Health workers are not OK, and that poses a threat to anyone who may need health services. That’s the central finding of the latest report from the office of U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, “Addressing Health Worker Burnout.” This special episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” podcast is a conversation about the report between Murthy and KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner, which was recorded at the annual research meeting of AcademyHealth in June.
In addition to allowing federal officials to negotiate the price that Medicare pays for some drugs, the bill would cap annual out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $2,000. But before Democrats can pass the bill under special rules that prevent Republicans from staging a filibuster, they must get approval from the Senate parliamentarian.
Montana is an island of legal abortion, but four of the state’s five clinics are limiting access to abortion pills for out-of-state patients in an effort to protect themselves and patients from legal attacks.
The bulk of the funds provided in the gun reform law known as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act are for expanding mental health services. Will it help improve mental health outcomes and stem violence?
The pandemic disrupted all sense of normalcy for U.S. hospitals, so federal officials are proposing to pause financial penalties against the facilities and to block public access to key hospital safety data — such as the frequency of falls and sepsis — because of concerns that the data isn’t accurate enough. But consumer advocates are furious about the proposal.
Anti-vaccine advocates discovered a catchy, succinct, and potent slogan. Its unlikely source: the abortion rights movement.
Even a decade in, the Affordable Care Act’s recommendations to simply cover preventive screening and care without cost sharing remain confusing and complex.
Isolation gowns are supposed to protect health care workers from splattered bodily fluids. But new studies suggest that too much liquid seeps through some disposable gowns, creating a risk of infection.
University of Texas researchers are testing a program that would allow harm reduction groups to crowdsource data on fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses statewide. While the data relies on word of mouth, they say, it is more comprehensive than anything that exists now and can be used immediately to prevent overdoses.
The drugmaker has the best-selling vaccine to prevent covid and the most effective drug to treat it. Its success and might have overshadowed the government’s covid-fighting strategy.
