Latest KFF Health News Stories
FDA Cancer Expert’s First-Hand Experience Fuels Drug Approval Process
The New York Times profiles how the experience of one regulator may have altered the speed of patients’ access to experimental treatments. Meanwhile, this roundup of public health stories also includes a look at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s debate surrounding risks of cellphones; a look at how gene editing may lead to a treatment for Duchenne muscular distrophy; and recent developments regarding HIV education and how a lack of sleep may contribute to Alzheimer’s.
Study Examines Risks Associated With Planned Home Births
The number of women who plan to give birth to infants at home or in birthing centers has increased dramatically.
New Programs Let Patients With Schizophrenia Take Charge Of Own Recovery
A number of states have set up programs with a new approach to treatment, one that emphasizes supportive services. Elsewhere, a couple who lost a son to cancer advocates for more psychological support for kids fighting the disease; in Mississippi a plan to improve mental health care for children falters; and Washington asks for more time to comply with how it evaluates mentally ill defendants.
Analysis: Privacy Violations On The Rise At VA Health Facilities
An analysis by ProPublica found that employers and contractors at Veterans Affairs Medical Facilities commit thousands of privacy violations each year. ProPublica also found that hundreds of other health care providers, including CVS, Walgreens and Kaiser Permanente, are repeat offenders when it comes to violating patient privacy laws.
High Drug Costs Lead To Tough Decisions For Patients
Many of the most widely used generic drugs actually were cheaper at the end of 2015 than when the year began, but Americans, even relatively affluent ones, still are facing astronomical prices.
Activists: Polarization Of Parties Will Put Spotlight On Abortion In Presidential Race
They also say the Republican field is willing to be more outspoken on the topic than it has in past elections. Meanwhile on the trail, Hillary Clinton highlights opioid abuse as a top concern; and New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, facing a tough fight as she runs for the Senate, will have to work with her Republican-controlled Legislature on issues such as reauthorizing Medicaid expansion and the state’s growing drug abuse crisis.
Supreme Court To Hear First Abortion Case In Nearly A Decade
The case, Whole Women’s Health v. Cole, looks at a 2013 Texas law requiring abortion doctors to hold admitting privileges at a local hospital and clinics to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers. Meanwhile in the states, the courts take action on abortion pill restrictions and Planned Parenthood funding.
Risks Emerge As Rural Hospitals Perform More Inpatient Orthopedic Surgeries
A Wall Street Journal analysis details this trend. The Journal also compares costs for these services at the rural hospitals — known as critical access hospitals — with the same care elsewhere. Meanwhile, other news outlets examine new kinds of insurance coverage and benefits.
New Medicare Rule Targets Medical Equipment
The federal rule, which was issued last week and designed to tamp down on sources of Medicare fraud and improper billing, requires prior authorization before the Medicare program will pay for certain types of medical equipment, including some wheelchairs. Federal investigators also are scrutinizing routine tests — designed to ensure patients properly use opioid drugs — that they say have led to questionable billing practices by some for-profit labs, doctors and addiction-treatment centers.
Now It’s The Season To Figure Out Health Insurance Taxes
CBS News outlines what consumers need to know about the health law’s tax forms while The New York Times details how some consumers continue to see paying the penalty for not having insurance as better than paying for coverage.
The Health Law: Looking Forward, Looking Back
News outlets review how the health law came through 2015 while also detailing the latest developments in its implementation and the continuing issues regarding enrollment and coverage issues.
A Great Divide: As Republicans On Hill Rail Against ACA, GOP Governors Work To Expand Medicaid
The battles highlight a bigger war between the realistic need of governors and the ideological wing of the party that wants to destroy the health law at all costs. Outlets also report on Medicaid expansion developments in Kentucky, Florida, Vermont and California.
Health Care Stories To Watch In 2016
Media outlets report on what health stories will dominate coverage in the year to come, including courts, the 2016 election and mergers, among many others.
House Targets Health Law, Planned Parenthood To Open Session
The GOP-led chamber will vote Tuesday to send a bill rolling back the Affordable Care Act and cutting funding to Planned Parenthood to the president’s desk, where it will draw a veto.
First Edition: January 4, 2016
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Viewpoints: Wrong Predictions Of Health Law ‘Disasters’; Bad Options For Prescription Drugs
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
Longer Looks: Antibiotics And Obesity; Robbing Opioid Vans; The Year’s Top Medical Findings
Each week, KHN’s Shefali Luthra finds interesting reads from around the Web.
Research Roundup: Hospital DNR Orders; Medicare Home Visits; Consumer Cost-Sharing
Each week, KHN compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
News outlets report on health care developments in New York, California, Virginia, New Hampshire, Michigan, Illinois, Texas, Washington and Delaware.
WellCare Files Appeal Over Terminated Medicaid Contract With Iowa
The company alleges Gov. Terry Branstad made serious errors when kicking it out of the new program he hopes to use to move the state’s Medicaid patients into private managed care plans. Elsewhere, the Nebraska Public Service Commission lays out new regulations on how taxi companies treat Medicaid patients they are transporting; the former Medicaid director of Texas talks about managed care plans; and, in Idaho, reimbursement rates for health care providers are back to 2012 levels.
