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Millions of Americans rely on rural hospitals for emergency medical care. But in the last five years, these facilities have been shutting down more frequently than in previous years. A group of activists from across the country are walking nearly 300 miles from North Carolina to Washington, D.C. to draw lawmakers' attention. (Huntsberry, 6/14)

The vast majority of patients who arrive at California hospitals with a psychiatric emergency are not admitted, a situation that has prompted some mental health advocates to ask whether enough is being done to help those who may pose a threat to themselves or others. (Gafni, 6/14)

Saint Agnes Hospital plans to open this week an emergency department for seniors, which officials say is the first in Baltimore and the second in Maryland.The hospital plans to train staff in the complexities of care for older people and tailor the physical environment to better meet their needs, officials said. The hospital already care for more than 8,000 seniors in its emergency department annually and wanted to make the experience better for them. (Cohn, 6/15)

The company that recently opened Summit Medical Center in Casper, which doesn’t accept Medicare or Medicaid, is expanding to other parts of the state, said Eric Boley, president of the Wyoming Hospital Association. That’s a problem, said Boley, whose organization is mostly comprised of hospitals that accept Medicaid and Medicare. By taking only patients with insurance, Wyoming’s other hospitals will have a disproportionate number of patients on Medicare and Medicaid, and will financially struggle, he said. The government health programs reimburse at lower rates than private insurance. Boley asked the Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Interim Committee, which met in Casper on Monday and Tuesday, to consider imposing a moratorium on licensing of new hospitals that don’t take Medicare and Medicaid. (Hancock, 6/12)

Two hospitals serving Camden are at odds over a proposal to give facilities designated as Level 1 trauma centers control over local paramedic services. A bill, S-2980/A-4526, would give hospitals classified as Level 1 trauma centers exclusive authority to provide advanced life support (ALS), or paramedic, services in the municipality where they’re located. The legislation would basically affect Camden, where Cooper University Health Care could potentially gain control over ALS, since the state’s two other Level 1 trauma centers – University Hospital in Newark and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick – already operate the local paramedic services. (Kitchenman, 6/12)

No one wants to make a repeat visit to the emergency room for the same complaint, but new research suggests it's more common than previously thought and surprisingly, people frequently wind up at a different ER the second time around. Already some ERs are taking steps to find out why and try to prevent unnecessary returns. A Philadelphia hospital, for example, is beginning to test video calls and other steps to link discharged patients to primary care. (Neergaard, 6/13)