Latest KFF Health News Stories
Nursing Shortage Leads To More Students, New Training Programs
“Long second shrift to other medical training, nursing education has taken on new relevance as the country faces a drastic shortage of nurses and a thin job market overall,” The Dallas Morning News reports.
Obama Nominates Human Genome Veteran To Lead NIH
Dr. Francis S. Collins, the Yale-educated, guitar-strumming physician and geneticist who lead the Human Genome Project was nominated Wednesday to head the National Institutes of Health.
Legislation Includes Provisions For Healthy Lifestyle Infrastructure
Sweeping healthcare legislation in Congress includes money for walking paths, streetlights, jungle gyms, and even farmers’ markets. While supporters cite their importance for preventative health, critics see the billions of dollars for such provisions in the Senate and House versions as pure pork.
Small Business Owners Deliver Mixed Messages To Capitol Hill
As more specific legislative language emerges on health care, “small business organizations are encouraging members to make their views known through e-mails, letters, phone calls and personal visits” to members of Congress, but “the message is a decidedly mixed one,” Kaiser Health News reports.
Medicare Analysis Finds Too Many Needless Deaths At Hospitals
New Medicare analysis reveals a double failure at hospitals with too many people dying needlessly and the prevalence of a revolving door in health care. The analysis by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) comes as the White House and Congress seeks ways to reward patient care over quantity of care in health care reform.
Convent Focuses On Different Approach To End-Of-Life Care
A new focus in end-of-life care emphasizes social and spiritual elements over aggressive medical intervention.
Emanuel Reassures Democrats On Public Insurance Option
The White House aide sought to reassure House Democrats on Tuesday about the President’s support for a government-run health insurance plan and to quell a firestorm among liberals upset at Emanuel’s comments a day earlier.
Health Reform: Biden Formally Announces $155 Billion Agreement With Hospitals
Vice President Joe Biden, subbing for President Obama who is at the G-8 economic summit in Italy, formally announced the latest deal with the industry on in the context of efforts to overhaul the health care system.
WHO To Recommend Countries Stop Testing For H1N1
Within the next few days, the WHO “will recommend that countries stop trying to test all suspected cases of swine flu, said Keiji Fukuda, the agency’s assistant director-general of health security and environment,” Tuesday during a conference call with reporters, Bloomberg reports.
President Barack Obama joined world leaders in Italy on Wednesday for “three days of intense talks on threats to global security and stability” at a G8 summit “where climate change, the continuing global economy crisis and world hunger got top billing,” AP/Google.com reports.
Health Reform Legislation Will Impact Preventive And Wellness Programs
Health care reform legislation includes wellness programs and employers look to such programs to help their workers manage chronic conditions and improve their health. Now, some companies are forgoing voluntarism wellness programs and requiring employees to enter wellness programs.
Poor Working Conditions For Docs May Affect Quality Of Care
“Adverse working conditions for primary care doctors, including time pressures and an unfavorable organizational culture, may lead to stress, burnout, and ultimately to lower quality patient care, a new study found,” MedPage Today reports.
Taxing Health Benefits Lacking Hill Support
Senate Democratic leaders on Tuesday raised doubts about achieving bipartisan support for health reform legislation after divisiveness emerged over taxing employer health benefits.
KPBS Examines San Diego County Board Of Supervisors’ Opposition To Needle Exchange Program
KPBS examines the reasons why the San Diego Board of Supervisors will not support the city’s needle exchange program, which twice weekly provides clean needles to injection drug users as part of an effort to curb the spread of HIV, Hepatitis C and other blood-borne diseases.
Obama Busy ‘Selling The Greater Good’ On Health Reform
President Barack Obama, in comments about health reform has acknowledged what most Americans already know, that “(w)hat’s good for the health care system as a whole often looks very different when it’s their own health at stake, or the health of someone in their family,” CQPolitics reports.
Blacks With Equal Care Still More Likely To Die Of Some Cancers
“African Americans are less likely than whites to survive breast, prostate and ovarian cancer even when they receive equal treatment, according to a large study that offers provocative evidence that biological factors play a role in at least some racial disparities,” the Washington Post reports.
Thirteen Single-Payer Activists Settle Their Cases After Disrupting Hearing
Thirteen people charged with “disruption of Congress” for standing and shouting pro-single-payer system slogans during a health care reform committee hearing settled their cases, The Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune reports.
Providers And Medicare Battle: Who Owns Home Oxygen Equipment?
A Medicare rule limiting payments for oxygen providers to 36 months, but requiring two additional years of service without the same payments, has prompted an aggressive lobbying campaign by the industry, and unintended consequences for patients.
Abortion Could Prove Divisive For Health Reform, Too
An ultimatum against using federal money for abortion could reopen the politically treacherous rift over the issue, creating yet another obstacle for congressional Democrats to overcome if they are to achieve their health reform goals.
