Cost and Quality

Latest KFF Health News Stories

In Search Of Age-Friendly Health Care, Finding Room For Improvement

KFF Health News Original

Simple alterations — like better signs, seating, parking or door design — can make it easier for older patients to navigate health care facilities. Here are several changes doctors’ offices, clinics and hospitals could make.

Hospital Giant Sutter Health Faces Legal Reckoning Over Medical Pricing

KFF Health News Original

A long-awaited class-action lawsuit against Sutter is set to open this month in San Francisco Superior Court. The hospital giant stands accused of violating California’s antitrust laws by leveraging its market power to drive out competition and overcharge patients.

Watch: Five Things To Know About Hunger Among America’s Aging

KFF Health News Original

One out of every 13 seniors in America struggles to get enough food to eat while the federal program intended to help hasn’t kept pace with the graying population. KHN Midwest editor/correspondent Laura Ungar explains what you need to know about this largely hidden problem.

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Waiting For The Trump Health Plan

KFF Health News Original

President Donald Trump keeps promising a new health plan, but so far it’s nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is proposing a plan to cancel billions of dollars in medical debt owed by patients. This week, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Rovner also interviews KHN’s Rachel Bluth about the latest “Bill of the Month” feature. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists recommend their favorite health stories of the week.

A Young Woman, A Wheelchair And The Fight To Take Her Place At Stanford

KFF Health News Original

Throughout her young life, Sylvia Colt-Lacayo has been told her disability didn’t need to hold her back. She graduated near the top of her high school class. She was co-captain of the mock trial team. In April, she learned she had been admitted to Stanford University with a full scholarship. Now, the struggle to fund the caregivers she needs to leave home is proving her toughest battle yet.

In India’s Slums, ‘Painkillers Are Part Of The Daily Routine’

KFF Health News Original

As the Indian government reluctantly loosens its prescription opioid laws after decades of lobbying by palliative care advocates desperate to ease their patients’ pain, the nation’s sprawling, cash-fed health care system is ripe for misuse.

Beset By Lawsuits And Criticism In U.S., Opioid Makers Eye New Market In India

KFF Health News Original

What began in India as a populist movement to bring inexpensive morphine to the diseased and dying poor has paved the way for a booming pain management industry. Now, new customers are being funneled to U.S. drugmakers bedeviled by a government crackdown back home.

Why Red Wyoming Seeks The Regulatory Approach To Air Ambulance Costs

KFF Health News Original

Wyoming is taking on expensive air ambulance bills by trying to expand Medicaid to cover transport for all patients. This is a big change: a red state seeking to control what’s been a growing free-market bonanza.