Latest KFF Health News Stories
Tired Of Waiting For the Doctor? Try One That Gives Same-Day Appointments
Patients typically wait 20 minutes or more to see the doctor, the AMA says. But a new scheduling system that allows patients to see the doctor on the day they call for an appointment has surprising success in cutting that delay.
The End Of The Doctor’s Waiting Room
Dr. Dennis M. Dimitri, a family physician, runs an unusual office. Few appointments are accepted in advance – patients call in the morning and are assigned a time slot later that day and they don’t have to spend hours in a waiting room.
Hospitals Hope To Improve Outlook By Turning For-Profit
Deals in Detroit and Boston may be the leading edge of a trend, hospital analysts say.
In Texas, Rural Hospitals Ask For State Help
Rural health advocates asked state lawmakers Wednesday to help pay for improvements to rural hospitals in up to 42 Texas counties. Without state help, they said, the rural hospitals have no hope of doing necessary renovations to catch up to federal and state hospital codes.
Consumers Can Now Compare Hospitals On Medical Scans
The federal government recently handed consumers a new trove of data about how hospitals use their fancy medical scanners. The implicit message: Avoid hospitals that lean too heavily on devices that can expose you to radiation and other risks.
More Calls For Moderation In Use Of CT Scans
A pair of papers in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine add to a growing chorus urging doctors to be more judicious in their use of CT scans.
Heart Disease: Why Costs Rise as Prevention Improves
The number of people hospitalized or killed by serious heart attacks each year is down sharply, new studies show. The overall rate of hospitalization for heart disease is down, too. Experts attribute improving heart health to the decline in smoking, more people getting treated for high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and the greater attention many people now give to eating healthier foods and getting exercise. Prevention clearly pays off for those who pay attention.
Most Elite Medical Schools Rank Low On ‘Social Mission’
When it comes to “social mission,” traditionally high-ranked private medical schools are not as successful as public universities and historically black colleges.
Cutting C-Sections Helped Babies
Florida hospital administrators for years have said the state’s high rate of preterm births — and the infant health problems that result — are beyond their control. But that’s not true, as Tallahassee Memorial Hospital has proved.
Heart Problem Underscores Need to Test Competing Treatments
More than 2.2 million Americans have atrial fibrillation, the most common heart arrhythmia, but treatment choices vary widely
A Look At Comparative Effectiveness Research
Under the new health law, a nonprofit entity called the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute will be established to carry out a comparative effectiveness research agenda, starting in 2012. The law bars the government from using findings as the sole basis for decisions about what Medicare will cover.
Pregnant Women And New Mothers Will Get Benefits, Services Under Health Care Law
New health plans must cover tests, supplements for pregnant women, and home visits for young mothers.
Obama’s Health IT Leader Says Doctors Will Embrace Change
David Blumenthal is guiding the deployment of up to $27 billion in federal stimulus money to help doctors and hospitals implement health information technology. Proponents say the shift is critical to achieving goals of medical care quality and cost control.
Two Tiered Medical Care for Haves and Have Nots
A growing number of physicians are leaving traditional insurance-based practices to offer VIP treatment.
Groups Vie For A Piece Of Health Law’s $15 Billion Prevention Fund
Public health officials and a host of prevention and wellness groups have sharply different ideas about how to spend a big pot of new federal prevention money
Medicare Doctor Pay ‘Fix’ Deadline Looming – Again
For the third time this year, Congress has just days to avert a scheduled 21 percent cut in pay to doctors who treat seniors and others on the Medicare program. And no one seems to be able to figure out how to solve the problem in anything except a stopgap way.
Primary Care Docs Earn Less Than Specialists, But More Than We Do
Specialists make a lot more than doctors who are generalists, so-called primary care doctors. But the size of the gap might surprise you: Try more than $100,000 a year.
Cancer Patients’ Dilemma: Expensive Pills Vs. Invasive Chemo Treatment
Gaps in insurance policies make oral drugs too pricey for some cancer patients.
The Hidden Costs of Publicly Financed Private Health Insurance
There is a hidden cost how we fund health insurance in the U.S.: insurers have more information about health care than the taxpayers that help fund it. The system’s opacity gives insurers the upper hand in debates over government payment rates.
State Efforts To Move People Out Of Nursing Homes Languish
Former physical education teacher Andrew Jones, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, spent five years in nursing homes in Georgia and Connecticut. The 56-year-old was able to move out of the nursing home system in 2009 with the help of a federally-funded state program, known as “Money Follows the Person.”
