Feds Hope to Cut Sepsis Deaths by Hitching Medicare Payments to Treatment Stats
By Julie Appleby
October 11, 2023
KFF Health News Original
A new rule sets specific treatment metrics for suspected sepsis cases in an effort to reduce deaths, but some experts say the measures could add to antibiotic overuse and need to be more flexible.
West Virginia City Once Battered by Opioid Overdoses Confronts ‘Fourth Wave’
By Taylor Sisk
March 13, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Years of struggle prepared residents in Cabell County, West Virginia, to confront the latest wave of the opioid epidemic as mixtures of fentanyl and other drugs claim lives nationwide.
Rural Hospitals Are Caught in an Aging-Infrastructure Conundrum
By Markian Hawryluk
January 12, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Small, community hospitals face challenges in paying for the capital improvement projects they need to stay open.
North Carolina Hospitals Have Sued Thousands of Their Patients, a New Report Finds
By Noam N. Levey
August 16, 2023
KFF Health News Original
An analysis of court records by the state treasurer and Duke researchers finds Atrium Health, originally a public hospital system, accounted for almost a third of the legal actions against North Carolina patients over roughly five years.
A New Covid Booster Is Here. Will Those at Greatest Risk Get It?
By Amy Maxmen
September 15, 2023
KFF Health News Original
The CDC says everyone over 6 months old should get the new covid booster. But the emergency response mechanisms that supported earlier vaccine campaigns are gone. As one expert wonders: How to get boosters to people beyond Democrats, college graduates, and those with high incomes?
Amgen Plows Ahead With Costly, Highly Toxic Cancer Dosing Despite FDA Challenge
By Arthur Allen
May 7, 2024
KFF Health News Original
The FDA told Amgen to test whether a quarter-dose of its lung cancer drug worked as well as the amount recommended on the product label. It did and with fewer side effects. But Amgen is sticking to the higher dose — which earns it an additional $180,000 a year per patient.
New Alzheimer’s Drug Raises Hopes — Along With Questions
By Judith Graham
August 11, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Clinics serving Alzheimer’s patients are working out the details of who will get treated with the new drug Leqembi. It won’t be for everyone with memory-loss symptoms.
Rural Jails Turn to Community Health Workers To Help the Newly Released Succeed
By Lillian Mongeau Hughes
April 22, 2024
KFF Health News Original
To reduce recidivism, some rural counties are hiring community health workers or peer support specialists to connect people leaving custody to mental health resources, substance use treatment, medical services, and jobs.
LA County Invests Big in Free Virtual Mental Health Therapy for K-12 Students
By Molly Castle Work
December 12, 2023
KFF Health News Original
California is spending almost $5 billion to address a growing youth mental health crisis. In Los Angeles County, a contract with teletherapy provider Hazel Health is funding free therapy sessions for all interested students. School districts are grateful for the additional support, but express concerns about the remote arrangement.
After Appalachian Hospitals Merged Into a Monopoly, Their ERs Slowed to a Crawl
By Brett Kelman Samantha Liss
March 25, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Ballad Health was granted the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly in 2018. Since then, its emergency rooms have become more than three times as slow.
Diagnosis: Debt
February 21, 2023
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Featured Stories Debt At A Glance Tell Us About Your Medical Debt Have you been forced into debt because of a medical or dental bill? Have you had to make any changes in your life because of such debt? Have you been pursued by debt collectors for a medical bill? We want to hear about […]
For California Teen, Coverage of Early Psychosis Treatment Proved a Lifesaver
By Samantha Young
May 1, 2023
KFF Health News Original
A Medi-Cal patient illustrates how early schizophrenia treatments can yield big benefits. Advocates want California to expand such services to more people living with severe mental illness, which they argue will not only improve lives but also save money over time.
Life in a Rural ‘Ambulance Desert’ Means Sometimes Help Isn’t on the Way
By Taylor Sisk
August 22, 2023
KFF Health News Original
No local hospital and anemic ambulance services mean residents in rural Pickens County, Alabama, are thrown into perilous situations when they have medical emergencies. It’s a kind of medical care roulette that has become a fact of life for rural Americans who live in ambulance deserts.
Idaho Drops Panel Investigating Pregnancy-Related Deaths as US Maternal Mortality Surges
By Natalie Schachar
July 7, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Amid a years-long rise in maternal mortality rates in the United States, Idaho lawmakers decided to disband a committee created to investigate pregnancy-related deaths.
A New Test Could Save Arthritis Patients Time, Money, and Pain. But Will It Be Used?
By Arthur Allen
December 20, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Stories of chronic pain, drug-hopping, and insurance meddling are all too common among patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Precision medicine offers new hope.
California’s Expanded Health Coverage for Immigrants Collides With Medicaid Reviews
By Jasmine Aguilera, El Tímpano
Updated March 26, 2024
Originally Published March 22, 2024
KFF Health News Original
A state policy to extend Medi-Cal to qualified Californians without legal residency is running up against a federal requirement to resume eligibility checks. The redetermination process is causing many Latinos, who make up a majority of Medi-Cal beneficiaries, to be disenrolled.
El gobierno alerta sobre tarjetas de crédito para pagar facturas médicas
By Noam N. Levey
May 4, 2023
KFF Health News Original
La Oficina de Protección Financiera del Consumidor estimó en su informe que, en solo tres años, de 2018 a 2020, las personas han estado pagando $1,000 millones en intereses diferidos de tarjetas de crédito médicas y otros financiamientos médicos.
Community With High Medical Debt Questions Its Hospitals’ Charity Spending
By Markian Hawryluk
Updated August 29, 2023
Originally Published August 17, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Pueblo, Colorado, residents have higher-than-average medical debt, while the city’s two tax-exempt hospitals provide relatively low levels of charity care.
How Rural Communities Are Losing Their Pharmacies
By Markian Hawryluk
November 15, 2021
KFF Health News Original
More than 1,000 independent rural pharmacies have closed since 2003, leaving 630 communities with no retail drugstore. As 41 million people stuck in pharmacy deserts make do, the remaining drugstores struggle to survive.
Más clínicas móviles están llevando anticonceptivos de acción prolongada a zonas rurales
By Arielle Zionts
October 16, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Un creciente número de programas móviles buscan aumentar el acceso de las comunidades rurales a los cuidados de salud de la mujer, incluida la anticoncepción reversible de acción prolongada.
