Jordan Rau

Medicare Punishes 2,499 Hospitals for High Readmissions

KFF Health News Original

The federal government’s hospital penalty program finishes its first decade by lowering payments to nearly half the nation’s hospitals for readmitting too many Medicare patients within a month. Penalties, though often small, are credited with helping reduce the number of patients returning for another Medicare stay within 30 days.

Hemmed In at Home, Nonprofit Hospitals Look for Profits Abroad

KFF Health News Original

About three dozen elite health systems are involved in for-profit hospital projects overseas. Though the systems are exempt from U.S. taxes for providing “community benefit,” there’s limited evidence that such business ventures benefit American patients.

Despite Covid, Many Wealthy Hospitals Had a Banner Year With Federal Bailout

KFF Health News Original

As the crisis crushed smaller providers, some of the nation’s richest health systems thrived, reporting hundreds of millions of dollars in surpluses after accepting huge grants for pandemic relief. But poorer hospitals — many serving rural and minority populations — got a smaller slice of the pie and limped through the year with deficits and a bleak fiscal future.

Urban Hospitals of Last Resort Cling to Life in Time of COVID

KFF Health News Original

Rural hospitals have been closing at a quickening pace in recent years, but a number of inner-city hospitals now face a similar fate. Experts fear that the economic damage inflicted by the COVID pandemic is helping push some of these urban hospitals over the edge at the very time their services are most needed.