The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Heidi de Marco was a reporter and producer for KFF Health News until March 2023.
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Overcrowding and chaos in traditional emergency rooms can harm seniors’ health. That’s prompting some hospitals to open ERs designed specifically for the elderly.
But more training is needed for such translators to do their jobs well, without miscommunications and misunderstandings.
Some hospitals try to avoid sharp declines in the health of elderly patients by treating them in special units geared to their specific needs. This story is the first in a KHN series on the challenges hospitals face with an aging population.
Deportation-relief programs would have meant access to subsidized health care.
Some clinics on NIH's website charge people to participate in testing of unproven treatments — and it can come as a surprise to unsuspecting patients.
Only 38 percent of Latino households have a disaster plan, the lowest of any ethnic or racial group.
Anxiety before surgery can be dangerous for kids. Medication can help calm them down. But an anesthesiologist in California has come up with a safer, cheaper and much more entertaining alternative.
Mental illness is common — and so are misperceptions about it. These too-often-believed myths can be harmful to you and your loved ones.
Using run-down motels to care for and temporarily house homeless people recently discharged from the hospital helps stabilize them inexpensively, preventing unnecessary and costly returns to ERs and hospitals.
A pioneering program in southern California provides ongoing care and housing to homeless people who are “super-utilizers” of hospital emergency rooms. The effort is reducing ER visits and saving a lot of money.
Proponents hail the change in policy but say it doesn’t go far enough because federal dollars cannot be used to buy syringes.
A family struggles with what to do when an autistic adolescent becomes aggressive.
California’s sprawling Inland Empire is making vigorous efforts to train and attract primary care doctors attuned to the needs of the fast-growing and under-served population.
This video features specially trained paramedic Ryan Ramsdell, who is part of an ambitious plan in Reno, Nevada, to overhaul the 911 system to improve patient care and cut costs.
Wynne Lee, 17, struggled with depression and cultural expectations for several years. The teen from Diamond Bar, California, is like many kids from Asian American families who often have trouble finding appropriate treatment.
Kairis Chiaji from Sacramento, California, says it was difficult to afford health insurance before the Affordable Care Act on her self-employed income as a birth coach. The 43-year-old experienced a mix up with her application through Covered California that delayed her enrollment.
Shared decision making programs encourage doctors and patients to work together in making tough choices about care at UC San Francisco.
Residents of a tiny rural town in northern California talk about the lack of access to mental health care.
The biggest barrier to treatment for residents of a tiny town in the mountains of Northern California isn’t insurance coverage-- it’s distance.
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