AnnaWerner KFF Health News CBS News This story, like just about every story I write for KFF Health News, is available for any news organization to republish completely for free. The illustration also. Yes, really. Have at it. kffhealthnews.org/news/article/d…

NEW: Database by KFF Health News, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health & Shatterproof tracks 7,000+ ways opioid settlement money has been used, shining light on public health settlements worth $50B: kffhealthnews.org/news/article/o… In this 🧵, I’ll share a bit on how we built this & what we found.

NEW: In the wake of Hurricane Helene, 70 people were rescued by helicopters from an Appalachian hospital destroyed by flash flooding from a nearby river. Why was it built on a flood plain in the first place? 📝: Lauren Sausser & Holly Hacker kffhealthnews.org/news/article/u…

Federal law says Native Americans don't owe anything when the Indian Health Service agrees to pay for their care at private hospitals. But some get billed+sent to collections anway due to backlogs or mistakes from the IHS, financial middlemen+providers. kffhealthnews.org/news/article/n…

What happened in health policy in 2024, and what should we expect in 2025? KFF’s Drew Altman and julie rovner discuss on the last KFF Health News #WhatTheHealth episode of the year. 🎧 Listen here: on.kff.org/402ELD2

“It seems like it’s an even more widespread problem than we realized,” said Clare Pace, a researcher at the University of California-Berkeley who is examining possible exposure from PFAS-contaminated pesticides. Hannah Norman report: californiahealthline.org/news/article/p…

Advocates for environmental justice, an ideal that everyone has the right to live in a healthy environment regardless of race or class, say U.S. incinerators overburden people of color. Daniel Chang reports from Florida. kffhealthnews.org/news/article/t…

❗️ Help requested from KFF Health News reporter. Working on a story for the Los Angeles Times. Are you a health provider that has been evacuated or lost your home due to the fires? We'd like to talk to you. My dms are open. Thank you.

JOURNO Friends: With the new Purdue Pharma deal announced, it's the perfect time to dig into reporting on opioid settlements. KFF Health News can help! We're hosting a webinar to share tips on how you can use our database of 7,000+ ways state & local govts are spending the money

We KFF had already downloaded these government data files and will be able to see what, if anything, changes if/when the data come back online

🧵Opioid settlement money was meant to be spent on the addiction crisis specifically. So when I heard a Kentucky county spent $15,000 of it on an ice skating rink, I needed to learn more. Here's what I found: kffhealthnews.org/news/article/i…

When Slack is down and we have to operate in Microsoft Teams…

NEW: “This is America. It’s not supposed to be this way.” More than 200 counties lack high-speed internet and health care providers, a KFF Health News investigation found. 📝: Sarah Jane Tribble + Holly Hacker kffhealthnews.org/news/article/d…

NEW: At least 230 U.S. counties have both a dire shortage of dentists and largely unfluoridated water, which could lead to rampant tooth decay and a lifetime of dental pain and costs. Brett Kelman reports. ⤵️ kffhealthnews.org/news/article/f…

The man responsible for a $1.3 billion fraud scheme. A doctor who gave unnecessary eye injections. A CEO made a fortune on pain and pee. President Trump claims he will stop health care fraudsters. In his first term, he let these fraudsters go. kffhealthnews.org/news/article/t…

Trying to make sense of the massive changes at HHS? julie rovner leans on her 40 years covering HHS to put this moment in context and answer questions from Tradeoffs listeners about what this means for hospitals, states, research + more. tradeoffs.org/2025/04/03/mak…

The Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies threaten to cut a key source of labor for nursing facilities and home health agencies that rely on foreign-born workers. Vanessa G. Sánchez + Daniel Chang report for KFF Health News + NBC News. ⤵️ nbcnews.com/health/health-…

Thanks to the Red Line Metro Forward train operator for suggesting we transfer at Ft Totten to escape this morning’s RL delay hellscape.

There was no doctor on-site when a patient arrived at the emergency room in the small hospital at intersection of two dirt roads in Ekalaka, MT. There never is. Experts believe ERs, especially in rural areas, increasingly operate with few or no doctors. kffhealthnews.org/news/article/r…

NEW: The Trump administration’s cuts of public health funds to state and local health departments had vastly uneven effects depending on the political leanings of where someone lives, a new analysis by Henry Larweh, Rachana D. Pradhan and Rae Ellen Bichell shows. kffhealthnews.org/news/article/c…