When Dr. Joel Strohecker returned to treating coronavirus after his own three-week battle with the disease, the outlook at the hospital was grim. It was early April and people were dying every day, said the physician, who works at Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge. Testing was scarce. The intensive care unit was filling up. […]
SCL Health
Posted inCOVID, Health, Politics and Government
5 weeks into Colorado’s coronavirus crisis, state health officials begin to request patient demographic details
During the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, state health officials did not actively collect data on hospitalizations and deaths by race or ethnicity, missing a vital opportunity to catalog and address potential inequities in access, treatment and outcomes for marginalized populations that other states have seen experience inordinate harm from the virus. With […]
Posted inCOVID, Health
How pregnant women in Colorado are adapting to the coronavirus crisis to keep themselves safe
Taylor Taylor (her first name is the same as her last) doesn’t consider herself a “germaphobe.” But when the first cases of the novel coronavirus emerged in Colorado early in March, the 27-year-old Thornton resident significantly upped her hygiene practices. She started carrying disinfectant wipes in her purse; she instituted a “no hugging, no personal […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News, Politics and Government
The Polis administration wants a greater say over hospital prices for more than 1 million Coloradans
Colorado’s top insurance regulator on Thursday said he will soon propose a rule that allows him to dig deeper into hospitals’ deals with health insurance companies, the latest in the Polis administration’s push for greater say over hospital prices. Michael Conway, the state’s commissioner of insurance, already reviews and approves the rates that insurance companies […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Colorado hospitals accuse Polis administration of hurting Medicaid patients, as health fight grows nastier
Executives at Colorado’s largest hospital systems on Thursday sent a blistering letter to Gov. Jared Polis and the leaders of the state Medicaid agency, saying they fear the state has “lost its focus on uninsured and Medicaid patients.” The executives accused the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which administers Medicaid in Colorado, […]
Posted inHealth, News
Colorado emergency rooms are trying something new to stem the opioid crisis: addiction treatment
Years ago, when someone struggling with opioid dependency would show up in a Colorado emergency room after an overdose or as they were suffering through withdrawal, doctors and nurses would patch them up and send them on their way. “They came in and we made them feel a little bit better,” said Dr. Jason Hoppe, […]