Experts fear that the economic pressures of the COVID-19 crisis are helping push some urban hospitals over the edge at the very time they are most needed in low-income communities.
A study this month showed giving extra social services to the neediest patients didn't reduce hospital readmissions. Now health advocates say that might not be the right measurement of success.
Matching the sickest patients with social workers and medical support doesn't reduce costly hospital readmissions, a study finds. Still, some believe greater social investment could make a difference.
People in Fort Scott, Kan., depended on their local hospital for more than a century. In December, the hospital closed. Fort Scott residents now are trying to cope with life without it.
Some states have begun using Medicare reimbursement rates to recalibrate how they pay hospitals. If the gamble pays off, more private-sector employers could start doing the same thing.
Many hospitals that serve a large share of low-income patients will benefit from Medicare's less punishing approach to penalties for patient readmissions.
