No Surprises Act Quiz
A new federal law provides new consumer protections against "surprise" medical bills beginning this year. Test your knowledge about its provisions with this 12-question quiz.
View the Latest: Hospitals
Filter
-
-
What Happens When COVID-19 Emergency Declarations End? Implications for Coverage, Costs, and Access
Issue BriefThis brief provides an overview of the major health-related COVID-19 federal emergency declarations that have been made since early on in the pandemic, summarizes the flexibilities triggered by each, and identifies the implications for their ending, related to coverage, costs, and payment for COVID-19 testing, treatments, and vaccines; Medicaid coverage and federal match rates; telehealth; access to medical countermeasures through FDA emergency use authorization (EUA); and other Medicaid, Medicare and private health insurance flexibilities.
-
Emergency Department Visits Exceed Affordability Threshold For Many Consumers With Private Insurance
Issue BriefThis analysis uses 2019 insurance claims data from large employer health plans to assess the total and out-of-pocket costs of emergency department visits, overall and by diagnosis and severity level. It also looks at which services contribute most to the costs of emergency department visits.
-
What Does the Recent Literature Say About Medicaid Expansion?: Economic Impacts on Providers
Issue BriefThis issue brief updates prior KFF literature reviews by summarizing 24 studies published between April 2021 and December 2022 on the economic impact of Medicaid expansion on providers.
-
Recent Studies Show That Medicaid Expansion Has Improved the Financial Performance of Hospitals and Other Providers, In Line With Prior Research
News ReleaseA KFF synthesis of recent studies finds that Medicaid expansion has been beneficial to the finances of hospitals and providers, driving decreases in the share of uninsured patients, increases in Medicaid-covered patients and declines in uncompensated care.
-
Ten Things to Know About Consolidation in Health Care Provider Markets
News ReleaseMergers and acquisitions involving hospitals and other health care providers are drawing attention from federal and state regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission, and policymakers amid concerns that such consolidations can reduce competition and contribute to the high costs of health care.
-
Building on the Evidence Base: Studies on the Effects of Medicaid Expansion, February 2020 to March 2021
ReportThis literature review report summarizes evidence from nearly 200 studies on the effects of Medicaid expansion published between February 2020 and March 2021. These studies generally find beneficial impacts of expansion across a range of areas.
-
The Growing Role of Foreign-Educated Nurses in U.S. Hospitals and Implications of Visa Restrictions
Policy WatchKFF analysis of data from the American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey shows that the overall share of hospitals reporting hiring foreign-educated RNs has nearly doubled between 2010 and 2022, and a growing share of hospitals report hiring an increasing number of foreign-educated RNs to fill vacancies over time.
-
Rural Hospitals Face Renewed Financial Challenges, Especially in States That Have Not Expanded Medicaid
Issue BriefThis data note examines rural hospitals’ operating margins in recent years. After seeing higher margins early in the pandemic, likely due to government relief funds, rural hospitals now face renewed challenges, especially in states that have not expanded Medicaid.
-
Outpatient Visits Are Growing More Complex: Implications for Health Costs
Issue BriefThis analysis for the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker uses claims data from private, large employer-based plan to examine trends in complexity coding across outpatient practice settings from 2004 to 2021. It finds a trend toward higher complexity codes that contributes to higher outpatient spending.