Latest KFF Health News Stories
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.
Babies Dependent On Opioids Need Touch, Not Tech
One doctor in Kansas works to make sure every hospital in the state can provide the soft start, ideally with their mothers, that babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome need.
Hospitals Battle For Control Over Fast-Growing Heart-Valve Procedure
Medicare limits payments for valve replacement via a catheter to hospitals with large numbers of heart procedures. But smaller facilities are crying foul.
Purdue Pharma’s Sales Pitch Downplayed Risks Of Opioid Addiction
Through a widely circulated brochure and a videotape of testimonials, the maker of OxyContin stressed patients’ right to opioid treatment for pain.
Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ See You In Court!
In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner talk about a spate of lawsuits involving the Affordable Care Act, as well as the latest in state and federal efforts regarding the Medicaid program for the poor.
Energy-Hog Hospitals: When They Start Thinking Green, They See Green
Some hospitals have taken steps to be more energy-efficient. Though at times these changes barely represent rounding errors in their budgets, comprehensive efforts are beginning to make a difference.
Financial Ties That Bind: Studies Often Fall Short On Conflict-Of-Interest Disclosures
A new study in JAMA Surgery finds that a large sample of published medical research failed to disclose details on the financial relationships between medical device makers and physicians. Changes in the disclosure process could close this loop.
States Leverage Federal Funds To Help Insurers Lower Premiums
Even as it chips away at Obamacare, the Trump administration is solidly behind state-based initiatives to cover high-cost patients, known as “reinsurance” programs. It approved two more last month.
Listen: Why Young Doctors Appear To Be Embracing Single-Payer
KHN’s Shefali Luthra talks about how the American Medical Association’s student caucus managed to push the overall organization to begin reviewing and possibly — eventually — reconsider its decades-long opposition to single-payer health care.
Voters To Settle Dispute Over Ambulance Employee Break Times
Unlike most other workers, private-ambulance employees are frequently called away from their meals and rest breaks to respond to emergency calls, but there’s no law explicitly allowing that practice. Proposition 11 would change that, but some say its real purpose is to get California’s largest ambulance company out of costly litigation.
Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health articles from the week so you don’t have to.
Trump Administration Sinks Teeth Into Paring Down Drug Prices, On 5 Key Points
Instead of waiting for congressional action, federal regulators are looking at a series of actions to spur competition and drive down the cost of medicines.
Clinicians Who Learn Of A Patient’s Opioid Death Modestly Cut Back On Prescriptions
A study published Thursday shows that doctors, dentists and other medical providers cut overall opioid dosages by nearly 10 percent after receiving notification of a death from a medical examiner and information on safe prescribing.
Medicare To Overhaul ACOs But Critics Fear Less Participation
The moves could lead to a dramatic decrease in hospitals and doctors participating in the program, industry officials said.
Sospechas de fraude al Medicare y riesgos por cremas para el dolor preparadas en farmacias
En total, 547 farmacias (casi el 23% de las que envían la mayoría de las facturas a Medicare por hacer estas cremas) recibieron uno o más de las cinco alertas rojas establecidas por los investigadores.
Lax Oversight Leaves Surgery Center Regulators And Patients In The Dark
A Kaiser Health News and USA Today Network investigation finds that a hodgepodge of state rules governing outpatient centers allow some deaths and serious injuries to go unexamined. And no rule stops a doctor exiled by a hospital for misconduct from opening a surgery center down the street.
Pharmacy-Made Pain Creams Flagged On Fears Of Medicare Fraud And Risk
Inspector general identifies possible problems in nearly 23 percent of pharmacies that bill Medicare for blended creams, gels and lotions.
As An Investor In Biotech Stock, Republican Chris Collins May Have Overshared
Rep. Chris Collins talked one time too many, according to federal prosecutors who on Wednesday charged him with violating insider trading laws.
GOP Congressman Chris Collins Indicted On Insider Trading Charges
The New York congressman was a major investor in an Australian biotechnology firm and prosecutors allege that he tipped off his son and others to sell stock shortly before the company reported poor results in its drug testing.
Médicos jóvenes comienzan a apoyar un sistema de salud universal
Los médicos veteranos lo consideraban un sistema “socialista”. Pero ahora, han aceptado revisar su postura ante el impulso jóven de avanzar con un sistema de pagador único en el país.
