Healthcare recognizing gay and lesbian needs.

A growing number of hospitals nationwide are marketing inpatient, outpatient and referral programs targeted specifically at lesbians and gay men, groups many hospitals are recognizing as underserved. Meanwhile, meetings of healthcare professionals are increasingly incorporating gay healthcare concerns in their agendas, and national gay and lesbian groups are seeking a stronger voice in the healthcare reform debate.

Competition getting rough in rehab.

It's becoming showdown time in more markets as not-for-profit hospitals face new competitors for rehabilitation patients--the large, investor-owned rehab chains. Not-for-profits argue the chains are adding unneeded beds and that their admission decisions focus only on the insured. The chains defend their record of indigent care and say they're not in the habit of building unnecessary facilities.

Program brings out medicine's human side.

In what may sound like a summer camp for physicians and hospital administrators, the Institute of Medicine and Humanities, located in Montana, is employing a serene setting and the works of notables such as Aristotle, Hemingway and Bergman in an innovative program designed to fill hospital corridors with greater insight into the human side of caregiving.