When Kayla Kjelshus gave birth to her first child, the infant spent seven days in the neonatal intensive care unit, known as the NICU. This stressful medical experience was followed by an equally stressful financial one. Because of an obscure health insurance policy called the “birthday rule,” Kjelshus and her husband, Mikkel, were hit with… Read More »
Top Stories The HFN team discusses some recent pieces of news from federal and state governments, and speculates on these developments. Whitepapers Clinical Quality Measures 101 Although quality-reporting programs such as meaningful use provide incentives to help providers implement and use electronic health records (EHRs) to collect and report on clinical data, practices often need… Read More »
Dive Brief: HHS is proposing a rule that would eliminate barriers to patient records as physicians treat those with substance use disorders as part of an ongoing push to cut outdated or unnecessarily strict regulations in healthcare. The agency is attempting to modify a nearly four-decade old federal confidentiality law that predates HIPAA that it… Read More »
The Trump administration has agreed to postpone implementing a rule allowing medical workers to decline performing abortions or other treatments on moral or religious grounds while the so-called “conscience” rule is challenged in a California court. The rule was supposed to take effect on July 22 but the US Department of Health and Human Services… Read More »
This story also ran on Vice. This story can be republished for free (details). A new Trump administration proposal would change the civil rights rules dictating whether providers must care for patients who are transgender or have had an abortion. Supporters of the approach say it protects the freedom of conscience, but opponents say it… Read More »
Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union filed separate lawsuits Tuesday suing the Trump administration over the “conscience protection” rule that protects workers from being forced to provide abortion, sterilization, or voluntary euthanasia if they have religious objections. Planned Parenthood claims in a press release that this rule allows for “discrimination” against women by… Read More »
During his first week in office, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order known as the Expanded Global Gag Rule that cuts funding to foreign aid organizations that provide or refer women to abortions. A new journal article by researchers in the Global Health Justice and Governance program (GHJG) at the Columbia University Mailman… Read More »