By Jordan Rau, Kaiser Health News Eight hundred hospitals will be paid less by Medicare this year because of high rates of infections and patient injuries, federal records show. The number is the highest since the federal government five years…
How available is healthy food in your neighborhood?
A NEW STUDY POINTS TO DIFFERENCES By Sharon BoganPublic Health – Seattle & King Count Where you live in Seattle can determine how easy or hard it can be to access healthy food. That’s one of the key findings from…
Cancer’s Complications: Confusing Bills, Maddening Errors And Endless Phone Calls
By Anna Gorman, Kaiser Health News Carol Marley wants everyone to know what a life-threatening cancer diagnosis looks like in America today. Yes, it’s the chemotherapy that leaves you weak and unable to walk across the room. Yes, it’s the…
A Parent-To-Parent Campaign To Get Vaccine Rates Up
Alex Olgin, WFAEKaiser Health News In 2017, Kim Nelson had just moved her family back to her hometown in South Carolina. Boxes were still scattered around the apartment, and while her two young daughters played, Nelson scrolled through a newspaper…
A Netflix Model for Hepatitis C: One Price, Unlimited Meds
By Michael Ollove, Stateline Two states fighting an escalating hepatitis C crisis will soon pay a flat fee for unlimited drugs — Netflix style — to treat prisoners and low-income residents suffering from the deadly liver disease, with the goal…
Trump administration moves to cut Planned Parenthood funding
HHS Finalizes Rule Seeking To Expel Planned Parenthood From Family Planning Program By Julie Rovner, Kaiser Health News The Trump administration Friday finalized a regulation intended to push Planned Parenthood out of the Title X federal family planning program, keeping…
Is pot or CBD use safe while pregnant or breastfeeding?
Talk with a Doc: Cannabis use while pregnant and breastfeeding Public Health Insider Now that retail cannabis is legal in Washington, there’s a lot of speculation about its potential benefits and harms. Whether it’s marijuana, edibles, CBD products, or any…
Half of U.S. Children with Mental Health Disorders Are Not Treated
Study: 1 in 7 children and teens have at least one treatable mental health disorder; treatment and prevalence rates vary considerably by state. By Beata Mostafavi, University of Michigan Health Lab Nearly 7.7 million children and teens in the country…
How old is too old to drive?
Alice Pomidor, Florida State University When Britain’s Prince Philip crashed his Land Rover into another vehicle on Jan. 17, 2019, many people were surprised that he was still driving at age 97. Many thought that surely someone – the queen…
The High Cost Of Sex: Insurers Often Don’t Pay For Drugs To Treat Problems
By Michelle Andrews, Kaiser Health News For some older people, the joy of sex may be tempered by financial concerns: Can they afford the medications they need to improve their experience between the sheets? Medicare and many private insurers don’t…
Measles cases in Washington outbreak climb to 61
From Clark County Public Health Public Health officials in Clark County, Washington has identified 61 confirmed cases and currently is not investigating any suspect cases. Public Health has identified two new locations where people may have been exposed to measles.…
Beyond Beltway’s ‘Medicare-For-All’ Talk, Democrats In States Push New Health Laws
By Sarah VarneyKaiser Health News and PBS SAN FRANCISCO — Sandra Yamileth Lopez works at one of San Francisco’s most celebrated bakeries, Tartine. She fled horrific violence in Honduras and applied for asylum in California. She can work legally but, as for many…
Some Primary Care Doctors Not Prepared to Help with Cancer Treatment Decisions
By Nicolle Fawcett, Michigan Medicine Up to one-third of primary care providers discussed breast cancer treatment options with patients but many report gaps in their knowledge. The idea of team-based cancer care most often focuses on involving primary care physicians in…
Single word most associated with negative hospital reviews on Yelp is ‘told’
By Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania When analyzing reviews of hospitals on Yelp, Penn Medicine researchers found that the word most associated with negative reviews, including those rated at one-star, was “told,” which appeared almost 20 percent…
Discharged, Dismissed: ERs Often Miss Chance To Set Overdose Survivors On ‘Better Path’
By Rachel Bluth, Kaiser Health News The last time heroin landed Marissa Angerer in a Midland, Texas, emergency room — naked and unconscious — was May 2016. But that wasn’t her first drug-related interaction with the health system. Doctors had…