Hospitals

You could call them hobbies. But for some health workers facing burnout, creative outlets provide more than solace — they give a sense of meaning and community.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra says health providers who have exploited a complicated system to charge exorbitant rates will have to bear their share of the cost — or close.

Obstetrical emergency departments are a new aspect of some hospitals that can inflate medical bills for even the easiest, healthiest births. Just ask baby Gus' parents about their $2,755 ER charge.

Putting off surgeries or routine treatments for serious illnesses has become common during the pandemic, a new NPR/Harvard poll finds.

Patients with advanced cancer and heart disease are among those who have had to wait for surgeries and other procedures as critically ill, unvaccinated COVID patients strain the medical system.

At least 10 hospitals in the state started rationing care for everyone because they're filled with COVID-19 patients. But there's deep distrust of authority.

The delta variant is pummeling America's hospitals, taxing an already-depleted health care workforce. Once again, some states are facing the prospect of rationing medical care.

To realign the man's jaw and ease his chronic pain and high blood pressure, he would need two operations, the surgeon said. Both procedures went well, but the patient was shocked by the second bill.

As Community Health Systems has downsized, what remain are like zombie hospitals – little more than legal entities still taking patients to court even though the new owners don't sue.

ER doctors wanted to hospitalize the young man to help ease his withdrawal from opioid dependence. But he declined because he couldn't afford it. His mom says no one told him he had financial options.