In a unanimous vote, University of California regents approved a partnership with Los Angeles County that clears the way to reopen the Martin Luther King Jr. medical facility, possibly by 2013. The agreement creates a nonprofit entity to oversee the hospital and handle all hiring. Under the plan, the King hospital will be considerably smaller than it had been, 120 beds instead of 233. It will include an emergency room and three operating rooms but no trauma center.
Two new recommendations, calling for delaying the start and reducing the frequency of screening for breast and cervical cancer, have been met with anger and confusion from some corners, reports this article from the New York Times. The backers of science-driven medicine have cheered the elevation of data in the setting of standards. But many patients—and organizations of doctors and disease specialists—find themselves unready to accept the counterintuitive notion that more testing can be bad for your health, the Times reports.
A major physicians group in the California's San Fernando Valley, struggling with the rising cost of medical care, has joined another Southern California healthcare network that will now serve more than 600,000 patients, the Los Angeles Times reports. Lakeside HealthCare Inc., a medical group providing care for 200,000 patients through more than 1,800 staff and contract physicians, was acquired by Heritage Provider Network Inc. The financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal provided a needed infusion of cash to Lakeside, which was struggling with an unforeseen rise in medical costs, executives said.
Jordan Hospital of Plymouth, a 155-bed community hospital serving a dozen towns in the Massachusetts counties of Plymouth and Barnstable, said it has formed a clinical affiliation with Boston's Tufts Medical Center and its Floating Hospital for Children. The alliance will give Jordan Hospital patients greater access to specialists, technology, and patient education at its Plymouth site, officials said.
Senate Democrats are touting the immediate benefits their health bill would bring to some Americans, although many of the benefits of the bill won't take effect for several years, the Wall Street Journal reports. But Democrats pointed to popular changes for consumers that kick in quickly: They include an immediate ban on insurers imposing lifetime caps on benefits and a ban on terminating coverage because an enrollee falls ill.
Chances of business supporting the Obama administration's health overhaul are fading fast after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's bill took a liberal turn, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Obama administration has courted small businesses from the start, and at times executives have shown favor toward Democratic plans such as the bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee. But now several industry groups are banding together to ask Congress to scrap the current bills and start from scratch on a health overhaul, saying the public plan included in Reid's bill will pay lower rates and shift costs to those with private insurance.