Latest KFF Health News Stories
Pandemic Forced Insurers To Pay For In-Home Treatments. Will They Disappear?
With stay-at-home orders in place, hospitals experimented with delivering many treatments to patients where they lived. They were a success. As society reopens, the return of old payment practices may prevent the adoption of this new, efficient model of care.
Listen: Pandemic Shifts Health Care And It May Be Hard To Get Genie Back In Bottle
KHN’s Julie Rovner visits “Here & Now” to discuss the outlook for fundamental changes in the health care industry triggered by the coronavirus outbreak.
Society Is Reopening. Prepare To Hunker Down At Home Again.
First, businesses started to reopen; then racial justice protesters flooded the streets. Social distancing is beginning to fade. Are you ready for a second wave of COVID-19 infections ― and a renewed lockdown?
Rapid Changes To Health System Spurred By COVID Might Be Here To Stay
The coronavirus pandemic has forced the nation’s doctors and hospitals to reevaluate how they work. At least three major changes may have a lasting impact.
Readers And Tweeters: Doctors Weigh In On Telemedicine Costs
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Telehealth Will Be Free, No Copays, They Said. But Angry Patients Are Getting Billed.
Politicians pledged to stop providers from charging for video appointments or telephone calls, but some patients are being charged $70 or $80 per virtual visit.
Vaping, Opioid Addiction Accelerate Coronavirus Risks, Says NIDA Director
Dr. Nora Volkow, who heads the National Institute on Drug Abuse, details how emerging science points to added challenges for these patient populations and the public health system.
Coronavirus Crisis Opens Access To Online Opioid Addiction Treatment
Under the national emergency, the government has waived a law that required patients to have an in-person visit with a physician before they could be prescribed drugs that help quell withdrawal symptoms, such as Suboxone. Now they can get those prescriptions via a phone call or videoconference with a doctor. That may give video addiction therapy a kick-start.
Coronavirus Fuels Explosive Growth In Telehealth ― And Concern About Fraud
“Unscrupulous providers” could take advantage of the boom in treatment delivered via voice or video calls.
Dispatch From A Country Doctor: Seeing Patients Differently In The Time Of Coronavirus
Emergency rule changes by the federal government and some insurers have made telemedicine a useful tool.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: All Coronavirus All The Time
The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing changes to the U.S. health system that were previously unthinkable. Yet some fights ― including over the Affordable Care Act and abortion — persist even in this time of national emergency. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews KHN’s Liz Szabo about the latest installment of KHN-NPR’s “Bill of the Month.”
Resurge la telemedicina, por miedo al coronavirus y cambios en los pagos
Millones de estadounidenses buscan atención conectándose electrónicamente con un médico, muchos por primera vez. Una práctica segura para atender a ciertas condiciones y seguimientos.
Telemedicine Surges, Fueled By Coronavirus Fears And Shift In Payment Rules
Millions of Americans are suddenly seeking care by connecting with a doctor electronically. Helping drive that trend, medical providers can now charge as much as they would for an office visit.
Denuncian fraude a Medicare con aparatos ortopédicos a través de la telemedicina
Llaman por teléfono o aparecen en un chat y preguntan si el adulto mayor siente algún dolor. Luego le envían, en un caso, hasta 13 aparatos ortopédicos: rodilleras, cabestrillos, fajas. Facturan millones a Medicare.
Medicare Fraudsters Now Tap Telemedicine In Medical Equipment Scams
Scammers bent on defrauding Medicare are embracing the new technologies of remote diagnosis. Federal law enforcement is cracking down.
Por qué Amazon Alexa puede ser mala para la atención de salud
Las firmas de capital privado y de riesgo están enamoradas de una legión de nuevas empresas que promocionan los beneficios de las visitas médicas virtuales… ¿son buenas?
Analysis: Why Alexa’s Bedside Manner Is Bad For Health Care
Amazon’s personal assistant is gaining medical skills to provide coaching or transmit and monitor patient data. Besides the loss of the human touch, virtual medicine pursued in the name of business efficiency or profit bodes ill.
Doctors Give Medicare’s Proposal To Pay For Telemedicine Poor Prognosis
Federal officials are proposing that Medicare pay doctors for a 10-minute “check-in” call with beneficiaries. But many doctors already do this for free, and the plan would require a cost-sharing charge of many patients.
Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Ask Us Anything!
In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Joanne Kenen of Politico answer listeners’ questions about health policy and politics.
Telemedicina: guía para entender las citas médicas a distancia
Algunos consideran que es la atención primaria del futuro. Otros temen que la telemedicina lesione el vínculo médico-paciente. Lo cierto es que las citas virtuales crecen día a día.
