Health Industry Archives - Page 60 of 200

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Looking Ahead to the Lame-Duck Session

Congress won’t be back in Washington until after Election Day, but lawmakers have left themselves a long list of items to finish up in November and December, including unfinished health care policies. Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call; Jessie Hellmann, also of CQ Roll Call; and Mary Agnes Carey of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Sam Whitehead, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” episode about a family who tried to use urgent care to save money, but ended up with a big emergency room bill anyway.

Oct. 6, 2022

A woman in a white shirt stands in front of a dark red couch.

Diagnosis: Debt

Medical Debt Sunk Her Credit. New Changes From the Credit Reporting Agencies Won’t Help.

New policies to prevent unpaid medical bills from harming people’s credit scores are on the way. But the concessions made by top credit reporting companies may fall short for those with the largest debt — especially Black Americans in the South.

By Aneri Pattani

Oct. 6, 2022

A woman walks towards a red brick hospital building.

Diagnosis: Debt

Listen: Medical Bills Upended Her Life and Her Credit Score

Penny Wingard, 58, of Charlotte, North Carolina, worries she won’t ever get out from under her medical debt despite new policies that are supposed to prevent medical debt from harming people’s credit scores.

By Aneri Pattani

Oct. 6, 2022

A photo shows an elderly man inside of a nursing home, talking to a medical professional, holding a clipboard with paperwork.

Nursing Home Surprise: Advantage Plans May Shorten Stays to Less Time Than Medicare Covers

Private Medicare Advantage health plans are increasingly ending coverage for skilled nursing or rehab services before medical providers think patients are healthy enough to go home, doctors and patient advocates say.

By Susan Jaffe

Oct. 4, 2022

Severe Sleep Apnea Diagnosis Panics Reporter Until He Finds a Simple, No-Cost Solution

An industry has grown up around sleep apnea, stirring concerns about overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

By Jay Hancock

Oct. 3, 2022

A photo shows a sign outside the FDA's headquarters.

Pharma-Funded FDA Gets Drugs Out Faster, But Some Work Only ‘Marginally’ and Most Are Pricey

Since pharmaceutical companies started funding their FDA drug applications 30 years ago, the agency’s reviews have gone much faster — perhaps too fast.

By Arthur Allen

Sept. 30, 2022

Podcast

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: On Government Spending, Congress Decides Not to Decide

Congress has once again decided not to decide how to fund the federal government in time for the start of the fiscal year, racing toward a midnight Sept. 30 deadline to pass a stopgap bill that would keep the lights on for two more months. However, it does appear the FDA’s program that gets drugmakers to help fund some of the agency’s review staff will be renewed in time to stop pink slips from being sent. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Victoria Knight of Axios join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews filmmaker Cynthia Lowen, whose new documentary, “Battleground,” explores how anti-abortion forces played the long game to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Sept. 29, 2022

A man in a checkered shirt sits on a brown couch in a living room.

Diagnosis: Debt

Few Places Have More Medical Debt Than Dallas-Fort Worth, but Hospitals There Are Thriving

Some hospitals notch big profits while patients are pushed into debt by skyrocketing medical prices and high deductibles, a KHN analysis finds.

By Noam N. Levey

Sept. 28, 2022

A digital illustration in watercolor and pencil. A woman with long, braided black hair sits in the center of the image. She looks towards the viewer out of the corner of her eye with a slightly concerned expression. Beside her is a doctor, whose body is transparent and face has completely faded into the background. Behind them is an urban landscape with buildings colored in magenta, yellow, and grey. It is night.

Podcast

‘American Diagnosis’ Episode 12: When Indigenous People Move to Cities, Health Care Funding Doesn’t Follow

When Indigenous people started moving to cities in large numbers after World War II, many found hardship and discrimination there … but not the health care they were entitled to. Episode 12, the season finale, explores the efforts of urban Indian health providers to close those gaps by providing affordable, culturally competent care.

Sept. 28, 2022

A photo shows an elderly woman sitting with her hands resting on top of her cane.

Patients For Profit: How Private Equity Hijacked Health Care

Britain’s Hard Lessons From Handing Elder Care Over to Private Equity

Four Seasons Health Care collapsed after years of private equity investors rolling in one after another to buy its business, sell its real estate, and at times wrest multimillion-dollar profits from it through complex debt schemes. The deal-making failed to account for the true cost of senior care.

By Christine Spolar

Sept. 27, 2022

A photo shows a woman holding a vial of oil and a pipette, suggesting it is Delta-8 oil.

