Latest KFF Health News Stories
Las Vegas Faced a Massacre. Did It Have Enough Trauma Centers?
Hospitals view adding trauma care as a potential profit tool, but experts say having more centers does not necessarily improve the system’s ability to respond to a mass casualty event.
For Some Refugees, Women’s Health Care Is A Culture Shock
Refugee women from conservative Muslim countries can be shocked by some U.S. medical conventions — like trusting a male doctor to care for them.
As Loyal Donors Age, Industry Is Out For Young Blood
Nearly 60 percent of the U.S. blood supply is provided by people older than 40 — and most of that is from folks in their 50s and 60s. Why is it so hard to find young donors?
California Scrambles To Contain ‘Unprecedented’ Hepatitis A Outbreaks
Hundreds of people, most of them homeless, have been infected. In San Diego County, where 17 people have died, critics fault authorities for being slow to act.
Nowhere To Go: Young People With Severe Autism Languish In Hospitals
Some teens and young adults are spending weeks or even months in retrofitted emergency rooms — even in mesh-covered tents — until specialized care can be found. ‘It’s a huge problem,’ one doctor says.
Open Your Mouth And Say Goo-Goo: Dentists Treating Ever-Younger Patients
A shift in dental guidelines encourages first dental visits for infants as young as 6 months, or when the first baby teeth emerge. That makes some dentists uncomfortable.
Nursing Home Disaster Plans Often Faulted As ‘Paper Tigers’
Too often enforcement of rules for dealing with crisis is lax, advocates for nursing home residents say.
As Care Shifts From Hospital To Home, Guarding Against Infection Falls To Families
Despite a lack of medical training, relatives increasingly are assigned complex, risky medical tasks at home, such as maintaining catheters. If done incorrectly, blood clots, infections, even death can result.
Meningitis B Vaccine’s High Price Poses A Health Care Conundrum For College-Bound
This immunization may mark a shift among some vaccine makers to higher-priced, “niche” preventives that protect against very specific and sometimes rare illnesses.
Hurricane’s Health Toll: A Texas Doctor Taps Lessons From Katrina
After weathering the catastrophe in New Orleans 12 years ago, Dr. Ruth Berggren moved to Texas, where she again finds herself in the center of a hurricane crisis. In a Q&A, she draws parallels between the harrowing events and pinpoints risks in Harvey’s aftermath.
Another Way For Anti-Vaxxers To Skip Shots For Schoolkids: A Doctor’s Note
No longer able to get exemptions for personal beliefs in California, parents opposed to inoculations seem to be obtaining medical exemptions for their children, according to a new study.
Writing Your Way Through Cancer
A breast cancer survivor and author has helped numerous patients explore the feelings awakened by their disease — and feel better.
Home Visits Help New Parents Overcome Tough Histories, Raise Healthy Children
A program that provides $400 million in federal funding for the visits expires next month. Advocates and providers hope it will be reauthorized with a higher level of funding — but some worry that might not happen.
Gun Sellers Join Forces To Curb Suicide-By-Firearm, Rampant In Rural Areas
New research suggests that efforts to address climbing rates of rural suicide must focus on safe access to firearms. State-based coalitions are attempting just that.
Colon Cancer Rates Rising Among Younger White Adults — And Falling Among Blacks
Although deaths from colorectal cancer are declining, researchers find rates of the disease among white men and women younger than 55 have spiked since the mid-1990s.
South Texas Fights Tuberculosis One Blood Test At A Time
A Medicaid-funded effort in San Antonio seeks to test vulnerable populations for latent TB infections.
Health Gap Widens Between Appalachia And Rest Of The U.S.
In the early 1990s, people in this economically depressed region lagged only slightly behind other parts of the country. Today, rates of infant mortality in Appalachia are significantly higher than elsewhere, and the difference in life expectancy has grown noticeably.
Congress Revamps Housing Program To Benefit Areas Where HIV Is Spreading
The small federal program once based funding on an area’s cumulative number of cases. It will now be more responsive to places where new outbreaks are occurring.
‘Bureaucratic Ninjas’ Slice Red-Tape To Battle Health Disparities
A person’s ZIP code can be as important to her health as her genetic code. One large health system has begun to tackle the social challenges that influence a person’s health by asking questions and giving extra help to people in need.
Paid Parental Leave May Be The Idea That Transcends Politics
The Trump administration’s 2018 budget calls for a national paid-leave plan for parents after the birth or adoption of a child. It’s not clear yet whether congressional Republicans will agree.
