By Tammie Smith, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va. Aug. 1--When St. Francis Medical Center in 2006 started offering a 30-minute guarantee to be seen in the emergency room, it was physicians like Joshua Rogers who helped make that happen.

By Tammie Smith, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va. Jul. 29--Chanel Carter, 11, hadn't thought much about it before, but being a doctor might be cool. She decided that after spending a week at a health careers camp at Richmond Community Hospital.

By Tammie Smith, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va. Jul. 27--Hospitals in central Virginia are providing more free care, say state officials who track the amount of charity care hospitals provide.

By Tammie Smith, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va. Jun. 27--Because of a federal funding stipulation, Virginia is cutting by nearly half the mental-health block grant dollars available for HIV testing and prevention.

By Tammie Smith, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va. Jun. 25--Patients who checked their blood pressure at home with a pharmacist monitoring those readings over the Internet achieved better blood-pressure control than patients getting traditional care, research shows.