Hemp-Derived Delta-8 Skirts Marijuana Laws and Raises Health Concerns

A cannabis product called delta-8 was made legal when the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp. But unlike its cousin CBD, delta-8 has psychoactive properties. And the FDA warns it has “serious health risks.” The agency has received more than 100 reports of bad reactions among people who consumed it.

By Eric Berger

Sept. 23, 2022

Podcast

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Biden Declares the Pandemic ‘Over’

President Joe Biden, in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” declared the covid-19 pandemic “over,” stoking confusion for members of his administration trying to persuade Congress to provide more funding to fight the virus and the public to get the latest boosters. Meanwhile, concerns about a return of medical inflation is helping boost insurance premiums even as private companies race to get their piece of the health pie. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Lauren Weber of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, for extra credit, the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories they think you should read, too.

Sept. 22, 2022

A photo shows a toddler lying asleep in bed, being checked with a stethoscope.

Shift in Child Hospice Care Is a Lifeline for Parents Seeking a Measure of Comfort and Hope

Terminally ill children, unlike adults, can get hospice services while continuing to receive life-extending or curative care. More than a decade after the inception of the federal policy, it is widely credited with improving the quality of life for ailing children and their families, even as some parents find themselves in a painful stasis.

By Bernard J. Wolfson

Sept. 22, 2022

A photo shows the exterior of Audrain Community Hospital.

Patients for Profit: How Private Equity Hijacked Health Care

Buy and Bust: After Platinum Health Took Control of Noble Sites, All Hospital Workers Were Fired

Two Missouri towns are without operating hospitals after private equity-backed Noble Health left both facilities mired in debt, lawsuits, and federal investigations. The hospitals’ new operator, Platinum Health, agreed to buy them in April for $2 and laid off the last employees in early September.

By Sarah Jane Tribble

Sept. 22, 2022

interior of shop selling coffins and funeral wreaths

Patients for Profit: How Private Equity Hijacked Health Care

Death Is Anything but a Dying Business as Private Equity Cashes In

Investors are banking on increased demand in death care services as 73 million baby boomers near the end of their lives.

By Markian Hawryluk

Sept. 22, 2022

A colorful watercolor style digital illustration with a textured midnight-blue background. Three women are in the center of the image; on the left, a woman with straight hair in shades of periwinkle looks off to the distance in thought. She wears a magenta shirt. The woman in the center has short white hair with highlights of pink, yellow, and grey, and wears a bright yellow shirt. She is looking down with her chin on her hands in a contemplative expression. To her right, a woman with curly black hair with highlights of grey and pink looks off the page. Her arms are crossed in a thoughtful manner. She wears a vivid orange shirt. All of the women are middle to older aged. Three pink circles overlap each of the women, and a large pair of translucent lines in the shape of DNA overlay the image.

Genetic Tests Create Treatment Opportunities and Confusion for Breast Cancer Patients

Doctors are divided on whether blanket testing of breast cancer patients is warranted, since scientists and physicians are sometimes unsure about how to interpret the results.

By Michelle Andrews

Sept. 21, 2022

Nutritional formula is poured into a baby bottle. There is a second, empty bottle beside the one being filled. They sit on a wooden countertop.

Formula May Be Right for Infants, but Experts Warn That Toddlers Don’t Need It

Sales of formulas designed for toddlers increased in recent years, but health experts warn parents that, generally, once children reach their 1st birthday, they are fine with cow or plant milk and don’t need the expensive, high-calorie products. And doctors say toddler formula should not be given to infants.

By Christina Szalinski

Sept. 21, 2022

A photo shows a judge's gavel resting on a surface surrounded by shadows.

Centene to Pay $166 Million to Texas in Medicaid Drug Pricing Settlement

Texas is at least the 12th state to settle with St. Louis-based Centene Corp. over allegations that it overcharged Medicaid prescription drug programs.

By Andy Miller and Samantha Young

Sept. 19, 2022

A traditional courtroom illustration, in watercolor and pencil, depicting attorney Lawrence Robbins arguing before the Supreme Court. He wears a black suit, glasses, and is bald.

Doctors Rush to Use Supreme Court Ruling to Escape Opioid Charges

After a unanimous ruling from the high court, doctors who are accused of writing irresponsible prescriptions can go to trial with a new defense: It wasn’t on purpose.

By Brett Kelman

Sept. 19, 2022

A photo shows a woman receiving an MRI scan to check for brain tumors.

New Abortion Laws Jeopardize Cancer Treatment for Pregnant Patients

As abortion restrictions take effect across the South in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, cancer doctors are trying to decipher the laws. They’re grappling with how to discuss options with pregnant patients, who may be forced to choose whether to proceed or forgo lifesaving cancer treatments that can prove toxic for the fetus.

By Charlotte Huff

Sept. 16, 2022

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