HealthLeadersMedia.com - Community Hospitals News

Lower ED Margins Demand a Better Strategy

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:35:00 GMT

In this new Intelligence Report, we examine how resolving organizational problems in the emergency department will remain a challenge as demand for ED services increases, overcrowding elevates patient safety concerns, and quality metrics draw greater attention.

Healthcare Costs Hit Record High, But Growth Rate Slows

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:28:00 GMT

The 2013 Milliman Medical Index pegs the annual cost of PPO coverage at 6.3% higher than last year. Physician and other professional services account for one third of annual healthcare spending.

Hundreds of nurses walk out at two San Jose hospitals

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:55:00 GMT

SAN JOSE (KCBS) – A large group of registered nurses walked off the job Thursday morning at two hospitals in San Jose. Instead of changing IVs and administering medication, nurses at Good Samaritan Hospital and Regional Medical Center were walking the picket line in a dispute over wages, benefits, pension and staffing levels. The union represents 1,400 members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United. "What we're asking for is that the hospital has sufficient staff to staff for all patients that are coming into the hospital and also to staff for all patients that are going to be discharged, but haven't left yet," said Malinda Markowitz with the California Nurses Association.

Intermountain Healthcare alerts patients to cumulative radiation exposure

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:51:00 GMT

Roughly 25 patients a day are wheeled into Intermountain Medical Center's "cath lab" for CT scans to look for calcium buildup in their coronary arteries. Coronary artery scans — the newest addition to radiologists' growing arsenal of diagnostic tools — can aid doctors in diagnosing heart problems early. But they expose patients to 50 to 150 times the radiation of a chest X-ray, raising their risk for developing cancer later in life. "We want to make sure patients are getting tests only for the right reasons," said cardiologist Donald Lappé at a news conference Wednesday touting a 9-month-old initiative aimed at ensuring just that.

$6.4B Henry Ford, Beaumont Merger Failed on Cultural Hurdles

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:49:00 GMT

A merger between two Michigan healthcare providers has been called off because of stark cultural differences between them, observers say. Those differences include the patient populations they each serve and the organizations' physician compensation models.

Less Blood Testing for Some Surgeries Safe, Cost Effective

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:29:00 GMT

The ordering and testing of blood for surgery that rarely requires blood transfusions is expensive and "overutilized" by hospitals, researchers say. At Johns Hopkins alone, more appropriate blood ordering practices could save $200,000 a year.

Scramble at Moore Medical Center as tornado hit

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:21:00 GMT

A massive tornado swept through the Oklahoma City area Monday afternoon, leaving ruin in its path. Moore Medical Center, which stood directly in the tornado's path, was . But the workers, patients and their families in the hospital escaped. Nick Stremble, a registered nurse and manager at the hospital, told Shots Tuesday what he saw. "My ER is destroyed," he said. "My department was at the Moore Medical Center. I mean it's wiped out. The building is roped off so we're not doing anything there." About 250 or 300 people were inside as the storm approached. The staff was able to direct everyone to designated zones located in the center of the hospital.

Cost cuts further UC Health expansion

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:18:00 GMT

The expansion of UC Health is accelerating, from Florence to Trenton, from babies to proton beams. Created in 2010 from the remnants of the collapsing Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, the system set up by the University of Cincinnati is poised to spend more than $300 million during the next few years, at the same time it's slashing expenses to try to get more efficient. Every big health system in the region is pursuing the same seemingly opposite goals, nudged by the looming specter of health care reform to take effect in 2014 and the relentless march toward consolidation of doctors and services under huge corporate umbrellas.

Latest from Parkland: All the good stuff happens in executive session

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:16:00 GMT

Parkland Memorial Hospital's board of managers met Wednesday for its monthly committee meetings, an all-day affair starting at 8 a.m. and ending somewhere around 3 p.m. The agendas promised lively discussions about: – The federal Affordable Care Act, which likely will bring dramatic changes to Dallas County's lone public hospital. – Review of recent "safety events" at the hospital, which actually describe mistakes that had the potential to harm patients. And, most importantly, an update on the hospital's efforts to satisfy a System's Improvement Agreement with the federal government, Parkland's on-going effort to retain its government funding. However, none of these discussions occurred during the board’s public session. They took place behind closed doors so that the media and members of the general public could not hear what anyone said.

KY short 3,800 doctors even before Medicaid expansion

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:10:00 GMT

FRANKFORT, KY. — Kentucky needs 3,790 more doctors, including 183 additional primary care physicians, to meet current demand for care — and those numbers will grow when more Kentuckians get coverage through a Medicaid expansion and health benefit exchange under health reform. Those are some of the findings in a workforce capacity study report by Deloitte Consulting that was the subject of a briefing Wednesday held by the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The report is scheduled to be made available on the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange website next week.

