The Leapfrog Group, a Washington D.C.-based organization aiming to improve health care quality for consumers and purchasers, announced today the agenda for the first National Health Care Ratings Summit, which will be held on December 6 and 7 in Arlington, Virginia. 

Some patients in Puerto Rico are having to evacuate to the continental United States for treatment as the island deals with significant damage caused by Hurricane Maria.

The University of California, Irvine recently received a $200 million donation to found a new health sciences college focused on “complementary and alternative medicines and evidence-based self-care.” That definition has some concerned it will aim to incorporate unproven therapies into mainstream medical practices.

In a letter to CMS, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, asked what legal barriers are standing in the way of the agency making hospital inspections done by private accrediting organizations public, reigniting debate over a regulatory change hospitals strongly opposed earlier this year.

Penalizing hospitals if patients are readmitted shortly after being discharged has appeared to work in change facilities' approach to care, according to WUNC’s look at several hospitals in the Triangle region of North Carolina.

Only a handful of healthcare markets have been given high star ratings by CMS across four different sectors, according to a study published in The BMJ, suggesting either high-quality care at one facility isn’t “dependent on or improves” quality in another or the ratings themselves are flawed.

Eight residents of the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills in Hollywood, Florida, died Sept. 13, supposedly of heat-related causes. The facility had a history of problems with its generator and its owner was once implicated in a $15 million healthcare fraud case.

At least 35 Florida hospitals closed ahead of Hurricane Irma hitting the state last weekend, with dozens more still operating on backup power as recovery efforts continue.