Tom Daschle formally began the incoming administration's quest to overhaul the nation's healthcare system, telling former Senate colleagues that the task had become more urgent because many people were losing health insurance, along with their jobs, in the recession. Members of both parties offered a friendly welcome to Daschle, the man chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to be secretary of health and human services. The hearing was the first of many to be held for members of the team being assembled by Obama, and the questions and answers touched only briefly on the economic and fiscal crisis that will test the new administration.
For the second time in six months, the Interim Louisiana State University Public Hospital is going through high-level management turnover. The hospital is now being run by a top Louisiana State University system administrator and an Atlanta consultant. The moves come as the state continues its plans for a new teaching hospital in New Orleans and as LSU promises a search for a permanent chief executive for the facility.
Missouri has expanded a program that provides women's health services to low-income, uninsured women. State-funded medical services, including cancer screenings, family planning services, and pelvic exams, are now available to women ages 18 to 55 with income up to $32,568 annually for a family of three. Until now, the women's health program was available only to uninsured women for a year following the birth of a child. As many as 83,000 additional women could be eligible for the health services under the expanded program.
The seven-year odyssey to bring a hospital to Madison, AL, is expected to move a step closer to completion. as attorneys for the two hospitals competing to expand into Madison will make their arguments in Montgomery to Circuit Court. Huntsville Hospital was poised to build a 60-bed hospital at its Madison Medical Park after being awarded a state certificate of need in March. But Crestwood Medical Center appealed, saying the state panel that approves new healthcare facilities unfairly ignored the recommendation of administrative law judge Randy Reaves.
China plans a major revamp of its public hospitals as part of its long-awaited reform of the national healthcare system. Health Minister Chen Zhu said a key part of the reform will be aimed at changing the way hospitals make profits. "As China aims to provide universal medical service to 1.3 billion people, state-run hospitals must be overhauled," Chen was quoted as saying at a national health meeting. China's hospitals have been criticized for their lack of access, huge fees and poor doctor service.
If Barack Obama makes good on his promise to increase access to healthcare for America's 45 million uninsured, more people will be seeking appointments with busy primary care doctors. But now some say that the increased demand that would follow health reform could lead to an exodus of Canadian doctors to the United States.