Democratic Presidintial candidate John Edwards has been bashing big health insurers with the story of a girl who died waiting for a liver transplant. But the details of the case suggest Edwards may be oversimplifying the tale. By pushing the case so hard on the campaign trail, Mr. Edwards is raising the emotional tone of the debate on healthcare.
Since last year, the children's cancer center of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital, has expanded its arts-in-medicine therapies to include songwriting and recording. "The arts have therapeutic value," said Dr. David G. Poplack, director of the cancer center.
Pennsylvania-based Butler Health System expects to have an easier time paying off its construction debt for its modernization project because of a $13.4 million grant from the state. The health system will receive aid worth $670,000 each year for the next 20 years, and the money is contingent on the health system's creation of 500 new jobs.
Frustrated with seeing as many as 40 patients a day for just a few minutes at a time, seven doctors will be the first in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky to join a national network of specialized medical practices. The Florida-based MDVIP network is trying to join with more practices around the country. Patients who sign up for MDVIP get regular physicals, a Web-based listing of all their medical records, and a fee pays for the preventive care that is not covered by Medicare or private insurance policies.
After two violent escapes by prison inmates, a healthcare group that oversees Laurel (MD) Regional Hospital has told the state that it will no longer admit inmates as patients in non-emergency situations until new policies are put into place. The group called the escapes 'unacceptable.'
In response to increased admissions, Memorial Hospital Miramar (FL) recently opened a 10-bed neonatal intensive care unit and a 12-bed pediatric inpatient unit, while adding 40 beds for adult patients. In the past year, admissions at the 178-bed hospital climbed by 20 percent, and the number of births and emergency-room visits has increased dramatically.