Hospitals are opening drive-thrus and drive-up tent clinics to screen and treat a swelling tide of swine flu patients. The goal is to keep coughing, feverish people out of regular emergency rooms, where they can infect heart attack victims and other very sick patients. Jim Bentley, policy chief at the American Hospital Association, told the Associated Press many hospitals are trying novel ways to care for more people than their emergency rooms can handle, especially children.
A federal court in Miami has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a lesbian who was not allowed to visit her dying partner at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Janice Langbehn's partner, Lisa Pond, suffered a fatal brain aneurysm on Feb. 18, 2007. At Jackson, Langbehn said, a social worker would not let her visit Pond because Florida is "an anti-gay state." Jackson countered that Langbehn was not discriminated against and defended social worker Garnett Frederick, who denied making the comment. Langbehn sued the hospital.
It appears likely that nurses and other unionized healthcare professionals at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia will stage a three-day strike. About 1,500 employees of the hospital are due to walk out on October 2, two days after the current contract is set to expire. Union members have overwhelmingly rejected what management labels its final offer, which calls for no wage increase this year, but 2% raises in each of the next three years.
The battle over proposed cuts to private Medicare plans is heating up, as the liberal group Americans United for Change released a Halloween-themed ad protesting what it called Republican "fear mongering" over proposed cuts in Medicare Advantage amounting to $100 billion over a decade. The ad takes on Humana Inc. Chief Executive Michael B. McCallister and GOP leaders who oppose the spending cuts and the Medicare agency's effort to stop Humana from enlisting seniors in its fight.
Senate Finance Committee members rejected two amendments to create a public option, dealing a crippling blow to the hopes of those seeking to expand the federal role in health coverage, according to the Washington Post. But supporters of the public option vowed to press on, expressing confidence that backing will grow as lawmakers consider the implications of relying on private insurers to bring about far-reaching reform.
Hoping to capitalize on patients who might otherwise go to the U.S. for speedier care, a network of technically illegal private clinics and surgical centers has sprung up Canada. The more than 70 private health providers in British Columbia now schedule simple surgeries and tests such as MRIs with waits as short as a week or two, compared with the months it takes for a public surgical suite to become available for nonessential operations in the country.