Latest KFF Health News Stories
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.
Pecked By A Chicken? Sucked Into A Jet Engine? There’s a Code For That
Voluminous and sometimes wacky new medical diagnostic codes in “ICD-10” have staffers at hospitals and doctors’ offices reaching for bromides.
GAO: More Oversight Needed Over Medicare Advantage Provider Networks
Congressional watchdog says the government checks few health plans to ensure accurate provider listings and adequate access for seniors on Medicare Advantage.
Poll Finds Overwhelming Support For Medicare Paying For End-Of-Life Talks
The plan to include funding in the health law for these discussions between doctors and patients was vehemently opposed by some Republicans, but 8 of 10 Americans support the practice.
Think Health Prices Are High Near You? Maybe Yes — And No
The Health Care Cost Institute’s analysis of billing claims from three of the biggest commercial insurers finds that health services can be expensive in some areas while bargains in others. The findings complicate an assumption about health care markets.
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.
7 Questions To Ask Your Employer About Wellness Privacy
Workplace wellness programs have joined doctors, hospitals and your mother in the campaign to get you healthy. Will they treat your data carefully?
Workplace Wellness Programs Put Employee Privacy At Risk
A large variety of information may be collected by wellness programs and shared with others, including businesses eager to make a buck off of it.
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.
Coping with Autism and Puberty
A family struggles with what to do when an autistic adolescent becomes aggressive.
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.
Clinton Seeks To Build On Health Law, But Does She Have The Rx For Rising Health Costs?
The Democratic president candidate’s proposals to save consumers money are questioned by experts and health industry officials.
Seniors Tell Medical Students What They Need From Doctors
Many students avoid geriatrics because of the low pay and high complications, but six people over 90 offer a different perspective to help attract young doctors.
Contraceptive Implant Under Microscope Amid Questions of Safety, Altered Trial Data
Essure has generated more than 5,000 complaints of serious side effects.
Stemming The Cycle Of Toxic Stress – For The Kids’ Sake
An Oregon pediatrician is among a growing number of doctors nationally trying to help families whose kids are at risk of experiencing trauma with lifelong health consequences.
HHS Vows Push To Enroll More Uninsured In Obamacare This Fall
10.5 million uninsured Americans targeted in enrollment campaign starting Nov.1
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.
Employers Shift More Health Costs To Workers, Survey Finds
Even as premiums for employer-based insurance increased only moderately this year, deductibles rose faster than total spending.
