A Grady Memorial Hospital doctor says our society is more to blame than individual hospitals when sick, low-income patients are readmitted shortly after being discharged. A recent AJC story reported that Medicare plans to fine two-thirds of Georgia hospitals for having too many patients return within a month for additional care. The readmission penalties, part of the Affordable Care Act, encourage hospitals to pay closer attention to what happens to patients after discharge. In our second column, a health care executive writes about the need and benefits for greater collaboration between institutions, as demonstrated by the global response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

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Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) (center left) speaks with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) as they leave a Senate Republican luncheon and the Senate holds a “vote-a-rama” to pass President Donald Trump’s domestic policy bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Monday, June 30, 2025.  (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. (center) is flanked by GOP whip Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. (left) and Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, as Thune speak to reporters at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Earlier Tuesday, the Senate passed the budget reconciliation package of President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and spending cuts. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

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