Category: states

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.

Doctors Created a Primary Care Clinic as Their Former Hospital Struggled

With the community’s help, former co-workers came together to fill gaps in care left by the loss of doctors and departments at a Gallup, New Mexico, hospital.

KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: Let’s Talk About the Weather

2023 will likely be remembered as the summer Arizona sizzled, Vermont got swamped, and nearly the entire Eastern Seaboard, along with huge swaths of the Midwest, choked on wildfire smoke from Canada. Still, none of that has been enough to prompt policymakers in Washington to act on climate issues. Meanwhile, at a public court hearing, […]

A Mom Owed Nearly $102,000 for Hospital Care. Her State Attorney General Said to Pay Up.

As politicians bash privately run hospitals for their aggressive debt collection tactics, consumer advocates say one North Carolina family’s six-figure medical bill is an example of how state attorneys general and state-operated hospitals also can harm patients financially.

The Painful Legacy of ‘Law and Order’ Treatment of Addiction in Jail

Efforts to improve addiction care in jails and prisons are underway across the country. But a rural Alabama county with one of the nation’s highest overdose rates shows how change is slow, while law enforcement officials continue to treat addiction as a crime rather than a medical condition.

A Plan to Cut Montana’s Medicaid Waiting List Was Met With Bipartisan Cheers. Then a Veto.

Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s veto disappointed and bewildered those seeking to address low-income residents’ long wait for assisted living or in-home care.

Excessive Drinking During the Pandemic Increased Alcoholic Liver Disease Death Rates

The number of Californians dying from alcoholic liver disease rose dramatically in the last decade, sped by the pandemic.

Groups Sue to Overturn Idaho ‘Abortion Trafficking’ Law Targeting Teens

It is illegal to help a minor obtain an abortion in Idaho or leave the state for one without parental consent. The lawsuit says the ban infringes on the right to interstate travel and First Amendment freedoms.

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.