health care

Changes from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services could affect how some hospitals operate.

Trump Administration To Overhaul A Program Designed To Save Medicare Money

8:47pm August 09, 2018

by Phil Galewitz

The federal government will overhaul accountable care organizations, an Obama-era innovation. The change could lead to a dramatic decrease in hospitals and doctors participating in the program.

Opioid prescriptions went down among doctors informed of patients' overdose deaths.

Sending Letters About Their Patients' Overdoses Changes Doctors' Prescribing Habits

4:16pm August 09, 2018

by Sara Kiley Watson

Many doctors never find out when a patient dies from an overdose. A new study shows that when find out, it can alter the way they prescribe addictive drugs.

Cashiers, cooks, delivery people, fast-food workers and their supporters rallied outside New York City Hall in 2017. Their influential union, the Service Employees International Union, also includes about half a million home health aides.

Medicaid Officials Target Home Health Aides' Union Dues

5:00am August 09, 2018

by Shefali Luthra

The Trump administration has proposed a rule that would prohibit some home health workers from having union dues deducted from their paychecks. The rule would likely undercut unions' power, all agree.

Inducing labor at 39 weeks may involve IV medications and continuous fetal monitoring. But if the pregnancy is otherwise uncomplicated, mother and baby can do just fine, the latest evidence suggests.

Pregnancy Debate Revisited: To Induce Labor, Or Not?

12:22am August 09, 2018

by Richard Harris

Young women with simple pregnancies can safely ask a doctor to induce labor, a study finds. It doesn't increase their risk of needing a C-section after all and can even offer potential benefits.

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Drug costs are the fastest growing part of state Medicaid budgets.

States Question Costs Of Middlemen That Manage Medicaid Drug Benefits

11:20am August 08, 2018

by Alison Kodjak

Companies that negotiate drug prices for insurance plans keep a big cut of the money. In Ohio, a battle is brewing over whether their services are worth the cost.

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About a decade ago, the FDA started requiring drugmakers to add black box warnings to labels and prescribing information for Soroquel and other antipsychotic drugs. The agency made the change after the medications were linked to an increased risk of death

'Dear Doctor' Letters Use Peer Pressure, Government Warning To Stop Overprescribing

1:16pm August 07, 2018

by Ina Jaffe

Researchers found that a simple letter to doctors, focusing on their high prescribing rates, reduced their tendency to give risky antipsychotic drugs to their patients, including some with dementia.

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Feranmi Okanlami, a doctor at Michigan Medicine, became partially paralyzed after an accident in 2013, during his medical residency.

Health & Safety

Doctors With Disabilities Push For Culture Change In Medicine

7:23pm August 06, 2018

by Elana Gordon

Disabled Americans working in medicine are speaking up about their role in the profession. Not only can they perform the work of doctors but they offer a level of empathy others may lack.

Evelyn Nussembaum and her son Sam Vogelstein pick up a six month supply of Epidiolex from the experimental pharmacy at UCSF.

How One Boy's Fight With Epilepsy Led To The First Marijuana-Derived Pharmaceutical

6:47pm August 06, 2018

by Lesley Mcclurg

Sam Vogelstein used to suffer a hundred seizures a day. Then he tried a marijuana-based drug that wasn't available in the U.S. It stopped his seizures and has just been approved by the FDA.

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President Trump, pictured in July 2017. Four cities are suing Trump and his administration for allegedly undermining the Affordable Care Act in violation of the Constitution.

Four Cities' Lawsuit Calls Trump Efforts To Undermine 'Obamacare' Unconstitutional

9:09pm August 02, 2018

by Vanessa Romo

The complaint, filed Thursday, alleges the Trump administration is "waging a relentless campaign to sabotage and, ultimately, to nullify the law." They say that violates the Constitution.

Supporters of Planned Parenthood react to speakers at a rally in New York in May.

Planned Parenthood, State AGs Blast 'Barbarous' Effort To Mute Abortion Info

8:10pm August 02, 2018

by Wade Goodwyn

The Trump adminstration's goal is to establish a firewall between taxpayers and health care providers who might give women abortion information. Critics call the proposed changes a "gag rule."