Anna Gorman

Hospitals and nursing homes in California and Illinois think that regional cooperation — and a particular soap — could help them all gain the upper hand against deadly superbugs.

A Texas woman with pancreatic cancer spends most of her days on the phone doing battle with insurers and billing departments. Finances are her most gnawing, ever present concern.

As fires continue to rage in California, smoke is causing health problems for some residents. Public health officials warn against breathing polluted air.

It often falls to health care providers to discern whether the asylum-seekers who say they've been tortured or persecuted in their homeland bear physical and psychological evidence of that harm.

Many people at high risk for HIV can't afford PrEP, though it's more than 90 percent effective. The HIV medicine's list price, close to $2,000 for a 30-day supply, has risen 45 percent in six years.

Amid a severe shortage of psychiatric beds and community-based treatment throughout the state and nation, county jails have become repositories for people in the throes of acute mental health crises.

The state ranks near the bottom in enrolling people for food assistance. To change that, it's taking lessons from its robust Medi-Cal health insurance program, which targets much the same population.

There's a genetic test for ALD, the inherited disorder portrayed in the movie Lorenzo's Oil, and the federal government recommends it for all newborns. But only a handful of states offer it routinely.

Women who develop diabetes or high blood pressure during pregnancy, or whose babies are born prematurely, often are unaware of their own increased risk of heart disease later. So are their doctors.

Hospital-acquired infections can be life-threatening, and unwashed hands are often to blame. One hospital in California thinks banishing handshakes could help reduce infections.

Through home visits, very ill people get help with pain, stress and symptoms. Medical centers, initially skeptical, now embrace the program because it helps patients and makes financial sense.

The GOP plan would fine insurance buyers who had a lapse in coverage of more than 63 days a year. The penalty? A 30 percent surcharge every month for 12 months.

Little Brothers, which operates in San Francisco and several other cities, sends volunteers to brighten up the lives of isolated elderly people, helping them reduce the risk of serious illness.

They couldn't figure out why so many relatives got Alzheimer's in their 40s. Then they found out they share the rare Jalisco mutation. Their tragedy is helping scientists untangle the disease.

California boasts one of the lowest rates of tobacco smoking in the nation. Researchers worry that pot smoking will lead the way to cigarette smoking.

Hugging a doll can soothe an upset toddler, and some say it can do the same for people with dementia. But critics say this form of therapy infantilizes adults.

Elderly hospital patients often arrive sick and leave worse off. But some hospitals are preventing these sharp declines by treating the elderly in units that minimize bedrest and spur mobility.

Medicaid was never intended to cover long-term care for everyone. Now it pays for nearly 40 percent of the nation's long-term care expenses, and the share is growing.

California is overhauling its substance abuse treatment system for low-income people, embarking on a massive experiment to create a smoother path for addicts from detox through recovery.

The state is the first to receive federal permission to revamp drug and alcohol treatment for beneficiaries of Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in ...

Month after month, Natalia Pedroza showed up at the doctor's office with uncontrolled diabetes and high blood pressure. Her medications never seemed to work, and she kept returning to the emergency room in crisis.

Walfred Lopez, a Los Angeles County community health worker, was determined to figure out why.

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