The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Agency For Healthcare Research and Quality data show that more women with breast cancer are opting for mastectomies over less-invasive options, and more are having the procedure in outpatient facilities where they don’t spend even one night in the hospital.
In a respected medical journal, a specialist advises colleagues on protecting patients but doesn’t mention potential infections from a contaminated scope at his Philadelphia cancer center.
Experts cited stigma and a lack of doctors as potential obstacles for soldiers needing treatment.
Scalia’s death throws cases on abortion, contraception coverage into doubt.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says access to special, lower-cost pharmacies has improved for Medicare beneficiaries in urban areas.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson says HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell “accepts the framework” of his proposals but negotiations are continuing.
Covered California’s Executive Director Peter Lee said the measure is needed to keep insurers from slicing commissions to avoid enrolling the sickest patients.
Public health officials in Colorado are battling a stigma against drinking tap water, especially in some Latino communities.
Proponents hail the change in policy but say it doesn’t go far enough because federal dollars cannot be used to buy syringes.
The hospital consolidation plot in the final season of the beloved British series is historically accurate — and has parallels in today’s U.S. health industry.
As officials seek to take control of costs in the health coverage for low-income residents, they are relying on hospitals, not private insurance companies, to run the program.
The first set of measures focus on seven types of care, including for hearts and cancer. The metrics will be integrated into formulas that determine physicians’ pay.
Some health professionals worry that the task force’s findings could result in missed opportunities for early intervention.
Last year’s Baltimore unrest highlighted deep distrust between police and poor African-Americans. Dozens of interviews and little-seen data show a similar gap between that community and the city’s renowned health system.
The neighborhoods where people live and work often determine their health. Nowhere is that more true than in West Baltimore.
For a West Baltimore woman, buying a blood pressure cuff means hours on the road.
Staff see high rates of chronic illness and mental health issues related to trauma.
Bon Secours is dealing with patients who are sicker than those in other Baltimore hospitals.
Employers, insurers and government health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid are required to send taxpayers a form showing whether they provided health care but the government has pushed back the deadline for the forms.
In Sandtown, where Freddie Gray lived and the median household income is less than a quarter of Roland Park’s, the life expectancy is 70 years. That matches the average life expectancy in North Korea, an impoverished dictatorship where millions suffer from chronic undernourishment, according to the United Nations.
