More and more hospitals are contracting with private companies to run their emergency departments. To save money, many are increasingly relying on nurses and physician assistants instead of doctors.
Category: NPR
ERs staffed by private equity firms aim to cut costs by hiring fewer doctors
Increasingly, private equity firms shape staffing decisions at hospital emergency rooms, research shows. One apparent effect: Hiring fewer doctors and more health care practitioners who earn far less.
COVID test kits, treatments and vaccines won’t be free to many consumers much longer
Insurers, employers, taxpayers and other consumers will all be affected as drugmakers move these products to the commercial market in May. How much you’ll pay depends on your health insurance.
This doctor wants to prescribe a cure for homelessness
A growing hospital movement aims to improve health outcomes of homeless patients with what might be considered the ultimate preventive care: providing them with a home.
Family caregivers of people with long COVID bear an extra burden
When a case of COVID-19 morphs into the mysterious, chronic condition known as long COVID, the specialists, appointments, medications and daily need for family care can overwhelm everyone involved.
Family caregivers of people with long COVID bear an extra burden
When a case of COVID-19 morphs into the mysterious, chronic condition known as long COVID, the specialists, appointments, medications and daily need for family care can overwhelm everyone involved.
Iowa Alzheimer’s care facility is fined $10,000 after pronouncing a living woman dead
The woman was unresponsive, and nurses were unable to detect her breathing. A state agency report found the facility “failed to ensure residents received dignified treatment and care at end of life.”
Nursing home owners drained cash while residents deteriorated, state filings suggest
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.
AbbVie’s blockbuster drug Humira finally loses its 20-year, $200 billion monopoly
U.S. doctors can now choose Amjevita instead, the first of several close copies of the popular rheumatoid arthritis drug expected this year. But industry-watchers warn consumer savings may be limited.
Scant obesity training in medical school leaves docs ill-prepared to help patients
Most doctors get little training in the science of obesity or how to counsel people with the disease. As a result, many patients experience stigma in the exam room.
