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A report from the Institute of Medicine says Medicare needs to make a "significant change" to the ways it evaluates salaries of health care workers and real estate costs. Major changes to these calculations would affect the bottom lines of thousands of practitioners and institutions.

Researchers are finding that hoarding worsens with age. They're also learning that one of the best ways to help hoarders is to slowly build trust and organizing skills, rather than doing massive clean-outs.

Most hospitals don't have a psychiatric unit, which means mentally ill patients often wait in emergency rooms for several days — sometimes even a week or more — before they can be moved to a psychiatric hospital. ERs are the wrong place for someone in the midst of a psychiatric crisis, an expert says.

Living donors of kidneys and other organs face can face difficulties with health costs, if they're uninsured. Recipients' coverage can take care of most acute problems. But some medicines and tests may not be part of the deal.

New laws and Medicare rules call on hospitals to report infections. Some, like Pacific Hospital in California, have already managed to bring rates way down. Pacific's efforts have caught the attention of competitors and potential customers. And they've become a source of pride for its employees.

New rules going into effect July 1 will limit first-year medical residents to 16-hour shifts in the hopes of reducing the number of errors made by fatigued interns. But some say residents gain invaluable experience through longer hours and managing the fatigue that inevitably comes with practicing medicine.

Hospitals and outpatient centers have mandatory rules for surgeons to help them avoid operating on the wrong patient — or part of the patient. But patient safety experts say these devastating mistakes continue unabated and a more comprehensive approach is needed.

Medicare's method of paying hospices a flat fee for each day a patient is receiving care there encourages operators of the facilities to seek out patients early on — and try to keep them as long as possible.

To boost enrollment in high-risk plans, the federal government will pay insurance agents a commission to sell the policies. Premiums will be cut up to 40 percent, too

A half-million people a year are transported by air ambulances because of medical emergencies. Health insurance may cover only a small portion — or none — of the bill, which can easily reach tens of thousands of dollars.