Latest KFF Health News Stories
Feds Funding Effort To Tie Medical Services To Social Needs
The goal is to improve health and potentially reduce spending.
More Employers Offer Plans That Provide Lump Sums For Critical Illnesses
The plans can help workers cover their high deductibles, but the policies also have limitations.
Cleveland Pressures Hospitals To Keep ERs Open To All Ambulances
When you call an ambulance, you expect to go to the nearest hospital. But patients are often diverted to more distant emergency rooms. Cleveland wants hospitals to stop the practice.
Do You Speak Health Insurance? It’s Not Easy.
Even savvy consumers stumble over terms like “coinsurance.”
Obamacare Insurers Sweeten Plans With Free Doctor Visits
Some insurers are betting that lowering the barrier to seeing a doctor will encourage people to get needed care sooner. If it works, the health plans could save more than they spend on the benefit.
Worlds Apart: Vast Disparities In Treatment Separate Americans With HIV
Poverty and mental illness are among problems keeping about two-thirds of those infected — mainly minorities — from receiving treatment.
Medicare Payment Changes Lead More Men To Get Screening Colonoscopies
The health law waived Medicare’s Part B deductible and dropped the 20 percent copayment for the preventive tests.
Hands Off That Frozen Pizza! Docs Advise Customers As They Shop
An Orange County, California hospital system is posting doctors at supermarkets to help customers make healthier choices. It’s part of a larger national effort among hospitals to improve community health outcomes.
ER Doctors Say Federal Rules Could Raise Patients’ Out-Of-Network Bills
Two physician groups say the government’s regulations for out-of-network emergency care payments will cost consumers more because insurers will pay less.
Pharmacists Prescribing Birth Control And What It Means For Wider Access To The Pill
Two western states — California and Oregon — have passed laws allowing pharmacists to prescribe birth control. Public health advocates see it as a way to expand access to the pill, and many doctors say it’s safe. But others argue these measures don’t go far enough.
Health Plans’ Coverage Of Some Drugs Can Be A Source Of Consumer Confusion
Some medicines, particularly intravenous treatments, are not listed in plans’ pharmacy benefit section and, therefore, it’s difficult to confirm coverage specifics.
Report: Home Care Workers Need Better Job Protections
Stricter oversight is required to ensure employers comply with labor standards, says worker advocacy group.
Single-Payer Health Care On Colorado Ballot In 2016
The group ColoradoCareYES gathered enough signatures — more than 100,000 — to put a single-payer health system on the ballot next fall. But the price tag is a worry to some.
New Kaiser Permanente Med School Part Of A Growing Trend
Twenty new schools opened in the past decade; but some doubt whether so many new doctors are needed.
Push On To Make Transparent Medical Records The National Standard Of Care
Four foundations joined forces to provide $10 million in new funding to the OpenNotes project, which will help an estimated 50 million people nationwide gain access to clinical notes, and allow researchers to evaluate how it affects health outcomes and costs.
Kaiser Permanente To Open Medical School In Southern California
Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson says the new school is part of the HMO’s effort to transform the “health care ecosystem” in the 21st century.
Baby Boomers Set Another Trend: More Golden Years In Poorer Health
Medicare faces sharp cost increases as more baby boomers reach 65, and their life expectancies grow, as well as their chronic conditions, say researchers at the University of Southern California.
Learning Soft Skills In Childhood Can Prevent Harder Problems Later
There’s more to learn at school than reading and math. Duke researchers find that teaching kids to control their emotions, solve problems and work well with others can help keep them out of trouble in their teen years.
Despite Hopes Of Health Law Advocates, ‘Multi-State’ Health Plans Unavailable In Many States
The authors of the law mandated the program to try to generate more competition in areas where few plans were available. But the effort has stalled.
Advocates Allege Discrimination In California’s Medi-Cal Program
A civil rights complaint says low payment for doctors results in unequal care for Latinos.