Latest KFF Health News Stories
Table: Hospital Patient Satisfaction Ratings By Region
Hospital patients in different parts of the country give different ratings to their hospital experiences. The table below shows the average ratings patients gave in 294 regional hospital markets as calculated by Kaiser Health News.
Today’s Headlines – Nov. 7, 2011
Good morning! Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports on venture capitalists’ new interest in companies that can curb health costs and concerns among states on implementing the federal health law. NPR: Raising Medicare Age Could Lead To Higher Costs Congress’s so-called deficit reduction “supercommittee” is down to the final weeks of […]
Few Americans Think Health Is Improving In The U.S.
Public skepticism about health isn’t confined to doubts about last year’s health care law: Most Americans also think the overall health of the public isn’t improving, according to a new poll commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The poll found that 45 percent of people thought the health of Americans had become worse during […]
Apology For A Death Sparked A Hospital’s Change
Every week, reporter Jessica Marcy selects interesting reading from around the Web. The Boston Globe Magazine: The C-Section Boom I was the obstetrician on hospital duty that Sunday morning, so I introduced myself and learned that the patient, pregnant with her first child, wished to have as few interventions as possible. Respecting her desire, we […]
Today’s Headlines – Nov. 4, 2011
Happy Friday! Autumn is taking over, but the super committee continues to rule the news. Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the super committee’s apparent impasse, and details on Mitt Romney’s plan to cut the deficit. The Washington Post: Debt- Reduction Supercommittee Talks Appear To Be At An Impasse […]
Immigrant Populations Growing — In More Ways Than One
America seems to be detrimental to the health of Hispanic immigrant populations — and the longer they are here the worse it is. New data show that as they settle into American lifestyles, Hispanic immigrants are diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes and obesity at almost the same rate as those born in the U.S. Hispanic immigrants who […]
Advocates: Don’t Scrap Minority Health Training Programs
Even as experts stress the need to provide more culturally competent care for the nation’s burgeoning Hispanic population, Congress is poised to reduce or eliminate some of the programs that fund training of minority students for careers in health care. Federally funded programs called Title VII and VIII are on the chopping block in both […]
Today’s Headlines – Nov. 3, 2011
Good morning world! Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about a bipartisan group of lawmakers who are urging the super committee to consider “all options.” The New York Times: Deficit Committee Could Seek More Time, A Top Democrat Says A top House Democrat said Wednesday that a bipartisan committee seeking ways […]
Price (Bill) Is Right For Cain’s Health Fix
Following an immediate repeal of the health law, Herman Cain as president would sign a replacement bill designed to reduce costs and increase coverage with less government involvement. The measure embraced by Cain on Wednesday was first offered in 2009 by Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., and was reintroduced this September. It has 19 House Republican cosponsors. “It’s the […]
Today’s Headlines – Nov. 2, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about Tuesday’s super committee hearing and the message communicated by bipartisan budget hawks to the panel — raise revenue and revamp health programs. The Associated Press/Washington Post: Bipartisan Budget Hawks To Debt-Cutting Panel: Raise Revenue, Revamp Health Programs Four prominent deficit-cutters told Congress’ bipartisan […]
Cain On Health Care: What To Expect From Capitol Hill Speech
When GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain comes face-to-face with a crowd of legislators and news reporters Wednesday, the subject will be health care policy, not sexual harassment- – if Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, has his way. Burgess is bringing Cain to Capitol Hill to flesh out his health care ideas, which so far have been […]
Medicare will cut payment rates to home health agencies by 2.3 percent in 2012 — the sixth consecutive annual decrease in fees to the industry. The decision, which will lop off an estimated $430 million from the program next year, follows concerns by a congressional advisory panel that the agencies are overpaid. Home health advocates […]
Today’s Headlines – Nov. 1, 2011
Good morning. Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations include a report that the health law’s early retirees’ health insurance fund may be running out. Politico: Social Forces May Limit Health Care Reform The health care reform law gives federal health officials a new mandate to address the fact that racial and ethnic minorities […]
Health Expert Urges States To Slow The Move To Medicaid Managed Care
As more states turn to managed care to reduce Medicaid costs, Judy Feder is urging caution. Feder, a professor at and former dean of the Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute , is worried that officials’ enthusiasm for managed care in Medicaid “might get out of hand,” and she is urging them to move slowly when […]
Today’s Headlines – Oct. 31, 2011
Happy Halloween! Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about a key medical group’s take on accountable care organizations and how a “merger wave” is hitting the health care sector. Los Angeles Times: Deficit Reduction Panel Reaches Crucial Juncture The super committee has until Thanksgiving to reach an accord. A deal to […]
Medical Schools Say Magazine’s Ratings Get An Incomplete
Deans from some of the nation’s top medical schools met Thursday — not to talk about training doctors or weathering economic challenges — but to size up the people who grade them. The sit-down between editors at U.S. News & World Report and the top brass at Harvard, Yale, Columbia and several other schools showed […]
Doctor-Patient Relationship Has Starring Role In AMA Ad
Keep an eye out during the evening news, or even your favorite show on Lifetime, because the American Medical Association is taking to primetime news and cable to fight Medicare physician payment cuts. Doctors face a 29.5 percent payment cut Jan. 1 if Congress doesn’t intervene. The AMA ran ads explicitly against the cut in […]
Looking For The Inventor Of The Individual Mandate
Every week, reporter Jessica Marcy selects interesting reading from around the Web. The Atlantic: Did A Conservative Think Tank Really Invent The Individual Mandate? In the course of defending the health care bill he passed in Massachusetts, Mitt Romney told Newt Gingrich that he got the idea for the individual mandate — a rule dictating that […]
Today’s Headlines – Oct. 28, 2011
Happy Friday! Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the health law’s public support, the latest on the super committee and news about the cost of Medicare Part B premiums. The Wall Street Journal: Repeal Health Law? It Won’t Be Easy Every Republican presidential candidate has promised to repeal the Obama […]
A Tweak To Health Law Would Eliminate Medicaid For Some
Should the middle class be eligible for Medicaid? The health program, funded jointly by the feds and the states, was devised to cover the poor. But if a provision in last year’s health law isn’t changed that could be the case for people with pretty healthy incomes. So today, the House approved a bill that would make […]
