Latest News On Hospitals

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Proposed Rule Would Make Hospital Prices Even More Transparent

KFF Health News Original

A Biden administration proposal would help standardize the data on prices that hospitals provide to patients, increase its usefulness to consumers, and boost enforcement. Previous rules gave hospitals too many loopholes.

Patients in California County May See Refunds, Debt Relief From Charity Care Settlement

KFF Health News Original

As hospitals are criticized for skimping on financial assistance, Santa Clara County has agreed to notify 43,000 former patients of possible billing reductions as part of a settlement. Some patients had sued, alleging the county’s hospital system sent them to collections for bills they shouldn’t have received.

Your Exorbitant Medical Bill, Brought to You by the Latest Hospital Merger

KFF Health News Original

After decades of unchecked mergers, health care is the land of giants, with huge medical systems monopolizing care in many cities, states, and even whole regions of the country. This decreases patient choice, impedes innovation, erodes quality of care, and raises prices. And federal regulators have been slow to act.

As a Union Pushes to Cap Hospital CEO Pay, It’s Accused of Playing Politics

KFF Health News Original

A union is asking Los Angeles city voters to cap hospital executive pay at the U.S. president’s salary. However, hospitals accuse the union of using the proposal as political leverage, and policy experts question whether the policy, if enacted, would be workable.

What One Lending Company’s Hospital Contracts Reveal About Financing Patient Debt

KFF Health News Original

Within two years of North Carolina’s public university system going into business with AccessOne to finance patients’ payment plans, nearly half of its patients were in loans that charged interest. As federal scrutiny increases on lenders, KFF Health News is sharing that contract and others obtained through public records requests.

Hospitals Ask Congress to Delay ACA Medicaid Funding Cuts — For the 14th Time

KFF Health News Original

Congress has until October to avert cuts to a Medicaid program intended to support safety-net hospitals that, in practice, improves the bottom lines of other hospitals, too. Hospital leaders say now is not a good time for the cuts — which lawmakers have so far postponed 13 times.

Giant Health System Almost Saved a Community Hospital. Now, It Wants to ‘Extract Every Dollar.’

KFF Health News Original

A bankruptcy judge will soon decide whether a Central Valley hospital needs to liquidate to repay its creditors. Its largest creditor, St. Agnes Medical Center, is the very entity that backed out of purchasing the Madera Community Hospital last December.

Medical Debt Is Making Americans Angry. Doctors and Hospitals Ignore This at Their Peril.

KFF Health News Original

Doctors and hospitals hold an exalted position in American life, retaining public confidence even as other institutions such as government, law enforcement, and the media are losing people’s trust. But with health care debt out of hand, medical providers risk their good standing.

A Mom Owed Nearly $102,000 for Hospital Care. Her State Attorney General Said to Pay Up.

KFF Health News Original

As politicians bash privately run hospitals for their aggressive debt collection tactics, consumer advocates say one North Carolina family’s six-figure medical bill is an example of how state attorneys general and state-operated hospitals also can harm patients financially.