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This real estate to be auctioned,” reads a banner stretched across the abandoned warehouse of a store-shelving manufacturer that once employed generations living in and around this town of about 12,000. This isolated rural community has lost a lot of the energy of its heyday, when shoppers roamed downtown sidewalks, freight trains rumbled past the Big Blue River, and streets clogged at quitting time as factory workers spilled out of their plants. But it has yet to lose its economic pulse, thanks in large measure to the Beatrice Community Hospital and Health Center, housed in a sprawling new building of concrete and green glimmering windows on the outskirts of town. The hospital has become an economic anchor for the area. (Searcey, 4/29)

Nearly four in 10 California hospitals received a grade of C or lower for patient safety in a new national report card aimed at prodding medical centers to do more to prevent injuries and deaths. The Leapfrog Group, an employer-backed nonprofit group focused on healthcare quality, issued its latest scores Wednesday, it said, so consumers and employers can be aware of poorly performing hospitals before using them.(Terhune and Smith, 4/29)

The South Carolina House gave key approval Wednesday to a bill that would make it easier to build and expand hospitals and other medical facilities, and would end a state oversight program called the certificate of need entirely at the start of 2018. The bill, passed 103-1 on Wednesday, would allow existing hospitals, medical centers and nursing homes to add beds within a mile of their facility. It also would allow hospitals to expand services that are already approved under the program and remove the need to seek permission to buy costly equipment including X-ray machines or MRI scanners. (Collins, 4/29)

Hospital staff and patients at Saint Joseph Hospital — along with 10 other Presence Health hospitals across Illinois — are taking a very literal approach to protesting Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed cuts to Medicaid. They’re signing giant poster-size letters to state politicians and planning to hand-deliver the posters to the Capitol building in Springfield. (Sfondeles, 4/29)

Los Angeles County and state officials are preparing to realign nursing home inspection and oversight duties as part of a drive to better manage a chronic backlog of investigations into complaints of abuse and neglect. But some patient advocates say the proposed changes aren’t likely to significantly improve conditions, and could make matters worse. (Sewell, 4/29)

Gov. Nathan Deal said Wednesday it could be several years before the state knows whether it has to refund $250 million it paid to nursing homes in recent years. The federal government wants the state to return the money paid to a Middle Georgia nursing home chain, saying the payments were disallowed by Medicaid regulations. (Salzer, 4/29)