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Trump administration approves first Medicaid block grant, in Tennessee

With just a dozen days left in power, the Trump administration on Friday approved a radically different Medicaid financing system in Tennessee that for the first time would give the state broad authority in running the health insurance program for the poor in exchange for capping its annual federal funding.

8 Jan 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Georgia turns the Senate blue

Surprise Democratic victories in Georgia's two runoff elections this week will give Democrats control of the Senate, which means they will be in charge of both houses of Congress and the White House for the first time since 2010.

7 Jan 2021

Illinois is first in the nation to extend health coverage to undocumented seniors

As a nurse manager for one of Chicago's busiest safety-net hospitals, Raquel Prendkowski has witnessed covid-19's devastating toll on many of the city's most vulnerable residents — including people who lack health insurance because of their immigration status. Some come in so sick they go right to intensive care. Some don't survive.

7 Jan 2021

Hospital prices just got a lot more transparent. What does this mean for you?

Hospitals face the new year with new requirements to post price information they have long sought to obscure: the actual prices negotiated with insurers and the discounts they offer their cash-paying customers.

5 Jan 2021

Many health plans now must cover full cost of expensive HIV prevention drugs

Ted Howard started taking Truvada a few years ago because he wanted to protect himself against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. But the daily pill was so pricey he was seriously thinking about giving it up.

5 Jan 2021

Seniors face crushing drug costs as Congress stalls on capping Medicare out-of-pockets

Sharon Clark is able to get her life-sustaining cancer drug, Pomalyst — priced at more than $18,000 for a 28-day supply — only because of the generosity of patient assistance foundations.

4 Jan 2021

Children’s hospitals are partly to blame as superbugs increasingly attack kids

A memory haunts Christina Fuhrman: the image of her toddler Pearl lying pale and listless in a hospital bed, tethered to an IV to keep her hydrated as she struggled against a superbug infection.

4 Jan 2021

Older adults, minorities and people with lower incomes face inequities in telemedicine use

After "COVID-19," the term that most people will remember best from 2020 is likely to be "social distancing." While it most commonly applied to social gatherings with family and friends, it has impacted the way many receive medical care.

29 Dec 2020

As the terror of COVID struck, health care workers struggled to survive. Thousands lost the fight.

Workers at Garfield Medical Center in suburban Los Angeles were on edge as the pandemic ramped up in March and April. Staffers in a 30-patient unit were rationing a single tub of sanitizing wipes all day. A May memo from the CEO said N95 masks could be cleaned up to 20 times before replacement.

23 Dec 2020

Congress extends Medicare coverage of immunosuppressive drugs for kidney transplant

An estimated 375 adult kidney transplant recipients lose their transplant every year due to a lack of coverage of immunosuppressive medications after the prior 36-month Medicare coverage period.

23 Dec 2020

Democrats are running hard on health care in Georgia’s Senate runoffs. Republicans? Not so much.

Vice President Mike Pence was the clear celebrity draw at a Nov. 20 campaign event for Georgia's two incumbent U.S. senators, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. Both Republicans are fighting to keep their seats against two Democratic challengers in the runoff election set for Jan. 5.

22 Dec 2020

Surprise! Congress takes steps to curb unexpected medical bills

Most Americans tell pollsters they're worried about being able to afford an unexpected medical bill.

22 Dec 2020

Virtual telehealth platform enables kidney transplant evaluation from home

A virtual telehealth platform is allowing the surgery program at the Medical University of South Carolina to evaluate and wait-list patients for kidney transplantation despite reductions in direct, in-person health care visits brought about by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

21 Dec 2020

Study: Better hospital nurse staffing reduces sepsis deaths

Researchers at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, conducting independent research on whether pending nurse staffing legislation in New York state is in the public's interest, found that the wide variation in patient-to-nurse ratios across hospitals in New York is contributing to avoidable deaths for patients with sepsis, a common, high mortality condition.

18 Dec 2020

New research highlights role and impact of integrated health systems in the U.S.

New findings published by Dartmouth researchers are featured in a special issue of Health Services Research--a top journal that reports on original investigations that enhance understanding of the healthcare field and help improve the health of individuals and communities.

16 Dec 2020

Telemedicine needed to diagnose and treat swallowing difficulties in COVID-19 patients, say physicians

COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the disease, have caused health care providers to change how they treat patients.

15 Dec 2020

Study finds gaps in opioid use disorder treatment during COVID shutdowns

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, visits to the doctor declined dramatically. One group of patients that appears to have weathered this trend are those who were already being treated for opioid use disorder.

15 Dec 2020

Cost information greatly enhances the value of shared decision making

Cost information, when paired with information about clinical treatment options, greatly enhances the value of shared decision making, reported a FAIR Health brief released today.

11 Dec 2020

Researchers deploy new framework for eliminating defects in health care value

A new paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst states that the U.S. health care system spends in excess of $1.3 trillion annually on sub-optimal behavior and outlines a roadmap for reducing costs by eliminating defects in health care value.

10 Dec 2020

New studies analyze the impact of hurricanes on hospitalizations, medical providers

More older adults are hospitalized in the month following hurricanes while fewer primary care doctors, surgeons and specialists are available in some of their communities in the long term, according to a pair of University of Michigan studies.