It’s a confusing situation for patients and a financially necessary one for hospitals: If a hospital cannot decide whether a patient is appropriate for inpatient admission, the patient can be kept up ...

There’s a growing recognition by clinicians that some patients who arrive at the emergency department can benefit if they’re kept under observation for up to a day so that staff can run more tests and ...

Insight provides an in-depth look at health care issues in and affecting California. Have a story suggestion? Let us know. Some seniors think Medicare made a mistake. Others are stunned when they find ...

Medicare patients alone admitted to observation status—now roughly 1.8 million annually. Yet even for clinicians, misunderstandings about observation status abound—as demonstrated by the complexity of ...

Days in hospital under observation care might not qualify for Medicare coverage Senior advocates say technicality is unfair to patients Arguments begin Friday in ...

A new law will require hospitals to notify patients about potential charges for observation care services if they weren't admitted as an inpatient and are moved into a skilled nursing facility.

New research suggests observation care may lower spending for patients with private insurance. That may complicate policy decisions based on the high out-of-pocket costs for patients with Medicare ...

Q: Is it true that, under the Affordable Care Act, “Medicare will not pay anything” for patients receiving only “observation” care in hospitals? A: No. Medicare will pay a significant portion of ...

The sticker-shock can happen when people go to the hospital but health care providers are not sure what's wrong. If the patient is not sick enough to be formally admitted, but still not healthy enough ...

Health care rules and regulations govern how payers and providers interact, how providers charge for services, and ultimately how much a family must pay for these services in the US. Unfortunately, ...