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The covid vaccination rate for first responders in the state is more than 95%. But it's lower in more rural areas, where ambulance crews can't function if even just a few people quit.
California Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, who authored legislation to create and fund the state鈥檚 new 988 phone line for mental health emergencies, spoke with KHN about the effort and what more will be needed to create a full-fledged response network for people experiencing mental health crises.
Unvaccinated people are filling intensive care beds and dying of covid in record numbers in Tennessee and other Southern states. Many tell their nurses and doctors they regret the decision not to get the vaccine when they could.
Televisits took off during the worst days of the pandemic, but states are now rolling back the temporary rules that facilitated them. That鈥檚 adding fuel to debates about states鈥 authority over medical licensing.
Despite widespread consensus on the importance of addiction treatment in the ER, many hospitals fail to screen for substance use, offer medications to treat opioid use disorder or connect patients to follow-up care. But some are working to change that.
A Long Island, New York, school system has partnered with a hospital to create a mental health safety net for children. The heart of the initiative is a new behavioral health center, which the hospital opened to help children avoid unnecessary hospitalization.
The Biden administration is weighing how to treat urgent care clinics as part of broad regulations banning surprise, out-of-network medical bills. At the heart of the matter: What counts as an emergency?
KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal appears on "CBS This Morning" to discuss the latest installment of the KHN-NPR Bill of the Month investigative series.
Doctors in Washington state used human body bags filled with ice and water to rapidly cool the sickest patients affected by record heat last month.
Only severely injured patients are supposed to be billed for 鈥渢rauma team alert鈥 fees that can exceed $50,000.
Two intractable failings of the U.S. health care system 鈥 addiction treatment and medical costs 鈥 come to a head in the ER, where patients desperate for addiction treatment arrive, only to find the facility may not be equipped to deal with substance use or, if they are, treatment is prohibitively expensive.
Experts say rural communities must find new models to keep emergency services afloat as more 911 calls go unanswered.
Veteran health journalist Marshall Allen has been exposing health care grifters for years. Now he鈥檚 written a book about how to fight them. Host Dan Weissmann spoke with Allen about some of the best tips from 鈥淣ever Pay the First Bill: And Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win.鈥
A college student never got an answer for what caused her intense pain, but she did get a bill that totaled $18,736 for an ER visit. She and her mom, a nurse practitioner, fought to understand all the charges.
What's known as emergency room boarding of psychiatric patients has risen between 200% and 400% monthly in Massachusetts during the pandemic 鈥 and the problem is widespread. The CDC says emergency room visits after suicide attempts among teen girls were up 51% earlier this year as compared with 2019.
HCA charges patients an 鈥渁ctivation fee鈥 of up to $50,000 for trauma teams at centers located in half its 179 hospitals 鈥 and they often don鈥檛 need trauma care, an analysis of insurance claims data shows.
The state, concerned about the high cost of care at these stand-alone facilities, is offering hospitals more Medicaid money if they convert them to other uses, such as primary care or mental health centers.
Across Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta, where death rates from stroke are above the national average, routing patients from rural areas to the right level of care can be an intricate jigsaw puzzle. The closest hospital might not offer the full scope of stroke treatments, but hospitals with more advanced care could be hours away.
The United States has undergone a cultural, definitional, practical shift on guns and what they are for.
Dr. Paloma Marin-Nevarez graduated from medical school during the pandemic. We follow the rookie doctor for her first months working at a hospital in Fresno, California, as she grapples with isolation, anti-mask rallies and an overwhelming number of deaths.
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