Community Benefit
After the last of the baby boomers become fully eligible for Medicare, the federal health program can expect significantly higher costs in 2030 both because of the high number of beneficiaries and because many are expected to be significantly less healthy than previous generations.
As hospital finance execs work to navigate pricing pressures, transitions in patient coverage and new competitors, The Advisory Board said leaders are facing several mandates to change or risk losing a lot of money.
A coalition of civil rights advocates Tuesday called for a federal investigation of California's Medicaid program, alleging that it discriminates against millions of low-income Latinos by denying them equal access to health care.
Obesity is redrawing the common imagery of old age: The slight nursing home resident is giving way to the obese senior, hampered by diabetes, disability and other weight-related ailments. Facilities that have long cared for older adults are increasingly overwhelmed -- and unprepared -- to care for this new group of morbidly heavy patients.
Capital Blue Cross will provide a second round of funding to help put a life-saving overdose antidote into the hands of Pennsylvania police officers by donating $100,000 to help local and campus police departments purchase Naloxone.
There's a prescription drug abuse problem sweeping the United States, but fixing it will require a systematic change focused on how most health professionals prescribe drugs, rather than changing the practices of a few bad apples.
As anyone who needs insulin to treat diabetes can tell you, that usually means regular checkups at the doctor's office to fine-tune the dosage, monitor blood-sugar levels and check for complications. But here's a little known fact: Some forms of insulin can be bought without a prescription. One diabetes patient and several medical experts weigh in on whether it should be.
As the deadline for January health care coverage nears, California's insurance exchange is intensifying efforts to sign people up in pockets of the state with exceptionally high numbers of uninsured residents. Covered California is targeting such "hot spots" as San Francisco's Mission district, and Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood, officials said.
That represents 13.4 percent of their total expense, and includes $1 billion in financial assistance to senior citizens, the needy and the uninsured.
In the last five years, 57 rural hospitals in the United States have closed, according to data from the Rural Health Research Program at the University of North Carolina. Others have declared bankruptcy, like the Mendocino Coast District Hospital.