New research shows measles vaccination rates for children fell in almost 80% of counties across the country after the COVID-19 pandemic. A Johns Hopkins University study tracked immunization records across 2,066 counties and 33 states. Researchers compared the kindergarten vaccination rates from 2017-2020 to averages from 2022-2024.
A ransomware group called Interlock is claiming it stole 941 gigabytes of data, which includes more than 730,000 files, from Kettering Health after recently taking credit for the May 20 cyberattack against the hospital organization, according to cybersecurity experts. The May 20 cyberattack caused a systemwide technology outage at Kettering Health, from which the hospital system is still recovering.
The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll examines the views and experiences of the groups that could be most directly impacted by the impending legislation. Most of the public is worried about the consequences of significant reductions in federal Medicaid spending, including among many groups that would be directly impacted by the cuts. Partisanship drives these attitudes to a certain extent, but about two-thirds or more of Republicans enrolled in Medicaid and those with lower incomes are worried that Medicaid spending reductions would hurt their families and their communities.
Saad Ehtisham will step into the leadership role, effective July 30, the Morristown-based healthcare system announced June 5. Atlantic Health noted Ehtisham's patient-centric approach and his collaboration with clinical leaders. He currently serves as senior vice president and president of acute care operations for Novant Health. Based in Winston-Salem, N.C., the integrated care delivery network comprises a $10 billion portfolio treating 7 million patients annually. Novant Health's network includes 19 hospitals, 41,000 employees, and more than 8,600 independent and employed clinicians working across nearly 900 sites in North and South Carolina.
There was a notable absence last week when U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a 58-second video that the government would no longer endorse the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children or pregnant women. The director of the CDC — the person who typically signs off on federal vaccine recommendations — was nowhere to be seen. The CDC, a $9.2 billion-a-year agency tasked with reviewing life-saving vaccines, monitoring diseases and watching for budding threats to Americans' health, is without a clear leader.
Humana has told congressional staffers that it will support moves that would curtail billing practices worth billions in extra payments to the industry. The stance by a leader in the Medicare Advantage business represents an important development in a growing debate over how the companies are paid in the $460 billion program. Humana has told congressional staffers that it is willing to back new limits on lucrative payments insurers can gain from diagnoses recorded by nurse practitioners who visit millions of enrollees in their homes. After the Journal published this article Thursday, UnitedHealth Group, posted a statement saying that it too would support a new limit on the use of diagnoses from home visits. A Wall Street Journal investigation found home visits generated $15 billion in revenue for Medicare insurers over three years.