Latest KFF Health News Stories
Major Providers Of Prison Medical Care Set To Merge
Modern Healthcare reports that the development will combine two of the largest prison health care companies in the nation.
New Turf Battle: Retail Pharmacists Vs. Mail Order Companies
The New York Times reports on this marketplace tension.
House Republicans Continue Budget Assault On Health Law
Hearings are scheduled next week to develop legislation to make it possible to defund the health law by redesignating the related spending from “mandatory” to “discretionary.”
GOP Focus Remains Tight On Reforming Medicare, Entitlement Programs
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has made clear his determination to address this issue – The Wall Street Journal is reporting that he has even assured President Barack Obama that he will give him “cover” if he makes a proposal to cut entitlement spending.
Senate Republicans Urge White House To Withdraw Berwick Nomination
The Obama administration used a “recess appointment” last July to appoint Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Yesterday, 42 GOP senators signed on to a letter asking that this appointment be withdrawn.
ACOs: FTC Member Says Health Law ‘Centerpiece’ Needs Clarification
An FTC official is urging the Obama administration to clarify antitrust issues related to accountable care organizations, Bloomberg reports.
Sebelius, GOP Face Off At House Hearing
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stuck to the usual talking points Wednesday as she appeared before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee in defense of implementation of the health law and the president’s budget request for her agency. She also told Republicans that that there is no system by which Medicaid block grants can be created.
Research Roundup: Hospital Infections And Costs; Prescription Confusion; Medicaid And Access To Care
A roundup of research from the Archives of Internal Medicine, the CDC, The Urban Institute, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
A selection of editorials and opinions from around the country.
State Roundup: After Vinson Stay, Alaska To Implement Health Law
Health care news from across the country.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that a Florida federal judge issued a stay of his own, earlier ruling regarding the health law, clearing the way for it’s implementation — for now — but also making clear that the appeals process should move forward at an expedited rate.
Vinson Issues Stay Of His Earlier Health Law Ruling
Fla. Judge Roger Vinson issues a clarification on his ruling about the health care law, signaling that the implementation of the measure can continue provided that the government expedite its appeal.
New World Bank Strategy Shifts Focus To Building African Economies
A new World Bank plan for Africa aims to expand economies and increase job growth, “while also tackling problems of climate change, disease, food shortages and conflict,” Reuters reports (Wroughton, 3/3). The approach, which was endorsed by the bank’s board of executive directors on Tuesday, “shifts from a more general focus” aimed at improving economic stability and fundamentals to targeting “three key areas such as competitiveness and employment,” Xinhua writes (Mutai, 3/2).
“Prompted by concerns about an unethical U.S.-sponsored study in the 1940s,” the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues on Tuesday announced the formation of an international panel “that will examine whether current rules adequately protect volunteers in global clinical trials,” Science’s “ScienceInsider” blog reports (Kaiser, 3/1).
Two-Week Budget Measure Signed Into Law
President Barack Obama invited congressional leaders to meet with Vice President Joe Biden in hopes of taking on longer-term fiscal issues such as Medicare spending.
Governors’ Medicaid, Budget Concerns Trigger Debate
As governors took to Capitol Hill this week to talk about their state budgets, Medicaid and the implementation of the health law, more attention was focused on the issues and cost estimates involved in the debate.
HHS Inspector General: Many Nursing Home Workers Have Criminal Records
The New York Times reports on a study issued by the HHS inspector general that has led some experts to urge additional federal regulations.
