A new program at IU Health Methodist Hospital hopes to address nutrition insecurity in downtown Indianapolis.

The Indiana Hospital Association said hospitals are at a financial breaking point as state lawmakers begin a deep dive into Medicaid funding.

The emergency room at Franciscan Health in Hammond will stop taking ambulances at 6 a.m. on Dec. 23, according to a hospital spokesperson. Then on Dec. 31 all emergency room services will come to an end.

Hospital systems in Indiana are enacting visitor restrictions in response to high flu-like illness activity which can include flu, COVID-19 and RSV.

Indiana University Health plans a $287 million investment in Fishers to expand the IU Health Saxony Hospital campus.

Indiana's largest hospital system says COVID-19 cases continue to be high across the network, but numbers are improving slightly.

It's normal for hospitals to expand intensive care unit capacity, especially during flu seasons. To do so requires health care staff, supplies and space. But hospitals say they've already been running at capacity for the last two years, largely because of the effects of COVID-19.

Over the weekend, health officials in Indiana confirmed the first case of the omicron variant in the state. The arrival of the highly infectious variant – now identified in at least 45 states – comes when hospitals across Indiana are already facing critical shortages.

Indiana's COVID-19 hospital census surpassed 3,000 for the first time in 2021. And hospitals are stretched ahead of the holidays.

The first national guard team arrived in Muncie Wednesday, and other IU Health hospitals are expecting them in the coming days.