Birth Centers Boost Deliveries While Easing Labor Pains
Staffed by midwives and bolstered by Obamacare, low-tech birth centers away from hospitals are up almost 60 percent since 2010.
Leslie Michelson’s Checklist For Avoiding Diagnostic Errors – The KHN Conversation
Michelson, who runs a Los Angeles-based company that helps patients research their medical options and has written a book about how to avoid bad care, offers advice on how to navigate the health care system.
California Gov. Brown Signs Aid-in-Dying Bill Into Law
Brown said that he weighed the controversial issue carefully, and in the end decided that it would be a comfort to know the option was available if he were facing a painful, prolonged death.
Workplace Wellness Programs: Early Alarm For Workers’ Health Or A Recipe For Over-Testing?
Some experts worry that these programs encourage health screening that doesn’t necessarily comply with medical guidelines and is helping to drive up health care costs.
Adults With Insurance Often Still Have Unmet Dental Needs, Survey Finds
Dental care is the health service that people most frequently avoid because of cost, researchers at the Urban Institute found.
How One Minority Community In California Is Fighting ‘Environmental Injustice’
Residents say a lead battery recycler’s decades of contamination in low-income, largely Latino neighborhoods of Los Angeles County wouldn’t have been tolerated in wealthier areas.
Kids With Ebola? Texas Children’s Hospital Is Ready If It Happens In U.S.
One of the 55 hospitals nationwide that the CDC named as future “Ebola treatment centers” is Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. One year after the first confirmed case of Ebola in the U.S., the hospital is about to open a new eight-bed biocontainment wing — the only one of its kind for children in the country.
Privacy Advocates Urge Stronger Protection Of Employee Health Data
Existing laws designed to control what doctors and hospitals do with your information need to be expanded to employers’ wellness programs, say advocates.
Airports’ Backscatter Security Scanners Easily Meet Radiation Standards, Panel Says
The National Academies of Science panel, however, did not address the question of whether these X-ray machines, which are currently not in use because of privacy concerns, are safe.
Prisons And Jails Forcing Inmates To Cover Some Medical Care Costs
Although the government is responsible for providing health services to people in jail, prisoners are still often expected to pay for the treatment.
Hospital Workers Find Solace In Pausing After A Death
Sometimes, no matter how hard emergency workers try, nothing can save a patient. One nurse says after the frenzy stops, taking time to reflect on that death helps him cope. And the idea is spreading.
D.C. Women To Get Access To Full Year’s Worth Of Contraceptives
The new law is only the second in the country that allows women to get a year’s prescription at one time.
Contraceptive Implant Under Microscope Amid Questions of Safety, Altered Trial Data
Essure has generated more than 5,000 complaints of serious side effects.
IOM: Teamwork Key To Reducing Medical Diagnostic Errors
A report by an Institute of Medicine blue ribbon panel notes that taking steps to address this patient safety issue will involve efforts from across the health system.
Surge In Statin Use Among Very Elderly Without Heart Trouble Raises Doubts
Preventive medicine trend highlights shortage of studies on drugs’ effects on very elderly.
In L.A., Longevity And Health In Later Life Vary By Community
A report on aging in L.A. County finds pronounced differences in life expectancy and in the health of older residents, depending on ethnicity and neighborhood.
Ouch! Vaccination Rates for Older Adults Falling Short
Millions of Americans over 60 are risking illnesses by skipping their shots.
California Aid-In-Dying Bill Heads To Governor’s Desk
California would become the fifth state to allow doctors to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill patients who request it.
Calif. Lawmakers Approve Bill Requiring Drug Labeling In 5 Foreign Languages
If Gov. Jerry Brown signs the measure, all pharmacies will have to provide medication instructions in Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese, Vietnamese or Korean, the most common languages in California after English.
Planned Parenthood Isn’t The Only Health Program At Risk Of Losing Funds
Congress faces budgetary decisions, worrying advocates for medical research, teen pregnancy prevention and other federal initiatives.
