Latest KFF Health News Stories
September Will Mark The End Of HHS Mini-Med Waiver Program
The Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday that it will stop accepting applications for waivers from the health law’s minimum coverage requirements.
State Roundup: Employee Benefit Battles Heat Up; Mass. Cost Controls
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
Medicare Targets 5 Fla. Hospitals For Patient Readmissions
Several articles highlight problems at local hospitals.
Fight Against Planned Parenthood Expands With Wis. Plan To Cut Funding
The Wisconsin state legislature adopts budget that strips $1 million from Planned Parenthood.
Viewpoints: Compromises On Fixing Medicare?; ‘Progress’ On AIDS; Working Families Falling Behind
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
Hospitals Hope To Make Primary Care Docs Salaried Employees
The Washington Post reports on this trend, which could have a concrete impact on they way medical care is delivered. If the health care system is to be reshaped into a team-oriented care continuum — an objective outlined in one of the health law’s central intitiatives — primary care physicians would be key to the effort.
Home-Based Care Increasingly Seen As Alternative To Nursing Homes
The health law includes provisions to assist people who want to stay in their homes longer. Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun-Times reports on knowlege gaps among adult children who may become caregivers to aging parents.
Small Health Facilities, Solo Practices Face Health IT Challenges
News outlets report on trends in health IT and the implementation of electronic medical records.
Little-Noticed Change Could Cause Higher Costs For Out-Of-Network Care
The Wall Street Journal reports on a develop that may cause consumers to face higher bills.
Medicare Hires Northrup Grumman For Predictive Modeling Anti-Fraud Project
The defense contractor will develop rapid methods to analyze Medicare claims before they are paid. Meanwhile, CNN reports on how “phantom pharmacies” are a new trend in health care fraud.
The Complexitites Of Medicare’s Doctor Pay Dynamics
Poltico Pro reports on why overhauling Medicare’s physician pay formula presents so many challenges.
Groups Rev Up Behind Their Causes, Revisit Health Law Positions
As Tea Partiers roll through Iowa on a bus tour, single-payer advocates rally outside the annual convention of the health insurer trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans. Meanwhile, as the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates meets in Chicago, its members will revisit the organzation’s position on the individual mandate. In the background, some of the physician organization’s members blame the AMA’s declining ranks on the position it took in support of the health law.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about new trends in the health care marketplace.
Weekend political chatter swirled around health care issues.
HHS Announces Deadline For Health Law Waivers
Officials give health plans that do not meet coverage requirements until Sept. 22 to apply for controversial waivers. All plans that secure a waiver will be able to apply for extensions.
Five Food Security Priorities For The G20
Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, outlines five priorities for G20 leaders to endorse at the upcoming summit in a Guardian “Poverty Matters Blog” post.
Global Health Council Conference Panel Discusses Country Ownership
“The Global Health Initiative [GHI] will focus more heavily on countries’ own goals for development, explained Amie Batson, deputy assistant administrator for Global Health at USAID at a panel at the Global Health Council Conference on Thursday,” GlobalPost’s “Global Pulse” blog reports.
Additional Funding Announced For PEPFAR Programs In Africa
In a post on State’s “DipNote” blog, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby describes accompanying Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on her trip to Africa.
Report Outlines Lessons From AIDS Advocates
A new report from the consulting firm HCM Strategists and the nonprofit group FasterCures “analyzes the factors that helped patient advocates drive research into and drug development for [HIV/AIDS], and tries to figure out whether there are lessons to be learned for other disease advocates,” the Wall Street Journal’s “Health Blog” writes.
Important To Fund The GAFSP Now
In a Guardian opinion piece, Lael Brainard, under-secretary for international affairs at the U.S. Treasury, writes about the importance of funding the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) and investing in small farmers in the developing world.
