Insights

Should California doctors' public records be expunged from an online database after 10 years? Patient safety advocates didn't think so, and helped pass legislation to undo that expiration date. But the new rules are full of serious compromises.

In California, millions have been added to the Medicaid ranks. But even the state's most forward-thinking counties are struggling to provide timely health care access to all of these new patients.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper The Seattle Times is looking for an experienced reporter to cover health care in the fast-growing Puget Sound region.

Despite health challenges, young people with chronic conditions are at least as sexually active as their peers and more likely to take risks. Yet providers often fail to discuss sex and reproductive planning with these patients, resulting in unwanted outcomes and limited futures.

At a recent Stanford conference, doctors and patients sought to find a balance between the dizzying array of new health technologies and patients' old-fashioned need for engaged, attentive care from increasingly overwhelmed and distracted providers.

New rules go into effect today that will make it harder for doctors to prescribe some of the nation's most popular painkillers. Doctors can no longer sign off on automatic refills, nor can they call or fax in prescriptions for hydrocodone products, now classified as Schedule II drugs.

Local programs within Native American communities are at the forefront of an effort to increase cancer screening and reduce cancer deaths.

The Medical Board of California has new guidelines for treating pain with drugs. Two board officials explain how the guidelines will work, and comment on the challenges doctors face in trying to diagnose pain and prescribe relief in short, infrequent patient visits.

The ACA is projected to save hospitals billions in uncompensated care, with the biggest savings in states that expanded Medicaid. But the good news for some hospitals is tempered by ongoing cuts in federal funding that could threaten the sustainability of safety-net systems.

Cases of enterovirus D68 have quickly spread throughout the nation, filling emergency rooms and pediatric units with kids struggling to breathe. Meanwhile, doctors are still trying to understand what role the virus may be playing in cases of limb paralysis and polio-like symptoms.