Latest KFF Health News Stories
Today’s Headlines – July 1, 2011
Happy Friday! Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations include decisions by Medicare officials on covering two expensive drugs and states struggling with budget cuts. The New York Times: Medicare Will Continue To Cover 2 Expensive Cancer Drugs Medicare confirmed on Thursday that it would continue to pay for two expensive cancer drugs that had […]
Insurance brokers won a round in their battle over the future of sales commissions on Thursday when a key committee of state insurance regulators voted to endorse a controversial bill now before Congress. The task force of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said they would endorse the bill — sponsored by Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. […]
Small Doc Groups Question Advantages of Health IT
The government is offering as much as $27 billion in incentives to doctors and hospitals to adopt electronic health records, but the question is whether those incentives will be enough. A new study published by the Center for Studying Health System Change and the National Institute for Health Care Reform illustrates the difficulty of getting […]
Reax To Appellate Decision Upholding Health Law
Yesterday’s 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the health law’s constitutionality has bloggers opining about what it might mean for a Supreme Court ruling and just who can count themselves the winner in the decision. Many consider a Republican appointee joining a Democratic appointee in upholding the constitutionality of the law as the most […]
A Hospital’s Newest Weapon Against Infection: Duct Tape
This story has been corrected to reflect new information from officials at Trinity Medical Center about isolation procedures and to correct a citation. In one year, infection specialists saved a Midwest hospital system $110,000 and 2,700 staff hours — by using duct tape. That effort at Trinity Medical Center, a group of four hospitals in […]
Public Willing To Accept Minor Medicare Cuts, Poll Finds
Most Americans are willing to accept some level of cuts in Medicare spending to keep the program financially sound or to ease the federal budget deficit, but they still balk at major reductions, according to a new survey released Thursday. The poll results show that public opinion on Medicare cuts remains malleable, subject to influence by […]
A Medicare Compromise; Improving Mental Health Policies
Every week, Kaiser Health News reporter Jessica Marcy selects interesting reading from around the Web. Time: What If There Was A Reasonable Compromise On Medicare? Sen. Joe Lieberman has found an ally for the middle-of-the-road Medicare reform proposal he laid out a few weeks ago. On Tuesday, the independent Senator from Connecticut and conservative Republican […]
Study: Small Doctors’ Practices Not ‘Home’ Yet
A study released Thursday on the Health Affairs website documents how far small- and medium-sized physicians’ practices have to go to create patient-centered medical homes. Under this model of care, primary care doctors manage all of a patient’s care and coordinate with the specialists. The Affordable Care Act encourages model homes as having potential to reduce […]
Today’s Headlines – June 30, 2011
Good Thursday morning! Here’s what we’re reading today: Today’s headlines include reports about yesterday’s decision from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the health law. The New York Times: Round 1 In Appeals Of Health Care Overhaul Goes to Obama The Obama administration prevailed Wednesday in the first appellate review of the 2010 health […]
Tracking Down Patients Who Skip Their Drugs
For doctors, pharmacists and other health care experts, it’s a bitter pill to swallow: nearly a quarter of people who get a prescription don’t bother to fill it. That gap leads to a variety of health issues, according to Marsha Raebel, a researcher for Kaiser Permanente’s Institute for Health Research in Denver. (KHN is not […]
Obama: Cut Medicare Spending, Don’t Harm Seniors
Democrats must make concessions to reduce spending on Medicare and other entitlement programs, President Obama said in a news briefing Wednesday, but he tempered calls for cuts with promises not to transfer costs to seniors. However, he did not allude specifically to how he would reduce Medicare spending in the short term, and expressed his […]
U.S. Health Surveys To Ask About Sexual Orientation
The government’s major health surveys would begin asking people to identify their sexual orientation under a proposal released today by the Obama administration. Under the proposal, the National Health Interview Survey and other major research tools would ask people to identify whether they are straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The idea was recommended by […]
Analyst: Nonprofit Blues Have Huge Reserves
Nonprofit Blue Cross Blue Shield plans are sitting on piles of cash – and consumers might see “premium holidays” or lower-than-expected increases as a result, a Wall Street analyst says in a report Wednesday. Nationwide, 33 nonprofit plans have almost $29 billion in capital reserves, according to analyst Carl McDonald of Citi Investment Research & […]
Today’s Headlines – June 29, 2011
Good morning! Here’s what we’re reading early this Wednesday: Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations include reports about a new plan offered by two senators to cut Medicare spending — but some top Democrats are lined up against it. The Washington Post: Top Democrats Reject New Plan To Cut Medicare Spending Leading […]
Next Gray Generation (Slightly) Better Off
As a group, the next generation of seniors will still have trouble paying for health care, but they’ll fare better than current retirees, according to a report released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Future retirees, the report said, will have slightly higher incomes, greater savings and more equity in their homes. But that doesn’t […]
For-Profit Hospices Get New Scrutiny As Costs Grow
Are for-profit companies driving up the cost of Medicare’s hospice benefit? After a decade in which most new hospices were started by corporations, half of Medicare-certified hospices are now for-profits. Concurrently, Medicare’s hospice costs have increased from $2.9 billion in 2000 to $12 billion in 2009, making it one of the fastest growing segments of […]
70 for Medicare? Unexpected Agreement
UPDATE 4:40 p.m.: Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., released a proposal Tuesday to overhaul Medicare that included an increase in the eligibility age to 67. ORIGINAL POST: Gail Wilensky and Bruce Vladeck rarely agree on anything, yet the two former Medicare administrators managed to find some common ground Tuesday in an idea […]
Patients Can Help Thwart Errors In Doctors’ Offices
Serious medical errors that result in malpractice payments are almost as common in outpatient settings like physicians’ offices and urgent care clinics as they are in hospitals, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Of 10,739 malpractice claims paid on behalf of doctors in 2009, 48 percent were for […]
Google Health Signing Off, Medicaid Funding And Planned Parenthood
With the launch of our new blog, Capsules, we’ve also resurrected Blogwatch, where we’ll track a variety of health policy blogs and give you the highlights in easy-to-swallow bites. I’m your new host, Andrew Villegas. Read your favorites or add to the conversation below: This week, bloggers are sounding off about the demise of Google Health, the Internet […]
Today Kaiser Health News launches a blog that will complement our coverage of health care policy and politics. Capsules will provide a new venue for staff-written news and observations, outside voices and commentary and other timely and interactive features. We look forward to your feedback and hope you will make Capsules an important part of your […]
