Hospitals

Nonprofit hospitals must have financial-assistance policies for needy patients, under federal requirements tied to an estimated $60 billion in annual tax breaks.They often make that aid hard to get. Hospitals put up obstacles, delay checking eligibility and sometimes press for payments that aren’t refunded even if a patient eventually gets qualified for assistance. That is according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of thousands of nonprofit hospital policies in filings to the Internal Revenue Service and…

Hundreds of hospitals along U.S. coastlines are in danger of flooding when hurricanes strike, new research warns. And as sea levels continue rising, so will the flood risks. The findings were published Thursday in the journal GeoHealth by a team of researchers from Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study examined 682 acute care hospitals in 78 metropolitan areas along the East Coast and Gulf Coast, all situated within 10 miles of the shore. Using a storm-surge model developed by the National…

Rising sea levels and increasing storm intensity will put more and more hospitals in danger of flooding, just like the ones facing Hurricane Ian this week, a new study found. Ian sent water pouring into HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte, Florida, this week. The hurricane churned through the coastal town just north of Fort Myers on Wednesday, flooding the building’s lower levels just as winds ripped the roof off — letting the pounding rain in from above. Doctors in the hospital were expecting issues, internal…

Annual predicted probability of storm landfall and percentage of beds at risk. Map of metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) on the United States Atlantic and Gulf Coasts at risk of hurricane landfall. Shading indicates probability of landfall. Circles represent percent of beds at risk from a category 2 hurricane. Inset depicts focused area of Florida peninsula with hospital locations (white markers) and Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricane…

With a one-two punch, the Biden administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have tossed tens of millions of Americans at high risk of death and disability from COVID into a sea of contagion without any clear guidance for infection prevention and control.After President Biden’s thoughtless remark that “the pandemic is over,” the CDC announced days later a quiet undermining of COVID protections in hospitals and nursing homes: the end of universal masking recommendations for healthcare settings.…

Amazon has joined hands with ACT Grants, Temasek Foundation, Pune Platform for COVID-19 Response (PPCR), and other partners to provide over 8,000 oxygen concentrators and 500 BiPAP machines to hospitals in India, the company has announced. The medical equipment, which is being airlifted from Singapore, will be donated to hospitals and public institutions to increase their capacity to help patients infected with COVID-19. Apart from the transportation, Amazon India said that will also procure over 1,500 oxygen…

NEW DELHI : India has reported first laboratory confirmed case of Monkeypox in Kerala from Kollam district…

The desperate need to save the lives of Covid patients during the pandemic’s first waves, coupled with shortages of hospital personnel and protective equipment, drove a shocking reversal in progress against deadly superbugs, according to a new analysis by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The report, released July 12, synthesizes lab and hospital-admission data to reach a grim conclusion: From 2019 through 2020, the number of antibiotic-resistant infections occurring in hospitals, and resulting deaths,…

Apollo Hospitals announced a collaboration with Singapore-based ConnectedLife to integrate its cardiovascular risk assessment tool with the latter's digital wellness solutions. Under the partnership, Apollo's AICVD tool, which can predict the risk of cardiovascular disease, will be integrated with ConnectedLife's digital solutions for wellness, condition management, and other health-focused applications. The company said in a statement that it will provide healthcare providers with the tools to predict the risk of cardiac…

About 33 of the top 100 hospitals in the US are sending sensitive patient data to Facebook, now known as Meta, via a tracking tool installed on their websites, according to a media report.Whenever a person schedules a doctor's appointment, the tracker called the Meta Pixel sends Facebook data -- which includes details of medical conditions, prescriptions, and doctor's appointments, The Markup reported. Meta Pixel was also installed inside the password-protected patient portals of seven health systems. Collectively, 33…