Latest KFF Health News Stories
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urged her colleagues to “amplify the truth” about Republicans’ actions on Medicare.
The combination of Medicaid and public-employee health and retirement costs consumes about one out of every five tax dollars collected by state and local governments, which is the highest share since Medicaid was created in 1965.
Lawmakers Aim To Get Opioid Package To Floor In May Saying ‘Time Is Of The Essence’
Passing legislation on opioids — a rare bipartisan issue — could give lawmakers a victory they can tout come the 2018 midterm elections. In other news on the crisis: fentanyl-laced cocaine, treatment programs, death certificates, and take-back programs.
CMS ruled in Idaho’s case that skirting the regulations is still illegal, but agency officials were willing to work with the state to offer the plans as short-term coverage. Meanwhile, other states are exploring their options to stabilize their marketplaces.
Will Opening Health Data Floodgates To Patients Help Save Money And Lives? CMS Hopes So.
CMS wants to make patients’ data more accessible to them and to third-party tech innovators, with the eventual goal of making health data as easy to pull up as any other app on a cellphone.
Trump’s Physician Tapped To Lead VA After President Dismisses Shulkin Following Weeks Of Controversy
While Dr. Ronny Jackson has been praised for his work as a physician, critics call into question his lack of management experience. Meanwhile, both veterans groups and lawmakers on the Hill praised David Shulkin for his work during his tenure at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Scrutinizing Medicare Coverage For Physical, Occupational And Speech Therapy
Treatment has been terminated for some seniors because therapists told them they weren’t making enough progress or that they had reached their annual limit. We examine the treatment benefits and the barriers under Medicare’s coverage rules for therapy.
Omissions On Death Certificates Lead To Undercounting Of Opioid Overdoses
Standards for how to investigate and report on overdoses vary widely across states and counties. As a result, opioid overdose deaths often go overlooked in the data reported to the federal government.
Calif. Bill Targets Profiteering In Addiction Treatment, Dialysis Industries
The legislation is intended to curb schemes in which some treatment providers sign patients up for private plans, pay their premiums and then rake in profits from inflated claims.
Editorial pages focus on these and other health issues.
Perspectives: There Was A Time When Drugmakers Were Considered Heroes And Not Villains
Read recent commentaries about drug-cost issues.
News outlets report on stories related to pharmaceutical pricing.
Media outlets report on news from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maryland, California, Missouri, Florida, Arizona, Massachusetts, New Orleans and Iowa.
High-Profile Negotiations Between Piedmont Healthcare And Blue Cross Come Down To Wire
Media outlets report on hospital and health system news from Georgia, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
LGBTQ Rights Organization Releases Rankings For Hospitals Across The Country
The Human Rights Campaign bases its rating system on factors such as patient nondiscrimination and staff training.
Debate Brewing Over Service Dogs And If They Truly Help Veterans With PTSD
And if they do, who should pay for them?
Pregnant Women Left Without Safety Net As Hospitals Across Country Close Maternal Services
Often times, the closures are being seen in rural areas where the communities are already isolated and impoverished. In other women’s health news: fertility clinics, Planned Parenthood’s tweets, abortion rules, misdiagnosing women, pregnant inmates, and a midwife delivering her own baby by c-section.
“I haven’t slept since 1979,” said Kevin Charest the chief information security officer for the Health Care Service Corp., which is responsible for protecting the records of the nearly 15 million participants in Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in Texas and four other states. “If you knew what I knew, you wouldn’t sleep either.”
The proposal, which is expected to be approved early next month, would limit Medicare coverage for longterm high-dose prescriptions. Critics say the move will leave patients who need help with pain management scrambling. In other news on the epidemic: how the crisis has affected the workforce; a mobile wound-tending unit; curbing opioid use through insurance companies; suicides; and more.