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Massachusetts Recruits 1,000 ‘Contact Tracers’ To Battle COVID-19
“I know we will succeed somewhat and we will fail somewhat,” says one of the plan’s chief architects. “We won’t be able to find every single person — but we will hopefully prevent a lot of deaths.”
Already Taxed Health Care Workers Not ‘Immune’ From Layoffs And Less Pay
Revenue is way down for primary care, specialty physicians and some hospitals as patients avoid non-urgent visits. Practices small and large are doling out layoffs and furloughs to staff.
Addiction Is ‘A Disease Of Isolation’ — So Pandemic Puts Recovery At Risk
People in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction have to weather a new storm of depression, anxiety and isolation during the pandemic, just as the social supports of Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs move online.
Why Hoarding Of Hydroxychloroquine Needs To Stop
Six states — Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas — have taken steps to limit inappropriate prescriptions for the medicine and preserve supplies for patients who take it for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Trusting Injection Drug Users With IV Antibiotics At Home: It Can Work
When patients need long-term treatment with intravenous antibiotics, hospitals usually let them manage their treatment at home — but not if they have a history of injection drug use. A Boston program wants to change that.
In Massachusetts, Minors Need Permission For Abortion, But That Could Change
A parental consent requirement for minors who seek abortions is still on the books in left-leaning Massachusetts, as well as about two dozen other states. But a proposed Massachusetts law seeks to repeal that consent requirement and shore up the right to abortion in case the Supreme Court strikes down the federal right to the procedure.
Built For Counterterrorism, This High-Tech Machine Is Now Used To Detect Fentanyl
Public health officials are adopting a law enforcement tool, the mass spectrometer, to instantly identify potentially deadly levels of opioids in local drug supplies.
Has Your Doctor Asked You About Climate Change?
Some physicians say connecting the consequences of climate change — heat waves, more pollen and longer allergy seasons — to health helps them better care for patients.
Medicare Going In ‘Right Direction’ On Opioid Epidemic
A new report by the inspector general for HHS shows prescriptions to treat opioid addiction are way up in recent years, while prescriptions for the painkillers have fallen.
Massachusetts Stroke Patient Receives ‘Outrageous’ $474,725 Medical Flight Bill
After a 34-year-old woman suffered a stroke in Kansas, doctors there arranged for her to be transferred to a Boston hospital, via an Angel MedFlight Learjet. The woman and her father believed the cost of the medical flight would be covered by her private insurance. Then they got the bill.
