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Many patients ready to leave the hospital end up lingering for days or weeks — occupying beds that others need and driving up costs — because of a lack of open spots at nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities. A few health systems are addressing this problem by moving post-acute rehab into the home.
A San Francisco man had friends drive him to the hospital after he was hit by a car. Doctors checked him out, then sent him by ambulance to a trauma center — which released him with no further treatment. The ambulance bill? Almost $13,000.
Health officials expect a measles outbreak in West Texas to exceed 100 cases because of low vaccination rates and undetected infections. Vaccine misinformation and new laws may make such situations more common and harder to contain.
Delays in urgent CDC analyses of seasonal flu and bird flu, and the agency’s silence, will harm Americans as outbreaks escalate, doctors and public health experts warn.
More than 60,000 people bleed to death every year in the United States. Many of those deaths occur before the patient reaches a trauma center where blood transfusions can be given.
Unsure how to help the troubled psychiatric facility, legislators look to shore up other parts of the state’s mental health system.
Different states are offering starkly different guidelines to hospitals, community clinics, and other health facilities for interacting with immigrant patients as President Donald Trump issues a flurry of executive orders on immigration.
California and Massachusetts are teaching immigrants their rights while Florida and Texas are collecting patients’ immigration status. As states offer differing guidelines for interacting with immigrant patients, hospitals around the U.S. say they won’t turn people away for care because of their immigration status.
Some hospitals are bringing in dogs to spend entire shifts with doctors and nurses. The trained canines help staffers cope with the stress of their work amid high levels of burnout.
California has a few major changes coming to its health policy landscape in 2025. New laws that took effect Jan. 1 ban medical debt from credit reports, allow public health inspections of private immigration detention centers, and ban toxic chemicals in makeup.
Birth centers, where midwives deliver babies with emergency backup from hospitals, can offer an alternative for families as hospitals close maternity units. But the state’s stiff regulations and what many call a dysfunctional licensing process are hobbling new initiatives and forcing some facilities to shut down.
A primary care clinic burned, medical offices closed, and hospitals struggled with possible evacuations. The wildfires that have incinerated large swaths of Los Angeles County are stressing the region’s health care infrastructure. Still, providers continue to find ways to deliver vital care.
After rival hospitals in Terre Haute scuttled plans to merge, a state senator has introduced a bill to forbid similar mergers by repealing a state law he helped write.
A medical resident who listens to “An Arm and a Leg” is pushing for change with the American Medical Association and at the hospital where he works.
KFF Health News staff made the rounds on national and local media in the last two weeks to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Donald Trump’s first administration advanced rules forcing hospitals and insurers to reveal prices for medical services. Employers don’t want to risk backtracking during Trump’s second administration.
A man in Chicago with a troubling symptom underwent a common procedure. Then he wanted to know why the hospital charged nearly three times its own cost estimate.
The helicopter evacuation of 70 people from a Tennessee hospital during Hurricane Helene is considered a success story. The building was destroyed by floodwaters, but no one died. In hindsight, why was it built next to a river?
The push-pull in Montana reflects a national tension as states try to decide what counts as fair checks on tax-exempt hospitals and industry players weigh in. The debate centers on whether nonprofit hospitals do enough good to earn their charitable status.
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