Patients Get Stranded Out of Network as Insurer-Hospital Contract Talks Fall Apart
As hospital systems and insurers adjust to the pandemic, their contract negotiations grow increasingly fraught. Contracts for in-network care are ending without a new deal, leaving patients suddenly with out-of-network bills or scrambling to find new in-network providers.
Journalists Follow Leads on Curbing Violence, Improving Psych Care and Crowdsourcing Covid Safety
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Uninsured in South Would Win Big in Democrats’ Plan, but Hospitals Fear Funding Loss
The latest iteration of President Joe Biden’s social-spending package would close the health insurance gap for at least 2.2 million people, making a huge difference especially in the South, where political opposition has blocked Medicaid expansion.
Understaffed State Psychiatric Facilities Leave Mental Health Patients in Limbo
The pandemic has so seriously strained already tight state psychiatric hospitals in Georgia, Virginia, Texas and elsewhere that these facilities for the poorest and most vulnerable people with mental illness struggle to admit new patients.
Grupos en redes sociales ofrecen información local sobre el seguimiento de las normas de covid
Este tipo de vigilantes de covid han surgido en múltiples ciudades, apareciendo donde las directrices de seguridad son laxas a pesar del elevado número de casos positivos.
The Yelp of Covid: Vigilantes Crowdsource Pandemic Safety Tips for Consumers
Using a local approach, everyday people in cities without strict mask mandates take covid-19 safety into their own hands to protect themselves and their neighbors.
Reluctant Localities Are Being Dragged Into Court to Fix Sidewalks for People With Disabilities
Hundreds of towns, cities and states across the U.S. have ignored part of the Americans With Disabilities Act, and now it’s costing them billions of dollars to comply.
Trabajadores de salud alertan sobre el aumento de la violencia en hospitales
Trabajadores de salud piden una legislación federal que los proteja de los crecientes episodios de violencia, que aumentaron durante la pandemia de covid-19.
‘Are You Going to Keep Me Safe?’ Hospital Workers Sound Alarm on Rising Violence
Health care workers already bore the brunt of workplace violence in the U.S. Now, tensions from an exhausting pandemic are spilling over into hospitals.
Solitary Confinement Condemns Many Prisoners to Long-Term Health Issues
An estimated 300,000 people were held in solitary confinement in U.S. jails and prisons at the height of the pandemic. An international movement is pushing to limit the form of incarceration due to its damaging physical and psychological effects.
Low Wages and Pandemic Gut Staffing Support for Those With Disabilities
Group homes and facilities that serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities were hurting for staffers before the pandemic. Now the nationwide job crunch and pandemic pressures are making it even worse.
Mounting Covid Deaths Fuel School Bus Drivers’ Fears
Since August, school bus drivers and monitors have died of covid-19 in at least 10 states, including Georgia and Florida. Masks are required on school buses, but enforcing the rules in districts without school mask mandates is especially hard to do.
Georgia Eyes New Medicaid Contract. But How Is the State Managing Managed Care?
More than 40 states have turned to managed-care companies to control costs in their Medicaid programs, which cover low-income residents and people with disabilities. As Georgia prepares to open bidding on a new contract, the question looms: Has this model paid off?
Telemedicine Abortions Offer Cheaper Options but May Also Undermine Critical Clinics
A change in FDA rules during the pandemic has let women receive the drugs needed for a medical abortion by mail after a telemedicine appointment. While some abortion rights advocates hail the move, others note that these services, which are often cheaper than going to a clinic, could siphon away patients needed to keep those brick-and-mortar facilities operating.
States Pull Back on Covid Data Even Amid Delta Surge
As covid case numbers rise nationwide, Georgia and some other states have restricted the case count data they share publicly.
Biden’s No-Jab-No-Job Order Creates Quandary for Nursing Homes
Nursing home operators acknowledge that large numbers of staff members are not getting the shots but fear a federal vaccination mandate could drive away workers in a tight labor market.
Government Oversight of Covid Air Cleaners Leaves Gaping Holes
Thousands of schools have spent millions of federal covid relief dollars snapping up air cleaning technology that claims to inactivate covid-19. But the devices fall into a regulatory gap.
Peligran avances contra el VIH por la lucha contra covid, en especial en el sur del país
El impacto exacto de una pandemia sobre la otra todavía está por evaluarse, pero los datos preliminares inquietan a expertos que hasta hace poco celebraban los enormes avances en el tratamiento del VIH.
Strides Against HIV/AIDS Falter, Especially in the South, as Nation Battles Covid
Public health resources have shifted from one pandemic to the other, and experts fear steep declines in testing and diagnoses mean more people will contract HIV and die of AIDS.
Airports Step Up Mental Health Assistance as Passenger Anxiety Soars
As more people return to air travel, tension is mounting in airports nationwide. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson is among those that have responded to the pandemic-related stress and fear among passengers and employees by offering services such as meditation, chaplains and other help in their terminals.
