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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.
Originally published on June 28, 2021 12:00 pm Claire Lang-Ree was in a lab coat taking a college chemistry class remotely in the kitchen of her Colorado Springs, Colo., home when a profound pain twisted into her lower abdomen. She called her mom, Jen Lang-Ree, a nurse practitioner who worried it was appendicitis and found a nearby hospital in the family's health insurance network. After a long wait in the emergency room of Penrose Hospital, Claire received morphine and an anti-nausea medication delivered through an IV. She also underwent a CT scan of her abdomen and a series of tests. Hospi...
DENVER - Colorado could save up to $140 million annually, and reduce potential harm to patients, by minimizing so-called low-value health-care services - diagnostic tests, screenings and treatments where the risk of harm outweighs any likely benefits. Cari Frank, vice president for communications with the Center for Improving Value in Health Care - the group behind a new report - pointed to opioid prescriptions for lower back pain as one clear example, where pain relief comes with the risk of addiction. She said a significant share of the costs of low-value services are passed on to patien...
The state wants hospitals to convert them to other purposes, such as providing primary care or mental health services.
Colorado offers to pay hospitals to close free-standing ERs PHIL GALEWITZ, Kaiser Health News May 24, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail 3 1of3A free-standing emergency room, one of nine owned by UCHealth and part of the University of Colorado, is seen in the Denver suburb of Arvada, Colo., on May 16, 2021. The health system has converted 10 other stand-alone emergency rooms into other uses, mostly primary care or urgent care centers, in the past two years. (Markian Hawryluk/Kaiser Health News via AP)Markian Hawryluk/APShow MoreShow Less 2of3A free-standing emergency room, one of nine own...