San Diego has taken control of the city's ambulance services with hopes of improving response times and eliminating financial incentives for private companies, The San Diego Union Tribune reported July 31.

Mental health advocates on July 31 protested the closure of acute psychiatric beds at Good Samaritan Hospital, CBS affiliate KPIX reported.

Patients' fears of contracting COVID-19 in healthcare settings have subsided, with older Americans who delayed or avoided healthcare services during the pandemic returning in droves. 

The board of directors for Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, Calif., voted July 27 to indefinitely suspend labor and delivery services, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Charlotte, N.C.-based StarMed Healthcare announced it was closing two satellite locations July 19, and patients trying to reschedule have hit nothing but dead ends, ABC affiliate WBTV reported July 27.

Hospitals nationwide are seeing greater volumes of high-acuity patients than they have in the past. That, coupled with labor shortages and little to no space at post-acute care facilities are fueling discharge delays and other hospital capacity challenges. 

More than 53 percent of hospitals in the U.S. endured load imbalance during the pandemic, researchers at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., have found.

With triple-digit temperatures in the southern and southwestern areas of the United States, it makes sense that hospital emergency departments are reporting increased patient census figures associated with heat-induced conditions like heat stroke. 

Lengths of stay and discharge transitions from hospitals to post-acute care are climbing, according to the American Hospital Association and industry reports.

The weather. It's a topic that doesn't come up often in hospital news reporting, but this summer is set to be one of the hottest on record, and many hospitals are already grappling with the consequences of extreme heat. 

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill into law July 24 that will license all freestanding birth centers allowing them to more seamlessly operate throughout the state, according to a news release.

Some patients at HCA Healthcare's Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., are experiencing longer wait times between ambulance pickup and emergency room admission, the Citizen Times reported July 25.

Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in Tampa, Fla., reopened July 24 after a temporary shutdown because of an explosion risk from ruptured lithium-ion batteries. 

Pittsfield, Mass.-based Berkshire Health Systems plans to limit the scope of its at-home healthcare services by the end of July, according to The Berkshire Eagle. 

The University of Louisville (Ky.) Hospital — the sole Level 1 trauma facility in the region — was without power for more than 12 hours July 15, the Louisville Courier Journal reported.

The emergency department is the most common point of entry for people who need care, yet long wait times often also make it the center of hospital patient dissatisfaction. 

Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs, Conn. has launched its own ambulance service to ensure the quickest possible transportation of patients, CT Insider reported July 15. 

Hospital-at-home programs are growing in popularity among hospitals, but the burden it adds to unpaid caregivers is one reason why 10 percent to 62 percent of families turn down the option, NPR reported July 18.

Last fall and winter, hospitals took a number of steps to handle what for many was an unprecedented demand for care amid a simultaneous surge of respiratory syncytial virus, flu and COVID-19.

Hospitals are seeing a flood of patients with heat-related illnesses amid an extreme and prolonged heat wave in the Southern U.S., where triple-digit temperatures are nearing all-time highs.