Independence Health sees about $23 million in losses over 3-month period
Independence Health System operated at a deficit of almost $23 million between the beginning of July and the end of September this year, according to recently released reports. The shortfall is an extension of the downsliding pattern that the combined health system — made up of subsidiaries Excela Health and...
Highmark reports profit as post-covid health care system steadies
A growing insurance business and rising patient volumes at Allegheny Health Network helped boost Highmark Health’s first nine months. Highmark Health, the parent company of the 14-hospital Allegheny Health Network, reported a profit of $431 million on $20.3 billion in revenue. That’s an increase over the same period last year,...
U.S. life expectancy rose last year, but it remains below its pre-pandemic level
NEW YORK — U.S. life expectancy rose last year — by more than a year — but still isn’t close to what it was before the covid-19 pandemic. The 2022 rise was mainly due to the waning pandemic, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said Wednesday. But even with...
Pennsylvania will require patient consent for pelvic exams by medical students
HARRISBURG — A new Pennsylvania law will require doctors to get a patient’s verbal and written consent before medical students can perform pelvic or rectal exams on someone who receives anesthesia. At a press conference Monday, supporters touted the recently enacted legislation, which goes into effect in January. Tracking how...
Why get your flu shot and covid booster at the same time? Experts weigh in
Pharmacies, clinics, and primary care providers are offering the 2023-2024 updated covid booster and this year’s flu vaccine—and it’s both safe and convenient to get both vaccines at the same time, according to medical experts. In fact, you can get both shots in the same arm, said Dr. Graham Snyder,...
China says a surge in respiratory illnesses is caused by flu and other known pathogensVideo
BEIJING — A surge in respiratory illnesses across China that has drawn the attention of the World Health Organization is caused by the flu and other known pathogens and not by a novel virus, the country’s health ministry said. Recent clusters of respiratory infections are caused by an overlap of...
Casey touts Senate legislation to improve coal miners’ access to black lung benefits
It’s been difficult for Tony Kodric to breathe since an injury a decade ago ended the Uniontown man’s 36-year career as a coal miner. He’s seen specialists, repeatedly measured the oxygen in his blood and battled coal companies. Despite Kodric’s efforts, the federal government won’t grant him monetary benefits for...
UN confirms sexual spread of mpox in Congo for the 1st time as country sees a record outbreak
LONDON — The World Health Organization said it has confirmed sexual transmission of mpox in Congo for the first time as the country experiences its biggest-ever outbreak, a worrying development that African scientists warn could make it more difficult to stop the disease. In a statement issued late Thursday, the...
OxyContin maker’s settlement plan divides victims of opioid crisis. Now it’s up to the Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — The agreement by the maker of OxyContin to settle thousands of lawsuits over the harm done by opioids could help combat the overdose epidemic that the painkiller triggered. But that does not mean all the victims are satisfied. In exchange for giving up ownership of drug manufacturer Purdue...
Comprehensive Healthcare falsified records to earn higher federal reimbursements, witnesses say
Social worker Jamie Folkens had worked at a nursing care facility in Mt. Lebanon for seven years before Comprehensive Healthcare bought it in early 2017. Although she felt her job was to help patients return home as quickly and safely as possible, she told a jury Tuesday in federal court...
NFL disability program leaves retired Saints tight end hurting and angryVideo
Boo Williams wakes up each morning not knowing how the pain will hit. It could be debilitating headaches that make it impossible to get out of bed. Sometimes the pain shoots down his neck. Through all of it, he’s angry. Williams, who played tight end for the Saints from 2001-05,...
UPMC reports $177M loss so far this year
Health care giant UPMC reported an operating loss of $177 million during the first nine months of the year, attributing the decrease to rising labor costs and supply markets, increases in medical claims as more patients accessed care, pharmaceutical expenses and legal settlements. The loss during the period that ended...
Giving thanks isn’t just a holiday tradition. It’s part of how humans evolved
NEW YORK — It’s the season of giving thanks — and it turns out humans have been doing it for a long, long time. As more researchers dig into the science of gratitude, they’ve found the feeling likely played a key role in helping our ancestors band together and survive....
