Latest KFF Health News Stories
Texas House Lawmakers Give Initial Approval To Abortion Restrictions
Following a dramatic, last-minute Democratic filibuster late last week, Texas House lawmakers in a special session Tuesday tentatively approved controversial abortion restrictions after more contentious debate. Other states are debating the issue as well.
Catholic Hospital Group Satisfied With Contraceptive Compromise
The Catholic Health Association, which has sided with the administration before on the law, said the plan will allow employees to get birth control coverage without the hospitals paying for it.
State Highlights: Disabled At Risk At Calif. Facilities, Audit Finds; Ga. Maternal Mortality
A selection of health policy stories from California, Georgia, Oregon, Alabama, Florida and Kansas.
Viewpoints: USA Today Says ‘GOP Poisons’ Obamacare; McConnell Calls For Repeal
A variety of opinions, editorials and analyses from around the country.
Pharmaceutical Companies Race For New Cholesterol Drugs
A discovery of a rare mutation that affects cholesterol has ignited hopes of a prescription that can help prevent heart attacks. In the meantime, an announcement by Roche could pose more questions about controversial diabetes medicines. Also a federal report warns Americans of using some Internet pharmacies.
Minn., Texas, Colo. Adapting To Health Law In Different Ways
News outlets covered how various states are ramping up health exchanges, or not, and expanding Medicaid, or not.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including articles about House Republican plans to seek a delay in the health law’s requirement that nearly all Americans get health insurance.
Small-Town Clinic Provides Care To A Farming Community’s Poor
Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center operates seven family clinics in four rural counties to fill the gap for rural patients.
How Oregon Is Getting ‘Frequent Flyers’ Out Of Hospital ERs
The state is trying to reduce health care costs by encouraging those who constantly turn up at the ER to get their health care from regular doctors instead.
Hospital In Rural Missouri Faces Tough Challenges
The Affordable Care Act’s success or failure will depend in large part on the efforts of rural hospitals such as Poplar Bluff to treat the poor.
Study: Competition, Not Need, Drives Hospital Cardiac Care Investment
U.S. hospitals spent up to $4 billion adding angioplasty services over a four year period, but the new services did little to improve access to timely medical care, says a study published Tuesday in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Between 2004 to 2008, some 251 hospitals added the invasive and often life-saving cardiac […]
Medicare Advantage Plans Cut Total Cardio Procedures, But Regional Variations Remain
Call them bundled payments, medical homes, capitation or accountable care, new versions of managed care (think HMOs in the 1990s) are health care’s great cost control hope. Researchers publishing in the latest JAMA tested that idea by counting procedures in one of the biggest managed care programs of all: Medicare Advantage plans for seniors. One […]
Current Medicaid Patients Will Miss Out on Better Preventive Care In 2014
Some of the nation’s unhealthiest people aren’t likely to receive those benefits, because the requirements in the law pertain only to private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid expansion programs.
Study: Popular Search Engines Share Search Data About Medical Conditions
Researchers find that popular websites share search data with advertisers and other third parties.
Americans Live Longer, But May Be More Prone To Disability That Hinders Independence
In the meantime, public health evidence for smoking bans may be thinner than previously touted.
Rural Hospitals, Clinics At Center Of Obamacare Success Or Failure For Poor
A new hospital and network of rural health care clinics in Missouri highlight the challenges that Obamacare has in treating the nation’s poor — a key tenet of the health law.
Viewpoints: Employer Mandate: Suspension Of Law Or Bump In Road?
Columnists and editorial boards examine the implications of the postponed employer mandate deadline and other issues.
With 2014 Budget Process Beginning, NIH Cuts Decried
Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., joined by executives from the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins, callsfor an end to sequestration cuts of medical research budgets.
Obama Touts Health Care In Government Technology Push
President Obama says government should do what his administration did with the new healthcare.gov and health insurance application — make better use of technology to make government more efficient.
Doctors Weigh Changes In Intern Hours, Role With Patients, Pay Models
Many changes in the way America’s doctors deliver care are challenging long-held notions of how health care functions for patients.