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Oregon hospitals took a step toward price transparency on Wednesday, promising to provide cost estimates for scheduled procedures within three days. The initiative aims to give uninsured patients and those who are out-of-network a better idea of what a procedure will cost. (Terry, 5/18)

More than 7,300 patients at a San Diego-area hospital may have been exposed to infection from contaminated medications last year, state records show. The problems were traced to the compounding pharmacy lab at Paradise Valley Hospital in National City, California, where inspectors found “dust, stains and foreign material” in a supposedly sterile environment in which thousands of intravenous medications were prepared over eight months — from Jan. 1 to Aug. 18. During their investigation into the pharmacy, California health inspectors found that oversight of infection control was lacking throughout the hospital, according to documents obtained by a reporter through the California Public Records Act. (Terhune, 5/19)

The Kansas Legislature will have to approve any plans to privatize the state’s two mental health hospitals after Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill that limits a state agency’s ability to go it alone. (Hart, 5/18)

St. Louis Children's Hospital is opening a new center that will allow young patients enduring long hospital stays to reunite with their pets. The Purina Family Pet Center officially opened Wednesday with a golden retriever mix named "Happy Jack" tugging away the ribbon. The hospital said the room gives patients a chance to see their pets without leaving the building and the medical technology that is important in their treatment and recovery. (5/18)

It’s called “community benefit,” the money that hospitals spend on treating patients who can’t pay their bills and providing additional services, like health fairs, to their surrounding community. (Hoban, 5/19)

Now that Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has signed legislation allowing established hospital operators to open a freestanding medical facility without going through the state's lengthy certificate of need process, significant changes in Harford County's health delivery system are expected. (Anderson, 5/18)