Latest KFF Health News Stories
Media outlets take a look at some of the first things state legislatures and governors want to tackle in the new year.
Researchers hail the latest findings, saying it’s important to get out in front of health problems and inform personalized care. But skeptics remain and few parents seem interested. Public health news also focuses on longevity secrets, respect for seniors, tips to staying on the Mediterranean diet and the continuing debate on fish oil supplements.
There are countless studies linking teens’ social media use with depression, but that has advocates wondering if technology might actually be the best way to reach those suffering.
The changing culture of veteran advocacy is being reflected in the leaner, more efficient organizations that have cropped up since Sept. 11, 2001.
The solution for the oldest orthopedic hospital in the U.S.? Simply multiply. Hospital for Special Surgery is launching an expansion strategy that its leaders say is designed to match the demand of a population with a more active lifestyle. In other hospital news: master price lists, HRAs, and outpatient revenue.
Pharma Companies Trying To Please Both Trump And Wall Street Stuck Between A Rock And A Hard Place
President Donald Trump had promised to lower drug costs, but pharmaceutical companies — after six months of a self-imposed hiatus on price hikes — are mostly drifting back toward the status quo. In other pharmaceutical news, expensive hepatitis C drugs aren’t being covered for Medicaid patients in Puerto Rico.
In the first major pharmaceutical deal of 2019, Bristol-Myers Squibb says it will buy Celgene, a maker of cancer-fighting drugs, in a merger valued at $74 billion. According to Stat, Bristol-Myers has been under pressure to set a new course since August 2016, when a big study of its cancer immunotherapy, Opdivo, failed to show a benefit in previously untreated patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Analysts look at what the deal means to the industry at large.
More than a year ago, Maine voters approved the expansion of the program, but then-Gov. Gov. Paul LePage was adamantly opposed to implementing it. Maine’s new Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said she is planning on working with the Legislature to make the move financially sustainable.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ushered in the 116th Congress on Thursday, outlining an agenda that focused on health care and preexisting conditions. The shutdown, however, hung over the celebration of the newly sworn-in members.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled last month that the health law is unconstitutional without the individual mandate penalty. Attorneys general from more than a dozen Democratic states are leading the charge to defend the Affordable Care Act at the next phase in court. Meanwhile, the government reports that about 8.4 million Americans signed up for 2019 coverage.
Horry County Deputy Stephen Flood and Deputy Joshua Bishop were transporting 45-year-old Wendy Newton and 43-year-old Nicolette Green from a hospital to other facilities when their van was overtaken by floodwaters caused by Hurricane Florence. The deputies were unable to rescue the women from the overturned van.
First Edition: January 4, 2019
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial pages focus on these health care topics and others.
Media outlets report on news from Georgia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Kansas, Maryland, Colorado, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Missouri and Florida.
The Skinny On Diets For 2019: Mediterranean Is Best Overall Among 41 Nutrition Plans, Analysis Says
U.S. News & World Report ranked diets on seven categories: “how easy it is to follow, its nutritional completeness, its ability to produce short-term and long-term weight loss, its safety and its potential for preventing and managing diabetes and heart disease.” Other nutrition news focuses on cholesterol spikes after the holidays and excess weight’s role in cancer.
“To this day, it’s the most gut-wrenching thing I’ve ever had to do in my life,” Jim Hoy said of having to give up his son, Daniel. Advocates say the problem stems from decades of inadequate funding for in-home and community-based services across the country. In other public health news: doulas, clutter, Ebola, head injuries, and more.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission filed a nearly 500-page report citing the failures of the response to the mass shooting at the Florida high school and offering recommendations on how to prevent future incidents.
An advocacy group has presented a “Family First” plan to the governor-elect to provide a continuum of care that starts with in-home services for children at risk of being removed from their families. In other news on the opioid epidemic, Illinois counties are offering treatment instead of jail time.
After Negotiations Stalled For Nearly A Year, Tenet And Cigna Smooth Out Differences
Details of the deal have not been disclosed, but the agreement allows Cigna’s commercial members to have continued access to Tenet Healthcare facilities.
“Clearly, more caution is in the air and many major multinationals such as Pfizer and Novartis, which found themselves making the headlines several months back, have yet to implement their January increases,” said Raymond James analyst Elliot Wilbur. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he expects drug prices to drop despite pharmaceutical companies lifting their self-imposed hiatus on price increases.
