Anger and fear have turned to pragmatic hope in the year since the people of Fort Scott, Kan., lost their hospital to corporate downsizing. A community health center remains. So far, so good.
From infant mortality rates to access to cancer treatment, stark health disparities exist between blacks and whites. One Michigan experiment to address that starts with money made from hospital food.
Patients in hospital ERs can wait hours for inpatient beds to open up. The delays can be maddening. A solution for this long-standing problem has been elusive in the U.S., despite progress elsewhere.
A young girl put matching doll shoes up her nose. One came out easily. The second required a trip to the hospital emergency department and led to a bill that isn't child's play.
"Street medicine" programs, like one in Atlanta, seek out people living in back alleys and under highways. The public health outreach improves patients' health and is cost-effective, hospitals find.
Two regulations announced Friday take aim at health care prices. One, to affect patients by 2021, addresses hospital rates. The second, a proposal, would require more upfront clarity from insurers.
After Tom Saputo underwent a double-lung transplant in 2018, he was stunned by the more than $11,000 bill for his share of a 27-mile air ambulance ride from one hospital to another.
A woman in Illinois spent five days in the hospital undergoing psychiatric care to help her through a mental health crisis. The bill she got is about the same price as a new Honda Civic.
Health care costs in Northern California, where Sutter Health dominates, are 20% to 30% higher than in Southern California, even after adjusting for cost of living. Settlement terms aren't yet public.
The biggest study published to date on vitamin C as a treatment for sepsis couldn't say it helped patients. But the paper does hint that people who got the treatment were more likely to survive.
After a test to rule out cancer, Brianna Snitchler faced a facility fee for use of the hospital's radiology room. She wasn't told in advance about the charge, which strained her tight budget.
Instead of paying doctors piecemeal for prenatal appointments and delivery of the baby, some insurers now offer medical practices one lump sum to cover it all.
Patients are often told to be smart consumers and shop around for health care before they use it. But even when you do so, estimates from insurers, hospitals and doctors can be unreliable.
The loss of the longtime hospital in Fort Scott, Kan., has forced a change in the way ER care is provided, including a greater reliance on air ambulances.
Recruiting doctors to come to work in rural hospitals has always been a challenge, especially in a hot job market. But some hospitals in remote areas are finding ways to lure much-needed talent.
The administration's rules would require hospitals to provide far more detail about the actual prices they charge insurers for medical care. Would patients welcome the data, or feel overwhelmed?
Sepsis, the body's overreaction to infection, strikes more than a million Americans a year and kills more than 250,000. Evidence suggests that regulations can improve its diagnosis and patient care.
Under federal law, people sexually assaulted don't have to pay for their medical forensic exams. Yet some have trouble getting the hospitals or collection agencies to stop dunning them for payment.
After an investigation by journalists found the Methodist hospital system had filed 8,300 lawsuits in five years, the hospital announced it will be "reviewing" its policies in the next 30 days.
As the rural town of Fort Scott, Kan., grapples with the closure of its hospital, cancer patients bear a heavy burden. They now have to go elsewhere for treatments they used to get locally.
A nonprofit hospital network in Memphis has taken its own workers to court over unpaid medical bills. Some of them earn as little as $12.25 an hour but still see their wages garnished.
A broad executive order issued Monday is supposed to help consumers get better estimates of health care costs. But whether it will be a game changer depends on the details, say health care analysts.
Workers in nursing homes, hospital ERs and other health facilities are required by law to notify police whenever they notice likely signs of physical or sexual abuse. But that's often not happening.
