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Community frets as buyer for cherished rural hospital slips from view

Confusion is growing in the remote Surprise Valley region of northeastern California as locals wonder whether a Denver entrepreneur will make good on his pledge to save their bankrupt rural hospital.

27 Jul 2018

No gaps in understanding: Here’s your primer on Medigap coverage

Every year, older adults can opt out of a Medicare Advantage plan and opt in to original Medicare during open enrollment season, which begins on Oct. 15.

26 Jul 2018

Déjà voodoo: Pharma’s promises to curb drug prices have been heard before

Prescription drug prices were soaring. Angry policymakers swore they'd take action. Pharma giant Merck responded by promising to address the problem voluntarily, vowing to keep price increases under the overall rate of inflation.

25 Jul 2018

Alzheimer’s disease greater in females, researchers speculate

This week, at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Chicago, a group of researchers presented reserch findings on the gender differences in Alzheimer’s causation. They speculated that women might be getting Alzheimer’s and dementia more commonly than men and the reason behind this has not been clearly understood. Estrogen or the female hormone could be the key, the researchers state.

23 Jul 2018

Children with disabilities endure long waits for life-changing medical equipment

Bev Baker-Ajene waited so long to get an adult-sized wheelchair for her teenage daughter, Savitri, that she eventually forgot she'd ordered it.

19 Jul 2018

Bundled-payment system did not lower costs for serious medical conditions, shows study

A payment system that provides financial incentives for hospitals that reduce health-care costs for Medicare patients did not lower costs as intended, according to a new study led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

19 Jul 2018

Prolonged preoperative opioid use linked to adverse outcomes after total knee and hip arthroplasty

Patients who take prescription opioids for more than 60 days before total knee or hip replacement surgery are at significantly higher risk of being readmitted to the hospital and of undergoing repeat joint-replacement surgery, compared to patients with no preoperative opioid use, reports a study in the July 18 issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.

19 Jul 2018

Study assesses increased growth of secondary imaging interpretations

A new Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute study assesses the increased growth of secondary interpretations of diagnostic imaging examinations in the Medicare population.

18 Jul 2018

Most older adults with probable dementia found to be either undiagnosed or unaware of it

A Johns Hopkins Medicine analysis of information gathered for an ongoing and federally sponsored study of aging and disability adds to evidence that a substantial majority of older adults with probable dementia in the United States have never been professionally diagnosed or are unaware they have been.

17 Jul 2018

Staggering prices slow insurers’ coverage of CAR-T cancer therapy

Patients whose blood cancers have failed to respond to repeated rounds of chemotherapy may be candidates for a new type of gene therapy that could send their cancers into remission for years.

17 Jul 2018

‘Like a ghost town’: Erratic nursing home staffing revealed through new records

Most nursing homes had fewer nurses and caretaking staff than they had reported to the government, according to new federal data, bolstering the long-held suspicions of many families that staffing levels were often inadequate.

13 Jul 2018

Immunotherapies may increase overall survival in patients with melanoma brain metastases

Among patients with cutaneous melanoma who had brain metastases (MBM), first-line treatment with a checkpoint inhibitor was associated with a 1.4-fold increase in median overall survival, according to results from a national cohort.

13 Jul 2018

Outrageous or overblown? HHS announces another round of ACA navigator funding cuts

The Trump administration's decision Tuesday to slash funding to nonprofit groups that help Americans buy individual health insurance coverage sparked outrage from advocates of the Affordable Care Act. Using words like "immoral" and "cold-hearted," they saw it as the Republicans' latest act of sabotage against the sweeping health law.

12 Jul 2018

Medicare News and Research

Community frets as buyer for cherished rural hospital slips from view

No gaps in understanding: Here’s your primer on Medigap coverage

Déjà voodoo: Pharma’s promises to curb drug prices have been heard before

Alzheimer’s disease greater in females, researchers speculate

Children with disabilities endure long waits for life-changing medical equipment

Bundled-payment system did not lower costs for serious medical conditions, shows study

Prolonged preoperative opioid use linked to adverse outcomes after total knee and hip arthroplasty

Study assesses increased growth of secondary imaging interpretations

Most older adults with probable dementia found to be either undiagnosed or unaware of it

Staggering prices slow insurers’ coverage of CAR-T cancer therapy

‘Like a ghost town’: Erratic nursing home staffing revealed through new records

Immunotherapies may increase overall survival in patients with melanoma brain metastases

Outrageous or overblown? HHS announces another round of ACA navigator funding cuts

Insurers fall short in catching and reporting Medicaid fraud, inspectors find

Tufts engineers develop smart bandages to monitor and deliver treatment for chronic wounds

Researchers develop machine learning algorithm to deliver better care for seriously ill patients

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What the Health?’ Whither work requirements?

Texas clinics busting traditional silos of mental and physical health care

Tennessee-based pain management group to close clinics amid financial turmoil

Despite U.S. court’s ruling, Medicaid work requirements advance in other states

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

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