The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
A rise in cases of Vibrio vulnificus and its spread northward have heightened concern about the bacterium, which can cause human tissue to rot and skin to decay. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to make more doctors aware of the dangerous pathogen.
A bitterly divided Congress managed to keep the federal government running for several more weeks, while House Republicans struggle 鈥 again 鈥 to choose a leader. Meanwhile, many people removed from state Medicaid rolls are not finding their way to Affordable Care Act insurance, and a major investigation by The Washington Post attributes the decline in U.S. life expectancy to more than covid-19 and opioids. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Victoria Knight of Axios, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join 51视频 Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews physician-author-playwright Samuel Shem about 鈥淥ur Hospital,鈥 his new novel about the health workforce in the age of covid.
New HIV infections occur disproportionately among Black women, but exclusionary marketing, fewer treatment options, and provider wariness have limited uptake of preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, drugs, which reduce the risk of contracting the virus.
California is the first state to ban the controversial diagnosis known as 鈥渆xcited delirium,鈥 which has been used increasingly to justify excessive force by law enforcement. A human rights advocate described the law, signed this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom, as a 鈥渨atershed moment鈥 in criminal justice.
Congress is beginning to take action on the Social Security Administration鈥檚 clawbacks of payments it mistakenly made to poor, retired, and disabled Americans.
Pharmaceutical patents can drive up the costs of lifesaving medications. Hear what author and YouTube star John Green is doing to make tuberculosis drugs more accessible to the people who need them most.
A new rule sets specific treatment metrics for suspected sepsis cases in an effort to reduce deaths, but some experts say the measures could add to antibiotic overuse and need to be more flexible.
Narcan is available without a prescription. Addiction treatment experts hope this move will increase access to the medication, which can reverse opioid overdoses. But hurdles remain: cost and stigma.
Trust is hard to build and easy to break. In Episode 6 of the 鈥淓radicating Smallpox鈥 podcast, meet Chandrakant Pandav, a health worker who used laughter and song to try to rebuild trust with communities harmed by India鈥檚 sometimes violent and coercive family planning campaign.
In a torrent of lawsuits, patients accuse Florida device maker Exactech of hiding knee and hip implant defects for years. The company denies the allegations.
Teresa Johnson has been in extreme pain for more than a year after what she believes was a severe allergic reaction to iodine. Her Medi-Cal plan approved her referral to a specialist, but it took her numerous phone calls, multiple complaints, and several months to book an appointment.
Many women, especially Black women, have reported discrimination in maternity care, but expectant mothers lack tools to see where this happens. Funding and regulations to measure disparities have been slow in arriving, but some innovators are trying to fill the void.
Former President Donald Trump, who鈥檚 running for another term in the White House, recently blamed drug shortages on his successor, President Joe Biden. Our findings don鈥檛 align with Trump鈥檚 claims; by some measures, drug shortages increased more on Trump鈥檚 watch than on Biden鈥檚.
In this special encore episode, 51视频 Health News鈥 鈥淲hat the Health?鈥 asks three people who have served as the nation鈥檚 top health official: What does a day in the life of the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services look like? And how much of their agenda is set by the White House? Taped in June before a live audience at Aspen Ideas: Health, part of the Aspen Ideas Festival, in Aspen, Colorado, host and chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner leads a rare conversation with the current and two former HHS secretaries. Secretary Xavier Becerra and former secretaries Kathleen Sebelius and Alex Azar talk candidly about what it takes to run a department with more than 80,000 employees and a budget larger than those of many countries.
Software sifts through millions of medical records to match patients with similar diagnoses and characteristics and then predicts what kind of care an individual will need and for how long. New federal rules will ensure human experts are part of the process.
In the wake of an investigation by 51视频 Health News and Cox Media Group, the聽SSA acting commissioner said a special team will聽review 鈥渙verpayment policies and procedures鈥 and report directly back to her.
Dollar General鈥檚 pilot mobile clinic program has been touted by company officials, rural health experts, and analysts as a model that could help solve rural America鈥檚 primary care shortage. But its Tennessee launch has been met with local skepticism.
Colorado is among several states that ensure schools have access to the opioid overdose reversal medication naloxone for free or at reduced cost. But most districts hadn鈥檛 signed up by the start of the school year for a state distribution program amid stigma around the lifesaving treatment.
The American College of Emergency Physicians will vote in early October on whether to disavow its 2009 research paper on excited delirium, which has been cited as a cause of death and used as a legal defense by police officers in several high-profile cases.
Mississippi has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the U.S. Now, it also has a federal grant to help in rural areas. The award could signal more flexibility from federal officials.
