Category: Kaiser Health News

VA Adding Opioid Antidote To Defibrillator Cabinets For Quicker Overdose Response

A project that started in a Boston Veterans Affairs facility will soon go nationwide. It puts naloxone, also known as Narcan, into emergency supplies cabinets throughout the VA system.

Drugmakers Play The Patent Game To Lock In Prices, Block Competitors

Pharmaceutical companies like Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, often win patents for incremental changes with debatable value. Now there’s a twist involving an opioid treatment.

Feds Settle Huge Whistleblower Suit Over Medicare Advantage Fraud

A DaVita subsidiary will pay $270 million over allegations that it cheated the federal government for years.

Immigrants’ Health Premiums Far Exceed What Plans Pay For Their Care

Immigrants accounted for nearly 13 percent of premiums paid to private plans but only about 9 percent of insurers’ expenditures, according to a new study in Health Affairs. The cost of care for the group of native-born customers, however, exceeded their premiums.

White Coats As Superhero Capes: Med Students Swoop In To Save Health Care

Students from eight medical schools in and around New York City attended a conference Sept. 23 on progressive activism during their training years — and beyond.

Judges In California Losing Sway Over Court-Ordered Drug Treatment

In a Medicaid-funded pilot project starting with 19 counties, clinicians and other providers are now in charge of deciding what kind of treatment an offender needs. The change has rankled some judges and attorneys — and forced some felons to spend more time in jail — but it has been largely embraced by clinicians and county agencies.

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health articles from the week so you don’t have to.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ (Almost) Live from Austin!

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” — recorded in Austin, Texas, as part of the 2018 Texas Tribune Festival — Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News and Alice Ollstein of Politico talk about how health issues will play in midterm elections, the Trump administration’s move that could penalize legal immigrants who use government aid programs and other topics. Plus, they are joined by Dell Medical School’s Mini Kahlon.

Eat, Toke Or Vape: Teens Not Too Picky When It Comes To Pot’s Potpourri

State legalization efforts, as well as the introduction of edible or vaporized cannabis- infused products, may be contributing to experimentation by teens.

‘Contraception Deserts’ Likely To Widen Under New Trump Administration Policy

Federal family planning funds, known as Title X, will soon fund for-profit women’s clinics that bar condoms, hormonal birth control and IUDs and offer only “natural family planning.”