Latest KFF Health News Stories
In The Middle Of The Country, A Hospital And Its Community Prepare For The Surge
Because the surge of COVID-19 cases hasn’t yet hit all parts of America, some hospitals are able to learn lessons from the hot spots and prepare for the onslaught. In Wichita, Kansas, Ascension Via Christi hospitals converted a portion of a hospital cafeteria into a grocery store and offered alternative housing and child care for staff members working long hours in a stressful setting. The hospital group is also working with local aircraft manufacturers and 3D-printing hobbyists to produce face shields and other safety materials.
Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
As Ventilators Become Crucial In Saving Lives, Repair Roadblocks Remain
With hospitals struggling to get more ventilators, they must ensure every ventilator they have is ready for service. But manufacturers limit who can repair them.
The COVID-19 Bailout That’s Left Every Hospital Unhappy In Its Own Way
Despite intense lobbying for a piece of the $100 billion bailout pot, big New York hospitals and rural systems alike say they aren’t getting a fair share.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: How Will We Reopen The Economy?
The politics of COVID-19 are pretty polarized, but health experts across the ideological spectrum agree: The U.S. will need more robust testing before it’s safe to relax social-distancing requirements. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, Congress and the nation’s governors continue to spar over who should be responsible for what. Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider, Tami Luhby of CNN and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, for extra credit, the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
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.
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.
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.
Furor Erupts: Billions Going To Hospitals Based On Medicare Billings, Not COVID-19
In the first round of emergency relief, some states will get more than $300,000 per COVID-19 patient, while hard-hit New York gets just $12,000 per patient.
Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
To ‘Keep The Lights On,’ Doctors And Hospitals Ask For Advance Medicare Payments
As part of the federal response to the coronavirus crisis, Medicare is offering to give hospitals and doctors accelerated payments.
‘It’s Like Walking Into Chernobyl,’ One Doctor Says Of Her Emergency Room
Lack of protective gear and fears about all the unknown aspects of COVID-19 are parts of the mosaic of stress facing doctors and nurses on the front lines of the pandemic.
‘Baby, I Can’t Breathe’: America’s First ER Doctor To Die In The Heat Of COVID-19 Battle
Frank Gabrin knew the stakes of his job. What he found unsettling was having to reuse personal protective gear while caring for coronavirus patients.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Who Will Pay For COVID-19 Care?
The spread of COVID-19 is prompting changes in pricing, coverage and other health care issues that have been subjects of political debate for years. But the politics remain polarized. Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, for extra credit, the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories of the week that they think you should read, too.
Primer médico de ER en EE.UU. que muere en el frente de batalla contra COVID-19
The Guardian y Kaiser Health News están lanzando un nuevo proyecto, “Lost on the Frontline” (Perdidos en el Frente), para monitorear estos casos, y contar sus historias.
‘When It Starts Getting Into Your Local Hospital, It Becomes Real’
Located about 45 minutes from New Orleans in one of the hardest-hit counties nationally, the 25-bed rural St. James Parish Hospital has hunkered down as staffers became infected, patient intake numbers have doubled, and intubations have skyrocketed. This is what it looks like inside a rural hospital when COVID-19 hits.
Pacientes de cáncer enfrentan retrasos en cirugías mientras COVID-19 paraliza hospitales
Son más vulnerables a la infección por el nuevo coronavirus. Y pueden estar enfrentando desafíos imprevistos para obtener atención, quimioterapia, e incluso cirugías para remover tumores.
Nursing Homes Have Thousands Of Ventilators That Hospitals Desperately Need
The prospect raises a grim dilemma: Should doctors take people off life support in order to save COVID-19 patients who might recover?
Cancer Patients Face Treatment Delays And Uncertainty As Coronavirus Cripples Hospitals
As hospitals across the country are forced to delay or cancel certain medical procedures in response to the surge in patients with COVID-19, those hard choices are disrupting care for some people with serious illnesses.
