Medical School on Cherokee Reservation Will Soon Send Doctors to Tribal, Rural Areas
Native Americans and rural residents are underrepresented in medical schools. But in this new program, 25% of students are Indigenous and half are from rural areas.
Southern Bureau
KFF Health News tells the stories of Georgia and the rest of the South.
701-720 of 1,239 results
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Gubernatorial Candidates Quarrel Over Glory for Winning Opioid Settlements
Some gubernatorial candidates are sparring over bragging rights for their state’s share of $50 billion in opioid settlement funds. Many of the candidates are attorneys general who pursued the lawsuits that produced the payouts.
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When That Supposedly Free Annual Physical Generates a Bill
Completing a routine depression screening questionnaire during an annual checkup is cost-free under federal law. But, as one woman discovered, answering a doctor’s follow-up questions might not be.
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Smaller Employers Weigh a Big-Company Fix for Scarce Primary Care: Their Own Clinics
Company health clinics are most common at large workplaces, but some small employers say they see advantages, too: healthier workers, lower costs, and better access to primary care.
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Storing Guns Away From Home Could Reduce Suicides, but Legal Hurdles Loom
Safe storage maps show gun owners where to put their firearms for safekeeping if they experience a mental health crisis. The idea has support among some gun enthusiasts, but legal obstacles threaten wider adoption.
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Residents of a Rural Arkansas County Grapple With Endemic Gun Violence
Rural gun homicides have often been overshadowed by violence in cities. But they are taking their toll on small communities ill-equipped to deal with the challenges.
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Using Opioid Settlement Cash for Police Gear Like Squad Cars and Scanners Sparks Debate
State and local governments will receive a windfall of more than $50 billion over 18 years from settlements with companies that made, sold, or distributed opioid painkillers. Using the funds for law enforcement has triggered important questions about what the money was meant for.
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Quick Genetic Test Offers Hope for Sick, Undiagnosed Kids. But Few Insurers Offer to Pay.
A new, rapid genetic test shows promise in increasing diagnoses and improving treatment for some children with rare genetic conditions. Many insurers won’t cover it, but Florida's Medicaid program is among those that see benefits — and, potentially, savings.
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Abortion Coverage Is Limited or Unavailable at a Quarter of Large Workplaces
A KFF survey of employer health benefits shows that 28% of large U.S. companies have limited or no access to abortion under company health insurance.
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Covid Relief Payments Triggered Feds to Demand Money Back From Social Security Recipients
Some Social Security beneficiaries say the government is clawing back benefits after they received covid stimulus payments that were supposed to be exempt from asset limits.
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A Third of Schools Don’t Have a Nurse. Here’s Why That’s a Problem.
School nurses treat children daily for a wide range of illnesses and injuries, and sometimes serve as a young patient’s only health provider. They also function as a point person for critical public health interventions. Yet many states don’t require them, and school districts struggle to hire them.
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Rare ‘Flesh-Eating’ Bacterium Spreads North as Oceans Warm
A rise in cases of Vibrio vulnificus and its spread northward have heightened concern about the bacterium, which can cause human tissue to rot and skin to decay. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to make more doctors aware of the dangerous pathogen.
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PrEP, a Key HIV Prevention Tool, Isn’t Reaching Black Women
New HIV infections occur disproportionately among Black women, but exclusionary marketing, fewer treatment options, and provider wariness have limited uptake of preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, drugs, which reduce the risk of contracting the virus.
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Thousands Got Exactech Knee or Hip Replacements. Then, Patients Say, the Parts Began to Fail.
In a torrent of lawsuits, patients accuse Florida device maker Exactech of hiding knee and hip implant defects for years. The company denies the allegations.
By Fred Schulte -
What Mobile Clinics in Dollar General Parking Lots Say About Health Care in Rural America
Dollar General’s pilot mobile clinic program has been touted by company officials, rural health experts, and analysts as a model that could help solve rural America’s primary care shortage. But its Tennessee launch has been met with local skepticism.
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Facing Criticism, Feds Award First Maternal Health Grant to a Predominantly Black Rural Area
Mississippi has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the U.S. Now, it also has a federal grant to help in rural areas. The award could signal more flexibility from federal officials.
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Journalists Track Opioid Settlement Cash and New Fees for Emailing Your Doctor
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.
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These Appalachia Hospitals Made Big Promises to Gain a Monopoly. They’re Failing to Deliver.
Ballad Health, the only hospital system across a large swath of Tennessee and Virginia, has fallen short of quality-of-care and charity care obligations — even as it’s sued thousands of patients for unpaid bills.
By Brett Kelman and Samantha Liss -
As Covid Infections Rise, Nursing Homes Are Still Waiting for Vaccines
“People want covid-19 to be in the rearview mirror,” one nursing home official says. Faced with a slow rollout of the updated covid vaccines, and without state mandates for workers to get vaccinated, most skilled nursing facilities are relying on persuasion to boost vaccination rates among staff and residents.
By Jordan Rau and Tony Leys -
Florida Foster Kids Are Given Powerful Medications, but Feds Find State Oversight Lacking
A report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services raises troubling questions about the use of powerful medications within Florida’s child welfare system and the risk of overdoses or dangerous side effects if children are given the wrong combination of drugs.