Latest KFF Health News Stories
Hospital Executive Bracing For Budget Cuts Says ‘We Need To Deal With Medicare’
David Blom, the president of OhioHealth, talks about the effects of sequestration and the need to find a long-term fiscal remedy.
Hospital Consolidation Dance Heats Up In NYC
The health care game of musical chairs is picking up speed in New York City, one of the most competitive markets in the country. The Mount Sinai Medical Center and Continuum Health Partners announced Thursday that their boards of trustees have reached a tentative agreement on a possible merger. The announcement comes less than nine months after Continuum, which […]
Tenet Shows Hospitals Will Cut Prices For Exchange Patients — But Only So Much
How much will hospitals reduce prices in an effort to win what are expected to be millions of newly insured patients under the Affordable Care Act? A little, not a lot, if deals disclosed this week by Tenet Healthcare are any indication. The Dallas-based hospital chain told analysts that its first contracts to treat patients buying policies in the ACA’s online marketplaces […]
Some States Will Rate Health Plans On Quality This Fall
Beginning in October, some states will score health plans on cancer screening rates and flu shot delivery, among other measures, to help consumers make smarter buying decisions.
Messaging Your Doctor? There’s An App For That
Last year Dr. Michael Nusbaum introduced a mobile application in an effort to make scheduling a medical appointment as easy as sending a Facebook message to a friend, and as safe as sharing your medical information in person at the doctor’s office. The New Jersey-based surgeon said he designed MedXCom “to bring doctor-patient communication to the twenty-first […]
FAQ On Medicare Doctor Pay: Why Is It So Hard To Fix?
A bipartisan House bill and an effort by GOP leaders seek to stop the threats of drastic cuts each year.
Ways & Means Chairman Hopes To Move Medicare ‘Doc Fix’ Plan
The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee made clear Tuesday that finding a solution to the vexing issue of setting Medicare physician payment rates is on his to-do list this year, and he got some tepid support from a key Democrat. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., said that the effort could be helped by a recent reassessment […]
Americans Uncomfortable Around Mentally Ill Despite Acknowledging Discrimination
The public has a contradictory view of mental illness, according to a new poll. While most Americans believe people with such ailments are the victims of prejudice and discrimination, a substantial portion of the public say they have qualms about working in the same place or having their children attend a school where someone with a […]
House Panel Examines Nuts & Bolts Of Changing Traditional Medicare
Outside of the heat of election season, a House subcommittee chaired by GOP Rep. Kevin Brady begins examining options for cost savings in traditional Medicare. KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and Jackie Judd discuss the proceedings.
Medicaid, Sequester Weighing On Govs’ Minds At Annual Winter Meeting
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. When the nation’s governors gathered in Washington, D.C., over the weekend for their annual winter meeting, the gathering’s official theme was about efforts to hire people with disabilities. But out of the public eye, at the sessions for “governors only,” the discussion reportedly was dominated by […]
Key Long-Term-Care Insurer To Raise Women’s Premiums
Although the Affordable Care Act seeks to end health plans’ use of gender to set prices, the new rules don’t apply to policies for long-term care.
3 Hill Panels Examining Changes To Medicare
Updated at 12:10 p.m. With $85 billion in automatic federal spending cuts set to take effect on Friday and predictions of economic disruption, much of official Washington is focused on the “blame game.” Publicly, there has been no sign that Congress or administration officials has made any progress on averting these cuts or finding common […]
Plans To Expand Florida Medicaid Welcomed And Feared
Doctors, consumer groups cheer expansion, worry that for-profit health plans may cut corners.
Survey: Better Hours For Residents? Not So Fast
The new rules regulating duty hours were supposed to make life easier for medical residents, but both program directors and doctors-in-training give the changes mixed reviews. These latest changes, implemented in July 2011, limit first-year residents, also called interns, to 16-hour shifts. They were put in place by the private, nonprofit Accreditation Council for Graduate […]
Activist Ignites A Movement For Patients Through Art And Story
The experience of her husband’s death transformed artist Regina Holliday into a patient advocate. Now, she’s galvanizing others with the common goal of improving health care to make it better, cheaper and safer.
D.C. Hospitals And Nurses Fight Over Staffing Ratios
Hospitals say a proposal requiring minimum nurse-to-patient ratios would put them out of business. Nurses say the ratios are needed to ensure quality care.
Doctor Groups Unite Against Unnecessary Tests & Procedures
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. Doctors do stuff — tests, procedures, drug regimens and operations. It’s what they’re trained to do, what they’re paid to do and often what they fear not doing. So it’s pretty significant that a broad array of medical specialty groups is issuing an expanding list of don’ts […]
Dartmouth Study Questions Widely Used Risk-Adjustment Methods
In evaluating a hospital and health plan in the increasingly expensive U.S. health care system, federal officials and researchers often first factor in an assessment of how sick their patients are. A new study, however, challenges the validity of several widely used “risk-adjustment” efforts and suggests that Medicare is overpaying some plans and facilities while […]
Hospitals Clamp Down On Dangerous Early Elective Deliveries
Pressure from insurers, employers and advocacy groups is finally reducing rates of elective deliveries before 39 weeks.
Waiver In Hand, Florida’s Rick Scott Backs Medicaid Expansion
Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced Wednesday that he would back expansion of the Medicaid program under the federal health law. At a hastily-called press conference, Scott, a Republican, said he supported expanding Medicaid for three years — the amount of time the federal government picks up the whole cost. “Expanding access to Medicaid services for three […]