Category: Kaiser Health News

Buy and Bust: When Private Equity Comes for Rural Hospitals

Noble Health swept into two small Missouri towns promising to save their hospitals. Instead, workers and vendors say it stopped paying bills and government inspectors found it put patients at risk. Within two years — after taking millions in federal covid relief and big administrative fees — it locked the doors.

As Biden Fights Overdoses, Harm Reduction Groups Face Local Opposition

The Biden administration’s latest plan to address opioid overdose deaths includes $30 million for harm reduction measures, but many conservative states don’t allow them.

Preventive Care May Be Free, but Follow-Up Diagnostic Tests Can Bring Big Bills

Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers cannot charge consumers for various preventive services that have been recommended by experts. But if those screenings indicate more testing is needed to determine whether something is wrong, patients may be on the hook for hundreds or even thousands of dollars for diagnostic services.

Covid Funding Pries Open a Door to Improving Air Quality in Schools

Researchers say the billions in pandemic funding available for ventilation upgrades in U.S. schools provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to combat covid-19, as well as making air more breathable for students living with allergies, asthma, and chronic wildfire smoke.

States Fight Student Mental Health Crisis With Days Off

In early 2022, Illinois joined a growing number of states where lawmakers and school leaders are trying to combat the ongoing student mental health crisis by granting days off for mental health needs.

Race Is Often Used as Medical Shorthand for How Bodies Work. Some Doctors Want to Change That.

Physicians have long believed it’s good medicine to consider race in health care. But recently, rather than perpetuate the myth that race governs how bodies function, a more nuanced approach has emerged: acknowledging that racial health disparities often reflect the effects of generations of systemic racism, such as lack of access to stable housing or nutritious food.

Journalists Delve Into Vaccine Mandates and Surprise Billing

KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.

Medicaid Weighs Attaching Strings to Nursing Home Payments to Improve Patient Care

The Biden administration is considering whether Medicaid, which pays the bills for 62% of nursing home residents, should require that most of that funding be used to provide care, rather than for maintenance, capital improvements, or profits.

Long Wait for Justice: People in Jail Face Delays for Mental Health Care Before They Can Stand Trial

People in jail who have serious mental illness and cannot stand trial because of their condition are waiting months, or even more than a year, to get into their state psychiatric hospitals.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Taking a Shot at Gun Control

The U.S. House passed a package of bills seeking to keep some guns out of the hands of children and teenagers, but its fate in the Senate remains a big question mark. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission takes on drug and hospital prices. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Cori Uccello of the American Academy of Actuaries about the most recent report from Medicare’s trustees board.