Cultivated Meat is an alternative to traditional meat derived from cells in a lab. In this photo, a chicken breast is prepared at Upside Foods. Brian L. Frank for NPR/Brian L. Frank for NPR hide caption
Health Inc. : Shots - Health News As spending on care rises, the business of health keeps getting more important. We feature news on and analysis of drugmakers, health insurers, hospitals, doctors and others in the business of providing health care.
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Thursday
Tessa was a chatbot originally designed by researchers to help prevent eating disorders. The National Eating Disorders Association had hoped Tessa would be a resource for those seeking information, but the chatbot was taken down when artificial intelligence-related capabilities, added later on, caused the chatbot to provide weight loss advice. Screengrab hide caption
An eating disorders chatbot offered dieting advice, raising fears about AI in health
Michigan Public
An eating disorders chatbot offered dieting advice, raising fears about AI in health
Monday
Osteopathic physician Kevin de Regnier of Winterset, Iowa, checks Chris Bourne, who came in for an adjustment of his anxiety medication on May 9, 2023. Tony Leys/KFF Health News hide caption
Monday
Matt Ashley, a senior technologist at Johnson Memorial Health in Franklin, Indiana, is part of a small IT team that spent months helping the hospital recover after a crippling cyberattack in 2021. Farah Yousry/WFYI hide caption
Cyberattacks on health care are increasing. Inside one hospital's fight to recover
Side Effects Public Media
Thursday
Doctors' offices often offer special medical credit cards as a solution to paying off large medical bills. But patients may end up paying far more for their bills when they have to pay interest down the road. Fly View Productions/Getty Images hide caption
Saturday
Since the pandemic, some hospitals have started offering to let patients with acute illness recuperate at-home, with 24-hour remote access to medical professionals and daily home visits. FG Trade/Getty Images hide caption
Thursday
Students at the University of Minnesota celebrate their induction into medical school. The U.S. has disproportionately few Black and Hispanic doctors. Some of the barriers to entering the profession start before even getting into medical school, recent research finds, including financial pressures and racism. Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune via Getty Images hide caption
Diversity in medicine can save lives. Here's why there aren't more doctors of color
Monday
Teen with life-threatening depression finally found hope. Then insurance cut her off
Wednesday
Startup companies say that new programs similar to ChatGPT could complete doctors' paperwork for them. But some experts worry that inherent bias and a tendency to fabricate facts could lead to errors. ER Productions Limited/Getty Images hide caption
Doctors are drowning in paperwork. Some companies claim AI can help
Friday
Clinics in rural areas with fewer doctors, dentists and nurses are turning to mobile health care clinics to take care to where it's most needed. The Healthy Communities Coalition organizes a few mobile dental events each year in Lyon County, Nev. Wendy Madson/KHN hide caption
Tuesday
After her pregnancy, Danielle Laskey discovered the hospital was out of network for her health plan, and her insurer said surprise-billing laws protecting patients from big out-of-network bills for emergency care did not apply Ryan Henriksen/KHN hide caption
A surprise-billing law loophole? Her pregnancy led to a six-figure hospital bill
Friday
Physicians are lobbying Congress for a raise in Medicare reimbursement rates, among other requests. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images hide caption
Tuesday
Paul Davis is a retired physician in Findlay, Ohio, who gets weekly treatments of the drug Kimmtrak to help stave off the progression of his rare cancer — uveal melanoma. He worries the accumulating cost of the drug — nearly $50,000/week if he has to pay it out of pocket — could saddle his family with crushing medical debt after he's gone. Maddie McGarvey for KHN hide caption
Saturday
Diagnosing and treating patients was once an ER doctor's domain, but they are increasingly being replaced by health practitioners who can perform many of the same duties and generate much the same revenue for less than half the pay. Phil Fisk/Image Source via Getty Images hide caption
ERs staffed by private equity firms aim to cut costs by hiring fewer doctors
Thursday
Activists hold a banner reading "Take down the Sackler name" in front of the Pyramid of the Louvre museum in Paris on July 1, 2019. Stephane De Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images hide caption