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May 11, 2013 APRNHow much hospitals around the country bill for 100 top procedures became public this week. Though insurance or Medicare may not actually pay the sticker price, some hospitals in Alaska are considering how they'll respond to more knowledgeable consumers.

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May 10, 2013 A company that got its start assessing the risks of ocean-going vessels now checks U.S. hospitals for quality. Known as DNV, the firm is bringing competition to an area of health care that obsesses insiders yet is little known by patients.

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May 8, 2013 In a first, Medicare has revealed how much individual hospitals bill and how much they are paid for common treatments. The charges vary widely. And while Medicare and private insurers generally pay far less than what hospitals request, the uninsured may pay something closer to these sticker prices.

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April 25, 2013 At Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Leana Wen cared for people hurt by the bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon finish line. She worried that the next patient she treated would turn out to be her husband. Ten days later, the sounds of sirens still shake her.

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April 16, 2013 Hospitals can make more money when surgery leads to complication that need to be fixed. Critics say the current payment system rewards hospitals for bad care and fails to provide incentives that would benefit patients.

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April 16, 2013 These days hospitals drill for mass casualty disasters like the explosions at Monday's Boston Marathon. But when it happened for real, the first response was disbelief. Then the victims began arriving. Doctors say they were confronted with the kinds of IED injuries that U.S. troops have gotten in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

April 11, 2013 The administration's budget still matters, even though it's late and the House and Senate have approved their own spending blueprints for fiscal 2014. President Obama laid down markers that could lead to changes in Medicare and Medicaid and affect funding for a broad array of health programs.

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March 14, 2013 Americans who suffer cardiac arrest in a hospital and are resuscitated have a 60 percent chance of being alive a year later, authors of a new study found. They also have a 45 percent chance of living for three years — better than the odds of surviving cancer.

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February 26, 2013 Conventional wisdom holds that summertime — when medical students graduate and become first-time doctors — is the most dangerous time to check into a hospital. But a recent study of surgeries at 1,700 hospitals suggests the fear of newbie docs is overblown.

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February 21, 2013 KHNPressure on doctors and hospitals to reduce the rate of early elective deliveries appears to be working. A detailed look at hospitals across the country finds births before 39 weeks are on the decline.

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February 20, 2013 CPRHospitals are partnering with pharmacies to keep discharged patients from returning too soon. Walgreens, for one, is helping hospitals to manage patients' medications after they go home.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

February 12, 2013 KHNIn some cases, "observation" may be no more than a billing designation that allows hospitals to move patients out of crowded emergency departments. Hospitals also may use them to avoid potential insurance reimbursement problems.

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February 11, 2013 When researchers asked hospitals how much a total hip replacement would cost a 62-year-old woman paying cash, a surprising number couldn't or wouldn't say. Health care could learn something from the car industry about working with consumers, critics say.

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January 30, 2013 WNYCRepairs to the New York City hospital are expected to allow a full reopening in early February. Engineers have been working around the clock to make everything is ready. Bellevue hasn't been able to care for trauma patients since the storm. That has put a strain on neighboring hospitals.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

January 28, 2013 Telling doctors how much a CT scan of the head would cost didn't have an effect on the number of scans ordered during a study at a big teaching hospital. It will take more than disclosing costs to control spending on radiology costs, a study suggests.

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