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Hospitals that fail to report or address safety problems, including those that increase the risk of infections, rarely face meaningful repercussions by state or federal officials, health care experts say. USA TODAY reported last week that MedStar Washington Hospital Center is under investigation by the D.C. health department for recent sewage leaks, although the problem has been going on for up to two years. The go-to hospital for members of Congress and the White House also suffers from poor quality ratings, particularly on foreign bodies left inside patients and certain infections. (O'Donnell, 9/17)

$1.25 million.That’s the size of the bill that could have shuttered the only public hospital in rural Pemiscot County, Missouri in August 2013. $750,000 for payroll.  $500,000 for a bond payment. $1.25 million total. One August day in 2013, the hospital’s CEO Kerry Noble had to face facts: The money just wasn’t there. It took an emergency bailout from a local bank to keep their doors open. For now. (Sable-Smith, 9/18)

At Connecticut's only maximum-security psychiatric hospital, staff members put a diaper on a patient's head, threw food at him, poured water over him, put salt in his coffee, kicked him and placed a mop on his head after cleaning a floor, according to a state report. (9/17)

Three health systems in the Milwaukee area are dropping their bid to replace the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division’s acute-care psychiatric hospital in Wauwatosa. ... Their statement did not explain why they could not present a viable bid, and the health systems did not respond to requests for additional information. (Boulton, 9/15)