KFF Health News On NPR

Eerie Emptiness Of ERs Worries Doctors As Heart Attack And Stroke Patients Delay Care

Emergency department volumes are down 40 to 50 percent across the country. Doctors worry a new wave of cardiac patients is headed their way — people who have delayed care and will be sicker and more injured when they finally seek care.

Before ‘Tidal Wave’ Of Illness, Nursing Home Thought It Had COVID-19 Contained

Though it already had one staff member testing positive for the coronavirus, the Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing did not tell 911 operators this fact as it called ambulances to take residents in respiratory distress to the hospital, a WPLN investigation reveals.

Why Hoarding Of Hydroxychloroquine Needs To Stop

Six states — Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas —  have taken steps to limit inappropriate prescriptions for the medicine and preserve supplies for patients who take it for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Listen: The Hard-Knock Health Law Turns 10 Amid Pandemic

On the 10th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, Kaiser Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner and Kaiser Family Foundation Executive Vice President Larry Levitt put the law in perspective.

Trusting Injection Drug Users With IV Antibiotics At Home: It Can Work

When patients need long-term treatment with intravenous antibiotics, hospitals usually let them manage their treatment at home — but not if they have a history of injection drug use. A Boston program wants to change that.

Appendicitis Is Painful — Add A $41,212 Surgery Bill To The Misery

A young man averted medical disaster after a friend took him to the nearest hospital just before his appendix burst. But more than a year later, he’s still facing a $28,000 balance bill for his out-of-network surgery.

Le cobran $41,212 por sacarle el apéndice

Nadie le dijo que el hospital estaba fuera de la red del plan médico que tenía a través de su trabajo. En cualquier caso, no hubiera podido irse a otro lugar. Su apéndice estaba a punto de reventar.

Response To Nation’s 1st Coronavirus Case Draws On Lessons From Measles Outbreak

When the first confirmed U.S. patient was pinpointed in Washington state, health clinic workers there weren’t rattled. They were prepped by new statewide protocols on contagion containment, in the wake of last year’s measles scare.