Rosalynn Carter’s advocacy for mental health was rooted in compassion and perseverance
CONCORD, N.H. — The sun was shining in June 1979 as Rosalynn Carter made her way through an enthusiastic crowd in Laconia, New Hampshire. “She shook my hand!” yelled one delighted participant. The first lady was in the state for her husband’s reelection campaign, but this was no political rally....
Another round of free covid tests available in time for holiday travel
Just in time for the holidays, another round of four free at-home covid tests are available for mail order starting today, according to the US Department of Health. “Beginning Nov. 20, every U.S. household can again place an order to receive four more free covid-19 rapid tests delivered directly to...
No more Thanksgiving ‘food orgy’? New obesity medications change how users think of holiday meals
For most of her life, Claudia Stearns dreaded Thanksgiving. As a person who struggled with obesity since childhood, Stearns hated the annual turmoil of obsessing about what she ate — and the guilt of overindulging on a holiday built around food. Now, after losing nearly 100 pounds using medications including...
Tracking of covid-19 cases shifts as virus rides periodic waves
Over the past few years, checking the number of weekly covid-19 cases on a health department online tracker became second nature for a lot of people concerned about how the virus impacted their communities. The type of data available is now a lot different in much of Pennsylvania. “The covid-19...
Pittsburgh-based stroke study brings improvements for Hempfield man and hope for a better futureVideo
Alex “Mike” Signorini had just methodically returned a drill bit to its case, and he couldn’t wait to text his doctor with the news. A woodworker and mechanic who managed a tire shop for 38 years, Signorini once spent his days working on cars, jogging and riding his motorcycle. Putting...
Study: skin-to-skin for premature babies has positive outcomes
In a dark room, Nichole Kurtz lifts the blanket on the side of the incubator and carefully navigates the tubes and wires. She reaches for her son, Lennox Lee-Heyward, who was born premature on July 17 at 26 weeks three days, weighing 2 pounds 4 ounces. He lets out a...
In death, one cancer patient helps to erase millions in medical debt
A New York City woman who died Sunday from cancer has raised enough money to erase millions of dollars in medical debt with a posthumous plea for help. Casey McIntyre told followers in a social media message posted by her husband that she had arranged to buy the medical debt...
Trial begins in Comprehensive Healthcare’s nursing home fraud case
One by one, defense attorneys for five nursing home administrators accused of health care fraud told a federal jury Thursday in Pittsburgh that their clients were innocent. That there was actually no fraud at all, but sloppy record keeping. That their clients did not receive any financial benefits for their...
IUP names dean for proposed college of osteopathic medicine
Indiana University of Pennsylvania leaders have hired a dean for their proposed college of osteopathic medicine and say the move is an important step toward establishing the state’s first such school on a public campus. Dr. Miko Rose, 50, comes from the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Pacific Northwest University...
Measles deaths worldwide jumped 40% last year, health agencies say
LONDON — Measles deaths globally spiked by more than 40% last year and cases rose after vaccination levels dramatically dropped during the pandemic, leading health agencies said Thursday. The highly infectious disease triggered epidemics in 37 countries last year, versus 22 countries in 2021. It sickened 9 million children and...
Barefoot workers and cracked floors were found at a factory that made recalled eyedrops, FDA says
WASHINGTON — An Indian company that recently recalled eyedrops sold in the U.S. had a host of sanitation and manufacturing problems, including barefoot workers, cracked floors and altered records, U.S. health inspectors found. Food and Drug Administration officials uncovered more than a dozen problems at the Mumbai plant operated by...
Progress in childhood cancer has stalled for Blacks and Hispanics, report says
Advances in childhood cancer are a success story in modern medicine. But in the past decade, those strides have stalled for Black and Hispanic youth, opening a gap in death rates, according to a new report published Thursday. Childhood cancers are rare and treatments have improved drastically in recent decades,...
