Latest KFF Health News Stories
Pecked By A Chicken? Sucked Into A Jet Engine? There’s a Code For That
Voluminous and sometimes wacky new medical diagnostic codes in “ICD-10” have staffers at hospitals and doctors’ offices reaching for bromides.
Privacy Advocates Urge Stronger Protection Of Employee Health Data
Existing laws designed to control what doctors and hospitals do with your information need to be expanded to employers’ wellness programs, say advocates.
7 Questions To Ask Your Employer About Wellness Privacy
Workplace wellness programs have joined doctors, hospitals and your mother in the campaign to get you healthy. Will they treat your data carefully?
Workplace Wellness Programs Put Employee Privacy At Risk
A large variety of information may be collected by wellness programs and shared with others, including businesses eager to make a buck off of it.
Tech Options Helping Patients Wrest Control From Doctors
Dr. Eric Topol says smartphones and other technology allow patients to monitor and control their chronic health issues.
Study Finds Improvements In Pay, But Not Equity, For Women Anesthesiologists
RAND Corp. researchers find that more women are going into anesthesiology and getting paid better, but they still trail their male counterparts.
The Gender Gap Persists In Academic Medicine, Studies Find
Research in JAMA concludes that even after accounting for factors such as experience, age and research, women do not get promoted as often to full professor jobs in academic medical centers.
California Aid-In-Dying Bill Heads To Governor’s Desk
California would become the fifth state to allow doctors to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill patients who request it.
Medicare Yet To Save Money Through Heralded Medical Payment Model
The government expected accountable care organizations to save Medicare millions by now, but the program is falling short of targets, records show. KHN also has performance data for all 353 ACOs in 2014.
Calif. Lawmakers Approve Bill Requiring Drug Labeling In 5 Foreign Languages
If Gov. Jerry Brown signs the measure, all pharmacies will have to provide medication instructions in Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese, Vietnamese or Korean, the most common languages in California after English.
When The Hospital Is Boss, That’s Where Doctors’ Patients Go
Hospital ownership of doctors’ practices “dramatically increases” odds that a doctor will admit patients there instead of another, nearby hospital, researchers say.
Consumers With COBRA Coverage Should Weigh Moving To Health Law Plans
COBRA, which employees can buy when they leave a workplace if they pick up the entire cost of the plan, can be more expensive.
Poll: Americans Favor Government Action On Drug Prices
A majority of Americans would allow Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies and consumers to buy drugs from Canada.
Rural Hospitals Team Up To Survive
Dozens of rural hospitals have closed in recent years, prompting others to form alliances.
Bad Health Outcomes For Adults Who Don’t Get Help As Teens
Study reports adolescents’ unmet health care needs foreshadow problems later in life.
Pregnancy – A Touchy Subject In Employee Wellness Health Assessments
Pregnancy questions included in many wellness program questionnaires hit a nerve, and advocates are asking the Obama administration to ban these types of queries as part of a pending Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rule.
Big Push: Hospitals Turn To ‘Laborists’ For Safer Deliveries
More hospitals are hiring OB-GYNs to help handle births and obstetrical and gynecological emergencies.
Former Medicare Chief Named Top Health Insurance Lobbyist
Marilyn Tavenner, a former head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will lead America’s Health Insurance Plans, becoming the most prominent insurance industry lobbyist in the nation.
Lacking Votes, Calif. Assembly Shelves Aid-In-Dying Bill
Supporters said they will continue to work with Assembly members to build support for the bill, which would allow doctors to write lethal prescriptions for some terminally ill patients with less than six months to live.
High Court’s Decision On Same Sex Marriage Expected To Boost Health Coverage Among Gay Couples
By marrying partners with employer health plans, people in same-sex relationships are more likely to gain coverage.
