Health Industry

Latest KFF Health News Stories

California Wants to Slash Insulin Prices by Becoming a Drugmaker. Can It Succeed?

KFF Health News Original

Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed spending $100 million to make insulin affordable to millions of people with diabetes under a new state generic drug label, CalRx. But state officials haven’t said how much the insulin will cost patients or how the state will deal with distribution and other challenges.

Despite a First-Ever ‘Right-to-Repair’ Law, There’s No Easy Fix for Wheelchair Users

KFF Health News Original

Colorado lawmakers approved a measure that will make it easier for people to fix their power wheelchairs when they wear out or break down, but arcane regulations and manufacturers create high hurdles for nationwide reform.

Montana Hires a Medicaid Director With a Managed-Care Past

KFF Health News Original

Montana, one of about a dozen states still managing its own Medicaid programs, has a new Medicaid director who championed handing the management of the program to private companies in Iowa and Kansas.

Agotados por covid y por trabajar 80 horas a la semana, médicos residentes deciden sindicalizarse

KFF Health News Original

Los residentes son médicos recién recibidos, que han terminado la carrera de medicina, y deben pasar de tres a siete años de formación en hospitales universitarios antes de poder ejercer de forma independiente. Ganan poco y trabajan mucho.

Burned Out by Covid and 80-Hour Workweeks, Resident Physicians Unionize

KFF Health News Original

In California and beyond, physician trainees working long hours for what in some states amounts to little more than minimum wage are organizing to seek better pay, benefits, and working conditions. More than 1,300 of them at three L.A. County public hospitals will vote May 30 on whether to strike.

Travel Nurses See Swift Change of Fortunes as Covid Money Runs Dry

KFF Health News Original

Travel nurse contracts that were plentiful and paid the temporary nurses far more than hospital staff nurses are vanishing. Hospitals nationwide are turning their energies to recruiting full-time people.

States Watching as Massachusetts Takes Aim at Hospital Building Boom and Costs

KFF Health News Original

A Massachusetts health care cost watchdog agency helped block plans of the state’s largest hospital system to expand into the suburbs. Now, other states are looking at whether Massachusetts’ decade-old model of controlling health costs is worth emulating.

Shopping for Space, Health Systems Make Over Malls

KFF Health News Original

Dying malls have turned out to be good places to care for the living. During the pandemic, mall-to-medicine transitions accelerated, with at least 10 health systems moving in where retail has moved out.

Physicians Are Uneasy as Colorado Collects Providers’ Diversity Data

KFF Health News Original

Colorado is requiring insurers that offer public option plans to collect demographic data on health providers, including race and sexual orientation. The aim is to connect patients with the right provider, but providers are worried about their privacy.

Despite Losing Federal Money, California Is Still Testing Uninsured Residents for Covid — For Now

KFF Health News Original

Federal funding that paid for covid testing, treatment, and vaccines for uninsured people has run out. While some states struggle to make up the difference, California is relying on other state and local programs to continue free testing.

Heartbeat-Tracking Technology Raises Patients’ and Doctors’ Worries

KFF Health News Original

As Google joins Apple in adding heart rhythm sensors to wearable devices, and millions of people gain access to alerts that flag when their hearts might have skipped a beat, cardiologists are wondering what to do with all the information.

Why Cheap, Older Drugs That Might Treat Covid Never Get Out of the Lab

KFF Health News Original

The hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin fiascoes have soured many doctors on repurposing drugs for covid. A few inexpensive old drugs may be as good as some of the new antivirals, but they face complex obstacles to get to patients.

Se desploma la asistencia a eventos de vacunación contra covid en Los Ángeles

KFF Health News Original

A medida que las infecciones por covid han ido disminuyendo, también lo ha hecho el interés en las vacunas, a pesar de que estas dosis son altamente efectivas para evitar enfermarse de gravedad y morir a causa del virus.