Latest KFF Health News Stories
Know of a health care worker who died of COVID 19? KHN and The Guardian are going to document the lives of U.S. workers who succumbed during the crisis. These are the frontline health workers who risk their lives to care for the sick and keep our health care facilities running. Please share their stories here.
On The Eve Of Retirement, VA Nurse Succumbs To COVID-19
Nurse Divina “Debbie” Accad had cared for veterans for over 25 years and was set to retire in April. But after contracting the novel coronavirus, she spent her final 11 days on a ventilator — and didn’t survive past March.
Nurse’s Faith Led Her To Care For Prisoners At A New Jersey Jail
Daisy Doronila had a different perspective than most who worked at the Hudson County Correctional Facility, a New Jersey lockup 11 miles from Manhattan. It was a place where the veteran nurse could put her Catholic faith into action, showing kindness to marginalized people.
COVID-19 Brings Overhaul Of Military Health Care To A Halt
The military is called to action to battle the pandemic, even as the numbers of people infected among its ranks and veterans climb amid a shortage of doctors and nurses.
Nurse At Nevada VA Dies After Caring For Infected Colleague
Nurse Vianna Thompson, 52, spent two night shifts caring for a fellow Veterans Affairs health care worker who was dying from COVID-19. Two weeks later, she too was lying in a hospital intensive care unit, with a co-worker holding her hand as she died.
A Desperate Scramble As COVID-19 Families Vie For Access To Plasma Therapy
As efforts ramp up to collect blood plasma from the first survivors of COVID-19, families of critically ill patients are jockeying to obtain the still-unproven antibody treatment.
Dr. J. Ronald Verrier Was Busy Saving Lives Before The Pandemic
Dr. J. Ronald Verrier, a surgeon at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, spent the final weeks of his audacious, unfinished life tending to a torrent of patients inflicted with COVID-19. He died April 8 at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in Oceanside, New York, at age 59, after falling ill from the novel coronavirus.
California Nurse Thrived In ER and ICU, But Couldn’t Survive COVID-19
Jeff Baumbach, 57, was a seasoned nurse of 28 years when the novel coronavirus began to circulate in California. He’d worked in the ER, the ICU and on a cardiac floor. Hepatitis and tuberculosis had been around over the years but never posed a major concern.
True Toll Of COVID-19 On U.S. Health Care Workers Unknown
Infection-report forms rarely indicate who is a health worker or whether they survived. States and hospitals tend to keep quiet, citing patient privacy.
Perspectives: Until Patient Advocates Get On Board, Lowering Drug Prices Is A Tough Sell
Read recent commentaries about drug-cost issues.
Are Efforts To Curb High Drug Prices Really Stalled Amid Pandemic?
Read about the biggest pharmaceutical development and pricing stories from the past week in KHN’s Prescription Drug Watch roundup.
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.”
Massachusetts recluta a 1,000 rastreadores de contactos en su batalla contra COVID-19
El ambicioso plan es no solo retrasar, sino frenar, el poder destructivo de COVID-19 a través de la tediosa pero poderosa herramienta de salud pública llamada rastreo de contactos.
Consultorios de pediatría luchan por adaptarse y sobrevivir en medio de COVID-19
Miles de pediatras viven una nueva realidad: reducción de ingresos, padres aterrorizados y escasez de equipos de protección, mientras atienden a los potenciales vectores de la infección.
Opinion writers weigh in on these coronavirus crisis issues and others.
Media outlets report on news from Wyoming, Michigan, Wisconsin, California, Georgia and Vermont.
Courts have been slow to extend the same benefit to young people who are incarcerated that they’re allowing for some adults. Staff members and youths at facilities in at least a half-dozen states have tested positive. In Washington, D.C., a staff member in the juvenile justice system has died.
As hospitals pause some services, workers trained in specialty areas have little to do even as staffing needs surge amid the crisis. Hospitals are trying to train those providers and recruit retirees as well to handle the expected influx of patients. In other health-care worker news: hazard pay, mask shortages, child care concerns, and more.
The staff told ABC News that they were caught off guard by the rapid spread at Canterbury Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center near Richmond, which has suffered the worst loss of life to coronavirus of any nursing home in the U.S. Nursing home news is from Massachusetts, Florida, and Pennsylvania, as well.
The Trump administration seems to be doing little to let Americans know they can sign up for health insurance through the exchanges if they lost their jobs because of the pandemic. Meanwhile, some states take steps to help people get on Medicaid during this tumultuous time. But in states where the program hasn’t been extended, Americans are struggling.