‘No Longer Based on Facts or Truth’ Sylvia Chou, 51, Maryland Program director, National Cancer Institute Sylvia Chou specializes in communication between patients and their health care providers, and social media’s role in public health. She joined the federal government in 2007 as a fellow and became a civil servant in 2010. She left her…
The Host Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner @julierovner.bsky.social Read Julie’s stories. Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News’ weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?” A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book “Health Care Politics and Policy A…
LISTEN: Can’t afford health insurance this year? Don’t be afraid to talk to your doctor about money and the cost of care. On WAMU’s “Health Hub” on March 4, KFF Health News correspondent Sam Whitehead shared tips for people seeking affordable options without skipping care. Health insurance could be out of reach for many Americans…
OTTUMWA, Iowa — Leisa and Kent Walker recently received a disturbing notice: The private company managing their son’s Medicaid coverage intends to cut nearly 40% of what it spends for caregivers who help him live at home instead of in a nursing home. Sam Walker, 35, has severe autism and other disabilities. He is deaf…
MINNEAPOLIS. — Gabi tiene grandes ojos color café, trenzas y una afección genética que hace que sus huesos sean frágiles. Se fracturan con facilidad, lo que le provoca a la niña de 2 años tanto dolor que su madre dejó su trabajo limpiando oficinas para quedarse en casa y cargarla por el apartamento de una…
MINNEAPOLIS — Gabi has big brown eyes, pigtails, and a genetic condition that makes her bones brittle. They fracture easily, leaving the 2-year-old in such pain that her mother quit her job cleaning offices to stay home and cradle her in the one-bedroom apartment they share with six relatives. When federal immigration agents descended on…
By BRIAN JOONDEPH Image created by/using ChatGPT Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a core part of healthcare operations. It drafts clinical notes, summarizes patient visits, flags abnormal labs, triages messages, reviews imaging, helps with prior authorizations, and increasingly guides decision support. AI is no longer just a side experiment in medicine; it is becoming a…
Treating serious mental illness is not just a good thing to do for altruistic reasons. It also can improve health outcomes and reduce cost for those with comorbid physical conditions as well. Vincent Joralemon writes in Health Affairs Forefront regarding this issue. The article quotes Sherry Rais, CEO of Enthea: Ten percent of patients drive…
It was a snowy afternoon in Bozeman, a city of nearly 60,000 nestled among the mountains of southern Montana. Temperatures hovered in the mid-30s. The city’s mobile crisis team had just gotten a call about a man walking around outside without shoes. The man’s family told the team he was having a mental health crisis…
In the final days of 2025, governors around the country trumpeted the hundreds of millions of federal dollars they won from a new, $50 billion rural health fund. But plans to spend those nine-digit awards aren’t all warmly received. At least one group of Republican state lawmakers appears to have scuttled an initiative preapproved by…