Category: Health Industry

New Weight Loss Drugs Carry High Price Tags and Lots of Questions for Seniors

Although nearly 40% of Americans 60 and older are obese, Medicare doesn’t cover weight loss medications. Meanwhile, studies haven’t thoroughly examined new drugs’ impact on older adults.

Giant Health System Almost Saved a Community Hospital. Now, It Wants to ‘Extract Every Dollar.’

A bankruptcy judge will soon decide whether a Central Valley hospital needs to liquidate to repay its creditors. Its largest creditor, St. Agnes Medical Center, is the very entity that backed out of purchasing the Madera Community Hospital last December.

Industry Groups in California Vie for New Medicaid Money

State officials have promised to boost funding for California’s Medicaid program by $11.1 billion starting next year, with most of that money earmarked for higher payments to doctors, hospitals, and other providers. But the details have yet to be worked out, and powerful health industry groups are jockeying for position.

Medical Debt Is Making Americans Angry. Doctors and Hospitals Ignore This at Their Peril.

Doctors and hospitals hold an exalted position in American life, retaining public confidence even as other institutions such as government, law enforcement, and the media are losing people’s trust. But with health care debt out of hand, medical providers risk their good standing.

Congress Considers Easing Regulations on Air Transport of Donated Organs

A little-noticed provision of sweeping legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration would make it easier to fly human organs from donor to recipient.

KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: The Long Road to Reining in Short-Term Plans 

It took more than two years, but the Biden administration has finally kept a promise made by then-candidate Joe Biden to roll back the Trump administration’s expansion of short-term, limited-duration health plans. The plans have been controversial because, while they offer lower premiums than more comprehensive health plans, they offer far fewer benefits and are […]

Mental Health Respite Facilities Are Filling Care Gaps in Over a Dozen States

As three years of pandemic stress accelerated an ongoing nationwide mental health crisis, peer respite programs diverted patients from overburdened emergency rooms, psychiatric institutions, and behavioral therapists. Now, more “respites” are opening.

As Nonprofit Hospitals Reap Big Tax Breaks, States Scrutinize Their Required Charity Spending

Nonprofit hospitals avoid paying taxes if they provide community benefits such as charity care. More states are examining that trade-off, scrutinizing the extent of hospitals’ spending on their communities.

‘It Was a Bloodbath’: Rare Dialysis Complication Can Kill, and More Could Be Done To Stop It

A venous needle dislodgment is a rare dialysis complication that can kill a patient in minutes. Some experts worry those who treat themselves at home are at increased risk.

Patients Squeezed in Fight Over Who Gets to Bill for Pricey Infusion Drugs

To drive down costs, insurers are bypassing hospital system pharmacies and delivering high-priced infusion drugs, including some used in chemotherapy, via third-party pharmacies. Smarting from losing out on billing for those drugs, hospitals and clinics are trying to convince states to limit this practice, known as “white bagging.”