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Drawn-out overhaul of troubled Montana hospital leaves lawmakers in limbo

Montana lawmakers are grappling with what they can do to improve patient care and operations at the state's psychiatric hospital since realizing that the efforts underway to restore the troubled facility's good standing could take more time.

31 Jan 2025

New study compares dementia care approaches and the impact on caregivers

New research comparing different approaches to dementia care for people with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias found no significant differences in patient behavioral symptoms or caregiver strain, whether delivered through a health system, provided by a community-based organization, or as usual care over an 18-month period.

29 Jan 2025

Adequate nurse staffing linked to lower C-section rates

Labor and delivery units that are adequately staffed by nurses have lower cesarean birth rates, according to new research published in the journal Nursing Outlook.

29 Jan 2025

Trump’s funding ‘pause’ throws states, health industry into chaos

States and the nation's health industry were thrown into disarray after the Trump administration ordered Monday that the government freeze nearly all federal grants at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday, a sweeping directive that at least initially appeared to include funding for Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program that covers more than 70 million Americans.

28 Jan 2025

What RFK Jr. might face in his nomination hearings this week

President Donald Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer with no formal medical or public health expertise, as secretary of Health and Human Sciences.

28 Jan 2025

Pandemic linked to significant rise in firearm hospitalizations

Firearm injuries that sent victims to the hospital had gone down steadily over the five years before the COVID-19 pandemic began, but reversed course sharply over the next two years, a new University of Michigan study finds.

27 Jan 2025

Alarming cardiovascular disease statistics highlighted in 2025 report

Heart disease kills more people than any other cause as many of the risks factors that contribute to it remain on the rise, according the data reported in the 2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: A Report of U.S. and Global Data From the American Heart Association.

27 Jan 2025

An Arm and a Leg: The ‘Shkreli Awards’ — for dysfunction and profiteering in health care

Every year, a health care think tank called the Lown Institute ranks the 10 worst examples of "profiteering and dysfunction" in health care and "honors" the winners.

27 Jan 2025

Montana eyes $30M revamp of mental health, developmental disability facilities

As part of a proposed revamping of the state's behavioral health system, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte's administration is looking into moving a facility for people with developmental disabilities, beefing up renovations at the Montana State Hospital, and creating a Helena unit of that psychiatric hospital.

27 Jan 2025

LVRS may outperform EBV in patients with severe emphysema

As contemporary surgical practice continues to evolve, patients who undergo surgical lung volume reduction (LVRS) for advanced emphysema may survive longer and with fewer complications than they did in the past-and they may even fare better than those who opt for endobronchial valve (EBV) placement.

27 Jan 2025

Real-world data reveals survival benefits of anatomic resections for early-stage lung cancer

New research presented at the 2025 Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Annual Meeting reveals that anatomic lung resections, such as lobectomy and segmentectomy, are associated with improved long-term survival compared to wedge resection for patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

26 Jan 2025

Surgeon preferences may explain differences in CABG survival rates

In patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), a novel analysis evaluating surgeon preference for multi- versus single-arterial grafting may help explain the differing results between prior retrospective analyses and randomized controlled trials regarding long-term survival.

25 Jan 2025

Study finds link between impairments in physical function and hospital readmission risk

Researchers from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine's School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (HRS) recently published a study that found a link between impairments in physical function and hospital readmission risk among adults 50 years of age and older.

23 Jan 2025

Trump’s early health moves signal intent to erase Biden’s legacy. What’s next is unclear.

President Donald Trump's early actions on health care signal his likely intention to wipe away some Biden-era programs to lower drug costs and expand coverage under public insurance programs.

23 Jan 2025

Investing in adolescent mental health delivers long-term economic and social benefits

The study reveals that supporting adolescent mental health is a cost-effective investment, leading to improved economic outcomes and reduced fiscal pressures.

20 Jan 2025

High out-of-pocket costs reduce participation in cardiac rehabilitation

Despite the success cardiac rehabilitation has shown at reducing heart-related deaths and hospital readmissions, higher out-of-pocket costs may prevent patients from participating in the program, a Michigan Medicine study suggests.

17 Jan 2025

Unveiling the hidden benefit of bariatric surgery

Welcoming a newborn is something many couples dream of doing, but it can get complicated when conceiving becomes a roadblock. Infertility affects one in six people, but obesity can also be a problem. When diet and exercise aren't enough to lose weight, bariatric surgery can become an option. Yet a new national survey by Orlando Health finds that 56% of Americans do not know that bariatric surgery is an effective way to improve fertility.

14 Jan 2025

Medicare Advantage leads to lower cancer drug costs in colorectal cancer

A new study examining the use of high-cost drugs among patients with colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer found those insured through Medicare Advantage received less expensive cancer drugs compared to others on Traditional Medicare.

10 Jan 2025

Pharmacy benefit managers steer Medicare patients to use their own pharmacies

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have found that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)—organizations that negotiate access to medicines for most patients in the United States—steer patients to use their own pharmacies.

10 Jan 2025

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': New Year, new Congress, new health agenda

The new, GOP-led, 119th Congress and President-elect Donald Trump have big legislative plans for the year — which mostly don't include health policy. But health is likely to play an important supporting role in efforts to renew tax cuts, revise immigration policies, and alter trade — if only to help pay for some Republican initiatives.

9 Jan 2025