Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, according to a release from the agency. Walensky tested positive Friday night and is experiencing mild symptoms, the CDC said. The director is isolating at her home and will participate in planned meetings virtually in accordance with CDC guidelines. CDC senior staff and Walensky’s […]
A Virginia high school canceled all activities this weekend after almost half of its students called in absent this week due to a flu-like illness. “Due to the high number of student and staff illnesses reported this week, all Stafford High School activities and athletics scheduled through Sunday, October 23, are canceled,” wrote Stafford High’s official Facebook account on Friday. […]
A virus common among young children is surging in the U.S. and sparking concerns that hospitals could become overwhelmed this year by potential winter spikes in both the flu and COVID-19. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is extremely common, with nearly everyone having been exposed to the pathogen by the time they’re 2 years old. In healthy adults and older children, RSV typically causes mild, […]
In recent years, FDA has approved a number of pieces of software that use artificial intelligence (AI) under its medical device approval system. FDA approved only 5 AI-power medical devices in 2015, but approved 115 of these in 2021 and likely will approve even more in 2022. Which companies are the ones with the most […]
A Massachusetts woman is accused of “weaponizing honeybees” against a group of police officers. She wasn’t even the person the officers had been sent to deal with. In health news, Pfizer is eyeing a major price hike of its coronavirus vaccine once the government’s pandemic-era contract runs out. Welcome to Overnight Health Care, where we’re following the latest moves on policy and […]
Abbott Nutrition says it plans to build a new $500 million facility for specialty and metabolic infant formulas, amid calls from advocates and experts that there needs to be more domestic manufacturing and diversity in the supply chain. The company in an earnings call this week said it also made leadership changes at its Sturgis, Mich., baby formula manufacturing plant […]
Health maintenance is in some ways overmedicalized in the U.S., executives from major health systems said Thursday at Reuters’ Total Health conference in Chicago. The panelists agreed that treatments and procedures aren’t the only ways to support patients’ health and said that providers would be wise to place more emphasis on integrating social services into their care models. “We fail […]
Nursing homes that consistently perform the worst compared with their peers will have to meet tougher standards and demonstrate systemic quality improvements in order to avoid enforcement actions, including being excluded from Medicare and Medicaid, the Health and Human Services Department announced Friday. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is revising the Special Focus Facility Program, which addresses poor nursing home […]
Home health providers are dealing with a number of headwinds — inflation-induced financial challenges, labor shortages, pandemic pressures and more — that will only worsen if the proposed payment adjustments for 2023 become finalized. That’s the major takeaway from a recent labor cost study from the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare (PQHH). The study was conducted by Dobson DaVanzo & […]