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Midwives specifically trained in delivery outside hospitals can practice legally in 27 states. In the remaining states, mothers-to-be planning for a home birth will probably be attended by a certified nurse-midwife.

One of the largest private health insurers said it will continue to allow young adults up to age 26 to stay on their parents' plans and will end lifetime dollar caps on claims, no matter what the Supreme Court decides. It's the first major insurer to make those promises.

Though they may be well-meaning, not to mention more affordable than trained interpreters, relying on accidental interpreters, such as family members, during medical treatment isn't the best idea, research has found.

Oregon created a simple two-page form that has helped people exert control over their care at the end of life. A statewide database that contains the information is providing insight into what people prefer.

The U.S. Treasury Department last week released proposed rules to protect patients from abusive debt collection practices at nonprofit hospitals. The rules are required by the Affordable Care Act of 2010. If the Supreme Court votes to strike down the health care law, the new debt collection rules would go away.

Research suggests that patients in Canada do better when hospitals spend more on specialized tests and treatments. But the same may not be true in the U.S., where hospitals are already better equipped.

Unlike Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and other conservative states in the South, Mississippi is well on its way to having an insurance exchange ready for operation by the 2014 deadline laid out by the health overhaul law.

Even as Florida leads the Supreme Court challenge against the federal health law, a private and a public hospital both prepare for an influx of new patients if the law's Medicaid expansion survives.

Hospitalized patients are going home sooner and sicker than ever before. And without clear and comprehensive instructions about what to do after a hospital stay, they may wind up back in the hospital, or worse. That's where a checklist can help.

A voluntary approach to flu vaccination of health care workers has fallen short. To protect patients, vaccination should be mandatory, consumer and business groups said in Washington. They back a requirement for annual vaccination of all health workers with only limited exemptions.