Navigating the world of special education schools can generate feelings of frustration and confusion. Due to the wide spectrum of learning disabilities and the infinite number or specialized needs, each institution can be extremely different from the next. Some may focus on a single type of learning difficulty such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or dyslexia, others might focus on students with physical disabilities, and some might be all-inclusive. Despite the differences in scope, each facility has a very common goal: to educated children. For each of these special education schools, the teachers and staff aim to promote student success, whether through adaptive teaching methods, intensive, one-on-one mentoring, or specialized assessments.

In the public education system, the main directive for special education programs is integration. Ideally, this means that children with learning disabilities will spend as much time as possible in general education classrooms with the rest of their

State and federal funding for hospitals and health systems has doubled over the past two years compared with historical averages as the government supplanted revenue lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Government support, which includes non-operating revenue like COVID-19 relief grants and disproportionate-share hospital payments, was 143{f771d91d784324d4be731abc64bffe0d1fd8f26504ceb311bcfd8e5b001778f4} higher for large systems in 2021 and 2020 compared with the two-year trailing median, according to data analysis from Merritt Research Services. Medium and small systems received 128.1{f771d91d784324d4be731abc64bffe0d1fd8f26504ceb311bcfd8e5b001778f4} and 167.5{f771d91d784324d4be731abc64bffe0d1fd8f26504ceb311bcfd8e5b001778f4} more aid over the past two years, respectively, Merritt’s analysis of about 170 not-for-profit health systems’ annual financial statements found.

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Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health, for instance, received $505 million in government aid in 2021 and $459 million in 2020, up from $244 million in 2019 and $271 million in 2018.

The Biden administration doled out more Provider Relief Funds in January,

There aren’t many options for the immune-compromised as community-wide COVID-19 precautions wane. Health authorities are pushing a fourth vaccine dose for these vulnerable patients, since some get at least a little protection from repeat vaccinations. The immune-compromised are supposed to get three up-front doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines followed by a booster, one more shot than the U.S. recommends for everyone else.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also is considering if the immune-compromised need their booster a little sooner — three months after their last shot rather than five months.

But many patients are anxiously awaiting AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, the first set of antibodies grown in a lab to prevent COVID-19 — rather than treat it — in people who can’t make their own virus-fighters. Evusheld contains two types of antibodies, given in two shots at the same appointment, that are expected to last for six months.

Several states’ revamped challenge to the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers likely won’t make a difference in the policy’s fate, but it raises new questions that could catch a judge’s eye, lawyers say.

Louisiana is leading 15 other states in an amended complaint filed last week against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers at Medicare and Medicaid-certified facilities. The states argue in a motion to the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services improperly added state surveyors to the list of staff covered by the mandate, and say omicron’s ability to spread despite vaccines makes the policy meaningless.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that CMS’ mandate could continue while an appeal at the Fifth Circuit court is pending. The decision followed multiple challenges from states that questioned CMS’ authority to impose the broad requirement

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has signed a pandemic-related bill allowing designated family and friends to visit residents of long-term care facilities.

The measure won strong bipartisan support as it moved through the legislature.

The bill’s goal is to prevent long-term care residents from feeling isolated from their families as the COVID-19 pandemic persists. The bill maintains designated in-person visits in those facilities.

Under the bill, long-term care residents can designate at least one “essential personal care visitor” to make in-person visits. Visitors could include relatives, legal guardians, friends, caregivers or volunteers. Visitors would have to follow safety protocols of the community or facility.

The bill also applies to assisted living communities and mental health hospitals.

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