Latest from The Spokesman-Review

• Providence buys practice

  January 9, 2013 in Health on Page A5 Providence Health Care has strengthened its medical reach in Stevens County by buying the rural area’s largest physician practice. The Colville-based Northeast Washington Medical Group, with 26 doctors, seven advanced …

• Spokane appears to have cluster of sepsis patients

  June 28, 2012 in City, Health on Page A1 Hospitals are struggling to stop a killer. Sepsis, the body’s last resort against infection, is commonly referred to as blood poisoning as the body overreacts to an infection in ways … 11

• Sacred Heart gets go-ahead to expand

  February 6, 2012 in Business, City Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center will be allowed to add 75 new patient beds under a legal settlement reached today. 5

• Providence layoffs reach 172

  December 20, 2011 in City on Page A5 Providence Health Care has accepted 172 voluntary layoffs as part of its move to cut $61 million from its operating budget next year. Most of the employees worked at Sacred …

• Providence cuts 172 jobs through voluntary layoffs

  December 19, 2011 in City, News Providence Health Care has accepted 172 voluntary layoffs as part of its move to cut $61 million from its operating budget next year.

• Talk at federal, state levels alarms rural hospitals for future

  December 18, 2011 in City on Page A1 Many of Eastern Washington’s small hospitals are bracing for cutbacks as federal and state governments look to save money. Consider Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Chewelah: On any given day … 22

• Study: Worst hospitals treat larger share of poor

  October 5, 2011 in Nation/World The nation’s worst hospitals treat twice the proportion of elderly black patients and poor patients than the best hospitals, and their patients are more likely to die of heart attacks … 8

• First steps taken in 1886 to build hospital that only needed name

  April 17, 2011 in Features on Page D1 Nearly 125 years ago, Spokane’s first hospital had a plot of land, a cornerstone and a plan for the future. The only thing it didn’t have, embarrassingly, was a name.

• Wash. state hospitals post surgery infection data

  November 30, 2010 in Region Thanks to a new state law, the Washington State Hospital Association is now posting hospital-by-hospital surgery infection data online.

• Free medical services soar at region’s hospitals

  November 28, 2010 in City on Page B1 Spokane hospitals have given away $53.3 million worth of medical care to the poor during the first nine months of this year as job losses and wage and benefit cuts … 5

• Spokane hospitals require flu-fighting steps by staff

  November 10, 2010 in City on Page A8 Most hospitals in Washington state – including all six in Spokane – are requiring staff to get immunized against the flu or take other hospital-approved measures to protect patients against … 1

• Kootenai Health CEO reflects on hospital’s growth, future

  August 23, 2010 in City on Page A5 Kootenai Health CEO Joe Morris is retiring after 36 years heading North Idaho’s largest hospital. He prides himself on creating a secure work environment by never laying off employees and … 1

• Merger to create heart institute

  July 22, 2010 in Business on Page A5 Providence Health Care and two Spokane-based cardiology groups announced Wednesday they will merge this fall to create a national center that could become a destination for patients seeking state-of-the-art heart …

• Deaconess owners appeal Sacred Heart expansion

  June 18, 2010 in City on Page A6 The owners of Deaconess Medical Center have appealed a settlement struck between state regulators and Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center that allows Sacred Heart to add 75 patient beds. It … 1

• Hospitals look for options as more use ER as instant appointment

  June 14, 2010 in City on Page A1 Emergency rooms in Spokane are busier than ever as annual visits to the four main hospitals have topped 230,000. What’s driving the numbers? Though the swell of uninsured and poor … 15

• Book sounds alarm about hospital bug

  April 20, 2010 in Features on Page C3 The most frightening epidemic since AIDS? Journalist Maryn McKenna slaps that label on MRSA – a strain of staph and also one of the most common bacteria on the planet. …

• Sacred Heart’s profits climb

  September 3, 2009 in City on Page A1 Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center earned a profit of nearly $100 million in 2007 and 2008 as patients were admitted to the hospital in record numbers. The hospital, part of … 1

• Shriners to announce plans for troubled hospitals

  July 9, 2009 in City The Shriners are wrapping up their annual meeting in San Antonio and are expected to announce changes to their children’s hospitals.

• Smart Bombs: First, check your ego

  February 18, 2009 in Opinion on Page A11 If you are about to undergo surgery, here are two simple tips that could save your life. State your name and ask the physicians if they have been introduced to …

• MRSA rates decline steadily in one procedure

  February 18, 2009 in Nation/World on Page A4 Bloodstream infections caused by methicillin-resistant “Staphylococcus aureus,” or MRSA, have dropped 50 percent in the last decade, at least for one high-risk medical procedure, according to a new study. The …

• Hospitals standardizing codes

  February 13, 2009 in City on Page A11 Washington hospitals are standardizing the codes used to summon help, so that “code blue,” for example, would always mean “cardiac arrest.” The changes follow a survey that showed at least …

• Hospitals now using consistent codes to avoid confusion

  February 12, 2009 in City, Region Washington hospitals are adopting new communication safety measures so that no matter what medical center a patient is in, “code blue,” for example, means cardiac arrest.

• Snow no obstacle for kidney transplant

  December 28, 2008 in City on Page B7 SEATTLE – Kidney patient Dorothy Beaver and kidney transplant surgeon Ramasamy Bakthavatsalam were both snowed in when the telephone call came. They were told they had to get to the …

• Hospitals report fewer ‘adverse events’

  September 3, 2008 in City on Page B3 Regional hospitals are reporting fewer surgery mistakes and serious accidents in 2008. Called adverse events, hospitals in Washington had to begin publicly reporting more of their mistakes, ranging from pressure …