As more hospitals aquire doctors' offices and clinics, patients are having to pay "facility fees" in nonhospital settings. But unlike in other New England states, New Hampshire doesn't require consumer notices about them.
Surgery schedules around the country may be washed out for several more weeks while a crucial IV and sterile fluids factory remains shut down for hurricane-related damage. People often plan non-emergency surgeries in the fall and early-winter months when their insurance coverage will pick up more of the bill, but they may have to wait while health systems preserve supplies for emergencies. The federal government and medical suppliers have taken several steps to help ease the supply crunch created by Hurricane Helene, which forced Baxter International to close its North Carolina plant late last month.
New research led by Florida State University College of Medicine faculty quantified the association between loneliness and dementia by analyzing data from more than 600,000 people around the world — the largest study of its kind.
Psychologists, therapists and other mental health professionals who work for Kaiser Permanente across Southern California went on strike Monday morning, protesting that the healthcare organization had failed to address enduring problems that hamper its mental health care.
Although a combination of certain pain medications has been found to be more effective than opioids alone at managing discomfort after surgery, Black patients are less likely to receive this level of care while recovering from a major procedure, new research suggests. In a study presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ annual meeting in Philadelphia, post-surgery Black patients were more likely to be prescribed oral opioids and less likely to receive multimodal analgesia, involving four modes of pain management, compared with their White peers.
Narrative medicine is less a specific practice and more a theoretical framework that equips caregivers and healthcare professionals with tools to provide more holistic care. These tools stem from storytelling principles and literature, which can hone our empathic and listening skills.