Category: Hospitals

Hospitals’ Lobbying Frustrates Montana Lawmakers Who Sought To Boost Oversight

Montana’s powerful hospital lobby was instrumental in renewing the state’s Medicaid expansion program and has also fended off most legislation to increase state oversight of their business.

Covid Worsened Shortages of Doctors and Nurses. Five Years On, Rural Hospitals Still Struggle.

The U.S. faces a crucial shortage of medical providers, especially in rural areas. The problem has been building for a while, experts say, but the pandemic accelerated it by pushing many doctors over the edge into early retirement or other fields.

10 Things to Know About Rural Hospitals

This brief explores data about rural hospitals’ financial health and stability at a time when Congress is considering potential federal budget cuts. It examines the prevalence of rural hospitals, their characteristics and finances, federal support for …

More Psych Hospital Beds Are Needed for Kids, but Neighbors Say Not Here

Amid a youth mental health crisis and a shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds, residents of a St. Louis suburb opposed a plan to build a 77-bed pediatric mental health hospital. Resistance to such facilities has occurred in other communities as misconceptions about mental health spur fear.

Rural Hospitals and Patients Are Disconnected From Modern Care

Technological gaps handicap rural hospitals as billions in federal funding to modernize infrastructure lags. The reliance on outdated technology and piecemeal systems challenge staffs and erode patient care.

How Much Will That Surgery Cost? 🤷 Hospital Prices Remain Largely Unhelpful.

Health care price transparency is one of the few bipartisan issues in Washington, D.C. But much of the information that hospitals and health plans have made available to the public is not helpful to patients, and there’s no conclusive evidence yet that it’s lowering costs or increasing competition.

Workers Prep To Meet ICE Officials at the Health Clinic Door

Recent arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in northern Virginia have put immigrant communities in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area on alert. Health clinics that serve those communities say they are working to continue to care for patients amid detention and arrest fears.

Tribal Health Leaders Say Medicaid Cuts Would Decimate Health Programs

As Congress mulls significant cuts to Medicaid, Native American tribes are bracing for potentially devastating financial fallout. That’s because Medicaid is the largest third-party payer for Native American health programs, funding that has helped address chronic underfunding of the Indian Health Service.

Progressives Seek Health Privacy Protections in California, But Newsom Could Balk

Democratic state lawmakers in California have proposed bills to protect women, transgender people, and immigrants in response to concerns that their health data could be used against them. If the measures reach his desk, Gov. Gavin Newsom could lay such legislation aside to focus on securing federal funds.

Hospital Gun-Violence Prevention Programs May Be Caught in US Funding Crossfire

Hospital-based violence intervention programs have operated in the U.S. since the mid-1990s. The public health approach to gun violence works, by many accounts. But recent moves by the White House are raising anxiety about the programs’ future.