Latest KFF Health News Stories
Coping With Loss Of Hospital, Rural Town Realizes: We Don’t Need A Hospital
It’s been about a year since the hospital in Fort Scott, Kan., closed. The lessons for this community about meeting its residents’ health needs could provide insights for the rest of the country.
Reports Of Patients’ Deaths Linked To Heart Devices Lurk Below Radar
Because of a little-known federal exemption program, death data about heart devices sits in inaccessible FDA files that can take up to two years for the public to see under open-records laws.
Readers And Tweeters: More Than Two Sides To Every Story
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Por su prueba de resfriado, la aseguradora pagó $25,865
Alexa Kasdan no quería que sus vacaciones se arruinaran por un simple dolor de garganta. Fue a su doctora y le hicieron un hisopado. ¿Por qué el laboratorio cobro esa cifra ridícula?
Editorial pages focus on public health topics and other health topics as well.
Media outlets report on news from Indiana, Kansas, Alaska, Rhode Island, California, Texas, Michigan, Missouri, Florida, Connecticut, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New York.
Opinion writers weigh in on the future of U.S. health care.
The Wall Street Journal reports that contributions from osteopathic physician Joseph Mercola account for about 40% of funding to a center that spreads anti-vaccine information. News on vaccines comes from the Pacific Islands, Virginia, Connecticut and other places, as well.
The cause of the vaping-related illnesses has long-stumped health officials, but they had been slowly zeroing in on vitamin E oil in recent weeks. Although there has been a drop in emergency room visits for vaping-related lung injuries, government officials emphasized new cases continue. And officials are warning that the patients are prone to relapse.
A blood test is on the horizon, but as there is not real treatment for Alzheimer’s some wonder if knowing early is really worth it. In other public health news: rural nursing homes, at-home DNA tests, cigarettes, worker safety, diet, pregnancy and marijuana use, and more.
But John Kapoor’s lawyers are pushing for community service from home for his efforts to bribe doctors to prescribe a highly addictive fentanyl spray. News on the epidemic comes out of New Hampshire and Ohio, as well.
It’s a congressional letdown that highlights the difficulty of legislating in a divided Washington and in taking on the powerful pharmaceutical industry. In other pharmaceutical news: doctors’ financial links to pharma, Medicaid approval for a sickle cell treatment, the Ebola vaccine, and electronic records.
The verdict is Johnson & Johnson’s eighth trial victory in talc cases this year, its fourth win since October and its second triumph last week. The scorecard is a reversal of earlier cases where the company was getting battered. In other health industry and insurance news: J&J acquires remaining stake in Verb Surgical; Cigna partners with Prime Therapeutics; Mayo Clinic taps IT vet for digital business; and more.
An in-depth investigation from USA Today reveals a system plagued with complaints about detainees safety and care. With much of the nation’s attention focused on the separations at the border, the detention facilities can sometimes fly under the radar. Meanwhile, an internal DHS watchdog found no wrongdoing in the deaths of two migrant children who were in U.S. custody last December.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sued Sutter claiming the hospital system abused its market power to raise prices. Under the terms of the agreement, Sutter will continue to operate as an integrated system. But it has agreed to end a host of practices that Becerra alleged unfairly stifled competition
The sweeping spending measure passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump last week contains lots of wins for an industry that has publicly been under attack for the past year. The success shows how formidable the health care industry remains.
The state battles that experts expect to see in 2020 reflect a deepening cultural divide within the country over how to address public health issues. Republicans still control a majority of state capitals, but Democrats have made gains in recent years. The dynamic could set off some fireworks in the coming year. Meanwhile, hospitals are fighting state-level laws to rein in health care costs, foreshadowing issues that might come in any federal push to do the same.
And new customers totaled more than 2 million people — an increase of 36,000 from last year. That’s considered a positive sign because it reflects consumer interest. The final tally doesn’t include the millions of people who chose a health plan through state-run exchanges.
Soaring Homelessness In California Drives Nation’s Rates Up Again For Third Year In Row, HUD Reports
Although there was a decline in homeless rates in 29 states and D.C., California’s skyrocketing numbers offset those gains. Senior Trump administration officials visited California in September to troubleshoot ways to minimize homelessness, after which the issue became politically fraught as President Donald Trump and California’s leaders publicly bickered over what was to be done about the crisis. Media outlets take a look at homeless issues across the country, as well.
First Edition: December 23, 2019
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.