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Strategies to overcome social challenges in cancer prevention

Researchers at University of California San Diego and collaborating institutions have shed light on the ways that social risks, such as housing or food insecurity, pose barriers to routine cancer screenings.

13 Dec 2024

UMD researcher aims to uncover "ghost networks" in Medicare Advantage health insurance plans

Dr. Mika Hamer is about to go ghost hunting. Thanks to a $100K grant from the Robert Johnson Wood Foundation (RWJF), the University of Maryland School of Public Health researcher aims to uncover the extent of so-called "ghost networks" in Medicare Advantage health insurance plans.

12 Dec 2024

Federal judge halts Dreamers’ brand-new access to ACA enrollment in 19 states

A federal judge in North Dakota has ruled in favor of 19 states that challenged a Biden administration rule allowing — for the first time — enrollment in Affordable Care Act coverage by people brought to the U.S. as children without immigration paperwork, known as "Dreamers."

10 Dec 2024

Financial hardship still prevents many asthma patients from taking medications

Despite a fall in the number of people with asthma over the past decade who say that cost has stopped them taking their meds as prescribed, financial hardship still remains a deterrent for 1 in 6 with the condition, suggests research published online in the respiratory medicine journal Thorax.

10 Dec 2024

A reduction in BMI among adults is associated with lower health care spending, study suggests

A study reveals that weight loss can lead to significant healthcare savings, with 7% savings for a 5% BMI reduction and 30% for a 25% reduction in adults.

6 Dec 2024

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': A colorful cast could lead key health agencies

President-elect Donald Trump has continued naming out-of-the-box choices to lead key federal health agencies.

5 Dec 2024

How potential Medicaid cuts could play out in California

In 2017, the Republicans who controlled Congress tried mightily to slash federal spending on Medicaid, the government-funded health program covering low-income families and individuals.

5 Dec 2024

Common farming pesticides linked to rheumatoid arthritis

Exposure to specific pesticides is linked to increased rheumatoid arthritis risk, with notable dose-response trends for malathion and carbofuran among older licensed applicators in the Agricultural Health Study.

4 Dec 2024

Nursing homes fell behind on vaccinating patients for covid

It seems no one is taking covid-19 seriously anymore, said Mollee Loveland, a nursing home aide who lives outside Pittsburgh.

4 Dec 2024

Upcoding practices by hospitals lead to billions in extra payments

In five states over nearly a decade, hospitals have increased how frequently they document patients as needing the highest intensity care, which has led to hospitals receiving billions in extra payments from health plans and government programs, according to a new RAND study.

3 Dec 2024

Study reveals vast majority of U.S. states experiencing decline in drugstores

About 1 in 3 U.S. retail pharmacies have closed since 2010, with the vast majority of states experiencing an overall decline in drugstores in recent years, according to a new study from researchers at USC and the University of California, Berkeley.

3 Dec 2024

Nursing home industry wants trump to rescind staffing mandate

Covid's rampage through the country's nursing homes killed more than 172,000 residents and spurred the biggest industry reform in decades: a mandate that homes employ a minimum number of nurses.

3 Dec 2024

CMS introduces new payment model to improve kidney transplant outcomes

A new final rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services this week for a mandatory alternative payment model called the Increasing Organ Transplant Access (IOTA) Model aimed to improve the number of life-saving kidney transplants for patients whose kidneys have failed.

2 Dec 2024

Homebound seniors living alone often slip through health system’s cracks

Carolyn Dickens, 76, was sitting at her dining room table, struggling to catch her breath as her physician looked on with concern.

2 Dec 2024

Who gets obesity drugs covered by insurance? In North Carolina, it helps if you’re on Medicaid

After losing and regaining the same 20-plus pounds more times than she could count, Anita Blanchard concluded that diets don't work.

2 Dec 2024

A toddler got a nasal swab test but left before seeing a doctor. The bill was $445.

Ryan Wettstein Nauman was inconsolable one evening last December. After being put down for bed, the 3-year-old from Peoria, Illinois, just kept crying and crying and crying, and nothing would calm her down.

27 Nov 2024

Pandemic exacerbated health-related social needs in Oregon

Despite a heavy infusion of public and private support during the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries in Oregon reported that housing and food insecurity shot up during the onset of the pandemic in March of 2020 - and their basic needs remained in doubt through at least the end of the following year.

26 Nov 2024