Hospitals

Blue skies in San Juan, Puerto Rico belie the U.S. territory's struggle with massive debt. The islands have a generous health care program that covers nearly everyone, but economists say it has never been adequately funded.

Puerto Rico's Growing Financial Crisis Threatens Health Care, Too

5:01pm March 03, 2016

Unless Congress and the White House can agree on a funding fix for Medicaid in the U.S. territory, many worry that Puerto Rico's health care system could collapse when stopgap funding ends next year.

Each year, between 8,000 and 9,000 people nationwide complain to the government about nursing home evictions, according to federal data. That makes evictions the leading category of all nursing home complaints.

Nursing Home Evictions Strand The Disabled In Costly Hospitals

12:57pm February 25, 2016

by Ina Jaffe

Federal rules mostly prohibit nursing homes from refusing to readmit residents after a hospital stay. But states rarely enforce the regulations. Some California families are now suing the state.

Queue Listen Now

Most women get prenatal care from the doctor they expect will deliver the baby, which can make it difficult if the doctor and hospital are far away.

More Rural Hospitals Are Closing Their Maternity Units

11:37am February 24, 2016

by Michelle Andrews

Facilities for delivering babies are expensive to run and hard to staff. But when small rural hospitals close their birthing units, pregnant women must travel much farther for care.

Criminologist Joseph Richardson is skeptical that the federal government alone can solve the data problem for police shootings. "There has to be a more pioneering, innovative approach to doing it," he says.

Could Hospital ERs Provide Missing Data On Police Shootings?

6:18pm February 04, 2016

by Vanessa Rancaño

If police violence is considered a public health issue, then doctors and nurses might be able to compile basic information about shootings involving law enforcement that go unreported.

East Cleveland medic Anthony Savoy says his city's ambulances are diverted frequently to a hospital further away, and that can add one or two minutes to response times.

Cleveland Pressures Hospitals To Keep ERs Open To All Ambulances

7:54am January 02, 2016

by Sarah Jane Tribble

When you call an ambulance, you expect to go to the nearest hospital. But patients are often diverted to more distant emergency rooms. Cleveland wants hospitals to stop the practice.

The upshot from a study of more than 75,000 low-risk births is that "childbirth in the United States is very safe regardless of where you decide to do it," says Dr. Michael Greene, who directs obstetrics at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Giving Birth Outside A Hospital Is A Little Riskier For The Baby

6:29pm December 30, 2015

by Rob Stein

A big study finds the risk that the baby will die soon after delivery is twice as high if the delivery was planned for home or a birthing center versus the hospital, but such deaths are very rare.

Queue Listen Now

Sue McConnell is one of more than 130 transgender veterans receiving treatment at the Tucson Veterans Affairs hospital.

New VA Clinic Opens For Transgender Vets

8:17pm December 29, 2015

by Jimmy Jenkins

The Tucson Veterans Affairs hospital is expanding treatment to the needs of trans veterans, one of the first such facilities in the U.S. to do so. The clinic's services include hormone treatment.

Queue Listen Now

Many hospitals haven't fully implemented guidelines put forth in 2010 to minimize errors in the determination of brain death.

Health & Safety

Researchers Find Lapses In Hospitals' Policies For Determining Brain Death

6:47pm December 28, 2015

by Rob Stein

Most hospitals don't require neurologists, neurosurgeons or even fully trained doctors to make the ultimate call.

Queue Listen Now

Going to an out-of-network emergency room can be costly.

ER Docs Say Rule Change Could Raise Patients' Out-Of-Network Bills

2:42pm December 24, 2015

by Michelle Andrews

Two physicians groups say federal government regulations for out-of-network emergency care payments will cost consumers more because insurers will pay less.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy unveiled his budget to the legislature last February, but the year's expenditures were greater than income. Connecticut's leaders voted to cut hospital funding to help close the gap.

Connecticut Governor Targets Hospital Funds To Close Budget Gap

7:04am December 12, 2015

by Jeff Cohen

When Gov. Dannel Malloy pushed to tax hospitals in 2012, he said the money would come back to the institutions through state funding. Now he's reneging, and the hospitals are threatening a lawsuit.