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Latino Californians are among hardest hit by COVID-19

The COVID-19 surge of summer through winter 2020‒2021 devastated all population groups. Yet when the death rates of Latinos are compared to non-Hispanic white (NHW) rates in every age group, there is a significant disparity between the two: Latino death rates are from two to seven times higher than NHW rates.

26 Mar 2021

Her doctor’s office moved one floor up. Her bill was 10 times higher.

Kyunghee Lee's right hand hurts all the time. She spent decades running a family dry cleaning store outside Cleveland after emigrating from South Korea 40 years ago. She still freelances as a seamstress, although work has slowed amid the covid-19 pandemic.

26 Mar 2021

‘Incredibly concerning’ lawsuit threatens no-charge preventive care for millions

With a challenge to the Affordable Care Act still pending at the Supreme Court, conservatives are continuing to launch legal attacks on the law, including a case in which a Texas federal judge seems open to ending the requirement that most Americans must receive preventive services like mammograms free of charge.

26 Mar 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Getting down to work at HHS

As questions swirl about the Covid vaccine made by AstraZeneca, public health experts are worried the confusion could create more doubts among people already hesitant to get a vaccine.

25 Mar 2021

Under new cost-cutting Medicare rule, same surgery, same place, different bill

A cost-saving change in Medicare launched in the final days of the Trump administration will cut payments to hospitals for some surgical procedures while potentially raising costs and confusion for patients.

23 Mar 2021

Democrats eye Medicare negotiations to lower drug prices

Democrats, newly in control of Congress and the White House, are united behind an idea that Republican lawmakers and major drugmakers fiercely oppose: empowering the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate the prices of brand-name drugs covered by Medicare.

23 Mar 2021

Screenings for breast cancer and colon cancer returned to near-normal levels by July 2020

Screenings for breast cancer and colon cancer dropped dramatically during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, but use of the procedures returned to near-normal levels by the end of July 2020, according to a new study.

23 Mar 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: ACA packs more benefits — and more confusion

The Covid relief bill signed by President Joe Biden a week ago includes billions of dollars in new health benefits for consumers. But those benefits may be hard for people to take advantage of because of the interaction with the income tax system and the lack of experts to help them navigate the system.

18 Mar 2021

$Hospital charges increasing more rapidly for hip fracture patients than surgeon reimbursements$

Hospital charges increasing more rapidly for hip fracture patients than surgeon reimbursements

In recent years, hospital charges and Medicare payments for patients with hip fractures have increased much more rapidly than charges and payments for orthopaedic surgeons, reports a study in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma.

17 Mar 2021

Evaluation of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine among residents of two skilled nursing facilities

The severity of COVID-19 among the residents of long-term care facilities (LTCFs) has been reported to be disproportionately high. Specifically, individuals residing in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) are found to be the most severely affected, both in terms of morbidity and mortality, and are, thereby, listed for early COVID-19 vaccination. In comparison to the general population, SNF residents are more vulnerable, with a weak immune system.

17 Mar 2021

Analysis: The Trump health care policies that deserve to stick around

President Joe Biden's goal of providing health care for more Americans advanced this week with his signing of an economic stimulus package that includes subsidies for health insurance premiums and new incentives for states to expand Medicaid, as well as the potential confirmation of Xavier Becerra as secretary of Health and Human Services.

16 Mar 2021

Covid cases plummet 83% among nursing home staffers despite vaccine hesitancy

Joan Phillips, a certified nursing assistant in a Florida nursing home, loved her job but dreaded the danger of going to work in the pandemic. When vaccines became available in December, she jumped at the chance to get one.

15 Mar 2021

Depression risk higher among stroke survivors, especially female patients

Stroke patients were nearly 50% more likely than heart attack patients to develop depression, and female stroke patients had a higher risk of depression than their male counterparts, according to two preliminary studies by the same research group to be presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2021.

11 Mar 2021

Black Medicare patients with ischemic stroke die at a higher rate than white patients

A long-term look at Medicare patients shows that Black patients who have an ischemic stroke (blocked blood flow to the brain) die at a higher rate than white patients, even after accounting for preexisting health conditions, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2021.

11 Mar 2021

Mobile stroke units report financial difficulties due to limited reimbursement from insurers

Ambulances with specialized staff and equipment to provide rapid stroke treatment report financial difficulties due to limited reimbursement from health care insurers, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2021.

11 Mar 2021

Texas winter storm exposes gaps in senior living oversight

When the big, red and extremely loud fire alarm went off in Maria Skladzien's apartment, the 74-year-old ventured into the hallway with fellow residents of her Houston-area senior living community.

10 Mar 2021

Decision-making between patient and doctor is crucial before lung cancer screening

In a viewpoint perspective published in JAMA on March 9, 2021, a University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researcher and two other experts endorsed the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) requirement for a patient and their doctor to engage in a shared discussion of benefits and harms before proceeding with a low-dose spiral computed tomography (LDCT) scan as a method for preventing lung cancer death.

10 Mar 2021

Both ventral and dorsal surgeries improve outcomes in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy

Affecting the vast majority of people older than 65, cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is the leading cause of spinal cord dysfunction in the United States and across the world.

10 Mar 2021

Study reveals increased hospitalization rates in older adults following tropical cyclones

An increase in overall hospitalizations was reported for older adults in the week following exposure to a tropical cyclone, according to a new study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University's Earth Institute and colleagues at Colorado State University and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

9 Mar 2021

Pandemic aid package includes relief from high premiums

As President Joe Biden's pandemic relief package steams through Congress, Democrats have hitched a ride for a top health care priority: strengthening the Affordable Care Act with some of the most significant changes to insurance affordability in more than a decade.

9 Mar 2021

Medicare News and Research

Latino Californians are among hardest hit by COVID-19

Her doctor’s office moved one floor up. Her bill was 10 times higher.

‘Incredibly concerning’ lawsuit threatens no-charge preventive care for millions

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Getting down to work at HHS

Under new cost-cutting Medicare rule, same surgery, same place, different bill

Democrats eye Medicare negotiations to lower drug prices

Screenings for breast cancer and colon cancer returned to near-normal levels by July 2020

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: ACA packs more benefits — and more confusion

Hospital charges increasing more rapidly for hip fracture patients than surgeon reimbursements

Evaluation of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine among residents of two skilled nursing facilities

Analysis: The Trump health care policies that deserve to stick around

Covid cases plummet 83% among nursing home staffers despite vaccine hesitancy

Depression risk higher among stroke survivors, especially female patients

Black Medicare patients with ischemic stroke die at a higher rate than white patients

Mobile stroke units report financial difficulties due to limited reimbursement from insurers

Texas winter storm exposes gaps in senior living oversight

Decision-making between patient and doctor is crucial before lung cancer screening

Both ventral and dorsal surgeries improve outcomes in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy

Study reveals increased hospitalization rates in older adults following tropical cyclones

Pandemic aid package includes relief from high premiums

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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