The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
California officials are stepping up efforts to combat the spread of xylazine, a powerful animal sedative that鈥檚 increasingly being used by people, often with devastating results. It鈥檚 mostly been an East Coast phenomenon, but 鈥榯ranq,鈥 as it is known, is beginning to appear in the Golden State.
A push is underway to create a National Patient Safety Board modeled after the National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency that investigates plane crashes and other transportation disasters. But unlike the NTSB, some patient safety advocates say, the current proposal is toothless and wouldn鈥檛 provide transparency about the nation鈥檚 hospitals.
Negotiation techniques can help health care providers and family caregivers find common ground with older adults who resist advice or support.
As the leading cause of death for teens, firearm injuries are detrimental to more than just physical health. It takes a major toll on young people鈥檚 mental health.
A bipartisan deal to raise the government鈥檚 borrowing limit dashed Republican hopes for new Medicaid work requirements and other health spending cuts. Democrats secured the compromise by making relatively modest concessions, including ordering the return of unspent covid funds and limiting other health spending.
When 51视频 Health News鈥 鈥淲hat the Health?鈥 podcast launched in 2017, Republicans in Washington were engaged in an (ultimately unsuccessful) campaign to 鈥渞epeal and replace鈥 the Affordable Care Act. The next six years would see a pandemic, increasingly unaffordable care, and a health care workforce experiencing unprecedented burnout. In the podcast鈥檚 300th episode, host and chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner explores the past and possible future of the U.S. health care system with three prominent 鈥渂ig thinkers鈥 in health policy: Ezekiel Emanuel of the University of Pennsylvania, Jeff Goldsmith of Health Futures, and Farzad Mostashari of Aledade.
51视频 Health News senior correspondent Aneri Pattani appeared on PBS NewsHour to discuss the ruling surrounding drugmaker Purdue Pharma’s role in the opioid crisis and her reporting into the ongoing distribution of opioid settlement funds.
In what鈥檚 known as the Medicaid 鈥渦nwinding,鈥 states are combing through rolls to decide who stays and who goes. But the overwhelming majority of people who have lost coverage so far were dropped because of technicalities, not because officials determined they are no longer eligible.
Montana, Alaska, Mississippi, Missouri, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming are among the latest states moving to provide health coverage for up to a year after pregnancy through the federal-state health insurance program for low-income people.
The federal government鈥檚 arcane process for medical coding is influencing which reconstructive surgery options are available, creating anxiety for breast cancer patients.
51视频 Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
The well-known 鈥淎manita muscaria鈥 mushroom is legal to possess and consume in 49 states. The market for gummies, powders, and capsules containing extracts of the fungus is raising eyebrows, though, amid concerns from the FDA and in the absence of human clinical trials.
California Healthline has learned that a coalition of doctors, hospitals, insurers, and community clinics want to lock in a tax on health insurance companies to draw in extra Medicaid funding. It also wants to make the tax permanent.
Cardiovascular disease is the biggest killer of older Americans, with Black and Hispanic people at higher risk. Despite medical advances, researchers say, disparities are expected to worsen in the coming decades.
The 鈥淒iabetes Belt,鈥 as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, comprises 644 mostly Southern counties where diabetes rates are high. Of those counties, 51视频 Health News and NPR found, more than half also have high levels of medical debt.
There is no direct evidence that screening women in their 40s will save lives, yet modeling suggests expanding routine mammography to include them might avert 1.3 deaths per 1,000. Highlighting the risk of false positives, some specialists call for a more personalized approach.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is getting pressure from his political allies to begin spending money on health care that the state raised by fining Californians who go without health insurance. But Newsom says the state can鈥檛 afford to.
The Department of Health and Human Services is tasked with monitoring denials both by Obamacare health plans and those offered through employers and insurers. As insurers鈥 denials become more common, they sometimes defy not just medical standards of care but sheer logic. Why hasn鈥檛 the agency fulfilled its assignment?
Family planning clinics are getting caught between state abortion bans and a federal requirement to refer patients for abortion care on request.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.鈥檚 official entry into the presidential race poses a thorny challenge for journalists: how to cover a candidate who鈥檚 opposed to vaccines without amplifying misinformation. And South Carolina becomes the latest state in the South to ban abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, 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 51视频 Health News senior correspondent Aneri Pattani about her project to track the billions of dollars coming from opioid makers to settle lawsuits.
