Middlemen Who Save $$ On Medicines — But Maybe Not For You
Guess who’s back grabbing headlines? Pharmacy benefit managers — those companies that serve as middlemen in the prescription drug pipeline.
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Guess who’s back grabbing headlines? Pharmacy benefit managers — those companies that serve as middlemen in the prescription drug pipeline.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don't have to.
A new data analysis by KHN and Johns Hopkins researchers shows that even as the CDC issued warnings, surgeons handed out many times the number of opioid pills needed for post-op pain.
Even as awareness of the opioid crisis grew, prescribing habits of surgeons changed very little from 2011 to 2016, found a data analysis by KHN and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Use this interactive tool to search by doctor or practicing hospital.
A legislative package from Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) would handle surprise medical bills by having insurers pay them the “median in-network rate,” meaning the rate would be similar to what the plan charges other doctors in the area for the same procedure.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is scheduled next week to mark up a massive legislative package on curbing health costs, but some of the details remain unresolved, including what formula to use to pay doctors and hospitals involved in surprise medical bills.
The use of ECMO, the most aggressive form of life support in modern medicine, has skyrocketed — but along with miraculous rescues, it can leave patients in limbo, kept alive with machines but with no prospect of survival outside the ICU.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don't have to.
The median cost of an air ambulance bill is more than $36,000 and seldom covered by insurance, sparking many consumer complaints. Yet none of the proposals introduced or circulating in Congress to fix surprise medical bills address these services.
Supporters of the rule say it would strengthen health care professionals’ freedom of conscience, but opponents say it “empowers bad actors to be bad actors.”
In March, a chemical cousin of the anesthetic and club drug ketamine was approved for the treatment of patients with intractable depression. But critics say studies presented to the FDA provided at best modest evidence it worked and did not include information about the safety of the drug, Spravato, for long-term use.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don't have to.
The scientific use of tissue from aborted fetuses has frequently been a hot point of contention between anti-abortion forces and researchers. It heats up again as federal officials announced this week they were ending NIH research using the tissue.
Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to curtail federally funded research using fetal tissue, the backlash from former Vice President Joe Biden’s support for the anti-abortion Hyde Amendment and how health policy intersects with both trade and immigration policy.
In reaction to an investigation by Kaiser Health News and the Chicago Tribune, the Illinois legislature has passed a new law to impose fines on nursing homes that fail to meet minimum staffing requirements.
KHN correspondent Rachel Bluth appeared on "PBS NewsHour Weekend" to talk with host Megan Thompson about the continuing problem of surprise medical bills and how the issue is playing on Capitol Hill.
A proposed adjustment to the wage index, used in setting a hospital’s Medicare reimbursement payments, could be a lifeline for some rural facilities.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don't have to.
Hospitals are eager to get particular specialists on staff because they bring in business that can be highly profitable. But those efforts, if they involve unusually high salaries or other enticements, can violate federal anti-kickback laws.
The FDA reveals that 56,000 malfunctions associated with surgical staplers weren’t reported through its traditional public reporting system.
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