Latest KFF Health News Stories
Doctors, Hospitals Prepare For Difficult Talks Surrounding Medical Mistakes
MedStar Health is among the hospital systems nationwide that are setting up support systems to help doctors talk openly to patients and their families when treatments go awry.
California Lawmaker Pulls Plug On Drug Price Transparency Bill
The legislation would have required drug companies to notify the state and insurers about expensive new treatments or price hikes.
Genetic Insights About Health Risks Limited By Lack Of Diversity, Study Finds
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine detailed how the diagnoses of risk for a common hereditary heart disease may have been skewed because studies have traditionally had low numbers of black participants.
Should Big Insurance Become Like Walmart To Lower Health Costs?
Evidence shows dominant insurers hold down hospital prices. Big insurers seeking to get bigger want to take that idea to the extreme.
Obamacare Expansion A Bumpy Ride For Rural Health Clinics
A Northern California clinic network is overwhelmed with Medi-Cal patients after the Affordable Care Act rollout.
The Costs Of The Pulse Nightclub Shooting
Mario Perez was grazed by a bullet at the Pulse Nightclub. His bill from Orlando Regional Medical Center’s emergency department was $20,000.
Study Bodes Well For Biosimilars But Highlights Need For More Research
Some experts said the findings stemming from this systematic review of existing studies was reassuring, but not surprising.
Web Tool Reduced Medical Missteps During Hospital-Shift Changes: Study
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston concluded that a web-based tool focused on these critical points of the day helped cut the rate of medical errors in half.
Children Exposed To Hepatitis C May Be Missing Out On Treatment
Hepatitis C can be passed from mothers to babies, but it often is not diagnosed until much later in a person’s life. Specialists are debating new screening practices to catch the disease earlier.
Gov’t Task Force Finds Evidence Lacking to Support Visual Skin Cancer Screenings
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concluded that insufficient evidence exists regarding the benefits and harms of visual skin cancer exams.
Insurers May Share Blame For Some Generics’ Price Hikes
News reports have led many consumers to blame drugmakers for the rapidly rising costs of some commonly used generic drugs. But changes made by insurers often play a major role, too.
Medicare Prepares To Go Forward With New Hospital Quality Ratings
The government will soon give hospitals one to five stars to sum up their quality. Some safety hospitals and teaching hospitals won’t fare as well as other facilities.
Montana’s ‘Pain Refugees’ Leave State To Get Prescribed Opioids
With rising awareness of opioid abuse, some pain patients say doctors are less likely to prescribe them. One Montana sufferer goes to great lengths to get his prescription — he flies to California.
‘Don’t Cut Me!’: Discouraged By Experts, Episiotomies Still Common In Some Hospitals
Overall rates are falling in California and nationally but data point to certain hospitals with extremely high percentages.
Fraud Concerns Emerge As Compounding Drug Sales Skyrocket
Federal spending has soared for drugs that are handmade in local pharmacies, and federal investigators are raising concerns about fraud or overbilling.
Psychotherapists Gravitate Toward Those Who Can Pay
It goes back to the byzantine way health care — and health insurance — developed in the U.S. in the wake of World War II.
Palliative Care Sometimes Adds To Families’ Stress Burden, Study Finds
A study in JAMA finds palliative care counseling for families of chronically ill patients is not routinely needed by all and sometimes increases symptoms of post-traumatic stress.
Viejos moteles cobran nueva vida ayudando a las personas sin hogar a sanar
El uso de moteles deteriorados para cuidar y albergar temporalmente a personas sin hogar recientemente dadas de alta del hospital ayuda a estabilizarlos de manera económica, previniendo retornos innecesarios y costosos a las salas de emergencia y a los hospitales.
Medical Marijuana Linked To Modest Budget Benefits For Medicare Part D, Study Finds
A Health Affairs study determines that Part D spending went down slightly on prescription drugs for which medical marijuana is viewed as a possible alternative.
Study: Brand-Name Drugs’ High Copays Soak Medicare Part D Patients
A study in Health Affairs finds Medicare Part D beneficiaries were charged copays averaging 10.5 times more for Crestor and Nexium than generic drugs would have cost them.
