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Metro Health's Proposed Partner Operates 25 Hospitals Accused of 'Price-Gouging'

Of 50 U.S. hospitals identified as having the highest price markups for uninsured patients, half are owned by the health system that plans to merge with Metro Health. Community Health Systems Inc., a for-profit system based in Franklin, Tenn., operates 25 of the hospitals on the list, according to an article in The Washington Post.

Sue Thoms, MLive Media Group
June 10, 2015

No Vote on Trade Pact Needed to Protect U.S. Interests

San Diego congressional representatives Susan Davis and Scott Peters remain undecided about pending international trade measures that will have tremendous impacts on San Diego.

Brenna Norton & Deborah Burger, San Diego Union Tribune
June 9, 2015

Many U.S. hospitals mark up prices 1,000 percent: study

Even the astronomical price markups that consumers regularly pay for, say, wine in restaurants pale beside those in some U.S. hospitals: The price for procedures is often 10 times the cost, according to a study published on Monday in the journal Health Affairs.

Sharon Begley, Reuters
June 8, 2015

Feds, State Settle Part of Big Hospital Kickback Scheme

Part of a big Georgia hospital kickback case will be settled for nearly $1 million, while a related criminal investigation into a major national hospital company continues.

Atlanta Business Chronicle
June 8, 2015

Unionized Nurses at EMMC Vote to Authorize Strike

Unionized nurses at Eastern Maine Medical Center voted Thursday to authorize a strike if the hospital fails to better address their patient safety concerns, including “unsafe staffing.”

Jackie Farwell, Bangor Daily News
June 5, 2015

Lawsuit Alleges Improper Hospital Billing Practices

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in Washington County Circuit Court contends the company that owns Northwest Medical Center and operates nine other hospitals in Arkansas has been skipping insurance carriers and going after payment directly from patients or other sources that pay more.

Ron Wood, Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette
June 4, 2015

Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, Nurses Settle on Contract

Fifteen months of fighting has ended abruptly but more amicably for both sides of a contract dispute at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. Late Thursday, the hospital Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve a five-year contract with nurses of the California Nurses Association.

Roberto M. Robledo, The Californian
May 29, 2015

Hospital Hospice Services to End Next Month

A program that has been available for decades through a Lackawanna County hospital will soon be coming to an end. Eyewitness News has learned that the owners of Regional Hospital of Scranton will stop providing inpatient and home hospice services at the end of next month.

National Nurses Organizing Committee
May 27, 2015

Sanders Bill Signals Growth of Broad Robin Hood Tax Movement

Seven years after Wall Street gamblers wrenched the U.S. economy into the worst economic swoon since the Great Depression, the movement to make the high rollers pay some restitution to people and communities harmed by their profligacy is gaining stream.

RoseAnn DeMoro writing for Common Dreams
May 27, 2015

Fallbook Hospital Spanked by Court

On May 8, Fallbrook Hospital (which closed in December) got a spanking from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Don Bauder, San Diego Reader
May 19, 2015