Sam Whitehead

The CDC Works to Overhaul Lab Operations After Covid Test Flop

KFF Health News Original

In early 2020, U.S. public health labs received covid-19 tests from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that were flawed, as a result of poor design and contamination. Now the CDC is overhauling its lab operations, but efforts to be better prepared for future threats won’t be easy, observers say.

New CDC Opioid Guidelines: Too Little, Too Late for Chronic Pain Patients?

KFF Health News Original

In November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for prescribing opioids for pain, allowing physicians more flexibility. But doctors, patients, and advocates wonder if the updated standards will be too little, too late to help chronic pain patients in a country still focused on fighting the ongoing opioid crisis.

Impending Hospital Closure Rattles Atlanta Health Care Landscape and Political Races

KFF Health News Original

The nonprofit owners of Atlanta Medical Center, a 460-bed Level 1 trauma center in the heart of the city, plan to close the hospital in November. As many community members worry about the hole the closure will leave in the city’s safety net, the news has thrust health care into the political spotlight less than two months before Election Day.