Lake Erie Regional Health System cuts jobs at two hospitals

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:08:00 GMT

The parent corporation of Lake Shore Health Care Center in Irving and Brooks Memorial Hospital in Dunkirk has laid off at least 40 employees over the past two days to lower costs and eliminate overlapping services, The Buffalo News has learned. Lake Erie Regional Health System of New York laid off about 40 employees at Lake Shore Health Care across a variety of departments, with workers learning their fates late Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a current hospital employee and an employee who was laid off, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.

All ME hospitals sign on to electronic health records exchange

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:06:00 GMT

All of Maine's acute-care hospitals have agreed to participate in statewide network that allows health care providers to share and view patients' health records electronically. HealthInfoNet, a Portland nonprofit that operates the health records exchange, announced Tuesday that 34 of the state's hospitals already are connected to the system and four more are under contract to connect by the end of the year. The exchange was launched in July 2009. Maine is one of just a few states to have all of its hospitals connected to a health records exchange that allows providers to securely find and request information about patients from other providers, according to HealthInfoNet.

Q&A: Rural Health Practitioner of the Year, Larry Rhodes, MD

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:06:00 GMT

West Virginia pediatric cardiologist Larry Rhodes, MD, speaks passionately about his work at three community outreach clinics. "It is always easy to hide under the guise of 'this is for patient care,' but the best days of the month for me are when I am in my truck driving to one of these clinics."

Uncompensated Care Faces a Double Hit in Some States

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:27:00 GMT

Hospitals in states that opt not to expand Medicaid are at a severe disadvantage to their counterparts in other states, not only because they will miss out on additional Medicaid-based reimbursement, but also because they will face the same cuts in disproportionate share funding as everyone else.

House Lawmakers Grill CMS Over Health Exchange Navigators

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:11:00 GMT

The role of navigators, expected to help millions of uninsured make their way through the health insurance market, came under fire Tuesday by members of Congress who raised questions about oversight and the role of the IRS in the implementation of healthcare reform.

Henry Ford, Beaumont $6.6-billion mega merger is called off

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:14:00 GMT

After six months of planning and one delay, Henry Ford and Beaumont health systems called off their planned $6.6-billion mega merger today that would have created one of the largest hospital systems in Michigan. In a letter to employees, Henry Ford CEO Nancy Schlichting said her hospital system's 20-member Board of Trustees voted late this afternoon to allow the deal's letter of intent to expire at the end of this week. "This decision was made because it became apparent that two very different perspectives had emerged for the new organization between Henry Ford and Beaumont," Schlichting's letter says.

Tornado struck hospital but patients, staff unharmed

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:12:00 GMT

Hospital emergency department manager Nick Stremble didn't need the television to tell him the tornado would hit Moore Medical Center. All he had to do was look outside the window. "There's a big window area that faces southwest," Stremble said, recalling his final check before heading to the safe area on the first floor of the hospital in Moore, Okla., about 10 miles from Oklahoma City. "I could see the tornado in the neighborhood across the street from us. I could see the debris. It was more than obvious it was going to be there in under a minute."

Hospital 'code black' before flood of tornado patients

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:08:00 GMT

The injured children came into the Children's Hospital at the Oklahoma University Medical Center in Oklahoma City fast. So fast that the hospital set up a triage center in its own facility. "Every once in a while, a trauma trickles into the emergency room at OU Children's," said Bob Letton, pediatric trauma medical director at the hospital. But not Monday. In the wake of a powerful tornado that ripped through the area, he said, "a facility used to seeing one or two traumas a day all of a sudden had over 50."

Loophole in healthcare law could stick doctors with tab

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:05:00 GMT

A loophole in California's upcoming health care overhaul could be exploited by families gaming the system or responding to hardship in a way that doctors say could leave a pile of unpaid bills. A chain of events would create a two-month period during which a family has medical coverage but no insurer must pay its claims. Nonpayment of premiums for subsidized policies would trigger the oddity: Federal law provides a three-month grace period before cancellation - but insurers are responsible only for the first month.

End of health price secrecy may be starting in Miami

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:02:00 GMT

When Medicare released thousands of health-care prices this month, one of the biggest criticisms was that these figures didn't represent what patients actually paid. Medicare, for example, pays hospitals on a set fee schedule, regardless of their prices. Health insurance plans typically negotiate a lower rate with a hospital than the sticker price that showed up in the new data. Those prices still remain secret — but that may change. Spurred by the release of the Medicare data, the chief executive of Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Miami has now pledged to release those negotiated rates that tend to be kept secret. Via MedCity News: