First Edition: April 1, 2024
April 1, 2024
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Four Years After Shelter-in-Place, Covid-19 Misinformation Persists
By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu, PolitiFact
April 1, 2024
KFF Health News Original
False claims that covid vaccines cause deaths and other diseases are still prevalent despite multiple studies showing the vaccines are safe and saved lives.
For-Profit Companies Open Psychiatric Hospitals in Areas Clamoring for Care
By Tony Leys
April 1, 2024
KFF Health News Original
State institutions and community hospitals have closed inpatient mental health units, often citing staffing and financial challenges. Now, for-profit companies are opening psychiatric hospitals to fill the void.
Hospitals Cash In on a Private Equity-Backed Trend: Concierge Physician Care
By Phil Galewitz
April 1, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Hospitals are increasingly stretching a velvet rope, offering “concierge service” to an affluent clientele. Critics say the practice exacerbates primary care shortages.
How Primary Care Is Being Disrupted: A Video Primer
By Julie Appleby and Hannah Norman and Oona Zenda
April 1, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Under pressure from increased demand, consolidation, and changing patient expectations, the model of care no longer means visiting the same doctor for decades.
Journalists Dig Into Measles, Abortion Access, and Medicaid Expansion
March 30, 2024
KFF Health News Original
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in recent weeks to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Viewpoints: Florida Pharmacists May Soon Become Prescribers; How Accurate Are Early Alzheimer’s Tests?
March 29, 2024
Morning Briefing
Editorial writers tackle the physician shortage, early Alzheimer’s testing, abortion rights, and more.
Change Restores Systems But Has Ways To Go With Recovery, Notifications
March 29, 2024
Morning Briefing
Change Healthcare offered an update on its efforts to fully recover from the ransomware attack and urged its customers to reconnect to the system. News outlets review the ways that the company may notify people about data breaches, the financial impact on hospitals, and more.
More Than 7 In 10 Americans Support Medication Abortion Access
March 29, 2024
Morning Briefing
A new Axios-Ipsos poll shows overwhelming support from the American public for medication abortions, and also underlines the FDA’s drug-regulating authority. Other reproductive care news is from Kansas and Idaho.
White House Makes Progress On Limits For PFAS In Tap Water
March 29, 2024
Morning Briefing
Politico calls the plan for nationwide forever chemical limits a “landmark;” The White House just finished a review of the EPA’s PFAS regulation proposal. Separately, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vice presidential pick voices controversial views on IVF.
Simply Asking ER Patients If They’d Get Flu Shots Lifts Uptake Rate: Study
March 29, 2024
Morning Briefing
Plus, adding in a helpful video or printed material to support the vaccinations helps even more, a new study shows. Meanwhile, U.S. tuberculosis rates were found to be at a decade-high level in 2023, and mpox cases are rising again.
New Study Links Dementia Risks To Symptoms Of Delirium
March 29, 2024
Morning Briefing
Scientists are focusing in on delirium as a key symptom for flagging dementia risks in older people. Also in the news: risks from secondhand vaping; human milk and the gut microbiome; covid’s impact on heart tissue; and more.
Walgreens Now Set To Close Nearly Half Of Its VillageMD Clinics
March 29, 2024
Morning Briefing
The Walgreens-backed business has shut 140 clinics already this year, and now another 20 seem set to join them, totaling about 50% of the original number of VillageMD facilities. Walgreens has lost nearly $6 billion in its second quarter, AP says.
In Texas, Churches Step Up To Help With Mental Health Issues
March 29, 2024
Morning Briefing
Meanwhile, in Florida, a grand jury that’s examining issues relating to covid vaccines has asked for a six-month extension. Other health news is from North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, and elsewhere.
Morning Briefing for Friday, March 29, 2024
March 29, 2024
Morning Briefing
Medicare Advantage, ‘junk’ insurance plans, latest on Change hack, PFAS, abortion pills, dementia, flu shots, and more are in the news.
HHS Releases Final Rule Aimed At Limiting ‘Junk’ Health Insurance Plans
March 29, 2024
Morning Briefing
The Biden administration’s new regulation reverses a Trump-era policy that allowed expanded access to short-term insurance plans that offer fewer benefits than those sold on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces.
First Edition: March 29, 2024
March 29, 2024
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
A Physician Travels to South Asia Seeking Enduring Lessons From the Eradication of Smallpox
By Céline Gounder
March 29, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Physician and podcast host Céline Gounder traveled to India and Bangladesh and brought back never-before-heard stories, many from public health workers whose voices have been missing from the record documenting the eradication of smallpox.
Your Doctor or Your Insurer? Little-Known Rules May Ease the Choice in Medicare Advantage
By Susan Jaffe
March 29, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Disputes between hospitals and Medicare Advantage plans are leading to entire hospital systems suddenly leaving insurance networks. Patients are left stuck in the middle, choosing between their doctors and their insurance plan. There’s a way out.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Supreme Court and the Abortion Pill
March 28, 2024
Podcast
The Supreme Court this week heard its first abortion case since overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, about an appeals court ruling that would dramatically restrict the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone. But while it seems likely that this case could be dismissed on a technicality, abortion opponents have more challenges in the pipeline. Meanwhile, health issues are heating up on the campaign trail, as Republicans continue to take aim at Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act — all things Democrats are delighted to defend. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Tony Leys, who wrote a KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” feature about Medicare and a very expensive air-ambulance ride. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.