Latest KFF Health News Stories
Medicare To Tie Doctors’ Pay To Quality, Cost Of Care
A little-noticed provision of the health law calls for increasing reimbursements to doctors who provide quality care at lower cost and reducing payments to physicians who run up costs without better results.
Massachusetts Health Reform, From The Front Lines
Massachusetts Medical Society President Dr. Lynda Young offers her views on how the practice of medicine has changed in the six years since the state’s health reform law took effect and how issues of health care costs continue to be an everyday concern.
Massachusetts On Track To ‘Crack The Code’ For Health Care Cost Control
As his state’s health reforms mark their sixth anniversary, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick explains how he hopes to confront the next health reform challenges — controlling health care costs and overhauling the payment system.
The Next Health Reform Move: Overhauling Payment Practices
As Massachusetts policy makers and stakeholders focus on efforts to control health care costs through payment reform, Health Care for All’s Paul Williams outlines the considerations that are crucial to ensuring that patients experience a higher quality of care, and the most vulnerable are protected.
Massachusetts Health Reform: On The Right Path
Lynn Nicholas, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Hospital Association, outlines how tackling health care cost, payment and quality issues is the next necessary step in order to make the state’s reform achievements sustainable.
Physicians Wade Into Efforts To Curb Unnecessary Treatments
Nine groups list 45 practices they say are overused and may harm patients.
Medicare Now Covers Annual Screening For Depression
The coverage change could help focus doctors and patients on mental health issues, which often go undiagnosed in the elderly, especially those who are dealing with multiple chronic physical problems.
Effort To Pay Hospitals Based On Quality Didn’t Cut Death Rates, Study Finds
The New England Journal of Medicine reports that a test project
Some Insurers Paying Patients Who Agree To Get Cheaper Care
In these programs, people who have been prescribed a diagnostic test or elective procedure earn a bonus when they opt to go to a less expensive facility than the one recommended by their physician.
Health Law Accelerates Industry Changes
Experts don’t expect the Supreme Court’s ruling to alter that course.
Doctors’ Smartphones And iPads May Be Distracting
Doctors who carry mobile devices are often hit with a flurry of texts, e-mails, Facebook messages and tweets that sometimes keep them from patients’ needs.
Some States Limit How Uninsured Pay For High-Risk Insurance
The states are concerned that third-party funding may drive up the number of people seeking to join the pre-existing condition insurance plans and exhaust the budgets provided by the federal government.
What You Can Expect This Year From The Health Law
Even as the Supreme Court prepares to hear the historic lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act, consumers are already seeing some changes. Jackie Judd talks with KHN’s “Insuring Your Health” columnist Michelle Andrews about insurance rebates, flexible spending accounts, preventive care (including contraceptives) and easy-to-read insurance labels.
Connecticut Weighs Its ‘Nurses Only’ Medication Policy For Homebound Seniors
Gov. Malloy has proposed letting supervised home health aides give medication to Medicaid patients.
Premium Rebates, Coverage Labels, Reduced Medicare Drug Costs Highlight 2012 Health Law Changes
Despite deep political division about the health overhaul, implementation marches on.
Off-Label Use Of Risky Antipsychotic Drugs Raises Concerns
The expensive medications, designed for people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorders, are being prescribed regularly for common problems such as anxiety and attention-deficit disorder and are being used on children and the elderly.
Farzad Mostashari: Man On A Digital Mission
An eBay merchant who sells funny barbecue aprons out of his living room is better equipped to send information electronically than many physicians. Farzad Mostashari is the guy trying to change that.
Oregon Emphasizes Choices At Life’s End
The state has been at the forefront of trying to make sure a person has as much control over the end of life as possible with a detailed directive that has been adopted by 14 other states.
Coming Soon To Massachusetts’ Dental Offices-Maybe
Could the mid-level dental care providers now at work in Minnesota solve the access problem in Massachusetts and other states?
Electronic Intensive Care Unit Expands In Alaska
A nurse, a doctor and six computer monitors help raise the standards of care for critically ill patients in Anchorage and in rural hospitals.
