Immunization

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Skin Infections: Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, and More    Healthgrades

Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Dive Brief: Los Angeles-based Heal, a provider of primary care through house calls, telemedicine visits and remote patient monitoring, said it has partnered with Cigna Medicare Advantage plans in four states as it continues its national expansion. The organization is now an in-network provider for Cigna MA enrollees in Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, effective immediately, it said. Its markets also include Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Washington. Heal works with Humana, WellCare, Aetna and UnitedHealthcare insurance plans, according to its website. Dive Insight: The deal highlights the sector's continued focus on in-home and primary care.  ...

Health care professionals know anything you touch can serve as a reservoir for pathogens. They also know you can transmit or contract a pathogen by coming in contact with a contaminated fomite (inanimate object). As part of our medical education, we were taught fomites can play important roles in the spread of infectious disease. 1 Doorknobs and light switches are the usual suspects, but fomites also include countertops, handrails, mobile phones, and clothing. 1 These items are present in most indoor environments. However, when considering health care facilities, the number and types of fomites increase dramatically, as does the presence of infectious pathogens present in those facilities. Protocols for the proper disinfection of fomites have been in place for decades. Routine procedures for disinfecting surfaces in health care and other facilities were seriously tested when SARS-CoV-2 appeared in 2020. The spread of COVID-19 prompted questions about its mechanisms of transfer. What w...

Both vaccines are highly effective and either one is strongly recommended   For immediate release: Wednesday, December 1, 2021 Boston, MA – Compared with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine has a slightly lower risk of COVID-19 outcomes, including documented SARS-CoV-2 infection, symptomatic COVID-19, and COVID-19-related hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and death, over a 24-week period, according to a team of researchers from the CAUSALab at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Veterans Administration (VA). This pattern was consistent for periods when Alpha or Delta were the predominant variant. The study was published online December 1, 2021 in the New England Journal of Medicine. "Given the high effectiveness of both vaccines, either one is strongly recommended to any individual offered the choice between the two," said first author Barbra Dic...

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has awarded $150,000 to an Indigenous mother who lost access to all four of her children, in a scathing and "unprecedented" ruling against Canada's longest-serving Indigenous child-care agency. In a decision released Wednesday, tribunal member Devyn Cousineau found the Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society (VACFSS) based decisions about the woman's right to custody on "stereotypes about her as an Indigenous mother with mental health issues." The award is the second-highest in the tribunal's history. "This is an unprecedented complaint. It exposes systemic forces of discrimination and their profound impacts on an Indigenous mother," Cousineau wrote. "In my view, it is a complaint that warrants an award at the highest end of human rights damages." A cascade of conflict The 151-page ruling details the involvement of the woman — known as ...

Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Complaints to Australia's health practitioner watchdogs are rising and doctors account for the bulk of the almost 19,000 grievances, with the majority lodged by patients and their loved ones. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulatory Agency (AHPRA) and co-regulators in NSW and Queensland received 18,710 complaints about 14,313 health practitioners in Australia (about 1.7 per cent of the entire registered workforce) in the 2021/2022 financial year. APHRA alone received 10,803 complaints about 8380 practitioners – a 6.5 per cent increase on the previous year, the agency's latest annual report shows. Doctors accounted for the bulk of complaints to the health profession regulator AHPRA. Credit: iStock The agency oversees the registration and accreditation of Australia's more than 852,000 health practitioners across 16 professions, including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists, paramedics, optometrists and C...

Local Wegmans stores are teaming up with the Monroe County Health Department to offer drive thru flu shot events. Wegmans says there will be a community drive thru clinic this Saturday at the old Medley Centre mall from 10a.m. to 4p.m. and the Mall at Greece Ridge on October 17th at the same time. Anyone who attends these events will be able to get a flu shot from the safety of their car. The flu season usually runs from October to May.