Construction on a patient care tower at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, CT, has been temporarily halted after the work threatened the structural integrity of an adjacent building. Hospital officials doubted that the additional site work would add significantly to the projected $102 million cost of the 10-story building, which is to house a larger emergency room, more operating suites and additional in-patient rooms. No patients at the hospital have been impacted by the problem.
Medical-device makers, venture capitalists and surgeons are racing to turn gastric banding--a once-controversial weight-loss procedure--into the next big thing in elective surgery. In gastric banding, a silicone band is wrapped around the upper stomach to restrict food intake. A number of recent studies suggest that gastric banding is safer than gastric bypass. Improvements in surgical techniques and follow-up care have helped the surgery become the dominant weight-loss operation in Europe and Australia.
Except in emergencies, most states ban the practice of patients having their arteries unclogged at a hospital that lacks heart surgeons. But more small hospitals are trying it in non-urgent cases, and a study suggests it may not be as risky as has been feared. If confirmed by other ongoing studies, it could change state policies and would mean more money for community hospitals struggling to stay profitable and options for patients who must travel to big cities for care.
Good doctor-patient communication helps reduce the risk of heart disease, according to a Temple University School of Medicine study. The four-year study included patients who were at risk for cardiovascular disease but were otherwise healthy. The patients were divided into two groups, a control group and a telemedicine group. Both groups were given a device to measure their blood pressure and a pedometer to record how many steps they took each day, along with advice on exercise and its benefits in preventing heart disease. Both groups involved in the study showed significant reductions in blood pressure, lipid levels and cardiovascular disease scores, and were able to walk further distances.
Florida legislators are threatening to shut Lantana's A.G. Holley Hospital, the nation's last state-run, free-standing facility to treat tuberculosis patients. The closure would scuttle years of planning to turn the hospital's 145-acre campus into a $150 million research center for rare infectious diseases. The legislators estimate it would cost half of the $5.5 million they're now paying to run A.G. Holley to move the 40 tuberculosis patients there into private hospitals throughout Florida.
Pennsylvnia Gov. Ed Rendell has sent a letter to the state's doctors saying they will have to pay more for their medical malpractice insurance because no agreement has been reached on legislation to extend healthcare coverage to the uninsured. Rendell has championed payment reductions for doctors through the state's MCare abatement program, but has refused to approve them unless progress is made on affordable health insurance. Rendell said that if an agreement is reached, doctors could receive refunds of their abatement costs.