Hospitals that discharge homeless patients on the streets of Los Angeles without their consent could be charged with misdemeanors and fined up to $25,000 under a proposed ordinance. The measure is intended to curb the practice of taking patients from a hospital by taxi or ambulance and leaving them on skid row downtown. Under the new law, a health facility would not be allowed to transport a patient to a location other than his or her residence without written consent. In the last few years, the city attorney's office has investigated more than 50 cases of patient dumping but has filed cases against only a few hospitals.
The Los Angeles Times has asked the two major candidates competing to succeed Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke about some key issues in the city's 2nd District. Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks and state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) offer their solutions to healthcare issues facing the county and the district, such as a growing budget deficit in the county's Health Services Department, large numbers of uninsured patients and the failure to reopen Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Medical Center.
Evanston Northwestern Healthcare will acquire Rush North Shore Medical Center in Skokie, IL, for $95 million. The merger will expand Evanston's brand to a fourth facility in Chicago's north suburbs. The deal, which still faces federal and state regulatory approvals, calls for Evanston Northwestern to buy the hospital and related assets for $85 million and allocate an additional $10 million to set up a community foundation that serves various health needs in Skokie and surrounding communities.
Doctors at Beverly (MA) Hospital have taken a vote of no confidence in its chief executive, Stephen R. Laverty, citing frustration with his management. The move was prompted by Laverty's alleged lack of communication and support in recent years, said several doctors. The expression of dissatisfaction isn't binding and does not require a response, but puts pressure on Laverty and the board to make changes and improve relations with doctors.
The 32 students entering the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University will have their tuition covered by the Clinic. The program will be funded by Cleveland Clinic's endowment and hospital operations. The aim is to free students from the feeling that they have to choose high-paying specialties to pay off medical school debt, rather than going into academic and research oriented medicine, according to Clinic representatives. Other medical schools have already greatly reduced their tuition costs, freeing up students who may want to practice in fields that are lower-paying but greatly needed.
Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Care has opened a facility in Silver Spring, MD, that will offer a full range of healthcare services to residents in Montgomery and Prince George counties, regardless of their ability to pay or whether they have insurance. Services at the 3,600-square-foot facility will encompass prenatal care, pediatric and adolescent health, adult health, and obstetrical and gynecological care. Mary's Center partnered with Washington Adventist Hospital to open the facility.