Latest KFF Health News Stories
Hospital Care Unaffected By Quality Payments, GAO Finds
The Government Accountability Office found bonuses and penalties have been small, and hospital performance has been steady.
Hospital Workers Find Solace In Pausing After A Death
Sometimes, no matter how hard emergency workers try, nothing can save a patient. One nurse says after the frenzy stops, taking time to reflect on that death helps him cope. And the idea is spreading.
Under Pressure, Hospitals Push Physicians To Improve Their Bedside Manners
Motivated by financial incentives and consumer demands, medical centers are creating programs to infuse more compassion and understanding into the doctor-patient relationship.
New Hope Beats For Heart Patients And Hospitals
The number of heart valve surgeries has risen more than 50 percent since 2012, demonstrating the hospital industry’s record of finding new ways to fill beds and increase revenue even as advances in health and technology shrink demand for inpatient care. Still, patient risk and cost concerns persist.
When The Hospital Is Boss, That’s Where Doctors’ Patients Go
Hospital ownership of doctors’ practices “dramatically increases” odds that a doctor will admit patients there instead of another, nearby hospital, researchers say.
Doctor-Owned Hospitals Are Not Cherry-Picking Patients, Study Finds
The newest research goes against a variety of studies that have shown these facilities owned by physicians take some of the most profitable patients while leaving other hospitals with more complex and costly cases.
Texas Strives To Lure Mental Health Providers To Rural Counties
Over a hundred counties in Texas don’t have a mental health worker, affecting about 3 million Texans. A new loan repayment program may not be enough to recruit them to rural areas.
A Third Of Ga. Pediatricians Join Together To Form Network To Improve Care
The new physician-led network will allow pediatricians to improve care for Georgia children by sharing best practice standards and expand their billing options for insurance, advocates say.
Heart-Attack Patients More Likely To Die After Ambulances Are Diverted
A study finds patients who suffered heart attacks in California were more likely to die within a year if their ambulances were diverted from the closest emergency room.
Rest Assured, Surgeons’ Late-Night Work Doesn’t Cause Patients Harm, Study Says
Findings from Canada challenge earlier research on sleep deprivation’s effects on physicians.
Katrina Shut Down Charity Hospital But Led To More Primary Care
When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, many health facilities were destroyed or shut down, including urgent care centers, nursing homes, pharmacies and hospitals. But a new network of renovated and newly built primary care health clinics has opened, which many hope will bring stability to the health care of the city’s low-income residents.
Rural Hospitals Team Up To Survive
Dozens of rural hospitals have closed in recent years, prompting others to form alliances.
The Hospital Is In Network, But Not The Doctor: N.Y. Tries New Balance Billing Law
Consumers in New York are getting new protections against “balance billing,” where insurers bill patients for the difference between what insurers pay and what providers want, and states considering similar laws are watching closely.
For Hospitals, Sleep And Patient Satisfaction May Go Hand In Hand
As hospitals try to improve their consumer ratings, many are revisiting nighttime policies to help patients maximize their chances to get some rest.
Study Casts Doubt On Assumptions About Hospital ‘Frequent Fliers’
New research finds that patients who repeatedly use costly hospital and emergency room services, known often as super-utilizers or frequent fliers, generally don’t seek such intense care for a lifetime but instead for a short period of time.
Emergency Departments Are On The Frontline Of The Flu
More patients with the flu are seeking care at the emergency room this year, and despite the 112 million Americans who have gotten a flu shot, it remains to be seen if this year’s version will be just bad or historically bad.
Interactive: Readmission Rates And Poverty Levels For Individual Hospitals
This interactive chart compares the heart failure readmission rates and patient population poverty levels for more than 3,000 hospitals.
Seven Hospitals Share Distinction Of Highest Readmission Rates
As Medicare prepares to start punishing hospitals with higher-than-average readmissions, seven hospitals have a particularly dubious distinction: higher-than-average rates for three kinds of patients. These hospitals all had worse readmission rates than the average hospital for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia patients — the three categories Medicare tracks. The hospitals were: San Juan VA […]
