Sam Whitehead

Visit kff.org to read Sam's bio.

swhitehead@kff.org

‘What Happens Three Months From Now?’ Mental Health After Georgia High School Shooting

KFF Health News Original

The recent shooting at Apalachee High School outside of Atlanta caused more than physical wounds. Medical experts worry a lack of mental health resources in the community — and in Georgia as a whole — means few options for those trying to cope with trauma from the shooting.

The First Year of Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirement Is Mired in Red Tape

KFF Health News Original

Georgia must decide soon whether to try to extend a limited Medicaid expansion that requires participants to work. Enrollment fell far short of goals in the first year, and the state isn’t yet able to verify participants are working.

Bipartisan Effort Paves Way for Reviving Shuttered Hospitals in Georgia

KFF Health News Original

“Certificate of need” laws, largely supported by the hospital industry, limit health facility construction in 35 states and Washington, D.C. Georgia lawmakers decided its law was complicating the reviving of two hospitals critical to their communities.

The Court Case That Could Upend Access To Free Birth Control

KFF Health News Original

A lawsuit winding its way through the courts could undermine the power of federal agencies to mandate the services health insurance providers must cover. And that could threaten access to free birth control for millions of Americans. The case is called Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra, and it was brought by plaintiffs looking to strike […]

If Lawsuit Ends Federal Mandates on Birth Control Coverage, States Will Have the Say

KFF Health News Original

An ongoing lawsuit aims to set aside the Affordable Care Act’s requirements that insurers cover preventive care, such as contraception. If that happens, state reproductive health laws — varying across the country — would carry more weight, resuming the “wild West” dynamic from before Obamacare.

Federal Budget Constraints May Hurt Older Americans With HIV

KFF Health News Original

Researchers say that by the end of the decade, 70 percent of people in the United States living with HIV will be older than 50. Thanks to advances in medicine, the diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. “I’ve been fortunate to take care of some people with HIV for over 30 years,” said Melanie Thompson, a physician […]

Americans With HIV Are Living Longer. Federal Spending Isn’t Keeping Up.

KFF Health News Original

Advances in medicine mean more people are living longer with HIV. But aging with HIV comes with an increased risk of health complications, and many worry the U.S. health care system isn’t prepared to treat this growing population.

Toxic Gas That Sterilizes Medical Devices Prompts Safety Rule Update

KFF Health News Original

The Environmental Protection Agency is tightening regulation of ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic gas used to sterilize medical devices. The agency is trying to balance the interests of the health care industry supply chain with those of communities where the gas creates airborne health risks.

Mental Health Courts Can Struggle to Fulfill Decades-Old Promise

KFF Health News Original

Mental health courts have been touted as a means to help reduce the flow of people with mental illness into jails and prisons. But the specialized diversion programs can struggle to live up to that promise, and some say they’re a bad investment.

PrEP, a Key HIV Prevention Tool, Isn’t Reaching Black Women

KFF Health News Original

New HIV infections occur disproportionately among Black women, but exclusionary marketing, fewer treatment options, and provider wariness have limited uptake of preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, drugs, which reduce the risk of contracting the virus.

In Move to Slash CDC Budget, House Republicans Target Major HIV Program Trump Launched

KFF Health News Original

Republicans in Congress have proposed substantial cuts to the budget of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, taking aim at one of former President Donald Trump’s major health programs: a push to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S.

Artificial Intelligence May Influence Whether You Can Get Pain Medication

KFF Health News Original

To contain the opioid crisis, health and law enforcement agencies have turned to technology to monitor doctor and patient prescription data. Experts have raised questions about how these systems work and worry about their accuracy and potential biases. Some patients and doctors say they’re being unfairly targeted.

The CDC Works to Overhaul Lab Operations After Covid Test Flop

KFF Health News Original

In early 2020, U.S. public health labs received covid-19 tests from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that were flawed, as a result of poor design and contamination. Now the CDC is overhauling its lab operations, but efforts to be better prepared for future threats won’t be easy, observers say.

As Federal Emergency Declaration Expires, the Picture of the Pandemic Grows Fuzzier

KFF Health News Original

The pandemic gave federal officials expanded power to access crucial data about the spread of covid-19, but that authority will change when the public health emergency sunsets in May. That, along with the end of popular covid trackers, will make it harder for policymakers and the public to keep an eye on covid and other threats.

US Officials Want to End the HIV Epidemic by 2030. Many Stakeholders Think They Won’t.

KFF Health News Original

The federal government’s ambitious plan to end the HIV epidemic, launched in 2019, has generated new ways to reach at-risk populations in targeted communities across the South. But health officials, advocates, and people living with HIV worry significant headwinds will keep the program from reaching its goals.

¿Ayudan las nuevas guías sobre opioides a los pacientes con dolor crónico?

KFF Health News Original

Las recomendaciones dejaron a muchos pacientes lidiando con las consecuencias para la salud mental y física de la reducción rápida de la dosis o la suspensión abrupta de los medicamentos que habían estado tomando durante años, lo que conlleva riesgos de abstinencia, depresión e incluso suicidio.

New CDC Opioid Guidelines: Too Little, Too Late for Chronic Pain Patients?

KFF Health News Original

In November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for prescribing opioids for pain, allowing physicians more flexibility. But doctors, patients, and advocates wonder if the updated standards will be too little, too late to help chronic pain patients in a country still focused on fighting the ongoing opioid crisis.