Manchester, N.H.-based Elliot Hospital launched a virtual emergency department program, ABC affiliate WMUR reported Feb. 29.

Valleywise Health has reopened some of its inpatient psychiatric beds that had been closed since 2022 due to staffing shortages. However, dozens of the Phoenix-based system's licensed psychiatric beds remain closed as it works to recruit more behavioral health staff. 

Connecticut lawmakers are considering a bill that would require hospitals to collect and report data on emergency department wait times and volumes. Hospitals, meanwhile, contend such rules will not help solve emergency department boarding and capacity issues.

York, Pa.-based WellSpan Health has cut its emergency department utilization by 32% after implementing a new program that incorporates behavioral care and addiction treatment, a spokesperson for the system shared with Becker's Feb. 28. 

In a bid to reduce wait times, Grand Blanc, Mich.-based McLaren Health is now offering an online scheduling option for patients seeking care at two of its emergency departments. 

HCA Florida North Florida Hospital in Gainesville, which shut down procedures earlier this year to address equipment sterilization issues, has resumed all surgical operations.

More hospitals are severing ties to anesthesiology groups, some to build their own internal anesthesia departments, others inking new contracts with different provider groups and some joining the growing volume of echoes claiming certain anesthesiology groups have "anticompetitive business practices."

CMS found Asheville, N.C.-based HCA Mission Hospital in compliance with its plan of correction and recommended removing the immediate jeopardy designation, Blue Ridge Public Radio reported Feb. 23.

Under a new affiliation, Nemours Children's Health will integrate neonatal ICU and pediatric cardiology services into the Crozer Health network, the two health systems announced Feb. 21. 

As hospitals and health systems continue to face ongoing maternity care cuts and closures in 2024, Chatham Maternity Care Center at Siler City, N.C.-based Chatham Hospital, part of Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health, is working hard to defy those odds.

Atrium Health Pineville (N.C.), part of Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health, canceled its elective surgeries for Feb. 22 and notified patients after a plumbing fixture leaked on the hospital's fourth floor in the early morning.

Memphis, Tenn.-based Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare and its longtime anesthesia provider, Medical Anesthesia Group, have ended their partnership after contract negotiations hit an impasse.

Overwhelming, chaotic, inefficient, dysfunctional — all four words appear throughout a recent report describing the nationwide challenge of emergency department boarding published by the American College of Emergency Physicians. 

On an October day in 2022, Kelsay Irby, BSN, RN, then nurse at Silverdale, Wash.-based St. Michael Medical Center, called 911 for backup when the emergency department became overwhelmed with patient boarding. Now, after hospital leaders spent time crafting a plan for resilience, the hospital has shared the strategies that helped it turn things around.

Rural hospitals and health systems are continuing to face significant challenges like rising costs, low reimbursement rates and workforce challenges. In fact, a recent report found that there are about 418 rural hospitals currently at risk of closure. 

A series of events pointing to shortcomings at Brockton, Mass.-based Good Samaritan Medical Center has led the hospital to be understaffed and overcrowded, The Boston Globe reported Feb. 14.

One person is dead and at least 21 others were shot when gunfire rang out near the end of the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl parade Feb. 14. 

Regional Medical Center in San Jose, Calif., plans to end its trauma services in August, citing low utilization rates. 

Allina Health is making changes to services and care access at two of its campuses: Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, Minn., and Mercy Hospital-Unity Campus in Fridley, Minn. 

A recent analysis found pickleball-related injuries have increased more than 200% in 20 years, NBC News reported Feb. 12.