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Showing posts from November, 2023

This Super Common Nail Condition Often Goes Untreated - Verywell Health

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Key Takeaways Onychomycosis is a common nail condition, but only 20% of patients get prescribed treatment for it. Lack of education, misperceptions of the effect the infection can have on someone's quality of life, and the cost and lengthy time for treatment are some reasons that onychomycosis is undertreated. Onychomycosis is not a condition that goes away on its own. If left untreated, the fungus can spread to other nails, causing them to become thick, brittle, and painful. It might be easy to brush off thick and yellow-ish nails, but these symptoms could be signs of a condition that's common but often overlooked: onychomycosis . The fungal infection causes thick, yellow nails. The nails can also appear to lift from the nail bed. Onychomycosis can occur in any of your nails, but toenail infections are the most commonly affected. Despite how common the condition is, only 20% of patients get prescribed treatment, according to a recent study. In the...

Ice-T Always Gets The Flu Vaccine. Here’s Why You Should, Too - Forbes

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Ice-T has been getting the flu vaccine for many, many years. Why? His reason is simple: "I just don't want to get sick." In a recent interview, the star of the long-running Law & Order: SVU talked to me about his early military career, men's health, Black individuals' mistrust of doctors and the government, and his partnership with Sanofi including its vaccine, Fluzone. The Season , a suspenseful film to which Ice-T provides the voiceover, aims to educate older adults, particularly those with chronic illnesses, about the harms of influenza. "I've been taking the flu vaccine for, like, 25 years, so yeah, I wanted to get involved," says the Grammy-winner. "I want to promote what I'm already doing because I hate getting sick." In the army, he received multiple vaccines. "When you're in the infantry going to someplace like Panama, out in the field, the last thing you want to get is sick. So we took everything we coul...

Health officials recommend jabs, masks for some health care ... - Lookout Santa Cruz

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Quick Take: Now that the initial frenzy to book vaccine appointments has mostly subsided, health officials recommend getting the latest COVID booster before the holiday and cold and flu season commences. Additionally, workers in all health care facilities will be required to wear masks in patient care areas for the entirety of cold and flu season, from Nov. 1 to April 30. Local health officials strongly recommend that eligible Santa Cruz County residents get their flu, COVID and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines as we move toward cold and flu season. Starting Nov. 1 — considered the first day of the season — staff of health care facilities will be required to wear masks in patient care areas. "This is the first year we haven't had a public health emergency declared, which forwarded us some support from the federal and state governments," said County Health Officer Dr. Lisa Hernandez. "I think this is going to be a year to watch ho...

Therapy Services - CMS

CY 2023 Therapy Services Updates The Therapy Services webpage is being updated to: Reflect the KX modifier threshold amounts for CY 2023 in the "Implementation of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018" section on the landing page. Update the CY 2023 list of codes that sometimes or always describe therapy services.  While there are no new CPT/HCPCS codes to add or delete, we are updating Disposition 10 to clarify that, for RTM services, physical and occupational therapists in private practice must continue to provide direct supervision of their therapy assistants for CY 2023 in keeping with the regulatory provisions that require direct supervision for all services they don't personally furnish.  Otherwise, the CY 2023 Therapy Code List is identical to that of CY 2022.  See the Annual Therapy Update link for the 2023 Therapy Code List and Dispositions. Removing the statement on and the link to the Beneficiary Fact Sheet on Medicare...

You Might Be Able to Give Yourself a FluMist Vaccine at Home Next ... - Verywell Health

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Key Takeaways The FDA has agreed to review FluMist Quadrivalent for self-administration at home with a prescription. FluMist is a nasal spray version of the flu shot approved for people aged 2–49. If approved, the at-home flu vaccine could become available for the 2024–2025 flu season. Next flu season, you may be able to administer your own flu vaccine through a nasal spray. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to review pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca's request to consider approving the FluMist Quadrivalent influenza vaccine for self-administration. If the request is approved, eligible people would be able to give themselves the nasal spray flu vaccine at home (or receive it from a caregiver) instead of having to go to a clinic or pharmacy—and possibly as soon as next year. FluMist is a needle-free nasal spray and a popular alternative to the standard flu shot for people ages 2–49. Its easy application makes it a good option to be give...

CVS, Walgreens Pharmacists Plan to Walk Out Over Work Conditions - Bloomberg

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After brain surgery to remove a tumor, Robert Senter must take daily medication to prevent violent seizures. But it's often hard to get his refills on time at the CVS pharmacy where he buys his medicine. Senter, of Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, says there's often a prescription backlog — an issue pharmacists say is caused by insufficient staffing and workers overburdened by unattainable performance metrics. Indeed, more than 2,000 US pharmacists plan to walk off the job this week to pressure national drugstore chains to address poor working conditions, according to organizers. Adblock test (Why?)

Merck's Adult Pneumococcal Vaccine Demonstrates 'Superior ... - Contagionlive.com

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This morning, Merck announced its 21-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine candidate, V116, was superior in immune response for 10 of 11 unique serotypes compared to PCV20 in adults 50 years of age and older. According to Merck, topline results from the study included: In adults 50 years of age and older (cohort 1), V116 elicited non-inferior immune responses compared to PCV20 for all 10 serotypes common to both vaccines as measured by serotype-specific opsonophagocytic activity (OPA) geometric mean titers (GMTs) at Day 30. Immune responses elicited by V116 were superior for 10 of 11 serotypes included in V116 but not in PCV20 as measured by OPA GMTs at Day 30 and the proportions of patients with a greater than or equal to four-fold increase in OPA from Day 1 to Day 30. In adults 18 to 49 years of age (cohort 2), V116 elicited non-inferior immune responses (immunobridged) compared to adults 50 to 64 years of age, as assessed by serotype‐specific OPA GMTs 30 days post-vaccination. Acros...

The Top Doctors in Westchester County Offer Expert Care in 2023 - Westchester Magazine

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Adolescent Medicine Amanda McNear Jacobs BCHP Bradhurst Avenue Specialty Offices Hawthorne 914.294.3096 Westchester Medical Center Vaccines Allergy & Immunology Mark Davis-Lorton ENT and Allergy Associates Tarrytown 914.631.3053 NYU Langone Hospital – Long Island Allergy, Anaphylaxis, Food & Drug Allergy, Immune Deficiency, Telemedicine Avi M. Deener Westmed Medical Group White Plains 914.831.6850 White Plains Hospital Asthma & Allergy Mary Fedor Westchester Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Yonkers 914.337.2727 Stamford Hospital, Montefiore Einstein Campus Robert T. Goldman Optum Medical Care Jefferson Valley 914.245.7700 NewYork-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital Asthma & Allergy, Food Allergy, Telemedicine Jillian Leigh Hochfelder BCHP Center for Pulmonology, Allergy, Immunology and Sleep Medicine West Harrison 914.614.4260 Westchester Medical Center Anne L. Maitland Comprehensive Allergy and Asthma Care Harrison 914.631.3283...