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This pandemic is like war, and California’s local health officers are leading the state's response. Yet unlike war heroes, who are lionized, they are facing unprecedented attacks and death threats.
Voting is a point of pride for many older Americans, and senior living facilities in past years have encouraged the civic act by hosting voting precincts, providing transportation to the polls and bringing in groups to help explain election issues. But fears of the spread of the coronavirus among this vulnerable population make voting more difficult this year.
Public health officials have been alarmed by the increase in COVID-19 cases linked to family gatherings and socializing. While Gov. Gavin Newsom is defending the state’s reopening, local health officials worry the situation could get worse this summer.
As the nation hollowed out its public health infrastructure for decades, staffing and funding fell faster and further in Florida. Then the coronavirus ran roughshod, infecting more than half a million people and killing thousands.
KHN readers detail their frustrations and successes as they hunt for a scarce covid-19 vaccine.
Will Lightbourne, the new director of the California Department of Health Care Services, says government must address the racial disparities laid bare by COVID-19 and improve care for the state’s most vulnerable residents.
California is cutting off funding for COVID-19 testing just when counties say they need more resources in rural and disadvantaged areas.
Public health officials are asking for more money in California’s state budget. But unlike some rich and powerful health care interests, they don’t have an army of lobbyists to curry favor with lawmakers.
A Kaiser Health News analysis shows that counties with ICUs average one ICU bed for every 1,300 older residents, those most at risk for needing hospitalization.
An early morning text. A lawyer-filled meeting on a Sunday afternoon. Emotional journal entries. And, ultimately, action. In the 24 hours before San Francisco Bay Area public health officials issued the country’s first stay-at-home order, they debated how to tackle the alarming rise in COVID-19 infections. Their decision set the course for the nation.
About 7 million people across the San Francisco Bay Area began to “shelter in place” Tuesday to limit the spread of the new coronavirus. Although public health officials acknowledged the orders were drastic, they also agreed they were necessary.
“Lost on the Frontline” is an ongoing project by Kaiser Health News and The Guardian that aims to document the lives of health care workers in the U.S. who died from COVID 19, and to investigate why so many are victims of the disease.
A proposed adjustment to the wage index, used in setting a hospital’s Medicare reimbursement payments, could be a lifeline for some rural facilities.
Scientists say drought can spur transmission of the disease and that wetter winters since 2015 have helped reduce the number of infections in California. In the long term, however, climate change could mean more drought — and more infections.
Homeless patients accounted for about 100,000 visits to California hospitals in 2017, marking a 28% increase from just two years earlier. Health officials attribute the surge to the overall rise in California’s homeless numbers and the large proportion of people living on the streets with mental illness.
In California, medical exemptions to skip childhood vaccinations are on the rise. The trend underlines how hard it is to get parents to comply with vaccination laws meant to protect public safety when a small but adamant population of families and physicians seems determined to resist.
Hospitals and medical practices are battling outdated stereotypes and sometimes their own doctors to hire certified nurse midwives. Research shows that women cared for by certified nurse midwives have fewer cesarean sections, which can produce significant cost savings for hospitals.
The 25-bed hospital in Crockett, Texas, abruptly closed its doors in 2017, joining the ranks of nearly 100 rural hospitals that have shut down in the past decade. But the community kept the faith and several doctors reopened the facility this year.
In a Medicaid-funded pilot project starting with 19 counties, clinicians and other providers are now in charge of deciding what kind of treatment an offender needs. The change has rankled some judges and attorneys — and forced some felons to spend more time in jail — but it has been largely embraced by clinicians and county agencies.
During another day of fast-moving developments, Senate Republicans signaled their intent to attempt to bring an updated repeal-and-delay bill to the floor for a vote next week.
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