Women and Minorities Bear the Brunt of Medical Misdiagnosis
Hundreds of thousands of Americans become disabled or die each year because of a diagnostic error. But some patients are at higher risk than others.
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Hundreds of thousands of Americans become disabled or die each year because of a diagnostic error. But some patients are at higher risk than others.
More than a third of older adults have a disability. Many find it difficult to get the medical care they need. New federal regulations would address that problem.
Fewer than two dozen rural hospitals were converted into Rural Emergency Hospitals in the program’s first year. Now, advocates and lawmakers say tweaks to the law are necessary to lure more takers and keep health care in rural communities.
Alex Azar advanced Canadian drug importation as Donald Trump’s secretary of Health and Human Services. Now he chairs the board of a company managing Florida’s importation program.
Small, community hospitals face challenges in paying for the capital improvement projects they need to stay open.
With days to go until a large chunk of the federal government runs out of money needed to keep it operating, Congress is still struggling to find a compromise spending plan. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court agreed to hear — this year — a case that pits federal requirements for emergency treatment against state abortion bans. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Tami Luhby of CNN join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews American Medical Association President Jesse Ehrenfeld about the choppy waters facing the nation’s physicians in 2024.
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services is months behind in paying organizations contracted to connect people to care. The interruption is likely to have lasting effects, even after the state catches up.
In spite of labor concern about any rollback, Gov. Gavin Newsom is revisiting California’s planned $25 minimum wage for health workers less than three months after approving the measure despite an uncertain price tag. The projected $4 billion first-year cost forms part of the state’s estimated $38 billion deficit.
Artificial intelligence software to aid radiologists in detecting problems or diagnosing cancer has been moving rapidly into clinical use, where it shows great promise. But it’s a turnoff for some patients asked to pay out-of-pocket for technology that’s not quite ready for prime time.
Adults who develop one autoimmune form of diabetes are often misdiagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Those wrong diagnoses make it harder to get the appropriate medications and technology to manage their blood sugar. Many Black patients wonder if their race plays a role.
Even in states where laws protect minors’ access to gender-affirming care, malpractice insurance premiums are keeping small and independent clinics from treating patients.
Six years ago, the hospital in Fort Scott, Kansas, shuttered, leaving residents in the small community without a cornerstone health care institution. In the years since, despite new programs meant to save small hospitals, dozens of other communities have watched theirs close.
Even people with good insurance aren't guaranteed affordable care, as this KFF Health News follow-up to one patient’s saga shows.
The Medical Board of California, which licenses MDs, is developing a program to evaluate, treat, and monitor doctors with alcohol and drug problems. But there is sharp disagreement over whether those who might volunteer for the program should be subject to public disclosure and over how much participants should pay.
Family medicine doctors already deliver most of rural America's babies, and efforts to train more in obstetrics care are seen as a way to cope with labor and delivery unit closures.
Why do hospitals sue patients who can’t afford to pay their medical bills? On this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann investigates such lawsuits and covers new laws and regulations that may change this practice.
Debate and speculation are heating up over whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign will factor into the outcome of the 2024 election. But one thing is clear: Kennedy’s political following is built on a movement that seeks to legitimize conspiracy theories.
In the sixth year of the KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” series, patients shared more than 750 tales of medical billing problems, and reporters analyzed more than $730,000 in charges — including more than $215,000 owed by 12 patients and their families.
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