Latest News On Hospitals

Latest KFF Health News Stories

A Shortfall of ECMO Treatment Cost Lives During the Delta Surge

KFF Health News Original

About 50% of the covid-19 patients who got the last-ditch life support treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center died. Researchers wanted to know what happened to the many patients they had to turn away because ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machines and the specialized staffers needed were in short supply. The grim answer: 90% of those turned away perished.

The Case of the $489,000 Air Ambulance Ride

KFF Health News Original

Diagnosed with aggressive leukemia on a Western trip, a young man thought his insurance would cover an air ambulance ride home to North Carolina. Instead, questions about medical necessity left him with an astronomical bill.

Long Waits for Montana State Hospital Leave Psychiatric Patients in Jail

KFF Health News Original

A backlog at Montana’s psychiatric hospital for those facing criminal charges has left people with serious mental illness behind bars for months without adequate treatment. In some cases, judges have freed defendants over due-process violations.

How to Avoid Surprise Bills — And the Pitfalls in the New Law

KFF Health News Original

The No Surprises Act offers protection from many surprise medical bills — but that protection may be only as good as a patient’s knowledge of the law and ability to make sure it’s enforced. Here’s what you need to know.

An $80,000 Tab for Newborns Lays Out a Loophole in the New Law to Curb Surprise Bills

KFF Health News Original

The insurance company said that the birth of the Bull family’s twins was not an emergency and that NICU care was “not medically necessary.” The family’s experience with a huge bill sent to collections happened in 2020, but it exposes a hole in the new No Surprises law that took effect Jan. 1.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: It’s Health Costs, Stupid (2022 Edition)

KFF Health News Original

As the pandemic wanes, for now, the ever-rising cost of health care is again taking center stage. Meanwhile, a year into the Biden administration, the FDA finally has a Senate-confirmed commissioner, Dr. Robert Califf. Tami Luhby of CNN, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Hannah Wesolowski of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, about how the pandemic has worsened the nation’s mental health crisis and what can be done about it.

Health Care Paradox: Medicare Penalizes Dozens of Hospitals It Also Gives Five Stars

KFF Health News Original

Among the 764 hospitals hit with a 1% reduction in Medicare payments this year for having high numbers of patient infections and avoidable complications are more than three dozen that Medicare also ranks as among the best in the country.

Bounties and Bonuses Leave Small Hospitals Behind in Staffing Wars

KFF Health News Original

A hospital in Wisconsin sued to keep seven employees from taking jobs with a competitor. A health system in South Dakota is offering nurses $40,000 signing bonuses. Facilities with fewer resources are finding it difficult or impossible to compete for health care workers.

‘An Arm and a Leg’: Know Your ‘No Surprises’ Rights

KFF Health News Original

The No Surprises Act protects patients from surprise out-of-network bills. But there are caveats. For instance, these protections apply only to care in a hospital. This episode breaks it all down.

Resistance to a Boston Hospital’s Expansion Centers on Rising Prices

KFF Health News Original

Mass General Brigham’s $2.3 billion expansion plan is raising state officials’ concerns that it will reduce competition and raise the price of care in Massachusetts. It also signals a national shift from a focus on hospital mergers and purchases of physician practices — which boost the cost of care — to individual hospitals’ expansions to gain a bigger share of the market.

The Doctor Didn’t Show Up, but the Hospital ER Still Charged $1,012

KFF Health News Original

A St. Louis-area toddler burned his hand on the stove, and his mom took him to the ER on the advice of her pediatrician. He wasn’t seen by a doctor, and the dressing on the wound wasn’t changed. The bill was more than a thousand dollars.