Nurses at USC-Verdugo Hills Hospital took action in the face of contract negotiations that have dragged on since last Mayby taking a strike vote Thursday and Friday, and 85% of the nurses who voted supported a strike, according to the nurses union representative.

Registered nurses who work at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) and other San Bernardino County health facilities voted by 93 percent to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement.

The Alta Bates Summit Medical Center has been fined by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health for willfully violating safety protocols that put staff, patients and visitors at high risk of contracting infectious diseases. Ironically, this violation was discovered as Cal/OSHA personnel were investigating the hospital for another safety transgression.

Once again, California legislators are considering legislation to establish uniformity and transparency for charity care and community benefit programs -- SB 346, authored by Sen. Bob Wieckowski. Once again, the hospital giants are scrambling to prevent it.

On the one-year anniversary of the illegal closing of North Adams Regional Hospital on March 28, 2014the North County Cares Coalition (NCCC) is hosting a day of action and demonstrations as part of a year-long effort to restore a full service hospital to meet the significant health care needs of the 37,000 residents of Northern Berkshire County who are currently going without access to needed services, and are forced to travel a long distance to receive services they used to receive close to home.