Congenital Hearing Loss

Staffing shortages have long plagued the home care industry. But the pandemic has intensified the problem. Almost daily, Terry Driscoll drives 40 minutes from her home in Yarmouth Port, Mass., to see her husband, Ken, in his memory care facility. That's not where she wants him to be. The Driscolls, both 72, have been a couple since college. When he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease almost a decade ago, "my plan, always, was to keep him at home," said Ms. Driscoll, a nurse. "I thought, 'I can handle this.'" For years she managed, cutting back to part-time work, then retiring earlier than planned and relying on adult day programs and support groups through a local nonprofit. As her husband's needs increased and she could not leave him for even short periods, she hired two part-time independent home care aides. "They were both wonderful," she said. But when the pandemic hit, she began to fear having outsiders in their home, and she le

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : July 29, 2021 Contact: Emily Tau , emitau@milwaukee.gov (414) 286-3780, (414) 308-5556 City of Milwaukee Mask Advisory MILWAUKEE – The City of Milwaukee Health Department, with support from the Mayor's office, City of Milwaukee Public Health and Safety Committee Chairwoman Dimitrijevic, and Board of Health is issuing new recommendations regarding the use of masks, in accordance with the guidance released by the Center for Disease Control on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. The dominant presence of the Delta variant in Milwaukee is causing an increase in positive COVID-19 cases. In the past month, the burden rate has gone from the "low transmission" category into the "substantial transmission" category, and the CDC's updated masking recommendations are for those in areas of substantial or high transmission. The City of Milwaukee Health Department strongly advises everyone, regardless of vaccination

On a recent Saturday morning this year, Dr. Gabriela Maradiaga Panayotti didn't feel right. She felt shaky and unsteady and was concerned enough to want to talk things over with a fellow Duke physician. That morning, she saw a Duke Urgent Care doctor, and with the help of Duke's telehealth system, she made arrangements for tests without leaving her home. "It was so easy, I could make an appointment that morning, see someone and make a game plan for what to do next," said Maradiaga Panayotti, who quickly recovered from the brief episode. "It's really a game changer as a patient." As an associate professor of Pediatrics and pediatrician with Duke Children's Primary Care, Maradiaga Panayotti had a lot of experience treating patients with virtual health care visits. But, as the pandemic changed the way Duke delivered care, she, along with thousands of Duke patients, gained a fuller appreciation of the service's value. As a popular option for pa

Digital health company Ro is adding virtual mental health services to its growing platform that includes telemedicine, pharmacy distribution and an in-home care network.  The service, called Ro Mind, launched Tuesday and will initially focus on patients living with generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder, company executives said. "We are the only company that seamlessly integrates virtual care, pharmacy and in-home care on one platform. We are uniquely positioned to serve physical and mental health, holistically, and provide affordable, high-quality mental health services," Saman Rahmanian, co-founder and chief product officer at Ro told Fierce Healthcare in an exclusive interview. "To us, offering support for anxiety and depression is an important first step to make mental health a part of the primary care experience." About 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. lives with

WATERLOO, Iowa (KWWL) - UnityPoint Health wants to extend its care outside of the clinical hospital setting and has launched a new tool to help people find social service resources. The "Together We Care" tool is a website where people needing almost any type of assistance can find it. All the services listed on the website are either free or low-cost services. Housing, food, mental health, and job assistance are some of the many resources that can be found on the site. "Social determinants can affect how a person takes care of themselves and we care about our communities. We wanted to be able to connect the people within our communities to the needed resources to take care of themselves and their families," UnityPoint Health - Waterloo Regional Director of Care Management Lisa Solberg said. People seeking services near them simply need to: Go to togetherwecare.unitypoint.org Type in the zipcode of where they are seeking servi

[unable to retrieve full-text content] How did Sacramento hospitals fare in US News' list of the best? UC Davis leads the pack    Sacramento Bee

Photo: John Fedele/Getty Images More than 94% of the nation's hospitals are not in full compliance with the price disclosure rule mandated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to new data from PatientsRightsAdvocate.org. Implemented on Jan. 1, the rule is intended to make hospital pricing information more accessible to patients so they can compare costs and better inform their care; this means hospitals have to post negotiated rates, and display prices, for virtually all items and services. Yet in the almost seven months since the rule's implementation, only 5.6% of hospitals are fully compliant. And 80.6% of hospitals didn't publish payer-specific negotiated charges "clearly associated with the names of each third-party payer and plan," as required by the rule. In addition, 51.6% of the 500 hospitals surveyed did not publish any negotiated rates at all, while 39.6% did not publish any discounted cash prices. WHAT'

