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March 9, 2012 KHNAs biotech investments and medical device development falters, hospitals are turning to other avenues to help cut costs: streamlining billing systems and investing in simpler medical products.

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March 7, 2012 The same folks who have sponsored essay contests about the costs of medical care have a subversive video out that puts health care charges and billing in a pretty embarrassing light. A big bill from the Hotel Hospital.

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March 6, 2012 KHNHospitalized patients are going home sooner and sicker than ever before. And without clear and comprehensive instructions about what to do after a hospital stay, they may wind up back in the hospital, or worse. That's where a checklist can help.

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February 28, 2012 KHNMore than 800,000 visits to hospital emergency rooms in 2009 were for toothaches and other avoidable dental ailments. In hard times, states often cut Medicaid's dental benefits, pushing low-income patients from the dentist's office to the emergency room.

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February 22, 2012 Women are more likely to have heart attacks that don't announce themselves with crushing chest pain. And women having heart attacks like those are more likely to die than men.

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February 9, 2012 Patients at hospitals in Maryland, Mississippi, Louisiana, Maine and New Hampshire were most likely to get blood infections caused by central lines, new federal data show. Medicare is gearing up to penalize hospitals with high rates of infections that are caused by the institutions.

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February 2, 2012 KCURInstead of offering big salaries and other perks, the CEO of tiny Ashland Health Clinic, in southwest Kansas, lures physicians with "a job that matters." In addition to meeting a real need on a daily basis in Ashland, doctors also get eight weeks off to do missionary work overseas.

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January 31, 2012 Hospitals see a huge drop in drug mistakes when doctors use a computer to write prescriptions, instead of pen and paper. Software can correct miscalculations, warn of allergic reactions and eliminate doctors' notoriously poor handwriting. But few hospitals have adopted the technology so far.

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January 24, 2012 KHNTo attract and keep new patients, hospitals are offering a range of special benefits, including free or low-cost health screenings and educational sessions on diet and exercise. There's also free valet parking for a lucky few.

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January 6, 2012 More hospitals are watching and waiting instead of operating on some patients with gunshot or stab wounds, a new study finds. Exploratory surgery, long the norm in such cases, may be safely skipped some of the time.

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January 4, 2012 In the U.S., hospitalized heart attack patients go home sooner than in other countries. They are also more likely to return to the hospital within a month of being discharged.

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