Cyberattacks Plague the Health Industry. Critics Call Feds’ Response Feeble and Fractured.
By Darius Tahir
Health care weathered more ransomware attacks last year than any other sector, and that was before a debilitating February hack of payments manager Change Healthcare. Executives, lawyers, and policymakers are worried the federal government’s response is underpowered, underfunded, and too focused on hospital security.
These Alabama Workers Were Swamped by Medical Debt. Then Their Employer Stepped In.
By Noam N. Levey
A decades-old manufacturing company opened a clinic and made primary care and prescriptions free for employees and their families.
Abortion Clinics — And Patients — Are on the Move, as State Laws Keep Shifting
By Bram Sable-Smith
Illustration by Oona Zenda
Clinics in states where most abortions are legal, such as Kansas and Illinois, are reporting an influx of inquiries from patients hundreds of miles away — and are expanding in response. Despite the Supreme Court’s overturning of federal protections in 2022, abortions are now at their highest numbers in a decade.
Las clínicas de abortos, y sus pacientes, se movilizan a medida que cambian las leyes estatales
By Bram Sable-Smith
El fallo de la Corte dejó en manos de los estados las políticas sobre el aborto. Desde entonces, 14 estados promulgaron prohibiciones a la práctica que contemplan unas pocas excepciones, mientras que otros han restringido el acceso.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Two People Infected With 'Raccoon Roundworm': LA County Public Health officials said that they are investigating two human cases of Bylisascaris procyonis, an intestinal parasitic infection that can affect the human spinal cord, brain, and eyes. Both patients were in the South Bay area. Read more from CBS News.
Ballot Measure on New Medi-Cal Spending Has Broad Support, But Opponents Flag Pitfalls
By Bernard J. Wolfson
Proposition 35, which would use revenue from a tax on managed-care plans to raise the pay of health care providers who serve Medi-Cal patients, has united a broad swath of California’s health care, business, and political establishments. But a newly formed, smaller group of opponents says it will do more harm than good.
Tennessee Tries To Rein In Ballad’s Hospital Monopoly After Years of Problems
By Brett Kelman
Ballad Health, a 20-hospital system with the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly, serves patients in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Industrial Chemical Found In Illegal Fentanyl Supply: A chemical used in plastic products has been cropping up in illegal drugs from California to Maine, a sudden and puzzling shift in the drug supply that has alarmed health researchers. The chemical, BTMPS, was found in roughly a quarter of drugs tested in a recent sampling. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
Watch: New Documentary Film Explores a Lynching and a Police Killing 78 Years Apart
By Cara Anthony
The “Silence in Sikeston” documentary film explores how the nation’s first federally investigated lynching and a police killing 78 years apart haunt the same rural Missouri community. The film from KFF Health News and Retro Report explores the lasting impact of such trauma — and what it means to speak out about it.
Fighting Staff Shortages With Scholarships, California Bill Aims To Boost Mental Health Courts
By Molly Castle Work
A new bill would create a scholarship program for students who agree to work with specialized courts in California to get patients into treatment, but some people argue the state shouldn’t restrict scholarship aid to a new, untested program given broader behavioral health workforce shortages.
