Latest KFF Health News Stories
Lung Cancer Screening Often Raises Costly, Scary False Alarms
An analysis of lung cancer screening finds that 21 to 33 percent of the suspicious nodules found by CT scans are false alarms, resulting in extra scans and biopsies, which cost an average of an extra $1,100.
Florida Finds ‘Dramatic’ Difference In Medicaid HMOs Vs. Traditional Care
Medicaid patients in traditional fee-for-service care get some services at two to three times the frequency of those who are in managed care, a preliminary state report suggests. What it doesn’t say: Is that good or bad?
The President’s Orders On Same-Sex Partners’ Hospital Visitation Rights
The White House released a copy of the memo sent by President Barack Obama to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on hospital visitors’ rights, including those for same-sex partners of patients.
Should ‘DNR’ Mean ‘Do Not Resign’?
Folks who say, “When I get that sick, unplug me, don’t let me suffer” have never learned how the end of life can be done better.
Developing Nations: Laboratories For Health Care Innovation
Without big budgets, developing nations have to be creative and flexible when it comes to health care. As a result, some interesting new technologies and techniques have emerged that Westernized countries have adopted.
Study: Back Pain Too Often Treated With Expensive Surgery
Too many people are getting complex back surgeries when more minimally-invasive procedures would work just as well. The number of these surgeries has increased by 15 times in five years. Overuse of medical care is one of the reasons the nation’s health bill is so high.
Interview with NIH Director Francis Collins
Video interview with physician-geneticist Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.
Primary Care Crisis Has Been A Long Time Coming
Calls for more primary care go all the way back to 1933 when the Journal of the American Medical Association noted “the overgrowth of specialism” and the “fadeout of the general practitioner.”
Transcript: President Obama’s Health Care Rally In Iowa
President Barack Obama’s speech on health reform takes place today, in Iowa. Read his speech, as released by the White House.
Primary Care Shortage Could Crimp Overhaul
For all the changes put in motion by yesterday’s historic vote passing health care overhaul, an expansion of coverage for tens of million of uninsured people raises a really big question: Who will take care of them all?
Figuring Out What A Hospital Can Get For Switching To Electronic Records
Beginning next year, tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer money will flow to doctors and hospitals to help them buy computerized medical record systems as part of the economic stimulus package. In a marketing pitch, one company is offering a calculator that shows how much money is on the line for a given facility.
Doctor Shortage Fuels Nurses’ Push For Expanded Role
Nurse practitioners – like Irene Cavall in North Carolina – are gaining support in their drive to play a larger primary care role. But the powerful AMA is waving a yellow caution flag before state regulators and legislators.
Let Women Decide On Medical Tests
It is entirely reasonable for women to decide to get mammograms beginning in their forties. It is also reasonable for them to decide against it, and neither guidelines nor their physician’s personal opinion
Ten Years Later: Look To Nurses As Champions of Patient Safety
Ten years ago this month, IOM’s ‘To Err Is Human’ cast a spotlight on the role of the nurse in keeping patients safe, a role that will become even more important under the ongoing effort to reform the health care system.
Kansas Medicaid Cuts Expected To Hinder Access To Care
Consumer advocates and others say it will only become harder for low-income Kansans to get medical services now that the state is cutting Medicaid payments by 10 percent.
Perhaps the political and media elite shouldn’t wait for an impending presidential election to pay attention to what Iowa has to say.
In Rural Kentucky, A Surprising Twist On The Health Debate
The people in Southeastern Kentucky have the poorest health in the country. Yet the area is rich with medical facilities. Health reform bills are unlikely to change much: One doctor says: “We have to transform the way we take care of people.”
Health Care In Hazard: Annie Fox
Health care has to be looked at in context, according to Annie Fox and Teana Burns of “Harlan Countians for a Healthy Community” in Kentucky.
Health Care In Hazard: Beverly May
Family nurse practitioner Beverly May, of the Kentucky Mountain Health Alliance, treats many patients with chronic diseases.
Health Care In Hazard: Gerry Roll
Gerry Roll says people don’t understand the health problems in southeastern Kentucky: “You can get whatever you need as far as traditional medical care goes. Yet we have the highest levels of chronic disease in the nation. So when I hear people talking about access to health care being a problem, I am livid.”
