A new urgent care and walk-in center in Miami Shores, FL, promises to offer faster, more affordable care than emergency room visits. The recently opened center provides routine clinical and diagnostic services, and patients needing serious medical attention can be monitored with machines like EKGs until they can be transferred to a hospital.
Massachusetts healthcare executives are lobbying legislators to move cautiously before embracing a proposal to transform the way hospitals and doctors are paid. Three months after a state commission proposed the plan to control exploding healthcare costs within five years, many hospital executives and doctors call it unrealistic, and say it could bankrupt some providers and compromise patient care if implemented too quickly and without major changes.
Prince William Health System and Inova Health System tightened their visitation policies to better protect patients, guests, and staff members from the H1N1 virus, officials from the Virginia-based organizations said. Both hospital companies are not allowing guests younger than 18 to visit. In addition, guests older than 18 who are demonstrating flulike symptoms will not be allowed into the Inova patient care units and are "urged" not to visit Prince William Health System.
This article provides consumers with "little-known ways" to protect themselves when they go to the hospital. The author talks about hospital mistakes and ratings, for example, but the value in this piece is insight into what patients might be asking your front-line staff when they are scheduled to visit your hospital for surgery or other reasons.
The Senate Finance Committee, the fifth and final congressional panel to contribute to the healthcare reform legislation, rejected the final amendment of a session at 2:08 a.m. Oct. 2 to complete the measure that is expected to form the backbone of health reform legislation. Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) delayed a vote until next week, though he said he has enough support to pass the package out of committee. The bill, which Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-NV) will merge with a Senate health committee measure, appears to meet the reform criteria Obama laid out last month in an address to Congress, reports the Washington Post.
On the eve of unveiling an $80 million expansion, Miami-based Leon Medical Centers has been lauded by Health Affairs as one of the best examples in the nation for producing quality healthcare at low costs. The article praised the clinics for emphasizing primary care and keeping costs 15%-20% below the national average.