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Patient advisory councils often serve as sounding boards for hospital leaders -- offering advice on a range of issues.

One issue driving the change: 30.7 percent of insured consumers said that the cost was lower than another source of care.

The market for physician assistants is booming, according to a new report, though earnings vary across specialties.

Proposal also means 19 hospitals now listed as rural would be converted to urban, losing their 14.9 percent payment adjustment.

Thousands of families with a disabled or deceased parent may have received a lower subsidy than they deserved to buy health coverage through the federal insurance marketplace as a result of a calculation error by the federal government.

Add Tennessee and Kansas to the list of states that have been warned by the Obama administration that failing to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act could jeopardize special funding to pay hospitals and doctors for treating the poor.

"You're talking about a healthcare service that's more challenging to regulate. People are going into other people's homes, rather than going into a facility," expert says.

It's a network war with Midwest manners, but Nebraska's largest insurer and health system still have miles to go before a resolution. The impasse may be hurting one organization more than the other.

They want higher staffing levels, better pay and retention efforts and a stronger voice in patient care delivery, organizers say.

Consumer advocates and an activist insurance commissioner in California are renewing a push for premium review authority, while the state exchange is moving ahead with its own version of active purchasing.