In light of worsening mental health among youth, strategies have been implemented to improve access to behavioral health services in recent years, including expanding school-based care for students. Leveraging Medicaid to improve and address gaps in school-based behavioral health services has been a key strategy in recent years as youth mental health concerns have grown. Provisions from the Safer Communities Act of 2022 utilize Medicaid to expand both school-based health care and other mechanisms of youth behavioral health care. This issue brief explores the implementation of these provisions ..read more

Based on a new KFF analysis, fewer than 1 in 5 (19%) nursing facilities currently meet the minimum staffing standards set out in the final requirements of the federal rule released today by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS adopted staffing standards that are similar to the staffing requirements in the rule…More ..read more

This analysis uses the most recently-available data to examine the percentage of nursing facilities that currently meet the minimum staffing requirements in the final rule ..read more

On April 24, the Supreme Court will hear Idaho v. United States—the second case this term involving access to abortion. In a new brief, KFF examines what’s at stake, focusing on whether the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA)—a federal law requiring nearly all hospitals to ensure emergency room patients are stable before…More ..read more

On April 24, 2024, the Supreme Court will hear the second case this term involving access to abortion: Idaho v. United States. At stake in this case is whether the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, a federal law requiring hospitals to provide stabilizing treatment to patients who present to their emergency rooms, preempts state abortion laws and requires hospitals that accept Medicare to provide abortion care when it is necessary to stabilize a patient’s condition, even when this abortion care violates state law ..read more

Mergers 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. A new KFF brief examines and summarizes the evidence about consolidation among health…More ..read more

As policymakers and regulators pay more attention to consolidation in health care provider markets, this brief examines and summarizes the evidence about consolidation, including recent trends, the impact on prices and quality, and proposals to address consolidation and increase competition ..read more

Community health centers are a national network of over 1,300 safety-net primary care providers, serving more than 30 million patients in 2022. They are located in medically underserved urban and rural communities and serve all patients regardless of their ability to pay. Health centers also played a major role in the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, particularly for hard-to-reach populations. This brief analyzes the changes in health center patients, services, and financing from 2019 (pre-pandemic) through 2022, using the Uniform Data System (UDS), to which all health centers ar ..read more

Compared to the general population, individuals who are incarcerated have higher rates of mental illness, substance use disorder, and chronic disease. However, the federal “inmate exclusion” policy prohibits Medicaid coverage for people who are incarcerated (except for limited inpatient hospital services). When people leave incarceration, they are at greater risk of overdose death and suicide,…More ..read more

In a new brief, KFF examines how the Comstock Act, an 1873 anti-vice law banning the mailing of obscene matter and articles, could be used by an anti-abortion presidential administration to sharply restrict the availability of abortion nationwide.  The Biden Administration’s Department of Justice has said the Comstock Act should not be interpreted literally with…More ..read more