Martha Bebinger, WBUR

marthab@wbur.org
@mbebinger

Patients Couldn’t Pay Their Utility Bills. One Hospital Turned to Solar Power for Help.

KFF Health News Original

Doctors in Boston got tired of writing letters to utility companies asking for assistance for their medically vulnerable patients who need power and heat to stay healthy. So a hospital decided to share the power its solar panels generate with patients who needed help with their electricity and gas bills.

Could Better Inhalers Help Patients, and the Planet?

KFF Health News Original

Puff inhalers can be lifesavers for people with asthma and other respiratory diseases, but some types release potent greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. That, in turn, worsens wildfires, contributes to air pollution, and intensifies allergy seasons — which can increase the need for inhalers. Some doctors are helping patients switch to more eco-sensitive inhalers.

Cada vez mueren más menores por sobredosis. ¿Podrían los pediatras ayudar más?

KFF Health News Original

La Academia Americana de Pediatría recomienda ofrecer buprenorfina a los adolescentes adictos a los opiáceos. Sin embargo, según los resultados de una encuesta, solo el 6% de los pediatras informa haberlo hecho alguna vez.

Some Roadblocks to Lifesaving Addiction Treatment Are Gone. Now What?

KFF Health News Original

The federal government has lifted restrictions on one of the most effective opioid addiction treatment medications. The change sets up a “truth serum moment”: Will mainstream doctors and nurses now treat addiction as a common disease?

Hospitals Have Been Slow to Bring On Addiction Specialists

KFF Health News Original

Hospitals have specialists ready to offer consult and care for concerns from cancer to childbirth but often no one with expertise in addiction medicine. Patients with a history of substance use — who are discharged without care — are at risk for overdose.

Mientras baja la vacunación contra covid, partes de EE.UU. están lejos de la meta del 70%

KFF Health News Original

El 4 de julio no fue la celebración que esperaba el presidente Joe Biden. La nación no alcanzó el objetivo de la Casa Blanca de dar al menos una primera dosis de la vacuna contra covid al 70% de los adultos para el Día de la Independencia.

No Vacancy: How a Shortage of Mental Health Beds Keeps Kids Trapped Inside ERs

KFF Health News Original

What’s known as emergency room boarding of psychiatric patients has risen between 200% and 400% monthly in Massachusetts during the pandemic — and the problem is widespread. The CDC says emergency room visits after suicide attempts among teen girls were up 51% earlier this year as compared with 2019.

Another COVID Mystery: Patients Survive Ventilator, But Linger in a Coma

KFF Health News Original

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.

Massachusetts Recruits 1,000 ‘Contact Tracers’ To Battle COVID-19

KFF Health News Original

“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.”

Addiction Is ‘A Disease Of Isolation’ — So Pandemic Puts Recovery At Risk

KFF Health News Original

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.