Coronavirus

HHS & Partner Agencies Target COVID Tests, Long COVID Treatment

September 22, 2023 - The Department of Health and Human Services is going all-in on COVID-19 detection and treatment again as case counts and hospitalizations tick up across the nation. In a recent announcement, the Department said it would restart its COVID-19 mail-order test program, set to be bolstered by $600 million in test manufacturing investment. “The...

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To See COVID Racial Health Disparities, Look at Premature Death Rates

by Sara Heath

To truly get a handle on the racial health disparities that opened up during the COVID-19 pandemic, take a look at the years of life lost, Kaiser Family Foundation researchers say. In a new analysis...

HHS Unveils Plan for COVID-19 Vaccine Access for Uninsured After PHE End

by Sara Heath

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released its plan to maintain COVID-19 vaccine access for the uninsured even after the end of the public health emergency (PHE) in May. The HHS...

Healthcare Costs, Patient Care Access Challenges Folks with Long COVID

by Sara Heath

The one in five adults who have experienced long COVID also have trouble with other aspects of healthcare, with new Urban Institute findings indicating issues with healthcare costs and patient care...

NIH Uncovers Racial Disparities in Long COVID Symptoms, Diagnosis Rates

by Sara Heath

Two preliminary investigations of long COVID are indicating that there are health disparities in the long-term illness, just as there were disparities in coronavirus infections at the start of the...

Racial Disparities in VA Appointment Wait Times Worsened Amid COVID-19

by Sarai Rodriguez

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Black and Hispanic veterans seeking medical care through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) were more likely to face longer VA appointment wait times. Recent...

Did HHS Pandemic Relief Funds Promote Health Equity?

by Sara Heath

The Department of Health and Human Services was mostly successful in its pursuit of health equity during the pandemic, at least in terms of pandemic relief fund spending, according to a new assessment...

How Healthcare Can Solve Its Patient Trust Problem

by Sara Heath

Healthcare has trust issues—patient trust issues, that is. After a whirlwind three years, the medical industry is staring down a population that is exhausted by pandemic precautions, coming to terms with decades of mistreatment of...

Is Text Messaging the Best Patient Outreach Tool for COVID-19 Vaccines?

by Sarai Rodriguez

Using text messaging for COVID-19 vaccine patient outreach was as effective as direct phone calls in getting patients to seek out the vaccine, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open,...

Patient Access to Care Stymied Amid COVID-19 Funding Debate

by Sara Heath

Patient access to care for COVID-19 hangs in the balance as Congress mulls over extending federal funding for testing and treatment services, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation brief...

COVID-19 Takes a Toll on Patient Access to Preventive Cancer Screenings

by Sarai Rodriguez

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted preventive care access as patients continue to miss preventive cancer screenings and experience delayed care, a survey from the Prevent Cancer Foundation...

Neighborhood Leading SDOH Affecting COVID, Health Outcomes

by Sarai Rodriguez

According to an American Heart Association study, patients who live within socially vulnerable neighborhoods have a higher likelihood of high complications from COVID-19 infections, offering...

Using Cognitive Dissonance to Increase COVID-19 Safety Compliance

by Victoria Bailey

Princeton researchers used cognitive dissonance to increase COVID-19 safety compliance among individuals who believed these methods work but did not follow them. Joel Cooper, a professor of psychology...

Ending Eviction Bans May Exacerbate COVID-19 Health Disparities

by Sara Heath

People living in states lifting eviction moratoria face an increased risk for COVID0-19 12 weeks after the ban’s end, a trend researchers said could worsen COVID-19 health disparities. The data,...

How Neighborhood Disadvantage Drove COVID Health Disparities

by Sara Heath

When Daniel Carrión, PhD, MPH, a researcher from Mount Sinai, thinks of COVID-19 racial health disparities, he thinks of the subway. After all, needing to ride the subway—or work an...

Relaxed Nurse Scope of Practice Boosts Care Access During COVID-19

by Hannah Nelson

Removing scope of practice barriers for nurse anesthetists during COVID-19 lead to increased care access, according to a study conducted by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA). CMS...

HHS Boosts Access to COVID-19 Vaccines for Vulnerable Populations

by Samantha McGrail

HHS recently announced that it will help to expand critical access to COVID-19 vaccines among older adults and people with disabilities. HHS, along with the CDC and the Administration for Community...

How Coronavirus Sparked Industry Collaboration, Team-Based Care

by Sara Heath

Healthcare is facing a never-before-seen global health crisis with the coronavirus outbreak, with infection rates on a meteoric rise. But at the same time, healthcare is seeing something else that’s unprecedented: a massive...