Volunteers still needed to test variety of covid-19 vaccines
Two covid-19 vaccines might be nearing the finish line, but scientists caution it’s critical that enough people volunteer to help finish studying other candidates in the U.S. and around the world. Moderna Inc. and competitor Pfizer Inc. recently announced preliminary results showing their vaccines appear more than 90% effective, at...
Highmark CEO pay climbs to $8.15M, triple what he made in 2016
Highmark Health CEO David Holmberg’s total compensation last year was $8.15 million — more than triple what the nonprofit health system executive made four years ago, newly filed Internal Revenue Service records show. Holmberg’s salary and related compensation increased by about $660,000 in 2019, marking an 8.8% pay hike from...
Pittsburgh doctor: Moderna vaccine may have logistical advantage over Pfizer’sVideo
With the alarming rise of covid-19 cases in Allegheny County and throughout Pennsylvania comes the good news surrounding another vaccine. Moderna said Monday its experimental vaccine is 94.5% effective at preventing illness, according to preliminary data from the company’s still ongoing study. Last week Pfizer Inc. announced its own covid-19...
Biden team to meet with pharma companies soon on coronavirus fight
President-elect Joe Biden’s team will begin meeting with Pfizer Inc. and other pharmaceutical companies within days as they continue the transition to a new administration amid the escalating coronavirus pandemic, his chief of staff said Sunday. “We’re going to have meetings between our top scientific advisers and the officials of...
Time to discuss potentially unpleasant side effects of covid-19 shots? Scientists say yes
Drugmaker Pfizer is expected to seek federal permission to release its covid-19 vaccine by the end of November, a move that holds promise for quelling the pandemic, but also sets up a tight time frame for making sure consumers understand what it will mean to actually get the shots. This...
Pitt medical students pen Hippocratic oath with emphasis on diversity, racial injustice
This year’s demands for social justice and the health care challenges brought on by the covid pandemic have prompted students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to create their own version of the Hippocratic oath, the ethical code doctors take to act in patients’ interest. The Hippocratic oath...
Measles cases reach 23-year high, with infections hitting 870,000
Measles cases reached the highest level in 23 years in 2019, and health authorities warned that many countries aren’t vaccinating enough people amid the covid-19 pandemic. The global total for confirmed measles infections rose to 869,770 last year, the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
Charles Morris nursing home in Squirrel Hill set to close in January
Confronting financial woes exacerbated by the pandemic, the Jewish Association on Aging announced Thursday that it plans to close Charles Morris Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. The nonprofit nursing home — among the highest-rated such facilities in Western Pennsylvania — is set to shut down permanently...
Pitt researchers find Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansions led to earlier detection of cancer
Preventive health care options ushered in by the Affordable Care Act helped doctors detect cancer in more patients earlier and may have reduced the number of late-stage cancer diagnoses around the country, University of Pittsburgh researchers found in a study released Thursday. “The thing that is sort of potentially groundbreaking...
CDC declares masks also protect wearers from covid-19, joining scientific consensusVideo
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says masks, even cloth ones, protect wearers from catching, as well as spreading, the coronavirus. Yes, this is the same national health agency that initially said masks do not safeguard the general public and are needed only by health-care workers. It...
A winter surge in covid cases seems inevitable. Can we stop it?
Temperatures are dropping, nights are growing longer, the holidays are nearing, and the science is clear: The pandemic is far from over. A long, dark winter awaits. The number of new coronavirus cases in the United States each day has ballooned from less than 40,000 in early September to more...
CDC issues warnings, guidelines about ThanksgivingVideo
ATLANTA — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its Thanksgiving coronavirus guidelines on Monday and Tuesday, warning against travel and recommending much smaller gatherings during the annual American tradition. Thanksgiving travel is typically the nation’s busiest transportation day of the year. “Staying home is the best way to...
Pa. medical marijuana advisory board nixes new qualifying conditions as industry booms
Medical marijuana in Pennsylvania is more popular than ever, this month surpassing $1 billion in all-time sales from dispensaries to patients. The state’s Medical Marijuana Advisory Board noted the landmark at its quarterly meeting Tuesday before debating whether to add new medical conditions to the list of reasons Pennsylvanians can...
U.S. allows 1st emergency use of a covid-19 antibody drugVideo
WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials have allowed emergency use of the first antibody drug to help the immune system fight covid-19, an experimental approach against the virus that has killed more than 238,000 Americans. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday cleared the experimental drug from Eli Lilly for people...
UPMC study: No clear benefit using hydroxychloroquine to treat covid
Hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug pushed by President Trump to treat covid-19, has again shown to be ineffective in treating people hospitalized with covid-19, according to results of a study published Monday. The study “puts to rest any lingering hope that hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment against covid-19,” said co-author Dr....
Pa. Health Secretary: Fall coronavirus surge likely is not over
Covid-19 continues to surge across Pennsylvania and the United States as a whole, with the percent positivity rate rising along with the case count. The state’s top health officials said Monday the fall resurgence likely isn’t over. “I don’t think we have peaked,” said Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine....
UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital offers new drug for postpartum depression
Having babies brought Emily Washburn joy. The experience of motherhood also crippled her with sadness. Washburn, 25, of Carlisle, was diagnosed with postpartum depression – in September 2017 after the birth of her first child, Wyatt, a boy. As she is about to deliver her third baby, she remembers her...
Pitt scientists identify promising covid treatment derived from llamas
A breakthrough treatment for covid-19 could come from llamas, according to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, who say the treatment has the potential to treat or even prevent the virus. The idea involves immunizing a llama to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes covid-19, and then harvesting what are called...
AHN doctor elected to board of directors for American College of Emergency Physicians
An Allegheny Health Network emergency medicine doctor was elected to the national board of directors of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), AHN officials announced Thursday. Dr. Arvind Venkat serves as AHN’s vice chair for research and faculty academic affairs in the Department of Emergency Medicine and has practiced...
Allegheny County warns of surging covid cases coupled with flu season
On a day that Allegheny County reported 200 new covid-19 cases — and the state set a single-day record for new cases, with more than 2,800 confirmed and probable infections — health officials implored residents to cooperate with case investigations and contact tracing. “The behavior of the virus in our...
More Americans on diets now than a decade ago, report finds
If it seems like more and more people are on diets these days, you might not be imagining it. A higher percentage of Americans said they’re on a special diet to lose weight or for other health reasons compared with a decade ago, according to a report Tuesday by the...
Many covid positive Pennsylvanians ignoring contact tracing questions
Fewer than a quarter of Pennsylvania residents who tested positive for covid-19 in late October answered questions from contact tracers as to whether they’d been to any restaurants, bars or mass gatherings, according to data released Monday by the Department of Health. “You might save a life by being honest...
Hospitals competing for nurses as US coronavirus cases surge
As the coronavirus pandemic surges across the nation and infections and hospitalizations rise, medical administrators are scrambling to find enough nursing help — especially in rural areas and at small hospitals. Nurses are being trained to provide care in fields where they have limited experience. Hospitals are scaling back services...
Obamacare’s fate in flux, but open enrollment starts soon
Facing a pandemic, record unemployment and unknown future costs for covid-19 treatments, health insurers selling Affordable Care Act plans to individuals reacted by lowering rates in some areas and, overall, issuing only modest premium increases for 2021. “What’s been fascinating is that carriers in general are not projecting much impact...
Trump rule says health plans must disclose costs up front
WASHINGTON — Trying to pull back the veil on health care costs to encourage competition, the Trump administration on Thursday finalized a requirement for insurers to tell consumers up front the actual prices for common tests and procedures. A major health insurance industry group said the regulation would have the...
