By Shefali Luthra – Medical errors are estimated to be the third-highest cause of death in the country. Experts and patient safety advocates are trying to change that. But at least one of the tools that’s been considered a fix isn’t yet working as well as it should, suggests a report released on April 7, 2016.
Read More
By Ana B. Ibarra & David Gorn – Moving into a realm usually reserved for health care regulators, the California health marketplace unveiled sweeping reforms to its contracts with insurers, seeking to improve the quality of care, curb its cost and increase transparency for consumers.
By Mary Agnes Carey – As the health law turned six, federal officials proposed the expansion of a Medicare diabetes prevention program funded by the landmark measure. The pilot program, developed and administered by the YMCA…
By Shefali Luthra – In a perfect world, patients with advance directives would be confident that their doctors and nurses, no matter where they receive care, could know in a split second their end-of-life wishes. But this ideal is still in the distance. Patients’ documents often go missing in maze-like files or are rendered unreadable by incompatible software.
By Phil Galewitz – She didn’t want to spend the rest of her days seeing doctors, the 91-year-old woman confessed to Dr. Kevin Newfield as he treated a deep wound on her arm. “You don’t have to, but you have to tell me what you do want,” Newfield replied. “I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid of being 106,” she told the surgeon and her daughter, who was in the room with them.
By Chad Terhune – The head of Aetna Inc., the nation’s third-largest health insurer, said he supports insurance exchanges, even though he questioned their sustainability earlier this month and lost money in the marketplaces last year.
By Julie Appleby – Medicare plans to test new ways to pay for prescription medications given in doctors’ offices and hospital outpatient centers — moves likely to win praise from some policy experts, but opposition from facilities and practitioners.
By Jenny Gold – This season, Downton Abbey has a new plot line that has health wonks on the edge of their seats: a heated debate about hospital consolidation that closely parallels what’s going on in the U.S. health care system today.
By Mary Agnes Carey – HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell hailed the health law’s 2016 enrollment gains and said the department was already beginning to gear up for the next enrollment period. In addition to the health law, Burwell’s agency is juggling many other priorities these days.