Latest KFF Health News Stories
How Banks and Private Equity Cash In When Patients Can’t Pay Their Medical Bills
Hospitals strike deals with financing companies, generating profits for lenders, and more debt for patients.
Watch: As Health Costs Spike, the Role of Hospitals Often Gets Overlooked
A new documentary, “InHospitable,” explores how disputes between big hospitals can leave patients with few options for care and imperil their health.
Hospital Giant HCA Fends Off Accusations of Questionable Inpatient Admissions
The nation’s largest private health system, HCA Healthcare, has faced years of scrutiny over its share of emergency room patients who are admitted to the hospital. And now U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat from New Jersey, is calling for a federal investigation, prompting an escalating defense by the hospital system, based in Nashville, Tennessee.
¿No has visto a tu médico en años? Es posible que tengas que buscar un nuevo doctor
Muchas personas han estado postergando citas médicas, en especial durante la pandemia de covid, sin saber que corren el riesgo de perder a su doctor.
Haven’t Seen Your Doctor in a Few Years? You May Need to Find a New One
Some primary care physicians will drop seldom-seen patients. That’s a particular problem for those who postponed doctor visits during the pandemic.
Cash for Colonoscopies: Colorado Tries to Lower Health Costs Through Incentives
State employees could receive checks ranging from $50 to thousands of dollars if they choose the right provider.
Hospital Investigated for Allegedly Denying an Emergency Abortion After Patient’s Water Broke
Federal officials have ordered the probe after reports that a woman whose water broke at 18 weeks could not get medical care recommended by her doctors to end the pregnancy because hospital officials were concerned about Missouri’s strict abortion law.
Medicare Fines for High Hospital Readmissions Drop, but Nearly 2,300 Facilities Are Still Penalized
Federal officials said they are penalizing 2,273 hospitals, the fewest since the fiscal year that ended in September 2014. Driving the decline was a change in the formula to compensate for the chaos caused by the covid-19 pandemic.
“Cuarto trimestre”: período clave para prevenir las muertes maternas
La mayoría de las muertes maternas, hasta un 84%, podrían prevenirse, revela un nuevo análisis de los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enmfermedades.
‘Fourth Trimester’ Focus Is Pushed to Prevent Maternal Deaths
Public health investigators found that 53% of maternal deaths happened well after a mother left the hospital — from seven days to a year after the birth.
Readers and Tweeters Take Positions on Sleep Apnea Treatment
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Hospitals Said They Lost Money on Medicare Patients. Some Made Millions, a State Report Finds.
A North Carolina state treasurer’s report found hospitals give conflicting information about whether they profit from Medicare patients. Experts said the findings are significant because they suggest the federal government has failed to closely watch the billions of dollars in tax breaks that nonprofit hospitals have received.
A Billing Expert Saved Big After Finding an Incorrect Charge in Her Husband’s ER Bill
A medical billing specialist investigated her husband’s ER bill. Her sleuthing took over a year but knocked thousands of dollars off the hospital’s charges — and provides a playbook for other consumers.
For the Houma People, Displacement Looms With Every Storm
The Houma, an Indigenous tribe, has seen much of its Gulf Coast community washed away by rising sea levels and dangerous storms. Its leaders say the tribe’s lack of federal recognition makes it harder to keep rebuilding.
Labor Tries City-by-City Push in California for $25 Minimum Wage at Private Medical Facilities
Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West is testing the waters on a $25 minimum wage for support staff at health care facilities in Southern California. Opposition from hospitals and health facilities is driving an expensive battle.
Baby, That Bill Is High: Private Equity ‘Gambit’ Squeezes Excessive ER Charges From Routine Births
Hospitals, boosted by private equity-backed staffing companies, have embraced a new idea: the obstetrics emergency department. Often, it is just a triage room in the labor-and-delivery area, but it bills like the main emergency department.
As Giant Hospitals Get Bigger, an Independent Doctor Feels the Pinch
Independent medical practices keep closing as doctors join behemoth hospital groups or leave the field. Research suggests that’s bad news for patients. Studies repeatedly conclude that consolidation in the health care industry is driving up costs while showing no clear evidence of improved care.
‘Separate and Unequal’: Critics Say Newsom’s Pricey Medicaid Reforms Leave Most Patients Behind
MLK Community Hospital in South Los Angeles is surrounded by poverty, homeless encampments, and food deserts. Even though California Gov. Gavin Newsom is funneling billions of taxpayer money into an ambitious initiative to provide some low-income patients with social services, hospital executives and other critics say it won’t improve access to basic care.
Hospitals Have Been Slow to Bring On Addiction Specialists
Hospitals have specialists ready to offer consult and care for concerns from cancer to childbirth but often no one with expertise in addiction medicine. Patients with a history of substance use — who are discharged without care — are at risk for overdose.
Hurricane Ian Shows That Coastal Hospitals Aren’t Ready for Climate Change
Hundreds of medical centers along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts face serious risks from even relatively weak storms as climate change accelerates sea-level rise — not to mention big ones like Category 4 Hurricane Ian.
