In recent weeks, The Joint Commission has introduced major changes to hospital accreditation standards, updated obstetric care requirements and shared plans to retire the “risk” icon from its programs.  Below are five key actions and updates from the accrediting body,…

On Aug. 4, the Department of Veterans Affairs proposed to stop offering abortion care at its hospitals, which would reverse a 2022 rule.  From 1999 to 2022, VA hospitals excluded abortions and abortion counseling in its medical benefits package for…

St. Louis-based Ascension has opened a Clinical Innovation Institute that will focus on embedding technology and innovation to improve patient care and clinician satisfaction.  The institute will bridge clinical and digital teams to vet the use of new technology and…

Vaccination coverage among kindergartners fell during the latest school year, with exemption rates reaching a record high, according to CDC data published July 31.  Four notes: 1. Vaccination coverage among kindergartners decreased for all reported vaccines during the 2024-25 school…

Health officials in Louisiana have reported 17 cases of Vibrio vulnificus bacterial infections in 2025. All the cases required hospitalization and four resulted in death. The state has seen an average of seven Vibrio vulnificus cases and one death per…

More patients who require hospitalization are waiting hours or days in emergency departments for a bed to open, and the trend has grown worse the past four years, researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor and…

One person has died and 22 people have fallen ill in a Legionnaires’ disease cluster in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, city health officials reported July 30. Legionnaires’ is a type of pneumonia caused by the bacteria Legionella.…

Hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) affect 1 in 10 hospitalized adults in the U.S.1 and are responsible for as many as 60,000 deaths annually.2 For hospitals, this means a financial impact to the tune of $11 billion in preventable costs every…

The American College of Obstetricians has stopped accepting federal government funding, which supports its programs and contracts, the medical society confirmed to Becker’s on Aug. 1.  “Recent changes in federal funding laws and regulations significantly impact ACOG’s program goals, policy…

Minneapolis-based University of Minnesota Medical School has opened a regional campus in St. Cloud in partnership with CentraCare Health, a St. Cloud-based system, according to the medical school’s Facebook page. The new campus represents the medical school’s first expansion in…