Novavax’s Effort to Vaccinate the World, From Zero to Not Quite Warp Speed
[UPDATED on July 20] On a sweltering June morning, Novavax CEO and covid vaccine maker Stanley Erck stood on a stage unmasked and did something that would have been unthinkable six months ago: He shook hands with Maryland’s governor. Erck was with Gov. Larry Hogan to announce Novavax’s global vaccine headquarters ― a campus expected […]
Hospital ‘Trauma Centers’ Charge Enormous Fees to Treat Minor Injuries and Send People Home
The care was ordinary. A hospital in Modesto, California, treated a 30-year-old man for shoulder and back pain after a car accident. He went home in less than three hours. The bill was extraordinary. Sutter Health Memorial Medical Center charged $44,914 including an $8,928 “trauma alert” fee, billed for summoning the hospital’s top surgical specialists […]
Fútbol, Flags and Fun: Getting Creative to Reach Unvaccinated Latinos in Colorado
Horns blared and drums pounded a constant beat as fans of the Mexican national soccer team gathered recently at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver for a high-profile international tournament. But the sounds were muted inside a mobile medical RV parked near the stadium, and the tone was professional. During halftime of Mexico’s game […]
Fútbol, banderas y diversión: estrategias creativas para vacunar a los latinos en Colorado
Los tambores se escuchaban sin parar mientras los fanáticos de la selección mexicana de fútbol se reunían en Empower Field, en Mile High, para un partido de fútbol internacional. Pero dentro de una casa rodante médica móvil estacionada cerca del estadio, había silencio y el tono era profesional. Durante el medio tiempo del partido de […]
How ERs Fail Patients With Addiction: One Patient’s Tragic Death
Jameson Rybak tried to quit using opioids nearly a dozen times within five years. Each time, he’d wait out the vomiting, sweating and chills from withdrawal in his bedroom. It was difficult to watch, said his mother, Suzanne Rybak, but she admired his persistence. On March 11, 2020, though, Suzanne grew worried. Jameson, 30 at […]
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Here Comes Reconciliation
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen on PRX. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts. The expansion of health benefits is a major piece of the tentative budget deal reached this week by Democrats in Congress. They plan to press ahead — […]
Influx of Medical School Students Could Overwhelm Montana Resources, Program Leaders Warn
Opening two new medical schools in Montana would stretch and possibly overwhelm the state’s physicians who provide the clinical training that students need to become doctors, according to leaders of a University of Washington medical school program that relies on those teaching physicians. The University of Washington School of Medicine’s WWAMI program in Montana requires […]
Red State, Blue State, Twin Outbreak: Behind Wyoming and Colorado’s Anomalous Covid Spikes
WHEATLAND, Wyo. — Brandon Graves said covid-19 arrived in Wheatland the way new movies do in this High Plains farming town: months after hitting the big cities and without much fanfare. “It kind of trickled in and it never really exploded here,” said Graves, a lifelong resident and mayor of the town of about 3,500, […]
As Congress Wrestles With Plans to Expand Medicare, Becerra Says Any One Will Do
The Biden administration will support whatever expansions to Medicare Congress is willing to make, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Tuesday. Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill are working on plans both to add benefits to the health program for seniors and to lower its eligibility age from 65 to 60. But the efforts […]
Teen Volunteers Get a Foot in the Door for Nursing Home Careers
Jasmine De Moya, 17, has dreamed for years of working in the medical field, and she yearned to spend time with older people, missing her grandparents, who live in the Dominican Republic. A program sponsored by the New Jewish Home health system in New York City that combines volunteering and free training for entry-level health […]