health care

Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee has found that connecting people with primary care doctors reduces the number of emergency room visits.

A Hospital Reduces Repeat ER Visits By Providing Social Workers

5:32pm October 23, 2015

by Alison Kodjak

Some people return to the emergency room again and again because it's their only source of medical care. A Wisconsin hospital hired social workers to help patients find more appropriate care.

African-American patients with chronic kidney disease were half as likely to use an electronic health portal than were non-black patients.

Online Health Tools Might Not Help The People Who Need It Most

1:18pm October 23, 2015

by Lynne Shallcross

An online portal to manage chronic kidney disease sounds great, but poor, older or black people were less likely to use it. That means the shift to e-health could make health disparities worse.

Maryland pharmacist Narender Dhallan often has to decide whether to fill a prescription and lose money or send a customer to another store.

Health & Safety

How Generic Drugs Can Cost Small Pharmacies Big Bucks

5:35pm October 22, 2015

by Alison Kodjak

Independent pharmacies are getting pinched by reimbursements for generic drugs that aren't keeping up with rising prices. Drugstores blame the middlemen who manage companies' drug benefits.

Queue Listen Now

What To Do With California's Mentally Ill Defendants?

4:29pm October 21, 2015

by Scott Shafer

Jail is too dangerous for many defendants found incompetent to stand trial because of illnesses like schizophrenia, judges say. But psychiatric hospitals are now overcrowded and violent, too.

It's the time of year when seniors make choices about Medicare coverage that can affect how much they'll pay for medicines.

Health & Safety

The Right Medicare Drug Plan Can Help Control Price Shocks

11:35am October 21, 2015

by Michelle Andrews

Drug plans offered by private insurers under Medicare change from year to year. It pays to check around for the best deal during open enrollment season.

A shuttle bus exits a secure gate at Napa State Hospital after a media tour in 2011.

5 Years After A Murder, Calif. Hospital Still Struggles With Violence

7:57pm October 20, 2015

by Scott Shafer

Napa State Hospital in California added safeguards to protect workers after a psychiatric technician was murdered in 2010. But violence remains a part of daily life at the facility.

Queue Listen Now

Study Suggests Talk Therapy Eases Symptoms Of Schizophrenia

7:52pm October 20, 2015

NPR's Ari Shapiro interviews Nina R. Schooler, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at SUNY Downstate, about the study she co-authored regarding early treatment of schizophrenia.

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New Guidelines Reflect Knowledge On Positives, Risks Of Mammograms

5:36pm October 20, 2015

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Kenny Lin, associate professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine, about what the new mammogram guidelines mean on an individual level.

The American Cancer Society has pushed back the age at which most women should begin having mammograms to 45.

Health & Safety

Cancer Group Now Says Most Mammograms Can Wait Till 45

5:29pm October 20, 2015

by Rob Stein

The American Cancer Society says new research supports changing the age at which most women should start getting yearly mammograms. But the group's latest advice still conflicts with other guidance.

Now? Later? It's definitely not a one-size-fits-all thing.

OK, When Am I Supposed To Get A Mammogram?

3:55pm October 20, 2015

by Lynne Shallcross

The four major advice-givers can't agree on when to start or how long to continue. That leaves women understandably confused. And that doesn't make it easy to decide.