Health Industry Archives - Page 60 of 194

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: It’s Health Costs, Stupid (2022 Edition)

As the pandemic wanes, for now, the ever-rising cost of health care is again taking center stage. Meanwhile, a year into the Biden administration, the FDA finally has a Senate-confirmed commissioner, Dr. Robert Califf. Tami Luhby of CNN, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Hannah Wesolowski of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, about how the pandemic has worsened the nation’s mental health crisis and what can be done about it.

Feb. 17, 2022

Inside the Tactical Tug of War Over the Controversial Alzheimer’s Drug

An epic battle is playing out behind the scenes over whether the government should pay for Aduhelm, an FDA-approved Alzheimer’s drug that scientists say has not been proven to work.

By Arthur Allen

Feb. 16, 2022

This Doctor Thought She Could Navigate US Health Care. Then Her Autistic Son Needed Help.

Dr. Mai Pham left her corporate career to spark change in a system that is failing millions of Americans with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities.

By Noam N. Levey

Feb. 15, 2022

Medical Boards Pressured to Let It Slide When Doctors Spread Covid Misinformation

State medical boards have an obligation to investigate complaints about doctors, including those who may spread false information about medical care. But in Florida, Tennessee, and other states, lawmakers are moving to protect physicians using unproven covid treatments or spreading misinformation.

By Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio

Feb. 15, 2022

Podcast

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: FDA Takes Center Stage

Congress is set to start its once-every-five-years review of the law that authorizes user fees to finance the hiring of personnel to speed the FDA review of drugs. The periodic renewals of “PDUFA” also give lawmakers a chance to make other changes to the agency at the hub of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the FDA could also find itself at the center of the abortion debate and a controversial new medication to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.

Feb. 10, 2022

The Spinal Tap

Federal Investigation Into Spine Surgeries Uses Mob Laws to Target Health Care Fraud

Investigators allege a Texas company that arranges spine surgery and other medical care for people injured in car crashes accepted bribes in violation of 1960s-era racketeering law.

By Fred Schulte

Feb. 8, 2022

Health Care Paradox: Medicare Penalizes Dozens of Hospitals It Also Gives Five Stars

Among the 764 hospitals hit with a 1% reduction in Medicare payments this year for having high numbers of patient infections and avoidable complications are more than three dozen that Medicare also ranks as among the best in the country.

By Jordan Rau

Feb. 8, 2022

Bounties and Bonuses Leave Small Hospitals Behind in Staffing Wars

A hospital in Wisconsin sued to keep seven employees from taking jobs with a competitor. A health system in South Dakota is offering nurses $40,000 signing bonuses. Facilities with fewer resources are finding it difficult or impossible to compete for health care workers.

By Bram Sable-Smith

Feb. 7, 2022

California Inks Sweetheart Deal With Kaiser Permanente, Jeopardizing Medicaid Reforms

The backroom deal with politically connected Kaiser Permanente, which infuriated other Medi-Cal health plans, allows the health care giant to continue selecting the enrollees it wants.

By Bernard J. Wolfson, Angela Hart, and Samantha Young

Feb. 3, 2022

Mental Health Therapists Seek Exemption From Part of Law to Ban Surprise Billing

Some practitioners object to the way upfront cost estimates are designed, saying they could affect access to care and are burdensome. Other experts disagree.

By Julie Appleby

Feb. 3, 2022

Navigating Aging

Pandemic-Fueled Shortages of Home Health Workers Strand Patients Without Necessary Care

Home health and hospice agencies are experiencing extreme worker shortages, which means they can’t provide services to all the patients seeking care.

By Judith Graham

Feb. 3, 2022

COVID-19

In California Nursing Homes, Omicron Is Bad, but So Is the Isolation

Omicron infections are surging in residential care facilities, causing massive sickouts among staff members and an uptick in hospitalizations and deaths. The latest visitor restrictions and testing requirements are also compounding the isolation that residents have suffered for almost two years.

By Linda Marsa

Jan. 31, 2022

Medium shot of a elderly male patient in a wheelchair looking out a window at night

Medicare Patients Win the Right to Appeal Gap in Nursing Home Coverage

If federal officials accept a court’s decision, some patients will get a chance to seek refunds for their nursing home and other expenses.

By Susan Jaffe

Jan. 28, 2022

Podcast

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Record ACA Enrollment Puts Pressure on Congress

Temporary subsidies helped boost enrollment under the Affordable Care Act to a record 14.5 million, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. But unless Democrats in Congress extend those subsidies, many of those new enrollees will be in for a rude surprise just ahead of midterm elections. Meanwhile, the need to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer further crowds an already tight legislative schedule. Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Diana Greene Foster, author of “The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having — Or Being Denied — An Abortion.”

Jan. 27, 2022

Cars are parked in front of the Massachusetts General Hospital entrance.

Resistance to a Boston Hospital’s Expansion Centers on Rising Prices

Mass General Brigham’s $2.3 billion expansion plan is raising state officials’ concerns that it will reduce competition and raise the price of care in Massachusetts. It also signals a national shift from a focus on hospital mergers and purchases of physician practices — which boost the cost of care — to individual hospitals’ expansions to gain a bigger share of the market.

By Harris Meyer

Jan. 27, 2022

Letters to the Editor

Readers and Tweeters: Give Nurse Practitioners Their Due

KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

Jan. 27, 2022

COVID-19

CDC Tells Pharmacies to Give 4th Covid Shots to Immunocompromised Patients

The health agency and the White House acted in the wake of a KHN story about pharmacists refusing to give shots to patients with moderate to severe immune suppression.

By Liz Szabo

Jan. 26, 2022

I Write About America’s Absurd Health Care System. Then I Got Caught Up in It.

A KHN reporter had written for years about the people left behind by the absurdly complex and expensive U.S. health care system. Then he found himself navigating that maze as he tried to get his insulin prescription filled.

By Bram Sable-Smith

Jan. 25, 2022

A view of the front portico of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington, DC.

COVID-19

Justices Block Broad Worker Vaccine Requirement, Allow Health Worker Mandate to Proceed

The Supreme Court temporarily blocked a federal rule requiring larger businesses to mandate employees be vaccinated or wear masks and undergo weekly testing. At the same time, however, it allowed a federal order that health care workers be vaccinated.

By Julie Rovner

Jan. 13, 2022