“…as the U.S. health care system turns tens of millions of Americans into debtors, this financial watchdog is increasingly working to protect beleaguered patients, adding hospitals, nursing homes, and patient financing companies to the list of institutions that regulators are probing.”     With […]

  “A landmark 2003 Institute of Medicine report, ‘Unequal Treatment,’ found that limited access to care and other socioeconomic differences explain only part of racial and ethnic disparities in treatment outcomes.”     California Lawsuit Spotlights Broad Legal Attack on Anti-Bias Training in Health Care […]

  “The United States is knee-deep in what some experts call the opioid epidemic’s ‘fourth wave,’ which is not only placing drug users at greater risk but is also complicating efforts to address the nation’s drug problem.”     ‘Fourth Wave’ of Opioid Epidemic Crashes […]

  “For weeks, more than half a million Anthem Blue Cross enrollees who receive health care from the University of California were held in suspense. It wasn’t clear whether they would have to find new doctors or switch plans as the health system and one […]

  “In the battle to control health care costs, hospitals are deploying their political power to protect their bottom lines.”     In Fight Over Medicare Payments, the Hospital Lobby Shows Its Strength   The point of contention: For decades, Medicare has paid hospitals — […]

  “…Republican state Rep. Melanie Stinnett … said she regularly was frustrated by prior authorization hurdles in her work as a speech pathologist before joining the legislature in 2023…. “‘The stories all kind of look similar: It’s a big fight to get something done on […]