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Pig kidney transplant patient completes recovery and returns home

Three months after her breakthrough surgery at NYU Langone Health, Towana Looney, the longest-living recipient of a genetically engineered pig kidney, is headed back home to Alabama.

25 Feb 2025

With RFK Jr. in charge, supplement makers see chance to cash in

Last fall, before being named the senior U.S. health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the Trump administration would liberate Americans from the FDA's "aggressive suppression" of vitamins, dietary supplements, and other substances — ending the federal agency's "war on public health," as he put it.

25 Feb 2025

Telemedicine adoption leads to fewer low-value medical tests

Low-value care-medical tests and procedures that provide little to no benefit to patients-contributes to excess medical spending and both direct and cascading harms to patients.

24 Feb 2025

Trump froze out project 2025 in his campaign. Now its blueprint is his health care playbook.

Few voters likely expected President Donald Trump in the first weeks of his administration to slash billions of dollars from the nation's premier federal cancer research agency.

24 Feb 2025

Medicare patients with cancer often receive aggressive treatment over supportive care

Many Medicare patients with advanced cancer receive potentially aggressive treatment at the expense of supportive care, according to a study that analyzed Medicare records.

22 Feb 2025

Study reveals gaps in palliative care for patients with advanced cancer

Despite considerable efforts to improve the quality of end-of-life care in the United States, a new retrospective study led by American Cancer Society (ACS) researchers revealed that close to half of patients with advanced cancer received potentially aggressive care at the end-of-life at the expense of supportive care.

22 Feb 2025

Researchers highlight limited use of valuable screening tools for Alzheimer’s and other dementias

Despite the potential benefits of early detection and increasing treatment options for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, there is limited use of valuable screening and testing tools, say researchers at the University of Michigan.

21 Feb 2025

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Medicaid in the crosshairs, maybe

The future of the Medicaid health insurance program for those with low incomes is in doubt, as Congress works on a budget plan calling for major cuts while President Donald Trump both promises to support that plan as well as to protect the program.

20 Feb 2025

Older adults and women more likely to develop postoperative infections after heart surgery

One in five older adults gets an infection up to six months after heart surgery - with women far more likely to develop one, according to studies led by Michigan Medicine.

19 Feb 2025

Medicare Part D beneficiaries face rising out-of-pocket costs for brand name drugs The Expe...

Expected out of-pocket costs for commonly prescribed brand name medications have grown substantially for Medicare Part D beneficiaries as drug plans increasingly tie patient costs to list prices, according to new research from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics published in JAMA.

19 Feb 2025

Republicans are eyeing cuts to Medicaid. What’s Medicaid, again?

In January, during a congressional hearing on his way to becoming secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got basic details wrong about Medicaid — a program he now oversees.

19 Feb 2025

Deny and delay? California seeks penalties for insurers that repeatedly get it wrong

When Colleen Henderson's 3-year-old daughter complained of pain while using the bathroom, doctors brushed it off as a urinary tract infection or constipation, common maladies in the potty-training years.

18 Feb 2025

Pain clinics made millions from ‘unnecessary’ injections into ‘human pin cushions’

Each month, Michelle Shaw went to a pain clinic to get the shots that made her back feel worse — so she could get the pills that made her back feel better.

18 Feb 2025

Iowa Medicaid sends $4M bills to two families grieving deaths of loved ones with disabilities

Collection agents for the state of Iowa have sent letters seeking millions of dollars from the estates of at least two people with disabilities who died after spending most of their lives in a state institution.

18 Feb 2025

NIDUS-Family care package reduces dementia support costs

The NIDUS-Family package of care uses goal setting to help people with dementia live well at home for longer.

17 Feb 2025

Intracranial hemorrhages linked to higher dementia risk

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have found that intracranial hemorrhages, or "brain bleeds" caused by a ruptured blood vessel in the brain, double a person's risk of developing dementia later in life.

14 Feb 2025

Study reveals drastic variations in U.S. health care spending across counties

Researchers present the most comprehensive study on U.S. health care spending and variations across 3,110 counties by four payers, 148 health conditions, 38 age/sex groups, and seven types of care.

14 Feb 2025

Telehealth shows promise for substance use disorder treatment in rural areas

Recognition of telehealth as an effective strategy for delivering treatment for substance use disorder (SUD) has raised hopes for improving access to this treatment in settings with limited transportation or when time constraints compromise regular use of consistent access to in-person substance use treatment.

12 Feb 2025

Diabetes medications may help lower COPD flare-up risk, study finds

The study reveals SGLT-2is are linked to fewer COPD exacerbations in type 2 diabetes, suggesting a need for further clinical trials to confirm these findings.

11 Feb 2025

Medicare opioid safety policy shows initial success but effectiveness diminishes over time

A new study led by researchers at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute found that a 2019 Medicare opioid safety policy showed initial reductions in opioid prescribing to high-risk populations.

10 Feb 2025

Medicare News and Research

Pig kidney transplant patient completes recovery and returns home

With RFK Jr. in charge, supplement makers see chance to cash in

Telemedicine adoption leads to fewer low-value medical tests

Trump froze out project 2025 in his campaign. Now its blueprint is his health care playbook.

Medicare patients with cancer often receive aggressive treatment over supportive care

Study reveals gaps in palliative care for patients with advanced cancer

Researchers highlight limited use of valuable screening tools for Alzheimer’s and other dementias

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Medicaid in the crosshairs, maybe

Older adults and women more likely to develop postoperative infections after heart surgery

Medicare Part D beneficiaries face rising out-of-pocket costs for brand name drugs The Expe...

Republicans are eyeing cuts to Medicaid. What’s Medicaid, again?

Deny and delay? California seeks penalties for insurers that repeatedly get it wrong

Pain clinics made millions from ‘unnecessary’ injections into ‘human pin cushions’

Iowa Medicaid sends $4M bills to two families grieving deaths of loved ones with disabilities

NIDUS-Family care package reduces dementia support costs

Intracranial hemorrhages linked to higher dementia risk

Study reveals drastic variations in U.S. health care spending across counties

Telehealth shows promise for substance use disorder treatment in rural areas

Diabetes medications may help lower COPD flare-up risk, study finds

Medicare opioid safety policy shows initial success but effectiveness diminishes over time

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