Health and Human Services

The standard U.S. vaccine card is a piece of paper — and thus quite easy to forge. So Holy Name Medical Center in New Jersey has turned to blockchain for secure and valid digital vaccine cards.

Despite recent spikes in COVID-19 cases, some states, such as Georgia, Florida and Nebraska, have scaled back efforts to share relevant health data to the public. Health experts are raising concerns about transparency.

The Virginia school district has contracted with a local health-care provider to provide technology and telehealth services to reduce student absences and travel times to and from clinics and hospitals.

A pilot project led by the South Carolina Department of Aging and Palmetto Care Connections aims to teach seniors the digital skills they need to combat social isolation and access telehealth services.

Hutchinson Regional Medical Center in Kansas will allow demonstration drone flights under the supervision of the Federal Aviation Administration. The goal is to prepare for the delivery of medical supplies via drones.

State and local departments in North Carolina have turned to social media influencers to encourage younger people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Influencers with different follower counts are being utilized.

The COVID-19 pandemic and various studies have exposed nationwide disparities in who has access to physical and mental health care, and a recent funding windfall for schools and broadband could help close those gaps.

Thanks to an initiative involving many public and private organizations, a digital COVID-19 vaccination card has been created using technology from the Boston Children's Hospital. A few states have adopted the card.

Eskenazi Health, a hospital in Indianapolis, Ind., was forced to send its ambulances to another hospital after an attempted ransomware attack yesterday morning. Employee and patient data appear to be safe at the moment.

COVID-19 infections are rising in Nebraska, but health districts can no longer report COVID stats for counties with fewer than 20,000 people because of an expired executive order.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office in New York has released a dashboard that informs the public of drug overdose trends in the local area. Multiple local police agencies shared data for the project.

Earlier this week, UC San Diego Health disclosed that it experienced a data breach between December 2020 and April 2021 that could have compromised sensitive patient information. The breach occurred through phishing.

The Hawaii State Department of Health has announced that it will be bringing telehealth services to 15 libraries in underserved and rural parts of the state at the end of this year, thanks to federal funding.

With millions at risk of eviction, the company’s tools can help public agencies better target people in need of government assistance. The key? Neighborhood-level data that is updated quickly.

A team of 40 female students led by sophomore Zoe Reich spent four months creating Mother’s Touch, an interactive app that aims to reduce maternal and infant mortality by providing users with information and resources.

New technology developed by University of California San Francisco scientists has done the impossible, allowing a man who lost his ability to speak years ago to relay messages directly from his brain.

A National Institute of Standards and Technology-funded study, conducted by Health Scholars, aims to evaluate the efficacy of using virtual reality to train emergency medical services personnel in pediatric assessment.

With federal funding for broadband in the pipeline, anchor institutions like libraries are well-positioned to make themselves available to increase patron access to telehealth services.