Data shows that while the number of uninsured people nationwide rose to 15.7 percent in 2004 from 15.4 percent in 1995, but in that period the proportion of uninsured people using emergency rooms declined. The 26 percent increase in the number of ER visits was largely caused by an increase in the number of people with private doctors who sought emergency room care. The study's authors suggest several reasons for the trend, such as an aging population, a growing number of time-sensitive medical treatments that can be performed only in an ER, complications from medical and surgical treatments, and the difficulty of obtaining a timely appointment with a private physician.
More than 200 million children worldwide under age 5 do not get basic healthcare, leading to nearly 10 million deaths annually from treatable ailments, according to Save the Children's global report. The report stated that nearly all of the deaths occur in the developing world, with poor children facing twice the risk of dying compared to richer children. Wide disparities in healthcare for the poorest and best-off children were seen even in the highest-ranked countries in terms of well-being for mothers and children.
To overcome a chronic shortage, an Australian doctor has proposed that the government pay up to $47,000 for kidney donations. The kidney specialist said allowing the sale of organs would save thousands of lives and billions of dollars in care for patients on transplant waiting lists, as well as stop people from buying organs on the black market in developing countries. Critics say the idea will end in the poor selling their organs to the rich.
Iowa hospitals would not have to get public approval for the construction of new facilities under a bill that lawmakers passed during the final hours of the 2008 legislative session. The requirement eliminated under the measure applies to the state's 82 small, rural hospitals. Previously, the facilities have had to submit to public hearings and obtain a certificiate of need from the state before relocating to newly constructed replacement hospitals. The new legislation would enable Iowa's 82 critical-access hospitals to bypass the certificate-of-need process, said Iowa Department of Public Health officials.
Many have focused on how the current healthcare payment system is helping create shortages among primary-care doctors, internists and others on the front lines of medicine. But often lost is how the system is endangering some of the country's most highly trained specialties, such as endocrinologists, rheumatologists and pulmonologists. These specialties, which don't involve performing many procedures, face acute shortages. Critics say the decrease in specialists can hurt patients in need of proper diagnosis and treatment.
Commissioners in Tarrant County, TX, have asked JPS board members and JPS officials to appear at a meeting to address questions raised by a Fort Worth Star-Telegram series on the public hospital district. County commissioners have oversight responsibilities for JPS; they set its tax rates and appoint all 11 members of the JPS board of managers.