Blake Farmer

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.

More and more hospitals are contracting with private companies to run their emergency departments. To save money, many are increasingly relying on nurses and physician assistants instead of doctors.

As a money-saving strategy, emergency rooms are turning to nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other staffers who earn far less than physicians.

Pregnant and scared, Natasha Valle went to a Tennova Healthcare hospital in Clarksville, Tennessee, in January 2021 because she was bleeding. She didn't know much about miscarriage, but this seemed like one.

Near the end of his scheduled three-month stay at a rehab center outside Austin, Texas, Daniel McKegney was forced to tell his father in North Carolina that he needed more

Many Tennessee hospitals are in trouble as they try to stabilize after the trauma of COVID-19. The Tennessee Hospital Association has published a new survey tha

ER doctor groups were among the top providers disputing claims in the first months of a resolution process created by the No Surprises Act.

FILE -A COVID patient in the ICU at Ascension Saint Thomas West. (Sept. 2, 2021)

One of Middle Tennessee’s fastest growing cities has no full-service hospital, but that will change soon. State regulators signed off on a $250 million project in Spring Hill this week. Spring Hill’s population has been surging. It jumped by more than 5% from 2020 to 2021, which put it in the top 10 fastest growing cities in the country, according to the Tennessee State Data Center. Late last year, the city announced it was conducting a special census to track the growth. Right now, the city only has a free-standing emergency room. TriStar Health operates it. The company has been […]

Tennessee’s preterm birth rate rose again, totaling more than 11% of births in 2023. The health policy nonprofit March of Dimes issues what it calls a "re