Latest KFF Health News Stories
Alone And Aging: Creating A Safety Net for Isolated Seniors
As numbers of vulnerable seniors without relatives rise, groups call for new efforts to navigate declines in physical and mental health.
Clinics Help Keep People With Serious Mental Illness Out Of ER
Providing regular care at a Texas clinic prevents patients from cycling back to the hospital in a psychiatric crisis.
Dementia Rates Decline Sharply Among Senior Citizens
Education and better heart health may deserve credit.
Surgeon General Murthy Wants America To Face Up To Addiction
More people struggle with alcohol or drugs than have cancer, and 1 in 5 Americans binge drink. It all costs the nation $420 billion a year. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says we know how to help.
Community Paramedics Work To Link Patients With Mental Health Care
Training these first responders to identify people who are suffering from mental illness and connect them with treatment other than the emergency room could be part of the solution to gaps in the nation’s mental health system.
Un sorprendente número de padres de California experimentaron abuso cuando niños
Uno de cada cinco adultos de California, con niños viviendo en sus casas, fue golpeado, pateado o abusado físicamente cuando niño, y uno de cada 10 fue abusado sexualmente, según datos publicados por una fundación de salud infantil.
New Data: Surprising Number of California Parents Experienced Abuse as Children
Focusing on parents can help end cycle of trauma for kids, experts say.
Presidential ‘Parity’ Panel Offers Steps To Treat Mental Illness Like Other Disease
In a report released Friday, a task force recommends patient education and more funding to enforce the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.
States See Peer-Recovery Coaches As A Way To Break The Addiction Epidemic
Rhode Island installed coaches in all of the state’s hospital emergency rooms and others are following its lead.
VA Shifts To Clinical Pharmacists To Help Ease Patients’ Long Waits
Some Veterans Affairs’ hospitals are cutting vets’ long waits for outpatient care appointments by authorizing specially-trained pharmacists to treat certain patients with chronic care needs.
Organ Donation And The Opioid Epidemic: ‘An Unexpected Life-Saving Legacy’
So far this year, more than one in four donations in New England are from people who died after a drug overdose — a much higher rate than in the U.S. overall, though it’s not clear why.
Scarcity Of Mental Health Care Means Patients — Especially Kids — Land In ER
Research released by the American College of Emergency Physicians highlights how gaps in mental health care play out in the emergency room with longer stays and difficulties in securing follow-up care.
New Law Will Expand Mental Health Services For Low-Income Californians
Legislation recently signed by Gov. Brown will allow about 1,000 clinics statewide to bill Medi-Cal for treatment by marriage and family counselors, deepening the pool of mental health providers.
Rehab For Addiction Usually Lasts 28 Days. But Why?
A month’s stay in a rehab facility became the standard of care for alcoholism. But there’s little research to support that length of stay for people addicted to opioids.
When The Blues Won’t Let You Be
Treatment-resistant depression, particularly common among seniors, can raise the risk of suicide and lead to a loss of independence.
Many Doctors Treating Alcohol Problems Overlook Successful Drugs
Two prescription medications have been found to be successful in helping many patients with alcohol cravings. Yet they are rarely used and many patients don’t know they exist.
Video Chat? In Rural Areas Combating Drug Addiction, A New Way To Connect With Help
The federal government is supporting efforts to test whether telemedicine strategies can be used to treat Appalachia’s painkiller addiction crisis.
Large Danish Study Links Contraceptive Use To Risk Of Depression
The research, published in JAMA Psychiatry, finds significant increases in the use of anti-depressants and depression diagnoses for women using hormonal forms of contraceptives, such as the pill.
Deadly Opioid Overwhelms First Responders And Crime Labs in Ohio
Carfentanil, a potent variation on fentanyl, is being blamed for a wave of opioid overdoses. In Cincinnati, the coroner, crime lab and first responders are struggling to keep up.
Kratom Defenders Fight Plan To Ban Herb Used By People In Recovery
The DEA plans to put the herbal supplement in the same legal category as heroin and LSD, but the agency has been surprised by the response of people who say it helps them stay off opioids.
