A California law that takes effect this summer will grant minors on public insurance the ability to get mental health treatment without their parents’ consent, a privilege that their peers with private insurance have had for years. But the law has become a flashpoint in the state’s culture wars.
The pain and trauma from repeated needle sticks leads some kids to hold on to needle phobia into adulthood. Research shows the biggest source of pain for children in the health care system is needles. But one doctor thinks he has a solution and is putting it into practice at two children’s hospitals in Northern California.
A mathematical model designed to direct spending of opioid settlement funds is at the center of a debate over whether to invest in technology to guide long-term decisions or focus on the immediate needs of people in addiction.
Cities are experimenting with new ways to meet the rapidly increasing demand for behavioral health crisis intervention, at a time when incidents of police shooting and killing people in mental health crisis have become painfully familiar.
Six years ago, the hospital in Fort Scott, Kansas, shuttered, leaving residents in the small community without a cornerstone health care institution. In the years since, despite new programs meant to save small hospitals, dozens of other communities have watched theirs close.
For the patient, it was a quick and inexpensive virtual appointment. Why it cost 10 times what she expected became a mystery.
An award-winning project by KFF Health News and NPR found that at least 100 million people in the United States are saddled with medical bills they cannot pay — and exposed a health care system that systematically pushes people into debt.
An award-winning project by KFF Health News and NPR found that at least 100 million people in the United States are saddled with medical bills they cannot pay — and exposed a health care system that systematically pushes people into debt.
Safe storage maps show gun owners where to put their firearms for safekeeping if they experience a mental health crisis. The idea has support among some gun enthusiasts, but legal obstacles threaten wider adoption.
KFF Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart leads a discussion about the role women play as California grapples with a shortage of health care providers.
