Latest KFF Health News Stories
Big Bills A Hidden Side Effect Of Cancer Treatment
High deductible health insurance plans and soaring drug costs make cancer a tremendous financial burden for many patients.
Tougher Vaccine Exemption Bill In Calif. Clears First Hurdle
The state Senate health committee passed the bill after a debate that drew several hundred protesters to Sacramento.
Advocates And Experts Debate Need For More Regulation Of Fertility Services
A new Utah law allowing children conceived via sperm donation to see the medical histories of their fathers is seen as an exception to otherwise light regulation of assisted reproductive technology in states.
UCLA Bacteria Outbreak Highlights The Challenges Of Curbing Infections
The lethal infection is one of three that the CDC says urgently require close monitoring and prevention to halt their spread.
Nearly Half Of South Florida Hospitals Below CDC Standards On Infections
The ratings are part of a national effort to cut down on the most common infections patients contract in hospitals.
Popularity Of Outpatient Surgery Centers Leads To Questions About Safety
The recent death of Joan Rivers, who suffered cardiac arrest at a center in New York, highlights some of the concerns among consumer advocates.
Patients At Seven Miami-Dade Hospitals Are More Likely To Develop Infections
The data comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tracks six types of frequently occurring infections in hospitals as part of an effort to reduce them.
Most Illinois Medicaid Patients Denied New Hepatitis C Drugs
Spending for the medications dropped from $1 million per week to about $200,000 per week after the state imposed restrictions.
Hospitals’ Struggles To Beat Back Familiar Infections Began Before Ebola Arrived
Each year about 75,000 patients die from infections they caught in the hospital. A KHN analysis of federal data shows that nearly 700 hospitals have higher than expected rates of infection for at least one condition.
What CDC Can Do To Fight Ebola
The Ebola epidemic in Africa and fears of it spreading in the U.S. have turned the nation’s attention to the federal government’s front-line public health agency: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But as with Ebola itself, there is much confusion about the role of the CDC and what it can and cannot do to prevent and contain the spread of disease.
How One U.S. Hospital Braces For Ebola
This story is part of a partnership that includes WNPR, NPR and Kaiser Health News. It can be republished for free. (details) Dr. Jack Ross is used to seeing potentially lethal viruses, and he is used to putting patients into isolation. Still, Ebola is different. “I think, for any hospital today, Ebola represents one step higher than anything […]
For Gay Men, Gaps In HIV Knowledge And Treatment Persist
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) Saturday is National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, but the news about knowledge and treatment of HIV in the gay community is dispiriting. Just 30 percent of gay and bisexual men say they were tested for HIV within the last year as recommended; another 30 percent […]
In Onscreen Dramas, Health Experts Inject A Dose Of Reality
Hollywood center taps medical authorities to answer producers’ questions on everything from autism to tuberculosis.
CDC Survey Finds Drop In Uninsured
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) UPDATED AT 12:10 P.M. The federal government’s first survey of the nation’s insured rate since the health care law’s new marketplaces began found a decrease in the number of adults without coverage, particularly among young adults. The National Health Interview Survey of people during the first […]
Stigma Is A Side-Effect Of HIV-Prevention Medicine
Truvada is a drug that can help people who are not infected avoid contracting the virus that causes AIDS. But some patients are worried the medical community is not up to speed.
Detroit’s Maternal Death Rate Is Triple The Nation’s
Experts hope to see it decline as more women gain coverage through the federal health care law and become better educated about their bodies.
How Illinois Has Spent $56M From Health Law’s Prevention Fund
The health law seeks to reduce health care costs by spending more money on prevention and wellness efforts.
Ohio Amish Reconsider Vaccines Amid Measles Outbreak
County health officials are scrambling to set up immunization clinics for thousands after 341 cases in Ohio have swept through the Amish communities in the central part of the state.
More Than 750 Hospitals Face Medicare Crackdown On Patient Injuries
The 1 percent cut in payments is the latest effort by the federal government to improve hospital care.
Methodology: How Hospital-Acquired Conditions Are Calculated
Before assessing penalties, Medicare assesses rates of infection among patients with catheters in major veins and in the bladder and eight other patient injuries, such as blood clots, bed sores and accidental falls.
