A New Paradigm Is Needed: Top Experts Question the Value of Advance Care Planning
By Judith Graham
January 6, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Prominent researchers say the nationwide effort to get people to spell out how they want to be treated as they die is not improving patients’ care.
Thousands of Young Children Lost Parents to Covid. Where’s Help for Them?
By JoNel Aleccia
June 23, 2021
KFF Health News Original
More than 46,000 children in the U.S. have lost a parent to covid-19. Families say finding even basic grief counseling has been difficult and there’s been no coordinated effort to help these children access services or benefits.
Prayers and Grief Counseling After COVID: Trying to Aid Healing in Long-Term Care
By Judith Graham
November 13, 2020
KFF Health News Original
With employees emotionally drained and residents suffering from loss, many nursing homes and assisted living centers are working with chaplains, social workers and mental health professionals to help people deal with the effects of the coronavirus.
Covid Is Killing Rural Americans at Twice the Rate of Urbanites
By Lauren Weber
September 30, 2021
KFF Health News Original
The pandemic is devastating rural America, where lower vaccination rates are compounding the already limited medical care.
CDC Unveils New Sepsis Guidelines In Effort To Improve Survival Rates
August 25, 2023
Morning Briefing
Annually, at least 350,000 people die in the hospital or are moved into hospice care after developing sepsis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
October 27, 2023
Morning Briefing
Each week, KFF Health News finds longer stories for you to enjoy. This week’s selections include stories on organ donation, hospice, therapy, abortion, and more.
Bereaved Families Are ‘the Secondary Victims of COVID-19’
By Judith Graham
August 12, 2020
KFF Health News Original
New research suggests the pandemic’s deaths are taking an enormous toll on surviving family members and worrisome ripple effects may linger for years.
Jimmy Carter Transitions From Treatment To Hospice Care
February 21, 2023
Morning Briefing
Former President Jimmy Carter has decided to “spend his remaining time at home with his family,” forgoing further medical treatment for ongoing health issues, the Carter Center announced.
Caring for an Aging Nation
By Lydia Zuraw and Carmen Heredia Rodriguez
May 28, 2021
KFF Health News Original
The number of Americans 65 and older is expected to nearly double in the next 40 years. Finding a way to provide and pay for the long-term health services they need won’t be easy.
Facebook Live: Helping COVID’s Secondary Victims: Grieving Families and Friends
November 16, 2020
KFF Health News Original
More than 246,000 people in the U.S. have been killed by the coronavirus, leaving hundreds of thousands of others grieving. Judith Graham, author of KHN’s Navigating Aging column, hosted a discussion on these unprecedented losses and dealing with bereavement. She was joined by Holly Prigerson, co-director of the Center for Research on End-of-Life Care at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and Diane Snyder-Cowan, leader of the bereavement professionals steering committee of the National Council of Hospice and Palliative Professionals.
Morning Briefing for Tuesday, February 21, 2023
February 21, 2023
Morning Briefing
Cured HIV case, hospice care, “conversion therapy” bans, covid deaths, Medicare, drug pricing, and more are in today’s news.
6 Months to Live or Die: How Long Should an Alcoholic Liver Disease Patient Wait for a Transplant?
By Aneri Pattani
October 12, 2021
KFF Health News Original
In a practice dating to the 1980s, many hospitals require people with alcohol-related liver disease to complete a period of sobriety before they can be added to the waiting list for a liver. But this thinking may be changing.
Lost on the Frontline: Explore the Database
By The Staffs of KFF Health News and The Guardian
April 7, 2021
KFF Health News Original
As of Wednesday, the KHN-Guardian project counted 3,607 U.S. health worker deaths in the first year of the pandemic. Today we add 39 profiles, including a hospice chaplain, a nurse who spoke to intubated patients “like they were listening,” and a home health aide who couldn’t afford to stop working. This is the most comprehensive count in the nation as of April 2021, and our interactive database investigates the question: Did they have to die?
Doctors Allege HCA Hospitals Push Hospice Care To Lift Mortality Stats
June 22, 2023
Morning Briefing
A report in NBC News says nurses and doctors who currently practice at 16 HCA hospitals in 7 states or did so previously allege the hospitals pushed palliative care on patients in pursuit of better performance metrics. Separately, North Carolina’s attorney general is said to have threatened HCA with litigation.
Bringing ‘Poogie’ Home: Hospice In The Time Of COVID-19
By Melissa Bailey
May 26, 2020
KFF Health News Original
One family took up the challenge of taking their mother, who had serious medical problems and the coronavirus, from the hospital to die at home. But because of the risk of infection, home hospice can be a daunting experience.
ERs Are Swamped With Seriously Ill Patients, Although Many Don’t Have Covid
By Kate Wells, Michigan Public
October 29, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Certain patients who couldn’t get in to see a doctor earlier in the pandemic, or were avoiding the covid risks inside hospitals, have become too sick to stay away. Many ERs now struggle to cope with an onslaught of demand.
Medicare Advisers Back Changes Aimed At Lowering Drug Spending
April 14, 2023
Morning Briefing
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission unanimously voted in favor of three recommended changes that could impact the amount the program pays out for covered prescriptions drugs. Other Medicare news is on hospice, payments to hospitals, and more.
Cuando se desestima o estigmatiza a las muertes por covid, el dolor se mezcla con ira y vergüenza
By Brett Sholtis, WITF
September 21, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Las víctimas de covid están sufriendo la misma estigmatización que los que mueren por sobredosis o suicidio. Ellos son los responsables, piensan algunos.
Allina Health Halts Policy Of Withholding Care For Patients In Debt
June 12, 2023
Morning Briefing
The Minnesota nonprofit health system is reexamining its controversial policy of cutting off care for patients with a certain amount of medical debt. However, it is not reinstating care for people already impacted by the policy. Telemedicine visits, the role of nonprofits in hospice care, and more are also in the news.
Medicare To Bolster Mental Health Services With New Types Of Providers
December 20, 2023
Morning Briefing
Starting Jan. 1, as many as 400,000 marriage and family therapists as well as mental health counselors will be qualified to get Medicare payment for their services. Medicare wants enough to sign up in order to increase mental health care access among aging Americans. Other Medicare news is on hospital prices and hospice payments.