[Editor’s note: KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.] A California law that took effect in July requires health plans to offer timely follow-up appointments for mental health and addiction patients. Whether that’s happening is a point of contention in an open-ended strike by Kaiser Permanente clinicians in Northern California who say staffing shortages saddle them with stifling workloads that […]
NASA has announced plans to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid on purpose. It will be the world’s first planetary defense test against potential threats to Earth from space and we are this much closer to realizing Star Wars. Today in health care, Moderna asked the FDA to authorize its updated booster shot, but challenges remain in convincing people to […]
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) is a respiratory disease affecting over 14 million Americans. In recent years, the American Lung Association has asserted that there are likely many more cases of COPD unreported in the United States, given the vast prevalence of patients presenting with symptoms consistent with COPD progression. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, over 25 million Americans already […]
Intermountain Healthcare’s recent merger with SCL Health boosted first-half results that otherwise would have been hurt by investment losses. Instead, the deal propelled Intermountain to a $2.74 billion profit. Salt Lake City-based Intermountain and SCL Health, of Broomfield, Colorado, merged on April 1. The combined system, which uses the Intermountain name, has more than 59,000 employees and operates 33 hospitals […]
As home health providers wait for the finalized version of the proposed payment rate rule, it’s important to get familiar with the coding changes the proposal makes, and how it will directly impact Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) calculations. When coding, the primary diagnosis of the patient should be driven by the primary focus of care for that time period. “When […]
Moderna on Tuesday said it submitted a request for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize an updated version of its COVID-19 vaccine targeting the latest omicron subvariants. The application comes ahead of a fall booster shot campaign. Assuming the FDA signs off, the company said its shots will be ready to ship in September. The application, per instructions […]
Cancer overtook musculoskeletal conditions as the leading condition that is driving up employers’ healthcare costs, a new survey found. The survey conducted by Business Group on Health between May 31 and July 13 included 135 large employers covering 18.3 million people in the U.S. Of the companies featured, 73% have more than 10,000 employees. The annual survey has been conducted […]
Epic Systems is adding tools that connect patients to clinical trials and bring together doctors treating patients with similar rare conditions through its Cosmos life sciences research platform, executives said at a company event Tuesday. Healthcare organizations participating in Cosmos, Epic’s research database of de-identified electronic health records data, can opt in to its life sciences program, Epic CEO Judy Faulker and other […]
Demand for home-based care continues to rise. Thus, more workers are needed. What sounds like a simple equation to solve theoretically is far more complex in practice – getting “more workers” is easier said than done. Still, in order to satisfy that demand, home care agencies are getting creative. Whether by leveraging certain training or using unique recruitment practices, home […]
The amount of bad debt stemming from patients with insurance increased more than five-fold in a three-year period, hitting providers’ financial statements in an already challenging environment. Almost 58% of patient bad debt in 2021 came from self-pay accounts after insurance, compared with about 11% in 2018, according to a recent study from professional services firm Crowe. Self-pay accounts after insurance include […]