100% capacity for weeks, leaving staff overworked and stretched thin. More than 50 Texas hospitals are currently reporting that their ICUs are 100% full …

NBC News reports: President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be his assistant secretary of health, leaving her poised to become the first transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. A pediatrician and former Pennsylvania physician general, Levine was appointed to her current post by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in 2017, making her …

The Hill reports: President-elect Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden honored frontline workers in a New Year’s Eve address Thursday during ABC’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” broadcast from Times Square. “My mother used to have an expression,” Biden said. “Bravery resides in every heart and someday it’ll be summoned. [In] the people we’re honoring tonight, it was summoned …

The Tennessean reports: Tennessee Department of Health officials announced Sunday that the state could “break” its hospital system if a Christmas surge of COVID-19 cases matches that of Thanksgiving. Commissioner Lisa Piercey said there have been multiple household gatherings where people have been affected statewide, as Thanksgiving surges proved. “We know how this happens,” she said. “We want to preserve …

The Associated Press reports: The first of many freezer-packed COVID-19 vaccine vials made their way to distribution sites across the United States on Sunday, as the nation’s pandemic deaths approached the horrifying new milestone of 300,000. “This is a historic day,” said Richard W. Smith, who oversees operations in the Americas for FedEx Express, which is delivering 630-some packages of …

CNN reports: More Americans who don’t even have coronavirus are suffering from soaring Covid-19 hospitalizations. Newly released data from the US Department of Health and Human Services show at least 200 hospitals were at full capacity last week. And in one third of all hospitals, more than 90% of all ICU beds were occupied. Coronavirus patients occupied 46% of all …

The Salem Statesman Journal reports: An oncology nurse at Salem Health has been placed on administrative leave after posting a video on social media showing disregard for COVID-19 restrictions. In the video, uploaded Friday to TikTok, the nurse, identified by hospital officials as Ashley Grames, says she doesn’t wear a mask in public outside of work, continues to travel and …

Gothamist reports: The number of people in the United States hospitalized for COVID-19 on Thursday topped 90,000, marking a record high for the 17th day in a row and a grim sign of what lies ahead as infections continue to soar. Around 125,000 new coronavirus cases were reported across the country. However, the full picture of infections and deaths was …

The New York Times reports: Coronavirus outbreaks in the United States were once traced back to their origins, whether at busy restaurants or crowded meatpacking plants. But now that the virus is spreading rapidly in much of the country — more than 2,200 U.S. deaths from Covid-19 were reported on Tuesday alone, making it the deadliest day in more than …

The Wall Street Journal reports: New coronavirus cases in the U.S. climbed to another record, topping 100,000 for the ninth day in a row, as hospitals faced increasing numbers of Covid-19 patients. The U.S. reported more than 144,000 new cases for Wednesday, up about 4,000 from the day before, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The total number …

The Hill reports: A top health department official in Wisconsin says that the state is nearing a point at which some patients who need lifesaving care will be unable to receive it due to overcrowding in hospitals resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak. Ryan Westergaard, chief medical officer for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, said during a discussion hosted by …

CBS News reports: President-elect Joe Biden is expected to speak on the Affordable Care Act Tuesday, just hours after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments over the health care law’s future. Biden is expected to defend the signature health care law of President Barack Obama’s administration, which Republican challengers aim to strike down. The high court ruled eight years ago …

The Associated Press reports: More than three-and-a-half years into his presidency and 40 days from an election, President Donald Trump on Thursday launched what aides termed a “vision” for health care heavy on unfulfilled aspirations. “It is affirmed, signed and done, so we can put that to rest,” Trump said after signing an executive order covering a range of issues, …

Forbes reports: Voters in Republican-leaning Missouri supported a ballot measure to extend Medicaid benefits to more than 200,000 low-income adults in the latest vote testing the popularity of the Affordable Care Act during the Covid-19 pandemic. The vote by a narrow margin of Missourians to expand Medicaid under the ACA is a political blow to Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who …

Bloomberg Law reports: The Trump administration has finalized a policy that would remove women seeking abortions and LGBT people from the Affordable Care Act’s non-discrimination protections, the HHS announced Friday. The regulation would let health-care workers, hospitals, and insurance companies that receive federal funding refuse to provide or cover services such as abortions or transition-related care. This continues the Trump …

Politico reports: New York City and Long Island hospitals are preparing to resume elective surgeries, though the Cuomo administration has yet to approve the procedures as the coronavirus continues to tear through the region. Hundreds of New York City patients have been trapped for months in surgical limbo by a blanket hold on the procedures. While the term “elective surgeries” …

Axios reports: U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams is asking hospitals to consider stopping elective surgeries as the coronavirus spreads. Some hospitals already had started canceling or postponing elective surgeries, MarketWatch writes. UCSF Health hospitals are postponing up to 7,000 appointments a day. Doctors have noted high risk or elderly patients are currently canceling elective surgeries, such as knee replacements, that …

The Associated Press reports: Researchers on Wednesday reported the largest-ever one-year decline in the U.S. cancer death rate, a drop they credited to advances in lung-tumor treatments. The overall cancer death rate has been falling about 1.5% a year since 1991. It fell 2.2% from 2016 to 2017, according to the new American Cancer Society report. That’s the largest drop …

Axios reports: A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is unconstitutional, but ordered a lower court to take a fresh look at how much of the rest of the law should fall along with it. This decision will likely keep the ACA’s protections for pre-existing conditions in legal limbo well past the 2020 …

Gallup Polling reports: More than 13% of American adults — or about 34 million people — report knowing of at least one friend or family member in the past five years who died after not receiving needed medical treatment because they were unable to pay for it, based on a new study by Gallup and West Health. Nonwhites, those in …