HHS

Hospitals must now post on their websites, in a consumer-friendly format, the specific costs for 300 common and "shoppable" services, such as having a baby, getting a joint replacement, having a hernia repaired or undergoing a diagnostic brain scan.

Hospitals Forced To Be More Transparent About Pricing. Will That Save You Money?

11:02am January 05, 2021

by Julie Appleby

Under a rule that kicked in Jan. 1, hospitals must now make public the prices they negotiate with health insurers. But health policy experts have divergent views on what that will mean for patients.

A vial of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech that was used at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, U.K., on Tuesday.

Health & Safety

U.S. Government May Find It Hard To Get More Doses Of Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine

9:31am December 10, 2020

by Sydney Lupkin

A Pfizer board member says the government declined to buy more doses beyond the initial 100 million already agreed upon. Demand from other countries could complicate future purchases.

A proposed rule could cause headaches and extra work for the successor of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, seen with President Trump in November.

Trump HHS Proposal Criticized As Burden For Biden Administration

11:28am December 09, 2020

by Phil Galewitz

The rule would require health officials to review about 2,400 regulations on everything from Medicare benefits to prescription drugs approvals. Those not analyzed within two years would become void.

Health & Safety

NCDHHS's Mandy Cohen Eyed For Lead Role In Biden Administration

4:50pm November 09, 2020

by David Ford

A heavily redacted supply contract between the federal government and vaccine developer Moderna, headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., was released Friday.

Health & Safety

A Federal Coronavirus Vaccine Contract Released At Last, But Redactions Obscure Terms

6:16pm October 24, 2020

by Sydney Lupkin

Most of the federal contracts with companies involved in the crash program to make COVID-19 vaccines haven't been made public. The lack of disclosure raises questions about accountability.

President Trump announced the creation of Operation Warp Speed in May to fast-track a coronavirus vaccine. He called it "a massive scientific and industrial, logistic endeavor unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project."

Health & Safety

How Operation Warp Speed's Big Vaccine Contracts Could Stay Secret

7:51pm September 29, 2020

by Sydney Lupkin

More than $6 billion in federal funding has been routed through a firm that manages defense contracts, making the agreements subject to less federal scrutiny and transparency.

Queue Listen Now

Bamby Salcedo, here speaking at a 2017 rally, is president and CEO of the TransLatin@ Coalition, one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed to keep Obama-era civil rights protections in place. "Everyone deserves easy access to health care," Salcedo says, "a

Health & Safety

LGBTQ Clinics Sue Trump Administration Over Discrimination In Trans Health Care

4:31pm June 22, 2020

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

A lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's rule affecting LGBTQ discrimination in health care is filed Monday. Plaintiffs say last week's Supreme Court decision has put "wind in our sails."

A volunteer received a shot of the experimental Moderna vaccine against COVID-19 in March as part of a safety study.

Health & Safety

Questions About How Crash Program Is Picking Coronavirus Vaccines To Back

7:13am June 12, 2020

by Sydney Lupkin

As Operation Warp Speed pushes to develop a COVID-19 vaccine in record time, the number of candidates is being narrowed. The factors guiding the decisions about which projects to fund is unclear.

Queue Listen Now

Kelly Womochil, an aide at Enterprise Estates Nursing Center in Enterprise, Kan., tries on a poncho that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is sending to nursing homes to protect against the coronavirus.

Health & Safety

Nursing Homes Run Short Of COVID-19 Protective Gear As Federal Response Falters

7:39pm June 11, 2020

by Jordan Rau

At least 711 nursing homes reported running out of N95 masks at the end of May, and 1,963 said they had less than a week's worth. "The federal government has got to step up," says one advocate.

Only 28% of the factories that make active ingredients for pharmaceuticals for the domestic market are located in the U.S., according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Health & Safety

What Would It Take To Bring More Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Back To The U.S.?

1:13pm April 24, 2020

by Sydney Lupkin

Experts say it could be dangerous to rely on overseas production of medicine in a crisis, but the U.S. largely does. Rebuilding domestic capacity would take years and substantial investments.