Cleveland Clinic Chief Executive Toby Cosgrove, MD, has announced to employees that the hospital system has instituted a hiring and salary freeze. The freeze does not affect employees needed for direct patient care, said hospital spokeswoman Eileen Sheil. Sheil said the health system, which employs 33,000 people, is also working to preserve jobs.
A growing number of Baltimore residents are being treated in hospitals for illnesses that could be prevented with routine medical care, according to a study. The city's health commissioner says the data show "a fundamental failure" of Baltimore's health system. City residents are being hospitalized or treated in emergency rooms for such conditions as asthma and high blood pressure at rates that are roughly twice those in surrounding counties and statewide, according to the Rand Corp. study. Baltimore's health commissioner says the problem is the inevitable result of clinics that are stretched to capacity and a shortage of primary care doctors to serve the poor.
The Bush administration has granted sweeping new protections to health workers who refuse to provide care that violates their personal beliefs, setting off a battle over opponents' plans to try to repeal the measure. The regulation cuts off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, health plan, clinic, or other entity that does not accommodate doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other employees who refuse to participate in care they find ethically, morally or religiously objectionable.
President-elect Barack Obama will face several obstacles in tackling healthcare reform, particularly amid a sinking economy. Sixty-four percent of voters expect him to "improve the healthcare system," a USA Today/Gallup survey taken right after the election found. But there are several factors for and against a makeover of the system.
After years of lobbying, Pennsylvania nurses and other medical professionals will no longer be forced to routinely work overtime.
Under a new law, which goes into effect in July, healthcare facilities will be prohibited, with few exceptions, from forcing nurses and certain other healthcare staffers to work beyond their scheduled shifts. Supporters of the bill say it is aimed at improving patient safety by cutting down on the possibility of nurses and other healthcare workers becoming overtired and more prone to making mistakes.
Dennis Millirons, who guided Libertyville, IL-based Condell Medical Center in Libertyville through a challenging period in the hospital's 80-year history, is resigning effective Jan. 13. The news comes weeks after the hospital paid a huge healthcare fraud settlement and was purchased by Advocate Health Care. The problematic deals with physicians were largely negotiated before Millirons arrived at Condell and during a period of financial unrest for the hospital.