Category: Hospitals

Which Was Worse: The Bachelor Party Hangover Or The Hangover From The ER Bill?

One groom’s bachelor party hangover illustrates how emergency room bills have become major headaches for many Americans.

In Search Of Age-Friendly Health Care, Finding Room For Improvement

Simple alterations — like better signs, seating, parking or door design — can make it easier for older patients to navigate health care facilities. Here are several changes doctors’ offices, clinics and hospitals could make.

California Hospitals And Nursing Homes Brace For Wildfire Blackouts

Facing billions of dollars in legal claims for the role its equipment has played in a spate of deadly wildfires, California utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric plans to step up efforts to cut power to broad regions of the state during high-risk weather conditions. The potential for prolonged blackouts has prompted disaster preparations by hospitals, nursing homes and home care providers.

Hospital Giant Sutter Health Faces Legal Reckoning Over Medical Pricing

A long-awaited class-action lawsuit against Sutter is set to open this month in San Francisco Superior Court. The hospital giant stands accused of violating California’s antitrust laws by leveraging its market power to drive out competition and overcharge patients.

Analysis: How Your Beloved Hospital Helps To Drive Up Health Care Costs

It’s easy to criticize pharmaceutical and insurance companies. But we spend much more on hospitals.

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.

They Got Estimates Before Surgery — And A Bill After That Was 50% More

Patients are often told to be smart consumers and shop around for health care before they use it. What happens when people actually take that advice?

They Got Estimates Before Surgery — And A Bill After That Was 50% More

Patients are often told to be smart consumers and shop around for health care before they use it. What happens when people actually take that advice?

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: All About Medicare

Before “Medicare for All,” there was just Medicare, the federal program that provides insurance to 60 million Americans. This week, KHN’s Julie Rovner talks to Tricia Neuman of the Kaiser Family Foundation about how Medicare works and whom it serves. Then, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner join Rovner to talk about some current Medicare issues being debated in Washington, D.C.

ER Redo: As Rural Hospital Closes, Emergency Care Is On The Blink With Fate Uncertain

The loss of the longtime hospital in Fort Scott, Kan., forces trauma patients to deal with changing services and expectations.