[unable to retrieve full-text content] 'Friendly Home Care Competitors' Family Tree and Evergreen Join Forces    Home Health Care News

A Government Accountability Office report finds that Medicare Advantage beneficiaries in their last year of life were more than twice as likely to drop their policies and enroll in traditional Medicare than other Medicare Advantage enrollees. Other Medicare news covers chronic care, racial coverage gaps and provider pay hikes. Modern Healthcare: Dying MA Customers Are Switching To Traditional Medicare  Medicare Advantage beneficiaries can't access the care they need as they get sicker, a new report from federal watchdogs suggests. People enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans are switching to Medicare fee-for-service at an alarming rate during their last year of life, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published Wednesday. Medicare Advantage customers in their last year of life were more than twice as likely to drop their policies and enroll

June 30, 2021 This paid piece is sponsored by Dakota State University. Information has been called the lifeblood of medicine, and health information technology has been compared to the circulatory system for that information. For more than four decades, Dakota State has been a part of that health information circulatory system, providing relevant degrees through the College of Business and Information Systems for those interested in a health care career. Since 1977, more than 700 DSU students have graduated with degrees in health information management, or HIM, from the certificate to the doctoral level and are now working around the country. One of those degrees, the Master of Science in Health Informatics and Information Management, or MSHIIM, prepares graduates for leadership roles in health information. Caitlin Pick, a senior health informaticist for Avera Health, just finished her MSHIIM degree, which will be a huge help whenever she's ready to move up in her career.

Acne scars are the pesky marks that are left behind after the pimple or zit pops open. People with acne prone skin know the real struggles of dealing with these scars and how these pesky marks can take a lot of time to clear. Home remedies works really well in dealing with these issues and here are two at-home treatments that you can try.  Honey & Cinnamon Honey reduces bacteria and inflammation while cinnamon works a great deal on acne prone skin and further reducing the effects of acne.  How to:  1. In a bowl take a ½ teaspoon of cinnamon and mix it with equal amounts of honey.  2. Stir it well and use it on your acne scars as an overnight treatment.  3. Use it on your skin daily for at least 30 days to see the visible results.  Aloe Vera + Tea Tree Oil Tea tree oil is a great antibacterial and anti-inflammatory essential oil that helps in keeping bacteria at bay. When mixed with aloe vera, it helps in de

Hay fever is a common condition that affects close to 19 million American adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . Also known as allergic rhinitis or nasal allergies, hay fever can be seasonal, perennial (yearlong), or occupational. Rhinitis refers to irritation or inflammation of the nose. Common symptoms include: runny nose nasal congestion sneezing watery, red, or itchy eyes coughing Hay fever symptoms usually start right after you're exposed to the allergen. Allergens can be found both indoors or outdoors, and they can be seasonal or yearlong. Other irritants include: These allergens will trigger your immune system, which mistakenly identifies the substance as something harmful. In response to this, your immune system produces antibodies to defend your body. When triggered, these antibodies signal your blood vessels to widen and your body to release inflammatory chemicals, like histamine. It's this response that causes hay fever symptoms.

Patients with psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis who were obese were shown to present with significantly lower quality of life (QOL) and worse disease activity than those with normal weight. Obesity may significantly affect quality of life (QOL) and disease burden in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to study findings published last week in the Journal of Clinical Medicine . As a low-grade systemic inflammatory condition, obesity has been suggested to share a common pathological pathway with immune-mediated inflammatory rheumatic diseases, noted researchers. In fact, patients with PsA and RA have been shown to have a higher prevalence of obesity compared with the general population, with disease management of both conditions indicated to be potentially impaired by obesity or high body mass index (BMI). Although prior associations have been made regarding abnormal BMI and worse rheumatic markers, the study authors said that epidem

[unable to retrieve full-text content] ModivCare to Acquire CareFinders Total Care in $340M Deal    Home Health Care News

A federal grand jury in Denver returned a two-count indictment charging DaVita Inc. and its former CEO, Kent Thiry, for conspiring with competing employers not to solicit certain employees. DaVita owns and operates outpatient medical care centers across the country, focusing on dialysis and kidney care. These charges are the result of the Antitrust Division's ongoing investigation into employee allocation agreements in the health care industry. DaVita's co-conspirator Surgical Care Affiliates LLC and its related entity (collectively SCA) were charged in January, and that case is pending in the Northern District of Texas.   The indictment alleges that DaVita and Thiry both participated in two separate conspiracies to suppress competition for the services of certain employees. Count One charges DaVita and Thiry for conspiring with SCA to allocate senior-level employees by agreeing not to solicit each other's senior-level employees from as early as February 2

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - The new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Mountain Health Network and President of Cabell Huntington Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center has been selected. Mountain Health, Cabell Huntington Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center boards of directors confirmed that Kevin W. Yingling, RPh, MD, FACP, will take over the role on August 9. A statement released by Mountain health Network Wednesday read in part, "As a highly skilled physician, Dr. Yingling offers unique skills and insights that are patient-first focused. As an experienced leader, he has held numerous clinical care and academic leadership roles in the Huntington medical community for over 25 years. Dr. Yingling is the only physician who has served as president of both the CHH and SMMC medical staffs. He has been a member of the Cabell Huntington Hospital board of directors and first chair of the Mountain Health board of directors from 2018 – 2020. Dr. Yingling was integral to the devel

Perioral dermatitis is a common skin condition that causes a red rash with small bumps around your mouth. Like many skin conditions that appear on your face, perioral dermatitis is often mistaken for acne. However, it's not a type of acne and can't be cured by using acne treatments. In fact, those treatments are likely to make the rash worse. This condition can also lead to dry patches that are confused with eczema. If it's then treated with steroids, this can further exacerbate the condition. Fortunately, there are other over-the-counter (OTC) options that can treat perioral dermatitis safely and effectively. Perioral dermatitis is a red rash that forms around your mouth. It causes inflamed bumps to form, which can be easily mistaken for acne. As the inflammation spreads, it can cause your skin to be: swollen dry scaly flakey The condition often starts around your mouth and can spread to other parts of your face and body, such as: eyelids around your nose forehead neck gen

You're strolling along when suddenly a pain shoots through your ankle for no obvious reason. Or perhaps you wake up one morning and your ankle is aching. Without an obvious injury, you might be wondering where the pain came from. Ankle pain can be — but doesn't have to be — the result of an injury. While fractures and sprains cause ankle pain, others are coping with an ache of a different origin. It could be the result of arthritis or an autoimmune condition. The best treatment may depend on the root cause, so don't hesitate to get it checked out by a doctor. If you know you haven't been injured, and you don't have pre-existing health conditions that you're aware of, the pain may feel random. But there may be an underlying cause that you don't know about — or that you didn't connect with your ankle pain. Osteoarthritis With osteoarthritis, the cartilage cushion between two bones gradually wears away, causing the bones to rub up against each other. And it

Health care trailer bill expands full-scope Medi-Cal to approximately 235,000 low-income undocumented Californians age 50 and older AB 133 transforms behavioral health system for California youth and expands the behavioral health housing continuum of care Includes investments to extend Medi-Cal eligibility for postpartum individuals and support continued telehealth flexibilities At Fresno health clinic, Governor encourages more Californians to get vaccinated against COVID-19 amid growing threat of Delta variant FRESNO – At a health clinic in Fresno County today, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation making California the first state in the nation to expand full-scope Medi-Cal eligibility to low-income adults 50 years of age or older, regardless of immigration status – a major milestone in the state's progress toward universal health coverage. The health care trailer bill, AB 133, makes bold changes toward a more equitable and prevention-focused approach to health care th

ACME — Michigan's top insurance regulator said Wednesday that auto insurers are required to help injured drivers find access to "appropriate" medical care and "not warehouse care," even as providers drop no-fault clients because of a new state law slashing their payment rates by 45 percent. "We're not going to take for an answer like, 'Hey, sorry, we can't find a caregiver.' That is not an acceptable answer for the governor," said Anita Fox, director of the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS). "It's not acceptable answer for us. I don't think that's what the Legislature envisioned." Auto insurance carriers that don't "make sure care is in place" for customers could be subject to penalties for not meeting the contractual obligations of their policies, Fox said. "We consider this access to care for patients to be a primary focus right now, and we want to see every one of