Posted inBusiness, Health, News

Colorado will pay hospitals to close expensive free-standing ERs

By Phil Galewitz, KHN Colorado health officials so abhor the high costs associated with free-standing emergency rooms they’re offering to pay hospitals to shut the facilities down. The state wants hospitals to convert them to other purposes, such as providing primary care or mental health services. At least 500 free-standing ERs have set up in more […]

Posted inCOVID, Health, News

In the Denver Health emergency department, patients and caregivers are scarred by a brutal year

She heard the screams first. Dr. Morgan Eutermoser was working another shift in a seemingly endless gantlet of them during the pandemic at the Denver Health emergency department, where she is an attending physician. Her N95 mask dug reassuringly into her face. It was late summer — usually the high season for trauma cases in […]

Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government

Which was worse: A Colorado man’s bachelor party hangover or the hangover from his ER bill?

By Markian Hawryluk, Kaiser Health News Two days before his wedding, Cameron Fischer had one heck of a bachelor party, hitting a few bars in the Old Town section of Fort Collins, with his friends into the wee hours. The next morning, the 30-year-old IT professional from nearby Loveland woke up with a killer hangover. “I […]