Author's posts
Baby, That Bill Is High: Private Equity ‘Gambit’ Squeezes Excessive ER Charges From Routine Births
Hospitals, boosted by private equity-backed staffing companies, have embraced a new idea: the obstetrics emergency department. Often, it is just a triage room in the labor-and-delivery area, but it bills like the main emergency department.
Patient satisfaction surveys fail to track how well hospitals treat people of color
The health care industry is obsessed with consumer satisfaction. But national patient surveys still don’t get at an important question: Are hospitals delivering culturally competent care?
Patient Satisfaction Surveys Earn a Zero on Tracking Whether Hospitals Deliver Culturally Competent Care
In an industry obsessed with consumer satisfaction national patient surveys still don’t get at an important question: Are hospitals delivering culturally competent care?
Colorado Doubles Down on Abortion Rights as Other States — And the High Court — Reconsider
The Supreme Court is expected to overturn or weaken “Roe v. Wade.” If that happens, Colorado may become an abortion-access island, nearly surrounded by a sea of anti-abortion states. The state is bracing for impact, and advocates are trying to shore up its abortion defenses.
The NFL Has Been Using an Unproven Measure to Get Players With Covid Back on the Field Fast
Doctors and scientists are debating whether a little-known measure in covid testing should be used to distinguish who is infectious from who isn’t. The NFL adopted the practice, but laboratory professionals caution against its use.
It’s Day 6 of Covid, and a Rapid Antigen Test Comes Back Positive. Stay Home, Say Virologists.
Say you’re on Day 6 — or 8 or 10 — of a symptomatic covid infection, and a rapid antigen test comes back positive. Could the test just be detecting bits and pieces of dead virus? If you’re a petri dish, sure. But if you’re a human, chances are you’re still infectious. Virologists weigh in.
With Federal Covid Sick Leave Gone, Workers Feel Pressure to Show Up at Work
National paid sick leave provisions for covid expired, and an uncertain covid winter is around the corner. Los Angeles and Oakland are among the places trying to fill the gap, but many employees still face financial pressure to go to work while sick.
A Covid Head-Scratcher: Why Lice Lurk Despite Physical Distancing
With kids back in school, business is picking back up for professional nitpickers. But how are kids getting head lice if they’re physically distancing in the classroom?
A hospital hiked the price of their healthy baby’s birth by calling it an ’emergency’
“Obstetrical emergency departments” are a new aspect of some hospitals that can inflate medical bills for even the easiest, healthiest births. Just ask baby Gus’s parents about their $2,755 ER charge.
How Billing Turns a Routine Birth Into a High-Cost Emergency
“Obstetrical emergency departments” are a new feature in some hospitals that can inflate medical bills for even the easiest, healthiest births. Just ask the parents of Baby Gus.
