Practice Management
Cases of COVID-19 in children grew 62% between August 5 and September 9 of this year (from 93,824 to 243,373), according to data collected from state departments of health by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. Hospitalizations are up among infected children, too, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The scary part is, these data were collected before schools even opened up in many big …
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Data on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, thus far, have focused on how well vaccination protects patients from infection. We know that the vaccines, overall, are approximately 95% effective against infection, though that figure may be as low as 66% against the Delta variant. We also know, however, that breakthrough cases occur more often than we might have anticipated. An article just published in the New England Journal of Medicine appears to be the first …
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Data showing that vaccination lowers the risk of becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2, and that vaccination reduces the severity of disease on breakthrough cases, have been available for some time. That wasn’t enough to convince the entire population that getting a COVID-19 shot is a good idea, somehow. Maybe the three studies published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week will be more convincing. The most striking reveals that risk of death in …
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The COVID-19 pandemic was already on the upswing as schools started opening up across the country this year. Given that many children are too young to be vaccinated even if their parents would be so inclined, and many schools have declined to impose mask mandates, it’s reasonable to be concerned that we could see even more cases among younger patients as the next few weeks progress. So, this year more than most others, it would …
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First the urgent care industry saw itself cut out of the distribution chain for COVID-19 testing supplies. Next, it saw vaccines go preferentially to go health systems, public health organizations, and chain drugstores and big box stores. Now, as it continues to come back from those oversights, there are reports that UnitedHealth Group is undercutting the reimbursement rate set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for immunizing patients against SARS-CoV-2. They’re not legally …
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Controversial as the move might be, more states are requiring healthcare workers (HCWs) to get vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. Often, the deadline gives those workers at least weeks to comply, while some rules offer the option of submitting to regular COVID-19 tests instead. At least one state, though, appears to have a mandate that leaves a gaping hole in the effort. As reported in the Portland Press Herald, many HCWs whose employer is not affiliated with …
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Shakespeare may have opined that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” but a new report from JAMA Network Open reveals that the words you choose when speaking with patients matter a great deal—to the extent that they can actually affect healthcare quality and patients’ opinions of you as a provider. Researchers who looked at 600 patient encounters involving 138 physicians discovered six ways that physicians express “positive” feelings (eg, compliments, approval, …
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In spite of public health messaging (some of which highlights healthcare providers and patients of color), there continue to be disparities in vaccination rates from one demographic group to another across the United States. As noted in an article just published online by JAMA Health Forum, U.S. neighborhoods with a higher percentage of white and Asian residents and higher mean incomes were more likely to have high rates of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 compared with neighborhoods …
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Back in March, Antiviral Research published an article declaring that ivermectin—known as a treatment for various parasitic conditions in humans and animals—was found to inhibit replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. Some patients, presumably spurred on by exaggerated, out-of-context, or downright erroneous reports on the internet, took that as encouragement to seek out prescriptions for ivermectin and to self-treat for COVID-19. Now they are suffering the consequences, which include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, as well as …
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Whether it’s fear of getting infected or just a refusal to wait for hours while patients who are concerned they could have COVID-19 take precedence, too many people with chronic illness are shying away from the emergency room when they are having an acute experience these days. An article published recently in Medscape Medical News detailed the story of several patients who fear that their local hospital just won’t have room for them when they …
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