Hospitals

Dozens of California hospitals shut their maternity wards over the past decade, and the trend continued in 2024 after lawmakers advanced plans to slow the closures.

Birth centers are popular options for families who want to deliver a baby outside of a hospital. Nineteen of them closed in California in the past decade, deepening the state's maternity care crisis.

A California Democrat who made a name for himself by taking on the health care industry is carrying a bill to regulate private equity stakes in the sector.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that set health care workers on a path to a $25 minimum wage. Lawmakers then delayed it, but some hospitals are raising pay ahead of schedule.

California State Hospitals can bill patients for the care they receive during confinement. The charges often run in the tens of thousands of dollars, putting vulnerable people in debt for years.

After fighting hard to live, a California man fought to die with dignity. Though medically assisted death is legal, there are still barriers.

A bill that would increase penalties for those who assault hospital emergency department workers is facing the same pushback that other recent tough-on-crime legislation has from progressive Democrats leery of increasing incarceration rates.

Some of the most influential and wealthy groups in California politics are squaring off over legislation that would give California’s attorney general oversight of private equity firms and hedge funds acquiring major health care institutions.

California now is one of nine states with regulations limiting health care cost increases. Consumers won’t necessarily notice the changes, but supporters say they will make a difference over time.

California hospitals say slow insurance approvals delay care and block beds that could be used for new patients. They estimate they spend more $3 billion a year on unneeded hospitalization because of insurance delays.