Elizabeth Lucas

Elizabeth Lucas was the data editor at KFF Health News until August 2021.

@eklucas

Federal Grants ‘A Lifesaver’ In Opioid Fight, But States Still Struggle To Curb Meth

The federal government has doled out at least $2.4 billion in state grants since 2017 to address the opioid epidemic, which killed 47,600 people in the U.S. that year alone. But local officials note that drug abuse problems seldom involve only one substance.

Short-Staffed Nursing Homes See Drop In Medicare Ratings

In its latest update to the Nursing Home Compare website, the government gave 1,638 homes its lowest star rating for staffing — one star on its five-star scale. Most were downgraded because payroll records reported no registered-nurse hours at all for at least four days.