Latest Morning Briefing Stories

Mini-Biographies Help Clinicians Connect With Patients

KFF Health News Original

Some Veterans Affairs hospitals around the country use writers to record patients’ life stories, then place a short biography in each vet’s medical record. The My Life, My Story program gives clinicians another way to get to know their patients.

Social Security Error Jeopardizes Medicare Coverage For 250,000 Seniors

KFF Health News Original

The problem affects private drug policies and Medicare Advantage plans that provide both medical and drug coverage and substitute for traditional government-run Medicare. It could leave plan members without coverage.

Illinois Clamps Down On Nursing Homes In Wake Of KHN-Chicago Tribune Investigation

KFF Health News Original

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.

Facebook Live: Inclusive Care at the End of Life: The LGBTQ+ Experience

KFF Health News Original

For a generation of LGBTQ+ people who lived through unprecedented social change, getting older poses new challenges. When it comes to seeking elder care, concerns about lack of services, discrimination, neglect and even abuse threaten to reverse recent progress.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ ‘Conscience’ Rules, Rx Prices and Still More Medicare

KFF Health News Original

Joanne Kenen of Politico, Jen Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss the latest news about the Trump administration’s effort to allow health care practitioners and organizations to refuse to provide care or refer patients for services that violate their conscience or religion. Also this week, the administration orders TV ads for prescription drugs to include list prices. And Tennessee wants free rein from the federal government to run its Medicaid program. Plus, Rovner interviews Joan Biskupic, author of a new book on Chief Justice John Roberts, about the behind-the-scenes negotiations that led to the 2012 ruling upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.

Lethal Plans: When Seniors Turn To Suicide In Long-Term Care

KFF Health News Original

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.