Jordan Rau

As the U.S. government debates whether to require higher staffing levels at nursing homes, financial records show some owners routinely push profits to sister companies while residents are neglected.

PAs say the new title would clarify that they work in a team and don’t require oversight by M.D.s. Doctors say it obscures the fact that PAs have less education and training than physicians.

A student sought counseling help after panicking over a tuition bill. A weeklong stay in a psychiatric hospital followed — along with a $3,413 bill. The hospital soft-pedaled its charity care policy.

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.

At least 711 nursing homes reported running out of N95 masks at the end of May, and 1,963 said they had less than a week’s worth. “The federal government has got to step up,” says one advocate.

Health inspectors are to be “hyperfocused on infection control right now” officials say, as they suss out what allowed COVID-19 to spread in a Kirkland, Wash., nursing home.

Medicare is cutting payments to 786 hospitals with the highest infection and complication rates. The list includes a third of the hospitals proclaimed as the nation’s “best” in one prominent ranking.

Inspectors are citing facilities more often than during the Obama administration. But in response to industry prodding, the average fine is nearly a third lower, and the total assessed is down.

If implanted medical devices fail, patients and their insurers usually have to pay for repairs. That financial responsibility falls to them even when the problems were solely with the devices.

Medicare’s incentive program to discourage nursing homes from discharging patients too quickly will also give bonuses to facilities that have fewer rehospitalizations.