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In Texasā border communities, which are overwhelmingly Hispanic, covid-19 death rates for people under age 65 were double those in the rest of the state and three times the national average. They were also significantly higher than rates in New Mexico border areas.
HCA charges patients an āactivation feeā of up to $50,000 for trauma teams at centers located in half its 179 hospitals ā and they often donāt need trauma care, an analysis of insurance claims data shows.
Community health centers were born in the 1960s to reach low-income communities. But some rural health experts say federally qualified health centers were a missing piece in achieving early equity in the vaccine rollout.
Besides shared culture and values, a Black physician can offer Black patients a sense of safety, validation and trust. By contrast, the impact of systemic racism can show up starkly in childbirth. Black women are three times as likely to die after giving birth as white women in the United States.
More than 5 million Americans lost a loved one to covid, and the ripple effects could lead to serious illness down the road.
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Covid-19 tore through Mississippiās Black population in the pandemicās early days, but community efforts slowed the rate. Now health officials and community leaders aim to replicate the success as they dole out vaccines.
No-shows for behavioral health appointments have been a long-standing problem, with up to 60% skipped. Now telehealth, fueled by the pandemic, makes it easier for people dealing with depression and other mental health issues to make it to their appointments at a time when such care is in high demand. But teletherapy creates other challenges.
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Hereās a collection of their appearances.
After being closed for 14 months because of the pandemic, a North Carolina nightclub reopens. But now, in addition to showing an ID to gain entry, patrons also must show their vaccination cards.
Black Americansā vaccination rates still trail all other groups, while Hispanics show improvement. Native Americans show the strongest rates nationally.
In 2015, Houston police officers stepped into Alan Peanās hospital room, closed the door and shot him through the chest. Nearly six years later, his survival has brought the Pean family a wrenching legacy and conflicted sense of purpose.
Some immigrant groups are closing the ethnic gap on COVID-19 shots. For many Kurdish Americans, their fears about vaccination are entangled with their experiences in refugee camps after fleeing Iraq.
Pandemic lockdowns exacerbated long-standing economic pressures on pharmacies ā and forced many owner-operated shops to evolve or risk closing their doors.
Across Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta, where death rates from stroke are above the national average, routing patients from rural areas to the right level of care can be an intricate jigsaw puzzle. The closest hospital might not offer the full scope of stroke treatments, but hospitals with more advanced care could be hours away.
Of the three covid vaccines the U.S. government has authorized, only one is available to 16- and 17-year-olds: the Pfizer shot. Itās also the most complicated to manage in rural settings, with their small, dispersed populations. That forces some teens and their families to travel long distances for a dose ā or go without.
California stresses equity for minority groups. Texas is all about personal choice and liberty. Both are struggling to vaccinate Latinos and contending with vaccine hesitancy among conservative communities.
The Florida governor considers the pushback he received from the online video platform to be āOrwellian.ā But the scientists featured at the event made specific statements YouTube deemed as āmisinformation,ā at odds with current public health recommendations for controlling the spread of the covid virus.
Public health resources have shifted from one pandemic to the other, and experts fear steep declines in testing and diagnoses mean more people will contract HIV and die of AIDS.
Congress has poured tens of billions of dollars into public health since last year. While health officials who have juggled bare-bones budgets for years are grateful for the money, they worry it will soon dry up, just as it has after previous crises such as 9/11, SARS and Ebola. Meanwhile, they continue to cope with an exodus from the field amid political pressure and exhaustion that meant 1 in 6 Americans lost their local health department leader.
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