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Florida Trend Health Care
The drug shortages Floridians will face in 2024. Here's what you should know
The drug shortages Floridians will face in 2024. Here’s what you should know
The pandemic may be over, but drug shortages are not. From cancer drugs to ADHD medications, drug shortages threaten to disrupt treatment for short-term diseases and chronic illness, and potentially threaten people’s health. In South Florida, the shortages have some people going from pharmacy to pharmacy to get their prescription filled. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
Florida lab is making a vaccine to live in space. It might help here, too.
At the University of Central Florida in Orlando, researchers have received state funding to collaborate with biotech company Vaxxinity, which moved its headquarters from Texas to Cape Canaveral last year, to develop vaccines that can prevent and mitigate muscle and bone weakening, a common health problem for people experiencing long-term spaceflight — and aging seniors. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
Latest Medicaid numbers show more Florida kids are losing health insurance
New Medicaid numbers reveal Florida seems to have a growing number of children without health insurance. The state's December update shows that over 911,000 Floridians were disenrolled from Medicaid since the Department of Children & Families began its redetermination process in April. Of that total, about 420,000were children. [Source: WMFE]
Florida Senate bill puts millions of dollars toward mental, maternal health
Florida senators on Thursday passed a sweeping package of changes meant to ease Florida’s health care worker shortage and provide people with more access to care. The overall package will cost hundreds of millions of state and federal dollars, and was unanimously approved by the Senate. The Florida House will still have to pass its package, but Speaker Paul Renner has expressed support for the priority legislation of Senate President Kathleen Passidomo. More from the Tampa Bay Times and WUSF.
St. Johns County tops Florida child well-being list
Yes, money talks. A recent report showed the well-being of children in Northeast Florida and statewide varied widely depending on where they live, with them faring far better in relatively prosperous counties such as St. Johns, Clay and Nassau than in Baker, Duval and Putnam. [Source: Florida Times-Union]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› 2023 data show Escambia County's opioid overdose crisis is worsening
While efforts to address the opioid overdose crisis in Escambia County are gaining momentum, the number of overdoses from the drug continues to rise. Updated statistics show Escambia Emergency Medical Services ran a total of 10,529 opiate overdose calls from 2021 to 2023, with 3,753 overdose calls from Jan. 1 through Dec. 10 of 2023.
› Judge lowers award against All Children’s but dismisses call for new trial
A Sarasota County judge has lowered the damages awarded by a jury against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital by $47.5 million but dismissed the hospital’s calls for a new trial. In an order released Tuesday, Judge Hunter Carroll agreed with the hospital’s motion that some of the jury’s awards to Maya Kowalski and her family were “excessive.” But he defended the majority of the decisions reached by a six-person jury.
› North Florida Regional hospital suspends surgeries amid concerns over equipment sterilization
North Florida Regional Medical Center, one of the state’s largest hospitals, is abruptly suspending surgeries for at least four days to deal with concerns about its processes to sterilize surgical instruments. The suspension affects operations in Gainesville at one of the flagship hospitals for HCA Florida Healthcare, which has 510 beds, sources said.
› Attorney General Ashley Moody is warning Floridians about 'fake Xanax'
Attorney General Ashley Moody is warning Floridians about a rise in deaths from a dangerous designer drug often referred to as “fake Xanax.” “There’s been a rapid and drastic increase in toxology cases involving bromazolam. It’s a potent benzodiazepine,” Moody said in a video alert. “It’s imperative that Floridians understand how dangerous this street drug really is, especially when mixed with illicit fentanyl, which is the No. 1 killer of Americans age 18 to 45.”
Previous Health Care Updates:
- A Florida health provider says better building design can help patients heal
- Florida hospitals: Building boom
- Abortion proposal on Florida's November ballot might not end legal fights about the issue
- More leprosy cases are popping up in Florida. Why an ancient disease might be endemic
- Thousands of Florida kids lost Medicaid, now some have no coverage
- Stuck in licensing limbo, Florida nursing students want answers. They're not getting them
- How a nationwide cyberattack is impacting Florida patients and hospitals
- The computer will see you now: Artificial Intelligence usage grows at Florida hospitals
