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Hospital executive charged in $1.4B rural hospital billing scheme

A Miami entrepreneur who led a rural hospital empire was charged in an indictment unsealed Monday in what federal prosecutors called a $1.4 billion fraudulent lab-billing scheme.

30 Jun 2020

Long-term exposure to fine atmospheric particles can lead to increased mortality rates among the elderly

A new analysis of 16 years of publicly accessible health data on 68.5 million Medicare enrollees provides broad evidence that long-term exposure to fine particles in the air - even at levels below current EPA standards - leads to increased mortality rates among the elderly.

27 Jun 2020

Study provides more evidence of causal link between air pollution and premature death

Strengthening U.S. air quality standards for fine particulate pollution to be in compliance with current World Health Association (WHO) guidelines could save more than 140,000 lives over the course of a decade, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

26 Jun 2020

Race, rurality play huge role in Georgia areas hardest hit by COVID-19

While counties in populous metropolitan Atlanta had the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the initial weeks following Georgia's first reported case, it was rural Southwest Georgia counties, with a higher number of black residents and lower number of ICU beds, experiencing the highest rates of infection and death per capita, investigators report.

25 Jun 2020

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The pandemic shifts; the politics, not so much

President Donald Trump caused a stir when he said at his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last weekend that he wanted less testing for COVID-19.

25 Jun 2020

Study examines statin use among nursing home residents nearing the end of life

Cardiovascular disease (also called heart disease) is one of the most common medical conditions older adults face. In nursing homes, almost half of all older adult residents have been diagnosed with problems affecting the heart and/or blood vessels.

24 Jun 2020

Study: Linking hospital and other databases can predict risk of opioid overdoses

A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that the odds of a fatal opioid overdose were 1.5 times higher for individuals with one to two visits to the emergency department for any medical issue than for people with no hospital visits.

24 Jun 2020

Pandemic forced insurers to pay for in-home treatments. Will they disappear?

After seven days as an inpatient for complications related to heart problems, Glenn Shanoski was initially hesitant when doctors suggested in early April that he could cut his hospital stay short and recover at home — with high-tech 24-hour monitoring and daily visits from medical teams.

23 Jun 2020

Easy to say ‘get tested.’ Harder to do. Here’s how.

Will Bondurant decided to get tested for COVID-19 after attending three racial justice demonstrations over a five-day period in San Francisco, where he lives.

22 Jun 2020

As problems grow with Abbott’s fast COVID test, FDA standards are under fire

In mid-May, the Food and Drug Administration issued a rare public warning about an Abbott Laboratories COVID-19 test that for weeks had received high praise from the White House because of its speed: Test results could be wrong.

22 Jun 2020

Staffing levels and quality linked to COVID-19 toll in nursing homes

A new study shows that residents of long-term care facilities with lower nurse staffing levels, poorer quality scores, and higher concentrations of disadvantaged residents suffer from higher rates of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths.

18 Jun 2020

Wealthy hospital taps small craft breweries for financial aid to buy masks, gloves

As Inova Health System sought donations in March to buy personal protective equipment for its staff to treat COVID-19, Zach Mote, a police officer turned brewer, came to their aid.

16 Jun 2020

Many Americans face high out-of-pocket medical costs for COVID-19 hospitalizations

If past hospitalizations for pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses are any guide, many Americans could face high out-of-pocket medical costs for COVID-19 hospitalizations despite the fact that many insurers have waived their cost-sharing requirements, a study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests.

16 Jun 2020

House-call model in rural Indiana helps reduce emergency department use, hospital readmissions

Interventional radiologists participating in a collaborative house call model in rural Indiana helped reduce emergency department use by 77 percent and hospital readmissions by 50 percent for nearly 1,000 elderly homebound patients with chronic illnesses, according to a research abstract presented during a virtual session of the Society of Interventional Radiology's 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting on June 13.

15 Jun 2020

COVID-19 batters a beloved Bay Area community health care center

A small band of volunteers started the Marin City Health and Wellness Center nearly two decades ago with a doctor and a retired social worker making house calls in public housing high-rises.

12 Jun 2020

Online intervention benefits children with severe behavioral problems

A real-world trial has tested the effectiveness – and revealed the challenges – of adapting behavioral therapy to the online world.

12 Jun 2020

If you’ve lost your health plan in the COVID crisis, you’ve got options

The coronavirus pandemic — and the economic fallout that has come with it — boosted health insurance enrollment counselor Mark Van Arnam's workload. But he wants to be even busier.

12 Jun 2020

Federal help falters as nursing homes run short of protective equipment

Around the country, nursing homes trying to protect their residents from the coronavirus eagerly await boxes of masks, eyewear and gowns promised by the federal government. But all too often the packages deliver disappointment — if they arrive at all.

11 Jun 2020

When a doctor no longer accepts Medicare, patients left holding the bag

Pneumonia. Heart problems. High cholesterol. Betsy Carrier, 71, and her husband, Don Resnikoff, 79, relied on their primary care doctor in Montgomery County, Maryland, for help managing their ailments.

9 Jun 2020

Rapid changes to health system spurred by COVID might be here to stay

The U.S. health care system is famously resistant to government-imposed change. It took decades to create Medicare and Medicaid, mostly due to opposition from the medical-industrial complex. Then it was nearly another half-century before the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

8 Jun 2020