When the catastrophic Los Angeles fires broke out, John Volckens suspected firefighters and residents were breathing toxic air from the burning homes, buildings, and cars, but it was unclear how much risk the public faced. So, the professor of environmental health at Colorado State University devised a plan to get answers. Volckens shipped 10 air…
Rural hospital leaders are questioning whether they can continue to afford to do business with Medicare Advantage companies, and some say the only way to maintain services and protect patients is to end their contracts with the private insurers. Medicare Advantage plans pay hospitals lower rates than traditional Medicare, said Jason Merkley, CEO of Brookings…
Public access to government records that document the handling of illnesses, faulty products, and safety lapses at health facilities will slow after mass firings at the federal Department of Health and Human Services swept out staff members responsible for releasing records, according to transparency advocates and health experts. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s layoffs…
Subrayando la magnitud del problema de la deuda médica en el país, una organización sin fines de lucro con sede en Nueva York ha llegado a un acuerdo para liquidar viejas facturas médicas de aproximadamente 20 millones de personas. Undue Medical Debt, que compra deudas de pacientes, está liquidando $30 mil millones en facturas impagas…
Underscoring the massive scale of America’s medical debt problem, a New York-based nonprofit has struck a deal to pay off old medical bills for an estimated 20 million people. Undue Medical Debt, which buys patient debt, is retiring $30 billion worth of unpaid bills in a single transaction with Pendrick Capital Partners, a Virginia-based debt…
MANSFIELD, La. — When Desoto Regional Health System took out $36 million in loans last year to renovate a rural hospital that opened in 1952, officials were banking on its main funding source remaining stable: Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for low-income people and the disabled. But those dollars are now in jeopardy, as…
By MIKE MAGEE After Trump crashed the markets, citizens worldwide are “feeling the pressure.” But in the spirit of calming us down, let’s consider a story of human cooperation and success from our past. It has been estimated that a medical student learns approximately 15,000 new words during the four years of training. One of…
Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has made combating fraud a centerpiece of his administration. Trump has said he will target fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security programs, and his Republican allies in Congress have made combating fraud a key argument in their plans to slash Medicaid. Trump also has empowered…
Alanys Ortiz entiende las señales de Josephine Senek antes de que ella pueda decir nada. Josephine, quien vive con una rara y debilitante condición genética, mueve los dedos cuando está cansada y muerde el aire cuando algo le duele. Josephine tiene 16 años y ha sido diagnosticada con mosaicismo de tetrasomía 8p, autismo severo, trastorno…
LISTEN: KFF Health News correspondent Rachana Pradhan spoke with federal employees who say mass government layoffs are affecting their mental health. She appeared on WAMU’s “Health Hub” segment on April 2. Federal workers are feeling demoralized and anxious as the Department of Government Efficiency slashes tens of thousands of jobs. Federal employment used to carry…