Latest KFF Health News Stories
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 […]
Feds Outline What Insurers Must Cover, Down To Polyp Removal
The Obama administration on Wednesday released its final rule on essential health benefits, which sets out what benefits insurers must offer starting in 2014. Insurers must cover 10 broad categories of care, including emergency services, maternity care, hospital and doctors’ services, mental health and substance abuse care and prescription drugs. Essential benefit requirements apply mainly to […]
In Arizona, Poorest, Sickest Patients Get Coordinated Care
Can for-profit health insurance companies be trusted to take care of the vulnerable, expensive patients who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid? In Arizona, a state that has been known to resist federal health programs, private companies have been doing just that for many years.
Hospitals Hook Up With Drugstore Giants To Lower Readmissions
Patients who leave the hospital only to have to be readmitted within a few weeks cost U.S. taxpayers more than $17 billion a year. In October, the federal government started cracking down on hospitals, penalizing them if too many of their patients bounce back. That has hospitals searching for help from the corner drug store […]
Nurse Practitioners Push To Help Care For Health Law’s Newly Insured
In a KHN interview, David Hebert, CEO of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, says lawmakers should allow advanced practice nurses to practice more independently to make sure the nation’s 27 million newly covered will be able to get timely and quality care.
Pressure Rising To Avoid Federal Spending Cuts That Will Impact Health Programs
Although Medicare and Medicaid will be largely unscathed in the March 1 sequestration, other health-related efforts including medical research, mental health treatments and drug approvals face reductions.
Big Firms Win Multimillion Dollar Contracts To Build Insurance Marketplaces
President Barack Obama’s health law has been criticized as a “government takeover” of health care. But private companies are building the underpinnings of the online health insurance marketplaces that are a key element of the law – and winning contracts worth hundreds of millions to do so. Deloitte Consulting, part of the Big Four accounting […]