Bill of the Month
KFF Health News, in collaboration with The Washington Post, examines and decodes your perplexing medical bills.
Investigations
Priced Out
America’s health insurance crisis
Deadly Denials
Prior authorization has become a confusing maze that denies or delays care, burdens physicians with paperwork, and perpetuates racial disparities.
361 - 380 of 423 Results
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They Got Estimates Before Surgery — And A Bill After That Was 50% More
Patients are often told to be smart consumers and shop around for health care before they use it. What happens when people actually take that advice?
By Rachel Bluth -
Infusion Treatments — Needed or Not — Can Deplete Patients’ Wallets
When it comes to physician-administered infusion drugs, doctors sometimes have a financial reason for their choice and patients often aren’t aware of cheaper options.
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They May Owe Nothing — Half-Million-Dollar Dialysis Bill Canceled
After reporting by KHN, NPR and CBS, Fresenius has agreed to waive a Montana man’s huge bill for out-of-network dialysis care.
By Jenny Gold -
FDA Ends Months-Long FOIA Battle Over Medical Device Failures, Says Putting Database Online ‘Satisfies’ KHN Request
KHN filed multiple Freedom of Information Act requests over months, and the FDA responded Wednesday saying the data about device malfunctions is now publicly available online.
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Surgeons’ Opioid-Prescribing Habits Are Hard To Kick
A new data analysis by KHN and Johns Hopkins researchers shows that even as the CDC issued warnings, surgeons handed out many times the number of opioid pills needed for post-op pain.
By Julie Appleby and Elizabeth Lucas -
Opioid Operators: How Surgeons Ply Patients With Painkillers
Even as awareness of the opioid crisis grew, prescribing habits of surgeons changed very little from 2011 to 2016, found a data analysis by KHN and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Use this interactive tool to search by doctor or practicing hospital.
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Illinois Clamps Down On Nursing Homes In Wake Of KHN-Chicago Tribune Investigation
In reaction to an investigation by Kaiser Health News and the Chicago Tribune, the Illinois legislature has passed a new law to impose fines on nursing homes that fail to meet minimum staffing requirements.
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Lethal Plans: When Seniors Turn To Suicide In Long-Term Care
In a nation where the suicide rate continues to climb, such deaths among older adults are often overlooked. A six-month investigation by KHN and PBS NewsHour finds that older Americans are quietly killing themselves in nursing homes, assisted living centers and adult care homes.
By Melissa Bailey and JoNel Aleccia -
Death By 1,000 Clicks: Where Electronic Health Records Went Wrong
The U.S. government claimed that turning American medical charts into electronic records would make health care better, safer and cheaper. Ten years and $36 billion later, the system is an unholy mess. Inside a digital revolution that took a bad turn.
By Fred Schulte and Erika Fry, Fortune -
Hidden FDA Reports Detail Harm Caused By Scores Of Medical Devices
The Food and Drug Administration has let medical device companies file reports of injuries and malfunctions outside a widely scrutinized public database, leaving doctors and medical sleuths in the dark.
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The Promise Of Youth, The Reality Of Aging
Patients Experiment With Prescription Drugs To Fight Aging
Doctors and patients say they’re compelled to use off-label meds as research goes unfunded.
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Big Pharma Gave Money To Patient Advocacy Groups Opposing Medicare Changes
A KHN database shows that $58 million flowed from drugmakers to patient groups running national ads.
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Tainted Drugs
When Medicine Makes Patients Sicker
The Food and Drug Administration is supposed to inspect all factories, foreign and domestic, that produce drugs for the U.S. market. But a KHN review of thousands of FDA documents — inspection records, recalls, warning letters and lawsuits — reveals how drugs that are poorly manufactured or contaminated can reach consumers.
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Drugmakers Funnel Millions To Lawmakers; A Few Dozen Get $100,000-Plus
Drugmakers' contributions to lawmakers have peaked as surging drug prices emerge as a hot-button political issue. In the past decade, Congress has received nearly $79 million from 68 pharma PACs, run by employees of companies that make drugs treating everything from cancer to erectile dysfunction.
By Emmarie Huetteman and Sydney Lupkin -
Dementia And Guns: When Should Doctors Broach The Topic?
As the number of Americans with dementia rises, health professionals grapple with how to talk to patients about gun safety at home.
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Simple Surgeries. Tragic Results.
Despite Red Flags At Surgery Centers, Overseers Award Gold Seals
A decade ago, California stopped licensing surgery centers and then gave approval power to private accreditors that are commonly paid by the same centers they inspect. That system of oversight has created a troubling legacy of laxity, a Kaiser Health News investigation finds.
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Unwitting Patients, Copycat Comments Play Hidden Role In Federal Rule-Making
As HHS decided to cut $1.6 billion in drug payments to hospitals, it weighed thousands of comments generated by a pharmaceutical-funded advocacy group.
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Avoidable Sepsis Infections Send Thousands Of Seniors To Gruesome Deaths
No one tracks sepsis cases closely enough to know how often these severe infections turn fatal. But the toll — both human and financial — is enormous, finds an investigation by KHN and the Chicago Tribune.
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Religious Conservatives’ Ties To Trump Officials Pay Off In AIDS Policies, Funding
Shepherd Smith, a strong supporter of abstinence-only sex education for AIDS, has been close to the new director of the CDC for decades. This connection is just one example of the "new in crowd" surrounding the Trump administration, where politics and religion mix.
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The Man Who Sold America On Vitamin D — And Profited In The Process
The doctor most responsible for turning the sunshine supplement into a billion-dollar juggernaut has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the vitamin D industry, according to government records and interviews.
By Liz Szabo