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Study: Hospital charges are spiking
Seth Sandronsky Medical & Allied HealthcareHospital charges were spiking before COVID-19 hit the U.S. A new study from National Nurses United/California Nurses Association (NNU/CNA) looks at Medicare cost reports for 4,203 hospitals in fiscal year 2018. These hospitals "are charging on average over $417 for every $100 in their total costs." The study was released on Nov. 17. "This is one of the most egregious examples of what you have with a system based on profit, not patient need," Chuck Idelson, spokesperson for the NNU/CNA, told MultiBriefs by phone. A case in point is patients who need healthcare but avoid it due to hospital costs. That is especially risky during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is exploding across the U.S.
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As hospitals shutter elective surgeries again, patients return to virtual…
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationHospitals across the United States are once again setting aside elective surgeries as COVID makes another surge across the globe. As this plays out, many hospitals are returning to the early days of the pandemic when such procedures were canceled or postponed to ensure health systems could maintain their resources to reduce the spread of the virus. Elective surgery or an elective procedure is scheduled in advance because it does not involve a medical emergency. Semi-elective surgery must be done to preserve the patient's life but does not need to be performed immediately.
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Take a hike, for your health
Amanda Ghosh Sports & FitnessThere are 60,000 miles of hiking trails in the United States. A brisk walk will boost your mood, but it could also improve your body’s response to vaccination, and that’s worth talking about during flu season and a global pandemic. When you get a vaccine, your body responds by improving your immunity to the disease the vaccine prevents. So, while vaccines are important, vaccination response is equally essential. Behavioral alterations that improve vaccination response, like exercise, are fantastic because they can significantly affect immunity quickly and affordably. Yes, a hike (or even walk) can make a difference.
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6 ways to finish strong at your spa in 2020
Elizabeth Donat RetailWith Thanksgiving and the holiday season just days away, it's time to make a plan to finish your year strong at your spa or medspa. We've experienced a year of ups and downs, and it has certainly shown us that with planning, tenacity and a lot of patience we can continue to do the work that we love. Follow my six tips in this article to finish 2020 on top and start the new year off right with some fun and festive ideas.
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When politics and public health collide
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcarePublic health in the United States has been an intrinsic aspect of national well-being for more than a century. Without the mostly invisible public health machine, we would see all manner of preventable ills ravage our society. When cynically wielded, political power can wreak havoc with public health, and the COVID-19 pandemic is a timely example of how politics run amok can interfere with even the most basic protective measures. A negative or combative intersection of public health and politics costs lives, and this is where we must push back.
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Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine: Interim report claims 90% effectiveness
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareCOVID-19 is raging. The U.S. continues to see record case totals each day. A vaccine is perhaps the best hope for ending the pandemic. Currently, there is no vaccine to prevent infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but researchers have been racing to develop one. Now, based on an interim efficacy analysis, Pfizer and BioNTech claim their messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)-based vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants who had not previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2.
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Telehealth is changing healthcare — patients are telling us so
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationIf 2020 has taught us nothing else, it's that telehealth that is likely here to stay. But why? Convenience is critical to its success, but it can bridge the gap of care between caregivers and patients during the pandemic. It's proving to be a legitimate solution to reaching patients in underserved areas. Telehealth technology is no longer a concept but a tried and mostly trusted solution for care delivery. Since the height of the pandemic, patients' use has fallen, but people still like what it has to offer, and its use seems to be reaching critical mass.
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How common oral and nasal rinses might reduce COVID risk in the dental…
R.V. Scheide Oral & Dental HealthcareThe results of two recent peer-reviewed studies that found Listerine and an array of cosmetic and therapeutic mouthwashes kill the novel coronavirus in the laboratory should be approached cautiously. The studies are in vitro, in glass, in the test tube, in the petri dish, and we won’t know if these compounds work on actual living organisms, in this case human beings, until in vivo studies are done. Nevertheless, for dentists, dental hygienists and other dental healthcare providers, there’s plenty to celebrate in the studies, since they both validate some practices already put in place by dental offices when the pandemic took off in the United States last March and point the way forward for future research.
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Study: Tracking the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 virus mutations
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareCOVID-19 can go in two different directions once it has infected someone. The immune response can remain stable and regain control over the virus, eventually clearing it through T cell and antibody activity. Or the immune system can freak out and start to overrespond, churning out more and more inflammatory cytokines, in a frantic attempt to wipe out the virus. The second path causes substantial cell death in the lungs, resulting in the most severe infections, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and even death. However, in a new study, University of Illinois researchers and students found that the virus is honing the tactics that may make it more successful and more stable.
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Ringing in your ear? Here are some tips to help
Victoria Fann Medical & Allied HealthcareThere are few things in this world as annoying as a constant ringing sound in one or both ears. I know because I’ve experienced tinnitus, as it’s called, in my right ear for the past four years. It seems to come and go, and I suppose I’ve adjusted to it, but for many people it’s truly unbearable. In fact, there are more people than you might think affected by this auditory phenomenon. Fortunately, only 10% of sufferers of tinnitus need professional help. For the rest of us, we have to learn to live with it, because as of right now, there’s no cure. For our purposes, I will present some simple, no-cost or low-cost tips to help you cope with tinnitus.
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