Latest KFF Health News Stories
Tragedia de Las Vegas plantea la capacidad de un hospital para atender a las víctimas
En la ciudad hay un solo centro de trauma, especializado en tratar a pacientes con lesiones severas producto de disparos, caídas o accidentes automovilísticos. Qué pasa a nivel nacional
Las Vegas Faced a Massacre. Did It Have Enough Trauma Centers?
Hospitals view adding trauma care as a potential profit tool, but experts say having more centers does not necessarily improve the system’s ability to respond to a mass casualty event.
As Care Shifts From Hospital To Home, Guarding Against Infection Falls To Families
Despite a lack of medical training, relatives increasingly are assigned complex, risky medical tasks at home, such as maintaining catheters. If done incorrectly, blood clots, infections, even death can result.
Without Price Breaks, Rural Hospitals Struggle To Stock Costly, Lifesaving Drugs
A federal drug program blocks rural hospitals from getting discounts on rare-disease drugs, forcing staff to cut back on supplies of lifesaving medicines.
Reporter’s Notebook: In Health Care, A Good Price (Or Any Price) Is Hard To Find
Not only are health prices hidden, industry players are contractually obligated to keep them secret. That’s why answering a simple question — how much does it cost to have a baby in Mountain View, Calif.? — became a journalistic quest.
Quiz: How Well Are You Paying Attention?
To strengthen your core knowledge of health care policy, it helps to be a regular reader of Kaiser Health News. Here’s a pop quiz to gauge what you have learned.
Guess Who Pays The Price When Hospital Giants Hire Your Private Practitioner?
Gobbling up doctors’ independent practices is lucrative for hospital systems — but not necessarily a good deal for the physicians or consumers, critics say. Northern California is a case in point.
How Below-The-Radar Mergers Fuel Health Care Monopolies
Most acquisitions by hospitals of physician practices are too small to trigger antitrust attention, study says. But a buying spree of “onesies and twosies” doctor practices has driven competition down and prices up.
Hospitals Slashed Use Of Two Heart Drugs After Huge Price Hikes
Hospital use of two popular heart medicines, nitroprusside and isoproterenol, dramatically dropped after the prices for both soared.
Under Trump, Hospitals Face Same Penalties Embraced By Obama
Federal records show that 2,573 hospitals around the country will have their Medicare payments reduced because they have too many patients readmitted.
In Appalachia, Two Hospital Giants Seek State-Sanctioned Monopoly
Tennessee and Virginia regulators are considering approval of a merger between Mountain States Health Alliance and Wellmont Health System under their state laws. If they allow it, the Federal Trade Commission would be powerless to stop it.
Cuando el cirujano opera a dos pacientes a la vez… en distintos quirófanos
Es una práctica común en hospitales universitarios, pero ahora defensores de los consumidores y expertos opinan que puede no ser segura para el paciente.
Double-Booked: When Surgeons Operate On Two Patients At Once
Simultaneous surgeries have ignited an impassioned debate in the medical community.
Senate GOP Bill Aims To Add Psych Beds; Squeeze On Medicaid Signals Their Undoing
The Senate health care bill has a provision to increase hospital beds for psychiatric care, but overall cuts in Medicaid could lead to even fewer beds nationwide.
Hospitals Ramp Up Hyperbaric Therapy For Diabetics, Despite Concerns
Medicare is trying to deter overuse of hyperbaric therapy, and some experts question its effectiveness for healing diabetic wounds, one of the treatment’s fastest-growing uses.
Deep Cuts To Medicaid Put Rural Hospitals In The Crosshairs
Since 2010, at least 79 rural hospitals have closed across the country, and nearly 700 more are at risk of closing. The Republican repeal of the health law could hasten their demise.
La nueva batalla contra la septicemia
Enfermeras especializadas se encargan de detectar la peligrosa infección a tiempo en pacientes hospitalizados, para prevenir desenlaces fatales.
Armed with strict guidelines and motivated by sheer urgency, a specialized team of nurses makes the rounds, seeking to thwart the No. 1 killer in U.S. hospitals.
Handshake-Free Zone: Keep Those Hands — And Germs — To Yourself In The Hospital
Health care workers and families are trying new ways of greeting people in two neonatal intensive care units at UCLA, hoping to reduce infections and protect fragile babies.
“Zonas libres de apretones de manos” para prevenir infecciones en hospitales
Las infecciones adquiridas en hospitales son un problema grave y a menudo se responsabiliza a las manos sucias de los trabajadores de salud. Una experiencia en California mostró una eficaz, aunque controversial forma, de prevenir la diseminación de gérmenes.
