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But over the past decade, the once-grand hospital that was the go-to place for the city’s middle-class black patients has been beset by financial troubles, empty beds and an exodus of respected physicians and administrators, many of whom said they are fed up with the way it is run. The facility has faced layoffs, accreditation issues, and sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits, and it has paid out at least $27 million in malpractice or wrongful-death settlements since 2007, a Washington Post examination has found. (Thompson, 3/25)

Free-standing emergency rooms may be on a growth streak in Colorado — there are around three dozen facilities today from just a handful a few years ago — but not everyone is rolling out the welcome mat. On Monday night, the Wheat Ridge City Council voted to extend a year-long moratorium it had placed on free-standing ERs in 2016 for another year as it comes up with regulations for the medically advanced, emergency care centers before the first sets up shop in the city. (Aguilar, 3/27)

Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday defended his administration’s decision to help private Medicaid managed care organizations shoulder huge financial losses, and he said it doesn’t mean the project is in trouble. ... The three companies have complained they’ve lost hundreds of millions of dollars in Iowa in the year since they began running the state’s $4 billion Medicaid program. The Des Moines Register reported Friday that the Department of Human Services has signed contract amendments under which the state agreed to help the companies cover some of those losses. (Leys,3/27)

More teens are turning to fruit- and candy-flavored tobacco, raising concerns that sweetened e-cigarettes and cigarillos are a gateway to nicotine addiction. A California anti-tobacco campaign targeting teens has ramped up in high schools and at a recent state Capitol rally on Kick Butts Day. (Buck, 3/27)

A home health care worker from St. Louis County pleaded guilty to federal charges Monday and admitted defrauding elderly people in the area, the U.S. Attorney's office said. De’Janay Noldon, 27, worked as a certified nurse's assistant caregiver at a Webster Groves company that provides home health care for the elderly, prosecutors said. She used a nursing home resident's personal information to open lines of credit that she used to pay her own bills, make purchases in stores and online and pay bills for relatives and friends, prosecutors said. (Patrick, 3/27)

Hours before the Republican plan to replace Obamacare died in Congress Friday without a vote, healthcare experts in New Jersey gathered to discuss how the state’s healthcare system can withstand the major changes under consideration in Washington, D.C., and ensure gains made in recent years aren’t entirely lost. Several speakers said that regardless of the fate of the Republican bill, the state needed to prepare for potential changes. Some suggested creating a state-run insurance plan that would essentially extend the existing Medicaid proposal, which now covers one-in-five New Jersey residents, or finding other ways to reduce the cost of care so more can afford to purchase commercial plans. (Stainton, 3/27)

Virtua Hospital executives on Monday accused Camden County freeholders of fear-mongering, saying the board is attacking Virtua's emergency response times to clear the way for rival Cooper University Hospital to take over as the county's emergency response provider. The remarks came after Virtua executives learned that freeholders were to host a forum Tuesday morning with mayors from around the county whose agenda would include improvements to advanced life support services. Virtua, which provides such services to municipalities throughout Camden County, was not invited to the meeting, which was described in a letter to mayors as an opportunity to address concerns about response times that are "woefully inadequate" in some areas. (Steele, 3/27)