Hospitals

Unionized nurses at three South Florida hospitals rallied outside Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah on Friday morning for a new three-year contract, demanding more pay and better patient safety.

TGH will pay $10 a month over 49 years with a committment to invest at least $49 million in the struggling rural hospital. The DeSoto board opted for TGH's offer over two others.

FSU, TMH and Grow Tallahassee rejected rumors of a hospital taxing district, saying their academic medical center plan requires no new taxes as negotiations continue.

Private equity firms deploy large pools of debt to buy privately held companies or to take public companies private. Their eventual goal is to sell those assets at a profit.

Those two systems were first and third, respectively, in the nonprofit's biannual top 10, and reflected a national trend of excellence by larger hospital chains.

The lawsuit filed by five Tenet hospitals accuses Leapfrog of publishing rankings with a “rigged” methodology and pressuring hospitals to pay for memberships, which the nonprofit denies. Both sides seek summary judgment.

An judge rejects the motion of Nemours Children's Hospital, saying it didn't establish legal standing because it had not shown it would be “substantially affected” by the proposed rule on transplants.

A doctor in Colorado became the patient after an crash totaled her car and sent her to the operating room. The hospital kept her overnight, but her insurer stopped paying after she left the emergency room.

The Tampa-based system acquired 53 acres in Citrus Hills to build a hospital, medical office building, central energy plant and helipad for its TGH North division.

Florida A&M and FSU reached an agreement that would give FAMU one seat on the governing board of the potential new academic health center. Tallahassee State is continuing negotiations.

On "Florida Matters: Live & Local," Mayhew discussed the plight of DeSoto Memorial, the challenges and benefits remote hospitals present and how mergers with larger systems can be a lifeline.

Guests include the Florida Hospital Association's Mary Mayhew and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor. The topics: saving small-town hospitals, real impacts of government gridlock and Clearwater’s inclusive mission.