The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a multitude of problems long lingering in the healthcare system: staffing shortages, racial inequities, increasing mental health needs, lack of access, lack of funding, rising costs, mistrust in the medical establishment. And there are concerns the system is increasingly being structured to limit exposure for insurers, rather than primarily serving the patients or providers. The sheer number of issues is daunting, yet areas can be addressed without breaking the bank.
News
Robert Bauer, who was injured in a small plane crash in Stow, MA, reunited with Flight Nurse Andrea Knox, on the day he was being released from UMass Memorial Medical Center.
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November 20, 2021 - Worcester Business Journal
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November 19, 2021
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November 19, 2021 - Reuters
Nov 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines for all adults six months after having been fully vaccinated with the shots from either Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and partner BioNTech SE or Moderna Inc (MRNA.O).
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November 18, 2021 - Bloomberg Baystate Business
Dr. Eric Dickson, CEO of UMass Memorial Health in Worcester, on the rise in Covid cases and hospitalizations.
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November 18, 2021 - Spectrum News
RUTLAND, Mass. - COVID-19 vaccination eligibility is expanding in Massachusetts. Anyone 18 and older can now receive a booster shot. Meanwhile, younger kids are getting their first doses of the vaccine.
Nine-year old Isaac Tsai is getting his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. “It means I’ll be more safe from the coronavirus," Issac, who received the Pfizer vaccine, said.
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November 12, 2021 - Boston Globe
Massachusetts hospitals continue to face bed space issues this fall as a worrisome winter looms, the head of the state hospital association said Friday.
“Capacity remains a serious challenge within hospitals and ICUs across Massachusetts, and they are each preparing for what will likely be yet another difficult winter,” said Steve Walsh, president and chief executive of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association.
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November 11, 2021 - Wicked Local
Picture this: You're critically ill, perhaps dying, and your nearby hospital doesn't have any open beds in its intensive care unit.
You're taken to the sky in a medical helicopter, as paramedics and dispatchers search for an available ICU bed on the ground – in a health care system stressed by staffing shortages and hammered by COVID-19.
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November 9, 2021 - Boston Business Journal
Capacity challenges and workforce issues have created unprecedented strain on the state's hospitals.
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November 9, 2021 - Boston Business Journal
Legislators are preparing a bill that would make it harder for large health systems to expand to the suburbs, a proposal that several hospital leaders applauded as a promising first step to shoring up the state’s most vulnerable institutions.
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November 8, 2021 - Bloomberg Baystate Business
Dr. Robert Klugman, medical director of employee health at UMass Memorial Health in Worcester, on the vaccine mandate for their employees (1:02:19)
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November 8, 2021 - CommonWealth Magazine
In her victory speech after cruising to a landslide win in the Boston mayor’s race, Michelle Wu spoke of the urgency of “bold” change to “meet the moment” the city is facing, a theme she sounded throughout her campaign. But she also talked about the importance of basic city services, saying her administration can pay attention to both.
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November 6, 2021 - Boston Business Journal
The state’s largest health systems are terminating hundreds of health care workers for failing to meet vaccine mandate deadlines.
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November 6, 2021 - Boston Herald
Demand for monoclonal antibodies to treat coronavirus has surged at Massachusetts hospitals in recent months as awareness about the once-little-known drug and its incredible effects is increasing, bringing patients in from a dozen different states.
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November 6, 2021 - MassLive
Though kids ages 5 to 11 are starting to get vaccinated against COVID-19, one Central Massachusetts physician said a big drop-off in case counts isn’t expected.
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November 5, 2021 - Telegram & Gazette
WORCESTER – Kevin Moore was skeptical.
He wasn’t sure he should get an infusion of monoclonal antibodies to fight off early symptoms from his COVID-19 infection.
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November 4, 2021 - CommonWealth Magazine
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE will consider a health care bill that would impose increased scrutiny on hospital expansions, House Speaker Ron Mariano said Thursday.
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November 4, 2021 - WBUR
Now that children ages five to 11 are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine, some epidemiologists are holding out hope that it might be possible to achieve “herd immunity,” which happens when enough people are immune to a virus to make spreading it unlikely.
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November 3, 2021 - Spectrum News
MASS. - Jacqueline Fitzpatrick has her 5-year-old son’s COVID-19 vacation appointment booked. She says he has asthma and is immunocompromised.
“I’ve been worried about him this whole time. I mean, if he gets a common cold, he could end up in the ER with complications," Fitzpatrick said. "So I am nervous, but I’m really excited."
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November 1, 2021 - MassLive
One of the myriad negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a trend of people missing out on regular cancer screenings.
And while patients are starting to head back to hospitals for services like mammograms more regularly compared to the onset of the pandemic in 2020, one UMass Memorial Health doctor said, there has been a slight decline in the number of people coming in for screenings.
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October 29, 2021 - Boston 25 News
WORCESTER, Mass. — Throughout the pandemic, one of the challenges for the medical community has been finding ways to treat a new disease.
Hope is now emerging as some promising new drugs become available.
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