Preliminary testing indicates that the Yale doctoral student admitted to Yale-New Haven Hospital with Ebola-like symptoms does not have the deadly virus. While awaiting the results, officials sought to emphasize the efforts to prepare in case someone in Connecticut contracts Ebola virus — while also trying to reassure people that the risk of infection is low.
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Patient with Ebola-like symptoms evaluated at Yale-New Haven
Updated 1:45 p.m.
A patient with Ebola-like symptoms was admitted to Yale-New Haven Hospital for evaluation late Wednesday night. “We have not confirmed or ruled-out any diagnosis at this point,” the hospital said in a statement.
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DSS phone wait time drops (to 66 minutes)
Nearly two thirds of callers who wanted to speak to a worker at the state Department of Social Services hung up before getting through, but that, too, was an improvement over previous months. In September, 64 percent of callers who wanted to reach a worker hung up first, compared to 71 percent in August and 75 percent in July.
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How prepared is CT for an Ebola outbreak?
Public health officials often say that when things are going right, their jobs are largely unnoticed. But the presence of Ebola in the U.S. has put a spotlight on public health preparedness — and on what some experts say has been a problematic reduction in steady federal funding for public health efforts.
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Obamacare worry: Unexpected tax bills for those with discounted insurance
Nearly 60,000 Connecticut residents get discounted health insurance as part of Obamacare. And officials are worried that some of them could get hit with an unexpected tax bill next year.
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Connecticut lawmakers press GOP on Ebola
WASHINGTON – Rep. Rosa DeLauro has asked the Republican head of a panel with jurisdiction over the Department of Health and Human Services to convene a hearing as soon as possible on “the public threats posed by recent outbreaks of Ebola and Enterovirus D68,” a flu-like disease that targets children.
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JAX Genomic opens to Malloy’s cheers, Foley’s jeers
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy trumpeted one of his administration’s boldest investments Tuesday at the opening of a heavily subsidized genomic medicine research institute on the UConn Health Center campus in Farmington, but Republican gubernatorial challenger Tom Foley called its price tag too high.
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Children’s mental health changes aimed at addressing ER crisis
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is expected to announce a plan Wednesday to expand the services available for children and teens with significant mental health needs, a response to concerns about the growing number of young people going to — and often stuck in — emergency rooms in psychiatric crisis.
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Foundations chip in to help people sign up for Obamacare
Three foundations plan to pay for about 35 people to conduct “shoe-leather” outreach to help Connecticut residents sign up for Obamacare during the open enrollment that begins Nov. 15. The workers are intended to supplement a sign-up effort by the state’s health insurance exchange, Access Health CT, that critics worry won’t be enough to reach the remaining uninsured.
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Ten things Dan Malloy thinks about health care
The latest in a series of interviews on health care with candidates for governor: As governor, Dannel P. Malloy said he’s managed to avoid the cuts to health care and social services that some counterparts in other states made. He says the care of those who most rely on the state weighs heavily on his mind. But the first Democratic governor in 20 years has also faced criticism for his handling of certain health care issues, including from some of the left-leaning advocates his party usually counts on.
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Anthem, Hartford HealthCare reach a deal
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the parent company of five Connecticut hospitals announced late Thursday that they had reached an agreement on a new contract, allowing the hospitals to return to the insurer’s network.
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As its first building opens, Jackson Lab has an eye on expansion
Workers are putting the finishing touches on The Jackson Laboratory’s new building on the UConn Health campus in Farmington, but some officials at the genomics lab are already thinking about their next facility.
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DCF: Redesign children’s mental health system
Connecticut’s child welfare agency issued an ambitious proposal to redesign the publicly financed children’s behavioral health system, calling the existing system “broken.” Not clear yet: What the recommendations would cost, how the redesign would work, or how several of the plan’s provisions would apply to the 56 percent of Connecticut youth covered by private insurance.
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With no deal, Hartford HealthCare’s five hospitals leave Anthem’s network
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the parent company of five Connecticut hospitals failed to reach a new contract deal by their midnight deadline, leading Hartford Hospital and four others to exit the network of the state’s largest insurer Wednesday.
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Confirmed enterovirus cases increase in Connecticut
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday there are now 13 confirmed cases in Connecticut of Enterovirus-D68, a flu-like illness.