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Doctors say billing for email consultations reduces message volume and gives them more free time. The increasingly prevalent practice has also raised fears about negative impacts to patient care.
The declining share of U.S. doctors in adult primary care is about 25% — a point beyond which many Americans won’t be able to find a family doctor at all.
Patient advocates have long alleged the Medical Board of California is ineffective at policing doctors. But a proposal to beef up its budget and overhaul procedures faces stiff resistance from the doctors’ lobby.
Florida’s new immigration law requires hospitals to ask patients about their immigration status at admission and in emergency rooms, and report that information plus the cost of care for residents without legal status. Doctors and nurses who oppose the policy seem reluctant to criticize lawmakers for fear of political retribution.
The Vermont senator sees beefing up the primary care workforce as a critical step in expanding Americans’ access to health care.
From the front lines of Wisconsin’s abortion battle, obstetricians describe patients who cannot comprehend having to carry nonviable pregnancies. And only one pharmacist in town can be found who will fill prescriptions for abortion pills.
With the community’s help, former co-workers came together to fill gaps in care left by the loss of doctors and departments at a Gallup, New Mexico, hospital.
Doctors and hospitals hold an exalted position in American life, retaining public confidence even as other institutions such as government, law enforcement, and the media are losing people’s trust. But with health care debt out of hand, medical providers risk their good standing.
The “front door” to the health system is changing, under pressure from increased demand, consolidation, and changing patient expectations.
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Burnout is a widespread problem in the health care industry. Although the pandemic made things worse, burnout among doctors is a long-standing concern that health systems have become more focused on as they try to stop doctors from quitting or retiring early.
The number of DOs is surging, and more than half of them practice in primary care, including in rural areas hit hard by doctor shortages.
Doctors say they are reluctant to practice in abortion-banned states, where making the best decision for a patient could run afoul of the law. Even former President Donald Trump’s surgeon general is concerned about the repercussions for women’s health, writes KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner.
The lawyer for an emergency physicians group says its lawsuit against Envision Healthcare should be allowed to proceed even though the company has filed for Chapter 11 protection.
Giant corporations like Microsoft and Google, plus many startups, are eyeing health care profits from programs based on artificial intelligence.
At least two Idaho hospitals are ending labor and delivery services, with one citing the state’s “legal and political climate” and noting that “recruiting replacements will be extraordinarily difficult” as doctors leave.
Patients in rural northeastern Nevada soon will have fewer providers and resources, after a local hospital decided to close its medical residency program. Nationally, the number of rural residency slots has grown during the past few years but still makes up just 2% of programs and residents nationwide.
It’s about the money — on both sides — as arguments swirl about patient safety, rising prices, and paying back on-the-job training.
A state law says giving false information to patients about covid-19 constitutes unprofessional conduct for which regulators can discipline doctors. Vaccine skeptics, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., join civil liberties groups and others in arguing that it violates free speech.
Any day now a conservative federal judge in Texas could upend the national abortion debate by requiring the FDA to rescind its approval of mifepristone, a drug approved in the U.S. more than 20 years ago that is now used in more than half of abortions nationwide. Meanwhile, a controversial study on masks gets a clarification, although it may be too late to change the public impression of what it found. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.
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