When The Blues Won’t Let You Be
Treatment-resistant depression, particularly common among seniors, can raise the risk of suicide and lead to a loss of independence.
When Pretend Play Is Real For Alzheimer’s Patients
Playing with dolls is good therapy for some elderly people with dementia. They may think the dolls are real babies, but does it matter?
Twenty dying people, at peace with their mortality, shared their views on life, love and death with a Los Angeles artist for an exhibit at the Museum of Tolerance.
With Chronic Illness, You Are Your Own Best Friend
Participants in a mostly online diabetes self-management program had lower blood sugar and were more likely to take their medicine regularly, study finds.
Gaps In Care Persist During Transition From Hospital To Home
A partnership between San Diego County and four health systems seeks to bridge the longstanding gap between hospitals and social services.
‘America’s Other Drug Problem’: Copious Prescriptions For Hospitalized Elderly
Older people are often given a huge number of medications, and many of them are unnecessary or even harmful.
Hidden Stroke Victims: The Young
The number of hospitalizations for stroke is rising quickly among young people, even as it drops across the U.S. population as a whole.
Geriatric ERs Reduce Stress, Medical Risks For Elderly Patients
Overcrowding and chaos in traditional emergency rooms can harm seniors’ health. That’s prompting some hospitals to open ERs designed specifically for the elderly.
Survey: Millions More Californians Insured After Obamacare Launch, Medicaid Expansion
But the remaining uninsured are tough to reach.
Elderly Patients In The Hospital Need To Keep Moving
Spending too much time in their hospital beds can leave older patients sicker than when they were first admitted.
Teaching In-Home Caregivers Seems To Pay Off
Intensive training for such aides helps reduce repeated ER visits and hospitalizations of elderly disabled people, a pilot project suggests.
Elderly Hospital Patients Arrive Sick, Often Leave Disabled
Some hospitals try to avoid sharp declines in the health of elderly patients by treating them in special units geared to their specific needs. This story is the first in a KHN series on the challenges hospitals face with an aging population.
California Doctors And Hospitals Tussle Over Role Of Nurse-Midwives
Legislation that would allow nurse-midwives to practice independently is mired in a dispute about whether hospitals should be allowed to hire them.
Long-Term Care Is An Immediate Problem — For The Government
Medi-Cal has become the payer of first resort for many Californians unable to afford the long-term care they need.
California is the first state to begin building an up-to-date database to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Soda Taxes: Gaining Steam Or Getting Steamrolled?
A staunch advocate of taxing sugary drinks discusses the benefits and difficulties of enacting such policies.
Las vacunas no son sólo para los niños
La palabra “inmunización” evoca a la salud infantil. Ahora, los doctores de California están dirigiendo su atención a los adultos, quienes no han sido tan diligentes a la hora de recibir sus vacunas.
Vaccines Are Not Just For Kids
California’s leading physician organization is heading a drive to convince adults they need their vaccinations, too.
Zoom, a medical group and insurer, is targeting millennials in Oregon and Washington with quick, accessible care as well as fitness, yoga and cooking classes.
Sharing Your Doctor With A Group
With “shared appointments,” patients can get more time with less-harried providers, enjoy mutual support and see better outcomes. But the approach has its skeptics.
