Respiratory symptoms stemming from coronavirus infection and smoke inhalation are too similar to distinguish without a full workup. This is complicating the jobs of health care workers as wildfires rage up and down the West Coast.
Category: Hospitals
Hospitals, Nursing Homes Fail to Separate COVID Patients, Putting Others at Risk
COVID patients have been commingled with uninfected patients in California, Florida, New Jersey, Iowa, Ohio, Maryland, New York and beyond. While officials have penalized nursing homes for such failures, hospitals have seen less scrutiny.
HHS Plan to Improve Rural Health Focuses on Better Broadband, Telehealth Services
The proposal details a wide-ranging agenda to remedy the gaps in health care and myriad challenges in rural America. In addition to more telehealth options, it includes shifts in hospital payments and expanded funding for school-based mental health programs.
Another COVID Mystery: Patients Survive Ventilator, But Linger in a Coma
Doctors are diagnosing a new stage of COVID-19 recovery: patients who take much longer than usual to regain consciousness after coming off a ventilator. And a growing number of doctors are worried some patients aren’t being given the time they need to wake up.
Prognosis for Rural Hospitals Worsens With Pandemic
Rural hospitals were already struggling before the coronavirus emerged. Now, the loss of revenue from patients who are afraid to come to the emergency room, postponing doctor’s appointments and delaying elective surgeries is adding to the pressure.
LA Hospital Seeks Vaccine Trial Participants Among Its Own High-Risk Patients
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center serves patients who are especially vulnerable to the coronavirus: They are essential workers, have chronic diseases and are members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. When the safety-net hospital kicks off enrollment for its COVID-19 vaccine trial Wednesday, it will look to those patients to participate.
PPE Shortage Could Last Years Without Strategic Plan, Experts Warn
The rolling shortages of personal protective gear continue even in hospitals, as buyers look directly for manufacturers — often through a maze of companies that have sprung up overnight.
COVID Data Failures Create Pressure for Public Health System Overhaul
Poor information-sharing between hospitals and public health agencies has hurt the response to the pandemic. Some health care systems and IT companies are making inroads, but an overhaul would cost billions.
Exclusive: Over 900 Health Workers Have Died of COVID-19. And the Toll Is Rising.
KHN and The Guardian unveil an interactive database documenting front-line health care worker deaths. The majority of them are people of color — and nurses face the highest toll.
Pandemic Hampers Reopening of Joint Replacement Gold Mine
The COVID-19 pandemic brought knee and hip replacements to a virtual halt because they aren’t usually considered emergency procedures. But they are profitable, and hospital systems are now counting on the surgeries to help restore their financial health.
