Susan D. DeVore has been named president and CEO of the Premier healthcare alliance. She and current CEO Rick Norling are coordinating the transition process. DeVore is currently Premier's COO. Before joining Premier, DeVore spent more than 20 years with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young as a senior healthcare industry management practice leader and member of the executive committee for the North American consulting organization.
University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer stepped into the fray over a controversial proposal to redirect patients from the university hospital's emergency room, announcing steps to come up with "a better plan." In an internal memo, Zimmer said a committee led by the newly appointed chairman of the department of medicine would "review, refine and modify" proposals initiated by the medical center's chief executive and dean of the medical school.
Prince William Health System is close to securing a partnership with a larger nonprofit healthcare provider, less than a year after Northern Virginia's largest hospital chain abandoned its plans to merge with the Manassas hospital. Inova Health System walked away from the deal in June, citing a legal challenge from the Federal Trade Commission to block the merger. But the need to expand and modernize its facilities still exists, because the hospital has to keep pace with the fast-growing western Prince William County population it serves, Prince William Health System leaders said.
Louisiana law enforcement authorities hope a new, statewide prescription drug monitoring program will curtail the practice of doctor shopping by drug addicts hoping to score narcotics. They also hope to ultimately reduce the number of people who die of accidental prescription drug overdoses. Under the program, prescriptions are entered into a database that can be accessed by prescribers, dispensers and, in some cases, law enforcement agencies.
As the recession deepens, doctors and hospitals are reporting that hard-pressed patients are deferring elective surgery, even as others are speeding up non-urgent procedures out of fear that they may soon lose their jobs and health insurance. Delaying elective procedures can have serious medical consequences, as when a detectable polyp develops into a tumor because a patient skips a colonoscopy. Some hospitals said their emergency rooms were already seeing patients with dire conditions that could have been avoided had they not deferred surgery for economic reasons.
Democrats and Republicans are battling over whether the government should establish a Medicare-style public insurance option for people under 65. Top Republican senators declared in a letter to President Obama that they would oppose any healthcare bill with a public plan because it would force insurers to compete on an "unlevel playing field" with the government, which could theoretically set artificially low prices and subsidize any shortfalls with taxpayers' money. The issue will be among the most difficult Obama will have to address as he seeks a sweeping healthcare overhaul.