The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Even as end-of-life planning gains favor with more Americans, African-Americans, research shows, remain very skeptical of options like hospice and advance directives. The result can mean more aggressive, painful care at the end of life that prolongs suffering.
Despite frequent fears in communities when losing their hospitals, mortality rates do not rise, say Harvard researchers who examined 194 closures.
Like wellness programs in the private sector, more than a dozen states are offering incentives to Medicaid enrollees to spur them to make healthier decisions — and potentially save taxpayers money.
In response to an HIV outbreak of historic proportions, Indiana’s legislature passed a bill permitting drug users in areas with disease outbreaks to trade used needles for clean ones. Sarah Varney reports for KHN and PBS NewsHour from Austin, Indiana.
About 12 percent of people 85 and older who died had no assets left and 20 percent had only their homes, according to the research. But even people who die much younger can face similar financial problems.
The American Psychiatric Association is releasing a new resource, Understanding Mental Disorders: Your Guide To DSM-5, to give patients and their families a better understanding of what these conditions involve and arm them with tools to advocate for their care.
Federal officials release data showing prescription histories of hundreds of thousands of doctors and identifying the most common and costly drugs.
Some say Cardinal’s first year’s performance has eased fears about care in Charlotte, N.C., but gaps and challenges remain.
Backers of Medicaid expansion celebrated in Helena as Gov. Steve Bullock signed the bill extending the health coverage to an estimated 45,000 more Montanans.
As part of an experiment run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, doctors, nurses and managers at Baptist Health System in San Antonio joined forces to cut costs for hip and knee replacements, getting patients on their feet sooner, saving taxpayers money and increasing their own earnings.
Researchers with the National Women’s Law Center find insurers around the country are failing to provide contraception and other care without copays.
Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Scott sues the federal government, saying the state is being coerced to accept the expansion or lose dollars for other health care programs for the poor.
Kaiser Health News consumer columnist Michelle Andrews answers readers’ questions about cost and coverage.
Tennessee’s TennCare program awaits federal rules to limit insurer profits and set stricter standards for quality and doctor networks — the biggest rules change for Medicaid managed care in a decade.
A Burbank doctor, with the support of the AMA, says the Medical Board of California violated his patients’ privacy by checking his prescribing practices in a state database without a court order. The board says it needs that access to protect patients from harm.
Federal efforts are driving hospitals to see patients as customers.
The federal government has been issuing warnings about the dangers of overdosing and addiction to methadone for nearly a decade. But only in the past two years have states started removing it from their Medicaid “preferred drug lists.”
Some families likely received lower subsidies than they were entitled to or were denied Medicaid coverage because of faulty calculations related to children who receive Social Security income.
The first study to track drinking patterns at the county level finds that women are driving big increases in heavy drinking.
Under Medicare’s hospice benefit, patients agree to forgo curative treatment, but they can continue to receive coverage for health problems not related to their terminal illness. Federal officials suspect some of those expenses should be covered by hospice.
