Older Americans Are the Ignored Victims of the Opioid Epidemic

TIME

01/12/2022

Death certificates have dispelled any doubts about just how devastating the opioid epidemic is. Between May 2020 and April 2021, drug overdoses caused more than 100,000 deaths in the U.S., according to provisional data from the National Center for Health Statistics...

Regulators Eyeing Medicare Hospice Spending

Hospice News

01/07/2022

As hospice utilization and associated costs continue to rise, federal regulators are looking more closely at providers and the services they provide...

As Covid Infections Spread, Nursing Homes Lag Behind on the Rollout for Booster Shots

New York Times

11/27/2021

A Connecticut nursing home had planned to roll out Covid booster shots to residents at the beginning of this month.

But before it could start the program, the coronavirus swept through the home, the Geer Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in North Canaan, infecting 89 people, including 67 residents. Nearly all were fully vaccinated...

Pharmacies overwhelmed following new medical marijuana law taking effect

KPLC-TV

01/10/2022

The new law making smokable medical marijuana legal in Louisiana is getting lots of attention. Last week we talked to law enforcement about their concerns, but now, we’re hearing from suppliers who say there are more customers than products...

When Faced With Death, People Often Change Their Minds

New York Times

01/03/2022

My patient had done everything possible to avoid being intubated. After a traumatic hospitalization when she was young, she had consistently told her loved ones that she would never again agree to a breathing tube...

As Omicron Spreads, Some Nursing Homes Struggle to Boost Residents

New York Times

12/26/2021

At Sea Crest Nursing and Rehabilitation, a large nursing home that looks out on the Coney Island boardwalk, more than 100 residents have died of Covid-19 since the pandemic began...

Pharmacists face pandemic burnout, too

Mercury News

01/09/2022

Everyone knows that doctors and nurses are burned out from COVID-19, facing staffing shortages, full emergency rooms and COVID exposures—but one group of health care workers has been overlooked and face its own set of COVID-related difficulties: pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.

America Still Hasn’t Figured Out Medical Marijuana

Forbes

12/31/2021

In the summer of 2020, about two dozen medical cannabis patients in Pennsylvania sat down with researchers in order to vent...

Private Equity Is Gobbling Up Hospice Chains And Getting Involved In The Business Of Dying

Huff Post

12/21/2021

A few weeks ago, Julie McFadden, a nurse in California, admitted an elderly woman into hospice care. The woman was dying, but her family longed to gather for one more Thanksgiving dinner...