A Massachusetts agency that oversees health insurance for 460,000 public employees, retirees and their dependents is unable to pay providers after running out of money.
Nurses at Backus Hospital held an informational picket on Thursday morning to raise concerns about a growing patient care crisis.
The demonstration, organized by a union representing approximately 450 nurses at the Norwich-based hospital, came amid ongoing contract negotiations with hospital management.
Researchers at the ACGME, Duke University, and Maastricht University published the results of a comprehensive study examining the leading causes of death for residents and fellows, building on a similar study completed in 2017. The study, which analyzes data from 2015 to 2021, shows death rates from cancer have decreased from the first study, while there was no substantial change in the rate of suicide.
There were 30,000 fewer U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before — the largest one-year decline ever recorded. An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to provisional CDC data released Wednesday. That's down 27% from the 110,000 in 2023. The CDC has been collecting comparable data for 45 years. The previous largest one-year drop was 4% in 2018, according to the agency's National Center for Health Statistics.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the nation's most publicly recognized vaccine skeptics, took a softened approach on vaccines when he answered questions before a House committee Wednesday morning, saying, 'I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me.'
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced legislation Wednesday afternoon containing cuts to Medicaid and healthcare provisions — some of the most controversial and contentious provisions that will be included in the 'big, beautiful bill' of President Trump's ambitious legislative agenda. The panel voted along party lines 30-24 after a marathon meeting that lasted more than 26 hours with just two breaks for House votes. The bill now heads to the House Budget Committee, which will meet Friday morning to combine it with legislation from other committees advancing Trump's priorities — namely the extension of tax cuts and new tax breaks for tips and overtime pay.