Latest KFF Health News Stories
This New Stroke Treatment Acts Like A Plumber Snagging A Clog Out Of A Drain
A standard drug for treating strokes only works in a minority of patients, and only if its administered in the first hours after a stroke. This new procedure if administered quickly allows some patients in the midst of a massive stroke to walk out of the hospital on their own without any serious, lasting effects. In other public health news: donating an organ to a stranger, yo-yo dieting, yellow fever, deer antler tea, compulsory flu shots and more.
‘I’m Tired Of Losing My Patients’: Medical Society Approves Safe Injection Site Pilot Program
As the opioid crisis rages on, these supervised injection facilities provide people a place to take the drugs under medical supervision. Media outlets report on the epidemic out of New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia, as well.
Judge’s Decision To Block Anthem’s Bid To Take Over Rival Cigna Upheld By Appeals Court
The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit likely dooms an acquisition bid that has lasted nearly two years.
HHS Deal With Florida For Hospital Money Undercuts Pressure To Expand Medicaid
The Trump administration has promised to restore money for Florida hospitals that have high uncompensated costs for caring for people that could have been covered by a Medicaid expansion. In Ohio, the Legislature is considering cutting back the Medicaid expansion to gain support for a budget deal and delaying the governor’s plan to move long-term care Medicaid patients to managed care plans.
Prominent Anti-Abortion Leader Appointed To High-Level HHS Position
Charmaine Yoest will serve as assistant secretary of public affairs. President Donald Trump is also expected to name another anti-abortion activist to a post that oversees family planning funding.
Rep. Slaughter Offers Bill To Tighten ‘Ethics Loopholes’ On Congressional Stock Trading
Controversial purchases of stock in an Australian drug company by Reps. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) and Tom Price (R-Ga.), now the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, prompted the move, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) says. Also on Capitol Hill, Democrats press a bill that would ban “conversion therapy” treatments to change a person’s sexual orientation.
Repeal Takes On A Now-Or-Never Urgency As Window To Use Reconciliation Rules Narrows
Once Republicans pass a new spending blueprint, they lose their authority provided by the current budget to approve health care reform using the majority-vote tool called reconciliation. Leadership continues to suggest that they can get it done, but as they’ve learned recently, disrupting people’s status quo on health care is politically fraught.
Trump Promises Protections For Preexisting Conditions That May Not Be Delivered By GOP Bill
The president spoke Sunday about the hot-button topic, saying he “mandated” that coverage for preexisting conditions will be in the Republican health care bill. But while the current version of the proposed legislation says “access” is guaranteed for people with preexisting conditions, it is silent on a key point: whether such access must be affordable.
Lawmakers Agree To Spending Bill That Includes Puerto Rico Medicaid Funds, Bump To NIH Budget
The $1 trillion-plus measure also retains funding for Planned Parenthood.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Viewpoints: Effectiveness Should Guide Doctors’ Prescribing; Climate Change And Medicine
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
Perspectives On Obamacare’s Resiliance, The Insurance Market And Access To Care
Editorial writers review the goings on in Washington regarding health policy and the GOP’s repeal-and-replace effort as well as other issues in the health system.
Research Roundup: Price Transparency; Cost Of Not Expanding Medicaid; Coverage In Rural Areas
Each week, KHN compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
Media outlets report on news from Texas, Florida, Minnesota, California, Georgia, Massachusetts and Maryland.
Buyouts Offered To 1,600 Brigham and Women’s Hospital Workers To Control Costs
The move to reduce 9 percent of the prestigious teaching facility’s workforce signals that few health institutions are immune from the current climate of economic uncertainty. Meanwhile, other hospital news is reported out of California, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Colorado and Wisconsin.
Bones From 3D Printers And Other Developments Bring Us Step Closer To Making Sci-Fi A Reality
Bloomberg looks at companies pushing the boundaries of medical development, and what that means for the future of diseases. In other public health news: calorie counts, peer reviews, police and mental illness, infertility treatments and more.
Biotech Firm Sees Option For Home Addiction Treatment Similar To Giving Insulin For Diabetes
Brady Granier, the CEO of California-based BioCorRx, says that he hopes to develop a low-dose, injectable-form of naltrexone that uses a small needle so that people could administer it at home. Also, another company, Aware Recovery Care, is providing in-home addiction therapy in some areas of the country.
Key Florida Lawmaker Says State, Federal Cuts To Medicaid Will Reach $650 Million
But state Sen. Anitere Flores says the effect on hospitals may be mitigated by other federal funding that is expected. News outlets also report on Medicaid news in Wisconsin, Mississippi and Minnesota.
Trump Issues Order To Protect VA Whistleblowers, But Some Say Changes Are ‘All Hot Air’
The president says the new Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection will make clear “that we will never, ever tolerate substandard care for our great veterans.” Some in Veterans Affairs are worried though that it will simply be more failed bureaucracy.
Trump’s FDA Pick, Scott Gottlieb, Clears Committee And Heads To Full Senate Vote
Democrats have voiced concerns about Gottlieb’s ties to the pharmaceutical industry, but the nominee has had a fairly smooth confirmation process thus far.
