Latest News On Emergency Medicine

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Federal Program to Save Rural Hospitals Feels ‘Growing Pains’

KFF Health News Original

Fewer than two dozen rural hospitals were converted into Rural Emergency Hospitals in the program’s first year. Now, advocates and lawmakers say tweaks to the law are necessary to lure more takers and keep health care in rural communities.

Listen to ‘Tradeoffs’: How the Loss of a Rural Hospital Compounds the Collapse of Care

KFF Health News Original

Six years ago, the hospital in Fort Scott, Kansas, shuttered, leaving residents in the small community without a cornerstone health care institution. In the years since, despite new programs meant to save small hospitals, dozens of other communities have watched theirs close.

What a Bison Goring Can Teach Us About Rural Emergency Care

KFF Health News Original

Millions of Americans live in “ambulance deserts” — areas that are more than a 25-minute drive to the nearest emergency medical services (EMS) station. The most rural areas can be more than an hour away from help.   These sparsely populated communities can have trouble sustaining ambulance services, if small patient volumes and low reimbursements […]

As Foundation for ‘Excited Delirium’ Diagnosis Cracks, Fallout Spreads

KFF Health News Original

Major policy changes and disavowals have made this a watershed year for curbing the use of the discredited “excited delirium” diagnosis to explain deaths in police custody. Now the ripple effects are spreading across the country into court cases, state legislation, and police training classes.

An Arm and a Leg: ‘Your Money or Your Life’: This Doctor Wrote the Book on Medical Debt

Podcast

What happens when you can’t afford the health care you need? On this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” hear from emergency medicine physician and historian Luke Messac about the history of medical debt collection in the United States.

For People With Sickle Cell Disease, ERs Can Mean Life-Threatening Waits

KFF Health News Original

When patients with sickle cell disease have a health crisis — crescent-shaped red blood cells blocking blood flow — their condition can quickly lead to a fatal stroke or infection. But, despite efforts to educate doctors, research shows that patients are waiting hours in ERs and are often denied pain medication.

Doctors Abandon a Diagnosis Used to Justify Police Custody Deaths. It Might Live On, Anyway.

KFF Health News Original

The American College of Emergency Physicians agreed to withdraw its 2009 white paper on excited delirium, removing the only official medical pillar of support left for the theory that has played a key role in absolving police of culpability for in-custody deaths.

More Schools Stock Overdose Reversal Meds, but Others Worry About Stigma

KFF Health News Original

Colorado is among several states that ensure schools have access to the opioid overdose reversal medication naloxone for free or at reduced cost. But most districts hadn’t signed up by the start of the school year for a state distribution program amid stigma around the lifesaving treatment.

Más escuelas tienen el medicamento para revertir sobredosis, pero otras se preocupan por el estigma

KFF Health News Original

La Administración de Salud Mental y Abuso de Sustancias federal recomienda que las escuelas, incluidas las primarias, tengan naloxona disponible, ante el aumento de las sobredosis mortales de opioides, especialmente de la potente droga fentanilo.

Police Blame Some Deaths on ‘Excited Delirium.’ ER Docs Consider Pulling the Plug on the Term.

KFF Health News Original

The American College of Emergency Physicians will vote in early October on whether to disavow its 2009 research paper on excited delirium, which has been cited as a cause of death and used as a legal defense by police officers in several high-profile cases.

Watch: In Emergencies, First Comes the Ambulance. Then Comes the Bill.

KFF Health News Original

This installment of InvestigateTV and KFF Health News’ “Costly Care” series delves into the lack of cost protections for patients who find themselves on the hook for an emergency ground ambulance ride.

Life in a Rural ‘Ambulance Desert’ Means Sometimes Help Isn’t on the Way

KFF Health News Original

No local hospital and anemic ambulance services mean residents in rural Pickens County, Alabama, are thrown into perilous situations when they have medical emergencies. It’s a kind of medical care roulette that has become a fact of life for rural Americans who live in ambulance deserts.

California Debates Extending PTSD Coverage to More First Responders

KFF Health News Original

A state Senate bill would extend workers’ compensation coverage of post-traumatic stress injuries for firefighters and police officers. But a separate bill to cover paramedics and EMTs is unlikely to be heard.