Hospitals

For the first time in a year, Providence Portland Medical Center in Oregon has had zero COVID-19 patients in critical care. Shavon Albee, a nurse who manages the critical care unit, joined LX News to describe how it felt to reach that milestone after a year that tested her team in every way.

Two major health care providers in Massachusetts said Wednesday they would begin offering limited COVID-19 vaccination shots to their patients after the state reportedly decided to allow hospitals to rejoin the vaccination effort. In separate emails to patients, Mass General Brigham and Beth Israel Lahey Health said they would begin sending out invitations to eligible patients to sign up for…

Some lawmakers and medical experts are criticizing Massachusetts’ plan to severely curtail the number of coronavirus vaccine doses distributed to hospitals and health care systems in the coming weeks as it shifts its limited supply to its new mass vaccination sites. Health officials said the effort will ramp up the inoculation process and help underserved communities, but some observers questioned…

Massachusetts hospitals are reporting supply problems with the coronavirus vaccine, with some saying they won’t be able to schedule more appointments unit they get more doses after the state reallocated its resources.

Beth Israel Lahey Health, Mass General Brigham and Tufts Medical Center were among the major systems that announced Thursday that they could no longer schedule first-dose appointments, explaining that the state has reduced their supply.

Walgreens and Uber are teaming up to make it easier for people who do not have a car or a pharmacy nearby to get the coronavirus vaccine.

“We’ve clearly gotten a big bump up from our Covid testing,” Hologic CEO Steve Macmillan said in a “Mad Money” interview.

U.S. hospital intensive care units in many parts of the country are straining to handle record numbers of COVID-19 patients.

The U.S. counted 214,764 COVID-19 cases and 2,105 reported deaths Sunday. The 2.4 million cases logged so far in January is more than any other month except November’s 4.3 million and December’s 6.4 million. In all, more than 22.4 million have been infected and 374,000-plus have died of the disease, according to NBC News’ tally. At least 50 cases of...

Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases said Sunday that it discovered a new coronavirus variant in four travelers arriving from Brazil.

An occupational therapist who has been treating COVID-19 patients during the pandemic says the suffering and death she and her colleagues have witnessed over the past year have taken a a steep emotional toll. Lizzy Pesch joined LX News to share a powerful poem she wrote about the experience and the moment that inspired her put her feelings on paper.

As the pandemic strains hospital resources across the country, some may have to consider activating “crisis standards of care.” Here’s what that means.

While a new price transparency rule is aimed at helping consumers shop around for services, it isn’t without challenges.

COVID-19 cases are soaring across the country, and no area is currently harder hit than Los Angeles County in California. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in LA, a public hospital with 131 beds, has stretched its capacity to now treat over 200 patients. Dr. Elaine Batchlor, the hospital’s CEO, explains how her staff is stretching its capacity limits and...

Facilities already overwhelmed by coronavirus cases are preparing for even more patients in the wake of holiday travel.

California has recorded a half-million coronavirus cases in the last two weeks, overwhelming emergency rooms in urban centers and rural areas including along the Mexican border where a small hospital system warns it is fast running out of patient beds.

When Gov. Gavin Newsom provided a dire view of California’s out-of-control surge of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations this week, he referred to projection models of future death and misery that he said were becoming “alarmingly” more accurate.

“I think they could have pushed out more vaccine through the hospitals this month than what they’re doing,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Friday.

As coronavirus cases continue to surge in Massachusetts, hospitals across the state are starting to fill up. So much so, in fact, that Gov. Charlie Baker recently announced new COVID-19 field hospitals in Worcester and Lowell. According to Thursday’s daily coroanvirus report from the state, there are now 1,871 confirmed COVID-19 patients in the hospital, up from 756 just a…

Small town hospitals and health systems already faced grave challenges before COVID-19 swept the country. Today, they are cracking under the strain of this relentless pandemic. Hospitals are depleting their resources, bleeding money and still facing a losing battle to cope with the incoming wave of COVID-19 patients. The toll on frontline workers in these hospitals is even greater.