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Only 7 percent of the nation's hospitals assessed by Medicare were good enough to win 5-star ratings. The government used patient reviews to come up with the grades.

Nearly half the states in the U.S. require that women be notified if mammograms detect that they have dense breasts. Critics say the information raises anxiety more than it improves care.

Dr. Dan Swangard doesn't know if he would take lethal medications to hasten death. But as someone with metastatic cancer, he wants to have that choice. He's part of a suit to change California law.

Choosing a physician is never easy. But if you're in the market for a doctor, newly published ratings and a few practical tips could make the process a little less bewildering.

It's far from unanimous, but many believe Newton's law of inertia will kick in even if the fedreal statute that launched changes in the nation's health care system is found unconstitutional.

Under some state laws, a patient's positive test for alcohol can mean that insurers won't pay hospitals and doctors for care after an accident. To sidestep the potential problem, hospitals often don't screen patients for alcohol use.

Trimming the rise in obesity in the U.S. by just 1 percent over the next two decades would reduce health care costs by by $85 billion. The fight isn't likely to be cheap. But new researchers shows that even a small dent in obesity rates could pay off.

Babies are born too soon at a higher rate in the United States than in 125 other countries. The first worldwide rankings of preterm births show the problem isn't limited to the developing world.

In Michigan, areas with more cardiac catheterization labs — places where patients are diagnosed for heart problems — tended to have more interventions than those with fewer labs.

Nonprofit hospitals pay no federal, state, or local taxes. In return, they are expected to offer a community benefit, including free and discounted care for low-income patients. But a study by the Congressional Budget Office found that, on average, not-for-profits are providing only slightly more uncompensated care than for-profit hospitals.