The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Former Massachsetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s years as governor are defined by his role in reforming health care in the Bay State. It’s sometimes a political albatross, but it’s also proof, the candidate for president himself says, that he could bridge party divisions in Washington.
Federal officials are seeking to make sure patients get the care they need after discharge. But the new policy is likely to disproportionately affect hospitals that treat the most low-income patients, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis.
Ralph Rust’s decade-long struggle to stay out of hospitals involves some of the factors that cause patients to be readmitted frequently. For years he was hospitalized as often as three times a month.
This interactive chart compares the heart failure readmission rates and patient population poverty levels for more than 3,000 hospitals.
Four in five African American women are overweight or obese, and they start adding extra pounds years before their white counterparts. Research suggests the problem may have a lot to do with when girls give up regular exercise.
Technical, political and financial obstacles loom as clock ticks toward 2014 deadline for operations.
States will be given wide latitude to decide what “essential benefits” insurers must offer in policies offered on new health exchanges come 2014, the Obama administration said Friday in a move that pushes off final federal rules on those benefits until sometime next year.
Both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney welcomed the Ryan-Wyden plan, announced yesterday. Gingrich went on defense after Rep. Michele Bachmann questioned him on his record on abortion legislation while he was in the House of Representatives.
Both Perry and Obama can claim political victories with the Medicaid waiver the feds granted to the Lone Star state. But public hospitals have the most to gain from the new system.
