Health and Human Services Sector

Vlog the Impaler Takes on Veramyst

Shrink to Fit

When Mental Health Services, Inc. went out of business, no one was around to help the therapists who were hurt.

Bad health reports, good pancakes at Children's Hospital

The 24/7 cafeteria at Children's Hospital has long been known for its pancakes, which survived the trip from the old facility in central Denver out to the new Children's campus in Aurora. Years ago, Westword columnist Marty Jones flipped over the flapjacks in his Consumed column; just ... More >>

Best free entertainment

Lutheran Medical Center lobby

Best charity gig by a bunch of drunks

Buzz Bomber and the M-80s

Best Sunday happy hour

Andrews' Pub & Lounge

Best service for pets

Anesthesia-free teeth-cleaning clincs, Pet World

Best Upscale Thrift Shop

La Cache

Best Indie Producer

Mike Jourgensen

Best Fundraising Gimmick

2001 Denver Metro Firefighter Calendar

Best Help for Parents Needing Sleep

Dr. Barton Schmitt
Children's Hospital

Best Office Visits for the Elderly

Group Office Visits
Dr. John Scott

Prescription

Epoxy Lips Now! (Self-released)

Depressed About Anti-Depressants

Big Pharma explores the dependency on mood-altering drugs.

The Centers of the Storm

Are we having funds yet?

Critical Condition

Denver Health nurses are ready to unionize to save their profession.

A Healthy Paycheck

Denver Health may cut services, but its execs won't feel the pain.

Cutting Edge

A plan by some Colorado leaders to trim hard-won health-insurance benefits could leave consumers feeling the pain.

Throw Away the Key

Boulder County slams the door on a group of juvenile homes that won't lock theirs.

Mind Games

The squeeze in managed mental-health care is choking patients and providers alike.

Hit Pick

Regular

Hit Pick

Rocket Ajax

Waiting Room

Colorado’s nurses are sick of a system that ruins careers over minor complaints.

Afterthought Special

Colorado’s nurses are sick of a system that ruins careers over minor complaints.

Separation Anxiety

Doctors thought banding together might give them more power at Rose Medical Center. Instead, they wound up owning their own hospital.

Captive Audience

Roll out the gurneys! Hospitals fight for the right to treat prisoners.

The Poor Get Poorer

More fallout from University Hospital's budget cuts: Clinics for the poor are now turning away patients.

Roll On, Columbia

The nation's largest for-profit hospital chain is out to flatten its Denver competition. It's already reshaped the world of local health care.

Clinical Depression

University Hospital abruptly pulls its money out of clinics that treat the poor.

Running Out of Patients

Denver General gets ready to launch a downscale marketing campaign.

Alms for the Not-So-Poor

A "nonprofit" hospital gets its lucrative office buildings taken off the tax rolls.

More Grief for Workers

A trend in the making: University Hospital alters its employee benefits for bereavement leave and continuing education.

Out for Blood

It's the most precious fluid on Earth -- and the most feared. Will your next transfusion be a stranger's blood or a solution called Optro?

TOOTH OR CONSEQUENCES

WHAT'S THE DRILL? AFTER A SEVEN-YEAR LEGAL BATTLE, THAT'S WHAT THESE FORMER STUDENTS WOULD LIKE TO KNOW.

UNHEALTHY COMPETITION?

A NEW, HARD-SELL HMO STORMS INTO COLORADO, HOPING TO SCOOP UP MEDICAID BUSINESS.

DRUG BUST

AS AIDS FUNDS SHRINK, SO DOES ACCESS TO A DRUG THAT COMBATS BLINDNESS.

TAKING STOCK

SYNERGEN INC. NEVER SUCCEEDED IN MAKING ANYTHING--EXCEPT ITS FORMER EXECUTIVES VERY RICH.

PLAYING THE PERCENTAGES

BLUE CROSS SETTLES CO-PAY COMPLAINTS BUT STILL INTENDS TO CUT ITS OWN DEALS ON MEDICAL BILLS.

COURTING DISASTER

BLUE CROSS SETTLES CO-PAY COMPLAINTS BUT STILL INTENDS TO CUT ITS OWN DEALS ON MEDICAL BILLS.

THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE TRANSPLANT

ONE FAMILY LEARNS THE HARD LESSONS OF THE "NEW" HEALTH CARE.

E.W. Scripps, former Rocky Mountain News employees finally reach severance agreement

E.W. Scripps chairman Rich Boehne alongside his company's logo. According to Mel Pomponio, the Denver Newspaper Guild chair for the Rocky Mountain News, former staffers of the shuttered tabloid will no longer be employed by E.W. Scripps, the Rocky's owner, after today. It's fortunate, then, that a ... More >>

Tour Denver the DaVita way

The announcement that DaVita, a healthcare giant specializing in kidney dialysis, is moving its corporate headquarters to the Denver area offers a rare bit of good economic news during a period filled with plenty of the opposite sort -- and judging by its website, execs at the firm understand that ... More >>

Just in time for the holidays -- a horrific child abuse story

Bad things have happened to Crystal Eccleston's child.​This time of the year is all about family. But that's not always a good thing. Denver Police Department reps were called after an infant was checked into an area hospital with terrible injuries. Next step? DPD arrested the child's parents ... More >>

Michael Pollan: The food industry creates patients for the health care industry

Chances are that if you read or watch anything (besides McCommercials) regarding the state of our food system in the United States, it will mention the staggering amount of processed crap we manufacture and the integrity of our diets versus the price -- both financially and physically. Michael Pol ... More >>

Kenny Be's Friday Afternoon Club: Rep. Spencer Swalm and Nia Bender at Mel's Bar and Grill

​ "What I'd really like to do is propose a bill that would require the state to keep all of the babies delivered to unwed mothers in public hospitals, and sell them on the open adoption market. It's time for Colorado to turn the cycle of poverty into the cycle of profitability!"

Michael Bennet and health care: Live by the public option, or die by it

"Hey, Barack. Remember that public-option thing you used to be so hot on?"​Colorado's Michael Bennet is widely seen as being among the most vulnerable Democratic senators in advance of the November 2010 election -- hence President Barack Obama's fundraising visit to Denver last week before a p ... More >>

Powder to the People

"Hey, Barack. Remember that public-option thing you used to be so hot on?"​Colorado's Michael Bennet is widely seen as being among the most vulnerable Democratic senators in advance of the November 2010 election -- hence President Barack Obama's fundraising visit to Denver last week before a p ... More >>

Denver Health breaks ground on a new adolescent psych unit

​Denver Health broke ground this week on a four-story building that by late next year will be home to an adolescent psychiatric facility. Although the psych ward's new digs won't be a whole lot bigger, Denver Health officials say they will be a lot better. In terms of hard numbers, the facili ... More >>

Plant Medicine Expo's Seth Ginsberg on the mainstreaming of medical marijuana

Seth Ginsberg.​Yesterday, we heard from Law & Order Special Victims Unit star Richard Belzer about his participation in this weekend's Plant Medicine Expo and Healthcare Provider Conference. Belzer stressed that the event's focus would be on the medical uses of marijuana, not the weed lifestyl ... More >>

Musketeer Gripweed

Dyin' Day
Self-released