The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
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, 吃瓜不打烊鈥 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 吃瓜不打烊 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.
吃瓜不打烊 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.
Ballad Health, the only hospital system across a large swath of Tennessee and Virginia, has fallen short of quality-of-care and charity care obligations 鈥 even as it鈥檚 sued thousands of patients for unpaid bills.
A breast cancer patient who received similar treatments in two states saw significant differences in cost, illuminating how care in remote areas can come with a stiffer price tag.
Lawmakers are faulting the Social Security Administration for issuing billions of dollars of payments that beneficiaries weren鈥檛 entitled to receive 鈥 and then demanding the money back 鈥 in the wake of an investigation by 吃瓜不打烊 and Cox Media Group.
Though never framed as a marquee issue, the topic of health care crept into the chaotic seven-way faceoff throughout the evening, highlighting Republican culture-war themes.
As more seniors opt for Medicare Advantage, a few small insurers have begun offering plans that provide culturally targeted benefits for cohorts including Asian Americans, Latinos, and LGBTQ+ people. The approach, policy researchers say, has potential and perils.
吃瓜不打烊 gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Increasingly, hospitals are merging across separate markets within states. It鈥檚 a move that health economists and the Federal Trade Commission have been closely watching, as evidence shows such mergers raise prices for patients with no improvement in care.
At least 30 states are reinstating coverage for children wrongly removed from the rolls under Medicaid redetermination, the federal government reported. It鈥檚 just the latest hiccup in the massive effort to review the eligibility of Medicaid beneficiaries now that the program鈥檚 pandemic-era expansion has expired. And federal oversight of the so-called unwinding would be further complicated by an impending government shutdown. Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of Pink Sheet join 吃瓜不打烊 chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews 吃瓜不打烊鈥 Samantha Liss, who reported and wrote the latest 吃瓜不打烊-NPR 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥 feature, about a hospital bill that followed a deceased patient鈥檚 family for more than a year.
鈥淧eople want covid-19 to be in the rearview mirror,鈥 one nursing home official says. Faced with a slow rollout of the updated covid vaccines, and without state mandates for workers to get vaccinated, most skilled nursing facilities are relying on persuasion to boost vaccination rates among staff and residents.
Medicare and Medicaid shouldn鈥檛 be affected, but confusion can be expected.
A report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services raises troubling questions about the use of powerful medications within Florida鈥檚 child welfare system and the risk of overdoses or dangerous side effects if children are given the wrong combination of drugs.
