Latest KFF Health News Stories
Audit Finds Widespread Use Of Antipsychotic Drugs In Nursing Homes
About 14 percent of elderly nursing homes residents receives a so-called atypical antipsychotic medicine despite an increased risk of death when the medicines are used to manage dementia in older people.
Q&A: My Uninsured Daughter Needs More Inexpensive Care, Where Can She Go?
Michelle Andrews answers a question from a mother whose daughter is uninsured and needs some inexpensive care. Andrews says going to a community health center may be a good option for her.
Q&A: My Daughter With A Pre-Existing Condition Lost Her Insurance, What Can We Do?
Michelle Andrews answers a question from a mother whose daughter lost her insurance and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. What are her options to get coverage?
Emergency Rooms Provide Care Of Last Resort For Mentally Ill
With states reducing the number of psychiatric beds, mentally ill patients often languish in hospital emergency rooms for several days, sometimes longer. At most, they get drugs but little counseling, and the environment is often harsh.
For People With Mental Health Issues, Care Is Often Elusive
The wait for an appointment with an expert can be long, and psychiatrists especially are in short supply. Psychologists seek to expand their role by prescribing drugs.
States’ Mental Health Budgets Fall In Recession
Analysis by advocacy group NAMI finds cuts of $1.8 billion, or about 8 percent of the states’ total budgets, from 2009 through 2011.
Justice Increases Efforts To Enforce Olmstead Ruling
Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, is making a “paradigm shift” in his division to focus more on care-at-home cases.
Private Providers In Texas Fight Back Over Service Change
For years, the state paid private providers who care for people with disabilities to handle their clients’ case management. But an 11th-hour change inserted into the budget last session stripped them of that responsibility, giving it instead to quasi-governmental Mental Retardation Authorities – and potentially creating a conflict of interest.
Justice Dept. Pushes For Services To Move Patients Out Of Mental Hospitals
Sweeping agreement with Georgia points to new Obama administration campaign to ensure people with mental illness and developmental disabilities get community services and are not forced into institutions.
New Laws Expand Mental Health Coverage
Insurance coverage of mental illness and addiction problems often is skimpier than for physical illness. But that is changing with the mental health parity law that took effect earlier this year and the new health overhaul.
New Law Offers Hope For Homeless Health Care
Many homeless people are uninsured and ineligible for Medicaid. But that will change beginning in 2014, when Medicaid greatly expands under the new health law.
Helping Employees Provide End-Of-Life Care Is Good For Morale, Corporate Bottom Line
Juggling a caregiving role with a full-time job is daunting. But it can be even more difficult working during the end stages of a loved one’s life. Some companies are helping their employees manage the tough times.
Kansas Mental Hospitals Beyond Capacity
The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services has suspended voluntary admissions to the state’s three hospitals for the mentally ill because they are full.
Insurer Seeks A Little Less Parity For Mental Health Coverage
You might think the fight over mental health parity – the requirement that health insurance plans not handle coverage for mental ailments any differently than coverage for any other disorder – would be over. You would, however, be wrong.
