A study published in the March issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine found that patients that use hospital emergency departments at least four times annually are most commonly white and have health insurance and a primary care physician, according…

Orange Park (Fla.) Medical Center, a 252-bed hospital in Clay County, recently applied to the state to become a Level II trauma center, according to a report in the Jacksonville Business Journal.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists' Ambulatory Surgical Care committee issued a statement, advising anesthesiologists to consider monitoring patients for exhaled carbon dioxide in procedures using propofol, especially involving the upper GI tract.

Atlanta's one-hospital Saint Joseph's Health System and three-hospital Piedmont Healthcare are discussing formation of a joint operating company sharing physician networks, hospitals and research facilities, according to a report by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Six in 10 nonfederal acute-care hospitals with more than 50 beds had a palliative care program in 2008, up from four in 10 in 2000, according to a release by the Center to Advance Palliative Care.

Hospitals in Medicare's inpatient and outpatient quality reporting programs can preview their data from April 9 through May 8 before it is placed on the Hospital Compare Web site in June for public viewing, according to a report by AHA…

Anesthesiologists sometimes do not bring in other team members when cases are waiting and when number of operating rooms currently running is less than allocated in an anesthesia group staffing agreement, according to a study in Anesthesia & Analgesia.

Christian G. Zimmerman, MD, FACS, MBA, is chairman, medical director of Idaho Neurological Institute, and co-chairman, Spinal Medicine Institute, at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, ID.

CMS has approved Colorado's Medicaid eligibility expansion program that requires charging Colorado hospitals $600 million in fees to access matching federal Medicaid funds, according to a report by the Denver Post.

Carilion Stonewall Jackson Hospital in Lexington, Va., and Bedford (Va.) Memorial Hospital will be closing their maternity departments by the end of the year, according to a report in the Washington Post.