Two Atlanta hospitals are reporting an increase in emergency department visits since Wellstar closed two hospitals in the city in 2022, Atlanta Daily World reported June 9.

Some healthcare providers in the Midwest and Northeast saw an uptick in patients with breathing troubles and other respiratory issues caused by smoke and poor air quality from Canadian wildfires. 

What if competing health systems, payers, and community health organizations could join together to provide care for the most high-risk populations? Thanks to CommonSpirit Health, it's already happening in several states. 

Gardner, Mass.-based Heywood Hospital said it is ready to support regional obstetric and maternity care after UMass Memorial Health's Alliance-Clinton Hospital announced plans to close its maternity unit, The Gardner News reported June 2.

After COVID-19 exacerbated instances of patient boarding in Minnesota emergency departments — that some say reached "unprecedented levels" — the Minnesota Medical Association and the state chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians have outlined a direction for change related to psychiatric patients.

Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai has opened a designated center for LGBTQ health, according to a May 30 news release.

Vancouver, Wash.-based PeaceHealth is permanently closing five clinics and services, KLCC reported May 24.

Wilson (N.C.) Medical Center has successfully had its immediate jeopardy designation removed, a spokesperson told Becker's.

Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health has been selected to pilot a new care delivery model created by CMS that aims to reduce unnecessary emergency department visits and associated costs for Medicare patients. 

Rural healthcare is under threat nationwide: 170 rural hospitals have closed since 2005, and hundreds more are at risk. To preserve vital services and healthcare access, leaders say a wide range of actions and strategies are needed. 

Welch (W.Va.) Community Hospital is looking to close its long-term care unit, according to the West Virginia health department.

Hospitals are employing a range of different measures to address capacity challenges and reduce emergency department wait times. 

Vancouver, Wash.-based PeaceHealth is ending comprehensive outpatient palliative care May 26 and reducing staff to one nurse and one social worker for in-home care, Cascadia Daily reported May 16.

The president of ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital in Adrian, Mich., recently spoke about some of the ways the hospital is addressing capacity challenges and emergency room wait times in a podcast with WLEN Radio. 

New York City-based Mount Sinai Hospital was ordered to pay nurses a $127,000 penalty after an arbitrator found it had a "persistent pattern" of understaffing its neonatal intensive care unit, Politico reported May 17.

Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare is reopening its Danville birthing center in September and closing its labor and delivery services at OSF Heart of Mary Medical Center in Urbana. 

Massachusetts General Hospital has opened a "discharge lounge" — a new way the Boston-based hospital is alleviating capacity challenges. 

Current and former physicians at Northern Maine Medical Center fear the hospital's decision to end maternity services May 26 will lead to poor patient outcomes, according to Bangor Daily News. 

Leaders and community members in Carrollton, Ala., are calling for the reopening of Pickens County Medical Center after a woman believed to be suffering a heart attack died May 10 en route to a hospital more than 30 minutes away, WVUA reported May 12.

Hospitals near the southern U.S. border are preparing for a surge of patients as Title 42, the tighter policy of U.S. border enforcement enacted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, comes to an end.