Kamala Harris fought health care consolidation during her tenure as California’s attorney general, and she could escalate the fight nationally if she wins in November. Still, the pace of mergers has accelerated.
Hospitals in several states are partnering with a private equity-backed company to offer combined emergency and urgent care in a single building. But patients may not realize prices vary between the two services — often by a lot.
Montana’s proposal to increase oversight is part of a national trend by states to ensure nonprofit hospitals act as charitable organizations as they claim tax-exempt status. But the state has yet to set standards for how much the hospitals must do.
This analysis examines the recent growth of Medicare Advantage as a share of hospital inpatient days. Medicare Advantage rose from 13% to 23% of all inpatient days from 2015 to 2022, although there was wide variation among hospitals.
In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann speaks with Georgann Boatright, a patient in Mississippi who was willing to drive to another state to avoid paying a steep fee to her local hospital.
Increasingly, Americans pay for the privilege of seeing a doctor. Research shows concierge medicine can further hamper access to care for those who can’t afford the upgrade.
Clinicians working for Ascension hospitals in multiple states described harrowing lapses, including delayed or lost lab results, medication errors, and an absence of routine safety checks to prevent potentially fatal mistakes.