Charges for intravenous saline given to patients in one food poisoning outbreak varied from single to triple digits, and were even higher when hospitals added in administration costs. The New York Times attempted to track how an item that Medicare prices at $1.07 a liter could become so inflated.

A young adult’s feeling of indebtedness may compromise his or her cardiovascular health. A longitudinal study that included 8,400 adults between 24 and 32 years old found higher subjective relative debt was associated with a clinically significant increase in diastolic blood pressure.

Surgical decompression offers mortality benefits for patients with space-occupying hemispheric infarction but at a high cost, according to an analysis published online Aug. 13 in Stroke.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on July 31 voted 51-0 to approve a bipartisan bill that repeals the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), provides a period of stable payment updates, and moves towards a payment system that rewards physicians for providing high quality care. After more than a decade of "kicking the can down the road" by enacting temporary fixes, this is a major step towards establishing a Medicare payment system that values high quality, patient-centered care.

The trend to consolidate hospitals is likely to accelerate due to the Affordable Care Act and other forces, the New York Times reported. By merging, hospitals and chains hope to reduce costs.

Low medication co-payments may help bring hypertension under control and improve treatment compliance, researchers found in a meta-analysis that assessed the effect of healthcare systems in different parts of the world. Other factors linked to better outcomes among hypertensive patients include having health insurance and being under the regular care of a provider.

Switching tracers due to a shortage of technetium-99m (Tc-99m) may be more than an inconvenience for cardiac facilities and their patients. A before-during-after analysis from one center showed an increase in downstream testing, costs and radiation exposure with the temporary use of thallium-201.

The financial outlook for hospitals under healthcare reform initially appears rocky but may perk up with time. Medical devices makers, on the other hand, should brace for difficulties, according to a report published July 17 by Moody’s Investors Service.