Latest KFF Health News Stories
HHS Will Award Quality Bonuses To Some Medicare Advantage Plans
Many critics say the payments are motivated by politics because the cash infusion will prevent service cuts that could have been a “headache” for Democrats in the next election cycle.
Viewpoints: Would Ryan Plan Save Or “Assault’ Medicare?; Controversial Kansas Abortion Law
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
Feds Announce Comprehensive Plan To Combat Painkiller Abuse
The new strategy will put increased pressure on the state of Florida, which has a reputation as being “the nation’s pill mill.”
Report: Prescription Drug Spending Growth Slows
Although the spending still increased, it did so in 2010 at 2.3 percent, a slower rate than in 2009, when the growth rate was 5.1 percent.
Social Media ‘A Tricky Case’ For Doctors
For health professionals, this new landscape offers a multitude of patient privacy challenges.
Some States Struggling With Efforts To Establish Insurance Exchanges
Colorado and Texas lawmakers tussle over setting up the marketplaces called for in the health care law.
Study Examines Hospital Stays And Readmissions For Hip-Replacement Patients
An analysis of Medicare data concluded that these patients are being released from the hospital sooner but more return to the hospital within 30 days.
Barbour Takes On Obama’s Medicaid Expansion, Health Overhaul
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a potential GOP presidential hopeful, continued his criticism of President Obama’s health overhaul, calling it “big government at its worst.”
State Roundup: Abortion Opponents Weigh Strategy
Today’s news includes reports from Virginia, Kansas, Michigan, Connecticut, Louisiana, Texas and Minnesota.
House GOP Seeks Details About Health Reform ‘Meetings And Discussions’
In the latest Republican offensive regarding the health law, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton, R-Mich., requested information from top groups, including the AARP, the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association.
Nursing Home Industry Worried About Mandates; Cuts To Medicare, Medicaid
During a roundtable meeting with reporters, Mark Parkinson, president of the American Health Care Association, detailed the concerns of nursing homes.
CMS Unveils 2012 Hospital Medicare Payment Proposal
The American Hospital Association responded by saying it was “deeply disappointed” by the proposal, which would cut acute-care hospital payments in the coming year.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about new poll results showing that Americans oppose cuts to Medicare as a means to deal with the debt problem.
Nearly 200,000 deaths from severe malaria could be averted if African governments replaced the low-cost antimalarial quinine with the more expensive but more effective drug artesunate, according to a report (.pdf) released Tuesday by Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Reuters reports (Kelland, 4/19).
Researchers on Monday announced they were calling off a trial to test whether taking an oral HIV drug reduces the risk of HIV infection in women after interim analysis of the study showed women taking the medication were no less likely to become infected with HIV than those who were not taking the medicine, the Associated Press reports (4/18).
U.N. General Assembly Passes Resolution Urging Renewed Efforts To Fight Malaria
Ahead of World Malaria Day on April 25, the U.N. General Assembly on Monday adopted a resolution urging governments, U.N. agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and private foundations to accelerate their efforts and build upon established successes in the fight against the disease, particularly in Africa, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports.
North American Legal Injection Drug Site Helps Decrease Overdose Deaths, Study Shows
North America’s only authorized facility for injecting illegal drugs has helped cut drug overdose deaths significantly in the Vancouver community where it is located and “should be used as a model in other cities,” according to a study published on Monday in the Lancet, Reuters reports (Dowd, 4/18).
New Guidelines Allow Definition Of Pre-Alzheimer’s
The emphasis on the need to diagnose Alzeheimer’s during its earliest stages is also evident in Congress, where legislation introduced this month would create new, specific Medicare cost codes for early-disease diagnosis to address these steps, including the discussions between the physician and caregivers.
