Latest KFF Health News Stories
The Next Medicaid Battleground: How Tennessee Is Forging Ahead With Controversial Block Grant Plan
CMS has been vocal in encouraging states to create more restrictions on their Medicaid programs. Many looked to work requirements, but those plans have faced major legal setbacks in courts. Tennessee could be leading the way on a new path. Medicaid news comes out of Missouri and New York, as well.
“You can’t take proper care of patients if you don’t document care,” said Stan Huff, chief medical informatics officer at Intermountain Healthcare in Utah. In searching through the records of immigrant deaths, Politico discovered troubling issues with malfunctioning software and failures to document patient care, among other things.
Stem cell clinics have popped up across the country, and they are largely unregulated. More and more patients have been coming forward to speak out about the predatory nature of the industry. News from the health industry also focuses on hospitals suing poor patients, a GE health care unit, and an FBI investigation into Beth Israel’s transplant program.
The New York Times digs into a fractured abortion rights movement that’s reckoning with its own stumbles over the past few years. Meanwhile, strict abortion bills are being considered in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
About half of women over 40 have dense breasts and about 10% have very dense ones. That raises their risk of developing cancer and makes it harder to spot on mammograms if they do. But, like in other sectors of health care, the dilemma remains about whether the extra screening is worth the false alarms it brings. In other women’s health news: postpartum care, depression, asthma during pregnancy, and violence against girls.
Sign-ups tend to dip over the holidays, so it’s likely that next week the reported numbers that include Thanksgiving, will be lagging behind once more. Sign-ups overall are expected to be slightly lower this year.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), known for having a plan for everything, started the race by signing onto Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) “Medicare for All” proposal. That decision has left her entangled with an issue that seems to be sinking her polling numbers and leaving both progressives and moderates unsatisfied, even though it wasn’t her policy to start with.
First Edition: December 2, 2019
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
For Artist Inspired By Illness, ‘Gratitude Outweighs Pain’
After surviving two double lung transplants, Dylan Mortimer, a Kansas City artist, turns his battle with cystic fibrosis into joyous, whimsical art. Now Mortimer buys glitter by the pound and uses it to create mixed-media collages and sculptures for hospitals, private collectors and public spaces.
‘I Feel Like I’m In Jail’: Hospital Alarms Torment Patients
As alarms proliferate, hospitals are working to sort through the cacophony that can overwhelm staff and cause them to overlook real signs of harm.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health topics and others.
Media outlets report on news from Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Maryland, New Hampshire, Minnesota, District of Columbia, Florida, Wisconsin, Georgia, Ohio and California.
Memories and environmental cues can trigger a relapse in someone struggling with alcoholism. Researchers have started playing with the idea of tinkering those memories and cues to prevent that very thing from happening. In other public health news: Eastern equine encephalitis cases, gene editing, psychological growth, caregiving, probiotics, and more.
The patient was given the kidney on Nov. 18, Virtua Health reported, because the individual who was supposed to get the kidney has the same name. Both patients have received successful transplants now. News on hospitals is from Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington and California, as well.
On Tuesday, the CDC reported 67 people in 19 states have been sickened. “It’s heartbreaking and frustrating,” said Dan Sutton, a lettuce grower in San Luis Obispo, Calif. “We will have to change how we farm leafy greens.” Ahead of Thanksgiving, news focuses on eating disorders, allergies, being “hangry,” exercising, and fresh food vending machines, as well.
Veteran Health Care ‘Whenever, Wherever They Need It’: Use Of Telemedicine Spikes 17%
Veterans Affairs has rolled out a telemedicine app, offers services online and in rural areas is opening telehealth clinics at VFWs. State restrictions were dropped for the VA, allowing VA physicians and nurses to administer care to veterans via telemedicine across state borders, regardless of state licensing. Other news on veterans is on treatment for toxic exposures and a tragic discovery.
Before schools weren’t allowed to bill Medicaid, but that changed in 2014. By billing the program, schools say they will be able to help students manage chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and food allergies; offer mental health and addiction treatment; and provide dental, vision, hearing and speech services more effectively. Medicaid news comes out of Louisiana, New Hampshire and Idaho, as well.
Is Committing A $1 Billion Health Tech Fraud As Easy As New Indictment Makes It Seem?
Former executives from Outcome Health, a firm that displays health ads in doctors’ offices, are facing federal fraud charges. Stat takes a look at what exactly the feds say the executives did.
Researchers say the grim new reality isn’t just limited to rural deaths of despair, but rather the numbers reflect that many different people living in all areas of the U.S. are struggling. “We need to look at root causes,” said Dr. Steven Woolf, the author’s lead study. “Something changed in the 1980s, which is when the growth in our life expectancy began to slow down compared to other wealthy nations.”
Prosecutors are examining whether the companies violated the federal Controlled Substances Act, which requires companies to report orders of controlled substances that are unusually large or frequent, or that substantially deviate from norm. The probe is in its early stages.