The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
With the rise of generative AI, people who once turned to 鈥淒r. Google鈥 to check on medical symptoms are now turning to chatbots. Researchers say the bots are often more accurate, but urge caution in the absence of any regulations.
Health department officials are asking legislators to change criminal commitment laws amid a bottleneck at the Montana State Hospital.
As cities like Denver struggle to make homes more affordable, medical debt keeps housing out of reach for millions of Americans.
Chances are, if you aren鈥檛 older, chronically ill, or obese, you don鈥檛 need a forthcoming covid vaccine to stay out of the hospital. But it probably wouldn鈥檛 hurt.
51视频 Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here鈥檚 a collection of their appearances.
Republicans in Congress have proposed substantial cuts to the budget of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, taking aim at one of former President Donald Trump鈥檚 major health programs: a push to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S.
Excessive heat contributed to 1,670 deaths nationwide last year, according to federal data 鈥 the highest rate in at least two decades. An increase in drug use and homelessness, along with hotter temperatures, were among the reasons.
The declining share of U.S. doctors in adult primary care is about 25% 鈥 a point beyond which many Americans won鈥檛 be able to find a family doctor at all.
Congress returns from its summer recess with a long list of tasks and only a few work days to get them done. On top of the annual spending bills needed to keep the government operating, on the list are bills to renew the global HIV/AIDS program, PEPFAR, and the community health centers program. Meanwhile, over the recess, the Biden administration released the names of the first 10 drugs selected for the Medicare price negotiation program.
For rural Americans, who live in areas often short of mental health services and die by suicide at a far higher rate than urbanites, the federally mandated crisis phone line is one of the few options to connect with a crisis counselor.
Federal research linking 鈥渇orever chemicals鈥 to testicular cancer confirms what U.S. military personnel long suspected. But as they seek testing for PFAS exposure, many wonder what to do with the results. There鈥檚 no medical treatment yet.
Hollywood actors and writers who qualify for their union health plans get a very good deal compared with other Americans. But not working during the strike threatens their eligibility in the system.
An estimated 32% of adults in Logan County, West Virginia, have been diagnosed with depression, the highest rate in the United States, according to a recent CDC report.
Unsafe sleep environments are among the main reasons accidental suffocation or strangulation is a hard-to-solve public health problem.
Mississippi has among the highest cervical cancer mortality rates in the U.S. When low-income women can’t afford regular preventive care, much less gynecological visits, this highly preventable and treatable cancer becomes a killer.
Studies suggest official numbers vastly underestimate heat-related injuries and illness on the job. To institute protections, the government must calculate their cost 鈥 and the cost of inaction.
Regina G. Barber from NPR鈥檚 鈥淪hortwave鈥 podcast speaks with physician-epidemiologist C茅line Gounder about two men who were among the public health heroes who helped wipe out a 3,000-year-old virus, and the lessons that victory offers for the next public health emergency.
The proposal would require major hiring at the most sparsely staffed homes. But the proposal is already badly received by the nursing home industry, which claims it can鈥檛 boost wages enough to attract workers.
The medical dangers of heat are real. But people often ignore public heat alerts or don’t realize how vulnerable they are. A new alert system prompts clinicians to talk about heat with patients.
Anti-vaccine tech entrepreneur Steve Kirsch, whose wild assertions have been repeatedly debunked, wrongly attributes deaths following vaccination to the vaccines themselves. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which runs the database, calls that inaccurate and irresponsible.
