Melissa

By AP DENVER (AP) — A proposed $26 billion settlement with the nation’s three largest drug distribution companies and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson would bring at least $300 million to Colorado to address the opioid addiction and overdose crisis. State Attorney General Phil Weiser said Wednesday the deal is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity,” and Colorado …

Colorado joins $26B settlement to address opioid crisis Read More »

By AP SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Federal prosecutors have reached a settlement with a Santa Fe hospital over claims of fraudulent billing. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico announced Wednesday that Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center will pay nearly $564,000 as part of the agreement. Prosecutors say a doctor at the hospital …

Santa Fe hospital reaches settlement over fraudulent billing Read More »

By AP BOSTON (AP) — A former Massachusetts pharmacist convicted for his role in a deadly 2012 multistate meningitis outbreak that killed more than 100 people and sickened hundreds of others will spend more time behind bars after a federal judge on Wednesday lengthened his original sentence by 2 1/2 years. Glenn Chin, former supervisory …

Pharmacist in meningitis outbreak gets more prison time Read More »

By BEN FINLEY and GEOFF MULVIHILL As a $26 billion settlement over the toll of opioids looms, some public health experts are citing the 1998 agreement with tobacco companies as a cautionary tale of runaway government spending and missed opportunities for saving more lives. Mere fractions of the $200 billion-plus tobacco settlement have gone toward …

Experts: Spend opioid settlement funds on fighting opioids Read More »

By JASON DEAREN and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR WASHINGTON (AP) — Lagging vaccination rates among nursing home staff are being linked to a national increase in COVID-19 infections and deaths at senior facilities, and are at the center of a federal investigation in a hard-hit Colorado location where disease detectives found many workers were not inoculated. The …

Unvaccinated staff eyed in rising nursing home cases, deaths Read More »

By LAURAN NEERGAARD Reports of athletes, lawmakers and others getting the coronavirus despite vaccination may sound alarming but top health experts point to overwhelming evidence that the shots are doing exactly what they are supposed to: dramatically reducing severe illness and death. The best indicator: U.S. hospitalizations and deaths are nearly all among the unvaccinated, …

Rare ‘breakthrough’ COVID cases are causing alarm, confusion Read More »