N.Y. Social Care Networks Begin Data Connection Work
HealtheConnections health information exchange is partnering with three social care networks to share data about health-related social needs
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Staff Safety is Key to Sustaining Home Health Growth
Innovative approaches to home care will only be successful if organizations can ensure the safety of the professionals who enter patient homes. To do that, they’ll need to embrace new technologies that support in-home caregivers in real-time, and implement new protocols that ensure they are provided with the security and comfort they deserve. The post…
Patient Safety Structural Measure Marks Progress Towards Safer and Compassionate Care
CMS recently finalized the Patient Safety Structural Measure, which sets forth a broad roadmap for the implementation of a culture of safety, learning, transparency and accountability within hospitals and health systems nationwide — enabling and encouraging significant progress towards safer care and improved support for healthcare workers. The post Patient Safety Structural Measure Marks Progress…
Harris v. Trump: Records and Positions on Reproductive Health
This brief summarizes the positions, records, and potential priorities of the two major party candidates for the 2024 Presidential election on three major issues in women’s health policy – abortion, contraception, and maternal health.
Prior authorizations: why they matter and how to navigate the process
Health payers created the prior authorization system as a cost and quality control strategy, ensuring patients receive only the most necessary, evidence-based, cost-effective and quality care. Nevertheless, real-life implementation has shown that prior authorizations often backfire on their original intents, increasing overall care costs beyond what is necessary. It also delays patient care, contributes to…
One or Two Health Systems Controlled the Entire Market for Inpatient Hospital Care in Nearly Half of Metropolitan Areas in 2022
This analysis examines the competitiveness of markets for hospital care based on the share of metropolitan areas controlled by a small number of independent hospitals or health systems and other measures. It finds that nearly half of metropolitan areas across the country had only one or two hospitals or health systems providing general inpatient hospital…
Get Your BOO On! Submit Your Scariest Halloween Health Care Haikus
Boo! We scared you. Now it’s your turn to give our newsroom a scare. Submissions are now open for KFF Health News’ sixth annual Halloween haiku competition. KFF Health News has been publishing reader-submitted health care haikus for years and is on pins and needles to read how this spooky season inspires you. We want…
Silence in Sikeston: Trauma Lives in the Body
SIKESTON, Mo. — At age 79, Nannetta Forrest, whose father, Cleo Wright, was lynched in Sikeston, Missouri, before she was born, wonders how the decades-long silence that surrounded his death in 1942 influenced her life. In 2020, Sikeston police killed another young Black man, 23-year-old Denzel Taylor. Taylor’s shooting death immediately made local headlines, but…
How Minnesota Figures Into the Presidential Politics of Insulin Prices
In June 2019, Lija Greenseid handed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz an empty vial of insulin that her 13-year-old daughter had painted gold. Greenseid’s daughter has Type 1 diabetes, which means she requires daily injections of manufactured insulin to stay alive. The price of a single vial of insulin rose by about 1,200% between 1996 and…
Nearly Half of Metro Areas Have Only One or Two Hospitals or Health Systems Providing Inpatient Care
Nearly half (47%) of metropolitan areas across the country had only one or two hospitals or health systems providing general inpatient hospital care in 2022, a new KFF analysis finds. The analysis examines the extent of competition among hospitals amid a wave of hospital consolidation that has drawn the attention of state and federal regulators.…More