Morning Breakouts

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Johns Hopkins To Get $125M For Immunotherapy Institute

Morning Briefing

Michael Bloomberg, who will be donating $50 million, said the immunotherapy treatment, which uses a patient’s own immune system to to attack cancer, has enormous potential. “This really may have the possibility for a unique Eureka moment,” he said. In other news, STAT follows one advocate’s battle against federal testicular cancer guidelines, and The Washington Post examines the lifestyle changes of a cancer survivor.

On The Front Line Of Opioid Crisis, One Emergency Department Experiments With Alternative Treatment

Morning Briefing

The New Jersey hospital is hoping its initiative to try other treatments before prescribing opioids will help in the epidemic that’s sweeping the country. In the first two months, 75 percent of the 300 patients that have gone through the program did not need opioids. In other news, nurses and hospitals are changing their approach when it comes to taking drug-dependent babies away from their mothers.

Aggressive Battle To Defund Planned Parenthood Being Fought On State Level

Morning Briefing

Instead of trying to push defunding through on a national level, activists have taken their strategy to the states, and laws aimed at blocking money to the nation’s largest abortion provider and creating more restrictions on clinics are piling up across the country.

FBI Investigating Cyber Virus That Paralyzed Major Hospital Chain Medstar

Morning Briefing

The breach comes just weeks after similar cyberattacks on at least three other medical institutions in California and Kentucky, and The Washington Post looks at the reasons why hackers target health care providers.

As Medicare Stifles PSA Testing Penalties, It Signals Interest In Reviving The Issue Later

Morning Briefing

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services says in its statement that it will continue to solicit input “to determine whether a restructured, appropriate-use PSA measure should be developed.” Also, a look at new efforts by the agency to make sure beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage plans can keep their doctors.

Special Clinics Emerge To Help Children With Complex Medical Conditions

Morning Briefing

“Care for these kids is unbelievably time-consuming and labor-intensive, and there is no way in the current system there is enough financial incentive for providers to do this,” says Dr. Jay Berry, a physician and researcher in the Complex Care Service at Boston Children’s Hospital and assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. In other news, new studies find that preemies face struggles even after infancy.

A Troubled New York Hospital Seeks To Rebound

Morning Briefing

Elsewhere, the Federal Trade Commission will pause its challenge of a proposed West Virginia hospital merger while it examines a state law which would protect the arrangement from anti-trust issues, and a new study finds the number of out-of-hospital births in the U.S. is on the rise.

Outgoing Valeant CEO To Testify At Senate Drug Pricing Hearing

Morning Briefing

In other Valeant news, investors in Sprout — the female libido pill — are charging that the company, which bought the product, failed to properly commercialize it. Also, the federal government is seeking records from Novartis regarding physician “wining and dining” related to cardiovascular drugs and the first case of HIV infection in someone taking the preventive Truvada has been recorded.

HHS Touts Drug Treatment, Mental Health Benefits Of Medicaid Expansion

Morning Briefing

A new report released by the Department of Health and Human Services says there are 2 million people with either a mental illness or a substance abuse disorder that could be helped in the 20 states that have not expanded Medicaid. Media outlets from Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, Idaho and Utah also offer coverage of report.

Obama To Announce Plan To Combat Opioid Epidemic

Morning Briefing

The proposed rule would double the number of patients to whom physicians can prescribe buprenorphine, a medication used to help addicted people reduce or quit their use of heroin or painkillers.

Kansas Lawmakers Adjourn Without Vote On Medicaid Funding Bill To Help Nursing Homes

Morning Briefing

The legislature may take up the bill when it returns for a veto session. At the same time, state officials announced a plan to help the nursing homes by improving the processing of Medicaid applications for the facilities’ residents.

Rural Areas Face Health Challenges

Morning Briefing

A NewsHour report examines the difficulties in eastern Kentucky — ranging from limited access to care to poverty and unhealthy lifestyles — that add to the uphill nature of public health strategies to reverse a trend in which the region’s low life-expectancy is five years lower than the rest of the nation. Wisconsin’s rural counties, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, also fare poorly when compared with the rest of the state’s health statistics.

Report Links More Patients’ Illnesses, Deaths To Medical Scopes’ Contamination

Morning Briefing

A regulatory report by device manufacturer Olympus Corp. found that hospitals have continued to use the medical device that was recalled in January. Meanwhile, a lawsuit is filed against another company’s medical device used to treat aneurysms.

Studies Find High Rates Of Errors In Medical Billing

Morning Briefing

Some employers are offering advocacy services to help consumers monitor their bills and deal with mistakes. Also in the news, a look at the cost of a shingles vaccination and how that plays out for Medicare beneficiaries versus private insurance consumers.