emergency rooms

Many older adults who need hospital care are getting stuck in ER limbo — sometimes over a day. The long waits for seniors who are frail, with multiple medical issues, lead to a host of additional medical problems.

The federal law is called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, and it requires doctors to stabilize or treat any patient who shows up at an emergency room.

The cases are detailed in federal documents obtained by the AP and raise serious questions about the state of emergency pregnancy care in the U.S.

Proposals include expanding residency programs to keep doctors in the state and taking steps to divert nonemergent patients from ERs to other facilities. The legislative session begins Jan. 9.

AdventHealth emergency departments have seen a 20% increase in patients seeking care for heat-related illnesses this summer, and urgent care locations in the network have seen an increase of 115%.

A new rural hospital payment model shifts the focus of services away from overnight stays to outpatient and emergency care. Still, experts say the law needs to be amended to provide the right mix of care for rural communities.

Increasingly, private equity firms shape staffing decisions at hospital emergency rooms, research shows. One apparent effect: Hiring fewer doctors and more health care practitioners who earn far less.

At many U.S. hospitals, children and teens are stuck in the emergency department for days or weeks because psychiatric beds are full. Massachussets has a simple, yet promising solution.

Dr. Brittany Beel, an ER physician at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, and Dr. David Caro, an ER physician at UF Health Jacksonville, join the conversation.

Doctors, consumer advocates, and some lawmakers are looking forward to a California lawsuit against private equity-backed Envision Healthcare. The case is part of a multistate effort to enforce rules banning corporate ownership of physician practices.