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Resistance to a Boston Hospital’s Expansion Centers on Rising Prices

By Harris Meyer January 27, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Mass General Brigham’s $2.3 billion expansion plan is raising state officials’ concerns that it will reduce competition and raise the price of care in Massachusetts. It also signals a national shift from a focus on hospital mergers and purchases of physician practices — which boost the cost of care — to individual hospitals’ expansions to gain a bigger share of the market.

This Rural, Red Southern County Was a Vaccine Success Story. Not Anymore.

By Brett Kelman May 19, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Meigs County in Tennessee reported one of the highest covid-19 vaccination rates in the South for much of the past year. But those reports were wrong because of a data error that has surfaced in other states, such as West Virginia and Montana, as well.

Rural Hospital Rescue Program Is Met With Skepticism From Administrators

By Sarah Jane Tribble and Tony Leys July 14, 2022 KFF Health News Original

A new federal rescue program that pays rural hospitals to shutter underused inpatient units and focus solely on emergency rooms and outpatient care hasn’t generated much interest yet.

J&J-Vaxxed, mRNA-Boosted, and Pondering a Third Shot

By Bernard J. Wolfson March 1, 2022 KFF Health News Original

Many of the nearly 17 million U.S. members of J&J Nation, myself included, are wondering whether to set aside the current official guidance and get a second booster. Some experts say: Chill out.

Covid Shots for Kids Are Scarce — And Demand Is Mixed — In Rural Montana

By Aaron Bolton, MTPR December 16, 2021 KFF Health News Original

Although covid vaccines have been available to children as young as 5 for more than a month, they’re not being offered in some rural Montana counties, and parents don’t know where to find them in others.

‘Drinking Through a Lead Straw’ — $15B Approved to Fix Dangerous Water Pipes

By Sandy West November 8, 2021 KFF Health News Original

The infrastructure bill passed Friday funnels $15 billion into lead pipe remediation. Water quality experts say the cost of getting rid of all lead pipes could ultimately cost $60 billion. Still, some health advocates say the new funding will be transformative in allowing communities such as Houston’s Fifth Ward to fix its pipes.

Democrats Plan to Expand Medicare Hearing Benefits. What Can Consumers Expect?

By Rachana Pradhan November 5, 2021 KFF Health News Original

KHN answers questions for seniors about how this new benefit might work.

New Montana Laws Enshrine Health Care Alternatives, for Better or Worse

By Andrea Halland June 10, 2021 KFF Health News Original

Direct primary care and health care sharing ministries can offer people more accessible or cheaper health care options, but they lack the benefits of traditional insurance and aren’t regulated.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Politics of Vaccine Mandates

October 14, 2021 KFF Health News Original

Like almost everything else associated with the covid-19 pandemic, partisans are taking sides over whether vaccines should be mandated. Meanwhile, Democrats on Capitol Hill are still struggling to find compromise in their effort to expand health insurance and other social programs. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Jen Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times and Mary Ellen McIntire of CQ Roll Call join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews best-selling author Beth Macy about her book “Dopesick,” and the new Hulu miniseries based on it.

New California Law Bans Harassment at Vaccination Sites, but Free Speech Concerns Persist

By Rachel Bluth October 8, 2021 KFF Health News Original

Effective immediately, it will be a misdemeanor in California to harass people on their way to get a covid, or any other, vaccine. But First Amendment experts say the new law violates free speech protections and could face a constitutional battle.

Medicare Punishes 2,499 Hospitals for High Readmissions

By Jordan Rau October 28, 2021 KFF Health News Original

The federal government’s hospital penalty program finishes its first decade by lowering payments to nearly half the nation’s hospitals for readmitting too many Medicare patients within a month. Penalties, though often small, are credited with helping reduce the number of patients returning for another Medicare stay within 30 days.

12,000 Square Miles Without Obstetrics? It’s a Possibility in West Texas

By Charlotte Huff August 2, 2021 KFF Health News Original

Big Bend Regional Medical Center, the only hospital in a sparsely populated region of West Texas, announced that because of a nursing shortage its labor and delivery unit must close for days at a time and patients must go instead to a hospital an hour away.

Tribal Pharmacy Dispenses Free Meds and Fills Gaps for Native Americans in the City

By Katherine Huggins and Julia Mueller May 24, 2022 KFF Health News Original

The Mashkiki Waakaa’igan Pharmacy in downtown Minneapolis gives Native Americans an economical option for filling prescriptions while being sensitive to tribal traditions and expectations.

Private Equity Ownership of Nursing Homes Triggers Capitol Hill Questions — And a GAO Probe

By Victoria Knight April 13, 2022 KFF Health News Original

In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden decried these financial arrangements, which two members of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee had already asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate.

At Urgent Care, He Got 5 Stitches and a Big Surprise: A Plastic Surgeon’s Bill for $1,040

By Rachana Pradhan August 2, 2021 KFF Health News Original

The Biden administration is weighing how to treat urgent care clinics as part of broad regulations banning surprise, out-of-network medical bills. At the heart of the matter: What counts as an emergency?

Readers and Tweeters Defend Human — And Animal — Rights

August 4, 2020 KFF Health News Original

Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

Hygienists Brace for Pitched Battles With Dentists in Fights Over Practice Laws

By Giles Bruce October 19, 2021 KFF Health News Original

In a battle reflecting turf wars around the country, Illinois dentists defeated legislation that would have allowed hygienists to practice in nursing homes and prisons where dental care can be scarce.

Calls to Overhaul Methadone Distribution Intensify, but Clinics Resist

By Markian Hawryluk March 3, 2022 KFF Health News Original

The pandemic has shown that loosening the strict regulations on distributing methadone helps people recovering from addiction stay in treatment. But clinics with a financial stake in keeping the status quo don’t want to make permanent changes.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Part I: The State of the Abortion Debate 50 Years After ‘Roe’

By Terry Byrne January 26, 2023 Podcast

In Part I of this special two-part episode, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Sarah Varney of KHN join KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss how the abortion debate has evolved since the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to abortion in 2022, and what might be the flashpoints for 2023. Also in this episode, Rovner interviews Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute, about changing reproductive policies in the states.

Black-Owned Hospice Seeks to Bring Greater Ease in Dying to Black Families

By Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio January 10, 2022 KFF Health News Original

National data shows that Black Medicare patients and their families are not making the move to comfort care as often as white patients are. Experts speculate it’s related to spiritual beliefs and widespread mistrust in the medical system due to decades of discrimination.

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