After reviewing the Senate bill to gut and replace much of the Affordable Care Act, groups representing the nation’s hospitals believe that this legislation will leave millions — particularly those with chronic ailments and the disabled — without access to care. [More]
hospitals
Google Wiping Private Medical Records From Search Results
By 6.23.17
If the thought of a stranger accessing your medical history online gives you the creeps, you’re not alone: In an effort to tamp down on the spread of such private information, Google has started wiping private medical records from its search results. [More]
What You Should Know About America’s High Rate Of Maternal Mortality
By 5.12.17
When you think about fatalities during childbirth, your mind may immediately leap to infant deaths. But although it’s much safer to give birth in America now than say, 100 years ago, women are dying from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes at a higher rate than any other country in the developed world. [More]
How To Protect Yourself From A Hospital Data Breach
By 4.4.17
You may never have considered whether your preferred hospital is one of the approximately 311 major teaching hospitals in the U.S., but according to a new study, the type of hospital you choose might affect your privacy. [More]
Hospital, Doctors Groups Say They Can’t Support Current Obamacare Replacement Proposal
By 3.8.17
People are still dissecting and deciding where they come down in response to the recently proposed legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Yesterday, two of the largest groups in the American healthcare business advised lawmakers that they are not thrilled with what they’ve seen so far. [More]
Why Would A Hospital Charge You For Holding Your Newborn Baby?
By 10.5.16
Though there are many kinds of surprises you might find on your bill after a trip to the hospital, some seem too strange to be true. For example, a new father in Utah who was amused to find a charge for the moment his wife held their newborn baby against her chest. What in the world? [More]
CDC Reports “Worrisome” News On Antibiotic Use In Hospitals
By 9.19.16
The overuse of antibiotics in human patients and farm animals has been linked to the development of so-called “superbugs” that are resistant to most traditional antibiotics. In a new report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presents the “worrisome” news that hospitals are increasingly turning to stronger and broad-spectrum antibiotics to treat patients. [More]
In Most States, No Regulator Cares If A Merger Closes Your Local Hospitals
By 6.9.16
The consolidation of, well, everything in healthcare is kind of par for the course these days, really. Insurance companies, provider networks, and hospitals are constantly merging or buying each other out, all around the nation. Small, independent hospitals in every state are regularly bought by larger chains, and go from being “Smallville General Hospital” to being “HealthCoName Patient Care Center Of Smallville” all the time. [More]
Nonprofit Hospitals Suing Poor Patients Without Telling Them They Qualify For Reduced Or Free Care
By 6.1.16
Given that nonprofit hospitals are tax-exempt, the general view is that their primary focus should be on providing care for those who need it rather than making using the court system to make those patients pay up. Almost all of these hospitals have programs to reduce bills for people living below or near the poverty line, but some are suing poor patients without ever telling them about these options. [More]
FBI Investigating Virus That Took Major Hospital Chain Offline
By 3.28.16
Earlier today, healthcare provider MedStar Health, which operates nearly a dozen hospitals in the D.C. area and some 100 clinics, took its network offline after detecting the presence of a computer virus. Now the FBI is investigating. [More]
Study: Colorado Tourists Going To The ER With Pot Complaints More Than Residents
By 2.25.16
It’s probably no surprise that now that marijuana is legal in Colorado, tourists are trying it out. However, doctors say they were somewhat surprised by the results of a study which found that out-of-state tourists were visiting emergency rooms more often than residents with pot complaints. [More]
Senate Investigating Drug Companies Behind Huge Overnight Price Hikes
By 11.5.15
A handful of pharmaceutical investors have been snapping up the rights to previously affordable prescription drugs, only to immediately raise prices to the point where patients now pay hundreds of dollars for a single pill — resulting in huge additional costs for consumers, insurers, and healthcare providers. Not only has this practice drawn the ire of the medical community, it’s also resulted in a Senate committee investigation. [More]
Now You Can Take Your Kids To The “Krispy Kreme Challenge” Clinic
By 10.26.15
While hospital naming rights have long been up for grabs to big donors, it’s not every day that a healthcare facility is branded with the name of a product that most people associate with being unhealthy. There’s no “Black Tar Heroin Elder Care Facility” or “Stick Your Finger In The Light Socket Cancer Center,” but there is now a Krispy Kreme Challenge Children’s Specialty Clinic. [More]
Hospital Doesn’t Know The Difference Between Copay And Deductible, Sticks Patient With $3,900 Bill
By 10.2.15
When a California man checked with the hospital about the copay for his daughter’s treatment, the hospital told him it would $500. Except what they meant to tell him was that his insurance deductible would be $500, but that he’d be stuck with a bill for nearly $4,000. [More]
Doctors Not Happy After Drug Goes From $13.50/Tablet To $750 Overnight
By 9.21.15
Gripe as we might, consumers understand that price increases do happen. What’s not as easily understood is how the price for something can go from $13.50 one day to $750 the next — especially when it’s a generic drug used to save lives. [More]
Patients At NYC Hospitals Will No Longer Become Accidental Reality TV Stars
By 8.13.15
We don’t know about you, but the last thing we want when we go to the hospital is for anyone — not even our loved ones — to shoot video of us. We certainly wouldn’t want to find out that we’re being filmed without our permission by a crew for some cruddy reality TV show. And after one such show actually broadcast the secretly recorded death of a patient in a New York City hospital, it looks like patients in NYC may not have to worry about being caught on camera at your worst. [More]
![An example of the new statistics users can find for health facilities on Yelp. [via Yelp]](../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/6a00d83452b44469e201b7c7b9a08c970b-800wi.png?w=300&h=225&crop=1)
Yelp Adds Hospital Wait Times, Nursing Home Fine Info To Reviews
By 8.5.15
When a trip to the emergency room is in order, you’re usually in a hurry, because, after all, it’s an emergency. Sitting around waiting to be seen by a doctor can be an agonizing experience for those in need of quick help. While Yelp can’t hurry along those doctors, it can apparently tell you just how long you might expect to be camped out in the hospital E.R. [More]
New Rules Change The Way Non-Profit Hospitals Handle Low-Income Patients’ Debts
By 1.12.15
While some hospitals work to assist patients in paying their unexpected and often expensive medical bills, other institutions have been known to employ aggressive tactics that harshly penalize patients who are unable to pay their medical debts. However, the adoption of new federal rules aims to change the way in which non-profit hospitals handle consumers and their debts. [More]
