Cost and Quality

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Special Needs, Special Care: Palliative Care Helps Families Navigate Unfamiliar Medical Terrain

KFF Health News Original

Dr. Joanne Wolfe, of Children’s Hospital Boston, talks about her approach to helping children live with serious or life-limiting illness and how many need an interdisciplinary approach to care to make sense of the maze of medical treatment.

On Health Law’s Anniversary: Predictions For Next Year

KFF Health News Original

We asked 12 players from across the nation what they thought they would have accomplished by next year’s anniversary of the health law, or what issues they expect to be central in the ongoing debate.

Maternity Wards, NICUs Face Budget Scrutiny

KFF Health News Original

State health officials, searching for solutions to Texas’ budget shortfall, are eying neonatal intensive care units, which they fear are being overbuilt and overused by hospitals eager to profit from the high-cost care.

Healthy Indiana: Conservatives’ Reform Poster Child Or Another Costly Program?

KFF Health News Original

The Healthy Indiana Plan is the Hoosier state’s alternative to traditional Medicaid. It’s boosters also consider it a viable alternative to the dreaded Affordable Care Act. But do they really have a case?

The ‘Missing Link’ In ACOs: Patients

KFF Health News Original

Is it realistic to leverage the success of accountable care organizations on physician incentives alone? In other words, what about patients? Might they be that mysterious point that determines the effectiveness of ACO evolution?

Wyden-Brown And The Health Law: A Match Made In Heaven Or Limbo?

KFF Health News Original

President Barack Obama’s surprise signal last week to governors that he was willing to give states some extra flexibility in implementing the law is particularly noteworthy because it offers a useful window into the health law’ s evolving politics and the future bargaining that will likely take place.