Hospitals

Pushing Hospitals To Reduce Readmissions Hasn't Increased Deaths

11:23am July 18, 2017

The Affordable Care Act penalizes hospitals if patients are discharged and then readmitted with the same problems too often. That effort has improved care for patients, two researchers say.

Two-year-old Robbie Klein has hemophilia, a medical condition that interferes with his blood's ability to clot normally. Without insurance, the daily medications he needs to stay healthy could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or more each year.

In Massachusetts, Proposed Medicaid Cuts Put Kids' Health Care At Risk

7:30pm July 17, 2017

by Martha Bebinger

Doctors, consumers and politicians say big federal cuts to Medicaid funding would jeopardize the treatment a lot of kids rely on. The state would either have to make up lost funding or cut benefits.

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A mountain of mine tailings frame a Bisbee park — a legacy of the copper mines that once fueled the local economy.

Doctor Shortage In Rural Arizona Sparks Another Crisis In 'Forgotten America'

10:03pm July 14, 2017

by Kirk Siegler

More than 70 rural U.S. hospitals have closed since 2010, and rural areas are likely to be short 45,000 doctors by 2020. It's one more example of the nation's division between haves and have-nots.

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The porches of the 1890s Allison Buildings, shown above in 1910, were later enclosed to provide more space for patient beds.

'Architecture Of An Asylum' Tracks History Of U.S. Treatment Of Mental Illness

11:54am July 06, 2017

by Susan Stamberg

Founded in 1855, St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., grew from 250 patients to 8,000. A new exhibit at the National Building Museum explores the links between architecture and mental health.

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C. diff infections, which rose for decades, are now falling, according to the CDC.

C. Diff Infections Are Falling, Thanks To Better Cleaning And Fewer Antibiotics

12:59pm June 29, 2017

by Angus Chen

The bacterium C. difficile causes one of the most common infections in hospitals and nursing homes. After climbing for decades, the rate of new infections is now falling.

Coal and steel jobs were once plentiful in Steubenville, Ohio. Today, the local hospital is the top employer in the county.

After Decline Of Steel And Coal, Ohio Fears Health Care Jobs Are Next

11:33pm June 26, 2017

Health care jobs now outnumber manufacturing jobs in Jefferson County, Ohio. Hospital administrators worry that Republican plans to cut Medicaid will lead to layoffs.

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Until the 1970s, most U.S. hospitals did not allow fathers into the delivery room for the birth of a child, or children.

This Father's Day, Remembering A Time When Dads Weren't Welcome In Delivery Rooms

5:01pm June 18, 2017

by Deena Prichep

For many fathers, the birth of a child is a hugely emotional moment. But not that long ago, few fathers were allowed to participate in the process.

Legal issues — evictions, domestic violence, or insurance claim denials, for example — all too often can cascade into problems with bad medical outcomes.

Hospitals Are Partnering With Lawyers To Treat Patients' Legal Needs

5:54pm June 06, 2017

by Michelle Andrews

Roughly 300 health care systems around the country have set up medical-legal collaborations to help patients solve legal problems that can affect their health — at little or no cost to the patients.

Nursing homes and hospitals need to work harder to keep water systems from being contaminated with bacteria that cause Legionnaires' disease, the CDC says.

Plumbing In Hospitals And Nursing Homes Can Spread Legionnaires' Disease

3:54pm June 06, 2017

by Rob Stein

The CDC says health care facilities such as nursing homes and hospitals need to work harder to prevent contamination with the bacterium that causes the potentially life-threatening form of pneumonia.

A 4-year-old regulation in New York state requires doctors and hospitals to treat sepsis using a protocol that some researchers now question.

Are State Rules For Treating Sepsis Really Saving Lives?

5:14pm May 30, 2017

by Richard Harris

Some states dictate how doctors must treat this life-threatening reaction to infection, and early intervention is helping. But scientific evidence may be changing too rapidly for the rules to keep up.