Medical

Georgia scored an "F" on its reporting of health care costs, according to a report released this week. We're one of 29 states that flunked on the health care price transparency report from the Catalyst for Payment Reform, a nonprofit group that works to improve how businesses and individuals pay for health care.

Of the eight top hospitals in Atlanta according to U.S. News & World Report, two of them have nationally ranked specialties. Emory University Hospital and Shepherd Center, the top ranked local hospitals on the list, have national areas of expertise.

Established in 1983 as the first in vitro fertilization program in Georgia, Reproductive Biology Associates welcomed its first IVF baby a year later. The practice has been breaking barriers ever since. It now has seven locations across metro Atlanta and Georgia. We gathered some data on RBA and infertility itself.

Maybe James Kinsey swerved to avoid an animal. Maybe his cell phone rang. Maybe, as the investigating officer suspected, he dozed off at the wheel on Old Fountain Road, just a half mile from his home in Dacula, after a long night shift. Whatever the cause, his Chevy Aveo crossed into an oncoming lane and was struck by another car. Too tall for the Chevy’s tiny cabin, the six-foot-one Gulf War veteran smashed his head against the door frame. The seat belt saved his life.

A shortage of doctors continues in the state, limiting access to care throughout Georgia, especially in rural areas.

Healthgrades, one of the nation’s leading healthcare research firms, tracks hospital performance by dozens of indicators. Here are the metro hospitals that excel in one or more areas. Find the one with the expertise you need.

With additional reporting by Carolyn Crist

Plus:
‣ Advice from Healthgrades: How to find the best hospital for you
‣ Advice from Healthgrades: How to select a doctor

The man was in a wheelchair, his shoulders hunched and his wrists twisted from a muscular disability, as Jason Colleran worked on him, pressing his fingers onto the man’s muscle attachment tissues in the hopes of elongating them and helping the muscles to contract.

The patient lost both legs and her left hand when she was a year old due to Kawasaki disease, a rare childhood condition of inflamed blood vessels. She emailed Cendales soon after her twenty-first birthday, and a short time later, she was evaluated and approved as a transplant candidate.

The national cyclospora outbreak continues as the stomach bug has now affected 353 people in 15 states, including three in Georgia, according to the CDC. Here's what you need to know, courtesy of the CDC and the Georgia Department of Health.