STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION has offered jobs back to “a small number” of former state employees who had been among a narrow minority of executive branch workers out of compliance with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, officials said Tuesday. A spokesperson for Gov. Charlie Baker confirmed the administration “has recently been able to […]
Health
Posted inOpinion
Working at the intersection of nutrition and health
AS A PEDIATRICIAN focused on nutrition research, chronic disease prevention, and health equity, I spend much of my professional time—academically, clinically—thinking about the intersection of nutrition and health. I recently had the honor of joining the Biden-Harris administration for the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, the first conference of its kind in […]
Posted inHealth, Opinion
An epidemiologist’s advice for living with COVID
IT SEEMS LIKE a pretty simple question: Have we reached the point where COVID-19 has become less lethal than the flu? But if you ask a group of public health/infectious disease experts, it’s almost certain some will say yes and some will say no. In all likelihood, they’re both right, because the question is not […]
Posted inHealth
Medicaid waiver makes money available for housing, nutrition
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT on Wednesday approved a five-year, $67 billion agreement with the state of Massachusetts that will govern how the state administers its Medicaid program. Gov. Charlie Baker said the so-called 1115 waiver is the primary way in which Massachusetts has historically been able to implement new, innovative programs within MassHealth, including paving the […]
Posted inHealth, State Government
Lessons learned from failed birth control law
DRAWING LESSONS from a Massachusetts birth control law that failed to work as planned, a reproductive rights group released a toolkit on Monday offering a series of recommendations to lawmakers in Massachusetts and around the country on how to improve compliance with such legislation. The report produced by Reproductive Equity Now said the so-called ACCESS […]
Posted inHealth, Health Care
Mass. Medical Society president says pandemic ‘ripped the Band-Aid off’ health care inequities
SINCE MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SOCIETY president Ted Calianos took the helm of the organization in May, he has been developing priorities that range from restoring trust in medicine to addressing workforce issues. A plastic and reconstructive surgeon who practices on Cape Cod, Calianos was born in Worcester and grew up in the Manomet village of Plymouth. He […]
Posted inHealth
Demand picking up a bit for new Omicron booster shots
NOW THAT THE federal government has authorized Omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccines, some Massachusetts residents are running to get them – but far from the furious rush that accompanied the initial vaccines. The Department of Public Health’s weekly vaccination data from Wednesday provides the first insight into how much demand there is in the state for the […]
Posted inHealth, Health Care, State House News Service
Biden pushes cancer moonshot at JFK Library
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SIXTY YEARS after President John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to collectively get behind the goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, President Joe Biden detailed another effort that he thinks could bring the American people together: what he calls a “moonshot” to end […]
Posted inHealth
Mass. tops child welfare rankings, lags in pediatric mental health
A NEW NATIONAL report ranked Massachusetts best in the country for child welfare, but buried in the report is one significant danger sign: Massachusetts is one of the worst in the country when it comes to rates of depression and anxiety among children and teenagers. According to the Annie E Casey Foundation’s 2022 Kids Count data […]
Posted inBallot Questions, Health, Politics
Abortion rights gaining currency in down-ballot races
WITH POLLS showing Massachusetts voters highly concerned about abortion rights, candidates for office – even for down-ballot jobs that seemingly have little to do with the issue – are coming up with ways to demonstrate it’s a high priority. Tanisha Sullivan, a Democratic candidate for secretary of state, made abortion rights a centerpiece of her […]