medical equipment

Health & Safety

How to prepare for power outages if your health depends on home medical devices

5:04am July 11, 2024

by Ginny Graves

For most people, power outages are an inconvenience. For those who count on electricity for home medical equipment, they can be a crisis. Here's how to plan ahead for health care needs in a blackout.

Business

Triad hospitals are in a high stakes battle over Certificate of Need — but what is it?

4:35pm August 23, 2023

by David Ford

Earlier this month, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services gave its conditional approval to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist’s quarter-billion-dollar plan for a new hospital in Greensboro. Atrium says their new hospital proposal is meant to help people get health care close to home. Competing health care provider Cone Health has appealed the decision, claiming that the plan is all about profits.

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David Taylor, who has muscular dystrophy, relies on a ventilator to live. During the power outages across Texas in February, he had to be transported to a hospital before his ventilator's backup battery ran out.

Growing Power Outages Pose Grave Threat To People Who Need Medical Equipment To Live

7:01am May 15, 2021

by Charlotte Huff

Texas' power grid failure during a winter storm in February cut electricity to millions. As severe weather events become more frequent, those who use medical devices at home face a challenging future.

A shipment of medical aid from the United States, including 50 ventilators, appears inside a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster transport plane Thursday at Vnukovo International Airport outside Moscow.

U.S. Sends Ventilators To Russia In $5.6 Million Coronavirus Aid Package

4:03pm May 21, 2020

by Charles Maynes

The U.S. government delivers 50 American-made ventilators on Thursday and will send another 150 next week.

President Donald Trump speaks during a coronavirus task force briefing at the White Houseon Friday. Seated from left, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr.

National

Market And Business Ties Often Determine Where COVID-19 Supplies Go

7:00am April 11, 2020

by Brian Mann

Under a collaboration between the Trump administration and major corporations, the marketplace and business ties often shape decisions about who gets life-saving equipment, and who has to wait.

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President Trump says he's not using his authority to control production and distribution of medical supplies.

White House Not Using Defense Powers To Boost Medical Supplies

2:37pm March 23, 2020

by Camila Domonoske

President Trump has issued contradictory statements about whether he's ordering private companies to ramp up production of medical goods. At the center of all this is the Defense Production Act.

Vehicles go through the assembly line at a General Motors assembly plant in Lansing, Mich., on Feb. 21. GM is assessing the feasibility of converting its plants to make medical equipment.

Automakers Might Retool To Make Ventilators

3:58pm March 19, 2020

by Camila Domonoske

Ford and General Motors say they are evaluating whether they could retool their factories to produce much-needed medical equipment as the coronavirus pandemic spreads.

Under the Affordable Care Act, many insurance plans are required to cover a range of essential services, such as hospitalization and prescription drugs. But reimbursement for certain medical equipment — such as crutches or a leg boot after an injury —

Sprained Your Ankle? The Cost Of A Walking Boot Could Sprain Your Wallet

5:00am May 03, 2018

by Michelle Andrews

Your health insurance plan might not cover items such as wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, boots and braces. The cost is small compared with many medical bills, but adds up if you pay out-of-pocket.

A dumping ground for old medical equipment in Malawi.

Rage Against The Busted Medical Machines

10:54am September 08, 2016

by Nahid Bhadelia

Around 80 percent of medical equipment in low-income countries is donated. And most of it doesn't work.

A particularly nasty family of gut bacteria with the nickname CRE is resistant even to carbapenems, a family of last-resort antibiotics.

Why California's Superbug Outbreak Isn't As Scary As It Seems

5:49pm February 20, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

The outbreak of drug-thwarting bacteria that contributed to the deaths of two patients at a UCLA hospital isn't likely to spread further, doctors say. Still, drug resistance is trouble nationwide.