How Can Public Health Officials Increase Trust in Their Agencies?
Why do some people no longer trust public health agencies? Is it because COVID-19 wasn’t quickly eliminated? Not necessarily, according to researchers. “In a crisis of this scale, the U.S. public’s trust in public health agencies for information is not strongly related to organizations’ ability to eliminate the outbreak,” wrote Gillian SteelFisher, PhD, deputy director […]
Stroke Data Hint at High Practice Variability Between EMS Agencies
Individual EMS agencies have varied substantially in their stroke case documentation, raising the question of whether problems might also extend to their operations and implementation of stroke protocols, according to preliminary work from Michigan. Based on 147 EMS agencies working in the state, their compliance with documenting time since last known well (LKW) for stroke […]
Medical Debt Collectors Added to Wrongful Billing Lawsuit
Two medical debt collection agencies have been added to a Washington state lawsuit against 14 associated hospitals over alleged violations of consumer protection laws related to financial assistance practices, the state’s attorney general announced. The lawsuit, initially filed in February, mainly targets the Providence healthcare system, which operates dozens of hospitals in Washington and other […]
CDC Panel Wary of ‘Booster Fatigue’ in COVID Vaccination Planning
Public health agencies need to define the purpose of COVID boosters, or risk the public falling victim to “booster fatigue,” the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) said on Wednesday. Agencies have been plagued by the lack of a clear voice in defining the exact purpose of the COVID vaccination strategy, and many ACIP […]
Are Nurse Staffing Agencies Overcharging Hospitals?
A group of U.S. senators and representatives penned a letter to the COVID-19 Response Team and other agencies on Wednesday, urging them to investigate allegations of overpricing by nurse staffing agencies relied on to fill gaps in hospital staffing during the pandemic. In the letter, Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.), and […]