Across the U.S., many hospitals have become wealthy, even as their bills force patients to make gut-wrenching sacrifices. This pattern is especially stark for health care systems in Dallas-Fort Worth.
“We're not going to end the HIV epidemic until we make testing for HIV convenient and routine,” said Patrick Sullivan, lead infectious disease specialist for the Emory initiative.
Montana is one of the latest states to suggest many nonprofit hospitals aren't giving back enough in charitable contributions to the community to justify their tax-exempt status.
Prescribing medical abortions across state lines is now risky for doctors. "We're talking about something that's a protected right in one state and a felony in a sister state," says one legal scholar.
The new Emory Nursing Learning Center in downtown Decatur is a $20.6 million, 70,000-square-foot expansion featuring state-of-the-art simulation and professional development space that will enable students to be the next generation of nurse leaders.
Even after their babies died, hospital bills kept coming. These parents of fragile, very sick infants faced exorbitant bills — though they had insurance. "The process was just so heartless," one says.
Georgia has seen several rural hospitals shutter in the past decade, but this year Atlanta has joined other urban centers with facility closures. The Wellstar announcement has stoked the political debate over Medicaid expansion ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
Supplemental Security Income, a federal program meant to be a financial floor for people unable to work, hasn't kept pace with inflation. Many recipients are homeless, unable to save for an apartment.
Dr. Cherie Drenzek, an epidemiologist with the state health department, said Georgia children have also contracted monkeypox.
"We have had a few cases that have occurred among children," she said. "These children actually were close household contacts of known monkeypox cases, but we've only seen less than a handful of these pediatric cases."
The ACA has required health insurers to provide many medical screenings and other preventive services with no out-of-pocket cost to health plan members. But a recent court decision could upend that.
Dr. Carlos del Rio with Emory University School of Medicine says last year’s booster has been replaced by the new bivalent one, and that people can expect an annual COVID vaccine similar to how the influenza vaccine is updated yearly.
The health care industry is obsessed with consumer satisfaction. But national patient surveys still don't get at an important question: Are hospitals delivering culturally competent care?