Adults with disabilities and their caregivers are pressing governments and private businesses across the U.S. to help them avoid undignified public bathroom experiences.
Category: Virginia
Indiana Weighs Hospital Monopoly as Officials Elsewhere Scrutinize Similar Deals
If Indiana officials approve a proposed hospital merger in western Indiana in the coming months, the state will have its first hospital monopoly created by a “Certificate of Public Advantage.” Other such deals have resulted in government reports documenting diminished care in Tennessee and North Carolina.
Tennessee Gives This Hospital Monopoly an A Grade — Even When It Reports Failure
Ballad Health, a 20-hospital system in Tennessee and Virginia, benefits from the largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly in the United States and is the only option for hospital care for a large swath of Appalachia.
After Appalachian Hospitals Merged Into a Monopoly, Their ERs Slowed to a Crawl
Ballad Health was granted the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly in 2018. Since then, its emergency rooms have become more than three times as slow.
As Covid Infections Rise, Nursing Homes Are Still Waiting for Vaccines
“People want covid-19 to be in the rearview mirror,” one nursing home official says. Faced with a slow rollout of the updated covid vaccines, and without state mandates for workers to get vaccinated, most skilled nursing facilities are relying on persuasion to boost vaccination rates among staff and residents.
‘We’re Not Doing That’: Why a Black Couple Wouldn’t Crowdfund to Pay Off Medical Debts
Kristie Fields, a cancer patient in Virginia, was urged to go public to seek financial help. She worried about feeding hurtful stereotypes.
Abortion Is Just the Latest Dividing Line Between the Twin Cities of Bristol and Bristol
The community of Bristol straddles the border between two states with very different abortion laws. Tennessee prohibits most abortions at about six weeks and will soon ban them nearly outright. Virginia allows them at least through the second trimester. To maintain abortion access in the area, staff at a clinic on the Tennessee side of the state line are helping open a clinic about a mile down the road on the Virginia side.
Senators Ask GAO to Examine Medicaid’s Low Covid Vaccination Rates
Sens. Robert Casey Jr. and Ron Wyden want a probe into what barriers are keeping Medicaid plans from reaching enrollees.
An Anesthesiology Practice’s Busy Day in Court Collecting on Surprise Bills
Legislative crackdowns on out-of-network bills haven’t kept specialists from hitting patients with unexpected charges running into thousands of dollars.
In Alleged Health Care ‘Money Grab,’ Nation’s Largest Hospital Chain Cashes In on Trauma Centers
HCA charges patients an “activation fee” of up to $50,000 for trauma teams at centers located in half its 179 hospitals — and they often don’t need trauma care, an analysis of insurance claims data shows.
