Latest KFF Health News Stories
The report comes as debate has intensified over whether hospital administrators are doing enough to prevent violence against employees. Meanwhile, another nurse suffered an attack by a patient at Washington state’s largest psychiatric hospital, which has a troubled history of such incidents.
First Edition: October 3, 2018
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial writers focus on these public health issues and others.
Media outlets report on news from California, Florida, Iowa, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Kansas, Wyoming, Wisconsin and Missouri.
Man Dies From ‘Brain Eating Amoeba’ After Visiting Texas Surf And Water Park
CDC epidemiologists have taken samples from the park in Waco, Texas to test for the presence of the Naegleria fowleri, which thrives in warm freshwater. It enters the body through the nose and moves onto the brain, destroying tissue. Cases are extremely rare and nearly always fatal. No one else who has visited the park is ill.
Texas Hospital Giants Plan Merger That Would Create A $14 Billion, 68-Hospital System
The deal between Baylor Scott & White Health and Memorial Hermann Health System is just the latest consolidation effort seen in a health care landscape that is being dominated by mergers and acquisitions at the moment.
“I think it’s a breakthrough,” Clifford Rosen, an endocrinologist and physician, said of the study. While researchers have known that older women with osteoporosis benefit from drugs called bisphosphonates, this study supports their value for younger women with less brittle bones. Some, however, remain cautious. In other news on aging, two big studies focus on Alzheimer’s prevention.
Ivy League Sees Drop In Football Players’ Concussions With 5-Yard Rule Change During Kickoffs
The NCAA and other football leagues are considering an adjustment to football kickoffs, described as the game’s most dangerous play. The eight-school league enacted the change, pushing the kickoff up 5 yards, after studies showed that 21 percent of concussions occurred during the play that leads to high-speed crashes. The Ivy League also changed its touchback rule to help curb the concussion rate.
Survivors Remember Unimaginable Horror And Heroism A Year After Las Vegas Shooting
“Today, we remember the unforgettable,” Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said during a morning service in Las Vegas. “Today, we comfort the inconsolable. Today we gather in mind and body and we never left each other in spirit and heart.”
Neighborhoods Just One Street Apart Can Lead To Vastly Different Economic Futures For Poor Children
Detailed research reveals just how important location is for lifting a child out of poverty, and it can be the difference of just a few streets. Now city official and philanthropists are trying to move families into those areas. In other public health news: suicide, cholesterol, Zika, medical research, postpartum care by doulas, and end-of-life care.
As immunotherapy is being used more frequently, dangerous side effects are coming to light, like in the surprising case of one young man fighting leukemia. Meanwhile, despite the hundreds of scientists who have contributed to developing the revolutionary treatment, only two were awarded the Nobel prize for medicine. Stat looks at why that is.
The desire to expand the research into medical marijuana underscores how eager lawmakers are to shift patients toward alternatives to opioids. News on the crisis comes out of Virginia, California and Ohio, as well.
ProPublica investigates the case of one Texas doctor and the way the state’s protections that are meant to help patients were flawed.
Texas To Reopen Process For Medicaid, CHIP Contracts After ‘Serious Issues’ Found With Existing Bids
The announcement follows a troubled year for the state’s bidding process, including the resignation or retirement of six agency officials after revelations of sloppiness and mistakes in bid scoring. Medicaid news comes out of Ohio, as well.
One Of Nation’s Largest Dialysis Providers Agrees To $270M Settlement Over Medicare Advantage Fraud
The settlement cites improper medical coding by HealthCare Partners from early 2007 through the end of 2014. According to the settlement, the company, which is part of giant dialysis company DaVita Inc., submitted “unsupported” diagnostic codes that allowed the health plans to receive higher payments than they were due.
Cancellations Of More Than 250,000 Radiology Orders At VA Hospitals Raise Questions
The cancellations seem to be part of an effort to clear outdated or duplicate orders, but there are concerns that some medically necessary orders for CT scans and other imaging tests were canceled improperly.
Pfizer’s Top Executive To Hand Over Reins To Company’s Current COO At End Of Year
“The company has come out of the abyss it was in, and is really poised for growth,” CEO Ian Read, 65, said. “Given my age, it’s time for me to move on.” Chief Operating Officer Albert Bourla will take over starting in 2019. Meanwhile, AmerisourceBergen agreed to pay federal and state governments $625 million for illegally distributing misbranded drugs.
Medical costs are often dense and hard to understand, so most employers cede control to their insurers and the companies managing benefits. But taking an active role in monitoring and negotiating prices can pay off in the end.
HHS investigators describe a poorly coordinated interagency process that left distraught parents with little or no knowledge of their children’s whereabouts, according to an unpublished internal watchdog report obtained by The Washington Post. Meanwhile, the government is now moving detained children in middle-of-the-night journeys to a tent city in Texas, and an official downplays the impact of the administration’s expanded “public charge” policy.
The plans hit the market on Tuesday, but consumers should be aware that while they are cheaper than other individual coverage options, they don’t have to follow the regulations set into place by the health law.
