The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Hospitals
Rivalry drives up medical charges in Cape Girardeau
Two rival hospitals, St. Francis Medical Center and Southeast Hospital, brag about gleaming buildings, robotic surgery systems, electrophysiology labs for heart care, and cancer treatment centers. What remains unsaid is the price tag. The nonprofit hospitals’ charges are much higher than in other parts of Missouri — certain surgeries can even cost twice as much…
Read MoreExtra Extra Monday: Teacher absences, prescription painkillers, complaints at for-profit care centers
Welcome to IRE’s roundup of the weekend’s many enterprise stories — the last one of 2012 — from around the country. We’ll highlight the document digging, field work and data analysis that made their way into centerpieces in print, broadcast and online from coast to coast. Did we miss something? Email tips to web@ire.org. The…
Read MoreBrain-injured kept in nursing homes with inadequate care
Bloomberg News reports that more than 244,00 Americans with injuries are consigned to nursing homes, where patient lawyers say they are warehoused with inadequate care. In many cases, they are housed in institutions designed for geriatric care, not the specialized care they need, and in some cases they are in facilities graded poorly on measures…
Read MorePrognosis: Profits, The rising fortunes of Charlotte hospitals haven’t always helped patients
“In the latest installment of their ongoing investigation into nonprofit hospitals, the Charlotte Observer and News & Observer of Raleigh reported Sunday that N.C. patients are likely to pay more for routine health care if their doctors are employed by a hospital.”
Read MoreExtra Extra Monday: Student debt, river debates, lead contamination and opiate addictions
Milwaukee Journal SentinelThe Wrong-Way River“Biologists predict the number of unwanted organisms moving on the Chicago canal will only grow until the waterway is somehow plugged. And it is much more than a Great Lakes problem because biological pollution travels both directions on this invasive species superhighway.” The Morning CallAmazon warehouse workers fight for unemployment benefits“Its…
Read MoreHospital Helicopters: Worth the Cost?
The Argus Leader reviewed Medicare billing data for three hospital helicopter services in South Dakota and found that just 3 percent of flights were for accidents. The overwhelming majority of the flights were for hospital transfers. Critics say helicopters, which costs thousands per flight, are being used when cheaper ground ambulance services would work.
Read MoreDeadly bacteria may be unstoppable
“A USA TODAY review finds that deadly CRE bacteria are showing up in hospitals and other health care facilities across the country and there is virtually nothing to stop these “superbugs” at this point.”
Read MorePrices soar as hospitals dominate cancer market
In the latest in its Prognosis: Profits series, The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer of Raleigh found that “large nonprofit hospitals in North Carolina are dramatically inflating prices on chemotherapy drugs at a time when they are cornering more of the market on cancer care.” Hospitals are routinely marking prices on cancer drugs…
Read MoreLos Angeles Times finds dispatchers waste valuable time on 911 calls
An internal study obtained by the Los Angeles Times shows that Los Angeles Fire Department dispatchers waste valuable time getting 911 callers to start CPR on cardiac arrest victims, possibly leading to preventable deaths. In March, the Times reported that a Los Angeles mayoral candidate unwittingly exposed inaccurate reporting of response times by the fire department.…
Read MoreC. diff bacteria cause of tens of thousands of deaths; could be stopped
“A USA TODAY investigation finds that an infection called C. diff is wreaking havoc in the nation’s hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities, infecting a half million Americans a year and killing about 30,000.” “The death toll is twice government estimates and nearly equal to the 32,000 U.S. deaths each year from auto accidents.”
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