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Many farmers have traditionally handled their own problems, whether it’s a busted tractor or debilitating anxiety. “With the older generation, it’s still, ‘Suck it up and get over it,’” says an Iowa mental health advocate and farmer.
A disconnect between two federal programs meant to help keep hospitals afloat discourages struggling rural facilities from accepting the aid.
Federal regulations prevent gay and bisexual men from donating tissue, such as corneas, ligaments, and blood vessels. Similar restrictions have been relaxed or lifted for donated blood and organs in recent years.
Big health insurers that have contracts with state Medicaid programs find themselves making more money even as enrollment in Medicaid programs has dropped. Here’s why.
Republicans are learning the admonition “be careful what you wish for,” as conservative judges cause them political problems over abortion in a crucial election year.
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.
With artificial intelligence in health care on the rise, eye screenings for diabetic retinopathy are emerging as one of the first proven use cases of AI-based diagnostics in a clinical setting.
Framed in the rhetoric of choice, Tennessee’s new law governing childhood vaccinations is among more than a dozen recently passed or pending nationwide that set parental freedom against community and children’s health.
State lawmakers are resurrecting and expanding efforts to prohibit transgender people from using public restrooms and other spaces that match their gender. Some have sought to ban trans people from “sex-designated spaces,” including domestic violence shelters and crisis centers, which experts say could violate anti-discrimination laws and jeopardize federal funding.
The expansion of Catholic hospitals nationwide leaves patients at the mercy of the church’s religious directives, which are often at odds with accepted medical standards.
Fewer than two dozen rural hospitals were converted into Rural Emergency Hospitals in the program’s first year. Now, advocates and lawmakers say tweaks to the law are necessary to lure more takers and keep health care in rural communities.
Even in states where laws protect minors’ access to gender-affirming care, malpractice insurance premiums are keeping small and independent clinics from treating patients.
As opioid settlement dollars land in government coffers, a swarm of businesses are positioning themselves to profit from the windfall. But will their potential gains come at the expense of the settlements’ intended purpose — to remediate the effects of the opioid epidemic?
A pilot project in northern Minnesota aims to pave the way for fully autonomous vehicles to offer independence for people who can’t drive.
KFF Health News and California Healthline staffers made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Ohio is the latest state where voters have directly weighed in on abortion, and the next wave of such ballot measures is in the works in at least 11 other states, including Missouri.
The federal government requires state Medicaid programs to pay for abortions in limited circumstances, but Iowa hasn’t done so for years. No providers seek Medicaid payments, which require the approval of the governor, an anti-abortion Republican.
More than 43 million Americans drink, bathe, and cook with water from private wells, which can be tainted by farm or industrial runoff, leaky septic systems, or naturally occurring minerals.
Homicides, suicides, and drug overdoses have driven rising rates of pregnancy-related death in the U.S. This fall, six states received federal funding for substance use treatment interventions to prevent at least some of those deaths.
“People want covid-19 to be in the rearview mirror,” one nursing home official says. Faced with a slow rollout of the updated covid vaccines, and without state mandates for workers to get vaccinated, most skilled nursing facilities are relying on persuasion to boost vaccination rates among staff and residents.
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