Latest KFF Health News Stories
Supreme Court Declines To Hear Military Medical Malpractice Case
Justices won’t alter the rule that prevents active-duty military members from suing the government for negligence. The challenge came from the family of Navy nurse Lt. Rebekah “Moani” Daniel, who died in 2014 after bleeding to death following childbirth.
Opioid Prescriptions Drop Sharply Among State Workers
New data from the California agency that manages health benefits for 1.5 million public employees, retirees and their families shows that doctors are writing far fewer opioid prescriptions, reflecting a national trend of physicians cutting back on the addictive drugs.
Escalating Workplace Violence Rocks Hospitals
Incidents of serious workplace violence are four times more common in health care than in private industry, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Listen: After Its Hospital Closes, A Pioneer Kansas Town Searches For What Comes Next
Deep questions underlie what is happening in Fort Scott, Kan.: Do small communities like this one need a traditional hospital at all? And, if not, what health care do they need?
As ER Wait Times Grow, More Patients Leave Against Medical Advice
Crowded emergency rooms are likely to blame. In 2017, the median ER wait time for patients before admission as inpatients to California hospitals was 336 minutes — or more than 5½ hours.
‘Sham’ Sharing Ministries Test Faith Of Patients And Insurance Regulators
Officials in Washington and other states are cracking down on companies that avoid health insurance regulations by masquerading as faith-based care.
Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ States Race To Reverse ‘Roe’
Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss the new abortion bans passed in Alabama and Georgia; bipartisan congressional efforts to end “surprise” out-of-network medical bills; and a new public option health insurance plan soon to be available in Washington state.
Trump’s Talk On Preexisting Conditions Doesn’t Match His Administration’s Actions
The administration’s position on a pending lawsuit to get the Affordable Care Act is one of the reasons experts said there’s cause for skepticism.
Walmart Charts New Course By Steering Workers To High-Quality Imaging Centers
Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, is recommending that employees and dependents use one of 800 imaging centers identified as providing trustworthy care.
Dealing With Hospital Closure, Pioneer Kansas Town Asks: What Comes Next?
After depending on the local hospital for more than a century, Fort Scott residents now are trying to cope with life without it.
Eric Swalwell’s Tweet About Georgia’s New Abortion Restriction Only Slightly Off-Key
The claim by Democratic presidential candidate Eric Swalwell is correct but could use more context and clarification.
Newsom Changes Course On Plan To Pay For Immigrant Health Coverage
California’s governor Friday scuttled his plan to siphon public health money from four counties to help provide health coverage for unauthorized immigrants ages 19 through 25.
How Obamacare, Medicare And ‘Medicare For All’ Muddy The Campaign Trail
A talking point used by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refers to all three of these distinct concepts in a way that could magnify public misperceptions.
‘John Doe’ Patients Sometimes Force Hospital Staff To Play Detective
A large public hospital in Los Angeles gets over 1,000 unidentified patients a year. Most are quickly identified, but some require considerable gumshoe work — a task that can be complicated by medical privacy laws.
Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
Is It A Feminist Right To Want More Sex? One Company Thinks A Pill Is The Answer
The savvy “Right to Desire” campaign relies on feminist messages and social media to raise patient awareness about low libido. Addyi, the only drug currently approved to treat it, has shown limited effectiveness.
State Bans Pesticide Linked To Developmental Problems
California officials announced a ban on chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide that has been linked to lower IQs, lower birth weights and other developmental issues in children, even as the federal government fights to protect it.
Market Muscle: Study Uncovers Differences Between Medicare And Private Insurers
Findings released Thursday by the Rand Corp. highlight how reimbursement rates vary nationally and the impact the charges have on the nation’s high cost of health care.
Price Check On Drug Ads: Would Revealing Costs Help Patients Control Spending?
As part of his plan to tamp down drug pricing, President Donald Trump wants pharmaceutical companies to provide cost information in drug ads — just like side effects.
Needle Exchanges Find New Champions Among Republicans
More Republicans, at the statehouse level, are saying research and results support their endorsement of a once-controversial plan to limit disease among drug users.
