Markian Hawryluk

Markian Hawryluk was a senior Colorado correspondent for KFF Health News until he retired in January 2024.

@MarkianHawryluk

Hospitales rurales, atrapados en el dilema de sus viejas infraestructuras

KFF Health News Original

El aumento de los costos, en medio de reducciones de los pagos de las aseguradoras, dificulta que los pequeños hospitales obtengan financiación para grandes renovaciones.

As Foundation for ‘Excited Delirium’ Diagnosis Cracks, Fallout Spreads

KFF Health News Original

Major policy changes and disavowals have made this a watershed year for curbing the use of the discredited “excited delirium” diagnosis to explain deaths in police custody. Now the ripple effects are spreading across the country into court cases, state legislation, and police training classes.

Why Do We Pay For so Much Worthless Health Care?

KFF Health News Original

Medical advances are expensive. Take Wegovy, the wildly successful obesity drug that we learned last week may also reduce the risk of heart disease. If just 10 percent of Medicare beneficiaries start taking the drug, taxpayers could be on the hook for nearly $27 billion a year.  So how can the country afford the latest […]

Doctors Abandon a Diagnosis Used to Justify Police Custody Deaths. It Might Live On, Anyway.

KFF Health News Original

The American College of Emergency Physicians agreed to withdraw its 2009 white paper on excited delirium, removing the only official medical pillar of support left for the theory that has played a key role in absolving police of culpability for in-custody deaths.

Police Blame Some Deaths on ‘Excited Delirium.’ ER Docs Consider Pulling the Plug on the Term.

KFF Health News Original

The American College of Emergency Physicians will vote in early October on whether to disavow its 2009 research paper on excited delirium, which has been cited as a cause of death and used as a legal defense by police officers in several high-profile cases.

A Move to Cut Drug Prices Has Patients With Rare Diseases Worried

KFF Health News Original

A Colorado board has named five drugs it will review for affordability and potential cost caps. But patients with cystic fibrosis worry they will lose access to a life-changing therapy.

Community With High Medical Debt Questions Its Hospitals’ Charity Spending

KFF Health News Original

Pueblo, Colorado, residents have higher-than-average medical debt, while the city’s two tax-exempt hospitals provide relatively low levels of charity care.

A menudo, adolescentes con adicciones pasan por el proceso de desintoxicación sin medicamentos

KFF Health News Original

Una nueva investigación ha descubierto que la mayoría de las áreas de Estados Unidos carecen de instalaciones que ofrezcan desintoxicación supervisada por personal médico para pacientes menores de 18 años.

Teens With Addiction Are Often Left to Detox Without Medication

KFF Health News Original

Facilities that offer medically managed substance use treatment for patients under 18 are few and far between in the United States. A Denver hospital is trying to help fill the gap.

As Nonprofit Hospitals Reap Big Tax Breaks, States Scrutinize Their Required Charity Spending

KFF Health News Original

Nonprofit hospitals avoid paying taxes if they provide community benefits such as charity care. More states are examining that trade-off, scrutinizing the extent of hospitals’ spending on their communities.

At Least 1.7M Americans Use Health Sharing Arrangements, Despite Lack of Protections

KFF Health News Original

A new report boosts the estimated number of people enrolled in plans whose members — usually brought together by shared religious beliefs — pay one another’s health costs.

This Panel Will Decide Whose Medicine to Make Affordable. Its Choice Will Be Tricky.

KFF Health News Original

Colorado’s new Prescription Drug Affordability Board could cap what health plans and consumers pay for certain medications starting next year. The process will pit patient groups against one another.

Pain, Hope, and Science Collide as Athletes Turn to Magic Mushrooms

KFF Health News Original

A group of former professional athletes traveled to Jamaica to try psychedelics as a way to help cope with the aftereffects of concussions and a career of body-pounding injuries. Will this still largely untested treatment work?

States Step In as Telehealth and Clinic Patients Get Blindsided by Hospital Fees

KFF Health News Original

At least eight states have implemented or are considering limits on what patients can be billed for the use of a hospital’s facilities even without having stepped foot in the building.