Some companies offer discounts to healthy employees, but patient advocates fear such wellness programs could be unfair.
(Daily Report) Oct 07, 2009
At Georgetown University Hospital, patients who receive treatment in four hospital-owned outpatient centers are charged a facility fee. A Georgetown official says the fees are needed to provide for "resource-intensive services," but critics say the fees are another way to disguise cost increases.
(Daily Report) Oct 06, 2009
U.S. News & World Report, using federal government data on 15,500 facilities, examines the nation's best nursing homes.
(Daily Report) Oct 06, 2009
KHN/The Washington Post report that patients are increasingly being charged "facility fees," following a change in Medicare billing rules nearly a decade ago. Since hospitals have to bill the same for Medicare and other patients, the fees affect people of all ages.
(Daily Report) Oct 06, 2009
A selection of Tuesday's editorials and opinions.
(Daily Report) Oct 06, 2009
Democratic lawmakers hope to keep costs for health coverage down while improving benefits packages, a pair of sometimes-conflicting goals that boils down to an effort to get more for less.
(Daily Report) Oct 06, 2009
The United States lags behind other wealthy countries on deaths caused by illnesses and injuries that should not kill at an early age, and experts suggest the statistics suggest complex and fundamental challenges in the U.S. health care system.
(Daily Report) Oct 06, 2009
Facility fees, charged to patients who get treatment in hospital-owned outpatient clinics, are used defray to hospital overhead, pay salaries and meet stringent standards, hospital officials say. Critics say the fees are a way to increase the cost of care when patients can least afford it.
(Story) Oct 06, 2009
President Obama has been working behind the scenes to shore up support for a public option.
(Daily Report) Oct 05, 2009
The number of family care physicians continues to shrink, while an Illinois-based clinic creates a plan to turn laid-off workers into nurses.
(Daily Report) Oct 05, 2009