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Latest KFF Health News Stories

A Work-From-Home Culture Takes Root in California

KFF Health News Original

New U.S. Census Bureau data shows a large segment of Californians are working from home for part or all of the week. Researchers say the shift will ripple through the broader economy in ways big and small.

Hospital Giant HCA Fends Off Accusations of Questionable Inpatient Admissions

KFF Health News Original

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.

Medicare Fines for High Hospital Readmissions Drop, but Nearly 2,300 Facilities Are Still Penalized

KFF Health News Original

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.

California and New York Aim to Curb Diet Pill Sales to Minors

KFF Health News Original

California and New York would be the first states to require anyone under 18 to obtain prescriptions to purchase over-the-counter weight loss products, which some research has linked to eating disorders.

Newborns Get Routine Heel Blood Tests, but Should States Keep Those Samples?

KFF Health News Original

Shortly after birth, babies are pricked in the heel so their blood can be tested for life-threatening conditions. States generally save leftover blood from those samples, and parents and privacy experts are concerned that information could be used without consent years later.

Biden’s FTC Has Blocked 4 Hospital Mergers and Is Poised to Thwart More Consolidation Attempts

KFF Health News Original

The president has directed the Federal Trade Commission to carefully consider health industry mergers that may stymie competition and drive up prices. The new Democratic majority appears eager to look beyond traditional hospital consolidations to deals that involve products, services, or staffing.

Patients With Epilepsy Navigate Murky Unregulated CBD Industry

KFF Health News Original

The FDA has approved a cannabis-derived drug, Epidiolex, to treat some forms of epilepsy. Now people who have other forms of the condition are using over-the-counter CBD products in hopes of taming their seizures. But doctors and patients worry about the unregulated world of CBD, in which product ingredients can be a mystery.

Persistent Problem: High C-Section Rates Plague the South

KFF Health News Original

Some U.S. states have reduced use of the procedure, including by sharing C-section data with doctors and hospitals. But change has proved difficult in the South, where women are generally less healthy heading into their pregnancies and maternal and infant health problems are among the highest in the U.S.

Hospitales enfrentan más casos de covid en personas ya hospitalizadas, con menos personal

KFF Health News Original

Las infecciones están exacerbando algunas condiciones médicas y dificultando la reducción de la propagación de covid dentro de las paredes del hospital, especialmente porque los pacientes se presentan en etapas más tempranas y más infecciosas de la enfermedad.

Incidental Cases and Staff Shortages Make Covid’s Next Act Tough for Hospitals

KFF Health News Original

As omicron sweeps the country, many hospitals are dealing with a flood of people hospitalized with covid — including those primarily admitted for other reasons. While often milder cases, so-called incidental covid infections still drain the beleaguered health care workforce and can put them and other patients at higher risk for contracting covid.

Left Behind: Medicaid Patients Say Rides to Doctors Don’t Always Come

KFF Health News Original

States are required to set up transportation to medical appointments for adults, children and people with disabilities enrolled in the Medicaid program, and contracts can be worth tens of millions of dollars for transportation companies. But patients say the companies that deliver those rides are showing up late — and sometimes not at all — leaving them in bad weather, disrupting their care and even causing injuries.