Author's posts
A Hospital Charged $722.50 to Push Medicine Through an IV. Twice.
A college student never got an answer for what caused her intense pain, but she did get a bill that totaled $18,736 for an ER visit. She and her mom, a nurse practitioner, fought to understand all the charges.
For Black kidney patients, an algorithm may help perpetuate harmful racial disparities
Experts have begun to grapple with dismantling institutional racism in kidney care, but doing so is complicated.
Snag a Vaccine Appointment, Then Face the Next Hurdle: How to Get There?
For some, a vaccine appointment a few hours away is no biggie. For others, it’s a major barrier to gaining protection from the coronavirus.
Durango’s Covid ‘Cowboy’ Rounds Up Spring Break Scofflaws, Lines ’Em Up for Shots
The city of Durango has hired an actor to bring his Old West acting skills to tackle a current problem: the Wild West of spring break, in which visitors from states such as Texas and Oklahoma flock to town. The “lawman” cajoles them into wearing masks while vaccinators stand ready for out-of-town visitors.
What Childhood Vaccine Rates Can, and Can’t, Teach Us About Covid Vaccines
Hesitancy toward routine childhood vaccines doesn’t necessarily predict hesitancy toward a covid shot.
At Colorado’s Rural Edges, Vaccines Help Assisted Living Homes Crack Open the Doors
Amid the disorganization and confusion of the vaccine distribution, smaller communities may have an advantage. In some long-term care facilities where vaccination is underway, things are looking up.
Live Free or Die if You Must, Say Colorado Urbanites — But Not in My Hospital
In a fracas between a largely rural county and neighboring cities, class and politics are just as relevant as the coronavirus. People are getting “stupid and mean,” as one mayor put it.
This Health Care Magnate Wants to Fix Democracy, Starting in Colorado
Kent Thiry, the former CEO of dialysis giant DaVita, has clear ideas about how democracy should work. By backing ballot measures in Colorado, he’s shaping the power of voters in that state.
People Proving to Be Weakest Link for Apps Tracking COVID Exposure
Contact tracers in many states are stretched thin. Colorado is among the latest states to launch an app that aims to help, based on the COVID contact-tracing tool built by Apple and Google. But there’s a chicken-and-egg problem: More people will use them if they prove to work, but the apps become effective only if more people use them.
The Best COVID Warning System? Poop and Pooled Spit, Says One Colorado School
About 6% of large universities with in-person classes are routinely testing all students. For many institutions, that strategy is out of reach. To get ahead of the virus, Colorado State University is experimenting with a combination of sewage monitoring and a lesser-known approach to pool testing.
