MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, Mass., has decided to end plans to pursue a broad-based affiliation with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, according to a report in the Boston Globe.

Here is the average length of stay, charges and costs per patient for hospitals by patient type, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project 2007 national statistics.

The Center for Studying Health System Change 2008 Health Tracking Physician Survey, which surveyed physicians on a number of dimensions, from basic physician demographic information, practice organization and career satisfaction to insurance acceptance, compensation arrangements and charity care provision, has…

Surgical Hospital of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, Okla., announced that it partnered with Surgical Care Affiliates, one of the country's largest providers of specialty surgical services, according to an SCA news release.

New legislation, to be signed into law by New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, requires hospitals in the state to make public more detailed information regarding medical errors, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Keystone Mercy Health Plan, the largest Medicaid HMO in the Philadelphia region, could end its relationship with Chester County Hospital in West Chester, Pa., if the hospital doesn't agree to accept lower payments, according to a report in the Philadelphia…

The Obama administration and Congress appear to be "convinced" that orthopedic surgeons and other specialists are overpaid and drive up the cost of healthcare without improving outcomes, according to a blog by Jeffrey Binder, the CEO of Biomet.

A survey by the Joint Commission predicts that most U.S. hospitals will be smoke-free throughout their campuses by the end of 2009, according to release by the Joint Commission.

AAOS President Joseph Zuckerman, MD, says he has told AMA executives that he is unhappy with the organization's endorsement last month of the U.S. House's healthcare reform bill.

A new physicians group that opposes a government-run healthcare plan has issued results of a nationwide poll it conducted, finding that 70 percent of specialty doctors oppose current health-care reform proposals, according to a release from the group, the American…