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Blood transfusions at the scene save lives. But ambulances are rarely equipped to do them.

One August afternoon in 2023, Angela Martin's cousin called with alarming news. Martin's 74-year-old aunt had been mauled by four dogs while out for a walk near her home in rural Purlear, North Carolina.

10 Feb 2025

$New clinical trial aims to improve outcomes for older adults with hip fractures$

New clinical trial aims to improve outcomes for older adults with hip fractures

Hip fractures in older adults can lead to serious complications, disability and even death. Traditionally, orthopaedic surgeons have repaired a common fracture of the upper part of the thigh bone, or femur, near the hip using screws and plates to piece together slightly separated pieces of bone.

8 Feb 2025

Some incarcerated youths will get health care after release under new law

Valentino Valdez was given his birth certificate, his Social Security card, a T-shirt, and khaki pants when he was released from a Texas prison in 2019 at age 21. But he didn't have health insurance, mental health medications, or access to a doctor, he said.

7 Feb 2025

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Chaos continues in federal health system

Confusion continues to reign at the Department of Health and Human Services, where policies seem to be changing at a breakneck pace even before a new secretary or other senior officials are confirmed by the Senate.

6 Feb 2025

Biden rule cleared hurdles to lifesaving HIV drug, but in Georgia barriers remain

Latonia Wilkins knows she needs to be on PrEP due to her non-monogamous lifestyle. But the 52-year-old Atlanta mother has faced repeated challenges getting the lifesaving drug that can prevent new HIV infections.

6 Feb 2025

Trump’s already gone back on his promise to leave abortion to states

Abortion foes worried before his election that President Donald Trump had moved on, now that Roe v. Wade is overturned and abortion policy, as he said on the campaign trail, "has been returned to the states."

5 Feb 2025

Trump’s order on gender-affirming care escalates reversal of trans rights

President Donald Trump ratcheted up his administration's reversal of transgender rights on Tuesday with an executive order that seeks to intervene in parents' medical decisions by prohibiting government-funded insurance coverage of puberty blockers or surgery for people under 19.

31 Jan 2025

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